There’s a lot of it?
If so, in a sane policy world, that would be even more impetus for depot-based refueling architectures. Unfortunately, that’s not the policy world in which we live, when it comes to space.
[Early evening update]
Speaking of depots, Jon Goff discusses the two papers he presented in Pasadena last week (which I still wish that I’d been able to attend).
Did the NEA break the law?
Public funds are not supposed to be expended to support partisan projects. Beyond that, it is unconstitutional to grant or deny federal funds on the basis of the recipient’s political actions or opinions. National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley. The NEA is the single largest funder of the arts, and several participants in the August 10 conference call had recently received NEA checks. It would have been entirely reasonable for those on the phone call to conclude that future NEA funding could be influenced by their willingness to play ball with the Obama administration’s political agenda. Moreover, the Hatch Act limits the ability of federal employees to engage in partisan politics. Sergant’s sending of the email invitation to artists and arts groups, using his government email account, could be considered a bright line violation of the act, as could his apparent solicitation of political support from any arts group that had an application for funding pending before the NEA. Likewise, Ms. Wicks’ participation in the call would appear to be illegal if she was “on duty” and if the call was deemed political in nature.
It would take a thorough knowledge of the facts and more legal research than I’ve had time for to draw a conclusion as to whether the White House or NEA violated the law in connection with the artist outreach, but at a minimum an investigation is in order.
Why not? This administration, and its defenders, doesn’t seem to be all that fastidious about either the law or the Constitution. So how long does Yosi Sergant keep his job?
Alan Boyle has a good rundown on the current state of play. I wonder, though about the assumptions underlying this comment:
To be competitive with other power sources, Maness figures that the powersat system’s launch costs would have to be around $100 per pound – which is roughly one-hundredth of the current asking price. Launch costs may be heading downward, thanks in part to the rise of SpaceX’s Falcon rockets, but Maness can’t yet predict when the charts tracing cost and benefit will cross into the profitable zone.
Launch costs to where? They’re that high to GEO, but not to LEO, and it doesn’t say where the satellite constellation will live. It’s going to be a long time before it’s a hundred bucks a pound to GEO, though though a robust market for LEO propellant depots will be a help in that regard. But we’re not far from having a thousand bucks a pound to LEO. Anyway, it would be nice to see more details on these things.
The bottom line, though, and the reason that I’m not that sanguine on the business prospects for SBSP, at least for base load, is this:
In addition to potential environmental concerns, large-scale solar farms can’t generate a steady flow of electricity at night, or during cloudy weather. But if engineers ever figure out a way to store up the intermittent energy generated by solar cells or wind turbines, at levels high enough to keep utilities flush with power, Maness thinks that would deal a heavy blow to his powersat dreams.
“At that point, I take my marbles and go home,” he said.
Yup. It’s not the technical risk of the space hardware and launch costs, but the risk of terrestrial competition as technology evolves, that is the biggest risk of all.
…from Lileks:
Love and laughter are like water; you need them to live. And they run through your fingers no matter how tightly you cup your hands.
And the flow increases over time.
…to hear about shoddy and libelous reporting at the WaPo:
“I’m missing some important context: what did Woodward’s father do for a living? Hard to pin down his motivation otherwise. And Bernstein’s mom, what was her deal?”
As noted, if they had gone after a “right wing” organization, they’d be up for Pulitzers. But because it’s the leftist thugs at ACORN, they get slimed. And they’re aided and abetted by those “layers of fact checkers and editors.”
I got in this afternoon, but this is the first chance I’ve had to log on (using…borrowed…yeah, that’s the word, borrowed… bandwidth from a neighbor’s unsecured Dlink router. I’ll return the bits after I get my own set up in a day or so…if he can figure out the passphrase…).
I returned to a house full of boxes to unpack and find a place for their contents, so the next few days/weeks/months will be a massive exercise in entropy reduction. I hope to get back to a semi-normal schedule this coming week, though.
Sun’s up in Tallahassee, so I don’t want to waste the light. Hoping for the bayou by lunchtime, and when the times comes for tonight’s appointment with Hypnos, I expect to be (as the old song goes) deep in the heart of Texas.
Though the radar indicates rain on the road ahead. At least this time, unlike my trip coming to Florida five years ago, the air conditioning works in the car (or at least it did as of last night), so I won’t be getting rained on with windows open in the steamy climate.
[Friday night update]
Yes, I’m alive, didn’t sleep in a truck stop, wasn’t abducted by aliens in Roswell, and wasn’t tempted to stay in TX by the brisket, contra comments.
I stayed in a Days Inn in Kerrville, about forty-five minutes west of San Antonio, that had free wifi. It was worth twice the price. Or half. It doesn’t really matter, because either way, the point is that it didn’t work. Some hotel could do good business by advertising “Free wifi that really works, or we’ll refund half your room rate,” and make it happen.
Anyway, I’m in Phoenix, staying with a niece and her husband and new (well, relatively new — seventeen months) son, whom I hadn’t seen. Back to LA in the morning.
PJM has a piece this morning on the current state of play: half a million seems to be a lower bound (as Henry originally estimated).
Frank J. explains:
…with Democrats having complete control of the government, you’d think liberals could be dismissive of conservatives and be calm themselves. But no, they’re still crazy angry. Maybe even angrier than before. Biting-fingers-off angry. They’re screeching about how all the people opposed to Obama are racists and neo-Nazis and stupid, and they’re using sexual slurs against protesters and boycotting everyone who disagrees with them. They’re still nuts, but why?
See things from their point of view. The most fundamental principle liberals have is that they are all very, very smart, and everyone should listen to them. Nothing angers them more than something that challenges them to reexamine that core tenet. And that’s why they were so delighted by the election of President Obama and further wins in the House and Senate. For a moment they thought the American people had recognized liberals as their superiors and said to them: “Please! Smart people! Lead us and tell us what to do!”
Of course, it is quite obvious right now that that’s not at all what the election was about. The Republicans had been screw-ups for a while, and with the failing economy (people tend to vote for the president based on the economy, which is only a tad smarter than voting based on the weather, but whatcha gonna do?), most people just felt they couldn’t reward the Republicans with leadership again. Also, many people were tired of the hostility between conservatives and liberals (though I’m not sure why Republicans got the blame, since we could have had bipartisanship if at any time liberals had decided to stop being a bunch of screeching ninnies who mindlessly opposed whatever Bush was for). Then came along Barack Obama, who promised non-specific hope and change, and everyone was like, “Non-specific hope and change sounds like a great idea!”
There’s more.
I’m angry mainly that they’ve purloined the word “liberals.”
Start today. Clark Lindsey has links. Best of luck (and skill) to them.
Another reason to wish that I was already back in CA. I expect to hit the road this morning, but I have to pack the car still, which will be an interesting puzzle.
[Update a few minutes later]
Shutting down the machine now so I can load it. I may check in tonight, if I have wireless in the motel. Be good in comments, and don’t expect anything with links to be approved today.
[Late evening update]
I’m still on Eastern time, but just barely, about 10:30 PM. I’m also still in Florida, in Talahassee, but it hasn’t seemed like it since north of Tampa, when the country went from flat and swampy to rolling with woods and pastures. I drove across from Ocala to here through beautiful horse country. This is a Florida that I could like, but it’s more like southern Georgia.