It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, March 03, 2024
SPACE
Two toppled moon landers go dormant for a lunar night they may not survive
Japan's SLIM spacecraft and Intuitive Machines' Odysseus sent their last transmissions home before the two-week-long night.
Cheyenne MacDonald ·Weekend Editor Sat, March 2, 2024 Intuitive Machines
Lunar night has come around again, presenting yet another test for the two landers that recently arrived on the moon’s surface. Both Japan’s SLIM spacecraft and Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus have gone to sleep for the two-week-long stretch of darkness, the two teams confirmed at the end of this week. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to resume operations afterward, but they’ll try to reestablish contact when the time comes.
While the solar powered landers weren’t built to withstand the frigid lunar night, SLIM — which has been on the moon since January 19 — has already beaten the odds beforeto pull through last month. It’ll be the first lunar night for Odysseus, which landed on February 22.
The missions, though successful in that the spacecraft survived their respective descents to the surface, stand as further examples of how challenging it is to land on the moon; both landers fell over, leaving them stuck in non-ideal positions.SLIM face-planted, andOdysseus broke a leg and tipped onto its side.
SLIM has been able to capture a few images from the surface, and the team shared another look at the Shioli crater from its perspective on Thursday before it powered down. Odysseus has sent home some pictures too from its wide-angle camera, including one last transmission before lunar night that shows a portion of the lander and the surface of the moon, with a tiny crescent Earth in the distance. But the world has eagerly been awaiting third-person POV pictures from the EagleCam made by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which hitched a ride with Odysseus. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem likely to happen at this point.
The camera wasn’t deployed as originally planned before the moment of touchdown, and while Intuitive Machinessaid this weekthat the team was able to power it up and eject it after Odysseus reached the surface, communications with the camera so far aren’t working. “The Embry‑Riddle team is working on that and wrestling with that to see if there’s anything they can do,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said on Wednesday. The onset of lunar night isn’t going to help those odds. Lunar update
Odysseus was able to transmit data despite a bumpy lunar landing. - Intuitive Machines
Odysseus, the first US-made vehicle to make a soft landing on the moon in five decades, had a busy week after a hair-raising descent and touchdown near the lunar south pole on February 22.
Despite a bumpy landing that left Odie on its side — a setback captured in striking images — data has been transmitted from all six NASA instruments on board as well as commercial payloads, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lander now faces another test: surviving lunar night, a dangerous situation as the swing into ultra-freezing temperatures during this period could cause damage to Odie’s hardware.
Elsewhere in our solar system, space scientists have spotted three faint and tiny moons orbiting the outermost planets in the Milky Way: Uranus and Neptune. Curiosities
Like what you’ve read? Oh, but there’s more. Sign up here to receive in your inbox the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland and Katie Hunt. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.
Japan's SLIM moon lander powers down as long lunar night falls (again)
Elizabeth Howell Fri, March 1, 2024 Two pictures of a big hill on the moon and rocks in front, in black and white.
As a Japanese moon lander again went dormant, controllers bid farewell.
The sun stopped shining above SLIM, short for "Smart Lander for Investigating Moon," as of 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) on Thursday (Feb. 29), officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on X, formerly Twitter. SLIM landed upside down on the moon on Jan. 19, which means its solar panels are crooked but can still receive a bit of power.
"Although the probability of failure will increase due to repeated severe temperature cycles, SLIM plans to try operation again the next time the sun shines (in late March)," the update from JAXA read, automatically translated from Japanese to English by Google.
The lander woke up on Feb. 26 during extremely hot temperatures of 212 Fahrenheit (100 Celsius) in its region and has been making contact here and there with Earth in the days since. Most recently, SLIM attempted observations with its multiband spectroscopic camera (MBC) attempted scientific observation, but "it did not work properly," JAXA officials wrote.
"This seems to be due to the effects of overnight," the update continued, referring to the frigid two-week-long lunar night that SLIM experienced before the sun shone near Shioli crater again. "But we will continue to investigate based on the data we have obtained for the next opportunity."
SLIM has only operated for brief bursts of activity, including a short observation schedule after landing upside-down Jan. 19 due to engine trouble. Then it had roughly two days of operations after reviving nearly 10 days later on Jan. 29, and then the itinerant work since Feb. 26.
Despite all, SLIM has met both main and extended mission objectives: Landing precisely on the moon, deploying two tiny rovers and conducting science with its navigation camera and its spectroscopic camera, particularly searching for signs of olivine on the surface.
Japan is only the fifth country to soft-land on the moon, following the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India. The U.S. made its own historic moon landing as well recently; the Intuitive Machines IM-1 Odysseus lander touched down softly on Feb. 22 to achieve the first American landing in 52 years, since Apollo 17. Odysseus went offline Thursday (Feb. 29) and may have completed its mission, operators said First US Moon lander in 50 years finally gives up on lunar surface
Andrew Griffin Fri, March 1, 2024 Moon Landing (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The first US spacecraft to land on the Moon in 50 years has finally given up, and is no longer speaking to its engineers.
The Odysseus lander, made by private company Intuitive Machines, landed on the Moon on 22 February. But that landing went slightly awry, and it broke a leg and fell onto its side.
That left it unable to gather power as expected, and led to difficulties communicating with the Earth. Nonetheless, Odysseus continued to communicate with controllers for longer than expected.
On Thursday, however, the spacecraft went silent. It sent one last photo and switched into its standby mode.
But it might not be the end. The standby mode was triggered in the hope that Odysseus is able to come back online in a few weeks, if it is able to survive the cold of the lunar night.
Intuitive Machines spokesman Josh Marshall said these final steps drained the lander’s batteries and put Odysseus “down for a long nap.”
“Good night, Odie. We hope to hear from you again,” the company said via X, formerly Twitter.
The lander was originally intended to last about a week at the moon.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines became the first private business to land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing when Odysseus touched down Feb. 22. Only five countries had achieved that since the 1960s, including Japan, which made a sideways landing last month.
Odysseus carried six experiments for Nasa, which paid $118 million for the ride. The first company to take part in Nasa’s program for commercial lunar deliveries never made it to the moon; its lander came crashing back to Earth in January.
Nasa views these private landers as scouts that will pave the way for astronauts due to arrive in another few years.
Until Odysseus, the last U.S. moon landing was by Apollo 17's Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972.
Watch this private Varda Space capsule's blistering return to Earth in amazing onboard video
Mike Wall Sat, March 2, 2024 Varda Space Industries' first off-Earth manufacturing capsule captured this fiery view during its reentry to Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 21, 2024.
A pioneering private space capsule captured spectacular footage of its fiery homecoming last month.
Varda Space's first-ever mission, called W-1, wrapped up on Feb. 21 with the successful recovery of the California's startup's off-Earth manufacturing capsule.
That conical, 3-foot-wide (0.9 meters) capsule touched down softly under parachute at the Utah Test and Training Range west of Salt Lake City, carrying space-grown crystals of the antiviral drug Ritonavir.
But much of its journey through Earth's atmosphere was quite harrowing, as shown by the video, which Varda posted to its YouTube channel on Feb. 28. The craft slammed into our planet's thick air at more than 25 times the speed of sound, generating a cataract of colorful, cascading sparks.
Varda aims to become a major player in the nascent in-space manufacturing industry, which takes advantage of the unique microgravity environment of low Earth orbit to make high-value products like pharmaceuticals.
Such work has been done on the International Space Station already with the help of astronauts. But Varda offers customers an all-in-one autonomous option — a capsule that serves as both a minifactory and a return vehicle, taking pricey humans out of the orbital loop.
W-1 was Varda's first in-space test. The mission launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket in June 2023, one of more than 70 payloads on SpaceX's Transporter-8 rideshare mission. Varda's capsule was integrated into a Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft, which provided power, propulsion and other vital services.
a cone-shaped capsule lies on the desert floor under cloudy skies
About a week after liftoff, Varda announced that crystals of Ritonavir — a drug used to treat HIV and hepatitis C — had grown successfully aboard the capsule as planned.
The company wanted to bring those crystals down shortly thereafter but ran into difficulties securing the required reentry and landing approvals. That permission came last month, paving the way for W-1's historic touchdown.
Varda transported the capsule from Utah to its Los Angeles facilities for inspection and analysis.
"The Ritonavir vials onboard the spacecraft will be shipped to our collaborators Improved Pharma for post-flight characterization," Varda wrote in an update shortly after landing on Feb. 21. "Additionally, data collected throughout the entirety of the capsule's flight — including a portion where we reached hypersonic speeds — will be shared with the Air Force and NASA under a contract Varda has with those agencies."
This is what it looks like to reenter Earth’s atmosphere from a space capsule’s POV
Varda Space Industries stuck a camera on its
W-1 capsule to capture its first reentry mission.
Ceyne MacDonald Weekend Editor Sat, Mar 2, 2024,
Varda Space Industries
Incredible footage released by Varda Space Industries gives us a first-person view of a space capsule’s return trip to Earth, from the moment it separates from its carrier satellite in orbit all the way through its fiery reentry and bumpy arrival at the surface. Varda’s W-1 capsule landed at the Utah Test and Training Range, a military site, on February 21 in a first for a commercial company. It spent roughly eight months leading up to that in low Earth orbit, stuck in regulatory limbo while the company waited for the government approvals it needed to land on US soil, according to Ars Technica.
“Here's a video of our capsule ripping through the atmosphere at mach 25, no renders, raw footage,” the company posted on X alongside clips from reentry. Varda also shared a 28-minute video of W-1’s full journey home from LEO on YouTube.
Varda, which worked with Rocket Lab for the mission, is trying to develop mini-labs that can produce pharmaceuticals in orbit — in this case, the HIV drug ritonavir. Its W-1 capsule was attached to Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite “bus,” which the company said ahead of launch would provide power, communications and altitude control for the capsule. Photon successfully brought the capsule to where it needed to be for last week’s reentry, then itself burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, SpaceNews reported. Now that the capsule has returned, Ars Technica reports that the ritonavir crystals grown in orbit will be analyzed by the Indiana-based pharmaceutical company, Improved Pharma.
SpaceX launch taking crew to ISS delayed again by weather
AFP Sat, March 2, 2024 A SpaceX Crew Dragon named Endeavour carrying the four is scheduled to blast off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (-)
A planned launch on Saturday of a mission to take three American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station was scrubbed due to poor weather.
SpaceX announced that the launch was delayed, and NASA said the agency would now target Sunday at 10:53 pm (0353 GMT Monday) for liftoff.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon named Endeavour is to carry the four atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Hours before Saturday night's scheduled launch, SpaceX posted on X that "elevated winds" forced the delay.
It was the latest postponement for the launch, which initially was slated for February 22.
Elon Musk's SpaceX has been providing astronaut launch services for NASA since 2020 under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, while a rival program by Boeing has yet to get going.
Matthew Dominick, who leads the "Crew-8" mission, is making his first spaceflight, as is fellow American Jeanette Epps. It will also be the first time for Russian Alexander Grebenkin.
Michael Barratt, a physician, is making his third visit to the ISS. His first two were aboard space shuttles, which were discontinued in 2011.
Space remains a rare area of cooperation between the United States and Russia in the wake of Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The US last month imposed fresh sanctions on 500 Russian targets, seeking also to exact a cost for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Siberian prison.
The crew will carry out experiments including using stem cells to create organoids (artificially grown masses of cells resembling organs) to study degenerative diseases, taking advantage of the microgravity environment to enable three-dimensional cell growth not possible on Earth.
Joel Montalbano, NASA's International Space Station program manager, told reporters that the US was keeping a close eye on a "small leak" on the Russian side of the research platform, the latest of several recent issues on the Russian side.
A hatch is currently closed to isolate the leak from the rest of the ISS.
ia/bbk/tjj/acb
NASA to discontinue $2 billion satellite servicing project on higher costs, schedule delays
Reuters Fri, March 1, 2024
Astronauts arrive before launch to the International Space Station, in Cape Canaveral
(Reuters) - NASA said on Friday it is shutting down a more than $2 billion project to test satellite servicing like fueling in space, citing higher costs and schedule delays.
The space agency said in October that the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 (OSAM-1) project continues to face an increase in costs and is expected to exceed its $2.05 billion price tag and the December 2026 launch date.
For its decision to discontinue the project, NASA on Friday cited "continued technical, cost, and schedule challenges, and a broader community evolution away from refueling unprepared spacecraft, which has led to a lack of a committed partner".
Much of the project's cost growth and scheduling delays could be attributed to the "poor" performance of contractor Maxar, NASA said in October.
Maxar was previously contracted by NASA in 2019 to help build its Gateway platform in lunar orbit, a crucial outpost for America's first mission to relay astronauts to the moon.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
A dead Russian spacecraft almost collided with a NASA satellite. The crash could have sent 7,500 bits of debris rocketing around Earth.
Morgan McFall-Johnsen,Ellyn Lapointe Updated Sat, March 2, 2024
NASA's TIMED satellite narrowly avoided colliding with a dead Russian spacecraft this week.
In the worst-case scenario, the collision could have ejected up to 7,500 bits of debris into orbit.
Satellite collisions are becoming more likely as the amount of space junk in low-Earth orbit grows.
Two satellites nearly collided in space on Wednesday in a harrowing encounter that LeoLabs, a satellite-tracking company, called "too close for comfort."
NASA's Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics, or TIMED, satellite passed by Russia's inoperative Cosmos 2221 spacecraft with less than 65 feet of clearance. That's shorter than the length of a tennis court.
These satellites are non-maneuverable, meaning neither the US nor Russia have control over where they go.
If they had collided, it could have decimated both satellites, blasting up to 7,500 fragments of space junk into Earth's orbit that would now be zooming around our planet at thousands of miles an hour, faster than bullets.
The fragments wouldn't have posed a danger to life on Earth because any debris that penetrated our atmosphere would have burned up during free fall.
But it would have threatened future spaceflight and astronaut lives since the resulting debris could have made navigating low-Earth orbit far more treacherous.
"There are 'bad neighborhoods' where these massive derelicts are accumulating preferentially," Darren McKnight, LeoLabs' senior technical fellow, told Business Insider in an email.
Avoiding collisions in these congested areas is becoming increasingly difficult as the number of objects in Earth's orbit grows yearly. Earth's orbit is getting overcrowded This graph shows the spatial density of non-operational objects in low-Earth orbit. The spikes correspond to altitudes most congested with space junk.LeoLabs
Near collisions between large space objects like this are rare, but it only takes one to completely change the landscape of Earth's orbit and endanger countless other satellites, space telescopes, and even the International Space Station, or ISS.
Two satellite collisions in 2007 and 2009 increased the concentration of large debris in low-Earth orbit by roughly 70%.
And with the advent of mega-constellations of internet satellites, such as SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon's Kuiper, the number of objects in low-Earth orbit is growing more and more each year, increasing the risk of collisions. Left to right: Low-Earth orbit is the most concentrated area for orbital debris but the total object population of Earth's orbit extends far beyond this inner region.NASA ODPO
In 2007, scientists estimated there were about 10,000 low-Earth objects. By 2021, that number had doubled. And most of it isn't even useful — it's space junk.
Roughly 70% of low-Earth objects are pieces of debris from damaged or defunct rockets, satellites, and nonoperational payloads, according to LeoLabs.
That's just what's cataloged, though.
The European Space Agency estimates that nearly 1 million bits of debris measuring between one and 10 centimeters are circling Earth, with another 130 million bits even smaller than that.
Space junk is so pervasive the ISS sometimes has to navigate around it. Space debris hit the space shuttle Endeavour's radiator, creating this hole found after one of its missions. The entry hole is about 0.25 inches wide, and the exit hole is twice as large.NASA
In March 2023, the ISS dodged objects twice in one month, once to avoid a collision with a satellite and again to maneuver around debris a few days later.
Even the tiniest pieces of debris can damage the space station and endanger astronauts, though no astronaut has lost their life due to space debris — yet. The race to clean up space
The consequences of space debris are very real, so much so that the worst-case scenario has a name: Kessler syndrome.
In this scenario, a collision sets off a chain reaction, generating a catastrophic domino effect that produces so much space debris that no spacecraft can safely leave Earth for hundreds or thousands of years. An artist's illustration of space junk circling in low-Earth orbit.dottedhippo / Getty Images
But preventing collisions today can offset a possible Kessler-syndrome scenario in the future. And some governments and private companies have begun to address the problem.
New space-industry norms and policies in some countries are prompting satellite operators to design their spacecraft to self-destruct when they die by pushing themselves into a free fall that causes them to burn up in the atmosphere.
Last year, the FCC — the US agency that regulates most communications satellites — took its first-ever enforcement action related to space debris when it fined Dish Network $150,000 for failing to properly dispose of a retired satellite.
Some governments seem less concerned. Both India and Russia have tested anti-satellite missiles by destroying their own satellites in orbit, creating new clouds of debris.
As for old, inoperable spacecraft roaming loose in orbit, such as Cosmos 2221, NASA is outsourcing research and development to private companies to collect them.
In September 2023, the space agency awarded $850,000 to TransAstra for their concept of "FlyTrap" space-debris capture bags — basically, giant high-tech trash bags to scoop up a lot of space junk.
TransAstra's capture bags could help solve Earth's space-debris problem.TransAstra
Outside the US, other companies are coming up with their own innovative disposal solutions. The Japanese company Astroscale designed a spacecraft with a magnetic plate that can attach to dead satellites and pull them into free fall.
But these space clean-up technologies are still in testing. The European Space Agency plans to be the first to remove a piece of debris from Earth's orbit with its ClearSpace-1 mission, scheduled to launch in 2026.
Meanwhile, LeoLabs hopes that its precision data on objects in orbit will help satellite operators foresee and avoid near collisions like the one that happened Wednesday.
A new space race has begun – if we don’t act now, it could trigger a war worse than WWII
AC Grayling Sat, March 2, 2024 The Surprising Adventures of Baron Münchausen – 19th century engraving by Gustave Doré - Culture Club/Getty
For millennia, the Moon has been an object of wondrous speculation: deified as a goddess, hymned in poetry and blamed for madness. Today such speculation has ended and a quite different kind – speculation in the commercial sense – has begun.
We no longer tell tales of the man in the Moon, or of how it’s made from cheese. Now we look at it as land to mine. Lunar deposits of basalt, iron, quartz and silicon – not to mention the strong possibility of chlorine, lithium, beryllium, zirconium, uranium, thorium, and “rare-earth” metals – all whet commercial appetites, since some of these, needed for new technologies on Earth, are in short supply here.
Significantly, the Moon also has ice. Water might sustain human settlement of the lunar surface, and can be separated into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen to make rocket fuel to power further exploration of Mars and the solar system.
This explains the increase in lunar missions in recent years. Plans to put human feet back on the Moon – not visited by astronauts since 1972 – are well advanced; Nasa hopes to achieve it in late 2026. Last week, the Odysseus lander, designed by Houston-based Intuitive Machines and launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, became the first private spacecraft ever to reach the Moon.
For this mission, Intuitive Machines was hired by Nasa (to the tune of $118 million) to deliver research instruments to the lunar surface, including a stereo camera and radio receiver. Other cargo included a set of 125 mini Moon sculptures by the artist Jeff Koons. The lander was wrapped in a metallic jacket manufactured by Columbia Sportswear.
Odysseus is the US’s first Moon landing in more than half a century. But it is a sign, too, of how it is no longer just state enterprise – which drove the space race of the previous century – that is involved. Private companies are investing billions in the Moon’s potential.
Jeff Bezos has spoken of his hope to move “heavy industry and all polluting industry off of Earth and operate it in space”. And the Amazon billionaire – whose Blue Origin company was awarded a $3.4 billion contract by Nasa last year to build a spacecraft to transport astronauts to the Moon – is not wrong. Meanwhile, Musk has spoken of his ambition to establish a human presence on Mars, because “we don’t want to be one of those single planet species, we want to be a multi-planet species”. And he is not entirely wrong either. Jeff Bezos has spoken of his hope to move 'heavy industry and all polluting industry off of Earth and operate it in space' - Geopix / Alamy Stock Photo
Mining on the Moon is preferable to mining on Earth, already poisoned by industrial activity. And new frontiers bring many benefits to humanity: they are a spur to knowledge and technological innovation, expanding the borders of human imagination and ingenuity.
But history shows that the hunger to conquer and exploit also brings risks. Competition can turn into conflict when billions of dollars are at stake and rivalries to be first or get most are fierce in an unregulated domain. And when it comes to the imminent major leap in humanity’s activity in space, compelled by the search for profit and control of valuable resources, we have scarcely any plans in place. The Moon is a new Wild West, completely open to adventurers with the means to claim it. The fact that the lead is being taken by well-endowed private enterprise, driven by the ambitions of major entrepreneurs like Bezos and Musk, rather than states, brings into view a reprise of the “Great Man” version of history, in which individual ambition is the driving force.
There is just one outdated provision in place for regulating the gold rush that has already begun. This is the United Nations’ Outer Space Treaty, adopted in 1967. At that time the idea of commercial activity on the Moon, of human settlement and mining operations, verged on science fiction. The Treaty did not envisage it, but instead focused on what was a pressing question of the day: the prospect of nuclear weapons being tested there. It stipulates that the Moon should not be used for military purposes, but leaves other activity unmentioned.
Fundamentally the 1967 Treaty was a US-USSR arrangement to limit the spread of Cold War risks. The first satellite put into orbit, the USSR’s Sputnik in 1957, and Yuri Gagarin’s space flight around Earth in April 1961, had galvanised the US into competitive endeavour. They were the prompt for John F. Kennedy’s initiation of the Nasa programme to put men on the Moon by the end of the 1960s. It was a macho technological race, with military implications; these latter underlay the need for some degree of restraint.
The 1967 treaty specifically characterises the Moon as terra nullius, open to anyone who can get there to do what they like other than place weapons on it. But military technology has now advanced into the creation of equally if not more devastating weapons systems, these already deployed in the congested orbital zone around Earth, where constellations of satellites vital to communications, surveillance, military control systems, and much more, are both guarded and threatened by ASATS (anti-satellite weapons) including space- and Earth-based lasers and sophisticated hacking techniques. 'Last week, Odysseus landed on the lunar surface in a jacket by Columbia Sportswear' - Zuma Press / Alamy Stock Photo
The race for profit and power is a path to disaster. The Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century shows how destabilising such lust can be. The European powers partitioned between them an entire continent of 10 million square miles, behaving as if it were empty land although it was inhabited by 110 million people, whom the colonists treated as if they were not there in any political or moral sense. This era of colonial competition was a major causative factor in precipitating the First World War. Within decades of dismembering Africa the major players were killing one another in trenches in France and Flanders. That, in turn, led to the Second World War, which led to the Cold War, all of which accelerated the development of military technologies; to say nothing of the legacies of empire and the revival of historical antipathies around the world. It is a dismaying and troubling picture.
Nor does legal history provide much in the way of comfort. The Antarctic Treaty System, effective since 1961, which protects that continent from military activity and economic exploitation (the only permitted activity being carefully-controlled science) is the most celebrated example of an international agreement successfully, so far, restraining despoliation of a region.
But the Treaty sends loud warning signs. One example suffices. China acceded to the Treaty in 1983. Today, its five research stations in Antarctica have satellite facilities – a boost to its military intelligence powers. In a move further threatening the Treaty, China has made a virtual sovereignty claim to territory by asserting its rights to control a large “Specially Managed Area” around its Kunlun station. China now invests more than any other Antarctic participant and has full land, sea and air capability there. Why this flurry of activity? Perhaps because in 2048 the moratorium on mining in the Antarctic comes to an end, and China wishes to be ready.
Along with Russia, China has repeatedly resisted efforts by the other Antarctic parties to extend protections of wildlife on the continent. If this Treaty, held up as the most progressive ever attained by humanity, is in an increasingly frayed state, what hope is there for the Outer Space Treaty, weak as it is; and therefore what hope for the Moon?
Optimists will say that because there are no people and no wildlife on the Moon, no natural environment to be disturbed or destroyed, there is no need to worry – apart from anxieties about pollution (Nasa’s Apollo astronauts all left their nappies on the Moon). But this misses the point. The point is what competition leads to. Private agencies investing billions of dollars in exploiting the Moon’s resources, and determined to get a significant return from that investment, will not be amenable to interference or disruptive rivalry from others with the same objective. States will not hesitate to support their citizens and corporations who are interfered with by citizens and corporations of other states. If actual fighting breaks out as a result, it will not be restricted to space. AC Grayling, author of Who Owns the Moon? - Oneworld
It would be wrong to overlook the benefits of the exploration and settlement of space, which could bring an entirely new dimension to human history. Colonies on the Moon and Mars might one day become independent new states, as past colonies on Earth have done. If Earth itself becomes uninhabitable because of climate change or devastating nuclear war, humanity might owe its survival to the great adventure of space travel – Musk argued something similar, when he said, “If there’s a Third World War we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilisation somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the Dark Age”.
But the truth is, a Scramble for the Moon also prickles with the potential for trouble, and the existing legislation is inadequate to prevent it or manage it if – it is more realistic to say when – it happens.
A new and extremely robust treaty is needed, one that will be better than the Antarctic Treaty in preventing bad-faith actors from circumventing it to steal a march on others, one that will dampen the recklessness which the profit-imperative so often encourages, as every example of the “Scramble” phenomenon shows. Treaties are never watertight; they will be observed only as long as it is in the self-interest of participating parties to abide by them, and history abundantly demonstrates that when self-interest dictates that more profit is to be had from reneging on them, then that is what will happen.
Even so, treaties are our only hope. The lust for money and power has been as destructive in human history as the opposition between religions, so we have to continue efforts to agree ways of limiting the harm they cause. Perhaps in time human nature will mature to the point of making self-restraint and concern for others a more powerful force than self-interest. But we are not there yet.
Now we are on the brink of exporting not just our genius and creativity but our rivalries and jealousies into space – our appetite for riches and control, our too-frequent propensity to fall out with one another and kill each other as a result. Could we not, instead, see this as an opportunity to do things differently? A new frontier to cross into cooperative activity, a new world – a new universe – to be better in? Until we do, we need a new Outer Space Treaty.
It’s time to make clear that if the question is, who owns the Moon?, the answer must be: we all do.
Who Owns the Moon? by AC Grayling (Oneworld, £16.99) is published on Thursday
Perseverance rover spots Ingenuity helicopter's snapped-off rotor blade on Mars (photos)
Elizabeth Howell Fri, March 1, 2024 A blurry helicopter visible on the surface of mars. an inset image shows a blade on the sand.
The blade was broken — and, still unforged, it's been found on Mars.
Space fans scouring the raw images from NASA's Perseverance rover recently spotted the broken helicopter blade from Ingenuity lying on the sands of Mars. Ingenuity is permanently grounded as a result of the blade-snapping incident, a hard landing that occurred at the end of its Jan. 18 flight.
"Nestled in the vibrant red Martian sand, a lonely blade from NASA's Ingenuity helicopter lies about 15 meters [50 feet] from the aircraft's final resting place," the nonprofit Planetary Society wrote Tuesday (Feb. 27) on X, formerly Twitter.
Geovisual design student Simeon Schmauß also processed the Perserverance imagery, captured by the rover's powerful SuperCam instrument, into a composite view that shows both the helicopter and its now distant blade. Schmauß shared the results on X, visible below as well.
Ingenuity's flying days ended after 72 flights — 67 more than the five originally planned for its technology-demonstrating mission. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) drone was the first vehicle ever to take flight on Mars after landing with Perseverance in February 2021, and kept going for nearly three years.
Perseverance imagery downloaded from Mars on Sunday (Feb. 25) showed the broken-off Ingenuity blade. But hidden in shadow in some of the raw imagery was the blade itself, barely visible in Martian dunes.
a broken helicopter blade lying on beige sand. the picture includes a circle drawn to show where the blade is
NASA's Perseverance rover captured the broken-off blade of Ingenuity on Mars on Feb. 25, 2024 using its SuperCam imager. This image has been enhanced to make the blade more visible on the sand. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/edited by Josh Dinner)
The helicopter, operating in Mars' Jezero Crater, demonstrated flight was not only possible but could be done regularly in the Red Planet's thin atmosphere.
After its initial five hops, Ingenuity shifted to a long extended mission in which it was scouting ahead for Perseverance, which is collecting samples for a possible eventual return to Earth (pending funding and technology development for the Mars sample return campaign, whose budget has been under discussion in Congress lately).
What finally downed Ingenuity was a sandy patch of terrain that did not have rocks or other navigation aids to help the helicopter to find its way. As Ingenuity came in for landing, the blade snapped as it hit the ground. But the helicopter, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), had already cemented its legacy as a spaceflight pioneer, agency officials said.
"The NASA JPL team didn't just demonstrate the technology," Tiffany Morgan, deputy director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said during a Jan. 31 webcast tribute to Ingenuity. "They demonstrated an approach that if we use in the future will really help us to explore other planets and be as awe-inspiring, as amazing, as Ingenuity has been."
In blow to Native Americans, US court approves land swap for Rio's Arizona copper mine
Ernest Scheyder Updated Fri, March 1, 2024
By Ernest Scheyder
(Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Friday narrowly ruled that the federal government may give away thousands of acres in Arizona to Rio Tinto for a copper mine, upholding a previous ruling and rejecting an argument from Native Americans that the land should be preserved for its religious and cultural value.
The 6-5 ruling from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals essentially defers to a 2014 decision made by the U.S. Congress and then-President Barack Obama to give the land to Rio and minority partner BHP for the Resolution Copper project.
The decision comes amid the U.S. presidential election season, in which former President Donald Trump, who supports the mine, is likely to face off against President Joe Biden, who narrowly won Arizona in the 2020 election thanks to Native American votes.
The move is the latest blow to the Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group comprised of the San Carlos Apache tribe and others who have long opposed the mine, which would destroy a site where Indigenous ceremonies have been held for generations but would, if developed, supply more than a quarter of U.S. copper demand for the renewable energy transition.
Three members of the Appeals Court had ruled for Rio and the land swap in 2022. All 11 members of the appeals court then said they would decide the case in what is known as an en banc hearing, held last March.
"This ruling is illogical and it's unjust," said Luke Goodrich, a Becket Law attorney who represents Apache Stronghold. The group intends to appeal to the Supreme Court and feels it has a strong case given how closely divided the appeals court was, Goodrich added.
The dispute centers on a federally owned land parcel in eastern Arizona known as Oak Flat, which some Apache consider home to deities and which sits atop a reserve of more than 40 billion pounds of copper, a crucial component of electric vehicles. If a mine is built, it would create a crater 2 miles (3 km) wide and 1,000 feet (304 m) deep that would destroy that worship site.
RELIGIOUS TENSION
In their 253-page ruling, the judges spared over whether a land transfer by the government could prevent some from exercising their religious beliefs.
The majority ruled that the land transfer would not be a "substantial burden" on the San Carlos Apache's religious rights because it would not reflect the government forcing the tribe to stop worshiping their deities.
The five dissenters argued that it would be impossible for the Apache to practice their religion if the place where they worship is destroyed.
The 2014 law that approved the land swap required an environmental report to be published in order for the land swap occurred, which Trump did shortly before leaving office. Biden unpublished that report in March 2021, though he was not able to permanently block the mine. Meanwhile, Apache Stronghold sued to prevent the land transfer. It has now lost in three consecutive court hearings.
For the land transfer to occur, Biden would need to republish that environmental report. The White House was not immediately available to comment.
Vicky Peacey, who runs the Resolution project for Rio, said the company welcomed the decision and would continue to talk with tribes "as we seek to understand and address the concerns that have been raised."
Representatives for the San Carlos Apache, Apache Stronghold and BHP did not immediately return requests for comment.
The six judges in the majority were appointed by Republican presidents, including five appointed by Trump. Four of the five dissenting judges were appointed by Democratic presidents.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Nandita Bose; editing by Leslie Adler and Aurora Ellis)
Lobster catch dips to lowest level since 2009 as fishers grapple with climate change, whale rules
PATRICK WHITTLE Updated Fri, March 1, 2024 Max Oliver moves a lobster to the banding table aboard his boat while fishing off Spruce Head, Maine, on Aug. 31, 2021. America's lobster fishing business dipped in catch while grappling with challenges including a changing ocean environment and new rules designed to protect rare whales. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — America's lobster fishing business dipped in catch while grappling with challenges including a changing ocean environment and new rules designed to protect rare whales.
The lobster industry, based mostly in Maine, has had an unprecedented decade in terms of the volume and value of the lobsters brought to the docks. But members of the industry have also said they face existential threats from proposed rules intended to protect the North Atlantic right whale and climate change that is influencing where lobsters can be trapped.
Maine fishermen's catch in 2023 fell more than 5% from the year that preceded it, and the total of 93.7 million pounds of lobsters caught was the lowest figure since 2009, according to data released Friday by the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The figure tracks with the up-and-down year lobster fishermen experienced, said Dave Cousens a fishermen based out of Criehaven island and a former president of the Maine Lobstermen's Association.
The price of bait and fuel eased somewhat, but the volume of catch didn't seem to match other recent years, Cousens said. The Maine lobster haul has fallen from a high of 132.6 million pounds in 2016, though the 2023 year's figure was still much more than fishermen produced in most of the 2000s. The 2023 haul was also the second year in a row the total catch declined.
Fishermen who participate in Maine's lifeblood lobster industry are on edge about what the future holds, as lobsters have inched steadily northward as waters have warmed, Cousens said.
“We've gone down steadily from 132 million. We're going back downhill,” Cousens said. “There's no question climate change is affecting it.”
Fishermen from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and other Northeast states also harvest lobsters with traps from the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, but about 80% of the catch comes to the docks in Maine in a typical year.
The price of lobsters at the docks has ebbed and flowed in recent years, but it has stayed fairly consistent to consumers. The price at the docks spiked to more than $6.70 per pound in 2021 and fell to less than $4 per pound in 2022. Last year, it was a little less than $5 per pound, and the total catch was worth more than $460 million at the docks, according to data released Friday. That is the third highest figure of the last four years.
“The price Maine lobstermen received last year is a reflection of the continued strong demand for this iconic seafood,” said Maine marine resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher.
The state's fishermen have been in a lengthy legal battle with the federal government over rules designed to protect the whales, which are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing gear. The fishermen argue the proposed rules are so strict they could put them out of business, but conservationists say they are essential to save the whales, which number less than 360 in the world. A right whale found dead off Massachusetts this winter showed signs of entanglement in Maine gear.
The ways in which climate change is affecting the industry are a subject of ongoing scientific study. The southern New England lobster industry has collapsed as the ocean has warmed, and the waters off Maine logged the second-warmest year on record in 2022. Lobster tagged in New Brunswick caught over 250 kilometres away in Maine
CBC Sat, March 2, 2024 A lobster with the same type of tag attached to a lobster that was caught in the Gulf of Maine. The crustacean, part of a study by researchers at the University of New Brunswick, travelled from St. Martins, N.B. (Emily Blacklock - image credit)
Emily Blacklock was scrolling through social media when she spotted a video of a Maine fisherman hauling in an unexpected catch — a lobster with a tag from her research team found hundreds of kilometres away from where it was attached in New Brunswick.
"All of a sudden I saw one of our blue tags, so I ended up messaging him," she said.
"We all know it's possible that lobsters go from the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of Maine, but the chance of him being the one to catch that lobster and make a video was fantastic."
Blacklock, a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick, is part of a team of researchers trying to find a way to identify the age of lobsters.
There is currently no way to tell exactly how old the crustaceans are, as their shells molt and are regrown. They don't show typical signs of aging like other species, so age estimates are normally based on size.
The study, led by UNB professor Rémy Rochette, has been taking tissue samples from small tagged lobsters since it started tagging them in spring 2022.
Blacklock and another PhD student in the lab have tagged about 2,250 from lobster fishing area 36 on the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy. The zone spans from St. Martins to Deer Island.
Emily Blacklock, a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick, holds a lobster tagged as part of a study trying to determine their age. (Emily Blacklock)
The tags attached to the lobsters are tiny pieces of plastic with a unique identification number and a phone number.
As fishermen call them in, Blacklock said her team takes additional samples so they can compare the tissue changes.
"The lobster is actually able to age with the tag, so if they molt the tag stays with the lobster. So it can be there as long as it takes until that lobster is caught again," she said.
All of the 82 lobsters called in so far have been in the Bay of Fundy, until the discovery in Maine.
Jacob Knowles, a fifth-generation lobster fisherman and a social media influencer, posted the footage of the catch in early January. He shared it with his audience of more than three million followers on TikTok, initially thinking it might be a "lottery lobster" tracked by the state of Maine.
In the video, he tosses it back in the ocean after writing down the phone number. It got more than two million views.
The UNB researchers have tagged about 2,250 so far, through lobster fishing area 36 on the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy. The zone spans from Saint Martins to Deer Island. (Emily Blacklock)
Blacklock saw it the next day and messaged Knowles to explain it was likely part of her study.
They eventually got in touch last week and she was able to explain how far the lobster had travelled – which Knowles shared with his audience in two update videos.
The lobster found in the Gulf of Maine, off the coast of Bar Harbor, had been tagged in Saint Martins, N.B. on Nov. 29, 2022, and had been in the water for 421 days.
"If we drew a straight line between those two locations, it would have been 256 kilometres," Blacklock said.
"It's probably much farther than that distance because we don't know the exact path it took to get there."
Blacklock said there are studies that have shown lobsters have the ability to travel long distances. But she said the chance of someone catching it and calling it in from that far away was "pretty fantastic."
The lobsters have been called in across the entire Bay of Fundy, from Digby, N.S., to Campobello Island.
The lobster is able to age and molt its shell without losing the tag. They each have a unique identification number and a phone number to contact. (Emily Blacklock)
If someone catches a lobster with a tag, the researchers are asking them to call or text the phone number written on it. If it's in area 36, they'll buy it back.
For any lobsters outside of the zone, while the team can't buy it, they're asking for a picture of the crustacean with a gauge next to it for a measurement. The researchers would also like the co-ordinates to inform a separate study about how lobsters travel.
The lobster Knowles found was released, but he was able to share the exact co-ordinates, date and time where it was caught. Because of the tag in the picture, the researchers were able to estimate the size of the lobster.
The team is now making maps to see where the lobsters have gone, but the study is still in early stages. Once there are enough tissue samples, which could happen at the end of this spring fishing season, they'll be sent off for lab testing
Steam Lobster Tails In Beer For Elevated Flavor
Wendy Leigh Fri, March 1, 2024
Steamed lobster tail on plate - Bartosz Luczak/Getty Images
Cooking with booze is nothing new, with countless recipes utilizing wine, bourbon, beer, and everything in between. Seafood gets its fair share of alcohol infusions, including beer-battered fish tacos, drunken shrimp (which uses absinthe), and poached branzino with beurre blanc (which uses white wine). While many home chefs treat lobster with kid gloves, often due to limited experience and high costs, there's no reason to avoid cooking lobster in your favorite booze. That's especially true if it's beer.
Steaming lobster tails in beer adds moisture to the meat while also elevating the flavor with malty, earthy notes. It's one of the easiest ways to transform plain lobster tails into a delicious ready-to-eat gourmet meal. You'll avoid the guessing game of choosing spices, rubs, and marinades, as well as deciding how much is too much or too little. The inherent flavors you already love in your favorite lager, ale, or pilsner will be what permeates those sea creatures -- even better if you complement your meal with the same cold brew.
Aside from the rich flavor infusion and moist texture, steaming lobster tails bypasses the fear of overbaking in a hot oven or over-charring on an outside grill. Lobster tails from a grocery store or fish market are typically sold raw or frozen. Steaming defrosted tails gets the entire job done in about 15 minutes with little effort on your part.
Read more: 15 Different Ways To Cook Fish Steaming And Pairing Beer With Lobster Cooked lobster tail split open - Lauripatterson/Getty Images
Prep time for making two beer-steamed lobster tails is typically five minutes or less, including bringing the beer to a boil in a stovetop pot. It only takes about two inches of beer in the bottom of the pan to create the stream, without it splashing onto the lobster. Place a stainless-steel steamer basket over the bubbling brew, lay the tails across the basket, reduce the heat, and cover. You can use either un-shelled lobster pieces or shell-on lobster tails, preferably slit lengthwise for easy access when eating. The cut only needs to go through the exposed outer shell, not through the meat itself.
That's pretty much it; just let the tails steam for about 10 minutes, more or less depending on size. Check sooner if you've removed the lobster meat from its shell before steaming. Feel free to add butter or flavoring to the beer, such as a bay leaf or garlic clove. To keep lobster tails from over-curling while they steam, slide a skewer through each tail.
Any type of beer works for steaming, but it helps to use ones that pair well with lobster, generally those with a mild to medium taste. Light, fruity cream ales are a good choice, as are peppery Belgian tripels, citrusy pale ales, and single IPAs or wheat beers. As with any food and alcohol pairing, the best type of beer for steaming lobsters will ultimately be the one you enjoy.
US Steel takeover’s fate may hang on the words of a union boss
Bloomberg News | March 2, 2024 | David McCall, president of United Steelworkers. (Image by USW.)
David McCall has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do right by America’s industrial workers, and he’s ready to seize the moment.
As head of the United Steelworkers, McCall finds himself in an unlikely place of power. Labor groups traditionally haven’t had much sway in US corporate takeovers. But 2024 is, of course, no ordinary year. So thanks to a growing political maelstrom that’s thrust the steelworker into the center of campaign rhetoric, McCall is now one of the most crucial voices that can help decide the fate of Nippon Steel Corp.’s proposed $14 billion takeover of the storied United States Steel Corp.
And McCall is preparing for a fight.
“The transaction itself right now, as announced, there’s no way I’d accept it,” he said in a recent interview, indicating that he’s ready to go the brink – even if it means killing the deal – to make sure he can secure the concessions he’s seeking for his union members.
The union doesn’t have any official right to simply block an offer US Steel has accepted. What it does have is political leverage.
The influence of the United Steelworkers (USW) has grown stronger now than in any time in recent memory. Joe Biden has billed himself the most pro-union president in history, but Donald Trump has sought to undercut his labor support, appealing to rank-and-file auto workers and union members who have resented this administration’s clean energy agenda along with other policies. Union voters are seen as one of the key deciding blocs in the November presidential election.
The Nippon bid for US Steel is up for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, a process shrouded in secrecy. Allies of Biden have urged the administration to kill the deal over national security concerns — despite Japan being a close ally — and the threat to unionized steel jobs.
In the end, the final decision could come down to a signal to the White House about whether or not the union likes the deal. The USW has received “personal assurances” that Biden has “our backs,” according to a February statement.
That unique position underscores why interviews with more than two dozen investors, legal experts, steel consumers, brokers, service centers, analysts and executives paint the picture of an industry that is hanging on the words of one man: McCall.
Ultimately, the union holds the “political leverage,” Phil Gibbs, a nearly 20-year veteran covering the steel industry at Keybanc Capital Markets, said in an interview. “They clearly can make noise and if they saber rattle, they get in Biden’s ear or Donald Trump’s ear, or they stage a walk out — who knows what they’ll do.”
McCall’s moment comes as labor groups in the US are getting re-energized. Last fall, the United Auto Workers led a six-week strike that resulted in massive wage increases. That capped off a summer of strikes that saw Hollywood writers and actors walk off their jobs, and meanwhile workers at companies as varied as Starbucks Corp. and Apple Inc. have moved to unionize in recent years.
Even then, it’s hard to overstate just how rare it is for a union to hold this much power during a deal review.
“I can’t recall a situation where unions in particular have been sort of the voice looking to encourage CFIUS to block a deal,” said Rick Sofield, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton who spent nearly 25 years as a federal government lawyer including helping to oversee national security reviews by CFIUS. Upcoming meetings
A lot could come down to the next immediate period.
McCall and his top aides at the USW are expected to meet with representatives from Nippon Steel including Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information is private.
McCall says that for any discussions with Nippon the most-important points for the union will be: discussing the labor agreement, pension plans, retiree healthcare, capital expenditures and profit sharing.
For its part, Nippon has been telling investors it’s willing to make major concessions that are of importance to the union, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information is private. The concessions cited include making investments at US Steel plants, the people said.
Nippon said it “is focused on developing a productive working relationship with the USW and its members,” according to an emailed statement. The company “has assured the USW that it has the financial wherewithal to continue honoring all agreements currently in place between the USW and US Steel. We are confident that this transaction is in the best interest of the USW and its members.”
Just in the past week, McCall and Nippon confirmed that the two sides had signed a non-disclosure agreement, allowing talks to progress even as the union publicly maintains its opposition to the deal. Investors took that as a vote of confidence. US Steel shares quickly erased losses on the news and climbed as much as 1.4%.
The optimism may be overdone.
For those who are saying that the NDA is a sign of progress in the dealings between Nippon and the union, McCall has strong words: “I would say to you, emphatically, it is a lie.”
“We’ve gone back and forth and back and forth on an NDA, and that’s all we talked about,” McCall said by phone.
McCall’s tone in conversations with Bloomberg over the last two-and-a-half months since the deal was made public has, if anything, grown more hardened.
Less than half an hour after the takeover was first announced in December, McCall told Bloomberg News in a phone call that he was wary of the transaction. The union’s preferred bidder, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., had lost out, and the winning company wasn’t one many in the market had expected.
“This is not how this is going to work,” he said at the time. “We don’t know Nippon.”
By the end of that week, McCall got sharper. He called out US Steel for a “pompous” attitude, criticizing the company for not giving the union advance notice of the deal. And shortly before New Year’s, he chastised Nippon for having sent a representative to his office to simply read from a pre-written script of how the company would honor labor agreements.
By January, he was on the full offensive. Across a wide-ranging 90-minute conversation on the fifth floor of the USW office in Washington, McCall claimed Nippon had no understanding of the full commitments needed by the labor group and said the company had handled everything “arrogantly.”
By late February, he was livid.
“I want to kill this deal,” McCall said in a phone interview. “They haven’t indicated in any way that they’re interested in working with us to assure us that our members and our members’ futures, their employment security, their economic security and their retirement security is guaranteed. The only progress is on an NDA.”
And when pressed on whether he’d still want to kill the deal even if Nippon meets all the union’s demands, McCall first takes a long pause before answering: “It’s a question I can’t answer, unless they’re willing to sit down and talk about the issues.”
Still, at this point, fiery rhetoric works in McCall’s favor. The angrier he seems, the more leverage he has when it comes to sitting down for negotiations. It’s in Nippon’s interest to try to win the union’s favor quickly. Trump wants to block
Trump has already said that he would block Nippon’s takeover of US Steel “instantaneously.” “We saved the steel industry. Now, US Steel is being bought by Japan. So terrible, but yeah, we want to bring jobs back to the country,” Trump said in late January.
Members of Congress in both parties have also raised national security concerns, including because of the Japanese steelmaker’s exposure to China.
And in response to questions about the deal, top economic aides for Biden said the president aims to preserve union jobs and domestic manufacturing in the US steel sector. The comments publicly hint at the administration’s priorities and the potential scope of the CFIUS review and further highlight why winning over the union will help to smooth over the political process for Nippon.
In recent weeks, people familiar with the matter have said the US national security review of the takeover is unlikely to conclude until late this year. US Steel and Nippon have publicly stated that they still expect the deal to close by the second or third quarter.
The CFIUS panel, led by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, can approve, amend or block the deal on national security grounds — or send it to Biden’s desk for a decision.
The Treasury Department declined to comment.
In a statement, US Steel said: “We respect and appreciate the professionalism of the CFIUS process and the important work of the Committee. We are committed to working with the appropriate parties to ensure any national security concerns are addressed.”
The company also cited Japan as an “important ally” of the US. Right-Hand Man
McCall became the union’s top official in September, following the death of former president Tom Conway.
McCall was Conway’s right-hand man, who would lay the advance ground work with company officials before top executives and union bosses would gather. Insiders have long viewed McCall as the shrewd negotiator who did the work to secure critical benefits and wage increases.
It’s unclear whether McCall will really follow through on his threats to try and kill the deal. Nippon has, after all, signalled to investors that it will do what’s needed to get the CFIUS approval.
And though the current political moment means McCall currently has a great amount of leverage, that clout will most likely fade after the November election. While US union strength has grown, it’s also true that even the most iconic labor groups, like the USW and the UAW, have seen their ranks plummet from the heydays half a century ago.
So scuttling the deal, only to leave the fate of the workers to the next bidder for US Steel during a less politically ripe moment, may not be the best strategy.
“There is sort of the middle-of-the-road outcome between letting the deal go untouched and blocking it — and that is mitigation to the extent that keeping these strategically important manufacturing jobs in the US is a national security interest,” Sofield of Debevoise & Plimpton said of what could happen during the CFIUS review. “You don’t have to block the deal to make that happen.”
But there is also a personal element to all this that goes beyond the politics.
McCall got his start in the industry at Bethlehem Steel in 1970 at the age of 18 as a journeyman millright. In 1978, he met Conway, at the time a young, unknown Protestant steelworker — an irony to McCall, who’s a Catholic.
Days after Conway’s death, just as McCall was starting to take up the responsibilities of running the union, he had a call with US Steel Chief Executive Officer David Burritt that would set the tone for the relationship he’s had with the company, and now by proxy, with Nippon.
“He said: ‘I hope our relationship can be better than it was with Tom. I didn’t get along with Tom, but I respected his mission,” McCall said. “My best friend in the world passed away and all he could say was he respected his mission.”
(Reporting by Joe Deaux).
SAQ union members vote for 15-day strike mandate
Negotiations with the employer have stalled for a year, union says
CBC News ·
Full-time positions and work schedules are the main sticking points, the union said. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)
Unionized office and store employees of Quebec's liquor board, the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), have voted for a 15-day strike mandate.
In a news release Saturday morning, the union said that 89 per cent of employees affected voted in favour of the 15-day strike mandate. But it did not specify how many people voted at general meetings held throughout the week.
The union, which represents 5,000 employees in SAQ stores and offices throughout Quebec and is affiliated with the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), says negotiations with the employer have stalled for a year.
It is criticizing the lack of job security and says the salary issue has not been addressed yet. Full-time positions and work schedules are the main sticking points, the union said.
"We wanted to make a statement to the employer that we are serious about our demands," union vice-president Alexandre Bolduc said in an interview, adding work-life balance and workplace health and safety are among the main points of contention in the dispute.
Bolduc said employees of the liquor store, commonly known as the SAQ, currently lack training to deal with what he described as an increase in the number of aggressive customers in urban stores since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Seventy per cent of SAQ employees are part-time, have no idea of their schedule two weeks in advance and never know if they will have a full week of work," union president Lisa Courtemanche said in a statement.
"We're looking to reduce the precarity," she said in an interview. "We don't have anyone left who wants to come and work at the SAQ. Our young colleagues are going elsewhere."
Other demands include adding permanent positions, training and increasing the number of wine advisors and branch co-ordinators.
A spokesperson for SAQ declined to comment on the union's claims, but said the company is committed to reaching a labour agreement that is "satisfactory" to both parties. The SAQ says it has a plan to maintain service in the event of a strike, but urged customers to monitor its website to see which stores would remain open.
The employer said the 15 strike days can be split up and that it will try to ensure continuity of service.
Based on reporting by La Presse Canadienne and the Canadian Press
