LADEE has now slipped out of Earth orbit and into its first wide lunar orbit.
LADEE has now slipped out of Earth orbit and into its first wide lunar orbit.
Over time the spacecraft will slowly tighten its orbit.
Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
NASA and JPL have now stated that the government shutdown will not interfere with their promised support for India’s Mars Orbiter Mission.
NASA and JPL have now stated that the government shutdown will not interfere with their promised support for India’s Mars Orbiter Mission.
Earlier reports had suggested that NASA’s Deep Space Network, used to communicate with planetary probes, would not be available because of the shutdown, and the mission would have to be delayed because of this.
Posted from Columbia, Maryland.
The Obama administration has ordered 1100 square miles of open ocean off limits to private fisherman and tourists because of the government shutdown.
Shutdown fascism: The Obama administration has ordered 1100 square miles of open ocean off limits to private fisherman and tourists because of the government shutdown.
The article above also has a link to a story where voluntary unpaid Catholic priests have been told by the Obama administration that they will face arrest if they try to serve mass at military chapels or minister to military personnel during the shutdown.
A bus tour of veterans today pushed barricades clear so that the Iwo Jima Memorial was once again open to the public.
A bus tour of veterans today pushed barricades clear so that the Iwo Jima Memorial was once again open to the public.
More events like this have to happen, and they have to be done by everyone, not just the veterans.
Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years.
Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years.
This is unfortunate news indeed. However, if I was India (as well as other countries) I would consider this a call to develop their own deep space network.
“Government shuts down, nation descends into riots, looting and cannibalism.”
“Government shuts down, nation descends into riots, looting and cannibalism.”
“The government shut down! We can do anything we like,” shouted Sam Hasbley of Grassley, Iowa, while tearing the tag off a mattress despite an explicit warning label forbidding such a dangerous course of action. “Tear yours off. The government is shut down. It can’t stop you.”
Eyewitnesses spoke of further horrors. On a quiet street in suburban Massachusetts, a man brought out a set of highly illegal lawn darts. In Maryland, there were allegations that an entire family had begun digging ditches to collect rainwater runoff. With the fall of the government, citizen activists took it upon themselves to chronicle the culture of lawlessness. Men played Gibson guitars made of wood imported from India, but not finished by Indian workers. Women bought cold medicine without a photo ID. Children went hours without hearing lectures about the environment.
Heh. Read it all. You will be horrified.
Stratolaunch has now released some preliminary details about its commercial rocket, including images.
Stratolaunch has now released some preliminary details about its commercial rocket, including images.
Work has also begun on assembling the giant carrier airplane that will be used to take the rocket aloft.
Posted from lovely Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Tomorrow I will be busy visiting old friends as well as poking around an old Pennsylvania ghost town, so posting should be light.
“We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”
An honest park ranger: “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”
Even as the military announces it must eliminate TV broadcasts of sporting events for the troops overseas because of the govermnent shutdown, it continues to operate the golf courses and Camp David for President Obama’s entertainment.
Even as the military announces it must eliminate TV broadcasts of sporting events for the troops overseas because of the govermnent shutdown, it continues to operate the golf courses and Camp David for President Obama’s entertainment.
Posted as we crossed the Tennessee-Virginia border on I-81, heading north.
The Obama administration is now beginning to reinforce the barricades at the World War II memorial to prevent access.
Shutdown fascism: The Obama administration is now beginning to reinforce the barricades at the World War II memorial to prevent access.
Why is this madness beginning to remind me of the Berlin Wall?
Virgin Galactic has signed a television deal for a reality show where the winner would get a flight into space on SpaceShipTwo.
Virgin Galactic has signed a television deal for a reality show where the winner would get a flight into space on SpaceShipTwo.
This sounds great, but the company first has to solve the very serious engineering problems it has with SpaceShipTwo’s engine, which apparently is going to cause a delay of at least one year in the ship’s development. Thus, this announcement is really nothing more than a publicity stunt designed to distract the public from those problems.
Orbital Sciences is suing the government agency that operates the Wallops Island spaceport, saying it is refusing to pay a $16.5 million bill.
Orbital Sciences is suing the government agency that operates the Wallops Island spaceport, saying it is refusing to pay a $16.5 million bill.
I am not surprised. One of the prime reasons the launch of Antares and Cygnus was delayed by more than a year was because this same government agency had failed to upgrade the launchpad as promised, and Orbital Sciences was eventually forced to step in, take over, and spend millions to do the work itself.
Elon Musk lays out SpaceX’s planned program for developing a reusable first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket.
Elon Musk lays out SpaceX’s planned program for developing a reusable first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket.
The article also gives some additional details about the company’s first effort to control the reentry of the first stage after launch last week.
NASA has decided to exempt its Mars probe, MAVEN, from the government shutdown, allowing preparations to resume for its November launch.
NASA has decided to exempt its Mars probe, MAVEN, from the government shutdown, allowing preparations to resume for its November launch.
NASA Headquarters in Washington determined that Maven’s preparations should go ahead on an emergency basis — not because of its scientific objectives, but because of its expected role as a communications relay satellite for the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers on Mars. “Both Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Odyssey have been acting as communication relays, but they’ve passed their design lifetime,” Jakosky explained. “Maven carries communication equipment to take over that job as necessary. Getting us launched at this opportunity is a way to preserve that ability to communicate.”
As I’ve said before, as much as I am in favor of launching this kind of science mission, the number of arbitrary decisions relating to this shutdown makes the whole thing look ridiculous. NASA can act to protect its investments on Mars, but the National Park Service is required to interfere with the normal actions of private restaurants here on Earth?
The truth is that these science missions really don’t fall under the intended definition of “essential operations”. The federal bureaucracy, under the direction of the White House, is simply stretching that definition for their own convenience, wherever they like.
After developing the J-2X engine for the upper stage of its SLS heavy-lift rocket, NASA now plans to mothball it.
NASA marches on! After developing the J-2X engine for the upper stage of its SLS heavy-lift rocket, NASA now plans to mothball it.
While the agency is actively seeking other missions for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) in the planetary science and military arenas, most of the human flights it has in sight for the big new rocket probably can be accomplished with an upper stage powered by the RL-10 engine instead of the J-2X. “The J-2X for certain [design reference missions] is somewhat overpowered,” said Todd May, NASA’s SLS program manager.
The main cause of this absurd situation is Congress, which has micro-managed the development of SLS from day one.
House Republicans plan to pass more narrow funding bills in an effort to get some of the government running again.
House Republicans plan to pass more narrow funding bills in an effort to get some of the government running again.
In recent days, House Republicans have advanced several bills targeting high-profile areas of the government impacted by the shutdown, such as national parks, veterans’ benefits and the National Institutes of Health. In turn, they have pressed Senate Democrats to take up the measures and ensure that at least some portions of the government can be funded while the two sides search for a broader compromise. Thus far, Senate Democrats and the White House have rejected that approach, pushing back on Republicans to accept a plan to fund the entire government at sequester levels.
Bills to fund the government have been passed by the House, controlled by Republicans. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, refuses to even look at them, even though those bills contain nothing in them that the Democrats specifically disagree with. Whose causing this shutdown then?
Burials in space: Cheaper by far than on Earth!
Burials in space: Cheaper by far than on Earth!
“It’s day two of health care reform, and we have yet to have someone successfully register on the marketplace.”
Not finding out what’s in it: “It’s day two of health care reform, and we have yet to have someone successfully register on the marketplace.”
The story is only one of many, all of which have found that no one has successfully been able to register for Obamacare on the government-run websites.
But don’t worry: President Obama and the Democrats are willing to shut down everything rather than have the disaster of Obamacare delayed for even one second!
The Obama administration has demanded that hundreds of private venues close, merely because they are on federal land.
Shutdown fascism: The Obama administration has demanded that hundreds of private venues close, merely because they are on federal land, and even if they use no federal funds to operate. Key quote:
“I can only assume their intention is to artificially increase the cost of the shutdown as some sort of political ploy,” Meyer said in his letter. “The point of the shutdown is to close non-essential operations that require Federal money and manpower to stay open. So why is the White House closing private operations that require no government money to keep open and actually pay a percentage of their gate revenues back to the Treasury? We are a tenant of the U.S. Forest Service, and a tenant does not have to close his business just because his landlord goes on a vacation.”
A spokeswoman for the National Park Service told MyFoxDC that it is still federal land, and the rule is that if there’s no Congressional appropriation, no visitors are allowed. [emphasis mine]
That last so-called rule is absolute hogwash. It doesn’t exist. All the lack of an appropriation means is that the federal government should hang a “closed” sign on the door of the buildings and lockable facilities and go home. Public lands are exactly that, public. They have no right to keep the public off them, since it is the public that actually owns them. The park service is merely a maintenance crew. Their attempt to close these parks is like the janitor at the Empire State Building standing at the door and telling its owner he or she cannot enter.
The Obama administration has closed the cemeteries at Normandy in France.
Shut down fascism: The Obama administration has closed the cemeteries at Normandy in France. And privately run Mount Vernon.