Brian Bernhard

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• Commented on Back To The Moon - Minus The Great Big Rocket

  "You want us to get back to the Moon? Gingrich has it right, $10 billion dollars to the first U.S. organization to get three people to the lunar . . ." I support manned missions to the Moon. Anything would...

• Commented on Neil Tyson: Misquoted or Missing The Point?

  I was also taken aback when Dan Goldin stated, at Dryden in 1992, in no uncertain terms that the creation and operation of NASA was in response to the cold war. He went on to explain this included every manned...

• Commented on NASA Has Given Enterprise to New York's TBD Final Location

  Whether such things are affordable, or not, is a matter of national priorities. Talent is available if industry and mentors are actively involved in the process. As a designer of hardware-the-loop/iron-bird systems simulators, I would gladly volunteer my time and...

• Commented on NASA Has Given Enterprise to New York's TBD Final Location

  A better use for the Shuttles would have been to incorporate the vehicle as part of hardware-the-loop/iron-bird space systems simulators at major technolological universities serving as a research, experimentation, and learning tools for engineering and computer science students and faculilty....

• Commented on NASA's New Strategy: Close Its Reference Libraries

  I study technical subjects on a continuous basis. The information available from books is superior to what I can obtain online. Particularly, books published in the 50s and 60s. After the 1970s material starts getting watered down. Sure, some of...

• Commented on Update on NASA's Hidden Fuel Depot Studies

  Fuel depots also provide the additional benefit of establishing the frame work for space infrastructure and continuous operations that can include commercial and multi-national programs. If will be epic to have a manned space tug, based at the station, refuel...

• Commented on NASA Approves SpaceX Launch Abort PDR

  Turning Dreams to Reality as only SpaceX can....

• Commented on NASA Astronaut Andy Thomas is Still Bashing China On The Job

  "They need to be successful to drive us." If the US does not already have the drive from with in, it is doubtful that any external influence is going to change the situation much. Apollo was a non-military, military action...

• Commented on Live Blogging: DARPA's 100 Year Starship Conference

  Robotic missions would be great. They could demonstrate technologies such as the refinement of metal powders and sintering. I have been working with sintered parts and 1/1000 inch tolerance is fairly routine. I understand that a little gravity is needed...

• Commented on Live Blogging: DARPA's 100 Year Starship Conference

  "by the way you assume lunar facility before flexible path missions and or exploitation, you are so early 21st century :) " These flexible path missions will be ad hoc, small, transient and will not contribute much to these larger...

• Commented on Live Blogging: DARPA's 100 Year Starship Conference

  The 100 Year Star ship is an interesting goal. However, unless its simply an academic exercise there should be a few incremental steps in place that may need to come first. These could include; 1. Routine access to space and...

• Commented on SpaceX Unveils Fully Reusable Falcon 9 Plans

  With respect to cross winds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YSYeZ_6Re0 A test flight of Masten Space Systems XA-0.1B-750 before the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, doing a systems checkout and verification on a new aluminum rocket thrust chamber and a tweaked controller. The second...

• Commented on Bolden is "Rooting" For Chinese Success in Space

  Steve: I think you have identified the problem, there is no method left for the US system of government to make decisions and set goals other then a continuous maelstrom of political confrontation. Ex-navy: I did say "good think tank"...

• Commented on UARS Update - Borderline Inept PAO

  I have been wearing my old SkyLab target shirt today....

• Commented on Bolden is "Rooting" For Chinese Success in Space

  "We're all in the same boat, as it were. Earth." Its as though we live on a large inflatable boat adrift in the ocean and alls we can think to do is form into groups and then throw knives at...

• Commented on Bolden is "Rooting" For Chinese Success in Space

  "They need to be successful to drive us." "To drive us" seriously! The USA does not have enough direction and self determination to drive itself. So who is the subordinate then. Geeez! That statement and the flag trampling image are...

• Commented on NASAHackSpace 20 September 2011

  "The original 1970s video on Hackspace also assumes that colonies in Earth orbit will be built from materials mined and manufactured on the moon. Implying moon colonies long before orbital colonies. Seems reasonable to me." YES - thats why we...

• Commented on Found Tatooine, We Have

  Thats right, once technological alien life is discovered it will turn out to be like the alien Wak in the movie Explorers (1985). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explorers_(film)...

• Commented on Found Tatooine, We Have

  Im confident the speculative world you describe exist given the near infinite possibilities. A world could be much smaller then earth and still have plenty of surface area for habitation of a technological species given how large the Earth oceans...

• Commented on Found Tatooine, We Have

  Perhaps something that was the realm of fiction and fantasy has crosed over into reality or vis versa? One could possibly be interesting while the other is guarenteed to be incredibly boring. Guess we will know later today when they...

• Commented on P&W Might Sell Rocketdyne

  America is the greatest {"ODC (overdeveloped country)"} nation on earth and we are going to "CHANGE" that. Restructuring America through "De-Development" http://www.cnsnews.com/node/51702 PS - Beware of angry technologist. “Angry opposition to de-development can be expected from some technologists who are...

• Commented on LRO Offers New Look at Apollo Landing Sites

  As for damaged tapes and data. It may be helpful to take a Fourier transform of the image, mask the noise frequencies and then perform an inverse transform. Would clean up the image greatly with little loss of information. More...

• Commented on DARPA's 100 Year Starship

  Malcolm - I would like to correspond with you in regards to this topic. If interested, please contact me at brian@zz.com...

• Commented on DARPA's 100 Year Starship

  What is needed is a very real sense that the future of humanity is important. Unfortunately, there are no theologies that I am aware of that have reverence for the far future as a central tenet. Conversely many religions promote...

• Commented on DARPA's 100 Year Starship

  Malcom - Great statement! One of the best answers to THE question "WHY?"...

• Commented on DARPA's 100 Year Starship

  The 100YSS is an admirable goal, and one that is needed in order to advance technological civilizations. For what its worth the folks that worked on Gothic Cathedrals had the same problem. Workers that laid the foundation often did not...

• Commented on DARPA's 100 Year Starship

  Because of ITAR and other technological restrictions each organization has become a hermetically sealed entity, each of which must maintain independent technological proficiencies and capabilities. If these technological proficiencies are shared with other companies with in the US there is...

• Commented on DARPA's 100 Year Starship

  This is a great idea in principle but will not work with in the United States due to ITAR restrictions. May be good for other nations however....

• Commented on Confusion About Russian Space Policy

  "A flight to Mars is the strategic goal of Russia's space exploration programs, but the journey to Mars lies through the moon" It would be ironic if the Russians take the US Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) and actually make...

• Commented on Restoring Confidence in Soyuz

  Jim, thats an interstting and valid scenario. I would add one twist. since the Russian Zarya/Zvezda have environmental systems and attitude & orbit control these could be undocked from the ISS and flown as an independent fully Russian space station....