Commercial Spaceflight

Virgin Galactic revealed its SpaceshipTwo and VMS Eve, its mothership, on December 7, signifying how far the dream of space tourism has really come. SpaceshipTwo, now named Enterprise, is the first commercial spacecraft, and is expected to begin service in about a year and half. The company and spaceship are the brainchildren of Richard Branson.

Ion Engines

Ad Astra's Variable Specifc Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR)

 

It seems that in the long run, space exploration or travel will never work with the speeds we have now. Rocket engines using chemical fuels just don't cut it when it comes to traveling far, going to other planets that would take years to get to. Ion engines are not that new of a concept, the idea's been around since the beginning of the 20th century.

Space Debris

Have you ever thought about the problem of space debris? Even if some of the debris in orbit eventually burns up in the atmosphere, there must still be a lot out there, orbiting. I'm surprised we don't hear more stories about collisions with debris, seeing as how even a tiny shard or piece of dust could creaste colossal damage at high speeds. There've been some collisions with satellites, and just imagine how many individual shards and debris that creates. If a floating piece of debris hits a vehicle or a bigger piece of debris, this could create even more, leading to a chain reaction effect.

I think this should be a pretty big goal for space agencies or humans in general about space; in about fifty years of space, we've created millions of pieces of space debris, not to mention the natural space dust already out there. We should at least try to figure out a way to reduce the amount or diverting it... Imagine what would happen if more and more crashes occurred in Earth's orbit, and it became virtually impossible to go out into space without getting hit and even furthering the amount of debris...

Book: Skunk Works

There is a book called Skunk Works, written by Ben Rich who was the head of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works department for a time, and Leo Janos. It is an excellent book recalling the various projects and life of Skunk Works, which started in 1943 as an advanced research and development branch for Lockheed Martin. The book details projects that Ben Rich and Kelly Johnson, the original pioneer of Skunk Works such as the U-2 Spy Plane, the F-117 Blackhawk, and Sr-71 Blackbird.

It's really very interesting to read and hear about the famous projects and planes we all know about on a personal level from one of the men who headed some of these projects and came up with the ideas. I not only learned about the some of the specific aspects of the planes but also came to feel closer and more familiar with the giant projects, through Ben Rich's documentations and feelings.



The book also provides numerous passages from other people to provide other perspectives on the airplanes, such as test pilots and Air Force generals. I truly recommend it to all people who have an interest in airplanes, as it is an excellent read that was engaging and entertaining to read, learning about the starter of basically the definition of advanced R&D branches of companies.

Airplanes or Spacecraft?

We know that both airplanes and spacecraft have had huge influence on our world; and both are probably some of the most important inventions or developments in our world today. But which are most influential?

Since 1903, airplanes have become something we use so much.. What would life be like if we had to wait weeks to travel to another continent? So much more of our lives would be consumed with transportation, not to mention the implications (or lack of) on warfare. But with spacecraft, we've explored some of the things outside of our world - What influence will it have over our future? When we have to think of settling in other planets or something?

Which one is more influential? Or has the potential to be?

Welcome!!

Hello!!
This is officially the first post of the blog Spair Thoughts, a blog about air and space. I'll be updating it about once or twice a week, so keep checking if you're interested in what I'm interested in! I would love any feedback on anything I do, from maintaining the site to thoughts about my latest posts. From space ventures to model airplanes, this blog will cover many things about the world of airplanes and space.