Update no.995

 Update from the Sunland

No.995

1.2.21 – 7.2.21

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

            To all,

 

SpaceX is apparently feeling the frustration of educating the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  Some sources indicate SpaceX may have violated their SN8 launch license, prompting an investigation probably with respect to why?  Neither the FAA nor SpaceX have offered any details or information.  The dust-up as repeatedly delayed the launch of SN9, so much so that SN10 is already on the adjacent pad.  A week ago, Thursday, Elon Musk aired his frustration when he tweeted:

Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure.

Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars.

11:43 AM · Jan 28, 2021

At 14:25 [S] CST, Tuesday, 2.February.2021, the SpaceX SN9 Starship flight test vehicle launched successfully, flew to an altitude of approximately 10 km, hovered for a few seconds, and then belly flopped to its horizontal descent attitude.  All went well until the vehicle’s tried to transition to its erect landing attitude.  One of the two engines required for landing failed to light properly.  The video show one of the two required engines successfully lit off.  The second engine sputters and burps numerous times as it continued attempting to relight.  SN9 failed to erect itself and impacted the ground on its side.  The vehicle broke up and the remaining fuel exploded.

As an old fart, retired, armchair engineer, I am a little surprised they did not have contingency software to use the 3^rd engine to replace the 2^nd failed engine with sufficient thrust margin to compensate for a late start, or potentially use all three engines at appropriately reduced thrust to allow quicker compensation for a failed engine.  Unfortunately, in this instance, the 3^rd engine was just along for the ride and a wasted asset.  Without the 2^nd engine fully functional, the vehicle had insufficient control power to erect itself for landing.  The effort to erect itself produced an even higher sink rate resulting in the break-up of the craft at impact with the ground.  On the positive side, they hit the landing pad.  When they look at the data, I am certain the engineers will determine the root cause of the 2^nd engine failure to successfully relight.  I am confident SpaceX will learn from this failure and improve the system.

Physics is a beautiful science.  Why the required 2^nd engine failed to relight remains the salient question?

SN10 is on the pad, being prepared for launch and the next flight test.  How the SN8 and SN9 failures will affect subsequent flight tests is yet to be made public.

 

I do not usually offer book reviews in this forum, as most folks do not care what I read or what I think about what I read, and I respect that reality.  I used to publish a “Books I’ve Read” section on my website, but I do not recall ever receiving a comment, contribution, or opinion, so I dropped it (along with other sections, e.g., movies).  That said, in this edition, I shall make an exception to the rule.

 I recently finished an important non-fiction book that I strongly recommend to anyone who is interested in such topics and especially to those among us who are Holocaust deniers or QAnon believers—“Masters of Death – The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust” by Richard Rhodes, published by Vintage Books (2007).  The book is available in both print and digital formats as you may choose.  I must say that the topic is not for the faint of heart.

One important assessment provided by the author has applicability to contemporary politics.  In trying to understand the genesis of Nazism, he draws comparison to other autocratic systems, namely Soviet Communism and Chinese Communism.  All of them have commonality not least of which is they all murdered millions of people—dissenter, non-believers, and other not to their liking.  They also parasitically commandeered the full resources of a modern nation-state or co-opted instruments of state to its will and ideology.  The [person who shall no longer be named] tried mightily to do just that as well compromise the independent democratic agencies like the press and medical establishments.

The [person who shall no longer be named] did not cause the COVID19 virus, so we cannot say he murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens.  However, his laissez-faire response and cavalier attitude toward the pandemic caused the virus to spread far wider and far deeper than it might have otherwise been.  He did not cause the deaths of nearly half a million American citizens so far, but he sure as hell contributed to their deaths.  He deserves to be remembered by history for that outcome – half a million people dead all for his very tepid action.

 

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on and passed H.Res.72 - Removing a certain Member from certain standing committees of the House of Representatives [House: 230-199-0-2(4)].  The “certain Member” that was the object of H.Res.72 was Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia—the female version of the [person who shall no longer be named].  I wanted to use a descriptor that was far more vulgar and profane, however, my gentlemanly restraint compelled me to withdraw my less than gentlemanly preferred choice of words.  Eleven Republicans voted with the majority and against the BIC-Party line.  They were:

Mario Rafael Díaz-Balart Caballero of Florida,

Brian Kevin Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania,

Carlos Antonio Gimenez of Florida,

Christopher L. ‘Chris’ Jacobs of New York,

John Michael Katko of New York,

Young Oak Kim, née Choe, of California,

Adam Daniel Kinzinger of Illinois,

Nicole Malliotakis of New York,

Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida,

Christopher Henry ‘Chris’ Smith of New Jersey,

Frederick Stephen ‘Fred’ Upton of Michigan.

Greene has offered all sorts of really lame excuses to justify her extreme opinions.  As a private citizen, she is entitled to say what she wishes as long as no one or anything is harmed or damaged.  Unfortunately for her, she chose to run for and was duly elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a consequence, she assumed the mantle of the House.  Her words reflect upon the House of which she is but one member.  Apparently, she does not understand Article I, Section 6, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution; she is feeling a hard lesson on constitutional law.  I doubt she will learn or modify her behavior, because as a disciple of the [person who shall no longer be named], she cannot possibly be wrong, or need to apologize or change.

Several different news organizations interviewed voters in the Georgia 14^th District that Greene represents to appreciate why they voted to elect a QAnon mouthpiece over a respected medical doctor.  Several of those interviewed said, “We wanted to throw a grenade in the room.”  Well, they accomplished their objective, and we are left with the consequences.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.994:

“Thanks Cap- some interesting comments supporting the person we don’t mention-I guess he perhaps is typical of those supporters?  But then, hey, that’s the function of democracy.”

My reply:

Yes, they are.  The [person who shall not be named] is a symptom of a very serious societal problem.  He is/was not the cause—never was.  His conduct and personality flaws accentuated and amplified the problem like pouring petrol on smoldering embers.  The flames roared to life and raged.  The insurrection of the 6^th of January was one of many consequences.  There are many contributing aspects of the root problem, including but limited to distrust of government, dissatisfaction with the service of government, convulsions of a declining minority, and the intransigence of desperation.  Swirled into this odd admixture are factors like frustration with the impingement of the federal (and other levels of) government on our freedom of choice and fundamental right to privacy.  We have allowed government to intrude upon our private lives for decades and a growing number of people are lashing out—often at the wrong cause.  Yes, democracy is not pretty . . . kinda like making sausage.  No one wants to watch how them make sausage, but more folks sure do enjoy sausage.

 

Comment to the Blog:

“As much as I’d like to see King Baby impeached, convicted and barred from further office-holding, I have higher hopes for the civil and criminal legal systems than for Congress.  In the meantime, three Republican Senators have decided not to run again in 2022.  Also, Senator Grassley is 87 years old and counting.  Nancy Pelosi is not aging especially well, either.

“I’m glad you’re back in your study and on the equipment that works best for you.  Actual winter weather has arrived here, late but still unwelcome.  I’m prepared for it.  I have acquired an actual desktop computer, but the logistics of desk space, cabling, etc., have me back on the old reliable Linux laptop.”

My response to the Blog:

I am with you.  The [person who shall not be named] {AKA King Baby} deserves to add to his list of firsts by being the first president convicted under impeachment and prohibited from holding any public office.  However, as you note, an impeachment conviction is not likely.  Like you, I remain hopeful that criminal indictments, charges, trials, convictions, and imprisonment for the [person who shall not be named] are looming.

Yeah, we have seen the weather reports.  I do not envy winter in the east.  I am so glad you are prepared for winter weather.  I hope you get your desktop up and running soon.  Laptops are essential for some circumstances, but a big desktop (as I am using at the moment) are so much easier and convenient for a writer and author.

 

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)