Progress and sad news on the frontier of private space exploration:
6/9 – Washington Post – SpaceX founder files with government to provide Internet service in space – Continue reading “More news from the open frontier of space travel”
Tag: SpaceX
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 5/29
A few articles on the astoundingly open frontiers of technology and private space exploration.
Technology
5/21 – Popular Mechanics – Brain Implant Lets Teraplegic Man drink Beer with a Robot Arm – Although this is a little bity step, consider what a huge leap it is from what could be done before.
Sensors attached to a man’s head pick up electronic signals corresponding to him wanting to move his arm. Those signals control a robotic arm to move a cup of water up and toward him so that he can take a sip.
Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 5/29”
More good stuff on the open space and technology frontiers – 5/12
Several fun articles on space and one on self-driving trucks
4/18 – Commented previously that SpaceX’s third try to recover a Falcon booster rocket failed. It came down too fast, was unstable, and exploded. SpaceX already knows the problem. Elon Musk sent a tweet on 4/18 that said
Cause of hard rocket landing confirmed as due to slower than expected throttle valve response. Next attempt in 2 months.
Problem identified. I am sure the solution will be implemented 5 or 6 weeks before the next launch.
Very cool.
5/6 – Spaceflight Now – Video: Dragon test articles flies pad abort profile – Continue reading “More good stuff on the open space and technology frontiers – 5/12”
More good stuff on open frontiers – 4/17
The frontiers of private space travel, technology innovations, and the education revolution are amazing to watch. Here are a few articles that caught my eye that I thought are worth a mention of the frontiers that are wide open today:
Space
4/14 – Popular Mechanics – Elon Musk: Falcon 9 Landed “Too Hard for Survival’ – Getting closer to success… The third attempt to land the first stage of SpaceX’s rocket didn’t quite work. The rocket landed on the barge, but apparently hit too hard for the rocket to be reusable. First reports don’t give much more info. The video feed shows the rocket trying to maneuver to the remain completely vertical right before landing, which is probably an indication of some minor issue in addition to too much speed.
A few more tries and then success and then a radical drop in the cost of space flights.
4/15 – Behind the Black – Why SpaceX’s first stage failure is really a magnificent success – Longer video of landing show the rocket was not maintaining straight vertical position. Thus it was wobbly when touching down, fell to the side, and exploded. That is progress. Continue reading “More good stuff on open frontiers – 4/17”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 2/25
A few articles on technology, energy, and publishing that are worth a read and a brief comment.
Publishing
2/10 – Megan McArdle at Bloomberg View – You Want Advice? Don’t Ask Journalists – Journalism as a career path is going through savage turmoil. Want to write in-depth about an industry or topic? She suggests going to work in that industry and find some writing do to there. Then you can go back to journalism if a great opportunity surfaces or your new industry collapses.
Education
2/11 – Chronicle of Higher Education – Meet the New, Self-Appointed MOOC Accreditors: Google and Instagram –
Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 2/25”
More good stuff on the open frontier – 1/17
A few articles on technology, energy, and publishing that are worth a read and a brief comment. Efforts for soft landing to recover a first stage came amazingly close to success.
Worlds far away I’ll never visit
1/9 – Wired – Why the Silk Road Trial Matters – Some background on the upcoming trial of Ross Ulbricht, the alleged mastermind behind Silk Road, which is allegedly one of the first dark markets to sell all sorts of illegal stuff.
Since that is a world I’ll never get within a few light years of, following the case is only way I’ll get hints of what is that planet is like.
Space
Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontier – 1/17”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 1/6
More articles on the open frontiers of technology and private space flight. But first, some downsides of tech misuse and letting the world pass you by.
Downside of tech revolution and change
Not everything is getting better. There is abuse of technology along with quantitative and qualitative decay:
1/2 – Schneier on Security – Doxing as an Attack – New terms you didn’t want to know, but really ought to: doxing –
Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 1/6”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 9/23
Several fun articles on the open frontier of privately designed and funded space flight.
Lacking any convenient place to comment on worlds far away that I can only see with the telescope of a feature news article, I’m adding a new section to my More Good Stuff series of posts. Will call it Worlds far away, as in places I’ve never been and don’t want to approach nearer than a light-year away.
Previous articles along this line have discussed the alien world of allegedly selling huge volumes of illegal drugs on Silk Road and storing huge volumes of questionably legal stuff on-line. Check out:
- 10/9/13 – Followup on one of the worlds I’ll never visit
- 9/23/13 – 2 worlds explored that I’ll never enter
Have another article today that describes another planet I’ve barely heard of.
Worlds far away I’ll never visit
9/16 – The Atlantic – How Gangs Took Over Prisons – Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 9/23”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 9/16
Amazing technology today and the technology that is long gone. Also, a decision soon on private sector spaceship.
Technology
9/13 – Carpe Diem – Video of the day: Awesome machines – Very cool machines automating complex stuff:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c30_1409278220
I like the chicken picker-upper and the huge tree-cutting stuff.
9/11 – Heaven666 – These are the Things Your Kids Will Never Understand – Gotta’ check out the article for the visuals. A few I like:
Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 9/16”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 8/26
Just like the wild west in the late 1800s, the frontiers of private space exploration, energy and technology are wide open. Here are a few of the articles that stretched my understanding of this amazing world we live in. A brief comment on each.
Space
8/21 – Wall Street Journal – Mining Asteroids and Exploiting the New Space Economy – Dr. K. Dean Larson – Asteroids contain water, titanium, iron, platinum, and lots of other resources needed to build things and sustain life in space. What’s the big deal?
Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 8/26”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 6/6
Just like the wild west and homesteading days in the late 1800s, the frontiers of publishing, technology and space are wide open. Here’s a few of the articles that stretched my understanding of this amazing world we live in.
Publishing
6/5 – Daily Beast – Amazon is NOT the Vladimir Putin of the Publishing World – Until now, I’ve not tried to sort out the spat between Amazon and Hachette. Who is Hachette, I hear you ask? They are one of the big publishing house. They are not an issue in my life because they would never, ever talk to a little bitty author with sub-microscopic level of sales like me.
The visible part of the dispute is Amazon posting a higher price on Hachette books, allegedly removing the ‘you can order weeks in advance’ button, shipping slower than arrive-first-thing-tomorrow-morning, and suggesting someone else on the ‘net may have a better price.
Article above explains Hachette wants you and me to pay more and Amazon wants you and me to pay less. What Amazon is doing as a negotiating strategy is offering books at the terms, availability, and prices Hachette wants.
The horrible, cruel, cut-throatedness of Amazon is amusingly described: Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 6/6”
More good stuff on the open frontiers in space and technology – 5-5-14
More good stuff on the space and technology open frontiers – SpaceX trying to get some of the military launches, drones in agriculture, and criminals using tech to steal pot and poach rhinos.
Space
4/25 – Popular Mechanics – SpaceX Sues to Break Spy Satellite Launch Monopoly – Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers in space and technology – 5-5-14”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-20-14
A few articles on technology, energy, and publishing that are worth a read and a brief comment. Reusable first stages of rockets, several updates on Yutu (Chinese lunar rover), commercial drones, lightly armed drones, and another shale field with big potential.
Education
3/4 – The Feed – Home-Schooling for Higher Ed – Mentioned this idea before. How ‘bout hiring a college professor to privately tutor you for your first year of college. Read the article and think about it a few minutes. Intriguing idea, huh?
Space
3/13 – Technology Review – SpaceX Set to Launch the World’s First Reusable Booster – Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-20-14”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-3-14
More good stuff on the open frontiers: energy, space, education, publishing. Good info but only time to summarize in a paragraph:
Education
2-9 – Grumpy Economist – Mooconomics – Superb article assessing current state of MOOCs from a professor who actually taught one. Most of the technology looks like it is still very much version 1.0. Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 3-3-14”
More good stuff on the open frontiers – 12-20-13
It is so exciting to look at the change taking place around us. There’s no better time to be alive and no better time to be engaged in living a full life. Here are a few articles that caught my eye to show the wide open new frontiers. A new space race? Amazon might get avian resistance to their new aerial delivery systems. China puts a rover on the moon.
Space
12-8 – Bloomberg Businessweek – Let the Space Price War Begin – Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 12-20-13”