Reflections from Joel Kotkin.
Category Archives: Space
Another Delay
Might be weather. That pushes it to at least Friday.
[Wednesday-evening update]
Yes, as noted in comments, apparently the launch is back on for tomorrow morning. Elon must have really wanted to do it on 4/20.
[Bumped]
[Late-evening update]
[Thursday-morning update]
Well, the excitement happened. It will be interesting to see the post mortem, but just getting off the pad and through max-Q were major milestones for the first flight of such a beast.
[Afternoon update]
Here‘s Eric Berger’s take.
And more thoughts from Blake Powers.
Marina Koren’s story on Elon’s explosive day.
Ariane 6
This was perfectly predictable, and I (and others) predicted it. It was obsolete from its inception.
Starship Is Still Not Understood
I missed this the first time around, about a year and a half ago, but it parallels many of the points that I made in my piece at The New Atlantis about the same time.
[Update late morning]
Airbus seems to be getting serious about space. I don’t see how the centrifuge helps all that much, though. The radius is too small for significant gravity, though it would help a lot to put the plumbing in it.
How To Watch Starship
Some tips, and commentary from Bob Zimmerman.
[Monday-morning update]
OK, the guaranteed excitement didn’t happen today. But to be fair, the guarantee only applied if they actually got to T-0. Anyway, they should be able to resolve the pressurization issue for the next attempt.
Make Your Flight-Test Predictions
[Late-afternoon update]
Go for Monday. SpaceX has gotten their launch license.
That means I have to get up at an ungodly hour to see the launch (window opens at 0500 PDT).
What’s Been Happening AT Starbase
A deep dive.
“Excitement Guaranteed”
Expecting the launch license this week, but no guarantees of that.
Chaos Versus Maskirovka
Thoughts on the classified leaks and the coming offensive in Ukraine.
Starship to Mars
Amazing CGI.
[Update a while later]
And then there’s this:
Read the thread. Most people think (correctly) that this is nuts.
I’m willing to agree that it’s a religion, but rocks don’t have rights. The moon is just a very large rock.