Category: Points of Information

Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.

SEC documents have revealed that the total development costs for Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket have increased to $472 million, $184 million more than what NASA is paying them.

5:12 pm

SEC documents have revealed that the total development costs for Orbital Sciences’ Antares rocket have increased to $472 million, $184 million more than what NASA is paying them.

That the company has been willing to commit these extra funds to develop Antares suggests to me that they see a commercial value for the rocket that will exceed these costs. Or to put it more bluntly, they see a market for their rocket that will pay for their investment, and then some.

4 comments

A microscopic algae-eater that lives in a Norway lake has now been identified as one of the Earth’s oldest living organisms.

8:59 am

A microscopic algae-eater that lives in a Norway lake has now been identified as one of the Earth’s oldest living organisms.

The elusive, single-cell creature evolved about a billion years ago and did not fit in any of the known categories of living organisms – it was not an animal, plant, parasite, fungus or alga, they say.

One comment

On Wednesday Obama announced he would overide Congress and release of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority, with no strings attached.

10:05 am

What could possibly go wrong? On Wednesday Obama announced he would override Congress and release of millions of dollars to the Palestinian Authority (PA), with no strings attached.

Not only is this insane, considering the murderous behavior of the PA, it seems to me that the U.S. has this document called the Constitution, which clearly stipulations that Congress, not the President, determines how money can be spent. If Congress says no, the President isn’t legally allowed to do it. The article above is vague about this issue, so it is possible that Obama is acting legally here. However, based on his previous behavior, I remain suspicious.

A more detailed analysis of Obama’s action can be found here. It appears my suspicions are correct.

Congress deliberately froze those funds, and not just because of the statehood demand through UNESCO. Hamas, a terrorist organization, reconciled with Fatah and has rejoined the PA, which means we’re putting almost $200 million into the hands of a terrorist organization. The language of the Palestinian Accountability Act could not be clearer: “[N]o funds available to any United States Government department or agency … may be obligated or expended with respect to providing funds to the Palestinian Authority.” Obama literally waived that statutory language off yesterday afternoon. [emphasis mine]

For this President, a supposed Constitutional lawyer, the law is always such an inconvenient thing. He somehow thinks that, under our legal system, he can rule by dictate, something that any legal scholar would tell him is wrong.

The faster we get this power-hungry man out of office, the better.

9 comments

In closing down its ATV cargo freighter assembly line, Europe considers its next manned space project.

9:49 am

In closing down its ATV cargo freighter assembly line, Europe considers its next manned space project.

ESA and NASA have been discussing how ESA might compensate NASA for Europe’s 8.3 percent share of the international space station’s future operating charges. Until about 2017, the agency is repaying NASA, as the station’s general contractor, through launches of European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo ships to the station. But with the station partners now all but committed to operating the station at least through 2020, ESA is searching for another “barter element” to succeed ATV.

NASA has said a propulsion module for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle would fill ESA’s obligations to NASA, which have been estimated at about 450 million euros ($600 million) over three years.

But several ESA members, notably France and Italy, have argued that the Orion module, which would use ATV-derived technologies, does not provide sufficient technology interest or public impact. Instead, these governments have proposed development of a vehicle that would perform multiple tasks in low Earth orbit, including debris removal.

Leave a comment

The Labor Department has abandoned its effort to ban kids from working on farms.

12:34 pm

A victory of sorts for freedom: The Labor Department has abandoned its effort to ban kids from working on farms.

The reason I consider this merely a temporary victory is that the desire to regulate these matters still exists in the people running the federal government. These same people also don’t understand that, as a free nation, they have no moral right to impose these rules in the first place. Thus, they remain a threat, waiting only for another opportunity to try again.

Leave a comment

To mine the asteroids, first build small cheap space telescopes.

7:46 pm

To mine the asteroids, first build small cheap space telescopes.

The space telescope will be based on the same design Planetary Resources will eventually use for its asteroid-prospecting spacecraft: a 30-kilogram to 50-kilogram flier packed with imaging sensors and a laser-optical communication system the company is developing to avoid encumbering its spacecraft with large antennas. The company, which says it has about two dozen employees, will market these spacecraft as cheap but effective telescopes for both astronomical and Earth-observing applications. Sales would provide cash for the company’s core work on asteroid mining, Eric Anderson, co-founder and co-chairman of Planetary Resources, said.

The telescope slated for launch sometime in the next two years “would be something, let’s say, a university buys [for astronomical observations], or a commercial company that wants to monitor shipping traffic or something like that,” Anderson said in a phone interview. The cost for the telescope, which Planetary Resources is calling Arkyd-101, would be “millions of dollars, including launch.”

At the Planetary Resources press conference today, there was a lot of talk about the benefits and profits to be gained from mining the asteroids. However, this ain’t gonna happen for quite a few years. In the meantime, the company plans to make money building space telescopes which scientists and others can use, for a fee, to do research.

In other words, the government and astronomers dropped the ball on replacing the Hubble Space Telescope. Now, private enterprise is going to pick it up and run with it.

4 comments

Cryosat has released its first seasonal variation map, tracking the growth of the Arctic icecap for the winter of 2010-2011.

11:20 am

Cryosat has released its first seasonal variation map, tracking the growth of the Arctic icecap for the winter of 2010-2011.

The video at the link is quite interesting to watch. Note however that the press information says nothing about whether the icecap was larger or smaller than expected, something that probably is not surprising. It will probably take decades of further work to get the true context of these results.

Leave a comment
1 … 761 762 763 764 765 … 913