Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Monday, October 30, 2023
Sunday, October 29, 2023
The Indian government has announced a long-term plan for its space program. It includes a Venus orbiter, a Mars lander, a crewed space station by 2035 and a crewed lunar landing by 2040. India also plans to launch a crewed spacecraft dubbed the Gaganyaan by 2025.
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Friday, October 27, 2023
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Recently, the Senate Subcommittee on Space and Science held a hearing about human commercial space flights . During the hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Bill Gerstenmaier, formerly at NASA and now vice president of build and flight reliability for SpaceX, had an exchange concerning the regulatory delays that are holding up the second test launch of the Starship. Starship is the massive rocket ship SpaceX is developing that promises to revolutionize spaceflight, take people back to the lunar surface, and fulfill CEO Elon Musk’s dream of establishing a city on Mars.
Monday, October 23, 2023
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Recently, there has been musing that SpaceX has become an “accidental monopoly” in the space launch business. Elon Musk has dominated the launching of things and even people into space, and some people think it’s a problem. But the situation may be temporary.
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Eric's analysis is first rate, at usual, but he does neglect Jim Bridenstine's relentless selling of the Artemis project to both sides of the aisle in Congress, which I describe in Why is America Going Back to the moon #ad. Congress now supports going back to the moon where it did not before during the last two attemps, which I also describe in Why is it so Hard to Go Back to the Moon #ad.
Friday, October 20, 2023
As someone who has been blind in one eye from birth who is married to a woman who is legally blind and works with blind people for the State of Texas, as would reply. "Hell no!"
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Monday, October 16, 2023
The news from around the world has been especially horrible of late. Between wars in Ukraine and Israel, a U.S. border crisis and more than the usual amount of political bickering, one would be forgiven for thinking that the world is spiraling into the abyss.
But occasionally, something happens that reminds us that human beings are still capable of doing awesome things. As Space News notes, NASA has launched the Psyche mission to an asteroid by the same name on board a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The Psyche probe will spend five years and 10 months voyaging to the asteroid, using a gravity assist maneuver at Mars, before settling into orbit around its destination within the main asteroid belt for about two years to study its secrets.
Sunday, October 15, 2023
NASA has launched a probe in the direction of a great metal asteroid called Psyche, located in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid is of great interest to both scientists and people interested in accessing the abundant resources of the solar system.
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Friday, October 13, 2023
Brought across to undeath in the 15th Century, the Contessa Gabriella Doria has walked the night, feeding on the blood of the living. However, on occasion, she had faced foes far more formidable and certainly more evil than a vampire.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
On a December day in 1967, a pilot whose jet fighter is in the process of cracking up ejects a moment sooner and therefore lives when he otherwise might have died. A life that would have ended on the tarmac at Edwards Air Force Base continues on. Six years later, Major Robert Lawrence, United States Air Force, becomes the first black American to walk on the Moon.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Monday, October 09, 2023
Sunday, October 08, 2023
Recently, NASA announced that the James Webb Space Telescope has discovered carbon dioxide at a specific location on Europa’s icy surface in a disrupted “chaos terrain” called the Tara Regio. The discovery has great implications for the possibility of life on the moon of Jupiter.
Saturday, October 07, 2023
It is clear that we dodged a bullet by not electing that evil woman president.
Also: Joe Biden Faces Fury Over Iran Deal as Israel Attacked
All prayers for the people of Israel and may God defend the right!
Friday, October 06, 2023
Thursday, October 05, 2023
I'm still in the middle of reading this biography of one of the most fascinating and important men of the 21st Century. Highly recommended.
Wednesday, October 04, 2023
Tuesday, October 03, 2023
Monday, October 02, 2023
Sunday, October 01, 2023
One of the more significant developments of the current decade had been the second race to the moon. While NASA and a coalition of nations and commercial companies have started Project Artemis, China has begun its own lunar effort. The prize is not so much the bragging rights for the side who gets to the moon first but which side accesses the abundant resources of Earth’s nearest neighbor.
But geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan has a prediction that could throw the idea of a moon race between two superpowers in doubt. Zeihan believes that China has at most 10 years before it collapses.