Monday, January 12, 2009

Ames Pioneering Lunar Landers

Briefs: NewSpace Digest; NASA Ames LADEE update - RLV News - The article mentions the somewhat role-reversal-ish Odyssey Moon and NASA Ames lunar lander arrangement. The main point, though, is to show how the NASA Ames LADEE projection is progressing. I'm impressed by how much cost effective and innovative work and commercial partnering is coming out of NASA Ames. I don't know how much to attribute to Pete Worden's leadership; I'm sure it's a factor, but Ames has a tradition of "get the job done on a budget" from the pathfinding Pioneer series.