Tales of the Heliosphere

My day job duties, moving, and other personal events have put a huge crimp in my blogging recently. They've also kept me from attending this year's Space Access Society Conference, where the people building America's other space programs come together. (Here.) But the following bloggers are liveblogging the event.

Transterrestrial Musings
Hobby Space
Space Politics
WhyHomeSchool

Go to their sites and read what they've written. It's the next best thing to being there.

Next year, head on over to Phoenix. The Space Access Society conference is one of the best. Spring Training ain't too bad, either. Go Padres!

-tdr

Technorati: Space, NASA.

Labels: Space Societies

The Lunar Embassy is an embarrassing joke of a company that purports to sell deeds for land on the Moon and other planets. It operates freely in the United States because a country that popularized the pet rock is not going to worry too much about a company selling phony deeds to property on the Moon.

China has turned out to be a bit less laissez faire. When the Lunar Embassy tried to sell its phony deeds to Chinese consumers, the government shut down the company's operations almost immediately. The Lunar Embassy sued, and then after losing, the company appealed to an intermediate appellate court. "On Friday, the Beijing intermediate court rejected its appeal, saying no individual or country could claim ownership of the moon." (Here.)

The Chinese court's decision on the merits is not the most interesting part of this story. Under current international law, people can't claim ownership of the moon. One day that may change but the Lunar Embassy's novelty act won't be leading the way. If anything, by perpetuating the idea that owning property in space is a novelty gift or a joke, the Lunar Embassy is an impediment to changing the law.

The most interesting aspects of the Lunar Embassy in China saga are how quickly the Chinese government moved to protect its consumers and how the legal proceedings in China mirror our own. There is rule of law in China.

-tdr

Technorati: China, Space, Moon.

Labels: China, Law, Lawyers In Space, Luna

James Oberg writes an interesting column in The Space Review this week busting 12 myths of the weaponization of space. Here's one of the myths he takes on.

"Western news dispatches from Moscow, reporting on Russian official complaints about the policy, stated that it asserted the right “to deny adversaries access to space for hostile purposes,” and that it claimed the right (some say “tacitly”) for the US to deploy weapons in space. Vitaly Davidov, deputy head of the Russian Space Agency, complained: “They [the US] want to dictate to others who is allowed to go there.”

But the actual policy document makes no such claim and displays no such intent to “deny” access. The Russian anxiety, echoed on the editorial pages and in news stories around the world, is apparently based on some over-wrought page 1 stories in US newspapers, written by people too careless to actually read the original US document and subsequent official US government clarifications, or too eager to misinterpret it in the most alarmingly stark terms."

But here's a quote from the new policy.

"• The United States considers space capabilities -- including the ground and space segments and supporting links -- vital to its national interests. Consistent with this policy, the United States will: preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so; take those actions necessary to protect its space capabilities; respond to interference; and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests;" (See pp. 1-2 of OSTP pdf here [emphasis added].)

Later, the policy document directs the Secretary of Defense to

"...Develop capabilities, plans, and options to ensure freedom of action in space, and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries;" (See p. 5 of OSTP pdf at link above.)

While the new space policy makes no claim the US will deny access to space to other countries as a general rule, if your country is an American enemy threatening America's freedom of action in space, well, that's a whole 'nother story. If other countries perceive a threat in a policy statement that says the US will act against its enemies to protect its space capabilities, then America had better keep a watchful eye on those countries.

The United States should have a policy aimed at keeping access to space open and deterring those who would deny that access to America or other nations. America helped usher in today's globalized and interconnected world by promoting a policy of freedom of the seas, and having a Navy capable of implementing that policy. As humanity moves out from Earth and brings space into the world's economic sphere, America should promote and protect freedom of access to space. If it takes using military force, so be it.

-tdr

Technorati: NASA, space, space weapons.

Labels: Leviathan, NASA

Many critics complain about the secrecy of the Bush Administration. But a new study of federal agencies from the National Security Archive, a Washington-based nongovernmental research institute, cites NASA for its transparency."NASA is a prime example of effective use of the Web, [Director Thomas] Blanton said. The agency posts comprehensive guidance on FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] for visitors, links all their component FOIA Web sites, and also has posted many documents on the Columbia space shuttle disaster, a tragedy that had drawn may inquiries for information." (Here.)

-tdr

Technorati: NASA

Labels: Leviathan, NASA

(1990 - 3/5/2007.)

Labels: Personal