Space exploration and development – more than numbers
It’s easy to imagine a long list of reasons transitions cause distress and terminal distraction. Evolution passed along in us only so much appetite for risk, novelty, and shifts away from the familiar. Is that mysterious cave calling? Become lunch. Alternately, too much of a taste for stability could prove fatal, too. Leave those well-known … Continue reading Transitions, NASA, and next steps
Over a week ago, Europe’s ArianeGroup unveiled a new reusable launch vehicle they call “SUSIE,” a “Smart Upper Stage for Innovative Exploration.” Given the acronym, NASA must be rubbing off on them. Though the name is sure to be memorable, like Wall-E, reusable launcher announcements usually make a splash only to be quickly forgotten. But … Continue reading SUSIE, space launch, and the many journeys to full reuse
Graphs with a lot of space launch data can be a bit of a Rorschach test, including the part about seeing angels or demons. The lonely data point, on the other hand, is easy to employ to jump to about any answer, and nowadays, there is no lack of these unique space sector events. In … Continue reading Commercial launch trends – what do you see?
Frustration oozes from the pages of “Escaping Gravity,” and rightly so. Seemingly at odds, but only if you’re not in the business of space exploration, there is also a determination to carry on and leave a positive impact throughout the memoir of Lori Garver, Deputy NASA Administrator from 2009 to 2013. If you have come … Continue reading A book review – “Escaping Gravity” by Lori Garver
Some years after the loss of Columbia in 2003, one of our interns focused on NASA's spaceflight supply chain. Naturally, if you're talking about a topic, he figured it would be a good idea to start with a definition of what he'd learned. "The NASA spaceflight supply chain is a bunch of groups and organizations," … Continue reading On the matter of NASA, supply chains, and time
“We have one data point. All we need is one more and we can draw a line.” This was one of our many meetings where we dwelled on lessons learned, the Space Shuttle, and what’s next in reusable launch. As far as jokes go, at least for number crunchers, this was a good one. Except … Continue reading Mind the gap
Baking is not cooking, the same way rocketry is not flight. Or at least, that would be a first impression, to constantly hear about the extreme precision required to get to orbit or anywhere after. In contrast, right after takeoff, an airplane can lose an engine, or even both, only to glide along and land … Continue reading Rocketry – is it more like baking, or cooking?
Recently, a SpaceX Starship ran into a setback that’s been ongoing for a couple of years now – tile popping off. We get to see all this, as SpaceX runs a very open program, much of Starship taking place in the sights of a paparazzi of cameras and drones. We see that sticking protective tile on … Continue reading About Starships, and the (not what you think) reusability we need
NASA just rolled out an expendable rocket nearly eleven years after the last launch of its Space Shuttle. This is a long time coming, a project where too often “next year’s” major milestones receded by about one and a half years every year. An expendable Shuttle-derived launch system will go down in history as what … Continue reading Life finds a way
It's over. They worked out an agreement. The boss stuck his head into the conference room to make the announcement. Judging from the look on everyone's face, clearly, there was some confusion. Interrupting our meeting and just blurting out late-breaking news does this. How could it be over when we were just getting started? February … Continue reading It ain’t over till it’s over
There are flying machines that stick in the mind, a Concorde, a Shuttle, a Valkyrie XB-70, or a Boeing 747.One machine that hardly flew but did this trick was the 1920s German Dornier X airliner, an early massive flying boat with 12 engines. Its wings had a crawl space so the crew could reach the … Continue reading Contrasts
The saying “getting your wings clipped” took on a new meaning. It was 2002, and the plan for even a partially reusable replacement for the Space Shuttle now seemed a bridge too far. The debate had already devolved once, from fully reusable to partially reusable. It would devolve again, as all of a sudden, old-style … Continue reading Not in our stars
The room filled with the usual suspects and small talk. This year, it seemed an unwritten rule that before any presenter could talk about their good work there came this particular chart. It was the late 1990s, exciting times when ever-faster computers, internet connections, and aerospace technology came together to spur dreams of things to … Continue reading You can’t always get what you want, but…
I was walking under a beached whale, and inside it, and around, the dangling entrails smacking me in the face, an amateur mistake. I should have known how to move around flight hardware carefully. It was early 1999, and the X-33 was taking shape. With its internal rib-like frame, platforms, curved supports, cables holding all … Continue reading X-33 – the middle path?
The choice was made, so the outcome was determined if not known. In engineering as in life. Not everyone accepts this notion quite the same way or as gospel. Making a choice and living with a determined, if unknown, future sounds fine in theory. In practice, though, determined leads to deterministic. As in destined. Fate. … Continue reading Reusability – legs and fins or wings and things?
Zapata Talks NASA 