You’ve seen what passes as journalism these days, right? This is likely up for a Pulitzer!

(Written on 2022/08/24)(Permalink)

Maybe this is also a way to see which overpaid execs they can do without.

(Written on 2022/08/08)(Permalink)

I keep a very close eye on SpaceX. You know that Elon has plans for using Starship as a passenger transport. He would like that revenue to help fund the Mars mission. Imagine being able to get a half way around the world in an hour rather than a day.

(Written on 2022/06/21)(Permalink)

I’m no expert but I said that the plane was either too late or too early. As pressure grows on landing slots at big airports airlines will be forced to rue the day they killed this plane. It was also a shining example of how little say and power passengers have over airlines as anyone who flew this plane loved it.

(Written on 2022/06/21)(Permalink)

And this is the leadership which likes to reward itself with multi-million dollar paychecks, bonuses and stock options for being so incredibly smart.

(Written on 2022/06/10)(Permalink)

Pretty sure that they will have to do another unmanned flight. This issue with thrusters is not an isolated issue. They had to replace the service module because the original had corroded valves in the thruster assembly which meant they could not properly actuate the valves. They spent ages trying to figure out the cause of the issue in the Boeing designed but Aerojet Rocketdyn manufactured parts and couldn’t find root cause. So they just replaced the entire service module. It’s not looking good for Boeing yet.

(Written on 2022/05/24)(Permalink)

Actually I think this is on Boeing’s dime now. It’s a fixed price contract and I head Boeing is already out $500M

(Written on 2022/05/24)(Permalink)

Alas no, I’m just an interested observer of all things space!

(Written on 2022/05/02)(Permalink)

What SpaceX will need to do to make this a reality is to incorporate Super Draco’s in the trunk of the existing Dragon. That’s not going to be easy but I would bet money SpaceX can pull that off quickly. What isn’t quick is the NASA certification of that combination. Whether a desperate need will give a government department a hurry up will remain to be seen, but history isn’t on the side of the ISS for this one. I do wonder whether this is Rogozin mouthing off again and actually they don’t mean it.

(Written on 2022/05/02)(Permalink)

Small problem with all this yahoo-ing folks, the US lacks re-boost capability. This is the requirement to regularly increase the stations speed to maintain orbit and to allow it to dodge incoming space-junk. In other words, it this is true, it ends the life of the ISS pretty much immediately. $100B flushed down the drain!

(Written on 2022/05/02)(Permalink)