The Unwanted Blog

Stratolaunch abandons launch vehicle program

“Stratolaunch is ending the development of their family of launch vehicles and rocket engine,” the spokesman said in an emailed statement. “We are streamlining operations, focusing on the aircraft and our ability to support a demonstration launch of the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL air-launch vehicle.”

Yeah… I’m sorry, but developing an over-sized aircraft to launch the under-sized and over-priced Pegasus XL? Not a good business model. This news pretty well confirms that this was a “vanity project” by billionaire Paul Allen. When he died in October, the management of his companies and projects passed into the hands of people more interested in profit than whatever dreams he had. This should be a cautionary tale for the likes of Musk and Bezos… get their own dream projects running, successful, and *profitable* just as soon as they can. Because the moment they are gone… the dream dies.

As there is likely not a museum big enough for the Stratolaunch, I expect it will be broken down for parts before too long.

Space junk it becoming a bit of a problem. With half a million bits of trash currently being tracked, and far more to come in the near future, low Earth orbit could potentially become a dangerous place to be. There have been lots of plans proposed to deal with space junk, from lasers used to ablate the leading faces of small bits to cause them to deccellerate and deorbit, to satellites that would grab other, dead satellites and drag them down to their firey dooooom. But with hundreds of thousands of bits being tracked, and millions of bits too small to track, something a bit broader might need to be tried.

As with a lot of environmental cleanup plans, a big issue here is that cleaning up LEO will cost money but not necessarily generate income. But what if it could?

Assume that the SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy come to pass. The Starship is supposed to be able to take a jetliners worth of passengers to Mars… but only a small percent of that number could sit at sizable windows at any one time. So… modify a Starship specifically for short-duration space tourism, with the number of passengers dictated not by mass but by how many could sit at the window all at once. And instead of going to orbit, the Starship simply goes *up.* So, what about the wasted payload potential? Water. Lots and lots of water. As the Starship coasts through space, it sprays out a fine mist of water, creating a cloud of water vapor at the *altitude*of low Earth orbit, but not the *velocity*of low Earth orbit. The cloud would of course follow the ship both up and down, spending a matter of minutes in space. Any small bits hitting the cloud will be substantially slowed, perhaps enough to fall out of orbit almost immediately; larger satellites would of course also be affected, so timing would be important.

This suborbital hop could be straight up, leaving a cylinder of vapor perhaps many hundreds of miles high. The Starship could also launch from, say, California to land in Florida; the maximum altitude reached would be lower, but the duration in space would be longer. And the return trip from Florida to California would result in much higher impact velocities between space junk and the cloud. North-South flights would put a long “net” across equatorially orbiting bits.

SpaceX has said that they think they can fly the Starship to orbit for something like $10 million. A suborbital hop filled not with rocket fuel but water should be substantially cheaper. If this sort of suborbital hop could fly for $5 million and carry 20 passengers, that means that each passenger could pay $250,000 for both the short bit of suborbital tourism… and get the satisfaction of cleaning up a bit of space.

Further benefits could be had if the water wasn’t purely water, but had some sort of “reflectant” in it. As the cloud came back down, it would hit the upper atmosphere and smear out across it, leaving, for a time, a high altitude cloud that would reflect sunlight back out into space, aiding with that “global warming” thing.

Immigration group files suit to force Southern Poverty Law Center revoke ‘hate’ label

The Center for Immigration Studies has filed a lawsuit against the SPLC in a US District Court to force the SPLC to back off on their name-calling. The problem as I see it is that the damage is already done. What the CfIS *should* do is not only demand a retraction but also substantial financial damages. The SPLC is, ironically, hardly poor, with many millions in offshore bank accounts. What they do can be argued as being secured under the First Amendment… and it can also be argued as being extortion since they can destroy you with a single press release, which means they fall under RICO.

Tiny animal carcasses found in buried Antarctic lake

The tardigrades in question are actually *land* critters. Scientists speculate that during warm periods 10,000 or 120,000 years ago, when the Antarctic glacier they drilled a kilometer through was not there, the tardigrades had washed into a lake, which then froze over. The glacier then moved in and grew increasingly thick. The lake itself isn’t frozen solid, and does have seemingly living bacteria in it. The tardigrades do not seem to have been living in the lake, but are ancient remains. Nothing more advanced than bacteria is expected to be alive in those conditions.

“Star Wars” Lite? We Explain Trump’s Missile Defense Strategy

A direct link to the Missile Defense Review is HERE. Ideas include F-35’s and drones armed with lasers and/or interceptor missiles to do boost phase interception… which would, of course, require that the aircraft be on-station near the launch site as it happens. This might work for the likes of North Korea or Iran, but wouldn’t be valuable against Russian or Chinese land or sea based ICBMs. For those, they also want to use space based interceptors. Yay! If the US actually goes ahead and fields a flock of Brilliant Pebbles, as was planned late in the SDI days, it will require a *lot* of low-cost launch capability.

It ain’t gonna happen, of course.

Rather than just complain uselessly about what a political disaster the new Netflix show “Space Force” is *probably* going to be, I decided to put a little thought into what it *could* be, if I had anything to say about it. So here are a few basics about what a Space Force comedy show *could* be. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments, and pass this along to Hollywood execs.

The setting: Top Secret facility “USSF Base Mt. Mysterious,” somewhere in the Sierras of California. Mt. Mysterious is the newest USSF facility, basically a “think tank” for the Force. Responsible for coming up with plans, strategies and new technologies. Total number of personnel at the base is, so far, only a few dozen. The nearest town to Mt. Mysterious is the small mountain town/tourist trap of Nowheresville, filled with the stock-standard assortment of eccentric small-town types such as ranchers, B&B owners, coffee shop proprietors, marijuana growers and dispensers, etc.

Regular cast:

Colonel Jim Bland (Steve Carrell): Just transferred from the USAF to the USSF and newly-installed base commander of Mt. Mysterious. A-political, but also a-competant. Has a proven track record of failing upwards; wherever he goes, every facility or project he was involved with is shuttered shortly after. Thinks the USSF is an exciting opportunity, but is forever getting bad ideas and bad advice. Cheerful and upbeat; gullible with the IQ of a turnip.

Gregory Laurie (Freddie Highmore): Main viewpoint character. Standard “Aspergers=mental superpowers” type, brought to Mt. Mysterious just before Colonel Bland. Not officially a member of the USSF, but he hacked his way into the base computers, analyzed some of the top secret plans on file, found errors and then sent in corrections. Was given the choice between working at the base and a deep dark prison-hole; jumped at the chance to work for the USSF. Good with computers and whatever else the plot needs.

Ida Dunner (Laura Prepon): Secretary to Colonel Bland. Competent and devoted to the cause of the USSF. Often “loses” orders to and from Colonel Bland, with the result that the base prospers. Secretly reports to General Bateson, while still being somewhat fond of the hapless Bland. Has an arsenal of firearms at home, loves to hunt.

Dr. Emmett L. Rotwang (Tim Allen): Mt. Mysterious chief engineer. Eccentric mad-scientist type responsible for numerous advanced weapons and propulsion projects. Most of the projects are seemingly insane…. and most of them work. Constantly fighting a battle against budget cuts. Dreams of planting the US flag on Mars and claiming the Moon. Has a prototype warp drive under construction in his basement.

Captain Han Ford (Anthony Ingruber): Mt. Mysterious chief pilot. Can and does fly everything, from the seemingly civilian helicopter used to shuttle into the nearby town of Nowheresville, to the bases single F-35B to the prototype spaceplane they keep meaning to launch one of these days. Spends a lot of free time at Dr. Rotwang’s house helping him with his projects.

Sargent Thor Manwell (Chris Pratt): In charge of maintenance and construction at the base. Poplar among base female personnel. Often goes hunting with Ms. Dunner.

Agent Tasha Vasquez (Michelle Rodriguez): OSI agent based at Mt. Mysterious, tasked with keeping an eye on both the staff and potential spies, cyber or otherwise. Also responsible for bringing Gregory to the base. Grim, skeptical and suspicious.

Recurring Characters:

Senator Pantsy Nelosi (Tina Fey), sits on the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee. Opposed to the existence of the USSF, has aspirations of higher office. A recurring antagonist on the show, is largely responsible for the placement of Colonel Bland. A large faction of her campaign funds are funneled in from China. The question is, does she know?

Moonbeam Causehead (Lena Dunham): Social activist in Nowheresville. Protests everything. Runs the local Socialist Feminist Collective Bookstore which never seems to sell any actual books.

Flower (Kate Upton): Another social activist in Nowheresville, a common feature at the Socialist Feminist Collectivist Bookstore and at any and all protest rallies. Airheaded, bubbly and cheerful, always ready to help… and actually an FBI agent who despises social justice warriors and is keeping tabs on the network of spies and saboteurs that seems to be growing in the Mt. Mysterious region. Clandestinely reports to Agent Vasquez.

General Morgan Bateson (Kelsey Grammer): USSF Chief of Staff. Gruff, arrogant but also hyper-competant and driven to make sure that the USSF succeeds. Dislikes Senator Nelosi intensely. Plans on turning the USSF into a force of warships that will lead the American conquest of the entire solar system.

Nole Sezob (Johnny Galecki): Genius owner and director of Blue Harvest Inc. A self-made billionaire and tech innovator, now working on his own private space program. Has a secret agreement with the USSF to carry out clandestine launches as well as put some of Dr. Rotwangs inventions into production… and into orbit. Outgoing and friendly; harbors a hatred of Communists and their lackeys.

Mr. Nupit (Alec Baldwin): Advisor to Senator Nelosi. Forever taking calls from Russia. Regularly visits Nowheresville and the Socialist Feminist Collective Bookstore. Asks many questions, leaves behind spy cameras.

The President (Arnold Schwarzenegger): Publicly supports the USSF. But privately…?

The staff at Mt. Mysterious work to make the USSF successful, to counter threats from Russia, China and especially the dastardly Canadians, and to avoid the bumbling orders of Colonel Bland. Over the first season there is a growing suspicion that Senator Nelosi is more than just a political opponent.