Tehachapi Pays Its Dues as We Reach for the Stars

Tehachapians are on the front lines of the conquest of space. Many work at Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Edwards Air Force Base/NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, Mojave Air and Space Port, or one of the many supporting activities in the area. We all share the thrill of success – and the agony of the setbacks.

We lost one of our own when Michael Alsbury went down with SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise on Halloween Day. He left behind a wife and two young children. We must help them find lasting meaning in their loss. There were few dry eyes in JetHawk Stadium on Thursday as we shared Michael's loss.

Let us at least be thankful for the survival of his crewmate Pete Seibold. May he have a swift return to flight status!

America's efforts to push into space have met with disaster before -- Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia. And let us not forget the heroes of aviation test flight who also gave their lives, including X-15 Astronaut Michael Adams in 1967.

We'll do what we always do: Cry, heal, take a hard look at what we're doing, and do it better next time. That's what we must do. We have a long way to go before we reach the farthest star!

While everyone at Scaled Composites takes an understandable pause, there is plenty more afoot at the Mojave Air and Space Port. XCOR Aerospace is planning to begin flight testing of its Lynx Mk I two-seat spaceplane prototype in the next few months.

Orbital Sciences Corporation is confident that they can resume International Space Station resupply missions following last month's launch mishap. The company's stock seems to be weathering the storm well enough, down just 3.5% over the last month. I'm happy to see this kind of resilience in American entrepreneurs and investors.

It certainly cannot be said that America is in her heyday of space exploration (I believe that day is yet to come!). Yet, we are still moving forward to transform the frontier of space from just a super-government-only regime into a space-commons open to everyone (well, maybe someday!). Mojave Air and Space Port, and the Tehachapians who work there, and those who support them, have much to be proud of.

Fusion Power in Our Time!?

When I returned from my five-week train trip to the Northeast, I began going through a sizable stack of magazines (yes, I still prefer paper). One astounded me: The October 20th edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology headlined: "Inside Skunk Works' Compact Fusion Reactor (CFR) Program." This seemed surreal, yet this was no tabloid! Here is what was inside:

"Fusion Frontier: Lockheed Martin aims to develop compact reactor prototype in five years, production unit in ten." Fusion power has always been "twenty years" down the road, which means at least fifty. But when the famed Lockheed Skunk Works is talking five, they're onto something! The three-page article, which discussed the basic physics and economics, certainly impressed this engineer.

To quote Guy Norris' article, "With such a "Holy Grail" breakthrough seemingly within its grasp, and to help achieve a potentially paradigm-shifting development in global energy, Lockheed has made public its project with the aim of attracting partners, resources and additional researchers." "We need help...." I'm betting they're going to get it!

And with power like that, perhaps 22nd-century trips to orbit won't involve sitting atop an oversized bomb. Tom McGuire, the inventor and leader of the project, (with a Ph.D. from MIT), is especially keen on its prospects to get us to Mars and back without all of that tedious cruising and radiation exposure required with low-powered chemical rockets.

You can view a video and more about Lockheed's compact fusion research and development at AviationWeek.com/CFR.

Almanac

Planet watchers will enjoy December; all will be in view this month. Mercury, Venus, and Mars will highlight the evening in the southwest, with Mercury visible only at the end of the month, and only with binoculars. Jupiter rises around 10 p.m. in early December and continues to rise earlier each night. Saturn rises well before the sun. Uranus and Neptune can be found high in the evening sky on either side of the Circlet of Pisces.

The Geminid Meteor Shower should light up our sky the night of Dec. 13-14. However, a third-quarter moon will rise around midnight rather spoiling the view.

Winter officially arrives with the solstice on Dec. 21st at 3:03 p.m.

Sunrise: 6:49 a.m./Sunset: 4:42 p.m. (Dec. 6th)

"These Test Pilots, Peter Seibold, Michael Alsbury, and Michael Adams have tangled with the Demon of the Thin Air. It is said that the air is even less forgiving than the sea. As both a sailor and an aviator, I can personally attest to that." Photos Scaled Composit and NASA