FASTER, PLEASE: SpaceX making progress on Starship in-space refueling technologies.

Speaking to the NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee April 26, Amit Kshatriya, NASA deputy associate administrator for the Moon to Mars Program, said SpaceX achieved one step towards refueling of Starship with a demonstration on the latest Starship test flight March 14.

During that flight, SpaceX performed an in-flight propellant transfer demonstration under a NASA Tipping Point contract awarded in 2020. SpaceX planned to transfer at least 10 metric tons of liquid oxygen from a header tank to the main tank within the Starship upper stage while in space.

While SpaceX said the day of the flight that it performed the demonstration, neither the company nor NASA provided any updates since then. At the advisory committee meeting, though, Kshatriya said the test appeared to go well.

“On Flight 3, they did an intertank transfer of cryogens, which was successful by all accounts,” he said, adding that analysis of the test is ongoing.

The next major milestone is a demonstration planned for 2025 where two Starships will dock in orbit, with one transferring propellants to the other.

Artemis depends on SpaceX perfecting orbital refueling and, more broadly, getting to the Moon (and Mars) with enough stuff to stay there depends on it, too.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA Astronauts Gear Up for Boeing Starliner’s Groundbreaking Test Flight.

SPACE: Falcon 9 launches Galileo navigation satellites.Falcon 9 launches Galileo navigation satellites.

TO BE FAIR, IF YOU’RE LIVING NEAR GREEN SPACE YOU’RE PROBABLY RICHER: Study suggests that living near green spaces reduces the risk of depression and anxiety.

But it does suggest that advocates of high-density urban living may be in effect advocating for depression and anxiety. Of course, maybe that’s not a bug, but a feature: Neurosis and the Curley Effect.

Reading all of these pieces I’m seeing a story that goes something like this: Depressed, neurotic people (especially single women) are more likely to support Democrats. Democrats support policies and messaging that produce more depressed, neurotic people, especially single women.

Now maybe this is an accident, but maybe it isn’t. Enter the “Curley Effect.” As this Harvard paper notes, “James Michael Curley, a four-time mayor of Boston, used wasteful redistribution to his poor Irish constituents and incendiary rhetoric to encourage richer citizens to emigrate from Boston, thereby shaping the electorate in his favor. As a consequence, Boston stagnated, but Curley kept winning elections. . . . We call this strategy—increasing the relative size of one’s political base through distortionary, wealth-reducing policies—the Curley effect. But it is hardly unique to Curley.”

Making the populace (especially women) more fearful, depressed, and neurotic is undoubtedly bad for societal wealth and happiness. But does it yield votes for Democrats? Clearly yes. Are they doing it on purpose?

Cui bono?

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA seeks help from private companies for expensive Mars Sample Return mission.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Agile Space lands propulsion contract for U.S. Space Force mission.

NOW THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY I WAS PROMISED: SpaceX Starship to Starship Fuel Transfer Test in 2025.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China to launch 3 astronauts to Tiangong space station as Beijing’s lunar plans progress.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s Shenzhou-18 crew arrive at Tiangong space station.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Russia vetoes U.N. resolution on nuclear weapons in space.

The Outer Space Treaty already forbids those, so this is basically a symbolic move on both sides. But to the extent that the Outer Space Treaty’s prohibition is weakening, the prospects for a nuclear Orion spaceship improve.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA will unfurl a 860-square-foot solar sail from within a microwave-sized cube: The highly advanced solar sail boom could one day allow spacecraft to travel without bulky rocket fuel.

SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites, aces 300th rocket landing (photos, video).

Also: Rocket Lab launches new NASA solar sail tech to orbit.

PRETTY IMPRESSIVE TO BE ABLE TO REPAIR A SPACECRAFT THAT IS NEARLY 50 YEARS OLD AND HAS LEFT THE SOLAR SYSTEM: Voyager 1 resumes sending readable status updates after 5 months of repairs.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA officially greenlights $3.35 billion mission to Saturn’s moon Titan.

V’GER AWAKENS AFTER LENGTHY SLUMBER: Voyager-1 sends readable data again from deep space.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA to launch solar sail, navigate space using sunlight.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Why is it so hard to send humans back to the moon?

Prediction: SpaceX will soon make it look easy.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Slovenia signs Artemis Accords. “Slovenia signed the Artemis Accords outlining best practices for sustainable space exploration April 19, the third European country to do so in five days. . . . The Artemis Accords, unveiled in 2020, describe practices that signatory nations should follow in space exploration, building upon the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and related international agreements. They include provisions on transparency and interoperability as well as preservation of space heritage, utilization of space resources and deconfliction of space activities.”

The Accords also recognize the right to engage in commercial extraction of space resources, via mining, etc. I’m delighted that this Trump-era diplomatic initiative continues to flourish.

FASTER, PLEASE: Exodus Propulsion Technologies Claims Huge Space Propulsion Breakthrough.

FROM COMPUTERS: Where do all those colors in space telescope images come from?

SPACE: Constellation of Starlink satellites grows with latest SpaceX launch from Florida.

THEY WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ALONE. THEY WILL LEAVE YOU NO SPACE TO RELAX OR PLAY:  In the Grim Darkness of 2024, There is Only War.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China to leverage growing commercial space sector to launch megaconstellations.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Sweden Signs Artemis Accords.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX Plans Permanent Moonbase.