Author Archives: billgamesh

Five years ago one of my first blog posts concerned the deleterious effects of cosmic rays and how this dictated the conditions of Human Space Flight (HSF). This illustration from the 2006 Scientific American article by Eugene Parker should be on the wall of the office of every spacecraft designer. It is an extremely accurateContinue reading “Cosmic Ray Rats Revisited”

So Joe is pushing “flow batteries” and his main example uses Vanadium which is…toxic. There are some large deserts available and a couple thousand square miles of Solar Thermal Mirror Fields would generate enough electricity to help address climate change. Not toxic. No exotic technology. Molten salt is a pretty good option for storage. C’monContinue reading “Energy and Death”

From https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4404/ch10-5.htm [200] Fig. 51. Cross-section of an injector used in experiments with an 89-kN rocket engine using liquid oxygen and regeneratively cooled by the liquid hydrogen. A lightweight design, the injector was a converging showerhead type. Measured performance was 93 percent of theoretical. From Tomazic, Bartoo, and Rollbuhler, NASA TMX-253, Apr. 1960. The yearContinue reading “Open Letter to Bezos”

Well, I have survived the virus so far, but it is not going well at work and I was so burned out when I got off yesterday I called out today. Of course, I might be infected now and it won’t kill me for a couple weeks. Great. I am laying down trying to getContinue reading “Key Technologies”

I binge-watched a series on Amazon Prime a couple months ago called “Counterpart.” Something about it captured my interest and I am not sure quite what. It was a very “deep” plot with people interacting with better or worse versions of themselves from an alternate universe. Probably why it was canceled. Too much to thinkContinue reading “Careful Counterpart”

In my view, space is either going to go a certain way or we are not going. The first deciding factor is whether getting human beings off-world into independent colonies is going to be made the goal. This is actually how it all must start- by everyone agreeing that these survival colonies are the ultimateContinue reading “The Future of Human Space Flight”

800,000 subscribers and over 15,000 views today. Wow. And Paul Shillito managed to get the single most important piece of information concerning space radiation and Human Space Flight…wrong. In 2006 Eugene Parker wrote an article for Scientific American that remains the best popular science guide to “Shielding Space Travelers” from radiation. Parker explains cosmic radiationContinue reading “Curious Droid Envy”

As of this day in history, 27 March 2020, there are this morning 86,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and over a thousand have died. The Mayor of Boston has stated what is needed is a “Consistent Approach.” When this is over in a couple years, and based on the history of theContinue reading “The Consistent Approach”

Evan Vucci/AP/Shutterstock Trump Suggests States Need to Bribe Him With Praise to Get Federal Assistance for COVID-19 “But, you know, it’s a two-way street,” the president said of states desperate for equipment. “They have to treat us well, also.” By RYAN BORT Shocked me…it really did send a chill up my spine. The President saysContinue reading “Two Way Street”

Image: Salon It is possible that many in this country are now beginning to understand exactly what Neoliberalism is all about. Remarks continue to be made to the whole world by politicians and certain wealthy individuals that place money above human lives. They seem to accept this as a matter-of-fact and are unapologetic. Let’s beContinue reading “Making America Sick Again”