Here’s a yucky sewer story, but it doesn’t answer the first question that came to mind as I was reading it: What do these bacteria excrete?
Category Archives: Science And Society
Lysenkoism
…and climate change. Heresy must be harshly punished.
The End Of Rockets?
No, Futurism:
All that essential, but not actually useful, extra weight jacks up the cost of a mission. Falcon Heavy launches cost $1.2 million USD per ton of payload. Again, that’s a crazy improvement from earlier missions, but that many zeros on a space mission mean these launches will stay out-of-reach for consumers or smaller companies.
No one outside of SpaceX knows what Falcon Heavy costs (and that depends on whether you mean average cost or marginal cost).
And then there is the environmental cost. These souped-up rockets use more fuel, and Falcon rockets rely on what’s basically kerosene and oxygen. Per launch, the carbon these missions spew isn’t that much. But if space flight frequency reaches the twice a month threshold that SpaceX is aiming for, experts think the overall carbon output could reach 4,400 tons a year. If every private space company chimes in with their own launch emissions, that number could climb dramatically.
Not everyone uses kerosene. Blue Origin (and ULA) plan to use liquid natural gas (mostly methane), which has much lower carbon content. And they both plan LOX/LH2 upper stages, whose exhaust is water. And even at a hundred times that amount, it would continue to be dwarfed by the airline industry.
There are also all the potential atmospheric impacts that we don’t understand very well. Burning rocket fuel emits soot and a chemical called alumina, and scientists have started to study how these molecules break down our ozone layer, something we’ve been working hard to restore over several decades.
Again, not all rocket fuel. Methane will produce almost no soot, and hydrogen none. And only solid rockets emit alumina, and only ULA plans to use them (OK, well, NASA will have them on SLS, if it ever flies, but it will hardly ever fly).
No, it will be a long time, if ever, before we need space elevators, even if they’re technical feasible and practical.
Toxic Anti-Masculinity
Thoughts on the need for both masculinity and femininity from a (female) psychotherapist.
And Kurt Schlichter writes that we need to retoxify it.
[Update a while later]
Heh. Least masculine society in human history is concerned about “toxic masculinity.”
And this will be fun: Harvard could be sued under Title IX for calling traditional masculinity “harmful.”
Steak Blogging
Stephen Green has a rub recipe. I have to confess, I don’t put anything on it before grilling except bacon grease. Maybe I’ll try this.
Semen
May cure depression in women. I’m willing to offer my services.
I’ve seen previous research that pregnant women who continue to be inseminated by the father of their fetus have less morning sickness. That might make evolutionary sense.
Age-Reversing Gene Therapy
…may be available in the mid-twenties. Barring any major unexpected issues, that should be in time for me, if it happens.
The War On Keto
I guess Jillian Michaels is upset that people (literally) aren’t buying her BS.
Vitamin D
Do we actually need to get out in the sun even if we supplement?
Great. I supposed I should be taking nitric oxide, too, though.
Space Property Rights
Steve Wolfe just sent me a call for papers that’s right up my (and perhaps some of my readers’) alley:
I am chairing an interesting program at the ISDC this year titled the Space Settlement Policy Forum. It will be held June 5th in Washington, DC. Forum details and agenda are attached.
Though most consider discussion of space settlement related policies to be academic, for Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other leaders the reality of space settlement is an imminent and highly desirable probability. In this forum we will take a sober look at the laws and policies that would or should be implemented in order to facilitate and encourage space settlement development. The Forum will address this broad challenge without presuming a single ‘silver bullet’ solution.
Topic Categories Include:
- How Current Space Law Encourages and Inhibits Space Settlement Development
- Potential Government Incentives for Private Funding of Space Settlements
- Changes to International Law to Enable Space Settlement Development
- Licensing Regime for Space Settlement Development and Construction—What would it look like?
- Proper Role of Government in Space Settlement Development: Leading the Way or Being a Cheer Leader?
- What Are the Space Settlement Enabling Technologies That Government Agencies Should Be Investing In Now?
Presentation Submission Guidelines:
- Prepare a 15-minute to present with slides
- Prepare a paper of not less than 3-pages that will be publish in the proceedings of the conference.
- The presentation must recommend, and argue for, a particular legal or regulatory change directly related to space settlement
- The paper must provide a summary that includes specific recommendations for policy change
- Interest must be expressed to Steve Wolfe immediately
- Abstract submission due by January 25, 2019
Kind of short notice, but I’ll probably be submitting multiple abstracts.