June 11, 2025 Quick space links
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.
- Proposed Nova Scotia spaceport gets $10 million government grant
This spaceport was first proposed in 2016, and has yet to launch anything of significance. It remains to be seen if this is nothing more than more government waste and corruption.
- Sierra Space creates a division focused solely on military contracts
The company is attempting to latch onto money coming from Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” project. It is also telling us indirectly that its space division might be having problems. The first launch of its Tenacity mini-shuttle remains endlessly delayed (for unexplained reasons that could be unfortunate) and its partner in the Orbital Reef space station project, Blue Origin, continues to disappoint. It could be that management is now going where the money is, even if it isn’t in space exploration.
- Falklands government finally removes major obstacles preventing its citizens from buying Starlink
The service isn’t yet available as there are more licensing issues, but it looks like it will happen.
- On this day in 2004 Cassini flew past the Saturn moon Phoebe
The image at the link is definitely cool.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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
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.
- Proposed Nova Scotia spaceport gets $10 million government grant
This spaceport was first proposed in 2016, and has yet to launch anything of significance. It remains to be seen if this is nothing more than more government waste and corruption.
- Sierra Space creates a division focused solely on military contracts
The company is attempting to latch onto money coming from Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” project. It is also telling us indirectly that its space division might be having problems. The first launch of its Tenacity mini-shuttle remains endlessly delayed (for unexplained reasons that could be unfortunate) and its partner in the Orbital Reef space station project, Blue Origin, continues to disappoint. It could be that management is now going where the money is, even if it isn’t in space exploration.
- Falklands government finally removes major obstacles preventing its citizens from buying Starlink
The service isn’t yet available as there are more licensing issues, but it looks like it will happen.
- On this day in 2004 Cassini flew past the Saturn moon Phoebe
The image at the link is definitely cool.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
Just listening to the latest John Batchelor / Robert Zimmerman podcast discussion about the EV subsidies.
Whether I was driving, or a passenger in a car, I used to point out every EV, and remind people that all of us helped pay for that individual to purchase and drive that car. Subsidies are taxpayer dollars. While I did not say it every time we encountered an EV, I did it enough that I was eventually asked to “tone it down.” But by then, friends and family were fuming at helping someone else purchase a car we cannot afford (even if we could afford one, no way).
Ronaldus Magnus: You might have sensed my frustration at Batchelor’s effort to justify subsidizes, not just to companies but to individuals in order to buy Starlink. We have been down this road now hundreds and hundreds of times, and it does not work. That he could even be arguing that position considering how bankrupt the federal government presently is brings me back to my essay today:
Why Kennedy’s decision to fire everyone at the CDC advisory panel was only a start
How many times does the little boy have to tell you that the emperor is wearing no clothes before you finally believe him?
An ugly but not entirely shocking development at a major legacy space prime, via Christopher Rufo:
Link to full thread (it gets uglier as you read through it all):
https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1933188887985430745
The full City Journal article: https://www.city-journal.org/article/lockheed-martin-civil-rights-law-bonuses-race-merit
Experienced HR pros know not to put it in writing like this, where discovery requests can obtain it….
Curious to see how the Trump Administration reacts. I doubt the new DoJ staff will ignore this.
Richard M: Back about six or seven years ago (I can’t find my story then), I reported these discriminatory DEI policies at numerous corporations, and noted that they left the corporations very exposed to legal action and expensive lawsuits. These racial quota policies violated numerous civil rights laws, and they did so blatantly.
Then I stated my bafflement that the legal departments of these companies were not objecting loudly to these policies. They might have, but apparently management decided to ignore the obvious risks.
As expected and predicted, the chickens are now finally coming home to roost. First we have seen a decline in quality at these companies because of these idiotic policies. Now we are seeing them faced with legal action that is going to cost them dearly.
I could not care less about EVs.
There is an opportunity here:
Remember when Waltz and Kelly bought the big gas guzzlers?
Have a bill forbidding any US state to ban internal combustion engine –the vehicle choice act…since every American should have the same
right as Kelly did to buy whatever vehicle they choose.
Ronaldus Magnus,
Anyone who thinks the idiotic subsidies are all that drives the EV market is very badly misinformed. EV cars are simply a fundamentally better technology than ICE cars and have a far better total cost of ownership even with no subsidies. EV drivetrains have a couple of orders of magnitude fewer moving parts than ICE and none that require more than once-in-a-blue-moon inspection or maintenance. Regenerative braking extends range. Electric motors produce maximum torque at zero RPM providing categorically superior off-the-line and while-moving acceleration. And buyers of the leading EV brand worldwide, Tesla, will soon be able to avail themselves of entirely autonomous operation – a major boon to many seniors and disabled, especially the blind. Anyone with a single-family home can also install charging hardware that makes stops at service stations a thing of the past.
Once Trump ends the subsidies, EVs will increase market share based entirely on their natural advantages. There’s a lot of twaddle being peddled out there about EVs, but more and more people will come to see that all of it is just the special pleadings of people with stakes in legacy automotive technology or fringe ideological axes to grind. Oil change outfits, tune-up shops, muffler shops and transmission servicers are going to go the way of harness shops and livery stables. Once vehicular autonomy becomes normative, the same will also be true of most of the body and paint shops. The only currently widespread auto-related businesses that should see little or no change to their fortunes are tire stores, car washes and detailing shops.
Dick–
Question: how much does it cost to re-charge an EV? What is the Unit of sale? Am I buying kilowatt-hours or what? I currently pay about 18 cents per kilowatt-hour for my house electric.
My little car gets 25 mpg, gasoline costs me $3 a gallon.
What is the electric vehicle version of this?
wayne,
Tesla Model Ys have 75 – 80 Kwh of battery capacity and go 4 – 5 mi. per Kwh. That yields a range of 300+ miles. At 18 cents/Kwh, a full charge for a model Y – if done at home – would run you about 14 bucks.
Most ICE cars have gas tanks with 12 – 15 gal. capacities to provide roughly comparable range capability. But, at 3 bucks a gallon, it might cost as much as 40 bucks to fill your tank. I live in CA and can’t really remember the last time gas was 3 bucks a gallon.
Gas prices, of course, include non-trivial amounts of state and federal taxation. At some point, electricity used to charge EVs will be subject to such taxes also as the roads must be maintained and that will require user fees as EV use advances – which I expect it to. Collecting such taxes at EV charging stations will be straightforward as all of the electricity dispensed at such stations goes toward road use by vehicles. For home charging setups, especially those that also include home battery backup storage and/or roof solar arrays, things will be a bit more potentially complex, but I suspect home chargers will soon be required to record the electricity they pass and the household smart utility meter will note that subtotal for extra taxation.
Governments being governments, there will be incentives to narrow the gap between present-day EV electricity costs and present day gas prices, but I think electricity will continue to retain an advantage because the infrastructure needed to generate and distribute electricity is just a lot cheaper than the infrastructure needed to refine and distribute gasoline.
Dick–
Thank you.
So, if I charged an EV at home, I’d pay my ‘normal’ home electric rate, for now. (until as you note, they tax that amount extra…)
Do you know how much they charge at commercial re-charging stations?
Gasoline SW Michigan coast– was down to $2.899/gallon until recent events. Spiked to $3.299 this morning.
Wayne and Dick: What you are both leaving out in these calculations is the time cost for refilling an EV tank. You can get your gas car refilled in less than five minutes, and you are on your way. An EV is going to take time, ranging from one to many hours.
Most people look at those time numbers and blanch at the idea of an EV for anything but short local trips. And then they consider the cost of buying the EV, and wonder why spend all that cash for something of such limited use. A gas car gives you flexibility at about the same or even less cost. Get a hybrid, and those problems vanish and you save on gas as well.
wayne,
You asked: “how much does it cost to re-charge an EV?”
It depends upon how many kilowatt-hours it holds, the charging efficiency, and the cost of electricity in your area. It is the charging time (hours) multiplied by the kilowatts of the charger (there are losses) multiplied by the price per kilowatt-hour.
“What is the Unit of sale? Am I buying kilowatt-hours or what?”
Yes, kilowatt-hours. You would probably have a charger in your garage, hooked up to your house’s electric wiring.
“I currently pay about 18 cents per kilowatt-hour for my house electric.”
That is about ⅓ what we pay in California. In my area, it is almost 50¢ per kilowatt-hour. Obama was right that Democrat policies would necessarily cause electricity prices to rise. Twenty years ago, I was paying around 13¢ per kilowatt-hour. Elections have consequences.
“My little car gets 25 mpg, gasoline costs me $3 a gallon. What is the electric vehicle version of this?”
You are paying around 12¢ per mile in gasoline. Maintenance, purchase-price amortization, and insurance are extra.
For electric vehicles (EVs), it would be miles per kilowatt hour, and the price per mile can be calculated. EVs are supposed to have lower maintenance costs, but the purchase price may be more, so the insurance may also be more.
Please be aware that battery capacity can degrade over time, so your 300 mile limit could become much less as the battery ages.
In California, the road to hell is paved with unintended consequences. The state government wants us to drive EVs, but it also boosts the price of electricity through the roof, making the EV less desirable. Fortunately, the federal government has declared that California is not allowed to ban the sale of fossil fuel automobiles, which the state had planned to do in 2035. Fortunately, California had also planned to build several power plants in order to assure that there would be enough electricity available to charge all those cars, vans, and trucks.
Oh, wait. There are no plans to build power plants in California. Huh. I wonder how our politicians thought we would power our EVs.
______________
Robert,
Your comment reminds me of a tale I heard the other day of a guy using his EV for a trip of 6 hour each way. Charging his vehicle added two hour to each leg for a 16-hour total travel time, and he estimated that he realistically can go 150 miles safely on a charge, not 300, but he had a Tesla pickup (Cybertruck?) rather than a Model Y. He mentioned that he could nominally recharge in half an hour, but it takes longer if the charging station is crowded.
My thoughts: if you have lunch while the car charges (would you have had lunch if you used a fossil fuel car, or would you have driven through?) then you may have a quick half-hour lunch up to a leisurely two-hour lunch while your car charges, depending upon how busy the charging station is. Hmm. Could it be time to invest in a restaurant next to a charging station? Probably not in California.
I wonder how long it takes a semi-truck to recharge, and I wonder how the extra time messes up the driver’s schedule and daily revenue.
Mr. Z.,
Good point.
Opportunity cost to wait hours for charging during the day, for high-wage people, is substantial.
Most interested in how much a commercial-charging station would charge me to refill an EV?
My attitude on the EV’s; appropriate for some uses in specific geographic locations, otherwise not a generalized replacement for ICE’s, and the electric infra-structure can’t support it anyway.
Edward- 50 cents a kilowatt, outrageous! (I distinctly remember paying 6 cents a kilowatt hour, all in, but that was pre-obama era)