Author Archives: billgamesh

Neoliberalism is best defined as Oligarchs with obscene wealth running the world….and eventually destroying it. It is only a fluke that two such exalted beings, Musk and Bezos, are hobbyists with rockets as their toy of choice. See how that works? While the NewSpace fans think this is working as a path to the future,Continue reading “NewSpace delenda est”

Comments from Parabolic Arc and The Space Review “The reason they’ve had so many failures of the Starship prototypes is that it represents nearly a half-century of development compressed into a short period of time.” Not really the reason at all. It is actually just a space shuttle that takes the external tank into spaceContinue reading “The Shiny Horror”

Stratolaunch Took to Air Two Years Ago Using this monster to get a launch vehicle, and not a very big one, up to around 40,000 feet and 500 miles an hour was never going to pay off. I just do not get how investors get conned into this stuff. The first stage of a launchContinue reading “Every Year 2017”

8:30 The white-obsessed are many and well-armed. I could have told them there were far more people ready for violence than they imagined. I have seen it for years in my workplace.

“OSIP is ESA’s website that enables the submission of novel ideas for space technology and applications.” “Anybody is welcome to submit ideas through OSIP. The platform supports individuals who wish to contribute to European space research and interact with space industry experts. It also encourages ideas from legal entities interested in interacting with ESA and gaining fundingContinue reading “Yet More Parabolic Comments”

Some more Parabolic Arc comments: 1. No “commercial” human-crewed platform will ever exist in LEO as there is no ROI. Notice I did not refer to it as a “space station.” I generally only do that to mock the space station to nowhere. A true space station would have two features; first a massive cosmicContinue reading “Shiny Number Four Blows Up”

Anybody with any practical technical knowledge that has read a stack of books on space travel should understand the basic problems involved. This does not appear to be the case, at least for those who have popular YouTube channels. If you were to pick the way to get human beings down from space in theContinue reading “No Space Planes please”

A very interesting Salon article by Chauncey DeVega: The right-wing “cancel culture” mob has once again grabbed their torches and pitchforks. Their newest target is documentary filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. What is Moore’s most recent offense? In response to Monday’s mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, Moore tweeted “The life of Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa shows that people canContinue reading “Basic Psychology”

Quantum “unconditionally” secured communications make human-crewed combat aircraft obsolete. The most expensive DOD program in history- the F-35- is a boondoggle and the ultimate expression of “pork.” The most incredibly expensive waste of taxpayer dollars is not this single weapon system though, it is the replacement of legacy systems now underway to the tune ofContinue reading “More Parabolic Comments”

How many more billions down the Mars rathole? It is, like LEO, a complete dead end. The snake oil salesmen calling it the next home of humankind are promoting the absurd. Any naked mole rat/humans living in tunnels under Mars would dream of one thing; going back to Earth. Except living for years in aContinue reading “Parabolic Comments”