Doug Messier has a belated review. He pans it.
Category Archives: Business
A Crowd-Funded Lunar Mission
How in the world would this cost a billion dollars? They must be using NASA cost models.
Shirtgate, And Common Decency
I agree with Jonah’s take. It was an inappropriate shirt, but we can’t let PC lefties dictate what we should be outraged about.
Those Back-To-Back Commercial Space Disasters
Frank Morring says they were coincidence, and that failure is inevitable. I made the same point at PJMedia last week:
…it is important to understand that there was absolutely no relationship between OSC’s and VG’s accidents, other than they were both commercial activities. It was pure coincidence that they happened within a span of three days. But in both cases, response was rapid.
Nonetheless, a lot of ignorant people will try to use these events to shut down commercial spaceflight.
The Mars Colony Transport
I haven’t read it deeply, but here’s some extensive technical speculation.
Virgin Galactic, Always Inspiring Confidence
I’m hearing that they’re calling the tail number currently under construction “Hope.”
Not sure they thought that one through.
Let the snark commence in comments.
NASA’s Mission To Nowhere
Francis seems to suffer from a lack of imagination:
Space analysts said planning and executing a manned mission to Mars would take years and cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
French wants NASA to head in that direction, and he sees next month’s Orion launch as the inaugural milestone in a long journey.
Still, he’s circumspect.
“Unless we build the rockets and test the spacecraft needed to get into deep space, sending humans to Mars will remain a dream for centuries to come,” French said. “Whether Orion will be the vehicle, and whether it will survive the brutal budgetary cycles of Washington politics for the many years ahead that it will need to be funded, is impossible to say. It’s hard to imagine any other method succeeding.
Space historians often suffer from this malady.
Falcon Heavy
Chris Bergin has the story on current status of modifications at the Cape. Launch “as early as next summer.”
Let’s hope.
[Update a few minutes later]
Related: ESA and Arianespace seem to have settled on the design of their next obsolete launch system.
Climate Grubering
Why yes, yes, it is a good phrase.