It was great to see everyone at Space Access after the hiatus last year. It was also nice to see quite a few enthusiastic young people. More thoughts anon, but I’m beat from the drive, and insufficient sleep.
All posts by Rand Simberg
Communicating With Cats
This seems to be my experience, except that our current cat almost never talks. I think it may be a genetic defect (she also has a kink in her tail). Her communication is almost entirely non verbal.
Amending The Space Act
Dana Rohrabacher has introduced his proposed legislation to amend the Space Act, in order to redirect NASA toward space settlement and development.
An All-Beef Diet
Here’s a family that would drive the FDA and food nazis nuts. They’d probably call Child Protective Services. But the kids look pretty healthy to me.
Space Access
I’ve arrived at the conference. Looks like a great turnout, and a lot of familiar faces. A lot of seem to be getting older. Will Pomerantz gave an overview of future plans for Virgin Galactic, and took a lot of questions at the end. Still unclear what the future of propulsion is for SS1, though he said he thinks that they’re going back to rubber. Follow Doug Messier (@spacecom) for more details. Many of the questions were his.
Blue Origin
Powered by a BE-3 engine, the spacecraft flew to 307,000 feet, the edge of space, and returned smoothly to the ground. The company said it was able to recover the reusable spacecraft./blockquote>
I believe that the BE-3 is the smaller version of the BE-4 that will power the new ULA rocket. So it’s a LOX/LNG vehicle. They didn’t recover the propulsion system, but don’t seem concerned about it. Like SpaceX, now that they’re flying again, they’ll continually improve. A very auspicious event as I get ready to drive to Phoenix this morning for the Space Access conference, which starts this afternoon.
FAA-AST
The House Appropriators refuse to increase the office budget.
This is stupid. There’s a huge increase in commercial flights coming, and they won’t be able to support the licensing.
The RD-180 Replacement
Basically, as it is with NASA and SLS, Congress is forcing the Air Force to waste money on an engine that ULA doesn’t want, or need.
The Clinton Foundation
Is it just a huge international money-laundering scheme?
It sure looks like it.
[Update a while later]
Hillary’s cynical song of self:
You know already that if Mrs. Clinton runs for president as an Elizabeth Warren-style populist she won’t mean a word of it, any more than she would mean it if she ran as a ’90s-style New Democrat or a ’70s-style social reformer. The real Hillary, we are asked to believe, is large and contains multitudes.
In other words, she’s singing a Song of Herself. She will say, do, and be pretty much anything to get elected. And the rest of us are supposed to fall in line because we prefer our politics to be transactional not principled, our politicians to be opportunists not idealists, and our national creed to be “do what you gotta do” not “upon this rock.” This is what might be called the Clinton Bargain: You can always count on their self-interest trumping other considerations, so you never have to fear that they can’t be bought.
The only question is who is doing the buying.
If you’re not a subscriber, do a Google search for “Hillary’s Song Of Self” and it should give you a readable link.
Obesity
A cardiologist says that it’s not caused by lack of exercise, it’s caused by sugar and carbs.
I think the comparison with the tobacco industry is apt, but I disagree that it should be regulated. We just need to educate.