Croney and the Bandit (Or Why Space Needs Full Privatization)

This most definitely is opinion. There must be some doubt about the effectiveness of Alabama Senator Richard Shelby’s legislative poison pill against new space launch providers like SpaceX and Orbital. Another attack has been launched, this time against SpaceX’s credibility of how it builds and operates its rockets. The attack comes from three Representatives (we’ll […]

Where is Space Traffic Control?

In response to this site’s previous posts, my most curious spouse asked a very common-sense question: who controls what gets launched into the Earth’s orbit? For that matter, who controls what rockets get launched? My initial response was that price had controlled the launching of satellites into orbit. There was a time, not too long ago, […]

Is Space Becoming More Accessible for Terrorists?

Part 2 In part 1 of these posts, we noted the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) basically said it was worried that terrorists will put satellites up in space within 31 years from this year. Then the MoD gave examples, which while related to space, weren’t satellites or rockets. The article these posts are based […]

Is Space Becoming More Accessible for Terrorists?

Part 1 Well, somebody has to mention it to sell the papers sometime, and this time it was the Times of India. The story is that the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) is predicting bad guys are going to be able to launch their own nefarious satellites on rockets owned by private companies. Even […]

Google Wants a Piece of Virgin

Another space announcement from Google and Virgin Galactic last week took many folks by surprise. Google is supposed to be in talks with Virgin Galactic, and supposedly wants to buy a small stake in the sub-orbital flight company. One telltale sign of the seriousness of the talks is the companies have signed up and registered […]