Featured Articles

Garrison Keillor is suing the blog MNspeak:A couple weeks ago, this website received, via the appropriately old-fashioned U.S. Postal Service, a cease and desist letter from Garrison Keillor's attorney. Click inside to read the letter and the unfinished saga of...

Today's FARK headline: Today's "I'll never drink again" story brought to you by Denver, where man on painkillers, who hadn't slept for two days because of tooth abscess, decides to have a few beers and go four-wheeling at night in...

Start-up Firm Building New Space Capsule System

No links to this YET - but the October issue of Popular Science reports on a firm called T/Space which is developing, with NASA backing, and some project collaboration with Rutan's Scaled Composites, a capsule system called the CXV or Crew Transfer Vehicle capable of carrying three or four astronauts to low Earth orbit, and returning for a wet landing, like the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo had.

The launcher is an aircraft launched propane & liquid oxygen rocket. The whole emphasis has been on economy and simplicity of design - and seems to be making some real progress - possibly having things ready to go b\y '08 or '09 - an unheard of timeline for NASA projects.

Best of all, this will be privately owned/operated, flying as contractors to NASA, or whoever else wants/needs to get to orbit. Meanwhile, NASA is proceeding with its plans for vehicles to replace the shuttles also apparently based on a larger, more advanced capsule design for personnel, and a heavy lift cargo launcher, for well, cargo. NASA doesn;t plan to be ready to fly before 2012 at best, so the T/Space CVX could fill a gap to help keep the International Space Station in business until then.

The folks at T/Space emphasize that they are NOT building a shuttle replacement - but perhaps a modern replacement for the truly antiquated Soyuz technology.

This is truly good news - the US must maintain an effective capability for space, if for no other reason, to prevent a default ceding of the ultimate high ground to China, Russia, or whoever else goes after it.

Rocky Mountain News excerpt:Seven charges of possible research misconduct leveled against University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill are being forwarded for full investigation, a CU official announced Friday. The allegations, including charges of plagiarism, misuse of others' work, misrepresenting his...

I have had only slight opportunity to watch these hearings. While the statements and questions of the Judiciary Committee members are largely predictable, and in that sense less than interesting, there are some nuggets that reveal certain mindsets. Certainly the...

It's the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Other, better bloggers are marking the occasion, so you don't need me to do it for you. And do you want to know something? I'm letting the whole commemoration pass. Frankly,...

I'm home in Nebraska from South Dakota, and am feeling quite cruddy. When you combine not feeling well with a "catch up" day at work (and add in some household chores you've been letting slide), this is not the way...

From Rush Limbaugh: All right, people say, Rush, what do you mean media scandal? Let me put scandal in quotes. The simplest way, I think, to clue you in as to my thinking is to give you the -- well,...

A Message from tdaxp

Send feedback to danhabbott@gmail.com

Browse the Archives

What's New with the Blogs

South Dakota Blogs

American Blogs

Pro-Freedom, Anti-Terror

South Dakota Blog Alliance

RadioActive Chief, Ryen McClaren, Sibby Online, South Dakota Politics, Straight Talk

tdaxp Blog Network

Jim River Report, tdaxp, Bloglines, Cobuyitaphobia, Junk Politics

Breaking News

South Dakota Mainstream Media

American Mainstream Media

British Mainstream Media

Everyone Else

Jim River Report Archives

1. today
2. this month
3. this year

How Popular is the Jim River Report?