Of course I saw the movie Martian. It was a way to for my students and staff to celebrate our accomplishments after a long year of preparation and execution of the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Space (ISPCS). I will get back to the movie, which we all recommend. It has a lot more […]
Today is the closest New Horizons will get to Pluto
Fear of public speaking is common. The remedy: picture the audience naked. Seriously? That was a cure suggested to me when I was in high school. Like other remedies that don’t work, I had to discover how to cope with fear through trial and error. Early in my career I gave my fair share of […]
The Company You Keep
The company you keep will define the opportunities you meet. Years ago, it seems a lifetime ago, I had a meeting with the Director of the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS), Dr. Peter Wegner. Dr. Wegner had recently arrived at Kirtland Air Force base in Albuquerque to set up Chile Works, a Skunk Works type […]
Small but Mighty: The Cubesat
Small but Mighty: The Cubse Sat Last week I received notification that a proposal we submitted to NASA was funded. We were notified through email: Dear Dr. Hynes, I am pleased to inform you that your proposal, Virtual Telescope for X-ray Observations, was selected for funding in the amount of $749,525. The evaluation was conducted […]
I love being surprised
I love being surprised except when I hate it. On the way back from our recent launch at the spaceport, the 2 New Mexicans in the car agreed, we wanted our out of town guests to experience lunch at Sparkys in Hatch. We spent a year working on this Student Launch campaign with Las Cruces […]
Getting pushed over to the side of the road
Have you ever owned a jalopy and had to push it over to the side of the road? Remember what it’s like, drivers side door open, traffic stopped and you huffing and puffing to get it out of everyone’s way. When I was young my parents did not give me a car when I came […]
The Beauty of Life
Sometimes you have to be alone to reflect on the beauty of life. Where winter is only a rumor in our world here in the desert, it is for us to enjoy this time of year. Let’s be grateful that so many of us have traded in snow shovels for sun screen. When we are […]
Lets talk about the road to success
The Whole Enchilada Fiesta will be without the enchilada. Bummer! I remember going to the Hillsboro Appleless Festival one year. There were no apples, they had a freeze. It was the first year I brought my parents to Hillsboro. I bribed my Dad with a promise of apple pie. They had good pies, he really […]
The waves do not rise, but when the wind blows
The state legislature has been in session for two weeks now. Reports are coming from Santa Fe about southern New Mexico. More debate is occurring about the future of our spaceport. Establishing a new industry like commercial space transportation requires demand for its products and services. Commercial products of the commercial space transportation industry include […]
The Orion Space Capsule
America’s first human space program began in 1959 with the Mercury Program. The Mercury Program’s 3rd mission carried Alan Shepard in the Freedom 7 space capsule one hundred and sixteen miles to space at a speed of fifty one hundred and eighty miles per hour, mission duration was fifteen minutes. That flight took place on […]
