Monthly Archives: November 2008

Lunar Depot-Enabled Multi-Sortie Missions Part II: Centaur-Derived Landers

Posted on November 29, 2008 by Jonathan Goff

As I mentioned in the first post in this series, I wanted to paint the overall picture first, and then flesh out the details as time and interest permits. For this post, I want to discuss an interesting lander concept … Continue reading →

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, Lunar Exploration and Development, NASA, Propellant Depots, Space Transportation | 36 Comments

Fun SpaceX Paper and Presentation

Posted on November 29, 2008 by Jonathan Goff

I just saw two interesting SpaceX documents linked to on NASASpaceflight.com. The first is a paper that was presented at the Fourth Asian Space Conference back in October, and the second is a presentation from the von Braun Symposium, also … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Space, COTS, Launch Vehicles, SpaceX | 13 Comments

Investing in a Spacefaring Future

Posted on November 28, 2008 by Jonathan Goff

When I was a teenager, my dad had me read a small book called “The Richest Man in Babylon”.  It was a good and simple read about personal financial management, set in a fictional background of ancient Babylon.  I think … Continue reading →

Posted in NASA, Space Policy, Technology | 13 Comments

Off to “Check the Oven” [Updated]

Posted on November 26, 2008 by Jonathan Goff

We’ll let you know what flavor we got when we get back… …And it looks like the flavor de jour is another Blueberry. 🙂

Posted in Family | 3 Comments

Lunar Depot-Enabled Multi-Sortie Missions

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Jonathan Goff

I don’t know for sure what it is, but I just don’t have a lot of mental bandwidth anymore these days. I’ve realized that I don’t have as much time or energy to pour over all the details of an … Continue reading →

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, Propellant Depots, Space Development, Space Transportation | 38 Comments

Rotary PDE

Posted on November 23, 2008 by johnhare

guest blogger john hare Once in a while there is a reference to pulse detonation engines for spaceflight. There is usually some claim that they offer major performance advantages, which have yet to be demonstrated. They also eliminate the need … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Stable and Light?

Posted on November 23, 2008 by johnhare

guest blogger john hare My reference on combustion stability goes into great detail on injectors controlling droplet sizes to get them to do what they supposed to.  I really couldn’t follow the reasoning much beyond that it is crucial to get the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

The “Fantasy” of Propellant Depots?

Posted on November 20, 2008 by Jonathan Goff

Space Journalist/Blogger Rob Coppinger wrote an article tonight attempting to debunk “The Fantasy of Propellant Depots“, which he makes out to be some sort of religious mantra in the New Space community.  I will admit that depots are finally starting … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Space, International Space Collaboration, Launch Vehicles, Lunar Commerce, NASA, Propellant Depots, Space Development, Space Policy, Space Transportation | 21 Comments

The long road to the Moon…

Posted on November 17, 2008 by lunadyne

Conference. by guest blogger Ken Howdy All!  I’m back from a long roadtrip to the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG)/International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) Conference on Exploration and Utilization of the Moon (ICEUM) / Space Resources Roundtable (SRR) conference … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Earth Launch with Lunar ‘Fuel’

Posted on November 14, 2008 by johnhare

Some years ago I did a post on using Lunar fuel to raise a sub-orbital vehicle to Earth orbit. One of the comments by sjv linked to a similar concept that had been done several years earlier but much more … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments