Category Archives: Space Transportation

A Tether Technology Anniversary

Posted on February 16, 2010 by Kirk Sorensen

Rotating momentum-exchange tethers are a very exciting technology, but one of my first thoughts after being exposed to the technology was the tricky rendezvous. The space industry has spent all kinds of money and time on satellite rendezvous, and these … Continue reading →

Posted in Space Tethers, Space Transportation, Technology | 8 Comments

MHD Aerobraking and Thermal Protection Part I: Introduction

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Jonathan Goff

I’ve been meaning to write for a while about a rather fascinating, but not very well known, area of research that I think might have significant implications for several areas of space transportation. The research I am referring to is … Continue reading →

Posted in Launch Vehicles, Lunar Exploration and Development, MHD Aerobraking and TPS, Space Transportation, Technology | 31 Comments

Random Thoughts: Game-Changing HLV/Propulsion Technologies

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Jonathan Goff

One of the reasons I haven’t blogged much about my reactions to the President’s NASA budget proposal is because I’ve been doing a lot of commenting over at NASASpaceflight.com.  I just realized that my latest post could actually serve pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Launch Vehicles, NASA, Space Transportation, Thrust Augmented Nozzles | 25 Comments

More Random “Lunar One-Way-to-Stay” Thoughts: A Business Case?

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Jonathan Goff

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, International Space Collaboration, International Space Competition, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, NASA, Space Development, Space Transportation | 26 Comments

MXER Tether Intro #1: Simple Untapered Tethers

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Kirk Sorensen

So I’ve started out telling you that momentum-exchange tethers are great. Why? you might ask. Well, because a spinning momentum-exchange tether is capable of transferring a fair fraction of the orbital energy and angular momentum in its orbit to a … Continue reading →

Posted in Space Tethers, Space Transportation, Technology | Leave a comment

Momentum Exchange Tethers — An Introduction

Posted on December 3, 2009 by Kirk Sorensen

Anyone who’s interested in going to the Moon ought to take a serious look at the technology of momentum-exchange tethers. My own interest began back in 1998, when as a summer intern on the X-33 program at Lockheed Martin Skunk … Continue reading →

Posted in Space Tethers, Space Transportation, Technology | 10 Comments

Skribit Housecleaning: Virtual SSTO w/ Drop Tanks, Biamese Vehicles, and Sea Dragon

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Jonathan Goff

I want to clean out some of the Skribit suggestions that I’ve been neglecting for a while. Some of these may end up somewhat brief, but I wanted to at least try to be responsive. Drop Tanks to Enable SSTO? … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Space, Launch Vehicles, Space Transportation, Thrust Augmented Nozzles | 38 Comments

Some Boom Rendezvous Videos

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Jonathan Goff

Kirk sent me the link to these yesterday, but I didn’t have time to blog them yet.  These should hopefully give you a better idea of what we’re talking about.  If you have time, the other videos on his youtube … Continue reading →

Posted in Space Transportation, Technology | 4 Comments

Boom-Rendezvous: A Path Not-Yet Taken

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Jonathan Goff

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Propellant Depots, Space Transportation, Technology, Tuggery | 17 Comments

Skribit Bypass Operation

Posted on November 3, 2009 by Jonathan Goff

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia, Lunar Exploration and Development, Propellant Depots, Space Transportation, Technology | 19 Comments