January 7, 2018

This Is How China Is Slowly Creeping into Latin America (Source: National Interest)
China and the United States are engaging in a global rivalry that echoes the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This time, it is a struggle for influence in global markets. Latin America is the scene of China’s latest offensive. It has captured Latin American imaginations with tantalizing promises of partnerships in space technology. The launch of a third satellite for Venezuela last month is only the most recent example of longtime U.S. space partners being courted by Beijing.

Much like other markets, China is vying for influence and market share through government subsidies for its space program that have trickled down into their activities abroad. Through state-owned entities like the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, the Chinese government has been forging space partnerships in Latin America for decades. The country began its efforts in the 1980s, with the creation of the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites (CBERS). The two countries have also participated in BRIC bloc space cooperation. In Venezuela, the Chinese space connection dates back to 2008 with the launch of the Venesat-1 communications satellite. Click here. (12/28)

Sell Spaceport America for $1 and Let Experts Operate It (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Spaceport America - our spaceport - is a problem for us. It has cost over $220 million and counting so far, but has returned virtually nothing on that investment. I agree with Dan Hicks, the current spaceport director, who says that our spaceport must become competitive with 10 currently licensed spaceports around the country, and many others around the world, if it is to have a future.

He estimates the cost to reach that level of capability at about $7 billion. Remember, so far we have built an airport - huge runway and hangar for Virgin Galactic’s White Knight aircraft - with minimal ability to handle vertical launch vehicles, which is where the future lies, according to Mr. Hicks. He looks past Virgin Galactic, to the day when Spaceport America is the equivalent of Cape Canaveral, launching astronauts and satellites into space on a regular basis.

The vision is wonderful, the cost and the risk are staggering. The successful in this business in the future will be private industry, and to those with the vision and the resources to carry it off. There are possibilities for our spaceport to become successful, in the arena with many others and at the scale Mr. Hicks foresees, but I believe that can happen only if it is owned, operated and funded by private industry. The state lacks the required expertise, the funding, and the ability to react to changing developments in the future. (1/6)

John Young, Astronaut Who Grew Up in Orlando, Dies at 87 (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
As John Young readied for launch of Gemini 3 in March of 1965, he displayed a calm that would become one of his best-known characteristics. Biometric data showed his heartbeat was normal, according to Bob Sieck, whose job was to monitor astronauts’ heart rates, among other things. NASA officials announced Saturday that Young, a legendary astronaut who grew up in Orlando, walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, died Friday following complications of pneumonia at his home in Houston. He was 87. (1/6)