Here’s a classical example:
I can not prove it, but from the comments and messages I have received from Diggers I believe there are a couple of reasons I am buried. First, Geeks are generally progressives and I am a conservative, albeit of a libertarian mindset
Here’s a classical example:
I can not prove it, but from the comments and messages I have received from Diggers I believe there are a couple of reasons I am buried. First, Geeks are generally progressives and I am a conservative, albeit of a libertarian mindset
Here’s a classical example:
I can not prove it, but from the comments and messages I have received from Diggers I believe there are a couple of reasons I am buried. First, Geeks are generally progressives and I am a conservative, albeit of a libertarian mindset
Based on what I’m reading here, this is extremely disappointing, given how supportive FAA-AST has been of this fledgling industry to date:
MOJAVE – The nation’s first inland spaceport could lose that designation by the end of the year.
The Federal Aviation Administration informed officials at the Mojave Air and Space Port of its intention to suspend or revoke the space launch site operator’s license Dec. 31.
“I have no reason to be optimistic we’re going to keep our spaceport license,” said General Manager Stu Witt, reporting on the issue to the East Kern Airport District board of directors Tuesday. The district governs the Mojave Air and Space Port.
…Witt said the FAA has asked airport officials to dream up possible launch vehicle scenarios, imagining various types and amounts of propellants and devising safety plans for dealing with those chemicals.
“I’m not in the business of dealing in stories; I deal in fact,” he said.
The airport does have safety and storage plans in effect for those propellents and other energetic materials in use at the site.
The facility’s 2006 safety inspection found no compliance issues, Witt said. However, the safety inspection this year resulted in a notice that the facility had 90 days to come into compliance but failed to state what the problems were, he said.
One of the implications of this is that companies like XCOR and Masten Space Systems (not to mention the SpaceShip Company) are going to have to pull up stakes and move somewhere else, though it’s not clear how any other US spaceport can meet what seem to be unreasonable FAA demands.
Look. One has to go back to the original intent and basis of the regulations. FAA-AST (and its predecessor, the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which reported directly to the Secretary of Transportation, and was not part of the FAA) exists for one reason–to meet the obligations of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. Our participation in that treaty means that the US government (unlike any other mode of transportation) is liable for any activity involving spaceflight that occurs from its boundaries or its citizens/corporations. (In fact, that means that suborbital flight within the confines of the US is not even relevant to the treaty, but that’s a discussion for another time.)
But ground testing, and development that doesn’t involve actual spaceflight is not covered in any way by that treaty. No part of FAA-AST should be involved in, or even interested in, vehicle development activities that do not involve vehicles that don’t go into space, let alone ones that don’t leave the ground at all. These were accidents in propulsion testing on test stands. If any federal agency should be involved (I would argue that none should) it would be OSHA. The FAA (and particularly FAA-AST) should only be involved when testing of actual flight vehicles occur. They have no business worrying about what kinds of propellants are used in vehicle development (let alone engine development), until operators and developers actually seek launch licenses for flight testing using those propellants.
I know, and have friends, at FAA-AST. I hope that one of them will (convincingly) explain to me why I’m wrong.
[Update late evening]
I don’t actually hope they’ll explain to me why I’m wrong, because if they can do that, it’s bad news for the industry. What I really hope is that they’ll realize that they’re wrong, and not strangle this young industry in the cradle.
And Clark Lindsey is more succinct than I in describing the problem.
[Friday update]
Patti Grace Smith is denying the report:
Earlier I noted a report noted by Rand Simberg and several other space bloggers that the Mojave Space Port was in danger of closure by the FAA. I also emailed Patricia Smith, the FAA’s Associate Adminstrator for Commercial Space Transportation. She responds: “The report is totally inaccurate.”
That’s good, and like Glenn, I appreciate the fast reply, but it would be nice to see a more expansive, and clarifying response. If the report is “totally inaccurate” (hard to believe that anything can be totally inaccurate) what is accurate? What, if anything, is going on?
And if Stu is crying wolf, that won’t help him the next time he needs to deal with AST.
Much hoopla was made of the fiftieth anniversary of Sputnik a couple months ago.
I haven’t seen anyone mention that a half century ago today, the first Vanguard mission, the American response to Sputnik, was a spectacular (and televised) failure on the launch pad, which simply heightened the concern we had about the Soviets being ahead of us in space (“Our rockets always blow up”). I wonder if history might have been much, or any different had it succeeded?
Fred Kaplan makes the case. I hadn’t been aware of how much the quality of the sound was degraded to compress it into an MP3. Of course, I’ve never gotten into the MP3 thing, other than to listen to interviews and the like on my Treo. When I want to listen to music, I still go with CDs and vinyl.
And I don’t think that Teachout is going to persuade very many people to give up their high-end equipment. One would think that he, of all people, would remember the old dictum that there’s no accounting for taste.
A monument to Che Guevara, put up by the Chavez government, has been destroyed in Venezuela:
“We do not want a monument to Che, he is not an example for our children,” said a note left at the scene of the monument shattered by six gunshots, according to El Universal newspaper.
Can’t say that I blame them. I wonder if the people who did this were emboldened by Hugo’s poll defeat? And if and how the government will punish them?
Given Che’s methods, taking it down with six gunshots seems appropriate.
I’m not planning to drive up to see the launch this afternoon–I’ll try to see it from here (something I’ve never done, but the sky is quite clear). But it looks like they may have to scrub, anyway. Fuel sensors again.
By the way, The Flame Trench is probably the best place to go in general to stay on top of what’s going on for launches from the Cape.
[Update at 10:20 EST]
Today’s launch has been scrubbed. Another attempt tomorrow at 4:09 PM.
Well, new to me, anyway. I discovered Amanda Bauer via the latest Carnival of Space, over at Robot Guy’s place. Good stuff, but I hope that she uses the shift key when she writes her job applications and thesis.
From Amazon, who have been running a series.
The main reason I’m linking is to explain this, because it struck me that some might wonder why:
Unless you have a high-end receiver and speakers capable of generating a lot of bass, I recommend setting them to “small.” This will send their bass to your subwoofer.
Some might ask, “…but what about the stereo for the bass? I thought that stereo required separation. How can you get that if it’s all coming from a single speaker?”
Here’s the deal. The ability to discriminate the direction of sound is a function of its wavelength. The wavelength of notes in the bass frequency is substantially longer than the distance between your ears, so there’s no way for you to tell what direction the sound is coming from at those frequencies. Can you tell where thunder is from the sound? Yes, you can tell how far away it is, if you see the lightning and count the time until you hear it (about five seconds per mile), but absent visual clues, there’s no way to tell the direction purely from the sound.
That’s why you can not only get away with sending all bass to the subwoofer, but it doesn’t even matter where the subwoofer is. So you can place it where it’s convenient, or aesthetic (as long as it’s at least in the same room). It’s the high frequencies where speaker placement matters.