Tag: policy

Arianespace to launch Ariane-6 five times in 2025, with the first launch targeting February 26th

9:27 am

Arianespace now plans to launch the Ariane-6 rocket five times in 2025, with the first launch scheduled for February 26, 2025.

On 13 and 14 January, the Ariane 6 core stage stack and two solid-fuel boosters were successfully brought together on the ELA-4 launch pad. While this process was occurring, an Antonov transport plane touched down at Felix Eboué Airport carrying the rocket’s payload, the CSO-3 reconnaissance satellite.

This will be the first commercial payload launched by Ariane-6, a military reconnaissance satellite for France.

In addition, the Vega-C rocket is scheduled for six flights, though some of those flights might be arranged and controlled by the rocket’s Italian builder, Avio, not the European Space Agency’s commercial arm, Arianespace. Sometime in the next two years Arianespace’s responsibiilty for Vega-C is being phased out, so that Avio will own and sell all further launches.

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Strap-on booster of Long March 3B launched yesterday crashed next to home

9:53 am

Long March 3B
Long March 3B

One of the four strap-on boosters used by a Long March 3B rocket that was launched yesterday from the Xichang spaceport in southwest China ended up crashing right next to a home.

The TJS-14 satellite launched on a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Thursday at 10:32 a.m. EST (1532 GMT; 11:32 p.m. local time). The satellite is safely on its way to geostationary orbit, but one of the rocket’s four strap-on side boosters fell to Earth in a populated area of Zhenyuan County in Guizhou province.

Security camera footage posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo captured the scene of two family members reacting to an explosion near their home that lit up the night sky. Fortunately, the booster, which exploded on impact, fell in what appeared to be hills above the house.

The video can be viewed here. While the booster apparently missed the house, any remaining hypergolic fuel in the booster posed a very serious health threat, especially if it was released as a gas. That fuel is extremely toxic, and can dissolve skin if it makes contact. I would expect that until a major clean-up occurred at the crash site, the people that lived in that home will have to evacuate.

China has said that it intends to replace all of its hypergolic-fueled rockets with liquid-fueled, and is expanding operations at its Wenchang coastal spaceport as well. When however these rockets stop launching from its interior spaceports remains unknown. It is likely in fact that toxic stages will continue to fall on the heads of Chinese citizens for years to come.

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Today’s blacklisted American: Queer protesters force cancellation of a speech against men playing women’s sports

2:45 pm

Olivia Krolczyk being silenced at Washington University
Olivia Krolczyk being silenced at Washington University

They’re coming for you next: Just because the majority of the country has chosen a different path opposing the queer agenda in schools and public facilities doesn’t mean the war is over. Far from it. A mob of protesters supporting the queer agenda in all things forced the cancellation of a speech at a Turning Point USA chapter event at the University of Washington earlier this week.

Olivia Krolczyk was unable to give her talk, “Protect Women from Men: The Threat of the Trans Agenda,” after protesters pulled the fire alarm and later smashed a window in the building. The university’s TPUSA chapter and the Leadership Institute hosted the event.

“The responsibility for interrupting last night’s event falls on those whose actions were disruptive and damaging, including breaking a window, graffiti in the building and wasting firefighters’ time with a false fire alarm,” university spokesperson Victor Balta told The College Fix in an email Wednesday. “Anyone who is identified to have been responsible for vandalism or property damage will be pursued through legal channels,” he said.

» Read more

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European rocket startups team up to send letter to ESA outlining their priorities

11:18 am

In a surprising joint action, six European rocket startups have sent a detailed letter to the European Space Agency (ESA) outlining several recommendations about policy required by these rocket startups in order for their industry to prosper.

The companies involved were HyImpulse, Latitude, MaiaSpace, Orbex, Rocket Factory Augsburg and The Exploration Company. The letter’s recommendations were wide-ranging and appeared focused on getting ESA to free up the industry from traditional European red tape.

  • Provide funding in the range of €150 million to a limited number of rocket companies, not all. The companies say that funding will make it possible for the winning companies to raise another €1 billion in private investment capital. Limiting the number of companies getting awards will also force competition and achievement. The awards should also be granted only after specific milestones are achieved, not based on promises of eventual achievement.
  • Ease access to launchpads both at French Guiana and in Norway and the United Kingdom. Right now French rule-making at French Guiana is hindering that access, and ESA rules about launches make it harder to use the new commercial spaceports in Norway and the UK.
  • Red tape must be reduced. For example, ESA should not set rules on the size of payloads, but give companies “the freedom to determine their payload capabilities, allowing market dynamics to drive innovation rather than imposing artificial requirements.”

That the German rocket startup Isar Aerospace did not sign this letter is interesting, especially since it is now only a few months from completing its first orbital test launch of its Spectrum rocket from the new spaceport in Andoya, Norway. It also has a twenty-year lease for that launchpad.

It is also interesting that the letter did not include the newly proposed orbital spaceport Esrange in Sweden. That launch site has been used for decades for suborbital tests. It is now attempting to make itself available for orbital tests as well. Its interior location however is likely the reason these rocket companies left it out. Too many issues for them to consider launching from there.

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China and SpaceX complete launches

10:02 am

Both China and SpaceX successfully completed launches since last night.

First, China placed a classified technology communications test satellite in orbit, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No further details about the satellite were released. Nor did China’s state-run press provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages and four strap-on boosters, all using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China. UPDATE: One of the four strap-on boosters crashed next to a home.

Then SpaceX this morning launched 23 more Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 23rd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

The 2025 launch race:

11 SpaceX
6 China
1 Blue Origin

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Congresswoman calls for moving NASA headquarters to Florida

9:29 am

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) has now publicly repeated Governor Ron DeSantis’ call to move NASA’s main headquarters from Washington to Florida, doing so by sending Trump a letter noting the reasons why such a move make sense.

“I write to you in support of relocating NASA’s Headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Florida’s Space Coast,” Luna wrote. “While Washington, D.C., has historically been the home of NASA’s headquarters, the rapidly evolving space landscape demands a more integrated and efficient approach to space policy. Florida’s Space Coast, home to key facilities like the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, is uniquely positioned to support this transformation and strengthen America’s leadership in space exploration.”

The lease for NASA’s headquarters building expires in 2028. The agency has already put out a request for proposals for building a new building from scratch, at great cost. I suspect that expensive project is about to die, and the lease expiration will provide the Trump administration and Congress the motive for reducing staffing at headquarters most significantly, as well as moving it elsewhere.

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NASA quickly shutters its DEI offices

9:10 am

NASA has quickly complied with the executive order issued by Donald Trump right after taking office that demanded all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices within the federal government be shut down by January 22, 2025 at the latest.

In a memo to employees Jan. 22 obtained by SpaceNews, NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro said the agency was working to close offices related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) at the agency and cancel relevant contracts. “These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination,” she wrote in the memo.

The steps, she wrote, are intended to implement an executive order issued by President Trump hours after his Jan. 20 inauguration. The order called on federal agencies to terminate DEIA programs and positions related to them, calling such efforts “discriminatory” and an “immense public waste.”

That was followed the next day by a memo to federal agencies by Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), directing them to remove “outward facing media” related to DEIA programs by 5 p.m. Eastern Jan. 22 and to place employees of DEIA offices on paid administrative leave. The memo also requires agencies to provide lists of their DEIA offices and employees, as well as related contracts, by Jan. 23, and submit plans for laying off DEIA employees by the end of the month.

As of today it appears the NASA DEI websites have all been removed. It also appears that NASA is complying completely, unlike some government agencies that have tried to save its DEI programs and employees by changing their job titles. We should also expect the racist quota hiring system NASA instituted during the Biden administration to favor some races over others will now be dismantled. Couldn’t happen sooner.

What I have found interesting is the relatively lack of leftist protests — so far — for these actions. It will happen, of course but it also appears the general public won’t buy into it. The leftist propaganda press will highlight those protests, but since very few people trusts or even pays attention to that propaganda press any longer these protests will carry little weight.

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China launches 6th group of 18 satellites for its Spacesail internet constellation

8:52 am

China late yesterday successfully launched the sixth group of 18 satellites for its Spacesail internet constellation, its Long March 6A rocket lifting off from the Taiyuan spaceport in northeast China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China. The state-run report however touted proudly how the rocket uses liquid oxygen and kerosene, both of which are “non-toxic and pollution-free”. Apparently it has recognized the bad press it has gotten from crashing stages inside China that use very toxic hypergolic fuels.

The article noted that China plans at least ten launches in 2025 of the Long March 6A, likely as part of building this constellation of more than 1,200 satellites.

The 2025 launch race:

10 SpaceX
5 China
1 Blue Origin

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Fake news teams up with European childishness to attack Elon Musk

11:00 am

In what might be the stupidest and most fake slanderous attack yet on a supporter of Donald Trump, leftist fake news outlets PBS, CNN, MSN, and MSNBC have teamed up to accuse Elon Musk of making a Nazi salute during his inauguration day speech, when all he was doing was thanking Americans, from his heart, for voting Trump back into office. As he did so he placed his hand on his heart and threw it out to the crowd, in gesture of love and gratitude.

Very quickly the somewhat leftist Anti-Defamation League defended Musk, noting it was absurd and inflammatory to make such an absurd accusation when it was most clearly false and slanderous.

This of course hasn’t stopped Democratic Party politicians from spreading this lie. And in Germany the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany immediately and very childishly removed a picture of Musk that had been part of a permanent exhibit on space travel.

“It can always be problematic to honor living people in such a prominent position in an exhibition, because such a display can be seen as an uncritical tribute. However, a person’s lifetime achievements can often only be properly assessed in retrospect,” said a spokesperson for the Deutsches Museum.

What idiots. Musk’s own response on X to this fake controversy ginned up by these slanderers said it best:

Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired

I personally think these leftist fools should keep doing this stupidity. No one buys it anymore, and every time they do it they put another nail in their own coffin, proving once again that they are unreliable, dishonest propaganda outlets that should not be watched for any reason.

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Finland signs Artemis Accords

9:50 am

Finland today became the 53rd nation to sign the Artemis Accords. Based on the official statement from Wille Rydman, Finland’s minister of economic affairs, it appears Finland sees the accords as a way to encourage its own private space sector:

“Finland has been part of the space exploration community for decades with innovations and technology produced by Finnish companies and research institutions,” said Rydman. “The signing of the Artemis Accords is in line with Finland’s newly updated space strategy that highlights the importance of international cooperation and of strengthening partnerships with the Unites States and other allies. We aim for this cooperation to open great opportunities for the Finnish space sector in the new era of space exploration and in the Artemis program.”

The NASA press release still appears to focus on strengthening the Outer Space treaty, but I suspect that this Biden-imposed goal will change now that Trump is president. The original purpose of the accords as created during Trump’s first term was to work around the Outer Space treaty’s limitations on private ownership in space. Expect a return to that goal.

The full list of nations now part of this American space alliance: Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, the United States and Uruguay.

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South Korea’s space bureaucracy attempts to encourage private sector development

9:38 am

South Korea’s space agency, the Korea Aerospace Administration, has announced a new effort to encourage that country’s private sector in developing rockets and satellites.

[A] plan will be established to link the National Space Council, the highest policy decision-making body overseeing government space policy, with the Aerospace Development Policy Review Committee. Systems will also be established for workforce training in aerospace and the designation of a space development mission center.

To establish an aerospace economic ecosystem, the participation of the private sector in the development and utilization of launch vehicles and satellites will be expanded. In the aviation sector, future aircraft technologies, including urban air mobility (UAM), will be secured, and localization of aircraft materials and components will be supported. To encourage smooth research and development (R&D) investments in aerospace corporations, the aerospace fund will be revitalized with improvements to regulations and support for overseas expansion.

Overall, a lot of this sounds like meaningless bureaucratic gobbledygook. The goal might be to expand the private sector, but the program still has the space agency running everything, from its new government-built Nuri rocket to its other satellite development programs.

Nonetheless, the desire to encourage the private sector is good. It could simply be that South Korea’s private sector is not mature enough yet to take the lead, and the agency by this announcement is working to push it forward.

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General Atomics successfully tests fuels to be used in an in-space nuclear propulsion system

9:16 am

The company General Atomics announced yesterday that it has successfully tested the fuels it wants to use in an in-space nuclear propulsion system for transporting ships to the Moon and beyond much faster and more efficiently than is presently possible with chemical engines.

[General Atomics] executed several high-impact tests at NASA’s MSFC in Huntsville, AL. The nuclear fuel was tested with hot hydrogen flow through the samples and subjected to six thermal cycles that rapidly ramped-up to a peak temperature of 2600 K (Kelvin) or 4220° Fahrenheit. Each cycle included a 20-minute hold at peak performance to demonstrate the effectiveness of shielding the fuel material from erosion and degradation by the hot hydrogen. Additional tests were performed with varying protective features to provide further data on how different material enhancements improve performance under reactor-like conditions.

It has been known since the 1960s the nuclear propulsion is more efficient that chemical engines. It can burn for longer time periods at higher levels, thus making it possible to get to other planets more quickly, in some cases bypassing the need to depend on orbital mechanics.

The problem however has been political. Getting these nuclear engines into orbit has been too much of a political hot potato. The fear of such engines and radioactivity, largely irrational, has made it impossible to get them built. NASA is now trying again.

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