A short post today due to:

 A)   Having a lot of fun tuning the control gains on the MTF (microgravity test facility – the official acronym even though I’d rather call it the MTA: microgravity test assembly), that now has vaguely working feedback.  There’s something very satisfying about the ability to move a huge crane system around by poking on it with the edge of a piece of paper.

B)   A bunch of time spent at the NewSpace 2013 conference. It was quite fun to be around tons of people who also seem to be trying to do a tightrope walk along the tinfoil hat line. My response to a lot of what I saw and heard was “that’s freaking awesome … if it works.” A smattering of examples:

Spacesuit components

reconfigurable, scalable space modules,

space-certified 3D printers,

space industry video games (Sim Private Space Company)

Tea Party..in Spaaaace (no seriously, that’s what they call themselves)