Top all-time · #5789
No Shortage of Dreams
Personal blog · spaceflighthistory.blogspot.comhistoryscience
No Shortage of Dreams is a personal blog at spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com about history and science. Since 2015, 14 different Hacker News readers have linked it 17 times, most often “Electricity from Space: The 1970s DOE/NASA Solar Power Satellite Studies”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-06-02, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for spaceflight history, especially missions and programs that never happened. Commenters call it a favourite and a 'rabbit hole' worth exploring, and point to it for Dave Portree's work.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
The story of spaceflight told through missions and programs that did not happen - that is, the great majority of them.
Most-linked posts?
- Electricity from Space: The 1970s DOE/NASA Solar Power Satellite Studies3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-04-24
- A 1967 Proposal for Single-Launch Piloted Venus Flybys in 1972, 1973, and 19752 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-06-01
- DSFP's Spaceflight History2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-11-18
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-09-21
What Hacker News says?
Fascinatingly, the aftermath of Starfish Prime endangered future space exploration of the era, and created uncertainty surrounding continued human space flight.[0][1] [0] http://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/starfish-and-... [1] http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/410338.pdf
Comment linking /2016/01/starfish-and-apollo-1962.html
on “In the summer of 1962, the U.S. blew up a hydrogen bomb in outer space”Submitted A 1967 Proposal for Single-Launch Piloted Venus Flybys in 1972, 1973, and 1975 as a story · 50 points
HN discussionDepartment of Energy studied the use of phased arrays to beam power ( http://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/12/energy-from-s... ). The use of a pilot signal was useful because it prevented any 'death ray' scenarios. The transmitter would only be able to beam power to a receiver, even if it was knocked off target. I am not sure what the benefit of a small receiver would be for power transmission. The DoE system…
Comment linking /2016/12/energy-from-space-department-of.html
on “US Navy wirelessly beams 1.6 kW of power a kilometer using microwaves”Submitted North American Aviation's 1965 Plan for Piloted Planetary Flybys in the 1970s as a story · 18 points
HN discussionWould militarization of the oceans fund the practical colonization of the oceans? What about the militarization of Antarctica? > then it could effectively attack most satellites in earth orbit and rockets attempting to reach orbit This is the High Ground thesis, dating back to the 1950s (see https://thespacereview.com/article/396/1 and http://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2015/08/he-who-contro... ). It takes a cou…
Comment linking /2015/08/he-who-controls-moon-controls-earth-1958.html
on “U.S. satellites are being attacked every day according to Space Force general”Submitted No Shortage of Dreams: MSSR as Mem (1967-1968) as a story · 14 points
HN discussionhttps://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/ - No Shortage of Dreams: the story of spaceflight told through missions & programs that didn't happen
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Favourite blogs?”Submitted Electricity from Space: The 1970s DOE/NASA Solar Power Satellite Studies as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIf you're looking for a rabbit hole, after Dave left Wired, he started his own blog: https://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/
Comment linking /
on “NASA’s 1966 plan for a mission to Mars”Submitted S-IVB/IU Applications: The Lass Proposal (1966) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIt’s best to read Portree’s real blog at http://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/
Comment linking /
on “Before the Fire: Saturn-Apollo Applications (1966)”Submitted Apollo Ends at Venus: A 1967 Proposal for Single-Launch Piloted Venus Flybys as a story · 2 points
HN discussionA Starship A.I. to be the thinking machine to deploy solar power satellites firstly in a simulator and when SpX Starship is mature and capable then go for real into space. * http://spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/12/energy-from-s...
Comment linking /2016/12/energy-from-space-department-of.html
on “Ask HN: What do you wish someone else would build for you?”Submitted Star-Raker (1978) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Could the Space Voyages in “2001: A Space Odyssey” Happen? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted North American Aviation's 1965 Plan for Sending Apollo to Mars and Venus as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted DSFP's Spaceflight History as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
