Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Friday, December 30, 2022
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Monday, December 26, 2022
Sunday, December 25, 2022
Nigeria and Rwanda are the first African countries to sign NASA’s Artemis Accords, an agreement between 23 nations to adhere to a set of rules regarding space exploration and the economic development of other worlds. Participation in the NASA-led Artemis program not a prerequisite for signing the Artemis Accords. However, American officials strongly implied that the two countries would, in due course, become partners in the effort to return astronauts to the moon and eventually to Mars.
Saturday, December 24, 2022
Friday, December 23, 2022
Thursday, December 22, 2022
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
Monday, December 19, 2022
Sunday, December 18, 2022
Still, if all goes well, the world will have not just one but two crewed circumlunar voyages to look forward to very soon. Artemis II and DearMoon will have different goals, however.
Saturday, December 17, 2022
Friday, December 16, 2022
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
It seems that a friend of Chantal's and mine, Liz Patton, passed away last night. Our hearts are on the ground.
The note posted on Liz's Facebook: "Good evening Everyone. I regret to inform you that Liz Patton has passed away. We have little information at this time, however it appears she passed away in her sleep.
"Any memorial services will be shared via Facebook.
"Liz will be forever missed, and we are blessed for having been a part of her life. Please send any prayers and energy to those working through this difficult time."
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
In living memory, the only news to come out of Nigeria and Rwanda has been mass death by genocide and starvation. That the Artemis program is going to turn those two countries into space powers is mind boggling and wonderful.
Monday, December 12, 2022
Sunday, December 11, 2022
NASA, as it prepares to return humans to the lunar surface for the first time in over 50 years, is thinking about building a place for them to live. The Apollo astronauts only needed the lunar module to rest between moon walks. The Artemis astronauts, who will eventually stay on the moon for months at a time, will need more roomy facilities.
Saturday, December 10, 2022
Friday, December 09, 2022
Fifty years ago on Dec. 14, Gene Cernan, the commander of Apollo 17, spoke the last words a human being has spoken on the moon’s surface: “As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”
ernan’s wish has yet to be fulfilled. Indeed, he departed this life before human beings could return to the moon. The Artemis Project promises that, at long last, human footsteps will tread the lunar surface once again after over five decades. But why has it taken so long?
Thursday, December 08, 2022
Wednesday, December 07, 2022
Tuesday, December 06, 2022
Monday, December 05, 2022
Sunday, December 04, 2022
With the NASA-led Artemis 1 mission to the moon still ongoing and the Capstone probe collecting information on the moon’s orbit, a joint Japanese, UAE, SpaceX mission is scheduled to launch a probe tasked with landing on the lunar surface. The Japanese lander, the Hakuto-R M1, will take a UAE rover, dubbed “Rashid,” to the lunar surface, with landing scheduled for March 2023. Rashid is designed to snap pictures of the lunar surface and examine its electrically charged environment. The launch has been delayed due to ongoing problems with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Saturday, December 03, 2022
Friday, December 02, 2022
Thursday, December 01, 2022
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Monday, November 28, 2022
Sunday, November 27, 2022
NASA’s heavy lift Space Launch System (SLS) has certainly faced criticism. It is too expensive and too complex. The SLS is also not a sustainable rocket for sending people back to the moon.
All of those criticisms are valid. However, NASA’s monster rocket has just sent an uncrewed Orion space capsule around the moon. The launch of the Artemis 1 mission is an eloquent answer to the critics, at least in the short term.
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Friday, November 25, 2022
Thursday, November 24, 2022
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Monday, November 21, 2022
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Recently, a group of divers looking for the wreckage of World War II aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean came upon some of the debris of the space shuttle Challenger. The discovery reminded us of the disaster that happened before the eyes of the world on Jan. 28, 1986. It also reminded us that the cost of space exploration is measured in lives lost as well as money spent.
Saturday, November 19, 2022
Friday, November 18, 2022
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) is the latest left-leaning politician to become annoyed with Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter. The tiff started with a Twitter exchange. It may end with a blatant abuse of power.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Monday, November 14, 2022
Sunday, November 13, 2022
NASA and a number of other federal, state and local organizations war-gamed an asteroid impact on Winston-Salem, North Carolina, according to Scientific American. The scenario depicted an asteroid measuring 70 meters in diameter being detected shortly before it entered the Earth’s atmosphere. The asteroid would explode eight miles above the city with a force of a 10-megaton nuclear bomb. The explosion would lay the city and surrounding areas waste, with casualties in the thousands.
The exercise presented a number of sobering conclusions.
Saturday, November 12, 2022
Friday, November 11, 2022
Thursday, November 10, 2022
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Tuesday, November 08, 2022
“NASA generates $71.2 billion in total economic output, maintains 339,600 jobs across the nation and generates close to $7.7 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues,” cheers Mark Whittington at The Hill. Since its 2021 budget was $23.3 billion, that’s a “hefty return on investment.” But non-financial payoffs are bigger: In winning the race to the moon, the Apollo program hastened the collapse of the “Soviet Union because it spooked the Kremlin about American technological prowess.” Now a successful Artemis Alliance uniting US allies in a space exploration could create “a prosperous, peaceful world” and also prevent a “Chinese space hegemony.” Add the gains for science, and the benefit from supporting NASA “is the long-term increase of knowledge, prosperity and peace for the human race.”