MAIN ARTICLE: NASA falling further behind on return to Luna systems.
Page 2: The Entrepreneur Has The Answer To Space Debris
Poll Results: A very strong turnout for yesterday's poll. Scroll down for the results, click subscribe for more space news.
Star Trek: In the News. Faran Tahir plays Captain Robau in cult classic prequel.
Yesterday's Comments: "Starship troopers, in my view, is not a good thing" - Meteor Blades
Today's Poll: How should the issue of space debris be handled?
ROCKETS: ON THE ROCKS
NASA falling further behind
"CAPE CANAVERAL - With a White House-ordered review of its next-generation Constellation rocket program just weeks away, NASA faces some unwelcome news: Key milestones for the agency's Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule are falling further behind schedule because of design flaws and technical challenges.
An important test of the Orion's emergency escape system that was supposed to happen last year will not come off before November and could slip further. A review of the proposed fixes for the violent shaking at liftoff that has plagued development of the Ares I has been delayed from this summer to December. Even the first test flight of the Ares design — a mock-up rocket called the Ares I-X — has been moved from April to July to August and now possibly September.
NASA says it is still officially targeting the launch of the Ares I-X for Aug. 30, but Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana said publicly last week that September is more likely. Others say even that date is suspect because of what they described as problems installing electronics on the test rocket. The news could not come at a worse time for NASA, which has invested four years and an estimated $9 billion in a program that is supposed to launch in 2015 and return humans to the moon by 2020 — but that is now facing a do-or-die review.
A 10-member committee named by the White House is beginning a review of Constellation and possible commercial alternatives to it. The panel, including two former astronauts, three academics, four space-industry veterans and a retired Air Force general, is chaired by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine, well-known for his independence, and will report in August."
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WHAT'S NEXT FOR NASA:
Certain spending, on the Constellation program, has been on hold until the third quarter and the Augustine Panel gives it's recommendations to President Obama in August.
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CLEANING EARTH SPACE:
Launchspace Training has been running a series of articles on TechSpace about space debris. They are also offering a one day course on Space Debris and the Future of Space Flight. They believe that this issue is going to be taking the forefront in all space operations in the future as the problem only gets worse with each passing year.
The Entrepreneur Has The Answer To Space Debris
"Every entrepreneur pursuing the space debris opportunity seems to have the single answer to removing space debris. It is cost-effective, simple, quick, safe, reliable, user-friendly, non-polluting, non-interfering and almost ready to go.
There is simply nothing like it and it is wonderful. Why doesn't the government grab it up and make the entrepreneur rich? In fact, why doesn't the government advertise for a single, simple solution and let the private sector submit proposals? The best single idea with the best price would get the single all-encompassing contract to clean up space.
This seems like a wonderful idea. Right now there are multiple agencies in multiple countries trying to figure out what to do about the growing space debris threat to operating spacecraft. Literally millions of dollars are being spent on discussions, planning, meetings, conferences and other activities that will produce no solution to the problem. So, what is wrong with the government? Where are the decision makers?
This is the real problem: Years of research have taught us that there is no one, simple solution. Space debris removal will require an extremely complex series of programs at multiple levels of complexity, involving many agencies and governments, and a nightmare scenario of coordination, cooperation and operations, not to mention years of political negotiations."
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Space Debris: An Entrepreneur's Nightmare
An Entrepreneur's Dream - Space Debris
POLL RESULTS:
Yesterday's poll had twice the normal turnout and once again the military had more than 50% support from those "military hating liberals" that Republicans constantly try to imply.
Another poll was conducted (see "Semper Fly: Marines in Space.", 'Americans in Space', Mar 03, 2009) on the U.S. Marines having suborbital capability. With almost the same results.
Faran Tahir plays Captain Robau in cult classic prequel
"Faran Tahir has added a new element to his fan base with his appearance as Captain Robau in the recently released "Star Trek."
Having pulled in more than $76 million during its opening weekend, the much-anticipated film has rebooted not only the 1960s television series story line, but Trekkie fever as well.
While Tahir makes his living in Hollywood, he retreats to the suburban predictability of Carmel Valley to make his home with wife Marie, son Javan and daughter Lena. The 46-year-old actor, who holds a master's degree from Harvard, grew up in Los Angeles and is the third generation in his family to turn to the performing arts. He has appeared on TV, performed on stage and played in films. There is chatter in Hollywood that he may reprise his role as a villain in sequels to 2008's "Iron Man."
Tahir shared what it has been like to be part of the cosmic cult classic.
Were you a fan of "Star Trek" growing up?
I was. I liked "Star Trek" a lot when I was young, and later, when I was in college, I liked "Star Trek: The Next Generation." When I was a little boy, it was more about the aliens and space and gadgets. When I was older, that's when I started to get into the message of this modern day mythology. They were dealing with issues current to us but set in the future. The message was really positive and hopeful, about going beyond the things that separate us and working together. If you look at the story lines of "Star Trek," they don't go to war; the idea is to find peaceful ways of working together. I think that hope and optimism is at the very center of this idea."
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YESTERDAY'S COMMENTS:
"Yep, I am working on a novel about just that aliens come in from the deep dark, they knock everything out of orbit and let us know to stay home by dropping rocks on us every time we breach the atmosphere. Meanwhile they are stripping the Solar System of resources they can get to." - Something the Dog Said
"unpiloted? but it looks like grandson of shuttle in an adorable way. Guess I'm still for it, but why not have a crew aboard? Perhaps that's for spaceplane 2.0. Cheers." - ericlewis0
Pinko Elephant - "Random Star Trek image
I was reading today that Buzz Aldrin is part of an advertising campaign.
Aldrin, who walked on the moon in 1969 was shot by Annie Leibovitz with his fellow astronauts posed with a battered pickup truck and a Louis Vuitton Icare travel bag while gazing up into the sky in the California desert. The campaign marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The Wall Street Journal reveals that the astronauts each donated a "significant" portion of their modeling fee to Al Gore's Climate Project. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was also invited to participate in the campaign, which will appear in the July issue of several magazines, but declined the offer.
"well, we gotta have some way of going to space. If we're not going to fund nasa appropriately, we can hope that AF money gets re-purposed for scientific (not star-war) investigation and, for that matter, commercial satellite communications delivery.
The enormous impact of the space program on today's technology cannot be overstated. Defense research, sad as this fact is, has driven a great deal of every-day innovation." - bubbanomics
THE SPACE FUNNY PAGE:
Image provided by JekyllnHyde.
TODAY'S POLL:
LOST IN ...... JUNK:
A quandry today in that I wanted to run a poll on both Ares I and space debris. Space junk won out.
I have made no bones about certain position on space issues. For most I would prefer a free market, capitalist approach. I do not have a 19th century Robber Baron mind set about capitalism and no we need regulations to protect us from bad products and services and to protect both workers and the environment. That said, there are times I feel entrepreneurs are better suited than the government to solve a problem, times when they should work hand in hand and times the problem is to big and government is the solution.
I could argue for or against any of those three solutions but I would like some input from the readers. This poll only relates to this problem as a domestic one. If you feel it should be handled at an international level choose other.
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