The missing fitness function
essay · July 2026On leaving NASA — what I’d taken for the summit of human spaceflight — and the question it couldn’t ask.
Texas
Erik Evenson
Cloud architecture by trade — orbital mechanics, markets, and small machines by inclination.
I design and consult on cloud systems for a living, and I live in Texas. Most of what I actually make happens at the edges of the day job.
I’m drawn to problems where the math is unforgiving and the feedback is honest — a spacecraft that either docks or doesn’t, a portfolio that either lasts or doesn’t, a pool that either stays clear or turns green. The satisfying ones tell you plainly when you’re wrong.
This site is deliberately small. It will grow the way my projects do: slowly, and mostly for my own amusement.
Writing
Selected work
Galaxy
simulation · n-bodyA from-orbit rendezvous, docking, and landing simulator under full n-body physics — and a running education in how unforgiving numerical integrators can be.
Architect
tool · architectureA design tool for cloud architecture that turns a curated knowledge base into the decision records, diagrams, and reports I’d otherwise write by hand.
Aurora manual
reference · docsA community reference manual for Aurora 4X, a famously deep space-strategy game — written by an AI that also plays the game, so every mistake it makes following its own instructions becomes the next correction.
LLM wiki
system · knowledgeKarpathy’s LLM-wiki idea, taken seriously: I curate the sources and ask the questions, and a language model does the reading, summarizing, and cross-referencing — kept honest by an immutable source layer and strict citations.
Pool chemistry
tool · calculatorA dosing calculator that keeps chlorine and pH honest against a stubborn source-water hardness — small stakes, exacting feedback.
Pedicab
product · prototypeA phone-first prototype for pedicab drivers — where the crowds are, whether you’re allowed to stage there, and the plain-English version of a permit process every city seems to bury on purpose.