Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Monday, July 31, 2023
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Recently Pew Research released a survey measuring public attitudes about NASA, space exploration and the burgeoning commercial space sector. The results are illuminating, not the least of which are the numbers for public support for sending astronauts to the moon and then sending them to Mars.
The results are good news for Artemis, though one would not know it from how it was reported by some in the media.
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Friday, July 28, 2023
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Wednesday, July 26, 2023
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Monday, July 24, 2023
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Recently, India launched the Chandrayaan-3 lunar probe. If all goes well, it will land on the moon’s south pole in late August. The mission comes after the failure of Chandrayaan-2 to land on the lunar surface.
If successful, it will not only buttress India as a major space power but will begin the next phase of lunar exploration with as many as six moon shots from four countries scheduled for the remainder of 2023, according to Arts Technica.
Saturday, July 22, 2023
Friday, July 21, 2023
Thursday, July 20, 2023
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Monday, July 17, 2023
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Understandably, with America leading the world back to the moon under the Artemis Program, NASA has some interest in using humanoid robots like Valkyrie to help astronauts explore the lunar surface. Robots can assist with more mundane tasks such as setting up the lunar base. In the early days of the Artemis program, when human explorers will be on the moon for brief visits, robots can maintain the nascent lunar base. They can even help to collect geological samples for later study. They can do the dangerous tasks associated with lunar mining.
Saturday, July 15, 2023
Friday, July 14, 2023
Thursday, July 13, 2023
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Monday, July 10, 2023
Sunday, July 09, 2023
The idea of pulling up stakes and moving to a space colony to start a new life is a compelling one. SpaceX’s Elon Musk wants to build a city of a million people on Mars. Jeff Bezos wants to build free-flying colonies, first envisioned by Gerard K. O’Neill, that can sustain even more people. Space colonies are the stuff of science fiction dreams, invoking the settlement of the American West.
Saturday, July 08, 2023
Commercial space and China are usually not two things that are mentioned in the same sentence. China, after all, is ruled by a totalitarian government that doesn’t permit power centers, especially those that are privately run and separate from Beijing. Chinese culture does not encourage the kind of freewheeling, outside-the-box thinking that has given rise to space capitalists such as SpaceX’s Elon Musk and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos in the United States.
Friday, July 07, 2023
Thursday, July 06, 2023
Wednesday, July 05, 2023
Tuesday, July 04, 2023
Monday, July 03, 2023
Sunday, July 02, 2023
A few days after Ecuador signed the Artemis Accords, India signed as well. Not only that, the United States and India will embark on a number of space cooperation initiatives, including a visit to the International Space Station by Indian astronauts.