Ed

Recent Actions

• Commented on Plan B For Outer Space

  @Maxwell and David44149 Agreed. Backing both horses is the logical course and this is what Griffin was doing. The problem is cost but Griffin had no choice. He had to embark on building a rocket (leaving aside how he went...

• Commented on Plan B For Outer Space

  Projects always overrun, whoever controls them, but that's not the point. If a government project overruns it can always continue. The government has deep pockets and there is always a good argument against giving up on the investment. Musk and...

• Commented on Orion Under Siege

  Is there any technical reason - as opposed to commercial - why the Orion or Constellation teams could not do a management buy out and compete for COTS funding?...

• Commented on New Space Policy: Radical or Necessary?

  This is the same the old buy vs. build argument which IT departments everywhere go through. If you build, you retain and grow your coveted skills, you get a bespoke solution, exactly what you want and you understand every last...

• Commented on Congressional Flak on NASA's Plans

  So, let's get this clear: US lawmakers are criticising a strategy because it depends on US entrepreneurs, denigrating this as 'faith based'. Gobsmacked, as the British tabloid newspapers say. Betting on business interests is certainly a risk but a bold...

• Commented on Center Directors No Longer Report to Scolese

  By my count that's at least 17 additional direct reports. Either the man is super human or these guys just got a whole lot more autonomy and/or he is expecting genuine team work from a level which, in most organizations...

• Commented on Space Policy: Go Boldly

  Interesting and thoughtful article. One thing that sticks out though is the phrase "For those who have a passion for the human explorer". This is a real shibboleth for the debate. With human exploration, either people get it or they...

• Commented on Restless in Huntsville, Houston, and on the Hill

  "We are going to fight, fight, fight to ensure that the next person who steps on the moon is an American." This is just re-fighting old battles. The next step has to be different, whatever the chosen destination. Remember:...

• Commented on No ESAS-2 Needed

  Without the baggage of US politics this sounds really quite exciting. Constellation always looked like Flags and Footprints v2.0 to me. Getting nowhere at huge expense. And if the cis-lunar and inner solar system trips don't sound as good as...

• Commented on Hanley Changes His Story On Ares 1 Safety - Again

  A risk manager writes... "there have been advances in engineering risk assessments and that supercomputer analyses say that the ultimate risk of losing a crew aboard Ares I would be just 1-in-2,800." The result sounds oddly precise. 'Advances in engineering...

• Commented on The Flexible Path Ahead

  Pace Paul and Ben, but it seems to me that the rational and logical plan we need is all about capabilities and that destinations are secondary. As a destination EML1 may be pointless, but not necessarily as a waypoint on...