Selenian Boondocks

Did you hear who just got selected as the new head of Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA? None other than your friendly Shaft-shill, Scott Horowitz. Though I’m not entirely sure how the heirarchy at NASA is currently organized, the fact that Centennial Challenges is run out of ESMD doesn’t seem to bode well. I’m [...]

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Now that I’m done venting on Mark, I think I’m done kvetching about the ESAS plan for now. I’m still home sick with this stupid cold, but I’m most of the way back out of the woods, and will probably be going in to work this afternoon. While we’ve been recuperating, Tiff and I finished [...]

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Howdy all, Ken again. I was thinking of ways that NASA might be able to raise money for the brilliant ESAS architecture they’ve contrived. Well, okay, actually I was just wondering what’s going to happen to all of the ISS-related stuff here on the ground once NASA completes and promptly writes off the U.S. portion [...]

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Since I’m still sick at home today, I figured I’d take some time to blog a bit. I don’t want to waste too much time getting into a jousting match with Mark, but I figured there were a couple of useful points worth making. [Ed: This turned into a rather long and excessively snarky fisking, [...]

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Just read Dan Schmelzer’s take on this whole NASA business: To my mind, the manned spaceflight portion of NASA is a parasite on the American people. It’s now a jobs program for rocketeers. I look at it rather benignly, though. It’s a waste of money, but no more than that. NASA doesn’t stop anybody from [...]

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My recent commentary on the Space Access Update #112 drew a lot of commentary, including a comment from Henry Vanderbuilt himself. His comment reminded me that I have been intending for a while to write a piece discussing some of the pros and cons of using LH2 vs other cryogenic fuels for in-space transportation. I [...]

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Since I’m sick at home today, I figured I’d finally get around to taking Mark to task for some of the stuff he said over at Curmudgeon’s Corner. Mark decided to take Henry Vanderbuilt and Rand Simberg to task for their response to the announced plan: Both gentlemen, incorrectly, think that the VSE is “Apollo [...]

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I realize that over the past several months, ever since I started this blog, I’ve been pretty darn hard on Mike Griffin for the approach he’s been taking with NASA. I usually don’t like ripping on people that much. Griffin is a smart, talented guy. His heart is in the right place even if his [...]

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Before I get into pointing out the flaws I saw on Mark Whittington’s blog the other day, I need to lay a little groundwork. A few weeks ago, I got an email from one of the coauthors of an interesting new book, The Rocket Company. Some of the chapters from the book were initially released [...]

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I stumbled across a witty poem today at Crooked Timber that more or less reflects my mood about the ESAS report: If something can get worse it willIs a phrase I’ve often sardonically usedBut here’s some grist for Mr Murphy’s millI used to be disgustedNow I’m just amused I’ve been thinking about what to say [...]

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