Thursday, July 10, 2025

SpaceX wins OK to build plant that creates liquid oxygen for rockets near South Texas beach
Natural Gas Is Green and Hugely Beneficial Economically
Social Security tax breaks: What the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ really means for 88% of retirees
Here’s why Trump appointed the Secretary of Transportation to lead NASA
Secretary of Transportation Duffy named acting NASA administrator
These fig trees absorb CO2 from the air and convert it into stone
Scientists Are Racing to Reach a Mysterious World Before It Disappears for 11,000 Years
The Last Moonwalker and Other Stories #CommissionEarned
Alaska Has the Rare Earths We Need
Chuck Schumer’s Mamdani Test
Measles, RFK Jr. and Dr. Fauci

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

Musk’s third party push puts his companies at risk

“I don’t think it ever does any good for somebody like Elon Musk to annoy his biggest customer, which is the United States government,” space policy expert Mark Whittington said.

However, he underscored the government is also highly dependent on SpaceX, making it hard for Trump to realistically cut off the company.

Musk’s threat last month to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which is responsible for ferrying astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station, sent shockwaves through the space community. He ultimately walked back the threat.

“SpaceX is so good at what it does, launching things into space, and is far beyond any of his competitors,” Whittington added. “There’s not much the federal government can do to him without alternatives.”

A new approach to space diplomacy: Hard-hitting calculations outweigh foreign-policy considerations
Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland by Salena Zito #CommissionEarned
Bayeux Tapestry to return to UK for the first time in 900 years
The ocean on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus has the right pH for life — barely
SpaceX, Blue Origin stand to gain from tax benefit in Trump bill
Nuclear Energy Education Gets a Boost from the IAEA
After Trump Was Shot, He Called Me
The Depopulation Bomb
Engineers Shake Tallest Steel-framed Building Ever Tested on an Earthquake Simulator
What did ancient Rome smell like? Fish, Raw Sewage, and Sometimes Perfume
Why is America Going Back to the Moon (How America went to the moon, stopped, and is returning again) #CommissionEarned
The Texas Flood Green Herrings
The Perfect Time for Regime Change in Iran
Trump Calls Out the Putin Charade The President says he’ll send arms to Ukraine, overruling the Pentagon’s ‘restrainers.’

Tuesday, July 08, 2025

The Burn Sequence Episode 2: Jim Bridenstine

Lobster bisque and onion soup on ISS menu for French astronaut
Take a political time-out, Elon Musk: ‘America Party’ rant proves even your genius has its limits
NASA Wasn't Happy When Astronaut John Young Smuggled This Food Into Space
America Must Lead on Seafloor Mineral Development
Amazon Prine Day deals @CommissionEarned
This study suggests zapping people’s brains could make them better at math
The Moon, Mars, and Beyond #CommissionEarned
A Fossil-Fuel Boom in the Americas
Xi Adopts the ‘Putin Doctrine,’ at Russia’s Peril
The Texas Flood Green Herrings Blame cruel nature, not DOGE, or weathermen, or climate change.

Monday, July 07, 2025

Trump says it would have been “inappropriate” for Isaacman to lead NASA

The statement about his political contributions is incorrect based on public records. Isaacman has donated to Republican candidates, including Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), now the chairman of the House Transportation Committee. However, more recent donations, including those in the 2024 election cycle, were to Democratic candidates and organizations. That donation history almost certainly would have been part of the vetting process for his nomination, which Trump announced in December 2024.

Isaacman has also pushed back on claims, advanced by Democratic senators during the confirmation process, that he is close friends with Musk. “I do not have a close personal relationship with Mr. Musk,” he said in written responses to questions for the record after his April 9 confirmation hearing, calling his relationship with Musk “professional.” He also denied that Musk had contacted him about leading NASA, saying that his interactions were with the Trump transition team.

How To Use Fusion To Get To Proxima Centauri's Potentially Habitable Exoplanet
ESA tracks rare interstellar comet
Elon Musk says he has formed a new U.S. political party, the ‘America Party’
Texas floods leave at least 51 dead, 27 girls missing as rescuers search devastated landscape
Why is it So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? #CommissionEarned
Humans Have Been Reshaping Earth with Fire for at Least 50,000 Years
Trump Is ‘Disappointed’ With Putin on Ukraine
The GOP Gambles on ‘Trump Accounts’

Sunday, July 06, 2025

Should we stop Asteroid 2024 YR4 from hitting the moon?

Now, the Earth approaching asteroid has a new target. A small chance exists that it will hit the moon in 2032. The prospect presents new dangers, though not as great as the destruction of a city.

In Texas region prone to catastrophic floods, questions grow about lack of warning
Hundreds of accused murderers, thieves and sex offenders, including illegal migrants, nabbed in sweeping federal operation
Alaskan Native village to welcome new drilling in its ‘backyard’ with open arms
NASA Discovery Could Explain Why We've Never Found Life on Mars
The Gabriella Doria Stories (3 book series)
China accelerates toward lunar goals as reusability programs gain momentum
Sexual violence was rife on October 7, say new witnesses
This will really confuse the Free Palestine crows. A New Palestinian Offer for Peace With Israel Hebron’s sheikhs propose to leave the Palestinian Authority and join the Abraham Accords.

Friday, July 04, 2025

Private lunar landing: How Blue Ghost measured the moon's electric and magnetic fields
Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' and its permanent tax cut will change the world

The Real Reason NASA Won't Have a Leader for a Year

Congress passes budget reconciliation bill with $10 billion for NASA
The business case for the moon
A Brother on the Moon (Stories of Alternate History by Mark R. Whittington Book 1) #CommissionEarned
Patton in Palestine (Stories of Alternate History by Mark R. Whittington Book 2) #CommissionEarned
With Space Junk on the Rise, Is a Catastrophic Event Inevitable?
This Enzyme-Infused Concrete Could Turn Buildings into CO2 Sponges

1776 - 'Reading the Declaration & The Egg', from the 1972 American music...

Happy Independence Day!

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

White House works to ground NASA science missions before Congress can act
Congress just greenlit a NASA moon plan opposed by Musk and Isaacman
Fracking Is America’s (Not So) Secret Weapon
Finding Abundant Optimism In the Zohran Mamdani Mistake
Scientists Can Tell How Fast You’re Aging From a Single Brain Scan
Ancient Roman Pompeii had way more erotic art than you’d think
Why is America Going Back to the Moon (How America went to the moon, stopped, and is returning again)
Trump Can Sell Public Land to Build a Million Homes
The Alaskan Extraction
The Meh Tax Bill That Has to Pass

Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Too Fun to Check: The Ayatollah's Secret Revenge Weapon Is ... An Adult-Film Star
With Masseys out of commission, SpaceX may attempt static fire Ships at the launch site
“Webb Telescope Enters Alien Hunt Mode”: NASA’s Deep-Space Eye Begins Scanning Exoplanets for Signs of Life With Unmatched Precision
How the Big Beautiful Bill will lower energy costs, shore up the electric grid — and unleash American prosperity
The first commercial space station is nearly here. And it could change space forever
Switching on a silent gene revives tissue regeneration in mice
The Moon, Mars, and Beyond #CommissionEarned
Capitalism Needs Champions
‘Transgender’ Kids Usually Grow Up Gay
Want Soviet Bread Lines? Vote for Zohran Mamdani