SpaceX Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft (Click for more info offsite). Image courtesy of NASA
Elon Musk at SpaceX reviewed some hard dollar numbers which hopefully illustrate why so many NASA insiders, and spectators like me, are excited about commercial space:
The average price of a full-up NASA Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station is $133 million including inflation, or roughly $115m in today’s dollars, and we have a firm, fixed price contract with NASA for 12 missions. This price includes the costs of the Falcon 9 launch, the Dragon spacecraft, all operations, maintenance and overhead, and all of the work required to integrate with the Space Station.
Apples to apples, very rough and unofficial estimate, a Falcon 9 might carry the same tonnage to low earth orbit as a shuttle for less than two-thirds the cost,
future developments could conceivably cut that figure to less than half the cost, and SpaceX is only one of a
growing list of companies that will be competing for NASA business, potentially driving the cost lower still. The faster that happens, the sooner we won't have to make excruciating scientific choices
like this.
- Weirdest Exoplanet Ever, dense as lead and hotter than hell:
55 Cancri e is a forbidding place. You’d weigh three times what you do on Earth. The sun would beat down on you, appearing 65 times bigger in the sky than it does here on Earth, about the size of a big dinner plate held at arm’s length ... And, of course, you’d burst into flame instantly.
- Let us temporarily set science aside and engage in an alternative history thought experiment. A Republican President orders a daring raid that bags bin Laden. The Democrat controlled House chooses not to bring up a resolution commending the individuals who stormed the compound. Would it be the usual right-wing freakout or a full blown shrieking meltdown? [Update 8:38 CDT: NewJeffct says full blown shrieking meltdown with timer on screen showing how long it's been since Dems refused to honor troops]
- Dr Jeff Masters at the Weather Underground posts data and sobering photos on the devastating storms that afflicted the US this week.
- For you marine biologists and assorted lovers of living sciences, behold the deadly box jellyfish, 24 eyes, half a billion years diverged from us bony or shelled or armored critters, a virtual alien among more familiar earthlings.
- Oil prices took a well deserved breather this week, falling over 10% a bbl depending on the specific grade. But they'll be back. And politicians will act surprised, even though thousands of people have been shouting as loud as they can for decades that the long term trend is up, up, up, and into chaotic energy oblivion.