Saturday (sometimes space) stories! A housemate from Caltech continues to do an excellently detailed job describing his ditch day stack - I may take a page out of his book. This project seems pretty awesome (and related to my area of research), but I wonder if it is any more... [Read More]

With (unedited) headlines like these, no wonder most people don’t find science worthwhile: “Physicists at the University of California at Berkeley are putting Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity to the test with an experiment using electrons.”   “Study: Large volcanoes can produce fast-moving magma”  Here is my version of... [Read More]

I’ve seen some videos in the past couple of days that contrast appealing to the head vs. appealing to the between-the-chin-and-the-navel region.  You should of course, decide for yourself which you find more compelling.  This video very clearly and logically lays out the history of orbital laboratories and the benefits... [Read More]

An interesting observation: The security guards at Ames act far more friendly when I ride in on a bike than when I’m in a car. I say the same things in the same manner (I believe) but the guards are far more jovial when I’m on a bike. There could,... [Read More]

The NewSpace 2013 conference gave me a lot to think about, but more than anything, it hammered home the fact that while we would like to think otherwise, humans are driven by their visceral feelings. At the conference, I listened to several talks and had many conversations where space exploration... [Read More]