Random Musings from the Warped Minds of Jonathan Goff, Ken Murphy, John Hare, and Kirk Sorensen
Posted in Commercial Space, International Space Collaboration, Space Development, Technology on Nov 24th, 2009
One of the more interesting modules that was originally going to be part of ISS was the Japanese-built Centrifuge Accomodations Module (CAM). The CAM was designed to provide the facilities for testing the impact of reduced and hypergravity–over a range of 1 milligee up to 2 gees of acceleration–on various biological specimens. Tests on these [...]
Posted in Launch Vehicles, Orbital Access Methodologies, Technology on Nov 18th, 2009
Ok, I’ve been toying with another orbital access methodology, but I wasn’t sure whether to file it under Random Thoughts (which tend to be my more half-baked, far-out ideas) or with the rest of the Orbital Access Methodologies series (which I’ve tried to keep a lot more professional/high-brow). This idea is actually an offshoot of [...]
Posted in Propellant Depots, Space Transportation, Technology, Tuggery on Nov 18th, 2009
Earlier this summer, I stumbled on a fascinating paper while trying to find some quotes for my Space 2009 Propellant Depot paper. The paper I found, Boom Rendezvous Alternative Docking Approach, written by Joseph Bonnometti of MSFC, discussed an interesting alternative to the standard method of bringing spacecraft together. It also provided an interesting insight [...]
Posted in Administrivia on Nov 9th, 2009
I was going to be taking a well-earned vacation this week, now that the LLC stuff has wound down. But apparently I succeeded in destroying my immune system over the past several months, and am not paying for it with a nice case of acute bronchitis. I don’t know if this means more or less [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 8th, 2009
guest blogger john hare One of the big attractions many advocates see in space development is energy. SPS is the green unlimited power of the future, Lunar helium 3 will power fusion here on the ground, and Lunar platinum is the basis for the fuel cell technology of the future. Technically, any or all of [...]
Posted in Administrivia, Lunar Exploration and Development, Propellant Depots, Space Transportation, Technology on Nov 3rd, 2009
Ok, between the trip to DC for the awards ceremony on Thursday, and taking all of next week off for a long-needed vacation, I’m not quite out of the woods yet. But after that I want to get back into blogging. And I have a few topics I’d like to write about, but wanted to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 1st, 2009
guest blogger john hare Many people have a phrase they use about making things happen. ” We need to convince the president that space is crucial.” “We need to make those NASA guys do the right thing.”(Everybody having a different right thing) One from an older generation, “I’ll break them of the habit.” And so [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 1st, 2009
guest blogger john hare The Lunar Lander Challenge contest has really heated up in the last week. One discussion on arocket has been, “what is the next step?” Among the suggestions are flying both legs of the level two without refueling and an accurate landing contest without GPS. Since everybody already knows that I think [...]