Random Musings from the Warped Minds of Jonathan Goff, Ken Murphy, John Hare, and Kirk Sorensen
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 24th, 2010
guest blogger john hare Anytime a mission, manned or robotic, is proposed to destinations beyond Mars, travel times of years to decades are involved. Efforts to reduce trip times depend on some propulsion system well beyond the capabilities of chemical propulsion. The problem with most proposed systems is either the Isp is still not good [...]
Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, International Space Collaboration, International Space Competition, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, NASA, Space Development, Space Transportation on Jan 21st, 2010
The more I think about the Lunar One-Way-to-Stay concept, the more intriguing it is. Fundamentally, it’s one of the only ways with existing transportation systems to get the cost of early lunar experimentation anywhere near low-enough to be useful and interesting. Ultimately, for thriving two-way cislunar commerce, you need tugs, and depots, and high-flightrate RLVs. [...]
Posted in MSS on Jan 18th, 2010
Here’s an old video from our 195s tethered flight the day before our NGLLC Level 2 competition slot. Winds gusting past 30 knots, and it’s still rock solid. If you count tethered flights, I think it’s the longest duration VTVL flight ever (longer than DC-X or Armadillo): It just goes to show that while every [...]
Posted in NASA on Jan 13th, 2010
One of the more disconcerting rumors mentioned in Florida Today’s article about Obama’s plans for NASA, is the idea of “annual test flights” at KSC, to retain workforce skills. These tests were compared to Ares I-X, and made it sound as though they thought these test flights would be a continuation of the Ares-I program [...]
Posted in Lunar Exploration and Development on Jan 13th, 2010
If you’ve read enough space blogs, forums, and usenet groups, you’ve probably heard of the one-way-to-stay Mars mission, but what most people don’t realize is that in 1961 and ’62 such an approach was also seriously suggested and investigatedfor early lunar missions as well. While this may sound like a historical curiosity, I think the [...]
Posted in Propellant Depots on Jan 12th, 2010
I’ve mentioned, here and in my propellant depot paper, the post-flight cryogenic fluid management experiments ULA carried out on the AV-017 flight this past fall. I don’t have time this morning to comment on it, but I just found out that they have now published some information about the tests carried out and the preliminary [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 1st, 2010
guest blogger john hare We have another year of hope ahead of us, let us do what we can to fulfill that hope and further our dreams for a prosperous new year. For a very long time many of us said that our new years resolution was to be less skilled at crisis management through [...]