I’ve got review copies of Tim Fernholz’s and Chris Davenport’s
books on the new space billionaires. Busily reading to review, while also preparing for another Florida trip, so light blogging.
I’ve got an account (and so does the book), but I almost never visit the site. And I’ve never installed the app on my phone or tablet. Here’s why.
Planetary Protection
…is not required by Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty. I suspect a lot of people at COPUOS would disagree.
[Update a while later]
Sorry, bad link fixed.
Local Governments
Can they have greater autonomy from the states?
[Tuesday-morning update]
Related: Could #Resistance in California result in federal troops being sent there? It would be pretty amusing if they use this as an excuse to recognize a new legislature in the hinterlands.
Autoimmune Diseases
We’re gaining a new understanding of them. Faster, please.
A Harbinger For Space Policy?
Trump apparently is impressed with commercial space.
The New Challenge To ObamaCare
Will John Roberts get a do-over?
…it is significant that both Ilya and Josh agree that the insurance “requirement” is now clearly unconstitutional under Chief Justice Roberts’ “saving construction” approach. If a court so holds, the entire statute would then be in the same posture as it would have been if he had sided with the dissenting justices in the first place. In that eventuality, four justices thought the whole law was inseverable, and the Obama administration conceded the mandate would be inseverable from at least two key provisions of the Act. So the key issue in the new litigation is likely to be whether the fact that Congress zeroed out the penalty somehow changed this analysis such that the mandate is now severable from the rest of the ACA when it was not before. I look forward to reading much more on this question.
This would be great, if this legislative atrocity can finally be struck down via this method, considering all of the legislative legerdemain and chicanery the Democrats had to use to pass it in the first place.
Beyond Faraday
This seems like a huge breakthrough: A radically new type of miniaturized inductor.
Suiculturicide
I think that’s the word that Stephen Green is looking for.
Stratolaunch
…wants to use Birdzilla to launch a reusable spaceplane.
Not sure what this means, though:
The Black Ice space plane — should it be built — would be about as big as the former space shuttle developed by NASA and capable of staying up for at least three days.
What does “as big” mean? Similar dimensions to a Shuttle orbiter? If it has to carry propellant, it won’t have much payload. I wonder what kind of GLOW that aircraft can handle?
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s another story on the subject from Eric Berger. Haven’t looked at comments yet, but there may be some discussion of performance there.