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• Commented on Has China Been Formally Invited to Join the ISS Program? (Another Update)

  Apparently there is no evidence that the Russians ever asked the Chinese to join the program. Maybe we should....

• Commented on Russian Soyuz-2.1b Launch Failure

  Another attempt at inserting the link , my apologies for the error above....

• Commented on Russian Soyuz-2.1b Launch Failure

  If this was a burn-through on the RD-0124 it is hard to see any immediate solution; this is a 160 bar LOX/hydrocarbon engine so some of its components are operating on thin margins and it is important to figure out...

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

  , we will probably have to wait until the Chinese bring back some of things our NASA astronauts left on the moon before we get directed by our leaders to play 'catch up' again. Where, exactly, will the money come...

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

  What Kraft has said is not that he "opposes" SLS, but that it will be cancelled because America cannot afford it. Consequently the money spent on it will be wasted. A Republican administration would slash budgets for federal projects like...

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

  Unfortunately the value of spinoff is vastly exaggerated. Many of the commonly mentioned examples are apocryphal (velcro, pacemakers) or non-NASA (GPS). The money would produce far more progress if used directly to produce practical advances; ask anyone who submits proposals...

• Commented on News Embargo Inconsistencies

  I would strongly recommend that NASA avoid the embargo problem by publishing only in journals that do not require it or go online immediately with new reports when they are accepted. The embargo is a pointless and obsolete practice. But...

• Commented on NASA's Sprawling Web Presence

  Keith, I agree with a lot of what you say but I am just not sure this is a problem. Creating a massive monolithic bureaucracy to control all NASA websites would not accomplish anything except to generate huge internal administrative...

• Commented on John Grunsfeld is the new SMD Associate Administrator

  Good point. There has been relatively little synergy between HSF and science, particularly space-based observation of both earth and space. The ISS only recently, after more than a decade of operation, obtained a small multispectral camera for observing the earth...

• Commented on Last Minute Commercial Crew Status Meeting

  NASA micromanages engineering and doesn't even seriously debate strategy and goals. One issue that NASA must face is that no contracting arrangement will bring success to Commercial Crew if the Senate $L$ cabal insists that commercial must be hamstrung until...

• Commented on OIG Report on Real Property Master Planning

  What's their point? NASA fails to sell Federal property as soon as Congress cuts funds for the project that is using it? Obviously missions change with time and the land and buildings may be needed again. NASA can't simply buy...

• Commented on Exploration Roadmap Materials Online

  "Assuming Obama is replaced, the NASA management needs to hit the next Administration with a proposal as soon as the Administration arrives." This administration, including Bolden and Garver, had a fairly good proposal. NASA sabotaged it. It's not easy to...

• Commented on NOAA Employees Have More Freedom to Speak Than NASA Employees

  In my experience the PAO "minders" seldom intrude. The big dust-up was over climate change. Hansen wanted to say it was real, Bush believed that allowing him to say it would cause the temperature to increase....

• Commented on Exploration Roadmap Materials Online

  "re-threads from the CxP click at JSC, HQ and LaRC" Is that a click or a clique? I agree the basic problem is the disparity between product (basically lunar surface geology) and cost (hard to determine but certainly >=$6-$10 billion...

• Commented on Mike Griffin's Lukewarm Support for Stratolaunch

  I only met Griffin once, but he seemed pretty arbitrary and inflexible to me. He had his ideas about going to the moon and was not much interested in whether it was either affordable or of any practical value. I...

• Commented on Why is NASA Langley Wasting Time on Cold Fusion Research?

  I agree that there is a real distinction between LENR and "fusion", and that any scientific investigation must be rigorous. Government sponsored research is often the only practical route; when profits are involved objectivity goes out the window. Moreover the...

• Commented on Stratolaunch Systems Unveiled

  Burt Rutan found engine development too expensive for one-off prototypes and has a long tradition of buying whatever jet engines are available and then scaling the aircraft to fit, hence the name "Scaled Composites". In this case they are apparently...

• Commented on Stratolaunch Systems Unveiled

  The wing in the picture might be intended for landing since with the tank empty most of the mass is at the base. For launching (after the transition to rocket propulsion) a wing has little value since drag losses very...

• Commented on Stratolaunch Systems Unveiled

  Thanks for the info Jim, I was not aware of that. It's interesting that at this point the basic concepts behind the DC-X (VTOVL) and the X-34 (aircraft launch) are being aggressively pursued, and the X-37 is actually in orbit...

• Commented on Mike Griffin's Lukewarm Support for Stratolaunch

  The presence of Mike Griffin in this group has induced both controversy and headscratching. He has been attempting to get back into the power game since his ouster (after his crushing of the Shuttle and committing tens of billions to...

• Commented on NASA Uses Flexible Approach Toward Commercial Crew

  Just so they don't cut it to just one; that would give Boeing the whole pie and prices would skyrocket....

• Commented on Stratolaunch Systems Unveiled

  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, eh? A brilliant strategy- but not without risk....

• Commented on Florida: No Space Pork Here (Update)

  THe cost problem is much greater for Constellation/SLS/Orion than for the JWST. For the latter there is only one launch and ops costs are lower. For SLS/Orion there seem to be no estimates of cost beyond the next year or...

• Commented on Whiplash: Mike Griffin's Ever Changing Commercial Space Stance

  I can't believe that someone as competent as Paul Allen would choose to ally himself with someone as self-absorbed as Mike Griffin....

• Commented on Stratolaunch Systems Unveiled

  Pegasus did not have the payload capability needed for commercial operation, and the lack of a larger carrier aircraft was a limiting factor for Orbital. The X-34 project was intended to test the feasibiliy of reusable air launch but NASA...

• Commented on Why is NASA Langley Wasting Time on Cold Fusion Research?

  Having actually read the slides, I would like to ammend my remarks; it seems correct to say that the term "cold fusion" is not accurate. The potential reactions involving neutron capture don't fit the deinition of "fusion" per se, and...

• Commented on Why is NASA Langley Wasting Time on Cold Fusion Research?

  Cold fusion may or may not ever prove a feasible source of energy, however it is not a fairly tale. There are clearly demonstrated cold fusion reactions such as muon capture catalyzed fusion. No currently known cold fusion process produces...

• Commented on Lori Garver Visits Blue Origin

  Lori Garver understands the future of spaceflight. Blue Origin doesn't belong in CCDev3, their VTOVL concepts are years from even getting into orbit, but they should get R&D funds, and I would encourage them to team with SpaceX. Most of...

• Commented on Space Policy: Where Next?

  Triumvarant? SLS, Orion, and ? However I completely agree. The essential point regarding SLS/Orion is not whether one philosophically or politically "supports" or "opposes" it. The essential point is that, regardless of what anyone may think, this program will fail....

• Commented on Space Policy: Where Next?

  It was extremely short-sighted to fire literally everybody with any hands-on experience maintaining reusable launch systems without even bothering to ask then for any important insights they had discovered over 30 years of working with the Shuttle. But then, the...