Space – The Laughing Wolf

Worlds As Islands Afloat In The Sea Of Stars

There are two posts I should be working on today. The first would deal with replacing NATO and nuclear trip wires, which frankly is rather tiresome and even somewhat depressing at this point given how much I’ve had to write on the nuclear topic these last three years. The second is to build on this post advocating an X-Prize for asteroid protection and have some fun.

So, for those and other reasons, I’m going to sit back with a nice glass of old vine zinfandel, and play among the stars and hopefully take you with me. I’ve got some ideas that even now have some exploring them, but I want to throw this out there to see if some of the other ideas find a place where they can take root.

Let me start by saying Elon is very correct in focusing on Mars as a staging ground for taking humanity to the stars. For all that it is at the bottom of a gravity well, it is a well far shallower than Earth. It also offers a variety of opportunities for habitation and more importantly self-sufficient habitation (though I’m going to make a suggestion to improve that here soon).

As I’ve noted a time or two before, Earth is indeed the cradle of humanity — but crib death is still a thing. Right now, we are facing several cusps if you will. Argentina has been turned around and, barring misfortune, saved. Milei has done wonders there and my sincere hope is that Trump 2.o and team can do the same here. Things are off to a great start, but victory is not guaranteed either in terms of finances or of liberty. Remember, the enemy gets a vote and while they are off balance now, cornered rats and desperate people do desperate things. Ukraine can go sideways and hot in a heartbeat; China could be stupid enough to try to take Taiwan; Kim could have an oops with a missile (deliberately or legitimate oops); and, well, you get the picture.

Frankly, mankind needs to be off Earth and spread out in self-sufficient settlements and in large enough populations to survive anything reasonable. To listen to some of the ‘oh we shouldn’t do it crowd’ there’s no way to save humanity if the sun goes super-super-nova or Ragnarku IV comes in and blows up the whole solar system so we just shouldn’t even try. Bull Feathers.

Humanity has always been at its best, and achieved great things that also raised the standard of living across the board, when there were frontiers. Others have explained this far more eloquently and in great detail, but we are at our best when we have frontiers and challenges. Space offers us that in spades, and without many of the issues and problems that were part and parcel of our expansion on Earth.

Mars is a first stop, and Luna and other moons offer the chance for large-scale self-sufficient settlements. We should explore and pursue such. However, I would like to see some of what Dr. Yoji Kondo explored in science and science fiction (writing as Eric Kotani). His book, along with the redoubtable John Maddox Roberts, The Island Worlds, is a good place to start, and is part of the inspiration for the title of this piece.

Actually, we should start with the original book in the series Act of God but it is hard to find even used I understand. And there is good reason to start there as it sets forth an important start to space exploitation that in part inspired a suggestion or two I made in my post on X-prizing asteroid defense. For humanity to live and thrive in space, we need water. There is lots and lots of water available, if we have the will and skill to take it.

Frankly, we need to be looking at comets and more as the ability to separate water from chemical bonds on the moon may not be as easy as previously thought. I’ve been watching a number of discussions amongst those who really know what they are talking about (see Dennis Wingo on X) and we need to be looking at other sources. There does appear to be ice (to varying degrees) on Luna, Mars, and elsewhere, but it is limited. There is potentially a lot more out there in terms of comets and more that could supply space settlements for thousands of years. Even a large number of settlements. Hence, one of the scenarios for the X-prize post is if the asteroid has ice that’s quite a resource to control. Metals and such matter, but water is indeed life.

And speaking of life, I’m going to jump ahead just a bit and point out that asteroid colonies offer a far greater chance for the expansion of the human species. As noted in this post on Sex in Space, we do not appear to know if we can reproduce in space. If there indeed have not been follow-on experiments to the Frog Embryology Experiment, we need to do them and keep in mind that asteroids may offer the best solution. Also, keep in mind that experiments (SCREWBA and the like) on Earth were not done in microgravity but neutral buoyancy, and there is quite a difference between the two. Even people who know better can make mistakes on that.

Okay, back onto track I hope. Planetary bases make sense as a first step out into the solar system. Mars makes a lot of sense, and if you look at the Boring Company and other business ventures of one Elon Musk, you might notice a plan. Living on Mars will require going underground or into mountains and the like because of radiation and solar hazards. Nice that he has a proven means already in place to do that. And if you think that is luck or happenstance, I have a bridge for sale…

But, to supply planetary bases — particularly with water — is going to take something more. To truly start exploiting the resources of the solar system, we need to get out into, and settle, the asteroid belt. This was what Yoji Kondo explored in several of his books, and there are a number of ways to do it along with good reasons to do it.

Nice thing about even just plain rock asteroids: they offer the chance to either mine into them to create shelters and colonies, or they offer the ability to build (pre-fab is great) structures in place on the surface. Need extra shielding? Burrow into a large asteroid and have fun. Need gravity? Simple, trim and spin. This gives you the ability to generate gravity gradients that run from micro/zero gravity up to several times Earth gravity at need.

Why would you need it? Various industrial processes can and do make use of gravity. Also, if we find that certain levels of gravity are needed for successful reproduction in space, they/it can be provided. I really want to see this addressed before the first Mars mission as if it has not already happened (cough) we need to make sure that sex does not lead to tragedy. Nor should we be experimenting using people. That is just plain wrong, and is very easy to prevent.

There are other reasons, including food production. I suspect that aquaculture will provide a lot of protein for space colonies be they planetary or otherwise. However, mankind seems to crave other forms of protein in addition or in replacement. So, having the ability to raise such makes sense to some degree.

If you want a fuller discussion of exploitation and why bases and such are good for that, go read the full series of books. It’s only about four, but they touch on a number of interesting and important scientific theories. Metals, rare Earths, and more are out there if we can but go and claim them. Do your processing in deep space and there go your pollution worries. Heck, do them in orbit and the same holds.

From the point of view of ensuring humanity’s survival in the face of realistic issues, spreading out into the asteroid belt just makes good sense. It is far enough to mitigate some of the effects of the Sun; and, having meters to kilometers of rock between you and a Carrington Event or worse is a very good thing. Also, having humanity spread out around the complete solar system is a very good thing from a survival standpoint. It makes us much harder to kill as a species.

Also, keep in mind that asteroid bases and colonies, or even stations and extraction centers within the belt, dont have to deal with significant gravity wells. It makes it much easier to get around and to get processed materials back to Earth, Mars, or where needed. If we want to launch further out into the solar system, again, this is the place to do it.

Mars is the first step, but if you want to truly make humanity an astral species, and take Mankind to the stars, you are going to do it from the Island Worlds.

Just some thoughts to share.

Asteroid Threat? X-Prize It

Over on X, Stephen Fleming was talking about the need to get on serious asteroid defense. Quick Aside: if you are serious about space and space exploration/exploitation, you should know and follow Stephen. In response to his post and a number of comments, I made a simple suggestion: X-Prize the mission as NASA is not up to it in my opinion.

In the long run, it will be a lot less expensive and likely to drive development of some key industries — not to mention creating new and innovative technologies and applications — than trying to run it as yet another government program. Make it open ended in all the key details: launch systems undefined, method undefined, tech undefined: the only thing that should be defined is success (asteroid does not hit Earth) and if there are any secondary objectives that need to take place (exploration, detection, etc) at the same time.

Make sure that teams can win rather than an individual company. I can think of some interesting and potentially effective partnerships right off the top of my head. It also has the chance to push the launch industry along and get some real competition to Space-X underway, which would be a good thing.

Also, though it would require some long-overdue revisions to space law/treaties, give the successful company twenty-year (pick a period) rights to that asteroid or to any asteroid that poses a threat and is neutralized. Depending on the type of asteroid, there could be some nice materials to be extracted/exploited. If nothing else, novelty sales could be quite the thing. Think about it, what would you pay to own a knife or other object made from the asteroid that threatened Earth? Again, this is an opportunity to start bootstrapping orbital industry and making needed changes to space treaties/law.

Minimize the regulatory process as much as possible. Under the previous administration this was weaponized and that’s the last thing we need right now. Use this as a means to identify problems while impact odds are low, so that we have an effective and robust system/options in place for real need.

Since there is already some huffing and puffing over my contention that NASA is not up to this, let me lay out the basics. First, I have done work for NASA as a contractor on both Spacelab and later SPD/Commercial. I grew up in the 60s on NASA and can-do. Heck, Von Braun himself recruited my cousin Jimmy to join his team and was involved in those heady days. Those days, however, are gone.

Yes, NASA has demonstrated that asteroid deflection can be done. Exercise for the student: look up the full timeline on that, from when it was first proposed to actual implementation. Then look up the budget for that over those years. NASA can still do some amazing things if given enough time and massive budgets.

As part of that, consider also that NASA has not successfully designed and implemented a new man-rated launch system since the mid-70s (STS). The current Constellation/Orion/WhateverElseTheyCallIt literally costs more than a billion dollars per launch, they have launched how many (?) and I could go on but there is no way to consider it a viable and successful system. Keep in mind that most (cough) NASA programs began decades ago.

Then, as I’ve mentioned before, there is the institutional culture of no failure. Not that failure is not an option, but that if there is even a chance something won’t work perfectly in view of the public, it tends to get canned. That also ties into the perfect safety issue, which tends to stifle innovation and more. There is more, but those are going to be two huge hurdles for getting anything done through NASA.

Put anything and everything on the table as an option, from nukes (the government has a small and obscure agency that actually owns all our nukes, DoD merely “leases” them so to speak) to a space broom. Nothing off the table, nothing can’t be tried as keep in mind that the prize only pays out for success.

For planetary defense of this nature, we need fast, we need nimble, we need innovation. Government is going to be the obstacle, not the facilitator. Doing this as an X-prize makes economic sense and opens the doors of economic and scientific advancement in space exploration/exploitation.

Just my two cents…

Oh, and if you missed this wonderful bit at Instapundit a while back:

O it’s Elon this, an’ Elon that, an’ “Chuck ‘im out, the cad!”;
But it’s “Elon, please, a rocket!” when the rocks are lookin’ bad.
When the rocks are lookin’ bad, my boys, the rocks are lookin’ bad,
O it’s “Save us, Mr. Elon!” when the rocks are lookin’ bad.

A Walk In Space

This morning, I got to watch two commercial astronauts take a walk in space using commercially developed EVA suits via a commercially designed and built spacecraft. I can’t tell you how amazing and important this is both technologically, socially, and economically.

I’ve already seen what I believe are some bad takes. Most revolve around ‘NASA did this years ago’ or ‘bunch of rich people doing rich people things’ and I think both are tremendously wrong. Let me tell you why.

Go back and look at what it took for NASA to develop the first EVA suits, then look at what it then took to develop the EVA suits used on ISS. Now, then look at how much it took to develop same and how many years it took. Now, if you want to have a little fun, look and see if any of the developments, materials, etc. are subject to patents.

You might be surprised on that score. Private companies that develop certain materials, products, etc. can and do patent them even if the work is either for or used by NASA. There is a fascinating story behind some specialty LEDs as just one example.

So, while it has been done, look at what Space X did in a relatively short period of time (at least by NASA timelines). They designed, developed, tested, and refined an EVA suit that could be used on this flight. What’s more, the spacewalk today was intended to test that suit and that’s what was done. Simple engineering test, but with profound impact as I will be willing to bet that the suit is further refined and upgraded by the end of the year.

In “traditional” space development, the process would likely involve a beltway bandit or two for analysis, design review, etc., then a new design, then a rather lengthy development process and in a year or three (or decade) there might be a new and very expensive EVA suit produced. If you really want to know what I think of the process, think Starliner from Woeing.

In fact, rather than years I bet Space X has a refined suit ready for further use and testing by early next year. That the next spacewalk is more ambitious and will once again not only allow things to be done now, but result in further refinements and upgrades. Rapid refinements and upgrades based on actual use testing. Just like what they are doing with launch.

While we are at it, take a look at the revolution Space X has already kicked off in spacesuit design. They look like spacesuits, they fit a wide variety of people, are comfortable and easy to use (according to reports from those who have used them), and it was all done relatively rapidly and economically. Now, compare and contrast to what NASA has done and the development cycle of same. Next step: look at the time and expense developing NASA’s modular EVA suit design, that only fits a limited range of body types (in practical terms), how long it took to develop, the cost of development, and the pace of refinement on same.

Just as Space X has changed the economics of launch, they are now on the path to change the economics (and ergonomics) of the USE of space. What do you want to bet that they have also already looked ahead at some specialty suits?

So, no, this morning was not something mankind has never done before. It’s more important and paradigm shattering than that. Just as they are revolutionizing launch, this is the first step in revolutionizing the use of space. Change and testing in weeks/months, not years or decades. This will also have the ability to reduce costs as well, which further opens up space and space resource exploration and exploitation. Have spacesuit, will travel.

Nor was this morning some rich man’s indulgence. It was an engineering test and proof of concept, that will help open up space to all. It is a major step towards that future Heinlein and others envisioned where average people could go and do rather than just an elite few. The elite few are making that future possible, yes. But what they did this morning opens the door to an affordable, effective, and non-government controlled access to space, and to living and working in same.

If the governments (including ours) don’t kill Elon and Space X over X and other politics, we have a future in space. We have reliable and increasingly economical launch capability. We have just demonstrated the ability to live and work in space. Next step, habitats. I’m going to skip Starlink (and Boring) for today, though it has a role in this as well.

Welcome to a potential great future. Pity so few people will notice it, or recognize what happened this morning for what it is. For those who do get it, hang on, the ride is going to get bumpy but if we and Space X survive, we are on track to truly become a spacefaring species.

D.D. Harriman, call your office.

(Mr. Musk to the white courtesy phone please. Mr. Musk to the white courtesy phone please)

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Marooned

I’ve not said a whole lot about the fiasco that is Woeing’s Starliner and the crew stranded on the ISS so far, but the cartoon I saw yesterday with Starliner as the SS Minnow and Gilligan in a space suit knocking on the hatch of the ISS was a good push. Besides, I had promised to write something in this post, and it is past time.

I’ve been worried about the Starliner effort for a while, as it has had far more problems than I would have liked from the start. Now, any new effort is going to have things crop up, as it is never as easy as people make it out to be to go from paper to actually bending metal. The best laid plans, and blue prints, rarely get everything just right; tech, particularly new or upgraded tech, rarely works as planned; and, I think the only time one sees complex systems flawlessly integrate at first try is in the movies.

Space is hard and harsh. Spacing is even harder.

That said, a lot of the basics are known and should — at this point — be well understood. The basics can, and should, be tweaked at need, but such shouldn’t be that difficult. Now, developing totally new systems, trying new things, and facing a huge amount of regulation (call it that for now) from an agency that is one of the most risk-adverse on the planet, and things can and do get interesting.

It can be done, if one has a “can-do” attitude and is willing to innovate, take risks, and even on occasion “discuss” things with said agency. Just look at Space X for what happens then.

When you have a company, however, that is “old-school” in many respects as to innovation, risk, etc.; and, said company has gone woke and turned away from what made it successful to start with, well, you get the current mess with Starliner.

Which is why I also keep hearing the voice of Martin Caidin pop up every so often. People have brought up his book and the movie Marooned in regards the current situation with the crew trapped on the ISS. A few have pointed out that he also wrote the book Cyborg which became the television series The Six Million Dollar Man. Few realize the sometimes pivotal roles he played in aviation and space over the years.

In the interest of full disclosure, Martin and I were friends and I acknowledge he was a better friend to me than I was to him. We even waged a futile effort to save the old Aviation/Space Writers Association at one point, an organization which I had joined in part because of Martin. If you cover aviation, particularly aviation accidents, you really should try to find a copy of the AWA guide to covering air accidents as it is still fairly spot on. I will also acknowledge that Martin was a bit of a character.

He was also one heck of a practical engineer who had a gift for science. For those of a nuclear war bent, you might want to notice who was heavily involved in exploring (and more) the concept of firestorms from nuclear blasts. Martin also was involved with a number of aviation advancements, as well as with historical preservation. Space also has his imprint upon it. Some of the books (and stories) he wrote were done as a way of exploring topics that certain establishments didn’t want to explore or were reluctant to explore. Fairly common in some ways for science fiction, but Martin truly ran with it.

Martin also understood that advancement (literary, scientific, or engineering) means risk. He understood calculated risk. Which is why I suspect some of his commentary on the current situation might veer a touch towards the pungent. Especially in regards the possibility of the crew being told to ride the capsule down. Marooned was fiction (and a bit of a push towards developing a rescue capability), and should stay that way.

Right now, the capsule is blocking some urgently needed real estate, namely one of two docking ports. If the software got changed to remove the remote/independent separation ability because of NASA “regulations” the situation is even more rich in irony. That said, it needs to be cleared. That said, with the cascade of failures in Starliner, I would not ride it down nor would I order anyone to ride it down. Frankly, I think the best option right now is to try to update the software and risk bricking it. If it works, port cleared and the capsule can be sent back to Earth where if it survives re-entry it can be studied. Medium case is clearing the port and adding a rather large chunk of space debris to LEO. Worst case is that it bricks and the port remains blocked. It’s blocked already, so not seeing a true downside to trying.

I’m not going to say that Woeing needs to go completely back to the drawing board, but I think they might want to consider going pretty close to it. They may also want to look at adopting the old model of operations from when they were Boeing (and successful) and putting the engineers back in charge. Radical, I know, but it is what is needed.

If they do, expect support from me and from elsewhere I suspect we might hear some clapping and some pithy comments about it taking long enough, get to it.

By the way, I would commend almost any of Martin’s fiction and non-fiction (!!) to you. Among other things, he wrote a guide to surviving nuclear war that is not only good, but also applicable to general preparedness if I remember correctly. Heck, I need to try to find a (reasonably priced) copy if I can. If you haven’t seen it, the movie Marooned is pretty good. Again, read his works as he was more of a key figure in modern aviation and space than many realize.

Also, while I’m thinking about it, Stephen Green at PJ, and both David Strom and Jazz Shaw at Hot Air are doing some really good space and science coverage. Check them out.

Starship 4th Test Flight

Wow. What a flight! David Strom hits things on the head here, and I very much agree with his close: Elon Musk is a figure out of Heinlein. Love him or loathe him, he is making indelible changes on the world. From my viewpoint, most of those are good. Especially when it comes to getting us off this mudball.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to know and spend time with some interesting people, and to have done work for NASA twice. Today showed me several things I’ve been told were impossible, but I just watched them play out in realtime.

More years ago than I care to think about, Jerry and Roberta Pournelle took a callow young science writer under their wings. This led not only to interesting dinners but inclusion on several discussions of science and technology, often centering on spaceflight and heading out from Earth. Some discussions of such may have been a bit spirited, but it is interesting how they often led to investigation, experimentation, and change.

While my memory is not what I would like, I do seem to remember that Jerry was somewhat strongly of the opinion that landing rockets upright/vertical a la Golden Age science fiction was impossible. I’ve been watching SpaceX stick vertical landings on droneships for a while now and smiling. To be honest, think Jerry would be delighted at being wrong and seeing what is going on.

I’ve heard similar, but not nearly as spirited (and innovative) discussions at NASA at time or two. Then again, far too many there were wedded to the long, slow, expensive process at NASA. NASA is not only risk averse, but anything that smacked even slightly of failure was something never to be done again. NASA did not fail, it only succeeded — at great cost, lots of time, and one-off hardware. What Elon and SpaceX are doing is the best way to do real development: speculate, build, test, refine, test, refine, test, and then move out. Doing that is almost guaranteed to cut your development timeline by two thirds if not more.

Now, let’s look at all the pretty pictures, and even more importantly the massive amounts of data, that we got during reentry. Let me repeat that: DURING REENTRY. Another thing I was told at various times was impossible, beyond technical capabilities, etc. Never happen. Heh. Right. All made possible via Starlink and innovative thinking. If you think Elon’s companies aren’t meant to work together… I have suspicions about The Boring Company, which is anything but boring…

Now, when it comes to burnthrough the conventional wisdom was that pretty much any burnthrough was a catastrophic event. Even a pinprick spelled doom for a craft, and the idea that any external component or system that experienced such could function afterwards was nonsense! Nonsense I tell you Sir! Cough. Guess what I watched today? Heck, they invited some burnthrough by deliberately leaving off some tiles and putting sensors and such there because that data was needed. Not in a critical area, but still…

When the flap began to burn through, I kept expecting to see the rocket tumble and fail. Instead, I saw — even with the damage to the camera — the flap move and operate, and the ship continue to maneuver and function. That was amazing, and again I had been told impossible. I’m beginning to think Elon’s breakfast consists of multiple impossible things each morning.

Perfect mission? No, but an amazing success anyway. Right now, looks like they hit all the major goals, including getting massive amounts of data so they can improve and try again. In fact, a surface reading indicates that nothing that did go wrong requires the FAA to investigate and delay work on the next TEST flight according to the paperwork. That said, the Biden Regency hates Musk and has been trying to throw wrenches into the gears as they can, so I really do expect them to try to find a way to do so now. The offset to that is that the military and the Intelligence Community are now both having to back Elon given their dependence on SpaceX for reliable and cost-effective launches. That may reduce the interference. We can but hope.

As I’ve said before: Earth is the cradle of humanity, but crib death is still a thing and we need to be out on as many worlds — large and small — as we can as fast as we can. Even if not for survival per se, it is also a good idea for political survival. See Kotani and Robert’s Island World/Act of God series for the latter.

Right now, Elon and SpaceX are our best shot at getting that underway. We need them, so keep them in your prayers as there are a lot of people who want them to fail. Heck, need them to fail.

As far as living and working in space full time, think we still have some research to do. Some recent investigations into blood and other issues long-term for those in space raises some concerns. I’ve talked before about the issues with reproduction in space.

Which reminds me, the Chinese investigations underway with fish are a thing to watch. This could provide lots of good data not only on how they do in microgravity. This ties into issues of food in space and reproduction in space, and may be a good step towards ensuring safety on both fronts. I suspect that some gravity is going to be needed, but how much is the question. One that can be easily and fairly quickly answered at need.

That, however, is for the future. Right now, today’s test flight was amazing. Not only visually, but operationally and from the standpoint of gathering data.

Keep doing the impossible Elon and SpaceX! We need this more than most may realize.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

LTS: Metal Containers

Rather than press ahead as planned, recent weather has caused me to reconsider and move up my planned discussion of metal containers for Long Term Storage (LTS). No, not terrestrial weather, but space weather — specifically solar weather.

If you were fortunate enough last week to have a clear sky (we didn’t, alas), the aurora borealis was seen with the naked eye as far south as parts of Texas. Normally, such is only seen at the higher latitudes such as in norther Alaska and such. Thanks to some very energetic solar storms and coronal mass ejections, we have had quite the light show.

All well and good, but if you are not familiar with the Carrington Event you should read up on it and the potential for the Sun to do much worse. Let’s face it, the event allowed telegraph operators on both costs to disconnect their batteries and keep operations going for hours, which means a tremendous amount of energy was getting pumped into our Earthly system. It had some amazing effects then. Dumping that much or more on us now has the potential to be catastrophic.

Now, in terms of normal preparedness, metal cans meet a lot of needs. They are long lasting, resistant to a variety of harms, can be easy (if heavy) to carry, etc. There are commercial containers available, but I tend to be cheap so go for mil-surplus you can get for a good price (normally, but not as much recently).

I like the cans as they come in different sizes, the gaskets are usually good and will stay that way (resilient), and even if buried good for a decade or three. They can hold ammo, cigars, and a lot more. They are great for controlled environment storage. For cigars (before I effectively stopped recently) for example, I lined a can with Spanish cedar, loaded in my cigars with cedar sheets in between layers, threw in some Boveda packs (the single best way to get perfect humidity for storage of cigars, guitars, and much more), and checked on them every six months to a year. They are also the best option for semi-dangerous storage, things that are flammable or could otherwise do damage if stored improperly. Also, with padding, great for storing fragile items.

Metal is going to be the most protective material for any storage, much less long-term. It gives a range of options to you and can be modified at need. Drawbacks are weight (good cans are heavy, but you don’t want cheap and thin cans) and cost.

Now, given our recent solar weather, here’s another advantage to metal cans — they can be shielded. The can itself can provide some level of shielding, and my plan if there was advanced warning on a nuclear exchange was to put as many of my electronics and chargers in a metal can as possible. To make it even better, keep it in a basement, or better yet a shielded area in a basement and run a lead to a good ground, and you’ve got decent protection for those electronics. Key is, you want the items unplugged (longer the “tail” the greater the chance for EMP or anything else to burn out the electronics, and the tail doesn’t get much longer than the miles and miles of lines bringing you power to your home), shielded by other metal (grounded by preference, and underground and grounded if at all possible), and powered down.

For LTS of goods, metal is great. For LTS of foods, it is not necessarily as good. Some metals can and do leach like bad plastics. Some metals can oxidize in ways that can harm food. So, if you want to use metal cans for LTS of food, go in layers. Use mylar bucket liners (available in a variety of sizes) plus mylar food storage bags (just like you would for LTS of food in food-grade plastic containers), and you should be good. Just use good quality cans that are properly finished. Using Cousin Abdul’s homemade cans with his special “secret” finish is not the way to go. Go good mil-surplus or storage grade commercial, it is worth the money.

Oh, if you are going to go for LTS of musical instruments, wooden items, or items needing a bit of humidity, look at using both large mylar bags (sealed with Boveda or other inside) inside metal which also has a controlled environment. Two or more layers of protection, plus the metal will give maximum protection to the contents. You can go for certain grades of plastic case (think Pelican as one brand), but keep in mind price will be high, it may not be the same formulation as even a few years ago, and plastic will go brittle before metal.

For truly critical items, consider some form of normal case, inside plastic, inside metal. This works for artwork, instruments, and much more. Put the final case into storage in a geologically-stable area underground, and you are golden.

For home use, you can get a lot of protection via layering. Depends on what you are trying to protect, why, and for how long.

Just some quick food for thought this morning. The world is wonky. The Sun is being interesting (keep an eye on Space Weather Here). Be prepared. Remember, keep your family and real friends close, your preparations as complete as possible and as close to your vest as possible, and your things where you can find them in the dark.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Intelligence, OST, Thoughts

This is still going to be shorter than I would like, but things are afoot. I will say that the whole “Intelligence” issue that was supposed to be such a major security threat to the US seems much more a lack-of-intelligence/too-much-politics issue though it does raise some interesting possibilities.

Going back to my original post, FM made some very good comments I urge you to read. Nukes in space don’t do like they do on the ground. Take a look at what happened with Starfish Prime for an example. Not too long after, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which happened to ban such activity well before the Outer Space Treaty (OST). While Vladimir has pulled Russia out of most treaties of late, officially no one has set anything off in near-Earth orbit or deeper space since then.

I do seem to recall someone proposing to use nukes to clean up debris in Earth orbit, but that may have been during some informal discussions. Regardless, the idea and the originator were figuratively beaten about the head and shoulders. Just going to say look to Starfish Prime for reasons why.

Russia does have ASAT weapons and they do work. One was “tested” not too long ago and the ISS and other objects are still having to maneuver to avoid the debris created by the destruction of an old (Soviet?) Russian satellite. That is about all I can say on the topic of ASATs and SDI.

I will note that, in my personal opinion, a lot of marxist/communist fellow-travelers in the U.S. have long used the OST to hamstring both civilian and military space activities to the benefit of the Soviets and now Russians. According to them, any effort ground or space to develop SDI was a violation of treaty and some of them worked very hard to kill our efforts.

A good bit of focus of such efforts now is not just military, but commercial. Under the OST, most commercial is effectively banned if not formally banned. This, along with the ridiculous pious hand waving and screaming about how doing orbital extraction and processing would be an environmental disaster (yep, that’s a real thing), as would any human habitation on any celestial body be it the Moon or an asteroid. And, yes, there are real efforts underway to enact treaties and laws to ban such. Pay attention, as they really do want you and humanity as a whole trapped.

Personal opinion is that the OST has been twisted beyond pretzel status from the start, and is a treaty from which we should (must) formally withdraw. The non-binding Artemis Accords are somewhat better, but we need clear support for commerical, private property in space, and the use and exploitation of resources. Without such, any business will be taking a huge risk to pursue such.

There have been rumors for a while, that while a signatory to the OST, China was looking to violate it by claiming if not the entire lunar surface, good and important chunks of it. Including use of military force to defend such claim. Is such possible? Yes. Is it probable? Not at this time, not with the economic and other crises facing China and the CCP. That said, China is pushing hard to not only move into orbit, but have footholds elsewhere as well. It will be interesting to see where that goes.

Before I forget, again, the banning of WMD (nukes) from space not only was to protect Earth and the magnetic fields, but to keep things simple in regards attack detection. FM may have brought this up, but having nukes in orbit greatly complicates attack detection. Is that a nuke or a data/sample return mission (keep in mind that many spy satellites physically returned film and other media to the ground for quite a while)? When weapons can come from any direction, including straight up, it does indeed make it difficult for the defenders. See also yesterday’s post.

So, winding up. Could Russia use nukes in orbit to take out satellites, including via use of undeclared weapons put up as part of other payloads? Yep. Are they likely to? Different question, and I hope not. I will simply say I don’t think that would work out they way some seem to think it would. Should we leave the OST and any other binding or non-binding agreement that limits commercial activities? Yes. A thousand times yes.

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About That Intel Issue

That is so serious it is requiring multiple meetings, lots of SCIF briefings, and is apparently being leaked madly in the name of saving the Republic (cough, choke, wheeze). Oh, and is also being linked to crucial, crucial I say funding for Ukraine and is so important no money can be wasted on our borders… Sigh.

For now, color me skeptical, unimpressed, and needing jusssssst a touch more info (/end Harry Doyle/Bob Uecker voice) to be convinced. Right now, the bookmakers are putting good odds on it being the Russians, in the library with a candlestick, er, in space with nukes.

Okay, I’ll bite. One, nukes are about the only credible threat Russia has right now, and even it is a bit wobbly in my opinion. I still subscribe to my ‘tyranny of the 20 percent’ concept in which I think they (or us) will be lucky to get 20 percent of the weapons and/or weapons systems to work. Just look at how well Nikita’s, er, Vladimir’s demo launch worked during Biden’s visit to Ukraine.

For as much as I am NOT a fan of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, and would like to see us either re-negotiate the majority in light of commercial operations or withdraw from them, there are some interesting and needed weapons provisions that I think are good things even though I’m also more than a little suspicious that China (1983 signatory I think) is well on its way to scrapping some key lunar and orbital points. For that matter, I’m pretty sure Russia has already violated it a time or two (but that’s true for pretty much every treaty they have signed).

Until there is more information, there’s not a lot that can be said — which is not going to stop the grifters and pundits from putting forth thousands of empty words. I’m going to wait and see what comes out other than leaks, then offer some analysis and thoughts. Until then, just consider my cynicism as a given.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Congratulations SpaceX!

For all I would have loved for Starship to have hit fractional orbit and then landed in the Pacific, for a second integrated test flight it was a success. Frankly, that they pulled off the hot-stage separation is amazing, and it was not something I was counting on seeing.

As it is, it happened. All the engines lit and stayed lit until shut off on the first stage, and everything was nominal until after the hot-staging. All the engines appeared to be functioning normally on the second stage right up until the self-destruct engaged. I’m curious as to why they had that system on the second stage, and if they plan to continue to do so. The initial word seems to be the pad is good, so no major repairs or upgrades needed (we hope).

Best of all, they seem to have gotten lots of good data that are going to allow them to go in, figure things out, and make improvements to the next system. Lather, rinse, repeat. It really is the best way to develop new systems. Getting things to orbit, especially with a system significantly larger and more powerful than the Saturn V, is not easy. Just look back to the early days even before NASA, where launches rarely worked as planned. Some of the videos from the Navajo (Nevergo) and other early rockets are quite spectacular.

It didn’t end in the Pacific, but it was a good mission in terms of data. Here’s hoping that they can analyze, adapt, and try again as soon as possible — esp. if the Biden Regency will get out of the way. Earth is the cradle of humanity, and it’s past time we left the cradle.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Two Reads

Sorry not to have been posting more, but life has been keeping me on my toes. Lots I do want to talk about, from the invasions here and in Europe to the full-on assault on the Constitution. Need to get back to posting more regularly on preparedness as well.

But, I do have two good reads to recommend to you this morning. The first is from VodkaPundit on the “failed” Ukrainian counteroffensive. Quick question to ponder as you read: can you remember a single time our military and intelligence leadership, as well as corporate media, have been right in any regard to Ukraine? The second is a book review, said book I now want to read as it takes a different look at slavery in the U.S. and how we may be on a very wrong path in regards our future in space.

Whole big discussion needs to be had on that, and on the idiocy being pushed that colonizing space will be as bad or worse than colonization here on Earth and will destroy the beauty in the skies. There is a reason for the attacks on farmers and on any effort to build a better future. More soon, I do hope.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.