A few months ago, the editors at Quillette asked me to review Robert Zubrin's newest book "The New World on Mars: What We Can Create on the Red Planet and Why We Must." As a fan of Zubrin's work, I wasn't surprised that I enjoyed the book. But I was pleased and amused to find echoes of work I had done as far back as high school in the 1970s, … [Read more...]
7th Interstellar Symposium
June 18, 2021 by
This fall, Tucson is going to be hosting two awesome symposia back-to-back (they're even at the same hotel): NASA NIAC Symposium NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is "NASA's DARPA"... the place where the space agency funds ideas that are too difficult, too far out, or too nearly-crazy to make it through the more buttoned-down … [Read more...]
Old Pueblo, New Space
November 22, 2020 by
David Wichner at the Arizona Daily Star has written a great article… but the headline writer missed a great opportunity to label it simply “Old Pueblo, New Space.” It mentions the Arizona Space Business Roundtable, as well as several of our former (and future) speakers. It’s nice to have something to point to when non-specialists ask you “So what’s … [Read more...]
Sonoran Desert Spaceport
June 9, 2020 by
After decades of failed promises and false starts, we finally have a thriving space launch industry emerging from new and traditional players in the United States and abroad. Multiple satellite operators—including Google, SpaceX, Amazon, Iridium, and more—have the financial wherewithal to develop constellations of hundreds or thousands of small … [Read more...]
Tucson and the U.S. Space Force
May 31, 2020 by
This is Part IV of "Tucson after the Coronavirus"… but it's not really triggered by COVID-19. The idea of bringing substantial Space Force operations to Tucson has been a hobbyhorse of mine for a couple of years now. This series of posts is engaging in a little soul-searching about how Tucson will recover from the pandemic, and we've already looked … [Read more...]
Back to the Moon
September 4, 2016 by
DragonCon is enormous. If you haven't been there, you have no idea how big it is. But, over in the Hilton, is a small (but overstuffed) set of conference rooms that host the "Reality Tracks." These tracks are for a different kind of fan… those who want to build science fiction, not just read about it. … [Read more...]
My Talks at DragonCon 2016
August 24, 2016 by
My annual post in response to the people asking me "What are you talking about at DragonCon this year?" … [Read more...]
Michael Griffin on Commercial Space
February 22, 2016 by
If you've been hanging around the space business for a while, you've heard of Michael Griffin. You may love him, you may hate him, but you're probably not neutral about him. … [Read more...]
Spaceport Camden Legislation
February 16, 2016 by
Last Monday, I attended a hearing at the Capitol on House Bill 734, the Georgia Space Flight Act. This legislation is being led by representatives from southeastern Georgia, the proposed site of Spaceport Camden. (You can read more about the spaceport at http://spaceportcamden.us/.) … [Read more...]
The Martian
September 29, 2015 by
Why am I using my monthly newsletter column to talk about a Matt Damon movie? Because it's relevant to Georgia Tech. Last week, I was fortunate to score a handful of passes to an advance screening of "The Martian." Unless you've been living under a rock, you know this is Ridley Scott's new big-budget movie starring Matt Damon as a NASA astronaut … [Read more...]
