Space exploration and development – more than numbers
It's about the benefit when the mass is there, versus not. The socket cost $5,000. But we got a good deal for three at $15,000. This might sound like just another story about a $300 toilet seat, but there may be some rhyme or reason behind $300 toilet seats. Or even $10,000 toilet seat covers. … Continue reading The case of the $5,000 socket
There is a temptation to check off “sustainable” as a project feature merely because it appears likely to persist. Rather than this semi-circular definition, grappling with what is truly sustainable can move sideways. For one, sustainable space exploration and development can move to a measurable engineering feature - reusability. How much of something is reusable? … Continue reading Reusability, priceless.
Oddly, one of the first books given to me when I arrived at NASA was for acronyms. Not what systems did or how they worked. Not flowrates. That would come later. First, acronyms. NASA had so many new things needing new words that it had turned grouping words together into an art. Somehow using only … Continue reading Sustainability and space exploration
Blue sky ahead. My job with NASA always meant looking ahead. Today I can’t help but look back. I am now retired, which I find an odd mix of calm, caffeinated, and a sense “I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.” I arrived at Kennedy Space Center in 1988, a wonderful world of huge machines, … Continue reading Technology stagnation and NASA – problem and opportunity
Zapata Talks NASA 