Virgin Galactic to Join NASA Submissions for Orbital Spaceflights.
Virgin Galactic has confirmed the story from Space News that it is part of the crew/cargo proposal that Orbital Sciences submitted to NASA this week.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
Two Danish citizens on trial for criticizing Islam
Two Danish citizens are on trial for criticizing Islam. Worse, “under Danish jurisprudence it is immaterial whether a statement is true or untrue. All that is needed for a conviction is that somebody feels offended.”
More evidence that the rim of Shackleton crater is valuable real estate
The image below was produced by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter by assembling data from numerous images over six months. The levels of brightness and darkness indicate the percentage of time in which an area is sunlight. The red dot just below the rim of Shackleton shows the approximate location of the south pole.
As you can see, the rim of Shackleton Crater nearest the south pole is illuminated by the sun most of the time, while the nearby crater floor never gets sunlight. This data confirms what Japanese scientists found using their lunar probe, Kaguya. The south pole has the ideal combination of locations with nearly continuous bright sunlight (to provide power) and nearly continuous darkness (where explorers will likely find significant amounts of frozen water), making this is an excellent location to build that first lunar base. And from the image you can see that the Shackleton Crater rim is not the only spot near the south pole with these conditions.
Also, if you look at the close-up image of Shackleton’s rim that I posted here, you will see that there is plenty of room to land and set up residence.
Chicago Tea Party Gets a Bomb Scare for their Christmas Party
Feel the love! The Chicago Tea Party’s Christmas party was shut down by a bomb scare. So no one has any doubt about the goals of the arsonists, the written message that accompanied the incendiary devices was “F*CK THE TEA PARTY”.
List of senators and the number of earmarks they placed in Omnibus spending bill
Don’t slam the door on your way out! Check out this list of senators and the number of earmarks they placed in $1.27 trillion omnibus spending bill put together by the lame-duck Congress.
The FCC commissioner wants to regulate on the airwaves
Freedom of speech alert: The FCC commissioner has made it clear in a recent appearance on the BBC that he strongly supports having the FCC regulate in some manner the news coverage of radios and television. You can see the video here. Key quote from the article above:
In practice, Copps’s recommendations — however well intended — necessarily entail expanding the power of bureaucrats to monitor media content, power which can then be used for objectionable and politicized goals.
The flight of Falcon 9/Dragon: Doing it right
For those that want to relive the experience of success, SpaceX has posted a short highlight video of last week’s successful test flight of Falcon 9/Dragon capsule.
It is difficult to overstate the importance or magnifience of this achievement, accomplished not by a government but by a private company. As SpaceX rightly brags on its website:
This marks the first time a commercial company has successfully recovered a spacecraft reentering from Earth orbit. It is a feat previously performed by only six nations or government agencies: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency.
What I find even more telling is how quickly SpaceX got this done. The first launch attempt of their first rocket, Falcon 1, took place in March of 2006. About that same time they began work on Falcon 9, and were able to successfully fly its first mission only four years later. Contrast that with NASA. President Bush proposed building a replacement for the shuttle in 2004, and six years later all NASA could do was fly a mockup of Ares I/Orion, not the actual article. And that leaves out NASA’S numerous previous attempts to build a shuttle replacement that spent billions, and never did more than produce pretty powerpoint presentations.
SpaceX’s speed of operation (a sure sign of efficiency) is reminiscent of the early days of the space age. Then, NASA might have laid out the overall plan, but everything was built by private companies, all used to fighting for profits and market share. None could afford a leisurely pace, nor could they afford to do things badly. If they did either, their business would suffer. As a result, the United States was able to go from having no ability to put anything in orbit to putting its first man in space in less than three years, and was able to follow that up with the first manned lunar mission only seven years later.
ISRO: Indian agency set to launch heaviest satellite
After a string of failures going back to 2004, the Indian space agency is set to try to launch its most powerful rocket again, this time with its heaviest cargo.
Government May Shut Down Amid Standoff on Pork-Filled Spending Bill
This might be the best news I’ve heard in years! The government may shut down on Saturday due to the stalemate in Congress over the $1.27 trillion pork-filled spending bill.
Amino acids found on meteorite that crashed in the Sudan
Dead alien life arrives on Earth! Not really but still exciting anyway: Scientists have found the remains of space-born amino acids — essential to life — in the meteorite that crashed in the Sudan in 2008. Key quote:
“This meteorite formed when two asteroids collided,” said Daniel Glavin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “The shock of the collision heated it to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit [1,093 degrees Celsius], hot enough that all complex organic molecules like amino acids should have been destroyed, but we found them anyway.”
The discovery is further evidence that the basic elements of life can form in even the most hostile of environments.
Fraud, Abuse Found in NASA Research Funding to Small Companies
NASA’s inspecter general has found fraud, waste, and abuse in NASA’s small business research program. Nor is this new news:
Problems with NASA’s SBIR program have been repeatedly criticized in recent years by the agency’s inspector general. Of some 46 investigations related to the SBIR program over the past decade, 17 percent resulted in criminal convictions, civil judgments, or administrative action, the inspector general told a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last year.