Category Archives: Technology

AAS Paper Review: RAAN Agnostic 3-Burn Departure Methodology for Deep Space Missions from LEO Depots (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Jonathan Goff

Ok, picking up where the first part left off, we’ve reviewed the background, methodology, and some general observations on the methodology from our RAAN-agnostic 3-burn departure paper. In this part, I want to go over an interplanetary launch campaign concept … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Space, International Space Collaboration, International Space Competition, Launch Vehicles, Lunar Exploration and Development, Mars, NEOs, Orbital Dynamics, Propellant Depots, Space Transportation, Technology, ULA, Venus | 5 Comments

The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Lunar Transportation Schemes: Part 4–Propellantless Horizontal Soft-Landing Methods

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Jonathan Goff

As mentioned previously in Part 2 of this series, one of the key elements in establishing a lunar beachhead is developing ways to safely and affordably land payloads and people on the lunar surface. In Part 3, we discussed a … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Lunar Transportation Schemes, Space Development, Space Settlement, Space Transportation, Technology | 29 Comments

ESIL-8 Elements of Lunar Commerce Presentation

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Jonathan Goff

I was invited to give a talk on lunar commerce at a Emerging Space Industry Leaders workshop last week hosted by ULA at their Centennial, Colorado campus, and put on by my friends at Advanced Space LLC and the FAA … Continue reading →

Posted in Altius Space Machines, Business, Commercial Space, ISRU, Launch Vehicles, Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, MHD Aerobraking and TPS, NASA, NEOs, Propellant Depots, Space Development, Space Settlement, Space Transportation, SpaceX, Technology, ULA, Variable Gravity | 36 Comments

Random Thoughts: Lunar Magneto-Lithobraking

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Jonathan Goff

One of the big challenges in lunar exploration and development is the amount of delta-V needed get down to the surface and back again. On planets like Earth, and to a lesser extent Mars, spacecraft can dump momentum into the … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunar Commerce, Lunar Exploration and Development, Technology | 21 Comments

A Modest Proposal: the COTS Approach to SLS/Orion

Posted on November 14, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

I came up with an interesting new idea based on the recent press conferences about the successful completion of NASA’s COTS program, Bigelow’s report on the study they did on commercial lunar development, and the SLS/Orion developers discussion of “Removing … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Crew, COTS, Launch Vehicles, NASA, Politics, Space Exploration, Space Policy, Space Transportation, Technology | 22 Comments

Random Thoughts: Integral Payload Fairing Habitats As a Potential Alternative/Competitor to Inflatables?

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

2009 was a busy year for me. Around the same time that we were slogging away at getting Xombie and Xoie prepped for the Lunar Lander Challenge at Masten, and around the time that the Augustine Committee was trying to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bigelow Aerospace, Technology | 16 Comments

DARPA Experimental SpacePlane 1 (XS-1) Program (Updated)

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

Over on twitter today, Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) reported on a new reusable rocket project that will be starting in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office (TTO) next month. Rumor has it that Jess Sponable, the former Program Manager for the DC-X project, … Continue reading →

Posted in Launch Vehicles, Space Transportation, Technology | Tagged | 27 Comments

Random Thought: “Sufficiently Advanced” Propulsion Technology

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

In many discussions of rocket technology, a skeptic will often make some comment about how things would be so much better if we had Warp Drive. But the reality is that we don’t really need Warp Drive for things to … Continue reading →

Posted in Rocket Design Theory, Technology | 14 Comments

Some Blog Post Topics for 2013 (Updated 1/2/13)

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Jonathan Goff

Last month, while in the middle of a technical writing project for work, I tweeted a list of a few blog posts I wanted to write sometime in the near future, and asked some friends to nag me occasionally until … Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia, Altius Space Machines, Bigelow Aerospace, Commercial Space, COTS, Excuses for Light Blogging, ISRU, Launch Vehicles, Lunar Exploration and Development, MHD Aerobraking and TPS, Space Settlement, Space Transportation, SpaceX, Technology, Venus | 9 Comments

Tooting Someone Else’s Horn: Quest Product Development Corp’s Advanced MLI Technologies

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Jonathan Goff

Since I’m not yet ready to talk about some of the neat ideas we have in the hopper at Altius, I figured it might be fun to do some blog posts on some of the cool-but-not-very-well-known space technologies that are … Continue reading →

Posted in Launch Vehicles, Propellant Depots, Technology | 13 Comments