tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618880.post5670441635900853004..comments2024-03-27T00:26:31.343-07:00Comments on The Commercial Space Blog: General Fusion, exactEarth's Missing (But Insured) Satellite, More CSA Rovers & ULA Drops Launch CostsChuck Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09506476753520146858noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618880.post-84924582052148902602017-04-11T13:33:56.748-07:002017-04-11T13:33:56.748-07:00I accept that the comment you referenced is "...I accept that the comment you referenced is "not terrifically helpful" to the Canadian Space Agency. But Kieran, I do stand by its accuracy.<br /><br />This blog is no stranger to telling uplifting, positive stories when the facts support such conclusions. The April 10th, 2017 post, "Goldman Sachs is Bullish on Asteroid Mining," and the April 3rd, 2017 post on "UofT Undergraduate Satellite Builders Raise Almost $500K to Build & Launch a Microsatellite in 2019," are two recent examples.<br /><br />Late last year in Ottawa, CSA president Sylvan Laporte spoke with me casually during an event in Ottawa. He told me that he was just a government bureaucrat, heavily dependent on people like you and I to provide appropriate and useful (it not always positive) feedback to help guide his actions.<br /><br />Henry Stewart and you have both provided appropriate feedback for the CSA president to mull over. I've been allowed to edit that feedback for grammar and spelling so we've all contributed to the best of our abilities.<br /><br />Given that, maybe your initial comment about this post not being "terrifically helpful" is also in error. <br /><br />Only time will tell.Chuck Blackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09506476753520146858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618880.post-54121285760445998652017-04-11T10:10:44.723-07:002017-04-11T10:10:44.723-07:00The comment (about CSA's recent AOs) that &quo...The comment (about CSA's recent AOs) that "most of the items supported under the new programs are items the CSA and its partners have been dealing with in some way, shape or form for a very long time" is not terrifically helpful, for two reasons.<br /><br />First, development work for things that are going to fly in space is generally done in phases, ranging from initial conceptual studies, through feasibility studies and breadboard testing, leading to preliminary design, building and testing engineering models, detailed design, then finally building and then flying the flight equipment. Depending on the type of equipment involved, this almost always takes at least 5 years from concept to flight, and frequently somewhat longer. The fact that some of the recently issued AOs are on topics that we've seen before (e.g., planetary rovers), is because they're for advancing work from one stage to the next. For rovers in particular, there's quite a learning curve to be climbed before a design (and its development team) are ready for flight; CSA started funding serious work on this quite a few years ago, but much of that time (and effort) has been spent getting CSA and its industrial suppliers to climb that learning curve.<br /><br />Secondly, quite a few of the upcoming AO topics are completely open, and hence are not for "the CSA and its partners have been dealing with in some way, shape or form for a very long time." For example, the 3 STDP AOs are completely open for proposals on any and all space R&D projects (so long as they have the potential to lead to "economic benefits"). In the Exploration AOs, while a number of them are tightly constrained (mainly for the reasons in point #1), there are also a number of quite-open topics for concept studies.<br /><br />While there are various things the CSA doesn't do well, that they should be criticized for, leveling this particular criticism at this particular set of AOs is off-target, and not particularly helpful. We should *reward* CSA with nice words when they do good things, and I see these AOs as being Good Things. As opposed to blindly criticizing them no matter what they do.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12960084427838224646noreply@blogger.com