Category Archives: Space

Business, Space

Liberty

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I’m at the ATK press conference.  I’ve been tweeting @Rand_Simberg

[Thursday morning update]

It was hard to get everything accurately while tweeting, but NASASpaceflight has a good technical description of the system. The key thing I didn’t catch until talking to Rominger later at the reception is that it’s not using the Orion tractor abort system.

Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

Orbital Mechanics, Selenology, Economics And Logistics

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Jim Hillhouse doesn’t understand any of them:

The plan germinating from deep within NASA, and that sees some tentative support within Congress, is to fly one, or both, of the Morpheus and Mighty Eagle landers on the first flight of the Space Launch System in 2017. The reason for this is to begin to answer the question of whether, and in what form, there is water on the Moon.

Ummmm…no. We are long past the point of having to “begin” to answer that question.
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Media Criticism, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Space

Our Insignificance

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Ruminations from Lileks:

Is there a word for people who hate misanthropists? I was driving back from the grocery store, caught some of the stand-up channels (they rarely make me laugh, but it’s interesting sociology at the least) and some BBC, which had a science show. Great! I love science shows. The female presenter – whom I’m sure was named Fiona; sounded like a Fiona – was talking to one of those guys who can explain Science in a cheerful hip upbeat tone, and he was talking about dark matter and dark energy. He made a crack about how you should tell your friends they’re even more insignificant than they may have thought they were – haw! ‘Cause humans occupy this tiny speck and therefore are insignificant. That doesn’t follow. But it’s standard; I see it all the time in infographics about galactic immensity, how we should all realize we’re insignificant in the greater scheme. Unless, of course, we’re the only planet with life, which would make us quite significant, but I don’t believe that. Anyway it’s like saying a dog is insignificant because Mt. Everest exists.

Then he talked about how 99% of the universe is dark energy and dark matter, and those of us on the shiny bits are just “light pollution.”

“Oh, light pollution,” cooed the host. “I love that.”

Of course you do: it’s the mark of a fine mind to regard us as some sort of blight, a zit on the face of the cosmos. In the aggregate, of course; I’m sure her and her friends are quite brilliant and smashing and loads of fun to be with, but in general, we really are nothing, worse than nothing, pollution, because we’re bad. It’s the modern form of smug: self-hatred of one’s own species, a reveling in its insignificance when compared to Betelgeuse.

As I said: if we’re alone, then we have invested the universe with something utterly unique simply by observing it. Add to that the fact that we grew from grunting trogs in caves to creatures who sent out machines to interrogate the world, AND invented music – indeed, invented beauty. If we’re not alone, then we are hardly insignificant, either, unless you want to say that Rome was insignificant because no one in Peru had heard of it.

They’re also the sort of people who probably think we shouldn’t go out and spread the cancer to the rest of the universe.