Political Commentary, Space

Picky, Picky, Picky

21 Comments

Well, here’s the latest in the Perils of Ares I–it might sideswipe the gantry as it launches:

The issue is known as “liftoff drift.” Ignition of the rocket’s solid-fuel motor makes it “jump” sideways on the pad, and a southeast breeze stronger than 12.7 mph would be enough to push the 309-foot-tall ship into its launch tower.

Worst case, the impact would destroy the rocket. But even if that doesn’t happen, flames from the rocket would scorch the tower, leading to huge repair costs.

“We were told by a person directly involved [in looking at the problem] that as they incorporate more variables into the liftoff-drift-curve model, the worse the curve becomes,” said one NASA contractor, who asked not to be named because he wasn’t authorized to discuss Ares.

“I get the impression that things are quickly going from bad to worse to unrecoverable.”

But all is not lost:

NASA says it can solve — or limit — the problem by repositioning and redesigning the launchpad.

Sure. No problem. Just reposition and redesign the launch pad. Simple, safe, soon.

NASA officials are now looking at ways to speed up the development of Ares and are reluctant to discuss specific problems. But they insist none is insurmountable.

Of course they do.

“There are always issues that crop up when you are developing a new rocket and many opinions about how to deal with them,” said Jeff Hanley, manager of the Constellation program, which includes Ares, the first new U.S. rocket in 35 years.

“We have a lot of data and understanding of what it’s going to take to build this.”

Yes, they have so much data and understanding that they don’t find out about this until after their fake Preliminary Design Review. And (just a guess), I’m betting that if I look at the original budget and development schedule, “repositioning and redesigning the launch pad” isn’t even in or on it.

Look, obviously, if you pick a lousy design, you can eventually make it fly, given enough time and money. But in the process, it may end up bearing little resemblance to the original concept, and if it’s neither simple (which it won’t be with all of the kludges that they’ll have to put on it to make up for its deficiencies), safe (no one really knows what the probability of loss of crew is, since they still haven’t finally even nailed down the launch abort system design) or soon, then the nation has been sold a pig in a poke. And there’s no budget line item for the lipstick either, though NASA has been attempting to tart it up as best they can.

As Einstein once said, a clever man solves a problem–a wise man avoids it. Since Mike Griffin came in, NASA has been too clever by half. Given the budget environment we’ll have next year, it’s hard to see how this unsustainable schedule and budgetary atrocity survives in anything resembling its current form.

Space

Lunar Landing Challenge Day Two

1 Comment

Armadillo’s attempt at Level Two (a million dollar purse) starts in a few minutes. Webcast is here.

[Update]

Well, there was a problem. There was a hard start, and the vehicle fell over on its side. Not clear how recoverable it is.

[Afternoon update]

That’s it for this year. They aren’t going to make another attempt today. Clark Lindsey has the story.

That leaves most of the money still on the table, but at least Armadillo didn’t go home empty handed this time.

[Update an hour or so later]

Jeff Foust has a picture of the burned-through nozzle that resulted from the lean fuel mixture.

Science And Society, Technology and Society

Better All The Time

8 Comments

A cure for nut allergies?

Well, actually, it’s only for peanuts, though for peanut-allergy sufferers (who seem to be sufficiently legion that it’s affecting the lifestyle of the rest of us on airplanes and other places), that’s a good thing.

I’m allergic to tree nuts, not peanuts (which are not true nuts, but legumes, like beans). And it caused me no little amount of grief when I was a kid, because the allergy was just unpleasant, not life threatening, so my parents wouldn’t believe me. Part of the problem was that because I was truly allergic to cashews, walnuts, etc., I assumed that I was also allergic to peanuts. But I ate peanut butter with no problem, so my parents assumed that I was faking, and made me eat not just the peanuts but all the nuts, which would result in a swelling and itching of the mucous membranes in my mouth and throat, and a slight but vague stomach upset. But because it never resulted in a trip to the hospital, they never believed that I was allergic, and tormented me throughout my childhood until I left the house and took control over my own diet, at which point, being rational, I realized that if I could eat peanut butter I could eat peanuts as well. And I do.

Anyway, I hope that progress on this front continues, not because I think that I’ve been missing anything great from the other nuts, but because I will be able to eat foods (particularly Indian food, which seems to be kind of sneaky in this regard) without worrying about unpleasant consequences. And even more for those for whom the consequences go far beyond “unpleasant.”

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Obama Fundraising Fraud

5 Comments

If John McCain were doing this, the press would be crying bloody murder:

He may now be running the biggest underground finance operation since Nixon deployed the plumbers as his key operatives in 1972.

And there seem to be a lot of parallels with the voter registration fraud being perped by ACORN. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

And of course, if McCain ends up losing this because he didn’t have enough money, it will be justice, because it was his idiotic assault on the First Amendment that got us here.

Political Commentary

Spreading THE Wealth

28 Comments

A vanity poster over at Free Republic makes a good point:

Last year I let a family member move in with me. I’ll call her my niece. My niece was down on her luck and needed a place to stay while she got on her feet.

As it turns out, she was actually down with drugs and needed a place to lie on the couch while she got on the phone. But anyway. I came home one day and was looking for my iron, so I could iron clothes to wear to work.

(“Work is that place you go to,” I explained to her, “and they pay you to do things for them. Yes, like that time you took the baggie to some guy named Raoul in the parking lot of the grocery store nearby. Rather like that, only more regular, and legal.”)

Anyway, my niece said, “Oh, I loaned the iron to my friend Rachel.”

I puzzled over this for a bit. She loaned my iron to some girl I barely knew? She loaned my iron to some girl she barely knew?! Would I loan any of her items to a friend of mine? Let me think. No. I wouldn’t.

So why would she?

The clue lies in the wording. “I loaned the iron…” THE iron. Not YOUR iron, Auntie Beth, THE iron. The local iron. The iron that existed here before I came and is therefore part of the landscape. Like the sun, the trees, and the street. Belonging to nobody, or everybody.

So let’s really parse what Barack Obama says to plumbers and other people who’ve done something with their lives besides lecture like a lawyer turned college professor turned professional pied piper: “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

I think the most important word in that sentence really is “the.” THE wealth. Not your wealth, says Obama, because it’s not yours. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t intend to spread HIS too thin. I have a feeling his daughters will be taken care of before anyone else’s kids.

Snide comments aside, Obama said THE wealth because that’s how he thinks of it. Community property. Belonging to everyone. Just THERE, like sunlight, a fact of life that we determine how to utilize.

To Obama, it’s not something that belongs to anyone. Not something you created, earned, or own. Just something that you somehow managed to get hold of, maybe by picking it off a tree, and now you need to share what came from that tree.

And don’t worry. That tree will always bear fruit. It always has, right? Well no, it hasn’t, but only the gardener who planted it realizes that. The lawyer who comes along representing the neighbors who’ve been eying that fruit tree doesn’t know, or care, how it got there. It’s there now, isn’t it?

And it isn’t your tree anymore. It’s THE tree.

Yup. Some want to spread THE wealth, and others want to create it.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!