Jan 212022
 

A NASA video from four years ago describing how a Certain Volcanic Island near Tonga arose and against all odds survived the battering of the sea.

Whoops.

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai is the first island of this type to erupt and persist in the modern satellite era, it gives scientists an unprecedented view from space of its early life and evolution. The new study offers insight into its longevity and the erosion that shapes new islands. Understanding these processes could also provide insights into similar features in other parts of the solar system, including Mars.

Also:

 Posted by at 9:51 am
Jan 202022
 

Under cover of darkness no less.

Theodore Roosevelt statue removed from front of NYC’s Museum of Natural History

At least it’s not going to be melted down, but instead sent to North Dakota.

A modest proposal: relocate all of the statues, pre-modern art and historical/science museums from the coasts into the interior (“flyover country”), and relocate all the hippies and “social justice” and “mostly peaceful” protestors from the interior to the coasts. The National Air and Space Museum can be split between the SAC museum in Nebraska and the USAF Museum in Ohio; perhaps some can go to the Wings over the Rockies museum in Colorado.

And then relocate all the gender/ethnic studies programs from the interior colleges and universities to the coastal ones; all of the STEM studies from the coasts to the interior. Trust, me, *everyone* involved would be happier.

 Posted by at 5:27 pm
Jan 202022
 

World’s First Space-Based Entertainment Studio To Launch In 2024; S.E.E. Unveiled As Studio Behind Tom Cruise Space Film

Their plan is to launch a *studio* to the ISS in 2024, and then separate it from the ISS to become a free-flying platform in 2028.

How serious are they? Dunno. Will it come to pass? Dunno. Is it frivolous, compared to the likes of space telescopes, missions to the Moon, Mars colonization? Definitely. Is it a good idea? If it is carried out honestly, with a proper budget and engineering rigor… you damn betcha it’s a good idea. This sort of thing should help spur not only direct improvements in space technologies such as life support, launch and the understanding of how regular folk do in microgravity, it should also help spur general interest in space. If the “studio” mechanically works well, it could lead to practical space hotels and other space-based commercial enterprises.

Assuming, of course, it’s not a disaster. Videos of Tom Cruise turning various shades of green and spewing nonstop for weeks on end might not be so great. But say what you will about Cruise, man’s a consummate pro when it comes to acting; wouldn’t surprise me if he could act right through space sickness and make it look like he’s having a blast.

 

 Posted by at 2:24 pm
Jan 192022
 

Radian announces plans to build one of the holy grails of spaceflight

The “holy grail” in this case is an SSTO spaceplane. It is to *not* incorporate airbreathing or wacky unproven technologies; instead, it is to use fairly conventional liquid propellant rocket engines in the tail of a cranked-delta spaceplane. To lob it off the ground, it will use a powered sled for a horizontal runway launch.

Ehh.

Same basic concept as the Sanger Silverbird of 1944 vintage, or the Boeing “Windjammer” and RASV concepts from the 70’s. If they can get the mass ratio to work… sure, it’s possible. They’re claiming a 48-hour turnaround. Uh-huh. I’ll believe it when I see it. I wish them the best, but I’ve seen far too many such press releases since the 90’s to get all excited.

A few patent applications that might be of interest:

Earth to Orbit Transportation System

Rocket propulsion systems and associated methods

The not terribly enlightening website is here:

https://www.radianaerospace.com/

Curiously, one of the names attached to both patent applications that might be of interest to readers of this blog is Gary Hudson, of the Phoenix SSTO, Air Launch and Roton fame. But he doesn’t seem to be listed on the website.

 Posted by at 1:58 pm
Jan 192022
 

Democrats are claiming that Republicans want to restrict the right to vote because Republicans want voters to prove that they are who they claim to be by displaying a valid ID like a drivers license or other state-issued identification card. To rational, sane people, this doesn’t sound like such a chore. But there are those who expand the concept of “valid identification” rather further:

Arrest Warrants Count As ID For Illegal Migrants At Airport Security, TSA Says

Ummm…

4. If proper identification is not available, what documents are sufficient to allow a Non- US/Canadian citizen to clear TSA’s checkpoint before proceeding into the sterile area of an airport?
As mentioned, in coordination with its DHS counterparts, TSA established a process where it will accept certain DHS-issued forms for non-citizens and non-U.S. nationals who do not have otherwise acceptable forms of ID for presentation at its security checkpoints. In this instance, the TSA TDC will look at the DHS-issued document (for example, I-94, I-862) for an alien identification number (A-file) and validate the document either by the CBP One™ mobile application or by the TSA NTVC. For all travelers, if an individual does not have acceptable ID as listed on TSA’s acceptable forms of ID list, TSA will accept additional forms of ID that have the individual’s name, with  preference given to Government-issued ID. One of the two forms must have the individual’s name and identifying information such as a photo, address, phone number, social security number or date of birth. For all travelers who lack acceptable ID, TSA uses the NTVC, which attempts to verify a traveler’s identity by using the individual’s information along with information from government and commercial databases. All such individuals receive additional screening procedures as described in the Checkpoint and Specialized Screening Standard Operating Procedure.
a. Please list each document.
DHS-issued forms that TSA may accept at the checkpoint include the following:
ICE Form I-200 – Warrant for Arrest of Alien
ICE Form I-205 – Warrant of Removal/Deportation
ICE Form I-220A – Order of Release on Recognizance
ICE Form I-220B – Order of Supervision
DHS Form I-862 – Notice to Appear
CBP Form I-94 – Arrival and Departure Form (including a print-out of an electronic record)
DHS Form I-385 – Alien Booking Record

…yay?

Now, if what’s *actually* going on is some devious scheme to convince illegal aliens to present their deportation orders at the airport, upon which the TSA calls the border patrol who snatch the illegals and divert them to a plane on a one-way flight to Tierra Del Fuego… I’d be *all* in favor of that. But somehow I suspect that’s not what actually going on; the TSA agents are doubtless as helpless to act against foreign invaders as a Walgreens employee in San Francisco is to act against a shoplifter.

 Posted by at 11:55 am
Jan 182022
 

Not hyperbole. A serious question.

Report: SpaceX’s Boca Chica Plans Face Serious Objections from FWS, NPS

The Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to make it so that SpaceX can’t use their Boca Chica launch facility for a “Starbase.”

Not only are FAA’s hands tied on the EIS front, a full Section 4(f) Evaluation is a potential nightmare. This evaluation requires the identification of a suitable alternative that is both “Feasible and Prudent.” If this Feasible and Prudent alternative site will have a lower Section 4(f) impact, the FAA is prohibited from giving the Green Light to Starbase. At all. This is outside of NEPA as well. So if, for example, the Cape Canaveral LC 39 pad that SpaceX is developing is determined to be a feasible and prudent alternative, Starbase is dead. Dead Dead.

 Posted by at 5:54 am
Jan 172022
 

As a surprisingly fast followup to the immediately preceding post, there’s this modest proposal which, once again, I can’t rightly tell if it’s satire or not. There are some strong hints that the author thinks himself a Jonathan Swift, what with the use of the term “modest proposal,” but again we’re living in a time where a whole bunch of people will read this and nod along.

Want true equity? California should force parents to give away their children

The rich should give their children to the poor, and the poor should give their children to the rich. Homeowners might swap children with their homeless neighbors.

And so on.

Arguing *against* satire is that the author repeats the usual tired lies about political conservatives:

Over on the right, Republicans are happy to jettison parents’ rights in pursuit of their greatest passions, like violating migrant rights. Once you’ve gone so far as to take immigrant children from their parents and put them in border concentration camps, it’s a short walk to separating all Americans from their progeny.

 Posted by at 10:20 pm
Jan 172022
 

Sometimes you stumble across a sentiment that could be a lunatic raving, or it could be a parody… and you just can’t tell which. Such as this supposed twitter post from early 2019… the account existed, but has been banned for some reason. There are a number of posts about this tweet, all asking the question: “real or nah?”

And in looking this one up, other “I can’t tell if they’re joking” posts come up. Such as a video showing someone attempting to park and doing it very, very badly. That’s mildly amusing with no further context, but the driver is purported to be Delegate Elanor homes Norton of D.C, nominated by the Biden Administration for a top spot on the House transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

That’s the sort of irony that you gotta scratch your head over. Someone wholly incompetent at basic transportation, being put in charge of transportation? The idea is so ludicrously stupid that it seems not just plausible, but inevitable. Like those goombahs who blather on about how awful guns are and how we should listen to them and do their bidding  about banning guns, when they don’t know the first thing about guns but are happy to stand in front of the press and wave an AK-47 around.

 

 Posted by at 8:49 pm
Jan 172022
 

The “Sea Dragon” launch vehicle concept is reasonably well known: a giant “dumb” booster, using two pressurized stages built massively heavy using shipyard tolerances. it would be floated out to sea and fueled while in the water. Everything about it was meant to be simple. However, this was the *final* Sea Dragon design; earlier iterations had some different configuration details. Unfortunately, while the final design is well known (detailed diagrams of it are often shown, usually reproductions of the diagram I posted on my site way back in 2005), the evolution of the design from initial concepts is not well documented. And thus I have artwork depicting a rather different version that used a conical first stage tucked into a giant fixed conical nozzle of the second stage. It *appears* to be substantially more complex than the later version, possible pump fed with lighter structures. Sadly, art is all I have. If anyone has *anything* on this design – data, diagrams, descriptions, etc. – I’d love to see it.

 Posted by at 8:13 pm