AIAA Space convention in Pasadena 2009
Monday sessions
Tuesday sessions: space colonization, people are thinking good stuff. Asking good questions. One, posited a 20 yr lease regime for the moon, but did not describe the mechanism or agency. My paper, of course, posited ceding the ownership of the Moon to the UN, and having a regime of granting parcels to each nation on Earth, to get everybody in the game on an equal footing, and if they want to develop, that's OK, but nobody gets left out, and if they want to lease out their parcel, they can still reap benefits without having to ante up. That lets the tigers go after what they want with clear legal titles.
Went to the colonization technical committee meeting later. I like the people in this group.
Wednesday, spent some time in the space logistics sessions. Descriptions and analysis of logistics for space vehicles and habitats. almost 50 percent of mass shipped to orbit is packaging, ways to reduce packaging mentioned: packaging that can be broken down and reused as pieces of furniture or parts of new habitat construction. Again, I like the people in this group, they are thinking about things that are important. An army marches on its stomach, and when generals get together, they don't talk about strategy and situations, they talk about how to get their men better supplied. And again: "FArming is 20 percent agriculture, and 80 percent fixing stuff that got broke."
Plenary session about the next 10 years for NASA, they had good speakers scheduled, and showed up, but this soon after the Augustine report, all 4 of them spent the time waffling and mouthing platitudes. Somebody commented that there must be good reasons for such bright and dedicated people to intentionally go out of their way to be dull, boring, and evasive.
More as I go back and analyze and download the papers that were interesting.
Tuesday sessions: space colonization, people are thinking good stuff. Asking good questions. One, posited a 20 yr lease regime for the moon, but did not describe the mechanism or agency. My paper, of course, posited ceding the ownership of the Moon to the UN, and having a regime of granting parcels to each nation on Earth, to get everybody in the game on an equal footing, and if they want to develop, that's OK, but nobody gets left out, and if they want to lease out their parcel, they can still reap benefits without having to ante up. That lets the tigers go after what they want with clear legal titles.
Went to the colonization technical committee meeting later. I like the people in this group.
Wednesday, spent some time in the space logistics sessions. Descriptions and analysis of logistics for space vehicles and habitats. almost 50 percent of mass shipped to orbit is packaging, ways to reduce packaging mentioned: packaging that can be broken down and reused as pieces of furniture or parts of new habitat construction. Again, I like the people in this group, they are thinking about things that are important. An army marches on its stomach, and when generals get together, they don't talk about strategy and situations, they talk about how to get their men better supplied. And again: "FArming is 20 percent agriculture, and 80 percent fixing stuff that got broke."
Plenary session about the next 10 years for NASA, they had good speakers scheduled, and showed up, but this soon after the Augustine report, all 4 of them spent the time waffling and mouthing platitudes. Somebody commented that there must be good reasons for such bright and dedicated people to intentionally go out of their way to be dull, boring, and evasive.
More as I go back and analyze and download the papers that were interesting.