The TSA makes us all feel safer! “He said there was something suspicious hanging from between my legs.”
In competition with the Orbital/Virgin Galactic proposal I mentioned yesterday, Boeing has submitted its own proposal to provide crew and cargo ferrying service to ISS.
Considering the federal budget debt and the political winds for reducing that debt, I have great doubts the subsidies for these proposals will ever arrive. Nonetheless, with the end of the shuttle program and nothing to replace it, the United States has a serious need for a system to get crew and cargo into space. And in a free society, fulfilling that need means profits, which is why these proposals are beginning to appear, and will get built, regardless of whether Congress funds them up front or later buys the services.
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, 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 you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
"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
Time for some astronomical sightseeing! This image, produced from data taken by both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, shows what astronomers call a supernova remnant. The bubble, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud 160 thousand light years away, is thought to be 23 light years across and expanding about 11 million miles per hour. It is thought that the supernova itself took place around 1600. That we have no record of it is probably because it was only visible in the southern hemisphere, where few records of such events were being kept at that time. More here, including the image using only Hubble data as well as a video animation that is quite stunning.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
After a 33 year journey, Voyager 1 has detected evidence that it is about to enter interstellar space.
Lockheed has won a $171 million NASA contract to pack cargo for ISS through 2017.
My question however is this: How do they plan on getting the cargo into space?
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke
Orbital Sciences and Virgin Galactic have teamed up to propose a four person reusable orbital spacecraft to ferry crews to ISS. Key quote:
The spacecraft, designed to launch atop an Atlas 5 rocket and dock with the international space station, could be ready for test flights as early as 2014. The remotely piloted spacecraft would be able to carry four passengers initially, including three astronauts and one paying ticketholder, though based on market demand the number of private rides aboard the vehicle could grow to two, with four astronaut seats available, sources said. In the works at Orbital for the past year, the reusable spacecraft would be built using existing materials and technologies, employ standard hypergolic propellants and rely on a pusher escape system in the event of a launch mishap, sources said. [emphasis mine]
Note their insistence that they be allowed to fly tourists. This is a major change from how NASA has operated in the past, as a Soviet-style government agency hostile to commercial profits.
Correction: Clark Lindsey notes that the Orbital press release makes no mention of Virgin Galactic, as reported above.
Engineers to the rescue! The Leaning Tower of Pisa no longer leans as much as it used to, but the lean it has is now expected to last for at least another 200 years.
An evening pause: The reaction of the ship captain in the opening section of this clip from the movie A Night to Remember (1958) exemplifies better than anything I have ever seen the clarity and courage of an open mind, willing to face new facts instantly and to react correctly, even if by doing so you risk failure and disgrace.
If only our leaders today had as much courage.
Archaeologists have found a 2,400 year-old bowl of soup in China. Key quote:
The liquid and bones in the vessel had turned green due to the oxidation of the bronze, it said. Scientists were expected to conduct further tests to confirm the liquid was indeed soup and to identify the ingredients.
Today’s announcement by the Obama administration of their choice for NASA’s new chief scientist, Waleed Abdalati, reveals once again how much climate research guides their thinking, not space exploration. Key quote:
His research has focused on the study of polar ice cover using satellite and airborne instruments. He has led or participated in nine field and airborne campaigns in the Arctic and the Antarctic.
This is not a criticism of Dr. Abdalati. His research interests, however, make very clear where the Obama administration really wants NASA to look: down at the Earth instead of up beyond Earth orbit.
Two stories on the recent attempts of the EPA under the Obama administrions to create new climate regulations. First, a federal appeals court decided Friday not to block the new EPA climate regulations. Second, the war between Texas and the EPA over the EPA’s effort to regulate Texas industry continues unabated.
The Wall Street Journal has pulled the highlights from today’s ruling against Obamacare. Key quote from the ruling:
“The unchecked expansion of congressional power to the limits suggested by the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision would invite unbridled exercise of federal police powers.”
Freedom of religion alert! An astronomer has sued the University of Kentucky, claiming he was denied a job running its observatory because of his Christian faith. More here.
Eight observations from the Cancun climate conference. I like this quote the best:
“The enterprise is pompously and risibly dedicated in equal parts to wealth redistribution and self-perpetuation, as a platform for, and along the way, engaging in visceral anti-Americanism.”
Read the whole thing. Very entertaining, in a depressing sort of way.
Repeal this stinker! A new poll says that the number of people who want Obamacare repealed continues to grow.
The new colonial movement continues: Brazil successfully launched and recovered a suborbital rocket this past weekend.
The Navy set a new world record with the firing of an electromagnetic railgun on December 10. Though intended as a military weapon Keith Cowing speculates about the railgun’s off-world applications.
Scientists have created a computer simulation describing the violent origin of Saturn’s rings, with moons being stripped of their ice as they death spiral into Saturn.
Note that this is only a theory, illustrated by a computer model. Though it is fascinating however!
American flag banned from condo complex. Key quote:
The 16 or so units are all alike. Beige with white trim and white mailboxes lined up ever so neatly along the main access road. And that, Coombs was told at a condo meeting, is how it shall stay.
With the obvious exceptions, of course.
A quick trip through the development this week showed that some of the condo owners like big wreaths. Some like small ones. Some like bows on their doors or garland on their banisters. Some like welcome signs on their porches and some don’t. Individuality is allowed for flowers in the summer, Coombs said. But there shall be no flags, and it says so right in the condo bylaws.
A nano-sized solar sail, built by NASA and launched in mid-November, appears to have been lost. Sadly, this has been the history of almost all solar sail efforts: failure before the sail can even deploy.
In a paper published today in Geophysical Research Letters, scientists think they have detected evidence of volcanic activity on Venus that took place sometime in the past two decades.
