Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Scaled Composites Plans First Private Space Shot. Scaled Composites, the X-Prize competitor funded by Microsoft mogul Paul Allen, and led by aviation uber-genius Burt Rutan, has scheduled a test flight that, if successful, will be the first space launch in history by the private sector. SpaceShipOne will rocket to 100 kilometers (62 miles) into sub-orbital space above the Mojave Civilian Aerospace Test Center, a commercial airport in the California desert. If successful, it will demonstrate that the space frontier is finally open to private enterprise. This event could be the breakthrough that will enable space access for future generations. This flight won't qualify for the X-Prize since the prize stipulates that you have to take 3 people to space, instead of just one. It is likely, however, a preliminary flight to get ready for a shot at the prize, and the precursor to commercial space travel. One of the reasons that the Mojave Airport is on its way to being licensed by the FTC as the world's first commercial spaceport. We have spaceports now! My jet-pack and flying car must not be far behind! Click here to comment on this entry [Gadgetopia] Unfortunately I got stuck with jury duty that day, or I'd go and watch. 5:15:46 PM    comment () Quote of the day: That truth is simply this: it isn't the Moslems who came to the west to push us around, steal our resources, sneer at our customs and beliefs, depose our leaders and replace them with puppets, reshape our political institutions, or redraw our national borders to suit their own foul purposes. No, that's what we Europeanoids have been doing to them. L. Neil Smith 1:07:15 PM    comment () Padilla Perplex. Everybody's favorite alleged dirty bomber is back in the news. The feds have (finally) (publicly) outlined their case against Jose Padilla, who's accused of scheming with Al Qaeda to plant nuclear devices and blow up other buildings. That knowledge, says the feds, comes from interrogations of him and associates over the past two years while Padilla has been in custody. Why is the government talking about Padilla now? The most likely reason is that the Supreme Court is about to rule on whether it's legal to keep citizens incarcerated indefinitely as "enemy combatants." From one news account: With the Justice Department under pressure to explain its indefinite detention of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant," [Deputy Attorney General James] Comey outlined a series of alleged admissions made by Padilla. He asserted that if Padilla had been handled by the more conventional criminal justice system, he could have stayed silent and "would likely have ended up a free man." The Supreme Court is considering Padilla's challenge to the government's authority to designate U.S. citizens enemy combatants and deny them quick access to lawyers or courts. Padilla's lawyer, Andrew Patel, said the government once again is saying "bad things about" about Padilla without offering a "forum for him to defend himself." He accused the government of making "an opening statement without a trial." [Hit & Run] The Feds' case sounds an awful lot like they tortured Padilla until he confessed to whatever they wanted him to. 11:45:22 AM    comment ()

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