The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, designed to create a domestic American microchip industry, also includes the bare bones of a NASA authorization bill. The NASA part of the CHIPS Act includes several provisions, not the least of which is a strongly worded suggestion concerning the launch rate for the Space Launch System (SLS).
Random thoughts on politics, current events, popular culture, and whatever else interests me.
Sunday, July 31, 2022
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Friday, July 29, 2022
Thursday, July 28, 2022
SEN. CRUZ ISSUES STATEMENT ON CHIPS-PLUS VOTE
Importantly, the bill also includes several provisions that I authored, including extending the International Space Station through 2030, furthering NASA’s exploration efforts, and creating a Moon to Mars Program, which will establish a specific office at NASA to focus solely on putting the boots of American explorers back on the Moon and eventually on Mars. The State of Texas, and especially the Johnson Space Center in Houston, will play an outsized role in making these goals a reality, of administering this new Moon to Mars Program, and ensuring NASA, and the United States, are successful in space exploration. The space provisions in this bill will bolster America’s leadership in space, and I was proud to fight for them."
Is China really plotting to take over the moon?
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently accused China of plotting a military takeover of the moon. He noted the several successful landings the Chinese have achieved on the lunar surface. Through its English-language mouthpiece, the Global Times, the Chinese Communist Party hotly denied any such ambitions and accused the United States of “hypocrisy” and harboring imperial ambitions of its own concerning Earth’s nearest neighbor.
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Monday, July 25, 2022
Sunday, July 24, 2022
Dmitry Rogozin’s firing will not save the Russian space program
The news that Dmitry Rogozin had been dismissed as director of Roscosmos, the state corporation that runs the Russian space program, was universally acclaimed in Western space policy circles. Rogozin’s history of making bellicose statements concerning Russia’s space partners has been a sore point even before his tenure at Roscosmos. However, his departure will not save the Russian space program from the systemic problems afflicting it.
Saturday, July 23, 2022
Friday, July 22, 2022
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
Monday, July 18, 2022
Sunday, July 17, 2022
NASA’s James Webb Telescope reveals the beauty of the universe
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is now operational. The latest space-based observatory, a joint effort by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, has returned the first images of the vast universe.
One reason why many are fascinated with space is that the universe is beautiful. Who has seen images of stars, nebulae, galaxies, planets and even moons and has not felt awe?
Saturday, July 16, 2022
Friday, July 15, 2022
Russia ousts boisterous space chief Dmitry Rogozin or don't let the trampoline hit you on your way out
Thursday, July 14, 2022
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Monday, July 11, 2022
Sunday, July 10, 2022
Survey shows unsettling ignorance of space — how to change that
We now have sobering insights on the knowledge people have about the benefits of space. British satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat just released a survey of 20,000 people in 11 countries.
Saturday, July 09, 2022
What Israel can teach California about water sustainability
The State of Israel is another part of the world that is located partly in a desert. The first Jewish immigrants approached water scarcity in a far different way than the current California governing class. They built projects that dealt with the problem instead of engaging in endless wrangles over the issue. According to Israel21C the Jewish state now produces 20 percent more water than it needs.
Friday, July 08, 2022
Thursday, July 07, 2022
Wednesday, July 06, 2022
Tuesday, July 05, 2022
Monday, July 04, 2022
Sunday, July 03, 2022
The importance of CAPSTONE: First mission of NASA’s return to the moon
The first mission of NASA’s Artemis program, CAPSTONE, is on its way to the moon. The mission of the microwave-sized probe is to test the peculiar elliptical orbit around the moon that is planned for the Lunar Gateway, a facility that has come under some criticism. It will also test deep-space navigation technology, using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that has been in service since 2009. However, CAPSTONE’s real importance is the launch company that sent it on its way.
The Angry Astronaut responds to my critique of the Lunar Gateway. His solution to the lunar lander gap I cites resides deep inside his video.
Saturday, July 02, 2022
Friday, July 01, 2022
Carbon capture down on the farm could give Biden an opportunity
MIT Technology Review recently related another carbon capture project that recruits agriculture for the task of fighting climate change. A research group out of Berkeley, California, called the Innovative Genomics Institute is using a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to alter food plants to absorb more carbon dioxide, further decreasing the amount in the atmosphere. As a happy side effect, the researchers believe that the altered food crops would grow faster, thus increasing crop yields.