Upstarts in space!

Irene Klotz, Space Coast Florida — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:08:39 GMT

Hi Alan. Nice column. Elon had some interesting things to say about the POTENTIALLY NARROW WINDOW OF TIME for humanity to make the great leap off the planet. Here's a link to an interview I did last week
http://dsc.discovery.com/space/qa/elon-musk-space-x-falcon-dragon.html
Irene K.

Upstarts in space!

Dave Mosher, New York, NY — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:19:24 GMT

Hi Alan - great piece. Now if only I could make a few hundred million to make my own spaceship... ;)
Also, not sure if you also saw this:
http://dsc.discovery.com/space/qa/elon-musk-space-x-falcon-dragon.html

Upstarts in space!

Mike Maxwell, Laurel MD — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:50:57 GMT

So what was the weight of the payload? Was it bigger than a grapefruit? (hint, hint!)

Upstarts in space!

Courtney, Seattle, WA — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:45:18 GMT

amazing! I hope I am alive to see us expand to another planetary body! If NASA had a decent budget and some new blood I think we would already be on our way, and have at least an outpost on the moon. But better late then never I guess....

Upstarts in space!

Bilal Mujahid, Chicago — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:29:41 GMT

I worry about a severe paring back of NASA's budget with this 700 billion dollar bailout.

I would also add that China should also be considered as they seem very interested and are duplicating what the USA and Russia have done over the last 50 years at a very fast clip.

Here's hoping that we are underestimating the achievements of the next 50 years (by more than what the sci-fi writers of the 50s and 60s overestimated where we would be in the early 21st century).

My personal dream is of fusion based propulsion and power . . .we could then use the resources in our solar system to enrich every single human being.

Upstarts in space!

doe John Elttaes, Wash — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:39:49 GMT

Rock On!

Upstarts in space!

Alan Boyle — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:42:22 GMT

Irene and Dave are both pointing to Irene's Q&A with Elon Musk, but that's cool. I'm always glad to hear from my pals at Discovery.com.

Here's where to go for Discovery's coverage of NASA's 50th anniversary:

http://dsc.discovery.com/space/my-take/nasa-50th-birthday.html

In our own coverage, we're linking to some of the footage from a Discovery HD documentary about NASA's Mercury/Gemini/Apollo space missions, "When We Left Earth." This goes back to some video that "Nightly News" ran:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24473708/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25011532/

Anyway, it turns out that the DVD version of "When We Left Earth" was released just this week.

http://dsc.discovery.com/space/my-take/nasa-50th-birthday.html

Mike, the payload on the Falcon 1 (a hexagonal aluminum-alloy chamber nicknamed "Ratsat") weighed 364 pounds. That's weightier than a grapefruit, and in fact weightier than some of the contestants on "The Biggest Loser." So that's something to think about (if you're willing to take a one-way trip to orbit). The Malaysian satellite that SpaceX is due to put into orbit with its next launch (RazakSat) weighs roughly that much, maybe a bit more (reportedly 180 kilograms or so, which translates to 396 pounds).

Upstarts in space!

Mike Harty, Brisbane, Australia — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:33:36 GMT

We have been investigating via hypothenistical computer models the degree of lift/cost equational data available and to our surprise, we discovered it actually costs less in real terms to send a grapefruit into orbit than get it to Antartica.

Upstarts in space!

Robert Sugg, Tampa, FL — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:47:43 GMT

With healthy competition in space tech, I would like to see the Gerard O'Neill/Peter Glaser vision come to be. If we can reduce launch costs from $10,000/pound to more like $100/pound, if we can achieve improvements in telerobotics and photovoltaics, and if we can set up the well-described cis-lunar infrastructure for manufacturing, space-based solar power for a permanent clean energy future and large habitats with correct day/night cycles and gravities to house potentially many millions in free space can be realized. Such activity would align presidential decisions in 5 key areas: space, energy, security, environment, and education, and it would lead to industrial and scientific opportunitites as yet unforeseen. I would like to know why Elon Musk does not support this vision?

Upstarts in space!

Eric, Salinas, CA — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:54:02 GMT

SpaceX has done something most countries, including Iran, can't do and that's put a payload into orbit. Hooray for California innovation!

Upstarts in space!

steve smyth — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:56:47 GMT

GEEKS WITH SATELLITES...YIPES!!!
danger, Will Robinson...

Upstarts in space!

Wayne, Alamogordo, NM — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:13:48 GMT

It's clear with our enormous deficit and with the financial crisis going on right now that NASA's role in space will become smaller and smaller as private industry takes up the slack. Taxpayers are becoming more and more unwilling to spend money on an agency that on the books is a losing proposition. We'll always need NASA and I'm sure they'll continue to make great contributions to space exploration. But I see them taking on mostly an oversite function. This is to be expected considering the current focus on COTS systems, especially for the military. The future of space belongs to the entrepreneurs.

Upstarts in space!

John Reed, Oak Ridge, TN — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:39:30 GMT

It's all still paid for by the taxpayer. This is just the same thing that's been done in the nuclear field since the AEC days. An operating contractor does the actual work and takes the heat if anything goes wrong. (CYA for the government bureaucracy). In more recent times even the operating contractor shirks actual work by subcontracting even further.

Upstarts in space!

OneVoice, Frederick MD — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:55:40 GMT

As usual, thanks for all the great info Alan. Cosmic Log Rocks! Wishing all of the players (Yes China and India too) Best of fortune in their efforts.

Upstarts in space!

Guy S. Newell — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:31:52 GMT

What, nobody mentioned even one starving person? Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person how to fish and they sit out in a boat and drink beer all day. That's why the Peace Corps will always have work.

Upstarts in space!

Frank Glover, Rochester, NY — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:39:19 GMT

"So what was the weight of the payload? Was it bigger than a grapefruit?"

It appears it was a weight equal to the payloads lost on the last launch:

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/10/02/316680/spacex-offers-nasa-80-million-lunar-cargo-lander-service.html

Upstarts in space!

Aegis, McKinney TX — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 22:02:26 GMT

We need more space pirates and less wanna-be space barons.

Get ready for Six Flags Over Earth.

See you, Space Cowboy ...

Upstarts in space!

Frank Stratford — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:37:31 GMT

Congratulations to SpaceX from all of us at MarsDrive on opening a new era of private and lower cost space flight. A rough road may lead to the stars but with men like Elon Musk, we'll get there. Go SpaceX!

Upstarts in space!

Todd, Billerica, MA — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:34:42 GMT

Congrats to SpaceX! I am hoping they can deliver on successful COTS A-C. Then COTS D. :)

Upstarts in space!

JC — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:49:13 GMT

The chinese need to send their next 'spacewalkers' up there with brooms and dustpans and start cleaning up that damn mess they made by missile-ing that old satellite.

Upstarts in space!

Mithridates — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 09:55:04 GMT

Let's see a mission by them to Ceres instead of Mars! Ceres always seems to be ignored in spite of the fact that it's not that much farther out than Mars (and in fact has more frequent launch windows) and has a ton of water underneath the surface. It would be great to see a rover on Ceres after Dawn's encounter with the planet.

Another option is to send a solar flyer to the cloudtops of Venus where the temperature and atmospheric pressure is the same as Earth. See Geoffrey A. Landis' site for information on that.