Why Support Human Spaceflight?

It seems that an eternal question plagues conversations about the future of commercial or governmental spaceflight: “To man (a spacecraft), or not to man?” -This query is one I am often posed when I reveal my own spaceflight ambitions. Many wonder why we bother with the incredible expense of sending humans off-world when critics argue that 1) […]

Escape Trajectory Artifacts at WAC-7

Just a quick update today on something I’ve been excited to talk about for some time: I’ve been working during the past year with Dr. Colleen Beck of the Desert Research Institute on long-term planetary science/space archaeology crossover research, the first fruit of which has just hit the cyberverse. In short, in an upcoming presentation […]

Xenoarchaeology: Reality and Fantasy

Cultural Xenoarchaeology For reasons I can’t immediately explain, (the recent rash of technical publications addressing the concept of “xenoarchaeology” or “non-terrestrial artifacts” nonwithstanding,) there is a tantalizing idea cropping up in a number of recent and upcoming films and television programs. (See: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Prometheus, Ancient Aliens.) This concept, simply, involves the […]

A shotgun blast of suborbital science

I’m pleased to report that I recently had the fortune to represent my spaceflight consulting firm Astrowright as a sponsor of, as well as present research at, the Next-Generation Suborbital Researcher’s Conference this past February 26-29 in Palo Alto, CA. Specifically, after nearly a year of research and client-training-data-mining together with my friend/ballet-dancer/anthropologist/excercise-scientist/astronaut-trainer/partner-in-crime Ashley Boron, our presentations centered this year on our frontier fitness […]

NASTAR: Day 2 – Under Pressure

Today was even more incredible than yesterday. (The camaraderie between those of us in Class #4 is developing as we learn more about one-another, and the time is flying by.) The training is in all respects a dream-made-reality, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. So, alternating coursework and practical training during day two of the NASTAR Center’s […]

NASTAR: Day 1 – Sky High

[[NOTE: I apologize for the 1-day lag. It’s also finals week in grad school.]] Today was truly extraordinary – the training more utilitarian than I could have imagined. I’m still attempting to process it all. The day began with general introductions and a tour of the NASTAR Center along with the extensive onsite manufacturing facilities […]

Paradigm Shift

The Next-generation Suborbital Researcher’s Conference (NSRC) is in full swing, and the momentum here is staggering. We’ve had a very good showing to start and have gained invaluable feedback… and it’s only the first morning. As was mentioned by Dr. Alan Stern earlier this morning, this is Silicon Valley, the year is 1979, and commercial […]

Introducing Astrowright Spaceflight Consulting LLC

This has been nearly impossible for me to keep under my hat for so long, but after nearly a year of preliminary work, I am thrilled to announce that Astrowright Spaceflight Consulting LLC is open for business (www.astrowright.com). So, what is the venture specifically? The firm offers a suite of spaceflight-related services, including orbital and […]

Excalibur back in British Isles!

…commercial spacecraft manufacturer/provider Excalibur Almaz (EA), that is. And they ferried two partially-constructed commercial space stations with them. A primary competitor to Bigelow Aerospace on the commercial space station frontier, EA has leveraged 20th-Century Russian military space technology in a bid to accelerate a fully-functioning private spaceflight program to orbit. Because it is based on […]

Chasing Mars through Eldorado Valley

This past Friday I was fortunate enough to reunite with my friend Dr. Steve Metzger of the Planetary Science Institute (PSI) to participate in another field season of dust-devil-chasing with a platoon of Mars researchers. The crew this year included Dr. Asmin Pathare of PSI, Dr. Lori Fenton of the SETI Institute, Tim Michaels of […]