Bernie Sanders Has Questions About Private Space Companies

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Senator Bernie Sanders. (Rollcall)

In a recent The Guardian newspaper editorial, Bernie Sanders had some questions about the role of private companies, such as Blue Origin and SpaceX, in the future of space exploration or, as he sees it, space profiteering. In his editorial, “Jeff Bezos is worth $160bn – yet Congress might bail out his space company,” he noted the following:

At this moment, if you can believe it, Congress is considering legislation to provide a $10bn bailout to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space company for a contract to build a lunar lander. This legislation is taking place after Blue Origin lost a competitive bid to SpaceX, Musk’s company. Bezos is worth some $180bn.

He then cites the costs of Jeff Bezos’ yacht and homes while pointing out the plight of those living paycheck to paycheck. Of course, the same could be said about Elon Musk, rumored to be the wealthiest man in the world and now in the papers for buying another company unrelated to space (or the car industry).

First, this battle between Bernie and Bezos has been going on for some time, but the “bailout” in question was debunked by Verifythis.com last year, which stated:

Although NASA recently chose SpaceX over Blue Origin and one other company to receive funding for development of a human lunar lander, NASA stated in its decision that it wanted to fund two companies but lacked the budget to even fund one without negotiating the price down. The Senate bill is in response to that, allocating NASA enough funding to award a second contract. Blue Origin is the likely frontrunner for that contract, but it’s not guaranteed. Even if Blue Origin does win the contract, the allocated $10 billion to NASA isn’t just for this contract and therefore wouldn’t all go to Blue Origin.

Of course, the editorial is really a lead in to the real issue – who owes the minerals in space? Mr. Sanders highlights the worth of a single asteroid, stating “Just a single 3,000ft asteroid may contain platinum worth over $5tn.” It is a good point as we consider the next great race for minerals. Of course, maybe Uncle Sam can get some of it back via taxes, but it is not hard to believe space companies would incorporate in the Bahamas or somewhere similar to avoid such taxation.

Mr. Sanders is calling for a “rational space policy,” and wants Congress to be part of the process. Given the number of nations heading to the Moon and Mars, it is much bigger than the U.S. Congress. The United Nations will need to play a role here via the Outer Space Treaty, which NASA is attempting to update via the Artemis Accords. In addition, maybe Congress needs to update the rescind the 2015 U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, which states in § 51303:

A United States citizen engaged in commercial recovery of an asteroid resource or a space resource under this chapter shall be entitled to any asteroid resource or space resource obtained, including to possess, own, transport, use, and sell the asteroid resource or space resource obtained in accordance with applicable law, including the international obligations of the United States.

By the way, NASA has already issued a press release regarding more lunar lander opportunities. You can find the press release here.

Space Quote: Space Cowboys or Space Tourists?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): SpaceX AX-1 mission to the International Space Station. (SpaceX)

“We are not space tourists.”

– Statement by Michael López-Alegría who traveled as a private citizen (and former NASA astronaut) to the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday as part of SpaceX’s AX-1 mission.

Why does this remind me of the statement “I am not a crook”? Mr. López-Alegría leads the mission carrying three wealthy passengers who spent about $55 million apiece to stay on the ISS for eight days and basically get in the way of working astronauts. I thought Bigelow was working on inflatable space hotels. Wouldn’t that be more appropriate? And maybe that $55 million could go towards STEM classes for students who want to go to space as a career rather than a joyride. Just an idea.

Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of a Bigelow inflatable space station. (Bigelow Space Ops)

Starlink Assists with Ukrainian Battles

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit):  A disabled Russian tank in Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons)

SpaceX’s Starlink system, shared with Ukraine last month, is already proving to be a boost to Ukrainian fighters. While the focus of the new system was to keep Ukrainians connected to the Internet, it has also been used by drones attacking Russian military tanks and trucks. The NY Post quotes one Ukrainian source as stating, “If we use a drone with thermal vision at night, the drone must connect through Starlink to the artillery guy and create target acquisition.”

All of this will make the Starlink system within Ukraine a Russian target and Mr. Musk himself persona non grata, not that Mr. Musk really cares. However, he has warned Ukrainians to be cautious when using the system:

Important warning: Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine, so probability of being targeted is high. Please use with caution.

Let’s just hope that all of this doesn’t lead to anti-satellite actions in space. We have enough issues on the ground.

Moon Craters and the Russians

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): USSR’s Luna 2 spacecraft. (Worldhistoryproject.org)

So who owned the rocket stage that hit the Moon earlier this month? I had earlier noted the speculation pertaining to both SpaceX and then the Chinese rockets. Surprisingly, it is still is not clear who owned that rocket stage and maybe we will never know. That is not a good answer for the European Space Agency’s Space Safety Programme, which stated:

The upcoming lunar impact illustrates well the need for a comprehensive regulatory regime in space, not only for the economically crucial orbits around Earth but also applying to the Moon.

While that case has yet to be solved, we are pretty certain about the first Earth-launched rocked to hit the Moon. We can blame the Soviets for that strike back in 1959 with its Luna 2 (nicknamed the Lunik 2). At least the goal in that case was to hit the Moon.

Launched on September 12, 1959, it took 35 hours to travel the distance between the Earth and Moon. Luna 1, launched by the Soviets earlier that year, was supposed to hit the Moon but it missed by about 3,700 miles. You can see more about Luna 2 via this dated news clip.

More Angst Regarding the International Space Station

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Source/Credit: Image of Russian section breaking away from the ISS from NASA Watch.

You may have already seen this ridiculous Russian video that NASA Watch shared with the world. It is very disturbing. Presumably created by the Russian space program Roscosmos, it shows the Russian portion of the International Space Station (ISS) breaking away as a result of the worldwide sanctions against the Russians for invading Ukraine. Here is the NASA Watch tweet and related video (an image of which is shown above):

Russian gov’t-controlled RIA Novosti @rianru posted a video on Telegram made by @Roscosmos where cosmonauts say goodbye to Mark Vande Hei on #ISS, depart, and then the Russian segment detaches from the rest of ISS. @Rogozin is clearly threatening the ISS program. #NASA#Ukraine

One person provided some hope among all this foolishness with this reply:

Basically all astro-/ cosmonauts said that after a couple of days in space they only see a fragile planet, and that nation states start to disappear in their minds.

And now we have former US astronaut Scott Kelly and SpaceX’s Elon Musk battling with Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Roscosmos. Scott Kelly was clear in his dislike of Rogozin’s comments about the ISS:

Maybe you could find yourself a job working at McDonalds if McDonalds still exists in Russia.

None of this is helpful when we have lives in space depending on a competent ground team. Let’s hope all these egos do not get in the way of the professionalism we expect from the US, Russia, and others with regards to the safe operation of the ISS.