T+17: NextSTEP Habitat Prototypes, and the Zombie Centaur
NASA selected six companies, as part of the NextSTEP program, to develop ground prototypes of deep space habitats, and the Centaur could live on as a wet workshop. Orbital ATK pushed OA-5 to late Sept...
17 Aug 201629min
T+16: Moon Express Licensing, and NASA’s Disdain for Artificial Gravity
Moon Express gained government approval for their upcoming mission to win the Google Lunar X Prize. And I go on a rant about artificial gravity and how NASA shrugs it off as unnecessary. Moon Express...
10 Aug 201627min
T+15: More SLS Roadmap Details, and Landed Falcon 9 Static Fires
The roadmap for SLS got a little murkier this week thanks to some additional details in the GAO report regarding its cost and schedule. SpaceX test fired a landed core three times in three days last w...
3 Aug 201617min
T+14: The Post-EM-1 Roadmap for SLS, and Potential Uses for SpaceX’s BFR
Before Mars and exploration-centric talk, I talk about Orbital ATK’s agreement for exclusive use of LMP-103S. Then I take a hard look at the post-EM-1 roadmap for SLS, and theorize some potential uses...
27 Jul 201626min
T+13: SpaceX’s CRS-9 Success, Senate Hearing Recap, and US-Russian Plans for the Moon
SpaceX had a great night launching the CRS-9 mission, and it’s all good signs for their future. The Senate hearing, as I predicted, was focused on maintaining the status quo. US and Russian engineers ...
20 Jul 201625min
T+12: The Competition of Reusability Between Falcon 9, Vulcan, and Ariane 6
Ted Cruz called a hearing on NASA’s space exploration policy in the next president’s administration. The president of France’s CNES discussed some policy statements, and I went on a rant about his tho...
13 Jul 201623min
T+11: SpaceX’s LZ-1 Expansion, Dream Chaser’s UN Ambitions, China and ESA’s Growing Relationship
SpaceX printed a public notice in Florida Today on July 3rd outlining plans for LZ-1 expansion. Sierra Nevada Corporation and the United Nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding future u...
6 Jul 201625min
T+10: Logan Kamperschroer on the Current State and Near Future of Storable Propellants
This week I talked to Logan Kamperschroer, a Graduate Research Assistant at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. Logan’s research focuses on hypergolic rocket fuels—specifi...
29 Jun 201627min
