Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Friday, December 31, 2021
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Monday, December 27, 2021
Sunday, December 26, 2021
As 2021 draws to a close, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has launched a Twitter attack against SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The attack capped a year during which SpaceX had operated a truly operational space line. The company also made great strides developing the Starship, a rocket that promises to revolutionize space travel, bringing both the moon and Mars within reach of astronauts.
Friday, December 24, 2021
Thursday, December 23, 2021
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
Monday, December 20, 2021
Sunday, December 19, 2021
No earlier than Dec. 24, if all goes well, an Ariane 5 rocket will blast off from French Guiana carrying the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. If the JWST successfully deploys a month later at the Earth-Sun L2 point, it will revolutionize space-based astronomy and enhance humanity’s understanding of the universe. However, if something goes wrong, the latest space telescope could become a $10 billion write-off.
Saturday, December 18, 2021
Friday, December 17, 2021
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Monday, December 13, 2021
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Vice President Kamala Harris recently conducted the first meeting of the National Space Council (NSC) of the Joe Biden presidency, and she handled it with competence and efficiency. It was a far departure from the vice president’s recent cringe-worthy video touting space exploration for the next generation, which featured child actors.
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Friday, December 10, 2021
Thursday, December 09, 2021
Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Hillary 2024! She's tan, rested and ready...
Tuesday, December 07, 2021
Monday, December 06, 2021
Sunday, December 05, 2021
Bob Dole was not exactly my kind of Republican. Nevertheless, I was pleased to vote for him in 1996. The world would have been a much better place had he won.
Recently, NASA and the United States Department of Energy put out a call for industry to propose designs for a nuclear power plant that could be deployed on the moon within the decade, according to Science Alert. In the meantime, Interesting Engineering reports that China has completed a design for its own lunar-based nuclear reactor. The two news items suggests that both sides of the current space race are very serious about returning to the moon and developing Earth’s nearest neighbor in a big way.
Saturday, December 04, 2021
Friday, December 03, 2021
Thursday, December 02, 2021
Wednesday, December 01, 2021
Initial reaction: Nothing new or exciting but nothing terrible either.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Monday, November 29, 2021
Sunday, November 28, 2021
NASA launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California on Nov. 24. Next fall, DART will move into the vicinity of the asteroid Didymos and its tiny moonlet Dimorphos. Although it does not pose a danger now, it serves as an opportunity: The probe will smash into Dimorphos, increasing the time of its 12-hour orbit by between 73 seconds and 10 minutes. Thus, DART will practice saving the world from an asteroid collision, like the one that ended the dinosaurs.
Saturday, November 27, 2021
Friday, November 26, 2021
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, must think he's the luckiest man alive. Politicians in Washington, especially on the Left, constantly inveigh about how he and other billionaires need to pay their “fair share” in taxes. However, the recently passed infrastructure bill suggests some of those same politicians want Musk to be even richer than he already is. His net worth is more than $300 billion.
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Monday, November 22, 2021
Sunday, November 21, 2021
The Russian military tested an ASAT weapon recently, successfully destroying a dead satellite, called either Tselina-D or Cosmos 1408, launched almost 40 years ago, according to Ars Technica. The test created a debris field that directly endangered the International Space Station, including, ironically, two of Russia’s own cosmonauts. The crew of the ISS was forced to take emergency measures, closing hatches between some of the space station’s modules, putting on space suits and boarding the attached Russian Soyuz and American SpaceX Crew Dragon. The ISS crew would be ready to quickly evacuate the orbiting space lab in the event of a catastrophic collision.
Saturday, November 20, 2021
Friday, November 19, 2021
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
Monday, November 15, 2021
Sunday, November 14, 2021
NASA recently revealed long-term plans for the Space Launch System (SLS), the monster rocket it has been working on since about 2010. The SLS has cost many billions of dollars, and NASA proposes to launch for the first time in February 2022. NASA would like to commercialize the SLS, fly it once a year for the Artemis Program, and pay half price for the privilege. The space agency wants to do this for at least the next 30 years.