A drawing from a Titan/Centaur report.
Nov 292015
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Nov 282015
This would appear to be a rare bit of good news:
National Space Society Applauds Presidential Signing of the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act
U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act does a number of things, including limiting US Government regulations meddling and recognizing that materials mined from asteroids and comets are the property of the companies that mined them (although not going to far as recognizing the private ownership of said comets or asteroids).
So I’m considering how to game the system. You can’t own the rock, but you can own the stuff you dig out of the rock. So, how to use this to own the rock? Well, presumably “stuff mined from the rock” means anything that’s a minority of the rock that you remove from the rock. So… break the rock into two halves of about 49%, and a handful of gravel. Now, the entire mass of the rock is somethign you’ve mined from the rock.
For a rock a few meters in diameter, this would be easy enough. But how about something like Vesta? Breaking apart a rock miles wide is impractical. But there’s this: grind up a portion of the rock into dust. Scatter the dust across the entire surface of the rock, anything from a light dusting to a few cm thick, blanketing the entire surface. Now… you don’t own the rock, but you own a shell that entirely encompasses the rock. For someone else to attempt to access the rock, they would have to breach your property.
A lot of this won’t matter for a good long while, of course. For this to be relevant, you’ll need to have both Space Cops *and* Space Robbers. If next year Disney-SpaceX announced that they had taken possession of Eros and were busy turning it into ErosWorld, The Happiest Place In Heliocentric Space, it’s not like there’s a whole lot that the Russians or the UN could do to stop it except to complain and push for economic sanctions. At some point, the Russians or Chinese or somebody might be able to mount an armed expedition to go take Eros fro Disney-SpaceX; and at *that* point some definition of private property rights in space would be handy to have.
Nov 272015
Suspicious boats with decomposed bodies found drifting off Japan
In short: during October and November, at least 11 boats have been found floating off the cost of Japan with only dead folk for crew. The thinking is that these are North Korean fishing boats. What with ongoing famine, coupled with a lack of modern navigational equipment, I guess it makes sense that Nork fishermen would set out on voyages they’re simply not going to come back from, but, dayum. What’s next? Ghost pirates? Pirate ghosts?
Nov 272015
Nov 272015
Just under the wire, rewards for November have been made available to APR patrons. Three documents and one large-format diagram, and one all-new CAD diagram, have been posted:
- NASA diagram (on two sheets) of a NERVA nuclear rocket engine display model, presenting the configuration with detail and clarity
- An article on a orbiting nuclear power station
- A full-color brochure (via photographs) on the Convair Model 36, their entry for what became the B-36
- A North American Aviation presentation on delta wings for the X-15, presenting a few different configurations
- An all-new layout CAD diagram of the Bernal Sphere space colony concept
If you’d like to help out and gain access to these and past and future rewards, please check out the APR Patreon.
Nov 262015
See, now *this* is art (as opposed to this, which is simply insipid).
The Crusades and Lovecraft’s Monsters
This is a series of illustrations that imitates the style of old medieval paintings and adds a macabre flavour by incorporating some of H.P. Lovecraft’s famous monsters. The text is mostly medieval Middle High German.
More and embiggened images at the link.
Nov 262015
A 115-year-old smokestack in Pell City, Alabama, laughed off two attempts to bring it down with explosives, so a construction worker went at it with an excavator. So how’d that work out? Let’s watch:
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And because why not, here’s the ad for the product that popped up before the smokestack video. It’s an awesomely low-brow product to help you extrude your supper called “Squatty Potty.” Does it work? I have no idea. Is the commercial awful? You betcha. Did it make me laugh? You betcha. Is it available from Amazon and am I going to link to it on the off chance someone wants to buy one from said link and I’ll receive a pittance as a result? You betcha.
Squatty Potty® Toilet Stool, 7 Inch- The Original – Made in U.S.A.
Nov 262015
Amazon currently is running a “30% off any one book up to $10” special, if you type in “HOLIDAY30” in the “Gift cards & promotional codes” section during checkout. The small print is HERE. Why do I bring it up? Because Federally Mandated Commercial Over-Shopping Holiday is only a month away… and if you do your shopping for knickknacks and whatnot starting with the Amazon search box you should see at the upper right of this very page, a small, tiny percentage will be kicked back my way. So wander over yonder to buy a couple XPlayBoxStations for the horrible ingrate brat children your family is plague with, and when you’re done pick up a book for yourself. Below are a few options that look like they might be good (don’t have ’em myself yet).
American Secret Projects: Fighters, Bombers, and Attack Aircraft, 1937-1945
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N-1: For the Moon and Mars A Guide to the Soviet Superbooster (English and Russian Edition)
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The 2001 File: Harry Lange and the Design of the Landmark Science Fiction Film
Nov 252015
Now you, too, can have a microcircuit computer for less than thirty-five grand!
An ad from a December, 1965, issue of Missiles & Rockets magazine.
Nov 252015
Donations save iconic American ship from the scrapyard
The cruise liner SS United States, currently moldering away dockside near Philadelphia, has received $600,000 in donations to aid in restoration. Sounds nice, but the costs of it just sitting at dockside – fees and caretakers and such – are $60,000 per month.