A selection of recent space policy/politics related links:
- NASA budget:
- Commercial space transport:
- Defense space:
- General
- Industry:
This topic goes under Petty-Astronomer politics: IAU Throws Temper Tantrum Over Mars Craters – Citizens in Space –
Once again: Uwingu is not challenging the IAU’s right to bestow official scientific names. And in the end, IAU is going to look awfully silly. When Mars is settled by human beings, the settlers will bestow their own names on local features (as humans always do). It is those names, not the formal scientific names bestowed by IAU or the informal names sold by Uwingu, that will go down in history books. Many of those will be names that IAU would not approve. There will be names like “Broken Axle Crater” (just as the American West is filled with place names like “Dead Mule Gulch.”). No one will much care what astronomers back on Earth think about them.
Update: Alan Boyle reports on the crater-naming spat : Mars Crater-Naming Campaign Sparks an International Blowup – NBC News.com.
Update 2:
- Space Day Takes Off At State Capitol – WMFE 90.7
- What is China up to in space? – Future Tense – ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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