Will Make Oxygen from Regolith for Food

NASA released it's next centennial challenge today. $250,000 to the group/company/guy in his garage who can "pull at least 11 pounds (5 kilograms) of breathable oxygen from a volcanic ash-derived lunar soil substitute called JSC-1 ... in 8 hours" -- -Tariq Malik Space.com (more...)

NASA Public Affairs Office

If you read Space Pragmatism a lot, you know I am very interested in Public Relations for Space. It occurred to me that before I should judge NASA's PR department, I should do some more research. Here is what I found out. (more...)

Space Station Discontinuance

I find it ironic that News Analyst James Oberg says:
The international space station has flown for years with only an unofficial name, “Alpha.” Now rarely used, and based on an obscure

Nasa’s Change to the CEV Plan

As per Mike Griffin’s request, NASA is setting up a Exploration Systems Architecture Study to speed up the development of the CEV so that there

Space Community Infighting revisited

I would like to back up a little and state my views on space access. Based on the comments I got on my Heavy Lift vs multiple Lift entry, I think I have not made myself clear.

PR at NASA

In the same speech by Mike Griffin (at Spaceref.com), Mike speaks about public relations, a subject I have wrestled with here and in my mind. When asked about PR:

With regard to how the aerospace community can reach out to the public to get them to support the vision for space exploration, Griffin said: “I don’t [...]

Pragmatism at NASA

In reading the report on Mike Griffin’s speech at the Women in Aerospace breakfast (in Spaceref), I found a passage which I think shows Mike and I are on the same page.

Lockheed’s CEV

Popular Mechanics just posted an (intro?) to an article on Lockheed’s CEV team and their design. Pretty sparse, but I guess they want you to buy the magazine (June issue). (From Rand Simberg at Transterrestrial Musings)Looks a lot like an X33/X34 to me. But it doesn’t glide, it drops into [...]