MSL RTG public hearings today

NASA is holding a pair of public hearings today ion Florida’s Space Coast about the planned use of a nuclear-powered RTG on the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, planned for launch from Cape Canaveral in 2009. The hearings, this afternoon and this evening, “will give area residents a chance to hear NASA’s explanation of the mission, […]

A couple of polls

Yesterday the Coalition for Space Exploration released the results of a Gallup Poll on public interest in the Vision for Space Exploration. The survey is the third in a series dating back to mid-2005 commission by the organization to gauge public interest in the VSE; the release includes results from all three surveys. The results […]

A generational gap in space?

In a detailed review of a conference on the societal impact of space, Dwayne Day discusses a presentation made by Wendell Mendell of NASA/JSC that brought up an interesting point:

However, Mendell also warned of a potential generational gap in visions of space. Younger people no longer have the shared vision of those raised during […]

Cernan on the Vision: familiar arguments

In an op-ed in the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill this week, Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan talks up the Vision for Space Exploration. Cernan strongly supports the Vision, but the arguments are hardly original: “job security for thousands of skilled aerospace workers”, “benefits coming in the form of new technology, medical advances, consumer products”, […]

Orion grumbling in Texas

On Wednesday the state of Texas awarded a $7.5-million grant to Lockheed Martin to help the company establish operations in the state for work on the Orion (formerly CEV) program. The award isn’t surprising, since prior to winning the contract last month the company had won incentives from the state in exchange for putting some […]

US-China space cooperation: the Chinese perspective

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has posted a transcript of a press conference Tuesday with ministry spokesman Qin Gang. One of the reporters at the press conference asked about NASA administrator Mike Griffin’s upcoming trip to China:

Q: The Administrator of NASA will visit China next week. Please brief on his agenda. What does […]

Some questionable commentary

A couple of new commentaries have taken some swings at NASA’s exploration program and NASA in general, but they arguably stand on shaky ground. First up is a piece by Alexander Villacampa on LewRockwell.com. Villacampa, speaking with all the experience of a college sophomore (which he is), argues that NASA should be abolished and space […]

A couple of space policy events this week

All the cool kids, it seems, are in San Jose this week for the AIAA Space 2006 conference. If you, like me, are not one of them and are spending the week in the DC area instead, there are a couple of potential consolation prizes:

On Wednesday at 6 pm John Logsdon will be speaking […]

Some movement on ULA?

Reuters reported Friday afternoon that the Federal Trade Commission may finally be ready in the next few weeks to make a decision on the United Launch Alliance. According to the Reuters article, the Pentagon continues to push for the formation of the ULA (although how hard it’s been lobbying for it is unclear). The FTC […]

A couple of comments about comments

A couple of minor issues have developed in recent weeks regarding the, ah, discussions that take place in the comments of the posts here:

Please be civil in your disagreements. No profanity, please. Do not post copyrighted material in your comments (a link and a very brief excerpt are fine, but reposting entire articles are […]