What these clowns also fail to realize is how enhanced diversity at NASA can only work to IMPROVE the agency and its efforts to return to the Moon. Read more
George Dvorsky's discussions
George Dvorsky
georgedvorsky
George is a Gizmodo Deputy Editor, specializing in spaceflight, space policy, and space exploration. He has appeared in such publications as NYT, Forbes, Guardian, Slate, and BBC.
@IAmBrett: Good idea, and I’d also like to learn more. To that end, I just sent out an email to SpaceX media relations in hopes of setting up an interview and having them walk me through this and other mitigation techniques they’re trying. The company isn’t good about this stuff, however, so don’t hold your breath. Read more
Years ago, Falcon 9 was “supposed” to perform vertical landings during tests, but it crashed and crashed and crashed. Now it’s the world’s most reliable medium-lift rocket. This is how SpaceX works— it makes iterative improvements based upon the learnings from unsuccessful attempts. That the highly experimental Starshi… Read more
Agreed, 100% this has to happen. Read more
What’s often lost in the discussion is Gwynne Shotwell, the president and COO of SpaceX. My understanding is that she’s largely running the show at SpaceX, and much of the company’s success can be traced back to her. I’m fully confident that Musk still sticks his fingers in places where it’s not wanted, and that he… Read more
Rockets have very little to do with it. What’s needed are superior in-space propulsion and braking schemes. We’ll get there. Read this, for example, under the subhead Pellet-beam propulsion: Read more
Thank you for that, I removed the reference. Read more
One of these days I’ll finally remember to use that phrase in a headline. Read more
Behave yourself. Read more
That’s why I’m here. And you’re welcome. Read more
I think that’s unlikely, as the skip procedure worked to slow the craft down, and from what I know it worked as intended. Without the skip maneuver, gawd only knows how the heat shield would’ve looked. Read more
That was pure cringe, I agree. Read more
The probability of such an outcome was basically nil. Read more
Heh, that’s an interesting point. Read more
The CAIB considered a number of possibilities in its report, including the launch of Atlantis on a rescue mission. Atlantis was slated to launch on March 1, so expediting the launch, along with adding equipment for EVAs, might have been feasible. Certainly, with human lives at stake, an attempt—no matter how… Read more
Not to mention DRACO instrument on DART. Read more
The amount of venting appears to be expected. The FAA wrote in its environmental assessment: “During Starship fuel loading for a static fire engine test of the integrated launch vehicle, SpaceX estimates approximately 7 metric tons of LCH4 would be released to the atmosphere.” Read more
I omitted them because they’re still operational. Read more
It’s only a matter of time before our first true interstellar trip to another star system, and I can almost guarantee that it’ll be done with something like this. Read more
Yeah, if I were to put money where my mouth is, I’d say Starship takes flight in 2023, but I would refrain from making any predictions beyond that. Read more