Space Forum / Space Policy / March 2006

 Though I'm not sure of this, artificial or spin gravity's field toward an
outer rim, in addition to all other benefits to life, should act to energize
the outer rim's shielding mass of a spinning space station or space colony,
or what-have-you, to greater massiveness than one ...

I know I should probably wait for the official statement from spacex,
but I will speculate on the cause of the failure anyway.
I just looked at the video again after downloading it from
nasaspaceflight.

 Why colonize space? Because we are dealing in absolutes. We are dealing in
returns, increasing returns (the frontiers and resources of the solar system
and beyond that a possibly unlimited Universe) over diminishing returns (the
ever growing, ever increasing weight of, ...

It's a truism that aerospace spending is concentrated in the Sunbelt;
still interesting to know just *how* concentrated. From  RAND's 2005
"Tracking Federal Procurement and R&D Spending in the Aerospace
Sector," covering the decade 1993-2003:

From Space.com
http://space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_060320.html
NASA loking at using RS-68 instead of Shuttle engines
for heavy lift.

Found this little snippet on Flight International today (excuse the wordwrap):
http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/03/28/Navigation/200/205707/Kennedy+re
adies+for+CEV+lift-offs+.html
Rumour has it, PorkLauncher 1B will at least be test flown from LC-40.
The same article ...

What ever became of the nuclear rockets? I know NASA and the Air Force
had them under development then they stopped work on them. I know the
risk involved with doing with a nuclear rocket is going to make
launches from KSC or Vanderburd iffy but why not go the route of

The USPS stagecoach carrying the March 6 AWST (the Blackstar issue)
just arrived, and I think we have a strong candidate for the 2006 Non
Sequitur of the Year award.
On p.45, there's a picture caption that reads, "Iridium flares -

NASA rushes plan to send humans to moon, Mars, despite doubts
By ROBERT S. BOYD
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - NASA is racing to carry out President Bush's costly vision

I'm serious now. Art Bell sent me his time machine plans.
Examples:
Good request: "Prevent cancellation of Dyna-Soar program."
Bad request: "Prevent Dan Goldin's parents from meeting."

Obviously historical comparisons have their weaknesses, but with that
caveat, what does the commercial passenger space industry look like to
you?  More like the begining of the airline industry, or more like the
development of the supersonic aircraft by the US,Europe and Russia in

Maybe the unit for isp should be changed to say nanoseconds? So all
isp gets multiplied by 10^9 and everybody anting to see large
isp in their rocket design will be happy...

Less than two hours now:
http://www.spacex.com/?content=webcast

Getting to Mars would  definately have been possible now if we had made
it a priority.
We might not be able to survive on Mars.
We probably wont be able to get back.

I couldn't get onto the streaming video.
At least it didn't take out the launch pad.
Wait, it doesn't have a launch pad!
http://cosmic.lifeform.org