SpaceX a Catalyst for Change to European Space Launch

Most of this site’s readers are somewhat familiar with the kerfuffle concerning SpaceX and the US government’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) contract. For those who aren’t, there are quite a few sources for the story, including this site. But the US government isn’t the only one on the defensive from SpaceX’s aggressive launch development program […]

Nigerian Space Experts Sound Like Chicken Little

Sometime last month I posted an article about Nigeria’s space program. Lo and behold, there’s another Nigerian space story, but this time it’s a story attempting to raise alarm bells about the possibility of losing a satellite. So I looked at the story a little more closely. It turns out that this story involves a lot of […]

Other People’s Money–How the DoD Spends Yours On Space

What you’re about to read are my opinions, based on experiences with government, both as the government military and as a contractor. I am also taking the history of DoD space acquisitions, including relevant Government Accountability Office reports, into account to inform my opinion. My contention is: whatever the Department of Defense is saying they’re planning with […]

Low-cost Mars Probe Hack: Jugaad To Be Kidding Me

Americans pride themselves on entrepreneurship, independence, ingenuity, and can-do traits. And there’s historical and current evidence of those traits to support that pride. The Indians, however, seem to be quickly adopting these “American” traits, but at less expense. Or maybe the traits have always been present in India, but something was suppressing them for a long […]

The Future of Satellite Maintenance?

Prepare to be blown away. The absolute coolness of the video below, if we were using Top Gear’s “Cool Wall,” would put it beyond “Sub-Zero” to “Absolute Zero.” The video doesn’t really say anything about satellites, so you might be wondering, “Why is this video on this blog?” Here’s my answer: what you’re seeing is possibly the […]