Monthly Archives: April 2009

Light Blogging

This next week is going to be pretty intense. Between trying to finish the mods to our XA-0.1B-750 (aka B-750) vehicle and trying to get it in the air, preparing for a presentation I’m giving at a local AIAA conference … Continue reading

Posted in Administrivia | Leave a comment

RLV Markets III: Counter-Intuitive Ramifications of RLV Passenger Transportation

One of the most common metrics used in discussing new launch vehicles and particularly RLVs is the price in $/lb delivered to LEO. You almost can’t have a discussion about the Space Shuttle, Saturn V, SpaceX, new commercial RLVs, or … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Commercial Space, Launch Vehicles, RLV Markets | 32 Comments

RLV Markets Part II: The Black Aluminum Analogy

[Editor’s Note: It’s been too long since I wrote the first article in this series, and I wanted to write some more on this topic.  My tendency to try to cram everything into one ginormous ominbus post has been almost … Continue reading

Posted in Commercial Space, Launch Vehicles, RLV Markets, Space Transportation, SpaceX, Technology | 37 Comments

Fascinating Article

I was reading my RSS feeds tonight, when I stumbled on this article.  I remember discussing this concept of cycles of history with both my mom, and my brother-in-law.  Jame’s Delong’s description of the “Special Interest State” I think fits … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, NASA, Politics | 1 Comment

Pot-Kettle Comparitive Chromatography

Thus sayeth the esteemed Dr Griffin: Engineers do not deal with “perfect”. Your viewgraphs will always be better than my hardware. A fictional space program will always be faster, better, and cheaper than a real space program. Now…someone remind me … Continue reading

Posted in ESAS, NASA | 3 Comments

CxP Bleg

Does anyone here have solid budget numbers for how much has been spent to-date on the Constellation Program?  Especially Ares-I and Orion?  Just curious.

Posted in ESAS, NASA | 3 Comments

Good For Dr. Griffin

I just saw an news article stating that former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin will be taking a position as a professor at University of Alabama, Huntsville.  In spite of all the disagreements I’ve had over the years with Dr. Griffin’s … Continue reading

Posted in NASA | 1 Comment

Constellation’s Future? [Updated]

Several recent news items paint an interesting budgetary picture for the future of NASA’s preferred approach for spending tens of billions of dollars to send a few government employees to visit the Moon sometime supposedly starting in 2020. The three … Continue reading

Posted in ESAS, Lunar Exploration and Development, NASA, Space Policy | 5 Comments

Peter Yuri Goff

I got a call from Tiff around 10:30am letting me know that she was going into labor.  I raced home and then down to Bakersfield, and the baby arrived at 12:44–about 30min after we got to the hospital (fortunately there … Continue reading

Posted in Family | 31 Comments

Frazzled

It’s been really crazy over the last few weeks.  Tiff’s in her final week now (today was the original due-date).  We just moved apartments to a bigger three-bedroom one in the complex.  I have a new church calling that is … Continue reading

Posted in Administrivia | 1 Comment