Three weeks ago, (23 July 2020), the National Space Council – at the White House – issued a fascinating document. “A New Era for Space Exploration and Development.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/A-New-Era-for-Space-Exploration-and-Development-07-23-2020.pdf It will influence the commercial, civil, academic, and defense space sectors – for years to come. At LiftPort, we are creating a series of videos focused on ‘space policy.’ We are working through this document – page-at-a-time, a paragraph-at-a-time, and sometimes – word-at-a-time. This detailed analysis matters. The language of this document allows other government officials to adapt programs – for and against – big space concepts. So, the wording matters. Honestly, some folks find this stuff exhausting. It’s not the ‘cool & sexy’ parts of space development. This is the ‘sausage-making’ part of doing the cool stuff. There’s a saying in the space-biz that goes: “You gotta have ‘bucks’ to get to ‘buck rogers.’” Well, to get those ‘bucks,’ you’ve got to have an overarching policy document that rationalizes WHY Congress should authorize the bucks… THIS is that kind of policy document. Money will flow from this policy, money from Defense, and Civil space, money from Research and Development. And money from private investors in Silicon Valley. And, importantly, capital from other regions of the world who are looking for the US to provide leadership and ‘political cover’ for their own efforts and initiatives. And that’s why we’re spending so much time and effort examining the nuance of this policy doc. Because it matters to our long-term program of building the Elevator on the Moon. It matters to everyone else, hoping to move humans to another world. This deep dive into national policy is a regular feature of our Channel and has a dedicated playlist. This stuff matters: all the decisions we make, internally, must be anchored in the reality of Washington DC’s priority matrix. The three, preamble, videos in this series are: A New Era: The New White House Space Policy - #1 https://youtu.be/fjROHnaTtgc A New Era: Introduction - National Space Council Policy - #2 https://youtu.be/YiPqL9qluEA A New Era: Background & Easter Eggs - #3 https://youtu.be/bMX7WXu_ABQ Michael Laine President, LiftPort Group
0 Comments
Last weekend I got a little sick. I had some weird symptoms I never had before. It started with what I thought was a severe allergic reaction when I was having a beer after eating some fish that my roommate cooked. He mentioned that my face was a bit flushed, following that I felt rashes and swelling to the point where I started having trouble breathing. Especially since I already knew that in China there is a big problem with counterfeit things; including food and beverages (Just like the imported Chinese beer I had). But since my roommate was just fine after drinking the other bottle, maybe I had food poisoning caused by the fish? I don’t know but, I had food poisoning before (I’m from Peru), and unlike those times, I didn’t feel any nausea or stomach ache.
I drank lots of water after that and was getting ready to go to a hospital just in case. But after 30 min I started feeling a little better. And since I didn’t want to go to a COVID-19 hotspot, I just stayed in my house and rested. The next 2 days I had some headaches but nothing worse than that. By the time I wrote this blog, I felt totally healthy. This week I worked on the Website. There were many things that need to be fixed. I can say that despite the simple interface and easy CMS, Weebly has a lot of limitations. I wonder if migrating to a similar system is really beneficial or not. Anyway, I took a lot of time updating the Blogs’ part, I hope it’s useful for something in the end. Even after that, there are many things we need to work on. The temperature in Tacoma was a little lower this week, and it even rained once. On the hot days, air-conditioning is a nice thing to have. In my house, my landlord sets it for a long time, and it actually makes me feel cold. So, you would see me wearing a sweater if you come to my house this summer. Fabio About a week ago, I was talking to a friend from LiftPort’s Technical Advisory Council about the commercialization of the Moon. We chatted about how the Moon was about to become ‘busy’ with a lot of activity. But it was during that conversation that I realized that I really didn’t have a number; it wasn’t quantified… How busy? What does ‘busy’ mean? Who is going…? You’d think that with all the time and attention I give this sector of commercial Lunar space development, I’d know that answer off the top of my head. I don’t. I can name several (but not all) of the CLPS mission providers, https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services and I can name each of the big Artemis contractors. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-names-companies-to-develop-human-landers-for-artemis-moon-missions I realized – as close as I am to this field – that I still didn’t have a complete picture of what’s happening, by whom, or when. So, I went looking for it. Fortunately, the European Space Agency has done some of this work. It’s a little dated; about a year old. But it’s the most accurate data set that I could find. There may be some updates, but I’m taking the chart at face value. The link to the article and the infographic is here: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/Who_s_ready_to_serve_the_lunar_missions The graphic expands to a more readable version. I’ve got (a LiftPort-modified version of) this image as the background to my laptop. I want to point out some important distinctions between the original ESA image, and the updated and edited version that LiftPort created. All we did, was to expand the information provided by ESA on “CPLS Mission 2021” above and added the completed information that was left off the image. It suddenly shows a Moon dominated by American activity… in a way that – even as close as I am to this stuff – I was not aware of.
There are 21 US-led missions. The US has sixteen(!) commercial-focused efforts and five NASA-led programs. Of the whole rest of the world, there are “only” five other commercial missions. (That there are ANY commercial missions still seems a bit of a dream come true!) Institutionally, there are 18 missions disbursed between 11 national space agencies. I find that to be a little staggering! And the last aspect that really excites me about the future of Lunar development is those sub-contractor organizations that will ‘hitch a ride’ with all those Lunar missions. I know that Masten, Intuitive Machines, and Astrobotic are actively pursuing commercial contracts for each of their mission. Of these 21 American missions, each has some sort of capacity for additional commercial, academic, Defense, or civilian cargo. If you just assume 5 organizations – I think it’s MUCH higher than that – per trip, that means over 100 organizations will have assets on the Moon! So, what’s going there? I don’t have data. But I can make a good guess of science packages, sensors for testing Lunar regolith, communications, cameras, and other infrastructure. That initial infrastructure will be the ‘Lego’ bricks to build the future with! For background context, here’s 2 more of our LiftPort videos about “The Future” of commercial space development between 2020-2035: https://youtu.be/0W42h_JUtlU and https://youtu.be/u9qiQfwX4dU #SpaceElevator #ExploreFarther #BusyMoon Michael Laine President, LiftPort Group This 4-day week was a lot more relaxed. We worked on a series of four videos. My editing is getting a lot better and I’m getting faster. I improved the green screen “KEYING” and I feel a lot more satisfied with the result (no green hair or blurry shadows). This software definitely helps on getting more pro editing, but not as impressive as I initially thought. It has so many panels that make me think this was designed to be used in a very large display or 2 monitors at the same time. I’m wondering if it’s really worth the subscription fee. Especially given that my laptop with no video card takes a very long-time rendering, something that didn’t happen on Kdenlive. I’m not sure if I’m comfortable being the bottleneck every time we want to post a video. The software is good and it’s working just fine for our videos, but I might be able to improve it even more. I may look into another good software that is as powerful and renders faster on my computer.
Is this really the standard software for Hollywood movies? If I keep getting better maybe I can be eligible to work at a video-production studio or other media company. I’m turning from programmer to video editor, this is totally unexpected. I never thought my internship in the USA would turn like that. But don’t get me wrong, I’m actually glad I’m learning something new that actually seems very useful during a pandemic that forces most people to work and study from home. The nature of education, work, and entertainment is changing, and I may be preparing to be an active part of that change. We have very few views on our content, even with all those subscribers and promotion to social media. We can justify that saying these sets of policy videos are either too boring or not relevant to most people, but I actually see a pattern. Every video stops getting visited at around 100 views. This means most of the old subscribers are not watching the videos. Perhaps they are not active on YouTube anymore, or this is content they didn’t subscribe for, or simply they just changed their interest and preferences after all those years. Our results are still far from what we initially expected, but I think it is still worth all our effort. Anyway, we must remain perseverant and try to get better and faster. And of course, we have to diversify our content even more and see what works the best. Fabio A few days ago, (23 July 2020), the National Space Council – at the White House – issued a fascinating document. “A New Era for Space Exploration and Development.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/A-New-Era-for-Space-Exploration-and-Development-07-23-2020.pdf This new policy is significant. This policy will have ripple effects in the future. It will influence the commercial, civil, academic, and defense space sectors – for years to come. This kind of national policy shift is part of the new ‘adventure’ of building systems for space. (They are not usually this big, and they don’t usually come this quickly. There have been 3 big policy documents released in the past month!) Lately, these changes are being considered and deliberated (by some very smart people) over the course of a few months, and then enacted. Honestly, it is both refreshing, and it also requires us to modify our overarching plans. We have posted two other videos on this policy. We will post several more videos; we will deep-dive into the specifics and nuance that such a document deserves. In this post, we will look at the background papers that support and inform this current document. In DC, you don’t usually have a clean-sheet new policy. Most documents are built on layers upon layers of prior rules, papers, or laws. This doc is no different – however, there doesn’t seem to be as thick a layer of supporting docs as most. Perhaps that is one of the reasons it seems ‘new.’ And we will look into some key phrases that might (or might not) be “Easter eggs” – hidden details that have special significance to the writers; hidden details that might give us clues as to the author’s mindset and motivations. This deep dive into national policy will become a regular feature of our Channel. This stuff matters: all the decisions we make, internally, must be anchored in the reality of Washington DC’s priority matrix. One of the reasons we decided to restart the company was – precisely – because of the international attention that the Moon is getting these days. Stay tuned! (In the video, I reference Ken Murphy’s paper on the CisLunar EconoSphere. It’s here: https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2027/1 and https://thespacereview.com/article/2033/1) Michael Laine President, LiftPort Group A few days ago, (23 July 2020), the National Space Council – at the White House – issued a fascinating document. “A New Era for Space Exploration and Development.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/A-New-Era-for-Space-Exploration-and-Development-07-23-2020.pdf This new policy is significant. This policy will have ripple effects in the future. It will influence the commercial, civil, academic, and defense space sectors – for years to come. This kind of national policy shift is part of the new ‘adventure’ of building systems for space. (They are not usually this big, and they don’t usually come this quickly. There have been 3 big policy documents released in the past month!) Lately, these changes are being considered and deliberated (by some very smart people) over the course of a few months, and then enacted. Honestly, it is both refreshing, and it also requires us to modify our overarching plans. We have posted two other videos on this policy. We will post several more videos; we will deep-dive into the specifics and nuance that such a document deserves. In this post, we will look at the background papers that support and inform this current document. In DC, you don’t usually have a clean-sheet new policy. Most documents are built on layers upon layers of prior rules, papers, or laws. This doc is no different – however, there doesn’t seem to be as thick a layer of supporting docs as most. Perhaps that is one of the reasons it seems ‘new.’ And we will look into some key phrases that might (or might not) be “Easter eggs” – hidden details that have special significance to the writers; hidden details that might give us clues as to the author’s mindset and motivations. This deep dive into national policy will become a regular feature of our Channel. This stuff matters: all the decisions we make, internally, must be anchored in the reality of Washington DC’s priority matrix. One of the reasons we decided to restart the company was – precisely – because of the international attention that the Moon is getting these days. Stay tuned! (In the video, I reference Ken Murphy’s paper on the CisLunar EconoSphere. It’s here: https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2027/1 and https://thespacereview.com/article/2033/1) Michael Laine President, LiftPort Group Last Thursday, (23 July 2020), the National Space Council – at the White House – issued a fascinating document. “A New Era for Space Exploration and Development.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/A-New-Era-for-Space-Exploration-and-Development-07-23-2020.pdf This new policy is significant. We are shifting our production schedule regarding the Lunar Space Elevator Infrastructure to share it with our community. This kind of national policy shift is part of the new ‘adventure’ of building systems for space. Lately, these changes are being considered and deliberated (by some very smart people) over the course of a few months, and then enacted. Honestly, it is both refreshing, and it also requires us to modify, occasionally, on our overarching plans. In the case of this new policy, it has wide-ranging implications. Policy topics of this video include:
This deep dive into national policy will become a regular feature of our Channel. This stuff matters: all the decisions we make, internally, must be anchored in the reality of Washington DC’s priority matrix. One of the reasons we decided to restart the company was – precisely – because of the international attention that the Moon is getting these days. Stay tuned! Michael Laine President, LiftPort Group Yesterday, (23 July 2020), the National Space Council – at the White House – issued a fascinating document. “A New Era for Space Exploration and Development.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/A-New-Era-for-Space-Exploration-and-Development-07-23-2020.pdf This new policy is so significant that we are shifting our regular production schedule regarding the Lunar Space Elevator Infrastructure to share it with our community. This kind of national policy shift is part of the new ‘adventure’ of building systems for space. Things happen, more quickly, now. It used to take several years for substantive shifts in national policy to work its way down to our level. Lately, these changes are being considered and deliberated (by some very smart people) over the course of a few months, and then enacted. Honestly, it is both refreshing, and it also requires us to modify, occasionally, on our overarching plans. In the case of this new policy, it has wide-ranging implications. This policy will not only affect the United States, and our civil, Defense, and commercial space sector, I believe it will also have impacts on the global space community. There is some new stuff here that will have ripple effects far into the future. Over the weekend, we will dissect this 23-page document and come back, Monday, with some key takeaways. This deep dive into national policy will become a regular feature of our Channel. This stuff matters: all the decisions we make, internally, must be anchored in the reality of Washington DC’s priority matrix. One of the reasons we decided to restart the company was – precisely – because of the international attention that the Moon is getting these days. Stay tuned! Michael Laine President, LiftPort Group Since last week, we’ve been coming to the office at 7:00 am. I like that we can post videos early and for some reason, it feels like we are more productive. On the other hand, I have been sleeping fewer hours and by Friday I did not feel productive any more. I really have to re-program my body to sleep earlier, otherwise, this plan won’t work on me.
This week I have been comfortably using both Linux Mint and Windows, on different partitions. I solved most of the problems but sadly It looks like my Bluetooth mouse has to be unpaired and paired to the laptop every time I change OS. It’s not so difficult but it takes some time. Other than that, I’m pretty happy with my setup. I’m using a more advanced video editing software designed for Windows. It’s definitely more powerful than Kdenlive but it is not as intuitive as I hoped. Not that difficult either, I just have to get used to the new interface. I like that it has so many good features but I hate the very long rendering time. I still can change to other software but I will need a very good reason for that, since this one may be one of the best ones out there. Also, being that we didn’t film more than 2 videos this week, I had the time to work on accounting. I basically finished sorting by year but I know I may have to go back and organize it even more. Michael had a lot of meetings this week. Apparently, many things are happening around the space industry. Could this be the early stage of a global boom or bubble, just like in IT? That would be interesting, we’ll see. Fabio The future is murky. How realistic is it to try to describe a potential future in space? (Just a year ago… how many of you imagined that the world would be encircled by a virus?) So, trying to decide how the future will unfold over the next 15 years is challenging. In this video, LiftPort seeks to showcase who the players are and what they are aiming at. We list the six most significant elements of the newly developing cislunar EconoSphere, and we try to describe, in chronological sequence, how these entwined and mutually supporting technologies will unfold.
In order, they are:
This is the second of two parts of this video. Michael Laine President, LiftPort Group |
AuthorMichael Laine CategoriesArchives
April 2023
Categories |