Monday, February 27, 2023
Full Committee Hearing - The United States, China, and the Fight for Global Leadership: Building a U.S. National Science and Technology Strategy
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Why space companies want to make solar cells from lunar dirt
We rarely ask, with regard to humans returning to the moon, how they will develop its resources. Two companies are creating the technology to do just that.
Saturday, February 25, 2023
Friday, February 24, 2023
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Monday, February 20, 2023
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Will the SpaceX Starship fly to space soon?
Musk says he hopes that the first orbital test of the Starship/Superheavy system will occur in March. A couple of things must happen between now and the first orbital launch.
The UFO shoot-downs show the hardest part of discovering alien life may be announcing it. Here's how NASA might break the news
Saturday, February 18, 2023
All prayers for Jimmy Carter. Not my favorite president by a long shot, but his work for Habitat for Humanity has been exemplary. Also, the Camp David Peace Accords were a brilliant bit of diplomacy. Then there is this: A Cold War mystery: Why did Jimmy Carter save the space shuttle?
Friday, February 17, 2023
Paul Ehrlich proves the prophets of doom are wrong once again
Recently, that venerable TV news magazine. 60 Minutes, had 90-year-old Paul Ehrlich on to tell its audience that we are all doomed. Dr. Ehrlich has been performing this shtick for over 50 years, ever since he published his monster best seller “The Population Bomb” in 1968, the year before men first walked on the moon. He was wrong then and he is wrong now.
NET Power’s zero-emission generators will save the planet and silence the alarmists
Having proven the effectiveness of its carbon-emission-free generator technology at a prototype plant in La Porte, Texas, NET Power has taken the next step of developing commercial-size natural gas-powered generators in the United States and Europe. According to Forbes, one of those plants, to be located in Odessa, Texas, will have two beneficial side effects besides generating electricity.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Monday, February 13, 2023
China is afraid of NASA’s Artemis return to the moon
China is afraid of the American Artemis program. It should be. Artemis and other aspects of American space policy, such as the Space Force, are designed, in part, to prevent Beijing from dominating space and its resources and thus, the Earth. China feels that it needs such dominance to help alleviate the self-inflicted economic and demographic problems it faces.
Sunday, February 12, 2023
Beresheet 2: The latest in America’s inclusive return to the moon
Recently, NASA and the Israeli Space Agency commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Columbia Disaster — which took the life, among others, of Israel’s first astronaut Ilan Ramon — by signing a cooperation agreement concerning the Beresheet 2 lunar mission. NASA will provide communications and technology services for Israel’s second attempt to land on the moon. In return, Israel will share data gathered by the mission. In April 2022 Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a similar agreement.
Saturday, February 11, 2023
Friday, February 10, 2023
Thursday, February 09, 2023
Wednesday, February 08, 2023
Tuesday, February 07, 2023
Monday, February 06, 2023
Sunday, February 05, 2023
I will be on The Space Show with David Livingston at 3 pm Eastern, 2 pm Central today to discuss various space topics.
Will the NASA-DARPA nuclear engine test cause environmental protests?
The recent news that NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are teaming up to build a nuclear thermal propulsion rocket and test it in 2027 was welcomed by advocates of space exploration. The technology would cut the time for humans to voyage to Mars in half or even more. It would also be useful for deep space planetary voyages, such as the proposed flagship mission to Uranus. NASA has been working on nuclear propulsion for several years.
Saturday, February 04, 2023
So, helping the blind to see is now a bad thing?
Hot Air relates a modern version of the story about a YouTuber who calls himself MrBeast. MrBeast usually offers stunt content about surviving while buried alive or opening an auto dealership. Occasionally he will produce videos for worthy causes, such as a recent one in which he paid for cataract surgery for 1,000 people. He posted some of the reactions of the newly sighted on his channel, all very charming and heart-warming.
Some of the woke do not like the idea that MrBeast did this. Some objected to curing blindness as “ableism.” Others felt that he was a rich guy who was in for the adulation and not for the satisfaction of curing 1,000 people of their blindness.
Healing the blind is "ableism"
Chantal, my lovely and gracious wife, helps blind children for the great state of Texas. I am sure that she will find this beyond astonishing,
Just as an aside, I am legally blind in my left eye as a result of a birth trauma which doctors tell me cannot be fixed for reasons I won't get into. if someone like Mr Beast were to find someone who could fix it, I would happily dance a jig for his YouTube camera.