Titan, the New Middle East

Apparently Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth. Maybe we can talk big oil into funding some trips. (That is only a half joke, because new space would certainly jump on that trip).
Written on February 14, 2008 | Posted in Planetary Science, Space Investment, Why Space | No comment

Why NASA? Why Private Space?

Darnell Clayton left a comment on my earlier post of the Wall Street Journals $50 billion Moon base prize idea. Basically he said: "I think it would be better via NASA, that way if something goes wrong, then we have somebody to blame " and " the private sector may have the passion but lack the financial resources for multiple attempts at the prize"

This got me thinking about the NASA cheerleaders vs. the Private Space guys (the IRC as Mark Whittington likes to call them). Is it possible we could view the foundations of their arguments and come to some useful middle ground. (more...)

Written on December 7, 2006 | Posted in NASA, Space Investment, Why Space | No comment

Why I Want to go to Space

To see stuff like this up close:
This is the HiRISE image of the Victoria Crater the Mars Rover Opportunity drove through. Go here for more information.

Written on October 8, 2006 | Posted in Why Space | No comment

Why Space Enthusiasts Make Bad Businessmen

I have finally figured it out. First some background. In 1995, the CEO of a company in Texas that had developed some AutoCad program that make a fortune came and spoke at Auburn’s ACM meeting. He said when he started out he hired a bunch of Harvard MBA’s to manage his engineering [...]

Written on June 5, 2006 | Posted in Blogs, Why Space | No comment