Space, Transparency, and MH370

The Atlantic’s Ari Schulman has a terrific explanation regarding Inmarsat’s analysis of the “pings” their geostationary satellite received from Malaysian Airlines flight 370. Of more interest, the article also talks about why Inmarsat’s analysis may be incorrect. There are some puzzling problems with the data Inmarsat produced. The “ping” doppler values appear to be positive, […]

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 […]

A SmallSat/MicroSat Drama Unfolding Above The Earth

It seems there’s a potential setback for the Maker satellite movement above our heads: the Kicksat cube satellite is experiencing difficulties. According to a May 3 update on Kicksat’s website, the Kicksat’s watchdog timer experienced a hard reset. The watchdog timer is a sort of failsafe all satellites have on-board. It’s meant to protect the spacecraft […]

SpaceX News: An F9R video and Letters from Senator McCain

Here are two little “love letters” from Senator McCain. One is to the Secretary of the Air Force, the other to the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG). The gist of both is that he takes issue with the United States Air Force’s arguments for cutting down the number of available launches in the EELV contract […]

SpaceX and the ULA: Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla?

Maybe it’s more David and Goliath, but I prefer the imagery of two rocket manufacturers duking it out as Japanese Kaijin, “Pacific Rim”-style. But who is who? This latest Spacenews.com post hosts the written exchanges between SpaceX’s Elon Musk, and United Launch Alliance’s Michael Gass. These questions and answers were requested by the Senate Committee on Approprations’ […]