3 minute read - What's in a name? More than you might think. KMI's first spacecraft needed a title that not only symbolized its mission but also paid homage to the myths of old. After much debate, we landed on "Laelaps"—a name rooted in Greek legend. But what does a mythic hound, destined to catch everything it chases, have to do with space?
5 minute read - This column focuses on the challenge of volume cross-section as one of the difficulties and complexities of traveling to space. By first examining how the issue of launch volume cross-section is currently impacting space exploration, Adam Kall, KMI Director of Technology, discusses how orbital industry could be a solution.
5 minute read - One of the most common questions that we at KMI get when people are first introduced to our business of orbital debris remediation is what do we plan to do once we have captured a piece of debris. The answer is that there are several possibilities, some more likely than others and some more exciting than others. The goal of this column is to explain some of the potential solutions to this problem and why each one is or is not viable.
8 minute read - Over an unofficial series of grand perspective columns, Troy Morris, Director of Operations, has yet to tackle a common theme of certain space proponents: the survival of our species. Often referred to as space colonization, this view on survival is a macro view of humanity continuing on, rather than the more practical survival of individuals.
5 minute read - A well-made chart can be an amazing way to convey a lot of information and associations in a short amount of time and a small amount of space. With the multifaceted aspects of orbital debris, KMI often uses charts to demonstrate massive amounts of information. The issue is in the abundance of very poorly made charts, which at best don’t convey much usable information and at worst purposefully mislead. Many articles have been written that go over examples of bad charts and why they are bad, but in this column, Adam Kall, Director of Technology, focuses on explaining ways to make charts more useful.
5-minute read - A previous KMI column discussed various methods of propulsion and the respective “oomph” that each one has. Austin Morris, Director of Engineering, continues this topic by reviewing how spacecraft need to generate their own power in order to keep running and a few of the different ways to do that.
8 minute read - One of the biggest discussion points when it comes to the problem of space debris is the question of who will pay for it. At KMI, we’ve been working hard to be part of an ecosystem that answers this question specifically, but this column focuses on how strange it is that the question of who pays for it is even uncertain.
4 minute read - As the calendar gets short, the nights get long, temperatures get low, and decorative lights get placed high, it becomes the holiday season! Already families and friends have many choices to make, with parties for hosting, caroling and going out in the snow; there’ll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories… you know, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” With more humans entering and now remaining in orbit than ever before, those classic celebrations are sought in the spacecraft, shuttles, and stations overhead. But space is hard.
6 minute read - Before joining the team, KMI Communications Coordinator Liza Fust was also a freelance writer. Reprinted here with permission of Marquette Monthly magazine is a feature she wrote on the Keweenaw Rocket Range that launched the first rocket from Michigan to reach space in 1971. Much has changed with the state of Michigan’s aerospace industry since this article ran in 2019, read the column for a glimpse into the past and future of space of Michigan.
7 minute read - The concept of removing space debris centers on paying a cost now to protect value in the future. Economists have dealt with solving this problem terrestrially for hundreds of years, and I’ll use the same approach for our space-based issue of debris. That problem, on which we base a solution, will be estimated at a nearly $50 billion annual risk to the industry, reaching its apex in 15 years time, due to space debris. The solution prevents this risk from existing, and the active debris removal portion of it should be pursued for up to $15,400 per kilogram of debris removed.
5 minute read - Modern space technology comes with many obstacles, the most difficult of which to overcome is gravity. Fortunately, our knight in shining armor is the humble rocket, which rides upon a steed of fire and smoke to defeat the gravitational tyrant. In today’s column, KMI Director of Engineering Austin Morris explains a bit about the concepts that lie beneath the Tyranny of the Rocket Equation.
4.5 minute read - The current way humanity gets into space is highly expensive, and even worse, not great at bringing things back. Discussions about a space industry have an often unspoken clause, that if we do achieve orbital manufacturing or asteroid mining, it would be expensive and difficult to get those goods back to Earth for use by the average person or industry. The main problem is that it takes a lot of speed to get into Earth orbit, plus a lot more to go farther, and you need to slow down a lot before returning to Earth if you don’t want to end up as barbeque. However, there is an exciting exploit of the universe that may help us change this whole dynamic, and really start to connect the people and industries of Earth with the rest of the solar system, known as the skyhook.
3 minute read - Why We Choose to Go to Space: Human Imagination. Whether fantastical fiction, scientific speculation, admirable announcements, or factual mission reporting, the advancing reality of all science, especially space science, plays into and from imagination with ease. It is from an initial foundation of imagination that many technologies are dreamed in science fiction, discussed by interested organizations, pursued by inspired scientists, and made possible through continued development, until the technology enters the world as a banal fact.
6 minute read - In previous columns, we have discussed some common misconceptions regarding orbit, notably the concept that achieving orbit is difficult not because it involves a lot of vertical velocity, but because it involves a lot of horizontal velocity. Specifically, achieving orbit typically takes something like 30 times more energy applied horizontally than vertically. This is an important dichotomy to realize for numerous reasons.
4 minute read - In my previous column, The Sky is Falling and That’s Okay, I discussed the fact that there is an average of one orbital object that reenters Earth’s atmosphere every day. I also described why it is typically better for these objects to reenter than to stay in orbit, to ensure that they burn away into nothingness and cause no risk of damage to other objects. This is because the enormous amount of air friction that is encountered when entering the atmosphere at orbital speeds creates such an unbearable amount of heat that very few objects can survive it long enough to slow down and descend to the surface.
5 minute read - Active Debris Removal (ADR) involves many concepts, terms, and technical aspects. These encompass sterile standards of scientific discussion, as well as advantageous assets and deceitful disadvantages. As KMI columns attempt to illuminate on the issues of our industry and relate them to the larger human experience, introspection is necessary at times to ensure a clearer outlook to come, even if it begins as a critical inspection of these technical pieces.
4 minute read - Most astronauts remark that, once they get into space, the divisions on Earth become far less apparent and it really looks like one whole of humanity. This viewpoint is for a variety of reasons. Possibly because things like border walls and crossing checkpoints are too thin to be viewable from space, or that the land isn’t conveniently colored like the maps and globes we grew up seeing in school. I would add another reason to the list, and that is that because of orbital dynamics it is not possible to effectively secure a region of space as belonging to any one country.
