“If the future does not include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.” — Elon Musk
Me too.
(The link should take you to 34:43 in the video. If it doesn’t, skip to there.)
Space Program
“The situation is truly ironic. With the success of Falcon Heavy, America could be poised right now for a breakthrough into space. The cash available is adequate. What is lacking is intelligent direction. We will never get to Mars if we allow our human-spaceflight program to be run as a random walk.”
Margaret Hamilton
Here’s a short video on Margaret Hamilton, whose software got Apollo to the Moon.
https://www.facebook.com/Stemettes/videos/2026536490697757/?hc_ref=ARQJYrNetvVXOj5hlXOHofdnCDZK_CUZorUdHGPdOLete5WUYl7_IpcbDdVuK9Y4OWk
SLS
A long but interesting article on the questionable future of the NASA Space Launch System.
Buzz on Mars vs the Moon
Just as appropriate today, with NASA turning its attention back to the Moon, as it was eight years ago.
“The agency’s current Vision for Space Exploration will waste decades and hundreds of billions of dollars trying to reach the Moon by 2020—a glorified rehash of what we did 40 years ago. Instead of a steppingstone to Mars, NASA’s current lunar plan is a detour. It will derail our Mars effort, siphoning off money and engineering talent for the next two decades. If we aspire to a long-term human presence on Mars—and I believe that should be our overarching goal for the foreseeable future—we must drastically change our focus.”
-Buzz Aldrin (Popular Mechanics interview, January 5, 2010)
Starman Update
“According to the revised data, Rivkin says, it will take the Tesla about 18.8 months to complete one trip around the sun. This means that the car will reach its farthest distance from Earth in about half that time. The Tesla will cross the orbit of Mars twice per orbit, so Musk is still fulfilling his wish to send his Tesla “to” Mars—it’ll just take a little longer between visits.”
The Atlantic Falcon Heavy Image
I can’t stop looking at this shot of the Falcon Heavy. Is that weird?
Liftoff!
Congratulations SpaceX!
X (formerly Twitter) Falcon Heavy Animation
Here’s what’s on tap for this afternoon, if all goes well.
Launch window opens at 1:30ET.
Hohmann Orbits and Sports Cars
I want to make this clear: SpaceX is not putting a Tesla into orbit around Mars. Not only would that be illegal by international treaty, but it would be technically impossible with the technology SpaceX currently possesses. What SpaceX is doing is putting a Tesla into a Hohmann Transfer Orbit between Earth and Mars that is very similar to the one we will likely use to get humans to that planet. Continue reading “Hohmann Orbits and Sports Cars”