A Catholic Citizen in America: business

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Friday, April 8, 2016

BEAM Prototype Habitat, Bigelow's Plans

The BEAM Bigelow Aerospace habitat module, will be launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) today: if all goes well.

BEAM is packed in the Dragon spacecraft's unpressurized section. This cargo run also carries supplies for the ISS crew, and for several dozen of the roughly 250 experiments planned for Expeditions 47 and 48. (SpaceX press kit)

After getting attached to the ISS and inflated, BEAM will mostly just sit there for at least two years: empty except when someone in the ISS takes samples and swaps out radiation sensors. I think that's a good idea, since BEAM is testing technology for Bigelow Aerospace rental properties in low Earth orbit.

As I'm writing this, Thursday evening, spacexstats.com says that SpaceX CRS-8 will lift off at 20:43 UTC Friday, April 8, 2016.¹ SpaceX has a webcast at spacex.com/webcast.

Update 00:10 UTC April 9, 2016

The SpaceX first stage landed successfully, and the Dragon spacecraft is on its way to the ISS.

Philosophers and Engineers

(From NASA, used w/o permission.)
(Part of the International Space Station.)

I've mentioned the aeolipiles — steam-powered rocket engines — of Vitruvius and Hero of Alexandria before. (October 10, 2014)

About two millennia later, folks living north of the old Roman imperial frontier learned how to make steam engines that don't explode: at least not often. A little later folks started building spaceships, which raises an interesting point: why didn't Athens build space stations?

I think it has something to do with economics, and a lot to do with attitude.

I agree with folks who say that the ancient Greek upper crust didn't think much of manual labor: that they saw it as something slaves did. Small wonder their philosophers carefully avoided finding practical applications for their theories.

Romans didn't have quite the same delicate sensibilities. They were top-rate engineers, given the limits of their numbering system. Try dividing LCX by XVII some time, and you'll see what I mean.

I gather that Romans often recognized that they weren't as "cultural" as the Greeks: but if a wealthy Roman wanted culture, he could buy a Greek, so that wasn't much of a problem — for the Roman.

On the 'up' side, Roman slaves could earn their freedom and become Roman citizens: an idea the Greeks didn't adopt.

By the way: slavery is a bad idea, and we shouldn't do it.

Having private property is okay, and the universal destination of goods is another topic. But treating humans as property is emphatically not okay It's "...a sin against the dignity of persons...." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2378, 2401-2406, 2414)

After about 19 centuries of reminding folks that loving God, loving neighbors, and seeing everyone as a neighbor² is a good idea, a few countries stopped practicing slavery.

As I've said before, things often take time. Particularly when change means giving up long-established privileges. (July 5, 2015; January 18, 2015)

Where was I? Hero of Alexandria, steam power, Spartacus. Right.

Science, Pure and Otherwise

(From Bigelow Aerospace, used w/o permission.)
("...When fully expanded, the hull thickness will be approximately 0.46m (18in) and offer ballistic protection superior to that currently afforded to ISS. The hull will also feature at least four large UV protection coated windows that will offer unparalleled earth viewing from orbit...."
(Bigelow Aerospace))

I'm a Norwegian-Irish-Scots-American living in the Upper Midwest, so I'm neither ethnically nor geographically "Yankee:" but I think "Yankee ingenuity" is still a defining American trait.

I suspect the trait may be more common among first- and second-generation immigrants than among many 'real' Americans. When folks stop wanting to move to America, then I'll start worrying about my country's future, and that's yet another topic. (November 17, 2015; July 6, 2014)

I'll be talking about the Bigelow Aerospace BEAM module, and what that company may be doing in the next few years. It's an American outfit: but don't get the idea that aerospace enterprises are strictly "American."

I've talked about Reaction Engines Limited's Skylon project before. (May 2, 2014)

The last I heard, the Japanese Rocket Society's Kankoh-maru is still trying to get off the ground, financially and literally.

Starchaser Industries, a British firm, is hoping to get part of the nascent space tourism industry; Zero2infinity, a Spanish company, is developing high-altitude launching platforms; and ISC Kosmotras, an international outfit, is using modified R-36 missiles as satellite launchers.

ISC Kosmotras vehicles got the Bigelow Aerospace Genesis modules into orbit, and I'll get back to that.

We've long since gone past the point where space travel is "pure science," a strictly theoretical affair with no practical applications.

I see that as a good thing, but some have conniptions when business and science intersect.

Sometimes there's a real ethical issue buried under the rant. Sometimes — I'll let the Lemming, an online alter ego, speak for me:

"...The Lemming remembers watching a terribly serious thinker sputtering after the Russian space program launched a satellite.

His problem wasn't that the Russians had practical launch vehicles. He seemed offended because those people had put an advertisement on the rocket. Imagine!! That was an affront to science, apparently.

The Lemming's understanding of the situation was that the Russian space program was short on funds - and sold advertising space on their launch vehicle to help cover expenses. Which, to the Lemming, made sense.

Maybe it would be nice if exploration of space could be a 'pure' pursuit: an occupation of gentlemen; unsullied by mere commercial concerns.

The Lemming doesn't think that's how it's going to happen...."
(Apathetic Lemming of the North (May 16, 2011))

1. BEAM: a Bigelow Aerospace Inflatable Habitat Comes to the ISS

(From Julie Jacobson/AP, via Wired, used w/o permission.)
("Bigelow Aerospace founder and president Robert Bigelow answers questions from members of the media during a news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Las Vegas."
(Wired))

"NASA Is Finally Sending a Hotel Magnate's Inflatable Habitat to the ISS"
Sarah Scoles, Science, Wired (April 4, 2016)

"When humans leave Earth for good, they're going to need somewhere to stay. Somewhere spacious, and safe. Portable, but comfy. Lightweight, but robust to the dangers of space. Something like a big bouncy castle for kids, but built to house astronauts and solar system colonists and tourists looking for an out-of-this-world vacation.

"It sounds like a sci-fi fever dream, but it's becoming reality. On Friday, SpaceX will launch a so-called 'expandable'—a prototype called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module—to the International Space Station. (ISS) It will remain there, attached to the Tranquility module, for two years. Bigelow Aerospace hopes its time in orbit will prove the technology worthy of inhabitants...."

Sarah Scoles did a good job of research, taking readers on a quick tour of inflatable satellites and proposed off-Earth business ventures — including the Echo Mylar balloons, Barron Hilton's Lunar hotel, and a Goodyear inflatable space station.

The hundred-foot-diameter Echo satellites made it into orbit, but the Goodyear prototype didn't. "2001: A Space Odyssey" featured a Hilton hotel in the (fictional) Space Station V, and folks stopped visiting Earth's moon after the Apollo 17 mission.

Scoles' assertion that America's Congress ordered NASA to abandon the TransHab project because "a new, airy space station" would add problems to the over-budget and past-deadline ISS is plausible. Whether or not it's true: I don't know.

Whatever Congress had in mind, "in the 2000 NASA Authorization Act, Congress canceled TransHab. The housing bubble burst," as Scoles put it.

Bigelow Aerospace bought NASA's TransHab patents.

I don't mind a bit: particularly since B.A. actually did something with the research.

Empty, Mostly

(From Bigelow Aerospace, via Wired, used w/o permission.)
(BEAM)

"...For most of its stay, BEAM will be empty, except for the air it shares with the rest of the ISS. 'Currently there is no plan to use the BEAM module as a storage closet,' said Dasgupta. BEAM's empty space should have basically the same internal environment as the rest of the habitat. 'It might be a little cooler,' he said, by which he definitely meant a lot hipper, and also quieter because its walls absorb sound better than the station's metal.

"But four times a year, the station's astronauts will get to actually, you know, inhabit the place—for three hours at a time. With battery-operated flashlights, they will collect data about the module's temperature, pressure, general well-being, and radiation, and switch out radiation sensors. They will also swab samples of surfaces to see what weird life might be growing there, before going back to their regularly scheduled program and habitat.

"The balloon will protrude from the Space Station's side for two years. Then, the robotic arm will swing back around and unhook BEAM, its job complete. Cast into its own decaying orbit, the module will spiral back toward Earth, burning up in the atmosphere 290 days after its ejection...."
(Sarah Scoles, Science, Wired)

Bigelow Aerospace's Genesis I and Genesis II test modules have been orbiting Earth since 2006 and 2007, launched by ISC Kosmotras, a multinational commercial freight service using one-use converted Dnepr rockets.

We're still years — at least — from spaceplanes like Skylon, and I'm drifting off-topic.

Apparently BEAM's two-year scheduled attachment to the ISS is strictly a test of the tech's spaceworthiness.

I figure that keeping BEAM empty except for scheduled maintenance gives researchers 'clean' results: any changes will come from exposure of the outside to near-Earth space, or the inside's exposure to the ISS atmosphere.

Besides, at a tad over 400 kilometers, 250 miles, above Earth's surface; depending on comparatively untested tech isn't the safest option.

The half-dozen folks living and working there have other pressurized modules with a total volume about the same as a Boeing 747's. Considering that much of it is packed with equipment and supplies, it's probably not as spacious as it sounds.

2. Commercial Research in Orbit?

(From Biegelow Aerospace, via The Space Review, used w/o permission.)
("An illustration of Bigelow Aerospace's BEAM module attached to the ISS. While BEAM is a step towards commercial space stations, what types of customers they'll attract remains uncertain."
(The Space Review))

"The challenges of commercializing research in low Earth orbit"
Jeff Foust, The Space Review (April 4, 2016)

"On Friday afternoon, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station, the first resupply mission by the company since a June launch failure. Included in its cargo is the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), an inflatable (or expandable, as Bigelow Aerospace prefers to say) module that will be attached to the station. If all goes as planned, by late May the BEAM will be installed and expanded to its full size, enabling tests of the technology.

"Bigelow is just the latest in a wide range of companies to make use of the ISS for technology demonstration, satellite launches, and research of various types. Bigelow, though, has plans to develop its own space stations as well, and sees BEAM as the next step in those plans.

" 'A free flyer is absolutely a goal of Bigelow Aerospace, and the BEAM, which will be the first time that an astronaut steps inside an expandable habitat, is a very important milestone moving forward towards that vision,' said Mike Gold, director of DC operations and business growth, during a panel session March 30 at the National Academies that was part of a day-long examination of the commercial prospects for activities in low Earth orbit...."

Wikipedia's list of private spaceflight companies has separate lists for "Launch vehicles" and "Crew and cargo transport vehicles.

The former are mostly single-use expendable rockets; although it includes the SpaceX Falcon 9, which has a still-experimental reusable first stage. (December 24, 2015)

The latter includes (now-bankrupt) Rocketplane Kistler's K-1 planned reusable launch vehicle.

I'm not sure what the rationale is for placing vehicles in one or the other of those two lists.

Anyway, that Wikipedia page also lists Space mining and Space manufacturing separately: although Infinite Space Dynamics, Shackleton Energy Company, and Deep Space Industries show up in both. I talked about Deep Space Industries a few years back. (January 25, 2013)

Deep Space Industries' focus is on asteroid mining: which has the advantage of avoiding legal issues rooted in the Outer Space Treaty of 1966.

Shackleton Energy Company may be counting on world leaders to change their minds — or maybe they have really good lawyers. (February 5, 2016)

The Space Review's article focuses on "commercial prospects for activities in low Earth orbit."

Looking Beyond the Lab

(From Stephanie Schierholz/NASA, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) at Bigelow's Las Vegas facility last year (March 12, 2015))

"...What emerged from that discussion is that the technical infrastructure needed for performing research in LEO, particularly by people, is finally coming together. Orbital ATK and SpaceX have vehicles to transport cargo to and from the ISS that can also be used commercially, while Sierra Nevada Corporation is developing its own cargo vehicle that will be ready in a few years. Boeing and SpaceX, meanwhile, are making progress on commercial crew vehicles that are scheduled to make test flights next year. And Bigelow has its B330 modules that the company says will be ready once commercial crew systems enter service.

"What was less clear from that discussion, though, was the demand for those systems: who will want a commercial space station, particularly when the commercial viability of LEO research remains uncertain?

"NASA argues that it is trying to stimulate that demand now on the ISS, with the goal of having sufficient demand to support commercial suppliers by the time the station is retired in the 2020s. 'Private industry is the driver for the development and the sustainment of the supply,' said Sam Scimemi, ISS director at NASA Headquarters, describing the agency's vision for commercialization in LEO.

"The demand for those commercial facilities, Scimemi said, could include NASA, but only as one customer of many at most. 'We expect that the majority of the demand will be private-sector driven,' he said. 'The majority of the NASA focus will be on beyond low Earth orbit.'..."
(Jeff Foust, The Space Review)

I'm not surprised that "the commercial viability of LEO research" is problematical. There's not all that much demand back on Earth, at least not yet.

We didn't have Earth-based research parks until the 1950s. These days we've got hundreds, which sounds like a lot: but that's hundreds total on the planet, including about 170 in North America.

They're generally associated with a previously-existing university: and I'd be astonished if we're within a generation of seeing the first orbital university campus.

My guess is that folks who are "chasing long-held visions of using space not just for research but also for manufacturing" are on the right track.

This is still speculation, but we're discovering that some materials, behave differently in free fall:

"...Current technology indicates that a microgravity environment has enabled researchers to grow three-dimensional tissues that have characteristics similar to body tissues and to produce protein crystals to aid in novel pharmaceutical development...."
("Fields of Research," International Space Station Payload Information Source, via Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

I'd love to give examples of some specific drug that can only be made in low Earth orbit, or another manufacturing process that makes economic sense there. As far as I know, there isn't one. Not today.

"Needs" Change

(From Cmglee, Geo Swan; via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(Orbits of GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Compass (medium earth orbit) satellite navigation system, International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope and Iridium constellation.)

"...'What can we not do without that we have to get from space?' asked Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK's space systems division, about that search for a killer app for LEO research. 'We don't have that yet.'..."
(Jeff Foust, The Space Review)

"What we can not do without" has changed quite a bit since I started noticing things — communications satellites, for example.

The International Telegraph Union became a United Nations specialized agency in 1947. Now we're calling it the International Telecommunication Union, and one of its functions is sorting out disputes between folks who want their satellites in the similar orbits.

I remember when Telstar satellites were experimental, and when a live transatlantic broadcast was international news. We still don't "need" communications satellites: but we certainly notice when a live video feed from another continent isn't as crystal-clear as local coverage.

Weather satellites predate Telstar by a few years. Collecting data from remote areas, and Earth's ocean, helped make weather forecasting a whole lot more reliable than in my 'good old days.'

As with communications satellites, maybe we don't "need" accurate weather forecasts the way we need food and water: but knowing the odds that a tornado is coming is nice.

So is having National Weather Service who aren't afraid to tell us. I really do not miss the 'good old days.' (January 16, 2015)

FAQs

(From NASA, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.)
(BEAM mockup interior (2014))

Like most of the rest of the ISS, Bigelow's BEAM module has no windows: and doesn't need them, since it's there to 'flight test' Bigelow Aerospace inflatable habitat technology.

I'm fascinated by this sort of thing.

Your experience may vary: but if your day won't be complete without a learning more, I put a link list of resources at the end of this post.³

Here's an excerpt from a FAQ I didn't include in that list.

In its packed configuration, the module will measure approximately 8 feet in diameter.
In its expanded configuration, BEAM's internal dimensions provide 565 cubic feet of volume.
BEAM's mass is approximately 3,000 pounds.
BEAM is composed of: two metal bulkheads, an aluminum structure, and multiple layers of soft fabric with spacing between layers, protecting an internal restraint and bladder system. It has no windows.
BEAM will be attached to the aft section of the Tranquility Node on the International Space Station.
BEAM's mission duration is two years.
BEAM is outfitted with various sensors and radiation monitors.
(Source: "BEAM Facts, Figures, FAQs," NASA (July 17, 2015))

3. Robert Bigelow: "Foretastes of the Space Age"

(From Michael Friberg, Bloomberg Businessweek; used w/o permission.)
("A cutaway showing the interior of the Olympus habitat, which has a volume more than double that of the International Space Station"
(Bloomberg Businessweek))

"A Las Vegas billionaire plans to build a real estate empire in space"
Adam Higginbotham, Bloomberg Businessweek (May 2, 2013)

"Robert Bigelow was no more than 9 years old when he heard his first atom bomb explosion. He was upstairs in his bedroom, in a two-story brick house in Las Vegas. There was a low rumble in the early hours of the morning; a bright flash seared the horizon. 'All of a sudden,' Bigelow remembers, 'it lights up like daytime.'...

"...As he grew up in the Las Vegas of the early ’50s—then still a small town—foretastes of the Space Age transfixed him: exotic jet planes screaming overhead from Nellis Air Force Base and stories of UFO sightings recounted by friends and family. At 12, Bigelow decided that his future lay in space travel, despite his limitations. 'I hated algebra,' he says. 'I knew I was no good at it.' So he resolved to choose a career that would make him rich enough that, one day, he could hire the scientific expertise required to launch his own space program. Until then, he would tell no one—not even his wife—about his ultimate goal. It took more than 40 years...."

Robert Bigelow is a few years older than I am, looks quite a few years younger, is a great deal richer. About the latter two: I don't mind.

Folks like him, Jacques Cousteau, Sir Goldsworthy Gurney, and Sir Isaac Newton are among the reasons I do not mind uneven distribution of wealth. As I've said before, being rich or poor is okay. What matters is what we do with our lives. (January 25, 2015; November 16, 2014)

Differences between folks isn't the problem: it's unjust differences. I've talked about the universal destination of goods, social justice, and Beaver Cleaver, before. (January 17, 2016; May 3, 2015)

Bigelow's sometimes called a "hotel magnate," which means that he owns Budget Suites of America: and has been developing hotels, motels and apartments since the late 1960s.

He's talked about hotels in space, maybe because that's likely to spark interest. He also sees other possibilities: like mining Helium-3 on Earth's moon. It's used in cryogenics and MRI machines, and (theoretically) could be used in fusion reactors — eventually.

The ESA and China have been talking about He-3 lunar mining:

"Helium-3 Mining on the Lunar Surface"
Space for Earth, Preparing for the Future, ESA
"China is taking lunar mining seriously"
Frik Els, Mining.com (August 3, 2014)

Maybe that pesky Outer Space Treaty will finally get scrapped. Or ignored.

Space for Rent: Looking at Numbers

(From Michael Friberg, Bloomberg Businessweek; used w/o permission.)
("The B330 can be deployed by multiple launch vehicles and features an architecture designed with modular expansion in mind. A single B330 can be joined in orbit by multiple vehicles, in addition to other B330 and Bigelow Aerospace spacecraft."
(Bigelow Aerospace))

"...Although he'll be quite happy to sell habitats outright to his customers, he points out that for NASA—or the agencies of any other newly budget-conscious nations with ambitions beyond earth's atmosphere—leasing is by far the more affordable option. For only $51.25 million, Bigelow's sales brochure suggests, a client can travel to the Alpha Station and enjoy dominion over 110 cubic meters for 60 days.

" 'The main thing is trying to save them a lot of money on good quality hardware,' he says. Bigelow's intention is to become the first full-service landlord in space. 'Bring your clothes and your money. We provide everything else.'..."
(Adam Higginbotham, Bloomberg Businessweek)

Let's look at the numbers: 110 cubic meters, 60 days, $51,250,000 U.S. dollars. At first glance, that looks like a lot of money: and it is, for someone like me. We're making our own laundry detergent and growing produce out back to make ends meet.

But let's say that I want, or could use, two months in low Earth orbit; and had a company in Ohio with an annual revenue of between $10,000,0000 and $1,000,000,000.

That's a "middle market" company, according to Ohio State University's National Center for the Middle Market.

It's still a lot of money, but at middle market's high end, it'd be very roughly 1/20th of the company's annual revenue.

Let's see how much room that gets me. 110 cubic meters is just over 3,884 cubic feet.

A standard 40-foot intermodal container — that's one of those big metal boxes you see on container ships, railroad flatcars, or hauled by semitrailers — holds 3,040 cubic feet, or 86.1 cubic meters. That's about as much as a really small American studio apartment.

If it was job-related, I can imagine living in something that size for two months: even if equipment and supplies took up much of the volume. Bear in mind that I spend 12 to 14 hours a day at my desk, virtually plugged in to my computer. My idea of 'roomy' and yours may not be the same.

If Mr. Bigelow's "everything else" included air, water, food, power, and basic furniture, that $854.17 per day price tag doesn't seem so extravagant.

I checked, and that 'per day' rate is a bit less than I'd pay for one day at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort (Pennsylvania) Chateau Lafayette Club Suite on a summer weekend or holiday.

I think Bigelow Aerospace may take off: literally and financially.

Even if that company doesn't, I'm quite sure that other folks will continue humanity's old habit of heading for the horizon:

"Reaching for the Stars"
(March 25, 2016)
Particularly
- Rockets in Space: "Absurd?"
- Afterword: "A Planet is the Cradle...."
"Luxembourg and Asteroid Mining"
(February 5, 2016)
Particularly
"Barsoom Development Ltd."
(January 8, 2016)
Particularly
"SpaceX, Mars, and Someday the Stars"
(December 24, 2015)
Particularly
- Faith, Fear, and Being Human
"Harpooning the 'Rubber Duck' Comet; Public Safety — and Space Aliens"
(November 7, 2014)
Particularly
- Science, the International Space Station, and All That

¹ I talked about UTC, 'Earth time,' last year. (July 10, 2015)

Briefly, "UTC" stands for Coordinated Universal Time, an acronym that happened when folks speaking French and English couldn't agree on an acronym.

UTC is based on International Atomic Time: a time standard set by the weighted average of over 400 atomic clocks in more than 50 laboratories at various spots at or near Earth's surface — coordinated by GPS and two-way satellite time and frequency transfer.

² My faith's basic 'to do' list is quite simple. I should love God, love my neighbors, see everyone as my neighbor, and treat others as I'd like to be treated. (Matthew 5:43-44, 7:12, 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31 10:25-27, 29-37; Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1789)

Acting as if that's true: that's what gets hard.

³ Background, far from exhaustive from:

Bigelow Aerospace
- B 330
- BEAM: The Experimental Platform
Wikipedia
- Bigelow Aerospace
- Bigelow Aerospace orbital modules
  - BA 330
  - BA 2100
  - Bigelow Expandable Activity Module
  - Genesis I
    (Launched 2006)
  - Genesis II
    (Launched 2007)
  - International Space Station (ISS)
- Space architecture
- SpaceX
- Docking and berthing of spacecraft
- Dragon 9spacecraft)
- International Space Station
- SpaceX
NASA
- "NASA to Test Bigelow Expandable Module on Space Station"
  Feature, International Space Station (January 13, 2016)
- "American-Made Technology and Innovative Commercial Partnerships Advance Our Journey into the Solar System"
  NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology John P. Holdren; NASA (March 12, 2015)
- "Advanced Exploration Systems" (.pdf)
  NASA Advisory Council, Technology, Innovation, and Engineering Committee (December 4, 2014)

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Starbucks and a Religion of Hope

(From Starbucks, via AP/KOMONews.com, used w/o permission.)

America's presidential campaigns may explain some of this week's sturm und drang:¹

"Outcry, pushback escalate over Starbucks holiday cup flap"
Mae Anderson, AP Business Writer, via KOMONews.com (November 10, 2015)
"Is Starbucks Waging 'War on Christmas'? Red Cup Stirs Controversy"
Sarah Whitten, CNBC (November 10, 2015)
"Starbucks red cup controversy: The view from Chicago"
Greg Trotter, Chicago Tribune (November 10, 2015)

I put a mercifully-brief excerpt from each of those items at the end of this post.²

Hats off to the Chicago Tribune's Greg Trotter, for his "extremely unscientific survey" regarding the latest looming crisis.

Tongue in cheek is, I think, a reasonable attitude toward the Starbuck's holiday coffee cups "controversy."

Interestingly, I haven't heard a peep about the Starbucks Veteran's Day cup, which resembled the Japanese flag, with reversed colors.

Holiday Coffee

(From Starbucks, used w/o permission)

I've read that some Christians are upset because Starbucks didn't take their frangible feelings into account when planning this year's holiday marketing.

A few may even have convinced themselves that the Starbucks logo is Satanic, although that hasn't popped up yet: not as far as I know, anyway.

I remember when Procter & Gamble changed their logo, back in the 1980s. News media had a field day, promoting a rumor that the P&G logo was Satanic.

The notion was (barely) plausible, since Revelation 12:1 mentions "...a woman ... with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars."

Never mind that Revelation 12:1 is a reasonably clear reference to Genesis 37:9: Joseph's dream, where "the sun and the moon and eleven stars" bow to Joseph.

Small wonder his brothers dropped him into a cistern, and that's another topic.

This isn't the first time that loudly-Christian protesters have targeted Starbucks.

Back in 2007, Reverend Billy's Church of Stop Shopping — I am not making that up — marched on Starbucks.

When he's not dressed up like a 1980s televangelist with a dash of 1960s campus activist, Reverend Billy is Bill Talen, a Dutch-American Calvinist from Minnesota.

He's not a typical Christian: or Minnesotan, for that matter.

I don't miss the 'good old days,' when folks living near the crackpot fringe of Christendom could get conniptions over offenses like 'racy' dialog in Otto Preminger's "The Moon is Blue" — and be taken seriously.

I'm drifting off-topic, as usual.

I think Starbucks' holiday coffee cups would have looked better with a thin white border separating it from the red background: but I'm confident that the Starbucks creative staff knows what they're doing.

Besides, I've only seen photos of the Starbucks holiday line: which may not do the cups justice.

Which brings me to Starbuck's absence here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. The closest ones that I know of are in St. Cloud, about an hour's drive from here.

Maybe I should protest Starbuck's "war on Scotland" — since I haven't seen a tartan-patterned cup. Then, if they introduce tartan cups, I could protest because they didn't use the 'right' tartans.

Instead, I'll take a quick look at Starbucks and their holiday products: and then move on to something completely different.

Starbucks Drinkware and Getting a Grip

(From Starbucks, used w/o permission)

Starbucks' holiday take-out coffee cups are fancier than that generic photo at the top of this post: with skaters, snowflakes, and other wintry stuff.

They've got a nice line of "drinkware," too: like the "Red Holiday Mug," holding 16 fluid ounces, and a smaller version of the same thing; each with "2015" on the inside.

A sufficiently-prickly Starbucks patron might take offense at that, claiming that Starbucks thinks he/she doesn't know what year it is.

Me? I think they look nice, although I still think the logo would look better with a white border. But hey, it's Starbucks' logo: and their design decision.

Starbucks has more than 23,000 locations around the world, a bit over half of them in America. It's the biggest coffeehouse business in the world. Not bad for what started as a coffee bean roaster and retailer in Seattle.

They've been involved in assorted controversies over the decades. I don't agree with every decision Starbucks has made: but I think demonizing them is at best a waste of resources.

Reporters, columnists, and editors were still dutifully ringing the changes on the presumed widespread protest on Friday:

"How to Get a Free Starbucks Holiday Beverage This Weekend"
Brad Tuttle, Money, Time (November 13, 2015)
"The real winner in Starbucks red-cup controversy"
Mark Macias, Food and Beverage, CNBC (November 13, 2015)
"God Doesn't Fit In A Red Starbucks Coffee Cup"
William Vanderbloemen, Entrepreneurs, Forbes (November 13, 2015)

So am I, sort of: using Starbucks' holiday marketing as a hook for this post.

But even if I felt bad about Starbucks offering winter-themed products — and I don't — I think fussing about them would make no sense. Looks like I have company:

"...There is no mass outrage over the cups, just a lot of people commenting on the outrageous (nonexistent) mass outrage over the cups."
(Fr. Cory Sticha's comment in a discussion on Google Plus)

And now for something completely different.

Making Sense

I've got free will, so letting emotions run my life is an option: a daft one, but an option nonetheless. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1704-1707, 1730-1738, 1853, 2339)

Emotions are okay, they're part of being human, and that's another topic. (Catechism, 1762-1770)

But I'm human: a creature made of spirit and the stuff of this world, able to think — and decide whether I try to make sense, or not. (Genesis 1:27, 2:7; Catechism, 355-373, 1705-1706)

Sometimes folks don't make sense. Making bad decisions, and dealing with consequences of humanity's long history of bad decisions, "...has something to do with free will." I'll get back to that, in another post.

I won't heap verbal abuse on folks who imply that (all) Christians are angry about red coffee cups, or on folks who follow Reverend Billy's lead. That's because I take our Lord seriously.

" 'Teacher, ²¹ which commandment in the law is the greatest?'

"He said to him, ²² 'You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

"This is the greatest and the first commandment.

"The second is like it: ²³ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

"²⁴ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.' "
(Matthew 22:36-40)

Loving God wasn't a new idea.

"¹ 'Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!

"Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

"Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today.

"Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.

"² Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead."
(Deuteronomy 6:4-8)

Neither was loving neighbors. That's covered in Leviticus 19:13-18.

The idea that everybody is my neighbor is, I think, implicit Psalms 146:9, and Malachi 3:5: "The LORD protects the stranger" and all that.

There's taking metaphor literally, too, and I've discussed tefillin before. (March 8, 2015)

"God's Love Endures Forever"

On the other hand, when Jesus said "this is my body," he didn't follow it up with an explanation, as our Lord had with parables. (Matthew 26:26; Mark 4:13-20)

Instead we get John 6:54-56, and Peter's response:

"...'Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.' "
(John 6:68-69)

That's why I spend an hour each week at the Adoration chapel, about a half-mile north of my house. (August 16, 2015; June 7, 2015; August 26, 2014)

Following our Lord won't guarantee that that I'll get rich, have no troubles, or be giddy all the days of my life. But I'd rather be 'in the shadow of God's wings,' than anywhere else.

"³ LORD, your love reaches to heaven; your fidelity, to the clouds.

"Your justice is like the highest mountains; your judgments, like the mighty deep; all living creatures you sustain, LORD.

"⁴ How precious is your love, O God! We take refuge in the shadow of your wings. "
(Psalms 36:6-8)

"...God's love endures forever...."
(In all 26 verses of Psalms 136)

"Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law."
(Romans 13:10)

"⁵ So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
(1 Corinthians 13:13)

"For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' ¹²"
(Galatians 5:14)

I think Paul's letter to Christians in Rome includes a pretty good reminder. (October 18, 2015)

"What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?...

"...For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, ⁹ nor future things, nor powers,

"nor height, nor depth, ¹⁰ nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 8:35, 38-39)

So is what Benedict XVI said a few years back:

"...He restored to Christianity its true face as a religion of hope, to be lived in history in an 'Advent' spirit, in a personal and communitarian existence directed to Christ, the fullness of humanity and the fulfillment of all our longings for justice and peace...."
("Beatification of the Servant of God John Paul II," Benedict XVI (May 1, 2011))

Popes John XXIII John Paul II were recognized as Saints a few years later. (April 27, 2014)

"God's love endures forever," but until the day mentioned Revelation 21:3-4 comes, with "no more death or mourning, wailing or pain" — we have work to do.

I'll be back, later today, with my take on what's been happening in France.

More of my take on what's important, and what's not:

"Life, Death, and Love"
(November 1, 2015)
Particularly
"Family, Firsts, and Francis: also Trading Cards"
(September 20, 2015)
Particularly
"The 'Communist Crucifix' and Other Offbeat Gifts"
(July 19, 2015)
Particularly
"Sex, Satan, and Me: Getting a Grip"
(July 12, 2015)
Particularly
"Fire, Brimstone, and Lollipop Faith"
(March 15, 2015)
Particularly

¹ "Sturm und Drang" (literally "Storm and Drive", "Storm and Urge", but usually translated as "Storm and Stress") — a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music in the late 1760s to early 1780s. The idea was giving free expression to individual subjectivity, particularly extremes of emotion. Sturm und Drang was, I understand, a reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements. Almost exactly two centuries later, we went through the same thing again, for roughly the same reasons.

² From Tuesday's news and views:

"Outcry, pushback escalate over Starbucks holiday cup flap"
Mae Anderson, AP Business Writer, via KOMONews.com (November 10, 2015)

"It's as red as Santa's suit, a poinsettia or your neighbor's ugly Christmas sweater. Yet Starbucks' stark new holiday coffee cup has set off complaints that the chain is making war on Christmas.

"The outcry - which gained in intensity after Donald Trump suggested boycotting the coffee chain - illustrates the fine line companies must walk during the all-important holiday season: They want to stand out from their competitors, but not go so far as to offend or unsettle.

" 'The challenge is that the holiday language is same for everything,' said Allen Adamson, founder of BrandSimple Consulting. 'Everyone does it, so how do you do it in a way that's distinctive? If you push too far with distinctiveness, you might end up ruffling feathers.'..."

"Is Starbucks Waging 'War on Christmas'? Red Cup Stirs Controversy"
Sarah Whitten, CNBC (November 10, 2015)

"For Starbucks, the annual reveal of their 'red cup' is meant to signify that the holiday season is approaching. Instead, it's stirring up controversy.

"The iconic red cup has featured several winter-themed designs since it first appeared in 1997. From minimalist snowflakes and hand-drawn reindeer to a winking snowman and decorative ornaments, each year the design is distinctive and different from the last....

"Starbucks red cup controversy: The view from Chicago"
Greg Trotter, Chicago Tribune (November 10, 2015)

"Chicagoans will not be denied their chance to weigh in on the Great Starbucks Red Cup Controversy of 2015, or whatever Twitter is calling it at the moment.

"In an extremely unscientific survey conducted Tuesday on Michigan Avenue, red cup-wielding Chicago-area residents and visitors responded to the coffee giant's plain red cup with laughter, some shrugging and a fair amount of disbelief that a leading presidential candidate had actually called for a Starbucks boycott.

"In case you don't spend your days scrolling social media, here's a quick recap: Some Christians feel Starbucks' red holiday cup is anti-Christmas because it's lacking holiday-themed adornment. At a political rally in Springfield on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called for a boycott of the coffee maker. (To be clear, this is separate from Trump's earlier boycott of Oreos.)..."

Friday, October 3, 2014

Sagittarius B2, Water, and Asteroid Mining

Scientists have found a complex organic molecule near this galaxy's core; and water vapor in a planet's atmosphere, some 122 light-years away. Closer to home, America's Congress is deliberating on a bill that could allow asteroid mining: if other nations don't get conniptions.

As usual, I'll explain why I think being human is okay. If you've been here before, feel free to skip to "Organic Molecules in Sagittarius B2," click to something else online, take a coffee break, or whatever.

Pillars Beneath Earth and NASA

While doing time in college, a fellow-student informed me that the sun goes around Earth, not the other way around — because Joshua 10:12-13 says so. He may have been sincere, but I'm pretty sure he's wrong.

Oddly enough, I've yet to run into someone who seriously believes that Earth is flat, supported by pillars, as described in Job 9:6-7. I suspect that long distance telephone service to antipodal regions helped dispel that idea.

But if I assumed that certain parts of the Bible, like those verses in Job, were word-for-word true, exactly as a literal-minded American would read them: I'd have to believe Earth is flat.

If that were true, communications satellites would be hard to explain, space probes would have been crashing into the firmament, and a vast conspiracy would have been keeping 'the truth' from us. That seems — unlikely, to say the least.

I'll grant that I've never kept heading west until I circumnavigated the globe. My overland travels never took me beyond North America's west coast, and I've never actually seen places like New York City. For all I know, the world may end a few miles west of California. But again: that seems unlikely.

"Frequent Reading of the Divine Scriptures"

I take the Bible, Sacred Scriptures, very seriously. As a Catholic, I have to. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 101-133)

I also have to read the Bible, frequently:

"The Church 'forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.¹¹²"
(Catechism, 133)

That doesn't mean that I must believe that the Bible is a science textbook, written by someone with the viewpoint of a metaphor-challenged contemporary American. This is one of the best short descriptions of the Bible that I've seen:

"...Know what the Bible is – and what it isn't. The Bible is the story of God's relationship with the people he has called to himself. It is not intended to be read as history text, a science book, or a political manifesto. In the Bible, God teaches us the truths that we need for the sake of our salvation...."
("Understanding the Bible," Mary Elizabeth Sperry, USCCB)

God Thinks Big

I'm not upset at the idea that God thinks big, and apparently is not limited by the imagination of ancient Mesopotamians.

I also think that faith and reason, religion and science, get along fine: or should. (Catechism, 39, 159, 286)

Trying to replace faith with science, pleasure, or anything else, is idolatry: and a very bad idea. (Catechism, 2112-2114)

As I've said before, I'd be impressed if God's creation was a tidy little affair, a few thousand miles across and no more than a few millennia old. As it is: I'm really impressed. (September 21, 2014)

"The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos, the development of life-forms and the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator, prompting us to give him thanks for all his works and for the understanding and wisdom he gives to scholars and researchers"
(Catechism, 283) [emphasis mine]

Wondering how things began and where we're headed is part of being human. Learning about God's universe is what we're supposed to do. (Catechism, 282-289, 2293)

1. Organic Molecules in Sagittarius B2

(From Alma, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)

"Complex organic molecule found in interstellar space"
Michael Eyre, BBC News (September 26, 2014)

"Scientists have found the beginnings of life-bearing chemistry at the centre of the galaxy.

"Iso-propyl cyanide has been detected in a star-forming cloud 27,000 light-years from Earth.

"Its branched carbon structure is closer to the complex organic molecules of life than any previous finding from interstellar space.

"The discovery suggests the building blocks of life may be widespread throughout our galaxy.

"Various organic molecules have previously been discovered in interstellar space, but i-propyl cyanide is the first with a branched carbon backbone...."

Iso-propyl cyanide isn't "organic" the way kumquats grown nothing but soil, manure, water, and sunlight, and are organic. In this context, "organic" means "of, relating to, or derived from living organisms;" or chemistry of or designating carbon compounds. (www.thefreedictionary.com)

Scientists found iso-propyl cyanide in Sagittarius B2, one of the largest molecular clouds in the Milky Way galaxy, and the largest one near our galaxy's core. It's about 150 light-years across, has around 3,000,000 times as much mass as our sun, and is one of the galaxy's major 'star factories.'

"...Life Somewhere Else in the Galaxy?..."

"...The branched structure is important as it shows that interstellar space could be the origin of more complex branched molecules, such as amino acids, that are necessary for life on Earth.

"Dr Arnaud Belloche from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy is lead author of the research, which appears in the journal Science.

" 'Amino acids on Earth are the building blocks of proteins, and proteins are very important for life as we know it. The question in the background is: is there life somewhere else in the galaxy?'..."
(Michael Eyre, BBC News)

We're starting to understand how hydrogen gets converted into every other element, and how stars and planets form.

In places like Sagittarius B2, radiation from newly-formed stars heats microscopic dust grains in the cloud: apparently causing chemical reactions that end in complex molecules like iso-propyl cyanide. And, maybe, given time and the right circumstances: life.

I've talked about secondary causes, life, the universe, and getting a grip, before. (July 15, 2014; December 6, 2013)

I don't think that there is life on other planets, or that there is not life on other planets. Right now, we don't know.

If we don't find life elsewhere in the universe, my guess is that there will be: as soon as we get out there, and decide that having other "Earths" would be a good idea. We're finding the raw materials, everything we need for terraforming, throughout the galaxy. And that's another topic. (October 11, 2014)

Meanwhile, I won't say that there can't be life on other worlds. That'd be as silly as claiming other worlds can't exist because Aristotle said so. (February 23, 2014)

Background:

2. HAT-P-11b Weather Report: Sunny, Hot, Traces of Water Vapor

(From NASA/JPL-Caltech, via NASA, used w/o permission.)
("A Neptune-size planet with a clear atmosphere is shown crossing in front of its star in this artist's depiction. Such crossings, or transits, are observed by telescopes like NASA's Hubble and Spitzer to glean information about planets' atmospheres."
(NASA))

"Water Vapor Found on Small, Cloudless, Hot Planet"
Mary Beth Griggs, Smithsonian Magazine (September 25, 2014)

"NASA announced yesterday that water vapor had been detected on exoplanet HAT-P-11b

"NASA announced yesterday that a team of astronomers had detected water vapor on one small planet about the size of Neptune. The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Nature, were able to detect water vapor in the atmosphere of planet HAT-P-11b by looking at the changes in light as it passed in front of its star. They used the Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler telescopes for observations.

"As the BBC reports, this is the smallest planet whose atmosphere has been analyzed with this method. Previously, the method was applied only to large gas giants, the size of Jupiter. Smaller planets weren't large enough or had too many clouds to get good observations. Because HAT-P-11b had a clear, cloudless atmosphere, they were able to get a good look at the composition of the atmosphere: it's 90 percent hydrogen, with a good amount of water vapor thrown in...."

HAT-P-11b is another name for Kepler-3b, a roughly Neptune-diameter planet about 122 light-years away in the general direction of Deneb. A NASA press release calls it a "a warm world thought to have a rocky core and gaseous atmosphere."

"Warm" in this case is an understatement, or maybe a euphemism. Instruments indicate that HAT-P-11b's temperature is around 878 Kelvin, or about 605 Celsius/1,121 Fahrenheit. That's very roughly midway between the melting points of lead and iron.

HAT-P-11b is not, by any stretch of the imagination, 'Earth-like.'

But this is the first time that scientists have detected molecules in the atmosphere of a planet this close to having Earth's mass.

Seeking Clear Skies, Water, Oceans, and — Maybe — Life

(From NASA/JPL-Caltech, via NASA, used w/o permission.)
("Scientists were excited to discover clear skies on a relatively small planet, about the size of Neptune, using the combined power of NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes."
(NASA))

"NASA Telescopes Find Clear Skies and Water Vapor on Exoplanet"
Felicia Chou, Whitney Clavin, Donna Weaver, Ray Villard, Michele Johnson; NASA press release (September 24, 2014)

" 'This discovery is a significant milepost on the road to eventually analyzing the atmospheric composition of smaller, rocky planets more like Earth,' said John Grunsfeld, assistant administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. 'Such achievements are only possible today with the combined capabilities of these unique and powerful observatories.'

"Clouds in a planet's atmosphere can block the view to underlying molecules that reveal information about the planet's composition and history. Finding clear skies on a Neptune-size planet is a good sign that smaller planets might have similarly good visibility...

"...Part of the challenge in analyzing the atmospheres of planets like this is their size. Larger Jupiter-like planets are easier to see because of their impressive girth and relatively inflated atmospheres. In fact, researchers already have detected water vapor in the atmospheres of those planets. The handful of smaller planets observed previously had proved more difficult to probe partially because they all appeared to be cloudy....."

Scientists found water in HAT-P-11b's atmosphere using a technique called transmission spectroscopy. It's related to absorption spectroscopy, another phrase you're not likely to hear every day. Here's how NASA describes it:

(From NASA/ESA/STScI, via NASA, used w/o permission.)
("A plot of the transmission spectrum for exoplanet HAT-P-11b, with data from NASA's Kepler, Hubble and Spitzer observatories combined. The results show a robust detection of water absorption in the Hubble data. Transmission spectra of selected atmospheric models are plotted for comparison."
(NASA))

"...a planet is observed as it crosses in front of its parent star. Starlight filters through the rim of the planet's atmosphere; if molecules like water vapor are present, they absorb some of the starlight, leaving distinct signatures in the light that reaches our telescopes...."
(NASA press release)

The vertical lines above and below each "Data" dot show how high or low the actual data might be, with the dot showing what the scientists' instruments say.

Now that they've found indications of water vapor in HAT-P-11b's atmosphere, scientists will be using similar techniques on smaller exoplanets, including super-Earths. They've got a good chance of detecting water vapor and other molecules.

Finding evidence of oceans and life: that will take longer.

More about HAT-P-11b:

HAT-P-11b
Wikipedia
"Water Vapor Found on Neptune-size Alien Planet"
Nola Taylor Redd, LiveScience (September 24, 2014)

3. Asteroid Mining: Water and Law

(From Thinkstock, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(An imaginary scene:today's industrial equipment in a multiple star system.)

"The companies vying to turn asteroids into filling stations"
Debbie Siegelbaum, BBC News (September 25, 2014)

"Private companies want to mine asteroids for fuel, and build filling stations in space. A bill now in front of the US Congress would help by allowing them to own what they discover - but it might, if passed, meet stiff international opposition.

"Chris Lewicki is trying to get water from a stone. A really big stone thousands of miles from Earth.

"The president of space mining firm Planetary Resources used to oversee robotic Mars missions at Nasa, but today he's betting big on asteroids.

"The chunks of matter hurtling through the cosmos are rich in valuable minerals, he says, but finding water could be like striking liquid gold.

" 'We can tell from telescopes that look out from mountaintops here on Earth that certain types of asteroids can be relatively abundant in water and water-bearing minerals,' he says...."

Back in my 'good old days,' I thought the Outer Space Treaty of 1966 was well-intentioned, idealistic, and monumentally impractical.

Saying that space exploration should be "for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of all mankind" sounds good.

One problem is that one of the world's hundred-plus national leaders may think that any action he didn't order is a plot against his regime.

Then there are tightly-wound scientists who disdain any association with businesses, folks who dislike anything American, and others who still yearn for a 'worker's paradise.'

A few may even think a return to the 'good old days' of the 19th century is possible: and desirable. I'm not one of them.

For one thing, we can't go back. Time and change don't work that way.

For another: we learned why full-bore laissez-faire capitalism is a bad idea in the 19th century; and were learning why communism doesn't work in the 20th. Actually, I think communism would work: with people designed along the lines of naked mole rats, ants, or termites. In a society where the citizens are human, not so much.

The point is that we learned, and continue to learn.

(Cautious) Optimism

(From Planetary Resources, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
(Planetary Resources' highly-optimistic infographic about "a modern day gold rush.")

Debbie Siegelbaum's article says that although Earth's moon may be off-limits for commercial operations, asteroids may not be covered by the four-decade-old treaty. She may be right.

In any case, I'm pretty sure that in the short term — the next few generations — legal and political wrangling over how folks should live and work in space will provide employment for lawyers, politicos, and bureaucrats.

I'm also pretty sure that we'll develop laws and customs allowing common-sense use and conservation of natural resources we find wherever we go: eventually.

But when the 1966 Outer Space Treaty is as old as the Code of Ur-Nammu is today — we'll probably still be sorting out tangles left by the previous generation's lawmakers.

I'm quite confident that they won't be the same tangles we have today. We have, over the eight millennia or so of written history, been learning from past mistakes. The pace has been frustratingly slow: but I think we have been making progress. (May 6, 2012)

Before getting to why 'water mines' would be so important: I agree with Luigi Taparelli. I think capitalist and communist theories don't pay enough attention to ethics, and I talked about that last Sunday. (September 28, 2014)

Thar's Water in Them Thar Asteroids!

(From AFP, via BBC News, used w/o permission.)
("A graphic shows Japan's planned launch of Hayabusa-2 to retrieve samples from asteroid 1999 JU3"
(BBC News))

"...But why is water, which covers much of our planet, so valuable in space?

"According to Lewicki, it currently costs nearly $2bn (£1.2bn) per year to launch enough water - six tons per person - to sustain the six astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

"But, in addition to providing drinking water, H20 can also be converted into breathable air, and into fuel - liquid hydrogen and oxygen form the most efficient rocket fuel known to man...."
(Debbie Siegelbaum, BBC News)

Liquid hydrogen and oxygen are a very efficient rocket fuel. But whether they're the "most efficient" depends on definitions.

For example, magnetohydrodynamics thrusters (MPDT) have — theoretically — specific impulses three times today's xenon-based ion thrusters, and 25 times that of liquid-fuel rockets. Much of that tech is still in the research and development stage, though.

Even further from practical applications — we know the physics involved in beamed core antimatter rocket motors: but haven't developed the technologies needed. Yet.

My guess is that we're decades, not centuries, from tech like MPDT. Beamed core rocket motors may take longer. Or not.

In 1903, when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published his work, we couldn't build interplanetary spaceships. today some folks are wondering when we'll go back to the moon. (May 17, 2013; Apathetic Lemming of the North (October 26, 2012))

By 2123, the first warp drive may be going through flight testing: or maybe not. And that is yet another topic. (May 24, 2013)

More of why I accept reality:

"Scientific Discoveries: an Invitation to 'Even Greater Admiration'"
(September 21, 2014)
Particularly
- Truth Cannot Contradict Truth
"Tunguska and Chelyabinsk Airbursts: Risk, Rocks, and Readiness"
(November 8, 2013)
Particularly
"Asteroids, NASA, Congress, and Quarks"
(June 21, 2013)
Particularly
- The Jor-El Lesson
"Fusion Power, Terraforming, and Old Dutch Windmills"
(October 11, 2013)
Particularly
"Love, Technology, and Being Human"
(October 6, 2013)
Particularly

Marian Apparition: Champion, Wisconsin

Background:

• "Worthy of belief" Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin
• "Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy. Principles and Guidelines," 15; Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Vatican City (December 2001)
• "Basic Information on Apparitions, Diocese of Green Bay
- (Archived from (www.gbdioc.org/images/stories/Evangelization_Worship/Shrine/Documents/Basic-Information-on-Apparitions.pdf on December 8, 2010)
Catechism of the Catholic Church on:
- • Life as a pilgrimage, 1013
- • Pilgrimages and prayer, 2691

Posts in this blog:

• "Apparition of Mary, Champion, Wisconsin: A Pilgrimage? Not for Me" (April 10, 2011)
• "Wisconsin Apparitions Okay: Champion, Wisconsin: Not Necedah" (December 8, 2010)

In the news:

• "Wisconsin chapel approved as first US Marian apparition site" Benjamin Mann, CNA (Catholic News Agency) (December 9, 2010)

What's That Doing in a Nice Catholic Blog?

From time to time, a service that I use will display links to - odd - services and retailers.

I block a few of the more obvious dubious advertisers.

For example: psychic anything, numerology, mediums, and related practices are on the no-no list for Catholics. It has to do with the Church's stand on divination. I try to block those ads.

Sometime regrettable advertisements get through, anyway.

Bottom line? What that service displays reflects the local culture's norms, - not Catholic teaching.

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