Project Constellation Weblog - One Year Anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of ProjectConstellation.US. Thanks to all of you for your support and interest over the past year. If you have any suggestions of how I can improve the site, please let me know via the Contact Me link on the left.

As my time permits, I will continue to write articles on CEV-related topics, and of course will be happy to post any reader submissions.

Thanks and here's to another year of CEV blogging!

James Burk
Editor, ProjectConstellation.US

Note to Comment Spammers

There is no sense in submitting comment spam to this weblog. We have implemented the rel=nofollow tag for all hyperlinks in comments, so even if you do get past our defenses, your comment spam will not help out the Google ranking for your site.

Our defenses include the latest version of Movable Type (3.15), a daily updated MT-Blacklist file including many custom additions, and an administrator almost constantly engaged in this fight. You are wasting your time trying to get spam on this site.

Holiday Hiatus

My apologies for the lack of updates... I've been doing a lot of travelling and haven't often had internet access. Also I really haven't seen that much in the way of CEV news. Please post a comment with article title/URL if you have seen anything noteworthy.

We're still getting a ton of comment spam, and I will be upgrading the weblog software soon.

Thanks!

James Burk

RSS Updates

I have always been a huge fan of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and I have made some updates to the RSS feeds provided by ProjectConstellation.US, and I have added an article explaining RSS & linking to popular Newsreaders.

Enjoy!

Focus on CEV Design & Launch Concepts

Tomorrow ProjectConstellation.US will begin a three part series of articles focusing on CEV design & launch concepts. The series will offer contributed articles from readers Mike Majeski and Kevin Waldroup, as well as a feature from James Burk, the editor of ProjectConstellation.US.

If you have an ideas for the implementation of the CEV, including its design or how it can be launched to Low Earth Orbit, the Moon, Mars, or Beyond, please Contact Me.

Upgrades Completed for Project Constellation

I have finished a series of incremental upgrades and changes to ProjectConstellation.US.

You will notice a new banner graphic which now highlights both Boeing and Lockheed Martin concepts for the CEV, as well as including the planet Saturn, which represents the "Beyond" aspect of the new "Moon, Mars, and Beyond" vision for the U.S. space program.

These changes included upgrading the site to Movable Type 3.0D, which provides a faster, more robust, and more secure system, especially regarding comments. Up to now, I have had to do a lot of manual legwork to keep this site free from comment spam. This is currently a common problem among weblogs, and will hopefully be significantly abated for us with this new software upgrade.

I am now rolling out the CEV Concept Gallery which has been in the works for some time. It contains a lot of the available Boeing, Lockheed, and NASA concept artwork for the CEV. You can also help me to maintain the concept gallery by requesting a login using the Contact Me link on the left. All you need is a valid email address.

Also note that the About this Weblog page has been revised to reflect the charter of this weblog. A new page called Introducing the CEV has been added for new readers of the site; its content was updated from a previous CEV overview I wrote. A web-based email form has been added to the Contact Me page.

To comment on the site now, you will need to either: have posted a comment in the past, in which case the system should be able to recognize you (let me know otherwise); or, get a TypeKey login which you can use on this site and many other weblogs; or, submit your comment (with a valid email address) for moderation -- then I will need to approve your comment myself before it is viewable to others.

On a personal note, creating and maintaining ProjectConstellation.US has been a very positive experience for me, and I will continue to work hard to bring you news, opinion, and special features as time goes on. I personally can't wait to see astronauts return to the Moon and travel to Mars, and the act of creating information resources like this weblog is how (I believe) I can best help to make the new space vision a reality.

Thanks for visiting ProjectConstellation.US and don't hesitate to contact me with your questions & comments.

Out of Town This Week

I will be going out of the country with limited Internet access. Please use this thread to post & discuss any breaking news regarding Project Constellation.

I will try to get online when the Moon-Mars report is released to offer my comments.

Updates to Project Constellation site

I am in the process of upgrading this site to Movable Type 3.0. One huge benefit will be increased protection from comment spam (ie no more comments from "Jenna Jameson")

For those of you who have already commented on the site (and aren't spammers), your future comments will be approved seamlessly and you do not need to take any action.

For new commenters, you will either need to 1) get a Typekey user account, or 2) specify a valid email address and I will need to approve your first comment before it appears on the site, then you are able to make additional comments as an approved commenter.

In addition to an improved comment experience, I will be updating the visual appearance of the site and adding the long awaited CEV Concept gallery, with all the Boeing/Lockheed/NASA artwork that's out there.

If you have any other suggestions of how I can improve the site, please let me know either via a comment to this weblog entry, or via email to jb-at-projectconstellation.us

Thanks, I hope you enjoy the Project Constellation site and will keep visiting!