Friday, May 29, 2020

Space Force!

Space Force, the Netflix TV series premieres today.  Looking forward to some levity during these serious times. 


Thursday, May 14, 2020

Space Force!


The Heartland and the Lunar Offset

In recent news, it is purported that a new moon mining treaty may be in the works to set rules for mining resources on the Moon.  The Artemis Accords is another development in a new space race to the Moon.

From a geopolitical perspective, one thesis could be that dominance of the Moon can act as a strategic counterbalance or offset to the eventual integration of the "world-island."

In 1904, Halford Mackinder put forth his Heartland Theory which posits:

Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;
who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island;
who rules the World-Island commands the world."


Thus one aim of American foreign policy at least according to Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former US National Security Advisor, was to prevent dominance of any one nation of the Eurasian land-mass.

Eventual integration and dominance of the world-island may happen at some point in the future which would require strategic counterbalances against the world-island hegemony.  Strategic offsets have largely been technological for the recent past, but can be based on other premise such as control of vital resources.  A Lunar strategic offset is one possible gambit.

If technological breakthroughs such as He3 fusion come to fruition within the next decades, such an effort to mine the moon would pay off handsomely.

Navy Video of UFOs unrelated :) 

Friday, May 1, 2020

Back to the Moon 2024

NASA just announced contracts of the Artemis program to return humans to the moon.


Here are some mission concept videos from Blue Origin and Dynetics.