Space exploration needs more antifragility. For those unfamiliar with the concept of antifragility, (this includes the word processor I’m using) here the quick definition from the appropriately titled book, Antifragile:  "Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure,... [Read More]

Today, the asteroid mining company Planetary Resources launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance a publicly accessible space telescope, called ARKYD. It is continuing a trend that I hope will continue: space-centered crowdfunding campaigns.  Some are successful, some less so, but each one further normalizes the idea that the government no... [Read More]

This chain of emails is unaltered except for the removal of identifying information: On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 3:09 PM, Benjamin Reinhardt <[email protected]> wrote: Hello, Would it be possible to get more information regarding the rejection decision on my paper for Conference 2013? Thank you. On Fri, May 3,... [Read More]

If you’ve been paying attention to space news recently, you’ll know there’s a lot of conflict in congress concerning the course that they want NASA to take. It’s like a bunch of small children fighting over a teddy bear – in the same way that the bear isn’t fun for... [Read More]

Today, the NYT writes about yet another bizarre interplay between government and private incentives - in this case, the helium market.  The upshot seems to be that the days of getting a free balloon for getting your braces off might soon be over. A spike in the price of helium... [Read More]