October 13, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Viasat decides not to replace ailing satellite
It apparently can make its expected customer load work with the satellite’s reduced capacity (by 90%) combined with capacity from its other satellites.
- NASA’s inspector general agrees SLS is too costly and it will be impossible to reduce that cost
The report is available here [pdf]. Normally I’d highlight each new IG report that notes these plain facts, but I’ve grown bored with doing so. They (as well as I) have been saying the same thing time after time — going back to 2011 — but nothing ever changes. We keep pouring money into an SLS rocket that costs too much, can’t launch frequently, and in the end won’t accomplish much of anything, while other space projects of greater value (for much less) go by the wayside.
And despite this report we shall continue to do so, because the federal government is broken utterly, from the White House down to the mail rooms in Congress and every agency in the executive branch. It has entirely abandoned its responsibilites to serve the American people. Instead its goal now is simply to funnel money to itself, even if that funnelling will bankrupt the country.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Viasat decides not to replace ailing satellite
It apparently can make its expected customer load work with the satellite’s reduced capacity (by 90%) combined with capacity from its other satellites.
- NASA’s inspector general agrees SLS is too costly and it will be impossible to reduce that cost
The report is available here [pdf]. Normally I’d highlight each new IG report that notes these plain facts, but I’ve grown bored with doing so. They (as well as I) have been saying the same thing time after time — going back to 2011 — but nothing ever changes. We keep pouring money into an SLS rocket that costs too much, can’t launch frequently, and in the end won’t accomplish much of anything, while other space projects of greater value (for much less) go by the wayside.
And despite this report we shall continue to do so, because the federal government is broken utterly, from the White House down to the mail rooms in Congress and every agency in the executive branch. It has entirely abandoned its responsibilites to serve the American people. Instead its goal now is simply to funnel money to itself, even if that funnelling will bankrupt the country.