by Michael Belfiore | Sep 30, 2013 | Articles, Blog
Yesterday was an amazing day in commercial spaceflight. First, in the early morning hours, a robotic Orbital Science Cygnus spacecraft rendezvoused and berthed with the International Space Station. This makes the second operational vehicle to deliver supplies to the...
by Michael Belfiore | Aug 13, 2013 | Articles, Blog
Elon Musk yesterday revealed the details of his concept for a super-speed ground transport between LA and San Francisco. The thing would take the form of an elevated “rail” line comprised of a partially evacuated tube through which passenger pods would be...
by Michael Belfiore | Mar 15, 2013 | Articles, Blog
It’s a concept well known to sf fans: an artificial stand-in for your biological self that’s stronger and longer lasting than you are. See the movie Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis and James Cameron’s movie Avatar, for example. If a Russian...
by Michael Belfiore | Feb 15, 2013 | Articles, Blog
I’ve posted a new, free paper on my website, called “Rapid Innovation on the Cheap: Lessons from DARPA and the Commercial Space Age.” This distills lessons learned from my reporting (ten years this year!) on some of the most extraordinary technology...
by Michael Belfiore | Feb 8, 2013 | Articles, Blog
On Friday, February 15, 2013, an asteroid the size of half a football field—50 meters or so in diameter—will come within a hair of hitting Earth. At closest approach, it will pass a mere 17,000 miles away, well within the orbit of our geosynchronous communications...
by Michael Belfiore | Feb 1, 2013 | Articles, Blog
Like a lot of revolutionary ideas, it seems crazy at first glance: a space habitat that rides to orbit in a compressed state, and then inflates to full size when it gets there. But NASA worked seriously on the idea, pegging it for a future Mars mission...
