32 thoughts on “Trump And Space”

  1. Did you see Eric’s latest at Arse [sic] Technica, about Starship’s 6th test? Guess he’s let the commenters get to him or something: “Wednesday’s announcement comes the day after the US presidential election in which Donald Trump was given a second term by American voters, and it is notable that he was assisted in this through an all-out effort by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

    Musk’s interventions in politics were highly controversial and alienated a significant segment of the US population and political class.”

    1. There is going to be a lot of whining and yelling by other rocket companies (Blue Origin) about Musk working for Trump. They are going to claim SpaceX will have an unfair advantage.

      If Musk plays it right and does stuff that benefits them all the whining will die down after a while. But it will never completely go away.

    2. To be fair the next sentence says:

      Nevertheless Musk’s gambit paid off, as the election of Trump will now likely accelerate Starship’s development and increase its centrality to the nation’s space exploration endeavors.

      i.e. a “quid pro quo” or “end justifies the means”. This adjusts the lighting somewhat from “radical right-wing lunatic” to a political pragmatist. A bit of a climb down from the pulpit by Berger if you ask me.

      It’s no doubt in my mind the left began to pillory Musk starting with masseuse-gate through the Twitter/X acquisition (which at one point remember Musk tried to back out of, but at the risk of SEC enforcement actions against him) and finally all bridges to the left were burned after “The Twitter Files” were released. Or as was demonstrated shortly after the acquisition: “Let that sink in.” 🙂

      Personally, I’d have preferred if Musk had remained as the “Rocket Guy with Asperger’s who’ll get us to Mars” and left all the other stuff alone (Tesla, Boring Co., Solar City, Neuralink, xAI…) but that’s just not his style.

      1. Had the left not banned the Bee, Musk wouldn’t have got involved. He was correct to note that the current Democrat party is a civilizational risk and if they retained power, no one would be able to say anything about it.

        Democrats can not restrain themselves. They don’t believe in restraint, it goes against their religion.

        They made 3 errors because of this:

        1: Goaded Trump into running for President by mocking him at that dinner
        2: Banning the Bee causing Musk to buy Twitter and halt the main vector of their censorship
        3: Going after Amish farmers in PA.

        Because Trump won, Musk wont be stripped of his companies and be put in prison. That this was the likely outcome of a Harris victory shows exactly why he made the right choice to get in politics.

    3. It is a true statement though. A lot of space nerds lost their shit on election night and despite the likelihood they have higher than average IQ, they also follow a primitive polytheistic religion, Progressive Marxism, and in general aren’t very wise individuals.

      1. Based upon even casual perusal of the comment thread of any Ars Technica space article there isn’t much evidence in favor of those putative “higher than average IQs.” The rest of your characterizations are obvious by inspection.

  2. Rather than cancel SLS, one should just require SLS take about 1/2 as much time between the SLS launches, and not to continue to delay it- but determine if and in what ways NASA involvement is slowing it down- and eliminate anything which NASA is doing that slows it down.

    1. I suspect it will not be possible to much accelerate SLS production – it hasn’t been designed for that, it’s designed to soak up funds and create a few jobs. In other words, it’s baked in. Better to start over, or in this case accept that it is going to be utterly redundant before it flies a second time.

      1. In broad category of rockets, SLS is not soaking up much money. In terms of what NASA is spending on getting a rocket, it could regarded as significant. And NASA entire budget is quite small, US military space budget is twice as much as NASA’s budget.
        And in terms of global satellite market, US Military Space and NASA, is quite tiny. And in terms of global satellite market, rocket launch cost is likewise tiny portion of it.
        In terms of rockets going into orbit, they are a small portion of cost compared to suborbital – or rockets that don’t go into orbit. You land launched rockets, naval and airforce rockets.
        The US arms exports have increased significantly during the Biden Administration, and arms exports are mostly global rather than imagining it’s giving arms to Ukraine.
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkAM2nMIJxw
        Rocket Artillery & the War in Ukraine – Evolution, Effectiveness & Development Trends
        {though that video is connected to war in Ukraine, but Ukraine involves what’s happening globally- and that video made me realize, a war involving Taiwan straits – could less of naval operation then I had formerly regarded that it, could be}.

      1. There is a contract, and within contract the delay was allowed- so for future, change that part. And it’s likely NASA’s was factor in causing the delay, and we can change that.

  3. I’m going to make some noise through back channels and drop your name Rand.

    Would you being on the council be a conflict of interest regarding your consultancy?

    1. Good idea but it will take time away from him writing his book on equatorial orbits opening cis lunar space and the solar system

      1. It’s too late, Draft Simberg is a thing. I’ve even got people tracking him at the conference. Think of him as the Secret Service for the NSS, your candidate protection.

        1. NASC (not the proper acronym these days I know, but to distinguish it from the National Security Council) would do far worse by not having Rand on it.

          Draft Simberg!

          1. He’s at a National Space Society meeting today. I had a friend check in on him, a member of the Kennedy clan, nonetheless! Jack is his bodyguard for the duration of the Draft Simberg campaign.

        2. …but it will take time away from him writing his book on equatorial orbits opening cis lunar space and the solar system

          To be honest, I’d rather have Rand directing policy to do these things that writing a book about them for someone else to do…

  5. “There is going to be a lot of whining and yelling by other rocket companies (Blue Origin) about Musk working for Trump. They are going to claim SpaceX will have an unfair advantage.”

    Right now the US space industry consists of SpaceX and debris.

    1. I don’t think there will be any whining because Trump is going to work with all of them. He already got Bezos.

      SpaceX can’t do everything and there are a lot of things that need done.

  6. What did Kamala do for our space activities as the VP? I doubt even Scott Manley has kind words for her on this specific topic.

    1. From the last para of the linked The Space Review article:

      Given their past leadership, it is unlikely that either candidate will seek to dramatically alter the long-term missions the largest government space organizations have underway during the upcoming presidential term

      When it comes to SLS and the Trump-elect administration, I’m hoping for just the opposite of this sentiment…

      1. “When it comes to SLS and the Trump-elect administration, I’m hoping for just the opposite of this sentiment…”

        Me too. I’m hoping for efficiency. That leaves SLS out.

  8. “Because Trump won, Musk wont be stripped of his companies and be put in prison. That this was the likely outcome of a Harris victory shows exactly why he made the right choice to get in politics.”

    The largest bet on the US election was Elon’s. He pledged his life, fortune and sacred honor. Somewhere, the Founders smile.

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