Author: Robert Zimmerman

In telling us why they are fleeing Trump America, three Yale professors prove they are unqualified for their jobs

12:11 pm

What many now label the
The “Poison Ivy League” may have finally
gotten better!

Good riddance! In a New York Times op-ed on May 14, 2025, three former Yale professors attempted to explain why they have quit their jobs at Yale and moved to teach in Canada at the University of Toronto.

Unbeknownst to them, their idiotic and ignorant reasons for leaving demonstrated that they are actually completely unqualified to be college professors, and that Yale (and the United States) will be better off without them.

Professor Stanley is leaving the United States as an act of protest against the Trump administration’s attacks on civil liberties. “I want Americans to realize that this is a democratic emergency,” he said.

Professor Shore, who has spent two decades writing about the history of authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe, is leaving because of what she sees as the sharp regression of American democracy. “We’re like people on the Titanic saying our ship can’t sink,” she said. “And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”

Professor Snyder’s reasons are more complicated. Primarily, he’s leaving to support his wife, Professor Shore, and their children, and to teach at a large public university in Toronto, a place he says can host conversations about freedom. At the same time, he shares the concerns expressed by his colleagues and worries that those kinds of conversations will become ever harder to have in the United States.

As noted in this analysis of their actions, all three say they are doing this because they have studied fascism and thus “equate ‘Make America Great Again’ with Adolf Hitler’s ‘Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer.'”

The analogy is so weak and incoherent as to be laughable. As the essayist in this second link notes, it cheapens the meaning of fascism and in fact suggests these three “professors” don’t have the slightest idea what the word means, despite their claim they have studied it.

More important however are the three quirks of personality illustrated by their position and actions that signify why their are unqualified to be professors to begin with.
» Read more

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New research suggests the two types of streaks on Mars are caused by dry events

9:35 am

A Martian slope streak caused by a dust devil?
A Martian slope streak caused by a dust devil? From
data taken in 2023. Click for original image.

Scientists using a computer machine learning algorithm to assembly and analyze global maps of all known slope streaks and recurring slope lineae (RSL) — the two different types of streaks found on Mars whose cause as yet remain unexplained — have concluded that these streaks are likely caused by dry processes, not wet brine seeping from underground.

Slope streaks can occur randomly throughout the year, can be bright or dark, can occur anywhere, and fade with time. Recurring slope lineae instead appear seasonally in the same locations and are always dark.

You can read the published paper here. It essentially provides further details on research that was first announced at a conference in March. From its conclusion:

[O]ur observations suggest that slope streak and RSL formation may be predominantly controlled by two independent, dry drivers, 1) the seasonal delivery of dust onto topographic inclines, and 2) the spontaneous activation of accumulated dust by energetic triggers – wind and impacts for slope streaks, as well as dust devils and rockfalls for RSL.

…Our results underline the fundamental differences between slope streaks and RSL, despite their visual resemblance. Streak and RSL populations occur on opposite hemispheres (north vs south), at different topographic elevations (mostly lowlands vs mostly highlands), in opposite thermal inertia terrain (low vs high), in different wind speed regimes (above-average vs below-average), in dissimilar diurnal thermal amplitude and heat flux terrain (above-average vs average), in different WEH, H2O, H, and water vapor column terrain (average vs below-average), and in terrain that provides suitable (theoretical) conditions for liquid water at different seasons (Ls ~90° vs Ls ~ 270°).

This data suggests both types of streaks form in connection with very fine Martian dust, but the researchers also admit that the actual method in which these avalanche-type streaks form remains unclear. In both cases the streaks cause no change in the topography (sometimes even traveling uphill for short distances), produce no debris piles at their base, as avalanches typically do, and do not appear to have an obvious cause or source at the top of the streak.

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Ispace borrows $35 million

9:01 am

Ispace landing map
Resilience’s landing zone in Mare Frigoris

The Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace announced last week that it has obtained a new bank loan totaling $35 million from the Japanese bank Mizuho to help pay its ongoing expenses as its Resilience lunar lander attempts the company’s second try at soft landing on the Moon.

The loan is intended to secure working capital for development of mission and other related expenses. Through this financing, ispace intends to strengthen the company’s liquidity position and stabilize its financial foundation, thereby enabling agile management decisions.

In other words, the company had started to run short of cash, and needed this loan to keep operating. It had previously gotten a government loan of almost $6 million, but that did not have to be paid back for ten years. Back in 2018 it raised $90 million in investment capital, followed by an additional $53 million in 2024.

This loan suggests that Ispace might be in serious financial trouble if Resilience fails to soft land on June 5, 2025, as presently planned. The company already has two future lander contracts, one with NASA and one with Japan’s space agency JAXA, but a second failure now might cause those agencies to have second thoughts.

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Chinese pseudo-company completes another launch from sea platform

8:42 am

The Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy today successfully placed four communications satellites into orbit, its solid-fueled Ceres-1 rocket lifting off from a sea platform off the eastern coast of China.

To prove how pseudo this company is, China’s state run press did not even mention its existence in the report at the link. The solid fuel of the rocket tells us that it was derived from missile technology, and there isn’t a chance in hell that a private independent company in China could do so without the strict supervision and control from that country’s government.

Nonetheless, this was its 19th successful launch, and its fifth from a sea platform. The rocket has only failed once since since its first launch in 2020.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

59 SpaceX
28 China
6 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 59 to 46.

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Third stage of India’s PSLV rocket fails during launch

9:36 pm

India’s PSLV rocket today (May 18 in India) experienced a launch failure in attempting to place an Earth observation satellite into orbit, with the failure occurring during the engine firing of the rocket’s third stage.

The link is cued to just before the tracking screen began showing the third stage drop from its planned trajectory. The suddenness of the loss of data as well as the drop in the trajectory suggests the engine exploded during firing, but that is pure speculation. Regardless, the launch, only the second India has attempted in 2025, was a failure.

Moreover, the first launch this year was a failure also, though the GSLV rocket in that launch performed as expected and deployed the satellite in its planned transfer orbit. At that point however the Indian-built satellite’s thrusters failed to operate, stranding the satellite in the wrong orbit , which soon decayed. UPDATE: According to a more recent report, it has remained in orbit but provides little service.

Thus 2025, which ISRO had predicted to be India’s most active year ever, is so far not turning out so well. ISRO hopes to begin launching its first unmanned test flights of its Gaganyaan capsule later this year, using its Heavy Lift Vehicle Mark 3 rocket (HLV-M3), an upgraded version of its GSLV rocket. One wonders if these issues will impact that schedule.

These failures by the space agency could however help the Modi government shift the balance of power away from ISRO and to its emerging private rocket sector. If the agency can’t get it done, maybe the private sector should be given the chance to do it. For example, the government has been pushing to have the ownership and management of the PSLV rocket transferred from ISRO to a private rocket company since in 2016. In the nine year since, there however has been little sign of this shift happening.

Part of the problem has been that none of India’s private rocket startups are really ready to take over these operations. The transfer is further made less likely by the strong resistance to change within ISRO’s bureaucracy. These failures provide political ammunition to push back against that resistance.

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Two launches last night, by China and Rocket Lab

10:23 am

The high pace of rocket launches this year continued last night, but in a rare exception this time it had nothing to do with SpaceX.

First, the Chinese pseudo-company Landspace successfully placed six radar satellites into orbit, its upgraded version of its Zhuque-2 rocket lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in China’s northwest.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China. Unlike its larger Zhuque-3 rocket, which has not yet flown but is being designed as a copy of a Falcon 9 with its first stage able to return to Earth vertically, the Zhuque-2 has no such ability.

Next, Rocket Lab successfully placed a commercial radar satellite into orbit, its Electron rocket lifting off from one of the company’s two launchpads in New Zealand. This launch was the third by Rocket Lab for the satellite company iQPS, and is the second in an eight-satellite launch contract with the company.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

59 SpaceX
27 China
6 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 59 to 45.

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What satellite did the Varda capsule fly past during its return last week?

10:01 am

Other satellite passing under Varda's capsule
Click for video cued to this point.

Regular reader Rex Ridenoure emailed me today to note that there appears to be another satellite relatively nearby and visible in the video posted in yesterday’s quick links, taken from inside Varda’s capsule during its return to Earth.

The image to the right is a screen capture taken at 7:56 of the video. At that point the object is visible from 7:50 to 8:01 to the west and below. You can clearly see it moving from left to right (east to west). The two solar panels can also be discerned on either side of the satellite’s main body.

It later reappears for only two seconds in the lower right of the view window at 9:18, then is visible again at 10:30 to 10:33, now beginning to pass below but considerably to the north (?).

If anyone has the resources to identify this satellite, as well as its exact distance during this close approach, please comment below. It raises an interesting question on whether its existence was considered when the re-entry time was decided.

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May 16, 2025 Quick space links

2:46 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

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Astronomers detect evidence of numerous protoplanetary disks in three molecular clouds near the galactic center

11:58 am

Using the ground-based ALMA telescope in Chile, astronomers have detected evidence of the existence of numerous protoplanetary disks in three molecular clouds near the galactic center.

The findings suggest that over three hundred such systems may already be forming within just these three CMZ clouds [Central Molecular Zone]. “It is exciting that we are detecting possible candidates for protoplanetary disks in the Galactic Centre. The conditions there are very different from our neighbourhood, and this may give us a chance to study planet formation in this extreme environment,” said Professor Peter Schilke at the University of Cologne.

You can read the paper here.

These results once again suggest that the formation of stars, solar systems, and planets is more ubiquitous than ever expected, that they can all form in very extreme and hostile environments, of which the center of the Milky Way is one of the most hostile.

And if planets can form here, they can likely form everywhere else. This increases the likelihood of many planets throughout the galaxy capable of supporting the development of life.

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FAA issues revised launch window and flight restrictions for future Starship test flights

11:00 am

Flight path for Starship's ninth test flight

Due to the breakup of Starship over the Atlantic during its last two test flights, the FAA today issued [pdf] revised launch window and flight plan restrictions for future flights, in an attempt to placate somewhat the concerns of the United Kingdom.

The map to the right, taken from the FAA assessment, shows in red the area where air traffic is impacted by the next Starship/Superheavy launch, now tentatively planned for next week. Note how the path threads a line avoiding almost all land masses, thus limiting the worst impact to just the Bahamas, the Turks & Caicos Islands. Though the launch will effect 175 flights and require one airport on these islands to close during the launch window, to minimize the impact the FAA has required that the launch window be scheduled outside peak travel periods.

At the same time, the FAA after discussions with the governments on these islands has approved this flight plan, noting that “no significant impacts would occur” due to the ninth flight.

The agency has not yet actually issued the launch license, but it will almost certainly do so in time for SpaceX’s planned launch date. Since the advent of the Trump administration the FAA has no longer been slow walking these approvals in order to retype the results of SpaceX’s investigation. Instead, as soon as SpaceX states it has satisfactorily completed its investigation, the FAA has accepted that declaration and issued a launch license. Expect the same this time as well.

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