Space Forum / Space Policy / October 2003

Not that it is a particularly _practical_ idea, but if we are able to
keep an astronaut supported in space long enough to mount a
personelled expedition to Mars, it would actually be possible to land
a man on Mercury... and return him safely to Earth.

My Fox column is up:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101623,00.html

http://www.bcentral.com/articles/isyn/default.asp?newsid=2003102115&cobrand=msn&
LID=3800
Watch the word wrap.
Check out number 6.
Jim Davis

Interesting article by a familiar name:
  http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=893
Unfortunately, I disagree with his conclusions.  Specifically:
  I am going to go against all of my advocate friends and advocate a

Every time someone brings up ISRU or Mars Direct, people voice
objections on the basis that it is likely that Martian fines will
cause serious difficulties when it comes to trying to get pure CO2 for
Sabtier reactions. Added to this is usually the argument that Martian

Humanity has always progressed by expanding its range using technology
Technology used this way creates an unknown frontier surrounding the
known
Exploring and exploiting this frontier makes cooperation more valuable

Multiple articles:
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/space/2183599
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20031027_2260.html
http://www.floridatoday.com/columbia/columbiastory21028SPACEPLANE.htm

Anybody know the particulars of this?  I tend to think that
it's a sin to throw away data, but perhaps this is justified.
Also, what were the "inherent problems with the RBV data?"
 Subject: <DATA-PURGE-ALERTS> USGS Landsat RBV Digital Data

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=12876
Wait. . . what's going on? A UNIFIED vision for NASA, Congress and the
Administration? Don't they know that's IMPOSSIBLE!
Now that's realpolitik. No matter if you support or reject OSP, you

An accident during assembly resulted in a NOAA weather satellite
falling over on its side on Sept. 9 at a Lockheed Martin plant in
Sunnyvale, California. I don't recall seeing anything about this
in the news media; I found out about from a science  magazine. Here's

My latest Fox column is up, in which I ruminate on the high cost of
satellites:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,97611,00.html

Need proof that small prizes can stimulate big expenditures of effort
and money into tech research?
It seems DARPA is taking a page from the X-prize's book.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03293/232431.stm

    Just heard news the Chinese have launched about 30 min ago. None
of the ephem services list it yet. Too bad I did not generate a fake set.
Anybody know if the initial ground track takes it near the U.S. West
Coast?

This maybe a rather stupid idea but would it be possible to place a
very large sunshade between Venus and the Sun.
I am imagining an ultra thin reflective surface placed in a stable
orbit position around the Sun. Maybe a mylar disc slowly spinning to

It's not strictly space, but I have a column at TCS today on the
Concorde and the possible future of supersonic flight.
http://www.techcentralstation.com/102403B.html