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• Commented on Visiting Plymouth Rock Via Dual Orions

  Thanks for the link to the White Paper! One aspect that is not addressed is the long term exposure of the human brain to heavy nuclei over several months. Astronauts infrequently experience this aboard the ISS and the brains of...

• Commented on Visiting Plymouth Rock Via Dual Orions

  Where's the mass shielding for the Orion vehicles from galactic radiation and solar events or are these going to be suicide missions? Marcel F. Williams...

• Commented on Rocket Motors to Nowhere?

  The Senate doesn't want to simply throw away what we've learned from the shuttle era and what we've already invested billions in as far as the Constellation program is concerned. And since the Obama administration decided to waste billions building...

• Commented on Video of Today's Solid Rocket Motor Test

  Studies done by both NASA and private research firms have shown that SRBs from NASA and military launches only contribute 725,000 kilograms of toxic chlorine to the atmosphere annually assuming 9 shuttle launches and six Titan launches every year. Private...

• Commented on Send More Money - Or Cut Something Out

  Traveling to Mars or an asteroid is going to require several hundred tonnes of mass shielding in order to protect astronaut's brains from the deleterious effects of heavy nuclei during several months of exposure to galactic radiation. A single trip...

• Commented on SpaceX Gives a Preview of Falcon X and XX

  Excellent points! Bigelow also got it's inflatable space station technology from NASA and the Sierra Nevada Corporation got its Dream Chaser space plane technology from NASA. Boy, NASA just keeps creating more private companies and more jobs:-) Marcel F. Williams...

• Commented on What is the Space Shuttle's True Legacy?

  The Space Shuttle era could have been the greatest space era in American history if it had been coupled with the development of a Shuttle-C. However, we did learn: 1.that a winged vehicle can return safely from orbit (beneficial for...

• Commented on NAC Is Dissatisfied With NASA on Commercial Plans (or lack thereof)

  There is a government airline. Its called the US Air Force. Why? Because the military and private industry have totally different agendas. In space, the government agenda is totally different from that of private industry. The government agenda is to...

• Commented on NAC Is Dissatisfied With NASA on Commercial Plans (or lack thereof)

  There's absolutely nothing wrong with giving private industry money to develop their own manned spaceflight capability for their own private commercial purposes. The problem is with the plan to integrate future private commercial manned spaceflight companies into the government manned...

• Commented on Here We Go Again: Do More With Less

  NASA doesn't build rockets. Their private vendors like Boeing and Lockheed build rockets for them. Boeing was one of the strongest advocates for building a new heavy lift vehicle. But if you think companies like Boeing and Lockheed can't build...

• Commented on Here We Go Again: Do More With Less

  "Days before the compromise was announced, NASA chief Charlie Bolden and Deputy Lori Garver told its two champions -- U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Florida and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas -- that NASA could not finish the proposed new rocket before...

• Commented on Here We Go Again: Do More With Less

  NASA evaluated the the development cost of various heavy lift vehicles last May based on the development cost of the Sidemount shuttle. They determined that the Ares I/V architecture cost 1.8 times that of the Sidemount to develop; a hydrocarbon...

• Commented on Which "Compromise" Will Prevail?

  The Obama administration is really not interested in a manned government space program. Its obvious that they see it as a waste of tax payer dollars that could be better spent on other social programs. So just turning everything over...

• Commented on Full Draft Text of House NASA Authorization Legislation

  The Sidemount offered NASA the opportunity to quickly return to the Moon at an affordable cost. However, since we're currently not going to the Moon, it would seem more logical just to build the inline version. You could probably increase...

• Commented on Obama and Glenn Meet To Talk Space

  Actually, Bigelow would make money since NASA could purchase and assemble the cheap Bigelow space stations for its own purposes: 1. To test the validity of inflatable space stations 2. To serve as a way station for future beyond LEO...

• Commented on Obama and Glenn Meet To Talk Space

  Bigelow needs as many clients for its space stations as possible. And the sooner they can test them with human occupants, the better. Being NASA tested would be excellent advertising for the safety of their space stations. Sorry, but there...

• Commented on Obama and Glenn Meet To Talk Space

  The Space Shuttle is only a $3 billion a year program. We could still use it for ISS missions and also to deploy, assemble, and test the validity of Bigelow types of space stations with real people which NASA could...

• Commented on White House/ Senate Compromise Reaction

  I agree CessnaDriver! Once we have a heavy lift vehicle and a crew exploratory vehicle already built then everything else becomes a lot easier to fund and to develop because you no longer have to fund everything all at once....

• Commented on Senate Rejects Obama's Space Plan

  " A more cautious approach to commercial crew taxis. Nelson said that $6 billion Obama wants to help ready commercial rockets and spacecraft for human flight would be spread out over six years instead of five, adopting a "walk before...

• Commented on CSF and Human Spaceflight Misperceptions

  Myth: Turning over LEO activities to private industry will allow NASA to focus funds on manned space missions beyond LEO. Fact: The administration is actually going to increase the ISS budget to $3 billion annually by 2014. The only way...

• Commented on Senate Prepares To Throw Road Block At NASA Policy

  Congress is not going to allow an increasingly unpopular President to trash the government's manned space program-- especially a President that has shown so little interest in the program. Many in Congress will probably still be in office long after...

• Commented on USA Layoffs Announced

  The Space Shuttle is a powerful symbol of US preeminence in space and in science and technology. But with nothing to replace it, this will send a powerful signal to the rest of the world that America is in decline....

• Commented on Why Didn't Bolden Just Say So In The First Place?

  Since the Obama administration appears to be trying to turn NASA into a make-work program, what do we expect? Mr. Bolden should be meeting with important Congressional leaders on both sides about the future of NASA and manned spaceflight, not...

• Commented on Charlie Bolden: Stealth Middle East Diplomat?

  I assume that Mars First advocates actually want people to land on Mars. And that's going to be a lot more difficult to do and probably a lot more expensive than landing on the Moon. But no government, or governments,...

• Commented on Charlie Bolden: Stealth Middle East Diplomat?

  The Moon is much more economically viable than Mars since there's plenty of oxygen in the regolith (~40%) plus there are hydrogen resources in the form of water at the poles for resupplying fuel depots within cis-lunar space. Traveling to...

• Commented on Charlie Bolden: Stealth Middle East Diplomat?

  Once again, Bolden and the administration continue to perpetuate the myth that the US can't afford to go any place in the solar system by ourselves because its just too expensive. The NASA budget is tiny compared to most other...

• Commented on White House on Space: Ready, Fire, Aim

  The Moon does not belong to private industry. It belongs to the people of this planet. Governments will eventually decide what areas on the Moon that they will allow private industry to exploit. Private companies will be glad to see...

• Commented on More Water Ice Found On The Moon

  The Moon is just begging us to exploit its resources in order to supply fuel depots within cis-lunar space with all of the oxygen and hydrogen that they could ever need. And this could dramatically lower the cost of space...

• Commented on White House on Space: Ready, Fire, Aim

  "That is the point. NASA does not do exploitation. That is private industry's job." The problem is, private industry is only getting $1.2 billion a year from a $18 to $19 billion a year NASA budget. If this is all...

• Commented on White House on Space: Ready, Fire, Aim

  Apollo showed us that we could get to the Moon. The next step should have been a lunar base so that we could exploit lunar resources in order to reduce the cost of space travel. But Nixon trapped NASA at...