It's in Our DNA
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Thousands of years ago, a man left the fire and risked all. Thousands of years later, a whole people crossed a bridge to an unknown land. What would happened if we ever stopped?
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The Space Tricycle
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To understand the Gravity Well, just for a moment stop thinking of it as a well. Imagine instead a bowl-shaped valley, and a little kid riding a tricycle on the sidewalk.
Read MoreYou Can't Budget Space in a Year
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The most efficient way to execute a project is to undertake an in-depth planning study followed by a design phase with rigorous reviews, then go through a build-and-test phase and, finally, flight. This process demands a certain funding profile to shorten the schedule and minimize total costs. The common way of federal budgeting, a “flat-funding” profile that maintains the same amount of money throughout a project’s lifespan, is inefficient.
Read MoreThe Grim Reaper Goes to Mars
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George W. Bush’s NASA chief, Sean O’Keefe, came into office with some serious problems to solve. The International Space Station had a cost overrun of billions. O’Keefe brought an accounting eye to the agency; in a previous job at the Defense Department, he’d been known as the “Grim Reaper.” Several years after cutting costs at NASA, O’Keefe received another directive from the President: restructure further to prioritize a mission to Mars.
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