August 3, 2026 Quick space links
Since BtB’s stringer Jay is unavailable due to work, there are not a lot of quick links today. The only one below was sent to me by reader Nate P., and it is historical in nature.
- From 1960: Proposed studies on the implications of peaceful space activities for human affairs [pdf]
This report was written by the left-leaning Brookings think tank, though that meant far different things then then now. In 1960, it was much more benign, and though favoring government intervention did not push for government rule in all things.
When this report was written no one knew exactly how the potential of space would be exploited. There was fear of unlimited private enterprise, and much discussion then was where the line should be drawn between government control and free enterprise. How much should the government do? Where should its power end?
This report was part of the effort then by the military-industrial complex (what we today call the swamp or administrative state) to draw that line, and like many reports in this post-WWII world, it favored a lot of government intervention, though then with the expressed desire to let free enterprise function under that control. The result however was more government then necessary, and eventually the Comsat act that badly damaged both the U.S. launch and satellites industries for more than a decade. Key quote from the paper:
Because regulation is related to many aspects of government-industry space activities and to policy planning, and because of its importance in forwarding peaceful space activities and its implications for society at large, a continuing research effort should be begun soon on the economic and political objectives of regulation of space activities. Major questions concern which space activities are to be regulated and what contingent factors are involved.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Lots of FDR men…but that was when Progressive meant progress–chop this down, dig that up.
Men of that era had the mindset of city planners who liked gridded streets and Avenue.
The things China is doing now is what they feared…. Stephen King was asked what scared him the most…his answer was Sputnik. I have heard locals thinking that rocket launches would throw Earth’s orbit off
When I point out that Volcanoes haven’t done so–they don’t listen
I remember Charles Osgood sniping at COMSAT in one of his books (“There’s Nothing I wouldn’t do”), but I took that as a general, anti-space hit piece, like Lehrer’s cutie pie song or the even worse “Whitey on the Moon” garbage.
The mad scientist movies and nuclear scares poisoned the minds of people of that era–and we should not judge them by modern standards either.
Now the threat are D/S Greens, who (if given a time machine) would have protested FDR building roads for cars or whatever.
And gotten a well deserved rifle butt to the back of the head like they deserve.
Minor edit in second paragraph: “left-leaning Brookings think tank”
Fixed. Thanks!
Satellite image of Starship being towed to Australia.
https://x.com/jrxcket/status/2084408380060320188?s=46
Nifty!
Lots of comments about towing it backwards. Makes good sense to me. The thrust structure is very strong and the engine bay has lots of strong places to afix tow lines. Also, S40 has been floating a bit down at the nose since it landed with the engine bay barely awash. Under tow, even at very low speed, I suspect the entire back end of S40 is entirely out of the water. Doubtless, the tow rig is such as to increase this effect. There’s a bit of a list, though, which means the set of fins on the low side is exerting more drag than those on the high side. That might explain the somewhat squirrely tow vector. I think she keeps wanting to veer. Sal Mercogliano over at the ‘What’s Up with Shipping’ podcast speculated that it might take 10 or 11 days to make landfall in OZ given the slow pace observed on the first day of towing.
Gary posted fantastic link to images of towing Starship.
One of my first thoughts was that the memes could be hilarious. Fisherman comparing the days catch.
“I caught a marlin!”
“I caught a swordfish!”
“I caught a skyscraper!”
They delay was due to Dreyfuss getting spooked again when Jeff Bezos head came floating out.
He tried to sabotage himself it since Johnathan Harris botched up attempts to hobble the Jupiter 2
In the same vein as the Brookings Institution report in the original post, but much more recent, and far shorter too:
https://www.mcgill.ca/iasl/article/moon-agreement-hanging-thread
This early 2023 article by two (actual) space lawyers discusses the (infamous) Moon Treaty and specifically Saudi Arabia’s withdrawal (then just started, now accomplished), leaving only 17 countries “in the club” compared to 118 for the Outer Space Treaty and 70 for the (non-binding) Artemis Accords. (Note the Artemis Accords had “only” 24 countries signed up when the article was written — already more than the Moon Treaty ever had.)
The (many) links in the article are interesting, especially to the one-page declassified National Reconaissance Office memo that basically says the Moon Treaty as we know it was pushed by the Soviet Union, and largely to occupy the UN and keep them from cooking up any further trouble. Thus, it’s both socialist (banning private, corporate, and state ownership of any land in space, period), and designed and built by literal Communists in Soviet Moscow.
Also interesting is the (non-binding) UN “Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space” from 1962 — half a decade before the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. If it reads like large parts of the Outer Space Treaty were lifted word-for-word from this resolution, well, basically you’d be right.
https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/principles/legal-principles.html
It’s entirely possible (with only a few more historical “breadcrumbs”) that one could draw a line straight from the Brookings Institution report (1960) through that “Declaration” (1962) to the Outer Space Treaty (1967, which bans only “national appropriation” — however interpreted — of off-Earth land) and onward to the vile Moon Treaty (1979 and 1983) as discussed in the article (which is where things go full-metal-socialist and no mistake).
The Moon treaty is garbage of course.
I think enough of spaceflight that it should be a national priority.
For the Moon, I might have asolar electric tugs slowly push hypergolic filled Starship depots to NRHO such that small landers could do many sorties there.
The hypergolics keep for years.
In terms of launch, it might be wise to use fossil fuel infrastructure.
Condeeps like Troll A fill their hollow legs with product.
I want a condeep with a nuclear reactor to pump/refine its own kerosene and generate HTP so you could launch the giant Beal-type rockets from another condeep nearby.
This could be part of a JMOB complex for American Force projection.
Project Truax