Tag: policy

April 6, 2023 Quick space links

5:21 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

  • China invites Brazil to participate in its lunar base project

    • There is no indication Brazil accepted the offer. The offer took place during a meeting between officials of the Brazil Space Agency and one of China’s pseudo-companies, China Great Wall Industry Corporation (which according to Jay “is the international launch service subsidiary” for China). Thus, this could be an effort by that pseudo-company to gain launch access to Brazil’s recently reactivated Alcântara spaceport.

 

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Pushback: Missouri school libraries sue to keep porno on their shelves; Missouri lawmakers zero out library budget

4:57 pm

Cody Smith
Missouri House Republican Cody Smith

Bring a gun to a knife fight: In 2022 the Missouri legislature passed a law that made it illegal to provide any student with books containing images “‘showing human masturbation, deviate sexual intercourse,’ ‘sexual intercourse, direct physical stimulation of genitals, sadomasochistic abuse,’ or showing human genitals.” The aim of the law was to put reasonable limits on the kind of material available in school libraries, and was passed in response to the recent nationwide effort by teachers and librarians to include such smut in these places.

A normal person’s response should be, “Gee, why do we need a law? What sane adult would ever give this stuff to kids? Isn’t that why we have a movie rating system?” A normal person would also note that anyone who did want to distribute this kind of porno to kids is really nothing more than a pedophile.

Well, it looks like the Missouri Association of School Librarians, the Missouri Library Association, and the ACLU are all pedophiles, when you get right down to it. These organizations immediately banded together to sue to overturn the law. They want to give kids porno.

On March 28, 2023 the Missouri House responded in turn to these pedophiles by passing a budget that cuts the entire $4.5 million budget for all public libraries. The cut was put forth by the House budget chairman Cody Smith, who said this:
» Read more

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University of Arizona opens major facility for building and launching satellites

12:27 pm

anechoic chamber at UA's Applied Research Building
ARB’s anechoic chamber

Yesterday I attended the grand opening of the University of Arizona’s (UA) new Applied Research Building (ARB), designed to provide satellite builders as well as its students an almost completely comprehensive facility for the assembly, testing, and launching of satellites. From this event announcement:

To keep the university at the forefront of space science and exploration, ARB will serve as a world-class test and integration center for satellites, probes, and spacecraft, including:

  • A 40-foot tall high-bay payload assembly area used for constructing high-altitude stratospheric balloons and nanosatellites also known as “CubeSats.”
  • A thermal vacuum chamber that simulates environmental conditions in space to test balloon and satellite performance that is the largest of its kind at any university in the world.
  • A non-reflective, echo-free room called an anechoic chamber to test antennae for command, control, and data relay purposes.
  • A large lab for testing the performance of a range of objects, from airplane wings to sensors.

The anechoic chamber is pictured above. For scale, if a person was standing in the middle of the chamber their height would reach about six rows up. The carbon-infused styrofoam pyramids are designed to dampen reflections of radio signals in order to simulate the space environment while testing the antennas on a satellite. This is apparently is of the largest such chambers in the United States.
» Read more

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Global warming scientists whine about India defunding climate research center

11:29 am

According to this Nature article, scientists worldwide are outraged by the decision of the Modi government in India to suspend all foreign funding to its Centre for Policy Research (CPR) for the next 180 days.

Why might the Modi government have done this? First, this is how Nature describes CPR’s work:

The CPR conducts research into public policy in India, including climate change, social and economic policy, governance and infrastructure. Last year it received about three-quarters of its grant funding from influential global organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank. Its domestic researchers have contributed to high-profile international studies such as the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

…The CPR “has played an enormously important role in informing public policy debate in India and internationally”, says Frank Jotzo, an environmental economist at the Australian National University in Canberra. Jotzo says that CPR, established in 1973, has a long and esteemed history in providing objective and honest analysis of government policy in India, and has at times criticized Indian government policy and plans. “That is invariably the case with any independent, impartial think tank or organization anywhere in the world,” he says. [emphasis mine]

In other words, CPR routinely advocates leftist policy positions. When a leftwing government is in power, its policy papers will glow with pride about the achievements of government. When a rightwing government is in power — such as the Modi administration — its policy papers will be suddenly “objective and honest” and hard-hitting, attacking the government for daring to challenge its assumptions about “climate change, social and economic policy, governance and infrastructure.”

This is typical political garbage from Nature and the leftist culture it routinely represents. CPR appears to have violated Indian law with its foreign funding, using the “funds for purposes other than those permitted under its licence.” Moreover, Modi is the elected head of India’s government. CPR works for him and the Indian public who elected him. If he decides this agency should be defunded, then so be it. For far too long leftists worldwide have claimed a permanent right to government funds. This needs to stop, and it is refreshing to see the Modi government is willing to take action in this regard.

If only Republicans in America has as much courage.

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China tests vertical landing of small rocket from barge at sea

9:51 am

China's own version of SpaceX's Grasshopper

A commercial division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has successfully test flown its own a very small version of SpaceX’s Grasshopper, doing a vertical lift off from a barge at sea and then landing vertically on that barge.

The rocket prototype flew at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, descended in a smooth hovering fashion and then decelerated thanks to the engine reverse thrust. The landing speed was reduced to less than two meters per second at the final stage before the rocket touched down steadily with a landing precision of under 10 meters.

The landing test took about 10 minutes, the CAS institute revealed.

The small scale of the rocket, as shown by the screen capture above, taken from the short video CAS produced of the flight, shows that CAS is a long way yet from using this technology in an orbital flight. Nonetheless, it demonstrates that at least two Chinese pseudo-companies are working hard to copy SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 first stage. With this test CAS has demonstrated it now has the software and fine engine control for vertical rocket landings. Based on the image of its proposed rockets at this tweet, this prototype will eventually lead to the development of larger orbital versions that look remarkably similar to what SpaceX produces.

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April 5, 2023 Quick space links

2:34 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

  • Tianzhou freighter will fly in formation with China’s Tiangong-3 space station

    • The plan is to periodically redock the freighter to the station “when inventories stored inside are needed.” Jay wonders whether this is a test of the similar formation flying that will be required when China’s space telescope arrives next year to orbit near the station for periodic maintenance and repair. I think he is correct.

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Pushback: Republicans move to expel Democrats who gave aid to rioters in Tennessee statehouse

12:59 pm

Riot in Tennessee Statehouse
L to R, Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson stand at
the podium, using a bullhorn to lead protester chants.

Bring a gun to a knife fight: Wasting no time following the riot by protesters that invaded the Tennessee statehouse on March 30, 2023, Republican state legislators have removed from all committees the Democratic Party legislators who gave aid to rioters and are now moving to have them expelled from office.

Resolutions have been filed against Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson after they led chants from the House floor with supporters in the gallery last Thursday. The resolution declared that the three had participated in “disorderly behavior” and “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives.”

Republican Reps. Bud Hulsey, Gino Bulso, and Andrew Farmer filed the resolutions. They successfully requested Monday that the House expedite the process and vote on the resolutions Thursday.

Not surprisingly, the three legislators threatened with expulsion claimed they did nothing wrong, even though all three shared a bullhorn in the chamber (as shown in the picture above), leading chants for the demonstrators. Justin Pearson proudly touted what he did in a tweet:
» Read more

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Shetland Spaceport now faces same regulatory hurdles that destroyed Virgin Orbit

9:37 am

The new Shetland spaceport, Saxavord, is right now attempting to get launch approvals from United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the same agency that dithered for six months approving a Virgin Orbit launch, thus causing the bankruptcy of that company.

According to Saxavord’s CEO, the spaceport has two launches aiming to launch before the end of this year, assuming the CAA can get its act together and give its approval. This quote however is worrisom:

The Saxavord spaceport says it is “still on track” to receive its necessary licences from the sector’s regulator before the summer. This relates to applications to the Civil Aviation Authority for range and spaceport licences.

Meanwhile SaxaVord CEO Frank Strang said the company is also on track for two rocket launches this year – “albeit they have moved slightly to the right”. [emphasis mine]

The delays could be coming from the rocket companies themselves. One of those companies is the German startup, Rocket Factory Augsburg, which has leased exclusive use of one launchsite. The other is the American startup ABL, which has had one launch attempt from the U.S. that failed.

Based on the CAA’s track record however the delays are just as likely coming from it. The CAA began this licensing process in November 2022, and is not done yet six months later.

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Judges expand hiring boycott of elite law colleges that allow violent protests and censorship

12:24 pm

Judge James Ho
Judge James Ho

Two federal judges have now expanded their hiring boycott to include Stanford Law School along with Yale Law School because the administrators at both schools have refused to punish violent student protesters who acted to silence others.

The judges, James C. Ho of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and Elizabeth Branch, a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, will hire no graduates from these schools, thus reducing the whole reason for going there. Law students graduate hoping this diploma will get them jobs working for important judges, an early step to becoming a judge themselves.

The question that Ho and Branch raise, however, is whether any judge would want to hire any students from these particular schools. As Judge Ho noted in a speech on April 1st at the annual meeting of the Texas Review of Law & Politics.
» Read more

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FAA issues travel advisory for Boca Chica for April 10, 2023 Starship launch

10:30 am

Though the FAA has not yet issued the launch license to SpaceX, allowing it to do the first orbital launch test of its Superheavy/Starship rocket, the agency today did issue a travel advisory for the Boca Chica area for April 10-11, 2023, in connection with this launch.

The FAA advisory is here. Scroll down to see the space activities section, which includes this information:

SPACEX STARSHIP SUPERHEAVY BOCA CHICA, TX
PRIMARY: 04/10/23 1310-1745Z
BACKUP(S): 04/11-12/23 1310-1745Z

Based on this information, we should expect the FAA launch license to be publicly announced any moment.

Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.

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Pushback: University will hire no one who supports “critical race theory”

11:41 am

SouthernWesleyan University: still a supporter of Christianity and western civilization
Still a supporter of Christianity and western civilization

Bring a gun to a knife fight: According to the president of Southern Wesleyan University, it refuses to hire anyone who supports “critical race theory”, and instead seeks out scholars who support the basic tenets of Christianity and western civilization.

[A]s Southern Wesleyan University President Bill Barker enters his eighth month at the helm of the private, four-year institution, he said he has made it a priority to educate critically on critical race theory. … “I made it very clear where SWU stands on critical race theory, and we made it very clear in our hiring processes,” Barker said in a Zoom interview with The College Fix. “Personnel is policy.”

“We’re not hiring people – and I’ve been clear since I came here and the Board of Trustees has supported this – who endorse critical race theory. We will have the courage to let faculty or staff go if they are teaching critical race theory.” Barker took the helm of the South Carolina-based campus in July 2022.

Barker’s policy is more than words. » Read more

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NASA policy for naming missions now discourages honoring individuals

9:39 am

In a change apparently brought about by the fake and bigoted slanders against James Webb, who led NASA brilliantly for almost the entire 1960s space race and was thus honored by NASA when it named the James Webb Space Telescope after him, NASA has now changed its policy for naming missions in order to discourage any future missions to be named after individuals.

According to the new policy, a NASA historian must be involved, and “The historical analysis led by [the naming committee] will include a human capital review to ensure diversity, unity, inclusion, and inspiration are considered.” The policy also states:

Where possible, limit the practice of naming projects, missions, instruments, etc., after individuals. (a) Instead use the theme of unity, inspiration, or the accomplishments of a person as the primary criterion for a project or mission name. (b) Except in extraordinary circumstances will names of individuals be considered and, only in more rare circumstances, may individuals who are still living receive consideration. (c) The use of an individual’s name should be based on their contributions to America, NASA, and humanity, and therefore be so extraordinary that any other form of recognition by the Agency would be considered inadequate. [emphasis mine]

The highlighted phrase is typical jargon used by the “diversity, unity, inclusion” crowd, and indicates that any past great American who did something great for America but not for the rest of the world, will be considered unqualified. Thus, do not expect any missions to be ever named after our Founding Fathers, or other great Americans. Instead, I expect any individuals who get honored in the future will be chosen in order to push “diversity, unity, inclusion”.

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