The Moon, Mars, and Beyond: Two Tales from the Coming Space Age

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Are House Republicans preparing to end the Artemis moon mission with budget cuts?

The House Appropriations Committee has released its planned spending levels for each of its subcommittees for the fiscal 2024 budget, according to Space Policy Online. The numbers are as bad as bad can be, at least from the point of view of NASA and the Artemis moon program.

Saturday, June 24, 2023

Ad Astra Ad Aspera would have been a great episode of Star Trek in the 1990s. Now it seems to be pounding a point that, while certainly valid, has no relevance in the modern world.
Russia Slides Into Civil War: Is Putin facing His Czar Nicholas II moment?

I warned Vlad, did I not?: What would Peter the Great say to Putin about space power?

The Moon, Mars, and Beyond: Two Tales from the Coming Space Age
NASA’s obstacles to commercializing the Space Launch System are mounting

Reuters reports that NASA is urging Boeing and Northrop to commercialize the Space Launch System (SLS). On the surface, it’s a good strategy. The SLS is horrendously expensive to process and launch. If the monster rocket’s two main contractors can find other customers, the launch cost will decline. Cost cutting is an important consideration, thanks to the pressure on NASA’s budget because of the debt ceiling deal. The planned House Appropriations Committee 2024 spending levels could be devastating to the space agency.

A Day for Liberty Juneteenth and the making of a national holiday.
Is it time to cancel the Boeing Starliner?

While the SpaceX Crew Dragon has become the basis of a commercial space line, operating since May 2020, the other vehicle in the Commercial Crew Program, the Boeing Starliner, remains snake bit and on the ground. Ars Technica reports that another two technical glitches have delayed the first crewed mission of the Starliner indefinitely.

Tuesday, June 06, 2023

Tucker Carlson is back and is in a rare demented form. Apparently the Ukrainians blew up their own dam.
'Caddyshack' Shows Why Many Intellectuals Hate Capitalism

Sunday, June 04, 2023

Could NASA and SpaceX mount a joint mission to Mars?

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made no secret of the fact that his lifelong ambition is to build a colony on Mars. “I would like to die on Mars, but not on impact,” he is quoted as saying. Everything he has done with his space launch company, including the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, Starlink and especially Starship, has, as the ultimate goal, sending people to the Red Planet to start a new branch of human civilization.

NASA has its own Mars ambitions. NASA has suggested that the Artemis moon landings are a practice for the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars. The space agency has also gotten serious about creating nuclear propulsion technology, which would shorten the time it takes to send people and cargo to Mars.