Talking Space Radiation Dosimetry at NSRC 2013

I recently had the great pleasure to give a talk (and serve as co-author for a second) at the fourth annual Next Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC), held this year in Boulder, Colorado. As a one-of-a-kind collection of researchers, entrepreneurs, spacecraft providers, students, and government representatives, NSRC’s intent is to foster collaboration of a sort […]

Remembering September 12, 1962

Exactly a half-century ago today, President John F. Kennedy declared in a landmark speech America’s rationale for achieving the impossible: Going to the Moon. And it is in this speech, which we commemmorate on the day after another anniversary marked by such tragedy, in a social climate today burdened with so much loss, strife, and economic depression, […]

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 […]

Red-Letter Day: NASA Astronauts wanted; NSRC spaceflight giveaway

Today has been quite a big day for aspiring astronauts: NASA Seeks New Wave of Astronauts On one hand, NASA finally opened another selection announcement for the next class of astronauts. Until the end of January 2012, anyone with the grit, drive, and the moxie to put their hat in the ring will be stacked up against the best of […]

Future SwRI astronauts stomp on the accelerator

A quick note today on the further development of the worlds’ first commercial scientist-astronauts! The Southwest Research Institute‘s (SwRI) suborbital research program, after its stunning announcement last spring of the purchase of several research seats on upcoming suborbital spaceflights, is showing no signs of slowing. Recently, after their three commercial scientist-astronauts-in-training, (specifically termed payload specialists,) […]

Remembering VentureStar

With the recent developments in new commercial suborbital spaceplanes, (e.g., XCor’s Lynx, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, Sierra Nevada/SpaceDev’s DreamChaser,) my mind is often turned back toward the premier commercial spaceplane of the late-1990s, which inspired many in my generation toward a career in space science in the first place: the venerable VentureStar. With the VentureStar came […]

Dawn of the Corporate Scientist-Astronaut

For those of you who have known me a while, who have had to endure my many rants during the last decade-and-a-half about the future and the promise of corporate space exploration, I have four words: I told you so. It’s with an almost electric sense of expectation that I am pleased to report a […]