The preference cascade has arrived.
I certainly feel it.
I’m going to DC tomorrow, so posting may be sporadic, but I hope to find out what’s going on. So posting may be light this week.
Rip Van Griffin
The former NASA administrator is the gift that keeps on giving, if you’re into flaming piles of dog poop.
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin recently released an updated version of his dual-launch Artemis plan to get humans to the Moon. It relies on two SLS Block II launches and a lander that doesn't exist.https://t.co/O1YPM97jnI
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) December 9, 2024
From Islamabad To Islamaworse
The Assad regime has fallen. It’s very unlikely to end well.
But it is an opportunity for Israel to enhance its own border security, and it’s taking advantage of it.
The Trump Nominees
What they have not done, and will not do.
The Gundo
I’ve lived here for over four decades, but I hadn’t noticed that it’s apparently become a major new tech hub, with a new nickname, despite the hostile California business environment. El Segundo itself is too small to contain all of the new innovation, so it’s spilling over into Hawthorne, Torrance, and even down to Long Beach. But it seems emblematic that SpaceX started here, over two decades ago, before they outgrew it.
[Update a while later]
Sort of related: How American entrepreneurs can keep us ahead of China in space. General Kwast told me a few years ago that he keeps a copy of my book on his desk.
[Noon update]
Another story about El Segundo.
The New Space Era
A non-space publication is noticing the implications of the election for space policy.
[Afternoon update]
Artemis has slipped the schedule again (no surprise), and SLS is looking like it’s in serious trouble.
Moving Space Command to Huntsville in exchange for killing SLS looks like the art of the deal.
[Friday-morning update]
Why Orion’s heat shield offers an opportunity for Isaacman to cancel the entire mess.
[Bumped]
Rebel Yell
An interesting history of the American south, and the rise of Trump.
The Biden Guide
The Return Of Realpolitik
The new world order:
“The American empire may be creaking, and Trump may be extraordinarily unattractive, but an alliance with his new administration is still surely preferable to being dependent on Russian energy, Middle East oil producers, or the cadres in China.”
One would hope.
The Border
Yes, Mexico knows exactly what it is doing.