Monthly Archives: December 2013

The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Lunar Transportation Schemes: Part 1–Gear Ratios

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

[Note: I haven’t quite finished with my Venus ISRU series, but some of the articles I’ve read over the past few days drew me back to this series on propellantless lunar launch approaches that I started writing four years ago … Continue reading →

Posted in ISRU, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Lunar Transportation Schemes, Space Settlement, Space Transportation | 70 Comments

New Link and Blog Layout Update

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

Earlier today, Trent Waddington tweeted about a blog post about lunar robotics on Hop David’s blog. I’ve interacted with him on NASASpaceflight.com over the years, so decided to check it out. I don’t agree with everything, but it’s well worth … Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 1 Comment

Ender’s Game Movie [Warning: Contains Pedantic Spoilers]

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

So, I finally went to go see the Ender’s Game movie tonight, before it left the theaters. In hind-sight, reading the book cover-to-cover within 48hrs before seeing the movie was probably a bad call. If you haven’t read the book, … Continue reading →

Posted in Movie Review | Tagged | 17 Comments

Penny for NASA (Centennial Challenges)

Posted on December 14, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

I remember the first time I was exposed to the fact that NASA gets less than 1% of the federal budget, and the suggestion that we could do so much more awesome stuff if NASA just got 1% of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Space, NASA, Prizes, Space Policy | 16 Comments

Space Business Blog Article on NewSpace Startup Accelerators

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

Normally I don’t just do a blog post linking to another blog post, but Colin Doughan’s article on NewSpace startup accelerators over on the Space Business Blog is well worth reading. Colin’s a good friend I’ve known for several years, … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Commercial Space, Entrepreneurship, Space Development | Leave a comment

Venusian Acid-Cooked Turkeys, or Why I Still Read Blog Comments…

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

In a world where many blogs and websites are shutting down comment threads, I think we all need the occasional reminder of why we permit comments. Sure, you often learn something new from other people’s inputs, and sometimes get corrected … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Venus | 13 Comments

Venus ISRU: ISRU Development Phases

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

In the last post in this series, we discussed methods for gas phase processing once the easily condenseable atmospheric constituents had been condensed-out. Before continuing on to a discussion about various processes for creating chemical precursors, I thought it would … Continue reading →

Posted in ISRU, Space Settlement, Venus | 19 Comments

Venus ISRU: Gas Phase Processes

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

In the last post, we talked about methods to condense out the five most readily condenseable constituents of the Venusian atmosphere (sulfuric acid, water, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen fluoride). In some ways the next steps of the gas … Continue reading →

Posted in ISRU, Space Settlement, Venus | 14 Comments

Venus ISRU: Condenseables [Updated]

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

[Note: Karl caught an important oversight in the comments. With a concentration of 150ppm and a boiling point of only -10C, Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) should also be considered a condenseable. It’s dew point is likely pretty close to water’s. So … Continue reading →

Posted in ISRU, Space Development, Space Settlement, Venus | 19 Comments

Eating My Broccoli*

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

This is just a sort of public service announcement. I’ve got a lot of ideas for various blog posts right now, but I’m going to try and actually exert a little self-discipline, and finish up with the Venus ISRU series … Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia | 1 Comment