Undeclared Nuclear Power Pakistan Now World’s Fifth-Largest

The ‘world without nuclear weapons’ concept takes another face-shot as reported by the Washington Post: Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal now totals more than 100 deployed weapons, a doubling of its stockpile over the past several years in one of the world’s most unstable regions, according to estimates by nongovernment analysts. The Pakistanis have significantly accelerated production [...]

Good Zombiesat…good zombiesat

From AW&ST regarding the spacecraft formerly known as zombiesat. Intelsat appears poised to recoup use of Galaxy 15, the wayward “Zombie Sat” that terrorized telecom satellite neighborhoods around the globe until it was brought under control late last month. What was the problem?  Of the 120 potential root causes identified, only two remain. Solar flares, [...]

Space Code of Conduct Backdoors Treaty Process?

‘Code’ can be used to try and create politically and militarily binding outcomes when legally binding outcomes (like treaties) can’t be mustered. And reading between the Washington Times’ lines, there seems little doubt the government space bureaucracy has been smitten by the EU Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. Three congressional staffers told The [...]

New START: what happens after the self-congratulations and McLovin’ are over?

Takeaways from the Council on Foreign Relations interview After New START, Old Tensions. Russia wants their own missile defense (it’s better than a doomsday device) which they publicly speak of having by 2020. Why won’t it happen?  The Russian government lacks the time and money to make it happen.    They also want to modernize [...]

Good Space Fences Make For Good Space Neighbors

  Cobbled together from Information Week, Military Aerospace, and Philadelphia Business Journal who are all reporting on an Air Force contract award for the new Space Fence.   Raytheon and Lockheed Martin were awarded contracts to provide designs for a ground-based space radar system called the space fence which will be able to better detect [...]

New Astronaut Gear?

No, it’s your toxic cleanup outfit for when you bust a ‘green’ light bulb.  As for me, I’m ready for screw-in LED bulbs. The whole thing makes me think about the pastoral life (and safety benefits) of being a lead farmer…

Space State of the Union

The biggest problem with the Space State of the Union is not our industrial base, our educational systems, the problems of acquiring government space systems, or anything of the like.  Rather, the biggest problem is the looming insolvency of our entitlement system which lies at the heart of the economic challenges facing the United States [...]

NASA’s NanoSail-D, Like Galaxy 15, Is Back From the Dead

…and then a miracle occurs. The NanoSail-D has inexplicably (and beneficially) deployed itself after about 45 days of failing to do so. NanoSail-D spent the previous month and a half stuck inside its mothership, the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology SATellite (FASTSAT). FASTSAT was launched in November 2010 with NanoSail-D and five other experiments onboard. [...]

In Our Wisdom, Let Us Therefore Agree To Cut Defense…

David Ignatius has an article on defense spending in which he harkens back to Eisenhower’s ‘military-industrial complex’ Presidential farewell. While Ignatius has totally missed the context of Ike’s speech, he makes up for it by getting lots of other major assertions wrong as well.  For example: Trimming the defense budget is one of the hardest [...]

Space Shuttles Never Die, They Just Slip Away…

Does anyone really think NASA will hold to this schedule?  I’ve about quit paying attention to the shuttle schedule, but WESH.com hasn’t. Preparations have started for a third and final space shuttle flight, NASA announced Thursday. NASA is targeting June 28 for a launch of space shuttle Atlantis. However, the flight could be delayed into [...]