Tag: politics

Brazil approves space bill that appears to crush that country’s future in space

10:13 am

The Brazillian legislature has now approved a new space regulatory bill that appears to create a whole range of new agencies and regulatory bodies, all designed to heavily supervise all space activities while giving a great deal of arbitrary power to the government.

The quote below says it all. Note that the term “space operators” refers to any private aerospace operation.

The [government] may economically exploit, directly or indirectly, without bidding, the space infrastructure, including ground equipment and logistical resources, installations and computer systems necessary to carry out space activities.

The regulatory authorities, AEB and the Air Force Command, will have free access to the facilities and equipment of space operators. They may, at any time, cancel or change the licenses granted in the event of non-compliance with obligations or when there is a threat to national security or violation of international commitments. Even if its activities are suspended or canceled, the operator remains responsible for the artifacts that are in operation. [emphasis mine]

There is a lot more, all of it adding more heavy regulation while imposing great responsibilities both legal and financial on the private companies, all to the benefit of the government.

Who is going to invest billions, even millions, under such an arbitrary regime? No one, especially because the Brazillian government has already proven its willingness to unilaterially block or take over private companies with its actions in connection with Starlink and X.

7 comments

SpaceX and Elon Musk blast the FAA’s red tape again

9:54 am

Are Americans finally waking up and emulating their country's founders?

Fight! Fight! Fight! Yesterday both SpaceX and Elon Musk renewed their attack on the FAA’s apparent arbitrary harassment of the company, both by slowing down development of Starship/Superheavy as well as imposing fines and delays on the company for petty issues relating to Falcon 9 launches.

First, Elon Musk sent out a tweet on X, highlighting a successful static fire launchpad engine test of the Starship prototype the company plans to fly on the sixth Starship/Superheavy orbital flight. As he noted with apparent disgust, “Flight 5 is built and ready to fly. Flight 6 will be ready to fly before Flight 5 even gets approved by FAA!”

Second, and with more force, the company released a public letter that it has sent to the leading Republican and Democratic representatives of the House and Senate committees that have direct authority over space activities, outlining its issues with the FAA’s behavior. The letter details at length the irrational and inexplicable slowdown in FAA approvals that caused two launches last summer to occur in a confused manner, with SpaceX clearly given the impression by the FAA that it could go ahead which the FAA now denies. In one case the FAA claims SpaceX removed without its permission a poll of mission control during its countdown procedure. SpaceX in its letter noted bluntly that the regulations do not require that poll, and that the company already requires two other polls during the count.

In another case involving SpaceX’s plan to change to a new mission control center, the company submitted its request in June, and after two months the FAA finally approved the control center’s use for one launch, but had still not approved it for a second. The first launch went off, so SpaceX thus rightly assumed it could use the control center for the second. Yet the FAA is now trying to fine SpaceX for that second launch.

The third case of FAA misconduct appears to be the most egregious. » Read more

8 comments

China launches two GPS-type satellites

4:06 pm

China today successfully launched two more BeiDou satellites for its GPS-type navigation constellation, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in the southwest of China.

No word on where the strap-on boosters and lower stages crashed in China, all using toxic hypergolic fuels.

The leaders in the 2024 launch race:

92 SpaceX
39 China
11 Russia
10 Rocket Lab

American private enterprise still leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 107 to 61, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including American companies, 92 to 76.

0 comments

The Democrats: 28% think it would be a good thing if Trump were killed

2:05 pm

Poll proving how murderous the Democrats have become
Click for original image.

The Democrats and their supporters might claim they stand for democracy and freedom and fair elections, but their own words prove this endlessly to be a lie. In a new poll of a 1,000 registered voters, 28% of the Democrats thought the country would be better off if Trump were assassinated.

Sadly, as shown by the graph to the right, 7% of the Republicans polled also thought killing Trump would a good thing.

The difference between the two numbers however illustrates the stark difference between the two parties, and helps explain why there have been two assassination attempts on Trump and none on the Democratic Party candidates. Republicans mostly support democracy and free and fair elections. A large percentage of Democrats no longer do.

Furthermore, Democrats also appear to be so filled with their hatred of Trump and any opposition that they can no longer think rationally about anything. The poll also found that 70% believed it likely or somewhat likely that the second assassination attempt was faked by Trump and his campaign.

All of this hatred among grassroots Democrats is worsened because the leadership of the Democratic Party keeps feeding it. » Read more

16 comments

FCC commissioner slams FCC for its partisan hostility to SpaceX

10:27 am

The FCC proves its partisan hostility to SpaceX
The FCC proves its partisan hostility to SpaceX

Even as the FAA has increasingly appeared to be harassing SpaceX with red tape, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr this week slammed his own agency for what appears to be clearly partisan hostility to SpaceX in its recent decisions and public statements.

Carr noted how only last year the FCC had canceled an almost $900 million grant that it had previously awarded to SpaceX for providing rural communities internet access. When it did so, the FCC claimed that the company had failed to “demonstrate that it could deliver the promised service.”

That claim of course was absurd on its face, considering that Starlink was the only available commercial system that was actually doing this, directly to individual rural customers.

Carr noted however that this absurd FCC decision was made even more ridiculous this week by the FCC’s chairperson, Jessica Rosenworcel, who accused SpaceX of being a “monopoly” because of its success in launching Starlink satellites and providing this service ahead of everyone else.
» Read more

11 comments

Indian government approves major space projects, including new rocket, missions to the moon, space station, Venus

3:54 pm

The cabinet of Modi government in India today approved a whole range of major space projects for the next decade, including a sample return mission to the moon, the building of the first module of that country’s space station, an orbiter to Venus, and the development of a new more powerful but reusable rocket.

The lunar sample return mission, dubbed Chandrayaan-4, is targeting a launch about three years from now, and will be shaped to provide information leading to a manned lunar mission by 2040.

The cabinet also approved the development of the first module of its proposed Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), targeting a 2028 launch date with the full station completed by 2035. This approval also included a plan for manned and unmanned missions leading up to the launch of that first module.

Under the programme eight missions are envisaged — four under the ongoing Gaganyaan programme by 2026, and development of BAS-1, and another four missions for demonstration and validation of various technologies by December 2028.

The Venus Orbiter is now targeting a 2028 launch.

The new launch rocket, dubbed the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV) will aim for reusability and be 1.5 times more powerful than the India’s presently most powerful rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3). The program to develop this new rocket however appears overally long (8 years) with relatively little flight testing (3 flights).

Overall, this government space program will likely energize India’s new commercial aerospace industry, as the Modi government is also attempting to shift as much of this work to private companies, rather than have its space agency ISRO do the work.

1 comment

Pushback: Pastor who was arrested in Seattle for reading the Bible aloud wins in court

2:49 pm

Are Americans finally waking up and emulating their country's founders?

Fight! Fight! Fight!: In 2022 Pastor Matthew Meinecke was arrested two different times by the Seattle police when he attended pro-abortion rallies and simply stood in the crowd and read the Bible aloud. What was worse was that when he was attacked by the pro-abortion protesters the police arrested him, not the attackers.

The conflict came about because Pastor Meinecke went to a Seattle pro-abortion rally to read the Bible aloud, hold up a sign and hand out literature. He was censored and arrested on two separate occasions for simply reading the Bible to others because his Gospel-oriented message triggered hostile reactions from activists.

Despite his evangelistic and peaceful intent, some individuals in the crowd, including Antifa members, did not receive the message well. They took Meinecke’s Bible away from him, ripped out pages, knocked Meinecke down and took one of his shoes. When Seattle police finally arrived at the scene, they did not offer any aid to Meinecke. Instead, they ordered Meinecke to leave and go to a space where he could no longer convey his message, and then arrested him when he declined to do so.

The same thing happened two days later at public park during a queer “PrideFest.”
» Read more

5 comments

Musk: We will sue the FAA for “regulatory overreach” and “improper, politically-motivated behavior”

9:38 am

In a series of tweets yesterday Elon Musk announced that SpaceX is going to sue the FAA for its recent actions that have delayed development of Starship/Superheavy and have also fined the company for what appear to be petty reasons.

In the second case, the FAA threatened to fine SpaceX $633K because it had not gotten some minor approvals prior to successfully completing two launches safely. The agency gave SpaceX 30 days to respond.

Musk responded bluntly in a tweet, stating that “SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach.” In a second tweet immediately thereafter Musk added that that the fines were “More lawfare.”

In a third tweet he stated unequivocally, “I am highly confident that discovery will show improper, politically-motivated behavior by the FAA.”

As noted in the first link above, the agency took no action against SpaceX for more than a year after those two launches, only issuing the threat to fine the company now, just before the election, and just after the company had publicly criticized the agency for its delays in issuing a launch license for the fifth Starship/Superheavy test flight. I suspect Musk has some good information of solid evidence that some officials either in the FAA or at the White House instigated this action for political reasons. An honest appraisal of the FAA’s actions sure suggests it.

23 comments

NASA awards Intuitive Machines $4.8 billion contract to build Moon communication satellite constellation

9:17 am

NASA yesterday awarded Intuitive Machines a contract worth as much as $4.8 billion to build the communication relay infrastructure necessary to support bases and research on the Moon.

This Subcategory 2.2 GEO to Cislunar Relay Services is a new firm-fixed-price, multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity task order contract. The contract has a base period of five years with an additional 5-year option period, with a maximum potential value of $4.82 billion. The base ordering period begins Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2029, with the option period potentially extending the contract through Sept. 30, 2034.

Lunar relays will play an essential role in NASA’s Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the Moon. These relays will provide vital communication and navigation services for the exploration and scientific study of the Moon’s South Pole region. Without the extended coverage offered by lunar relays, landing opportunities at the Moon’s South Pole will be significantly limited due to the lack of direct communication between potential landing sites and ground stations on Earth.

According to the company’s own press release, this relay system will include a “lunar satellite constellation,” though the number of satellites was not revealed. The system will provide not just communications but will include GPS-type location data for ground operations.

3 comments

FAA fines SpaceX $633K for acting without its permission

12:46 pm

The FAA to SpaceX
The FAA to SpaceX “Nice company you got here.
Sure would be a shame if something happened to it.”

The FAA today revealed that it wants to fine SpaceX a total of $633,009 for two different actions where the company did something without the agency’s express permission.

In May 2023, SpaceX submitted a request to revise its communications plan related to its license to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The proposed revisions included adding a new launch control room at Hangar X and removing the T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures. On June 18, 2023, SpaceX used the unapproved launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission and did not conduct the required T-2 hour poll. The FAA is proposing $350,000 in civil penalties ($175,000 for each alleged violation).

In July 2023, SpaceX submitted a request to revise its explosive site plan related to its license to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The proposed revision reflected a newly constructed rocket propellant farm. On July 28, 2023, SpaceX used the unapproved rocket propellant farm for the EchoStar XXIV/Jupiter mission. The FAA is proposing a $283,009 civil penalty.

To understand the absurdity and abuse of power going on here, one must look at the dates. » Read more

19 comments

A space journalist suddenly notices that the FCC has no legal authority to regulate space junk

9:34 am

An article posted yesterday at Space News was unusual in that this mainstream media space news source and its reporter suddenly recognized, more than a year late, that the FCC’s effort to impose regulations on all satellite companies requiring they build satellites a certain way to facilitate their de-orbit at the end of their lifespan, is based on no statutory authority and is thus illegal.

[A] Supreme Court ruling in June struck down a principle widely known as “Chevron deference,” which gave agencies greater latitude in interpreting ambiguities in laws they enforced. The move has raised questions over the FCC’s space sustainability jurisdiction without a federal law that explicitly authorizes it or other agencies to establish and enforce debris mitigation rules.

Still, the FCC is seen as the logical agency to handle the risk of orbital debris. If courts rule that the FCC has not been granted the authority, Congress will likely address this once it gets around to tackling the issue.

My, my! You mean a federal bureaucrat doesn’t have the right to make law out of thin air, just to facilitate what that bureaucrat thinks should be done? Who wudda thought it!

As an old-fashioned American who believes in freedom and limited government (as clearly established by our Constitution) I had recognized this legal fact immediately in January 2023, when the FCC first made its power grab. That our young modern journalists don’t understand this is both tragic and disgraceful.

What makes this even more disgraceful is that the entire article lobbies hard for the FCC, claiming with no real evidence that “the FCC is seen as the logical agency to handle the risk of orbital debris.”

What this reporter should have known and reported is that both the House and the Senate have disgreed, forcefully. In the House one bill was introduced to give the de-orbit regulatory power to the FAA, while later rejecting a second bill that would have given that power to the FCC. The Senate meanwhile introduced its own bill giving this de-orbit regulatory power to the FAA and Commerce, not the FCC.

Sadly it is probably a mistake to give any government agency too much power in this matter, but our Congress will do so regardless. That is how things are done nowadays. Americans are expected to kow-tow to Washington regulators, in everything they do. Freedom is not the default approach. Regulation is.

6 comments

France’s space agency aims to standardize its French Guiana commercial launchpad

9:04 am

France’s space agency CNES has announced a project to standardize its French Guiana commercial launchpad, which France owns and CNES now manages, for many different customers.

Launch facilities and launch pads in particular are generally specifically built for a single rocket. This will, however, not be the case with the Guiana Space Centre’s new commercial launch facility. As a result, a set of standardized ground systems will be utilized to ensure that the facility can manage a number of different rockets.

At the moment, those rockets include seven different European rocket startups — Avio, HyImpulse, Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, PLD Space, Rocket Factory Augsburg, and Latitude — none of which has yet launched a rocket. CNES is telling them all that if wish to use French Guiana, they must design their rocket to fit its facilities.

This project will accomplish two things. First, it will limit use of the pad to these European companies. CNES is essentially establishing French Guiana as a European-only facility. Second, like China’s commercial launchpads — run by that government so that all its pseudo-companies are dependent on it for launches — CNES (and France) is attempting to establish some control and power over these new independent and competing rocket companies, most of which have no facilities or operations in France. Three are German (Hyimpulse, Isar, and Rocket Factory), one is Spanish (PLD), and one is Italian (Avio). Only two are French-based (Latitude and MaiaSpace), with MaiaSpace a subsidiary of ArianeGroup which means it has facilities in many places in Europe. This project will force all these companies to cater their designs to the demands of France.

The American approach I think is far better. Government spaceports lease specific launchpads to specific companies, which then build the facilities to their needs, not the government’s. They can then each work fast and efficiently without consultation with others. CNES’s effort here will likely slow development in Europe, as all these companies will have to meet with CNES and work out some common engineering.

0 comments
1 … 103 104 105 106 107 … 988