Media Criticism, Space

An Alternate History

21 Comments

Paul Spudis wonders what might have been for the VSE. My biggest problem with it is this:

Ten years ago, we took a critical turn on the road to our future in space. We now have a reliable, sustainable launch system based on Shuttle hardware. We have no need to pay foreign countries to carry our crews into orbit.

Any launch system based on Shuttle hardware is not going to be sustainable, because it has too high a fixed operating cost. Also, there is no explanation of how our crews are getting into orbit. The only thing he talks about in terms of US launch capability is this:

As Shuttle was completing its final ISS missions, the reliable Shuttle hardware was simultaneously being developed into the new Neptune launch vehicle – an affordable Shuttle side-mount rocket that we now depend on to regularly and reliably supply our space efforts. This heavy lift vehicle, with almost 80 metric tons of capacity, has proven to be more than adequate in supplying the needs of lunar return. Since Neptune was developed entirely with existing Shuttle pieces, we were able to use the manufacturing facilities at Michoud and the vehicle-processing infrastructure at the Cape without making significant modifications. More than any other early effort of the VSE, the development of Shuttle side-mount Neptune (versus the development of a wholly new launch system) was the key decision that advanced our return to the Moon. Because Neptune was developed in parallel with the completion and retirement of the Space Shuttle, we experienced an interval of less than a year when our civil program could not send people into space.

But the link doesn’t say anything about “Neptune,” and there is no discussion of how crew gets to orbit. On Neptune? In what crew module? And does that mean you have to launch eighty tons every time you want to launch a crew? The only discussion of a “Neptune” rocket I can find is the proposal by Interorbital Systems, which certainly isn’t Shuttle derived. Why no mention of EELV? Or SpaceX? Or commercial cargo and crew?

So I find the piece a real head scratcher.

Space

Book Availability

2 Comments

For those wondering, the book hasn’t been available at Amazon due to a miscommunication between me and the printer. I hope it’s fixed today or tomorrow.

[Update on Friday]

Well, my hope hasn’t borne out. Now it’s a communications problem between Amazon and the printer. At this point, I hope it’s fixed within the next week. What a mess.

[Bumped]

Political Commentary, Science And Society

Our Recent Court Victory

55 Comments

ICYMI, Mark Steyn explains it:

1. Dr Michael Mann’s lawyer, John Williams, filed a fraudulent complaint falsely representing his client as a Nobel Laureate, and accusing us of the hitherto unknown crime of defaming a Nobel Laureate.

2. After Charles C W Cooke and others exposed Dr Mann’s serial misrepresentation of himself as a Nobel Prize winner, Mann’s counsel decided to file an amended complaint with the Nobel falsehood removed.

3. Among her many staggering incompetences, DC Superior Court judge Natalia Combs-Greene then denied NR’s motion to dismiss the fraudulent complaint while simultaneously permitting Mann’s lawyers to file an amended complaint.

4. The appellate judges have now tossed out anything relating to Mann’s original fraudulent complaint, including Judge Combs-Greene’s unbelievably careless ruling in which the obtuse jurist managed to confuse the defendants, and her subsequent ruling in which she chose to double-down on her own stupidity. Anything with Combs-Greene’s name on it has now been flushed down the toilet of history.

5. So everyone is starting afresh with a new judge, a new complaint from the plaintiff, and new motions to dismiss from the defendants. That’s the good news.

6. The bad news is that Mann’s misrepresentation of himself as a Nobel Laureate and Combs-Greene’s inept management of her case means that all parties have racked up significant six-figure sums just to get back to square one. In a real courthouse – in London, Toronto, Dublin, Singapore, Sydney – Dr Mann would be on the hook for what he has cost all the parties through his fraudulent complaint. But, this being quite the most insane “justice system” I have ever found myself in, instead the costs of the plaintiff’s vanity, his lawyer’s laziness and the judge’s incompetence must apparently be borne by everyone.

But at least, as a commenter noted in a related post, Professor Mann got a huge planet-destroying lump of coal in his stocking.

[Update in the evening]

I want to express my deep appreciation to everyone who has hit the tip jar today. I’ll try to deploy the resources to good use.

[Another update, a couple of minutes later]

Per that previous update, despite rumors/lies from Climate-gate deniers, I haven’t received check one from the fossil-fuel industry. The stingy bastards.

[Friday-morning update]

(Law professor) Jonathan Adler reports on the story over at the Volokh Conspiracy. He implies no disagreement with Steyn’s take.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!