Sunday, June 27, 2021
Sunday, June 20, 2021
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Sunday, June 13, 2021
$28 Million US For Three Minutes Of Weightlessness
The FT of
London had a story that caught my eye this morning. It concerned Jeff Bezos and
his upcoming July 15 ride into suborbital space in a Blue Origin space capsule.
An unnamed bidder is going to pay $28 million US to ride in one of the four
seats in the capsule. (The money is going to be donated to a foundation that
promotes Stem Education.) Jeff and his brother will ride in the capsule as well
as an unnamed 4th passenger.
Elena is a master of asking brilliant, yet
simple questions. Her first question about passengers to space is as follows:
"Are
Jeff Bezos or Sir Richard Branson in danger of serious injury or death if
something goes wrong in one of these space flights?"
I pointed out to her that Sir Richard has
virtually no risk when he takes his flight on the spaceplane. If the rocket
motor fails to ignite after the spaceplane is dropped from the carrier plane,
he can glide back to the spaceport and land. Jeff Bezos will be sitting on top
of a flying bomb for the first minute or two of the flight. If something goes
wrong at that early point in the flight, the rocket will crash back on the pad.
We will witness a fiery explosion. NASA demands an abort system in case of a
problem like this. The testing process is rigorous. Will it work if there is a
real disaster? No one can say for sure.
Elena's second question is as follows:
"Are
Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos using the most- advanced technology in these
spacecraft?"
I answered "no." Sir Richard
Branson is using rocket plane technology that has been around since the 1940's.
Jeff Bezos is using space capsule technology that has been around since the
late 1950's. I told her that Space-X is the company always at the leading edge
of technology.
Friday, June 11, 2021
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Sunday, June 6, 2021
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
New NASA Missions To Venus
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-selects-2-missions-to-study-lost-habitable-world-of-venus?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nasajpl&utm_content=daily20210602-2