Daniel Koenig

The Space Shuttle Was Not Great, Part III: Safety

Continued from Part II: Cost Man-rated launch vehicles require a higher safety standard than unmanned launch vehicles. Human beings can’t tolerate high G-forces, and rockets carrying crew must have launch-escape capability to deliver them from danger in the event of an explosion or fire. Crew capsules are placed at the top of their rockets withRead More

The Space Shuttle Was Not Great, Part II: Cost

Continued from Part I: Goals By the time of the Challenger accident in 1986, just five years after the first launch of the space shuttle, it was clear that the program would never be able to achieve its goals. Challenger showed that the shuttle could not deliver safe and routine access to space, and theRead More

The Space Shuttle Was Not Great, Part I: Goals

Nothing symbolizes American economic achievement and dominance in space quite like the space shuttle. It is an image of technological power – a skyscraper sized vehicle which thundered into space on top of two massive columns of fire produced by a pair of solid rocket boosters, each larger than the body of a Boeing 737.Read More

So you are thinking about becoming a beekeeper.

In August 2013, while my family and I were in Utah for my brother’s wedding, I arranged for my son and me to take a tour of the bee hives owned by Bees Brothers, a Cache Valley family-run apiary (more about that visit here). Seeing the interior of a production beehive was a profound and edifyingRead More

On the Petition to Require ISPs to Make Pornography an “Opt-In” Feature

There is a petition making its way around the internet (powered mostly by LDS zeal, as far as I can tell), that as of the time of this writing has nearly 50,000 signatures. It calls for the government to “Require Porn to be an ‘Opt In’ feature with Internet Service Providers rather than a standardRead More

No Government Can Exist in Peace

We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life. No government in history has ever done this, nor is there any reason to believe thatRead More

I Took Out a 401(k) Loan for $10,000 and Bought Bitcoin

For a couple of years now I’ve been watching bitcoin move up in value. I first bought a few back in late 2011 or so when they were going for about $4 each – just a few months after the first big run-up to $30 and ensuing crash. At the time, it was thought byRead More

A Libertarian Analysis of the Slaying of Laban

In the opening Chapters of the Book of Mormon, a book considered by the members of the LDS church to be an ancient scriptural record, there is an account of the slaying of a man named Laban by his nephew Nephi. This event has been the source of considerable debate, frustration, and misunderstanding among members,Read More