When I was up in Mojave on Friday, I was told of a rumor that there might be a mated flight of Eve/Enterprise (test vehicles for WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo) for the first time that day. It turned out to be false, but they flew today.
Category Archives: Business
State Socialists In Space
I use the “s” word because the “f” word seems to really upset people, even though it’s more accurate. It’s a shame that Hitler gave it such a bad name.
Anyway, Jeff Foust has an article today on the irrational antipathy of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to private enterprise. Well, OK, it’s not all irrational. Some of it just typical rent seeking. Congressman Culberson comes off as particularly foolish, and not just for his Marine analogy:
“If the private sector exclusively owns access to space, who owns the technology? They’d have the right to sell it to any nation on the face of the Earth?” (Not easily, thanks to the export control regime that covers space technology in the US today.)
“Imagine if America had to hitch a ride on a commercial vehicle,” he continued. “If the private sector and the Chinese and Russians control access to space, they could charge us whatever they want.”
Yes. Whatever they want. As long as the price wasn’t higher than their competitors.
Why does this so-called fiscal conservative either not understand, or not believe in, how markets work?
You know who really charges “whatever they want”? A monopoly cost-plus contractor for NASA. Which is why Ares I has already cost about twenty times as much as Falcon 9, for similar capability (if it’s ever completed), with first flight for the former still years away, versus weeks away for the latter.
Celebrate Suborbital
…with Alan Stern.
Compare And Contrast
Ares I versus Falcon 9. The vast majority of the Ares hugging and SpaceX bashing comes off as lunacy. Much of it is driven, of course, by pecuniary interests. But not all of it.
More Space Misreporting
There’s a story over at the Grauniad today about the dotcom space millionaires, featuring Elon Musk and SpaceX. As usual, the reporter doesn’t understand what Constellation is/was:
His confidence has been boosted following last month’s decision by President Barack Obama to drop funding for the Constellation programme – the Nasa spacecraft intended to replace the space shuttle, which is to be grounded later this year.
Once again, Constellation is not now, and never was, a “replacement” for the Space Shuttle. If anything, it’s a replacement for Apollo. It’s an architecture of vehicles designed to get humans back to the moon, including launchers, capsule, earth-departure stages, and lunar lander and ascent vehicle. And the only parts that are really being cancelled are the Ares I launcher and the Orion crew module, because none of the rest of it was scheduled to start development for years.
Beyond that, the reporter doesn’t seem to understand the difference between suborbital and orbital, saying that Falcon I went to suborbit. Well, the first one did, but the other four went to orbit, albeit only the last two with full success. And all five were intended to.
Obama’s Middle-Class Squeeze
I’m shocked, shocked:
The hardest hit won’t be those earning more than $250,000 a year–the group that he says needs to “pay their fair share.” Rather, it’s families whose combined annual income is around $100,000 who could be crushed under this plan.
Many of these middle-class families will probably opt to pay the federal fine, and go without health insurance until they get sick.These folks will be too “rich” to qualify for ObamaCare’s subsidies, but probably too poor to easily afford the pricey insurance that the president’s plan forces them to buy.
Many of these $100K families will be obliged to buy a policy costing an average of $14,700 for the mid-level, “silver” health plan, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates. After income taxes, they’ll be spending almost a quarter of their net income for health insurance.
I think that if you pass a law that requires you to purchase something, and it’s enforced by the IRS, it’s not unfair to call it a tax. And it’s another demonstration that every one of Obama’s statements (this one about no raising taxes on people making less than a quarter million) has an expiration date.
[Late afternoon update]
A commenter asks what he can do to fight this in the final hours. This looks like a good place to start. Whatever your political affiliation, if you want to stop this, it’s all up to the Republicans at this point, and you’re going to have to help them this weekend, if not in the future. Don’t look for any help from the Democrats.
The Clock Is Ticking
The reconciliation bill is up, and Keith Hennessey is your best tour guide.
The Hippocratic Oath
…versus ObamaCare. Thoughts from (Doctor) Paul Hsieh. One of many reasons that so many doctors say they will go Galt if it passes. And what will that do to prices, and costs?
[Update a few minutes later]
GOP doctor to Pelosi: “Arrogant, Ignorant, Incompetent.”
So what else is new?
The Health-Care Talking Points
…versus reality. A lot of those talking points are familiar, because the supporters attempt to deploy them here, in comments.
Congratulations
SpaceX has had a successful static test, after the abort earlier this week. As they note, it’s a key milestone to a first launch attempt in the next few weeks.