In the picture in the article, the little extension on the right is the radiator.

This Scott Manley video explores the topic. I think it was released before this update and used a smaller bus for the example, but you get the idea.

https://youtu.be/FlQYU3m1e80

Hopefully it pans out. I was worried the site would be pretty far north, but Canso is at 45.34° N, which is on par with the Russian launch sites of Baikonur at 45.96° N and Vostochny at 51.88° N.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rocket_launch_sites

Starbase, TX

Only if the supply goes up, and all the companies laser focused on quarterly returns have been pumping the brakes on their EV rollouts…

This could reveal the future or end of Gateway.

I’m hoping they pull off a pivot to the international partners working on modules for a surface base.

A Lunar tollbooth shouldn’t be part of a sustainable Lunar surface architecture (unless it’s a gas station for reusable landers or transfer vehicles), but the sci-fi nerd in me still wants a Lunar orbital station for the cool factor.

This is a great opportunity for ESA astronauts and should be a nice productivity boost for the station. I’m a little skeptical of the value of some of the private 2-week missions to ISS that border on tourism for some of the Dragon riders, but this fully professional astronaut crew should be much more positive.

I do wonder how much this will cost ($200 mil+ ?) and whether that money could have made a difference on European capsule development, but that’s a whole can of worms.

I didn’t expect this one, but I’m pretty excited for it! A 1 month professional astronaut crew is a great addition to the ISS for productivity and experience. The sleeping quarters might get dicey with 11 crew and I believe only 8 bunks, but they’ll make it work.

The non-NASA Crew Dragon missions now include Axiom-5, Vast-1, and EPIC to the ISS, plus Haven-1 to the first Vast station module. Exciting times.

At least they still have a few Atlas Vs to fly for Amazon in the meantime, but this whole SRB saga is really dragging out. I really hope we don’t end up regretting giving ULA the new SLS upper stage.

So now the asteroid mining race is afoot between Transastra and Astroforge!

I like that the article included Osiris-Rex. Asteroid sample return is possible, so the challenge now is scaling up and processing materials in space.

I agree that this announcement is just another Musk hype cycle, and I can’t wait for a bunch of “AI” companies to crash and burn.

What I meant with the 5-10 year comment was that if people still insist on spending money on data centers, we might reach a point where falling launch costs, lighter radiator systems, and more available and cheap satellite components make it feasible for a space based server rack to have lower lifetime costs and be less of a headache than a terrestrial one.

A physics problem might be easier than a regulatory one. Big radiators are an acceptable solution if there are multiple reusable super heavy lift launch vehicles.

I’m actually starting to come around on the feasibility of space data centers. I don’t think we’re there yet, but in 5-10 years I feel like the equation might work. “Free” cooling from new lighter radiators and cooling loops, “free” solar power, no land acquisition, no building permits, no building construction, etc., is all worth something.

There are some beaches to the south that would probably work. I was working on base at the time and watched from somewhere on the north half of base that isn’t open to the public.

Personally, I’ve only been to some very foggy Falcon 9 launches at Vandenberg and heard a Shuttle coming in to land in Florida.

The closest launch sites to me now are Spaceport America (more of an airport) and Blue Origin’s suborbital site in Texas, but I didn’t make it down there before they canceled the program.

I definitely need to make the trip to Starbase for a launch. I would also love to watch an SLS launch.

Ok, so

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Plowshare

I meannnn I’m sure ULA will find a way to disappoint us with the Centaur V based SLS upper stage, but hopefully less than Boeing

I hope they contract Lunar Terrain Vehicles soon. I’d love to see the Astrolab’s FLEX and Lunar Outpost’s Lunar Dawn vehicles both make the cut.

Brendan Carr is the PoS who took Jimmy Kimmel off the air and seems to love media consolidation. I’m not exactly a big fan.

On this issue, I don’t mind him calling out Amazon on their BS. It’s a bit reminiscent of Bridenstine trying to put some pressure on commercial crew contractors when he was NASA administrator.

I like Coco and Fred.

Utah already has FrontRunner, but that would have been a good one.

An incredible flex after Artemis 3 would be for the landers to perform a TLI and Lunar landing to really make you question the worth of Orion.