Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Astronauts in ISS take cover as Chinese space junk flies past.
From the British science journal Nature: NASA human space-flight programme lost in transition.
SpaceX unveils its plan for the Falcon 9 Heavy, what would be the world’s most powerful private rocket.
The new rocket will be able to carry about 117,000 pounds (53,000 kilograms) of cargo to orbit – about twice the payload-carrying capability of the space shuttle. The Falcon Heavy would launch more than twice as much weight as the Delta 4 heavy, currently the most powerful rocket in operation. Only NASA’s Saturn 5 moon rocket, which last launched in 1973, could carry more cargo to orbit, SpaceX officials said.
Musk said the rocket should lower the launch cost of cargo to about $1,000 per pound, about one-tenth the cost per pound on NASA shuttle launches.
Progress! The House Republicans propose $6.2 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years.
Russia is accelerating its space program.
“It is the first time that the government has allocated decent financing to us,” Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a phone interview on April 2. The agency’s $3.5 billion budget for 2011 has almost tripled since 2007, reaching the highest since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. “We can now advance on all themes a bit,” Perminov said.
Unlike 50 years ago, when beating the U.S. into space marked a geopolitical victory in the Cold War, Russia is focusing on the commercial, technological and scientific aspects of space travel. President Dmitry Medvedev has named aerospace one of five industries the government plans to nurture to help diversify the economy of the world’s largest energy supplier away from resource extraction.
The House Republicans last night introduced a one-week stopgap continuing resolution with $12 billion in spending cuts.
Software engineers to the Moon!
Crazy? Absolutely! Impossible? Probably not! There are a growing number of people who believe that with federal funding for our space program getting scarce, the future lies in private-public partnerships. Entrepreneur Elon Musk’s third job (after leading electric car company Tesla and acting as the Chairman of solar installer SolarCity) is heading up SpaceX, which was the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a rocketship. Virgin’s Richard Branson has a similar private space venture.
My heart bleeds: Federal workers in shutdown limbo.
Considering government workers generally make twice the salary of workers in the private sector, I have little sympathy for them and consider this to be nothing more than a pig squealing.
The Supreme Court decision today on school choice reveals a greal deal about how the justices might vote on the legality of Obamacare.
The Republican response to the various Democratic claims that a budget deal is imminent: There is no deal, and $33 billion in cuts is “not enough.”
Will the EPA lose control of greenhouse gas rules?
The article above, written for the journal Science, is clearly on the side of the EPA. Nonetheless, it does outline well the political dynamics of this regulatory battle between the EPA and Congress.
Three astronauts were launched to ISS today in a Soyuz capsule the Russians have named Gagarin, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his flight on April 12.
The real disaster in Japan finally reaches the U.S. and it isn’t radiation: Toyota has announced it will shut its North American plants due to the shortage of parts caused by the earthquake/tsunami.
I thought the banning of CFCs was going to change this? March sets a record for ozone loss over the Arctic.
Or to put it another way, climate science is far more complicated than too many climate scientists want to admit.
Russia’s launch capability continues to expand: Not only will they be able to launch rockets from French Guiana this year, it looks like Russia’s western spaceport will be ready for its first launch by 2015.
The Daily Beast reports today that the last flight of the shuttle Endeavour has been delayed due to a schedule conflict with a Russian Progress freighter.
Note that this has not yet been confirmed by NASA.
Update from spaceref: NASA has rescheduled Endeavour’s launch for April 29.
ATK is pushing hard for NASA commercial subsidizes to build a private version of Ares I.
More leftwing civility: New death threat emails sent to New York state lawmakers. You can read the full email here.
Leftwing civility in London: The London rioters and their targets.
It’s a start, though it really isn’t enough: the Republican 2012 budget will call for $4 trillion-plus in cuts over the next decade.
Ryan said Obama’s call for freezing nondefense discretionary spending actually locks in spending at high levels. Under the forthcoming GOP plan, Ryan said spending would return to 2008 levels and thus cut an additional $400 billion over 10 years. [emphasis mine]
Note that no one was starving and children weren’t dying for lack of federal spending in 2008.
The winners of the 18th annual Great Moonbuggy Race.
Last week brought a sober reminder that every religion has its extremists, as Christian radicals burned one copy of the Quran (and Muslim radicals attacked a half-dozen churches, burned dozens of Bibles, and slaughtered 321 people in 26 terror attacks in just 7 days).
Another hero: Defiant Japanese boat captain who rode out tsunami.
So, why did we pass this piece of garbage again? The Obama administration has issued another 129 waivers to Obamacare (almost half to unions), bringing the total to 1,168.
We need more Muslims doing this: A Pakistani actress smacks down a mullah. Be sure to watch the video, also available here!
More idiotic regulations from Obamacare: On Friday the FDA issued new Obamacare regulations, requiring calorie counts on restaurant menus.
More leftwing civility: Investigators look into additional threats allegedly emailed by Wisconsin teacher.
Bernard Lewis: “The tyrannies are doomed.” I hope he’s right.
