October 21, 2026

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Russia Just Did Something Menacing in Orbit That Satellite Trackers Say Is a First.

Russia has drawn renewed scrutiny following a series of reportedly unprecedented orbital maneuvers, in which one of its government-owned satellites operated in extreme proximity to a U.S.-operated satellite, highlighting growing concerns over the risks of confrontation in space.

The Russian satellite, designated Cosmos 2612, carried out a series of close-proximity maneuvers toward ICEYE-X36, a U.S.-registered commercial radar-imaging satellite, between October 15 and 19, based on data by space-tracking company LeoLabs. Cosmos 2612 spent two days at a close proximity of less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) with ICEYE-X36 before moving away to 62 miles (100 kilometers), according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who tracks ongoing space activities.

Experts deemed it an unprecedented proximity operation and potentially dangerous, yet the intent behind it remains unclear. The ICEYE-X36 satellite is believed to be providing synthetic aperture radar imagery to Ukraine, according to Breaking Defense.

There’s plenty going on on the ground, too:

Buckle up.

Posted at 3:50 pm by Stephen Green

SPACEX JUST HAD A YUGE QUARTER:

Posted at 3:34 pm by Stephen Green

RABBI MICHAEL BARCLAY: Iran Restarts Its Blustering, and Israel Is Ready. “Three Iranian officials told Reuters early on Tuesday that Iran is deliberately dragging out talks with the United States specifically in an attempt to politically weaken President Donald Trump and his supporters ahead of the November midterm elections. They also said, ‘Iran is preparing for renewed attacks from Israel and the United States, not for an agreement to end the war.'”

Previously: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from 40 years of serious history nerd-dome, it’s that nothing beats a speedy victory. Time gives the other guy room to adapt, move, reload, or just learn to deal with the damage. It also gives them opportunities to stir up distractions — like the current Houthi offensives at sea and against Saudi Arabia.”

Posted at 3:19 pm by Stephen Green

NOW THIS IS MORE LIKE THE 21ST CENTURY I WAS PROMISED: A supercomputer is about to launch to the moon for the 1st time, aboard a rover named FLIP.

Later this year, Astrolab will launch its uncrewed moon rover FLIP to the lunar south pole as part of the Griffin Mission 1, or Griffin-1. The California company is one of two that NASA has selected to develop a drivable rover for the agency’s Artemis program. On board FLIP will be Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Spaceborne Computer-4, an advanced computer module built to be used in space.

This will be the first time that high-performance computing and artificial intelligence will be tested on the lunar surface. As NASA gets closer to landing humans back on the moon with Artemis, advancements like this aim to support future human habitation as well as economic activity on and around the moon.

“We’re sending the first supercomputer from HPE to the lunar surface later this year, doing the first GPU [graphics processing unit] on the moon [and the] first AI experiments on the moon,” Jaret Matthews, founder and CEO of Astrolab, said during an Oct. 14 media event here at Astrolab’s headquarters. “They’re breaking new ground, and they’re ahead of the curve.”

Last week we got a flying car and now a roving supercomputer on Luna?

Somebody pinch me.

Posted at 2:48 pm by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM THE OCCUPIED ZONES:

Posted at 2:32 pm by Stephen Green

DISPATCHES FROM THE INTERSECTION OF THE EDUCATION APOCALYPSE AND THE NEWSPEAK DICTIONARY: California Elementary Schools Teach ‘Cisheteropatriarchy’ and ‘Decolonization,’ House Probe Finds.

In some instances teachers and National Education Association union leaders discouraged colleagues from sharing certain controversial lessons “directly with families.” One such lesson aimed to teach Berkeley students about Israel and Palestine. Lesson plans obtained by the committee claimed that “from the river to the sea” — a popular activist slogan that calls for the elimination of the state of Israel — can be “a call for freedom and peace.” The same lesson avoided describing Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Berkeley’s ethnic studies curriculum offers several examples of how these political themes enter the classroom.

In fourth-grade ethnic studies, Berkeley Unified School District teachers asked nine-year-olds to define “covert resistance” and “overt resistance.” Teachers also introduced the terms of “colonization,” “decolonization,” and “settler.” With these new definitions in mind, the curriculum explained that history “is often presented from a colonizer’s perspective” and expressed the importance of “decolonizing historical narratives.”

The district’s fifth-grade ethnic studies curriculum takes a similar approach to civics. A unit titled “defining democracy” sought to “critique empire and its relationship to white supremacy, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society.”

Tomorrow’s Outer Party bureaucrats today!

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX will attempt 1st-ever double Starship rocket catch on next test launch, a ‘profound technology milestone,’ Elon Musk says.

The company will try to catch both stages of its Starship megarocket during the vehicle’s next test flight, which is targeted for next month, founder and CEO Elon Musk announced during SpaceX’s quarter 3 (Q3) earnings call today (Oct. 20).

If SpaceX succeeds, this “will be the first time that an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered,” Musk said. “The only way that we can extend consciousness beyond Earth on a sustained basis is with a fully reusable orbital launch vehicle. So this is, I think, a profound technology milestone in the history of civilization and consciousness.”

Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, standing more than 400 feet (122 meters) tall when fully stacked.

You want hourly launches of 100-200 tons to Low Earth Orbit? Because this is how to get to hourly launches of 100-200 tons to Low Earth Orbit.

Posted at 1:46 pm by Stephen Green

SPOILER: Yes, they think that.

But that doesn’t mean they’re correct:

Vote Republican, they don’t want you dead.

Posted at 1:29 pm by Stephen Green

VITAL NOTICE FROM CYNICAL PUBLIUS:

More:

We are facing a color revolution. This article explains how color revolutions have worked overseas in the past at the hands of the CIA and USAID, and how those now ex-USAID employees, now ensconced in well-funded NGOs, are currently using the same tactics against our own nation.

It’s a long article, almost 2,500 words.

If you care about this, please read. It’s a very complex set of concepts, and takes more than a few words to explain adequately.

I won’t have a chance to read CP’s essay until later today, but if you don’t need to wait, then don’t.

So here’s the link.

Posted at 12:59 pm by Stephen Green

THE RED HALF OF THE RED-GREEN ALLIANCE: The Communist Network Burning Down France. “It seems tendentious to include those international commies merely publishing encouragement to their Gauloises-smoking red brethren. But one wonders how one ostensibly capitalist nation can support so many different communist parties. And presumably numerous dissertations could be written on the conditions that resulted in such factionalization. Thinking back to the history of the French Revolution, factionalization seems to be one of the defining characteristics of the country’s politics.”

Posted at 12:44 pm by Stephen Green

“CANADIAN MAN” ISN’T WHO HE USED TO BE:

Posted at 12:22 pm by Stephen Green