Four Seasons Before Lunch Gauteng (Pretoria)

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 I have lived in Pretoria for half my life, but even at almost 50, l still am not ready for mornings like this . I step out of  home in the morning at 7 a.m., greeted by a warm, gentle breeze and sunshine so golden it felt like summer had arrived overnight. The sky was clear; the jacaranda trees glowed purple; the air smelled of warmth and possibility. “Perfect day,” l muttered, locking his door. By the time l drive out—five minutes later—the sky starts to be darkened. A cold wind came crawling in from nowhere, sweeping dust across the pavement. The temperature dropped so suddenly that  l have  to switch the heater for warmth. Laughing. “Ah, Pretoria… you never disappoint.” Halfway to the office, the heavens opened. Not soft rain— a storm . Sheets of water hammered the road, street gutters overflowed instantly, and distant thunder rolled like a grumpy giant waking up too early. People scattered, hiding under bus shelters already too full.  “Ten minutes ago...
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THE AIR FORCE SEEMS TO BE INVESTING HEAVILY IN SPACEX’S STARSHIP

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SPACEX (SCREENSHOT) / FUTURISM

Wink Wink

In its 462-page “justification book” on how it plans to spend its $200 billion budget, the US Air Force suggested that it’s allocating almost $50 million in the development of the SpaceX Starship.

Even though the Air Force didn’t mention the Starship by name, it did mention its interest in specific capabilities that only Starship could feasibly provide, Ars Technica reports, including rapid cargo delivery anywhere in the world. While it’s not exactly the same as Starship’s purported goal of carrying humans to the Moon or Mars, securing military investment could provide the capital SpaceX needs to get there.

Tangential Investments

The Air Force doesn’t plan on investing directly in Starship development or testing, Ars reports. But it will put millions into related systems that will help the Air Force best use Starship to rapidly ferry heavy loads around the world. Those systems include ways to rapidly load and unload the rocket, technology to help the rocket land on new surfaces, and research into the possibility of airdropping cargo.

“The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion-dollar commercial investment to develop the largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AF cargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity,” reads the justification book.

The Air Force’s plans to invest tens of millions of dollars in SpaceX — again, the document doesn’t refer to the Starship by name, but it seems to be a reasonable assumption — further secures SpaceX’s role as a dominant player in the space industry. Even if the money isn’t going directly into Starship development, the Air Force’s decision to dedicate that kind of funding to Starship-related tech is a very good sign for SpaceX’s chances at winning future military contracts. And as Ars notes, getting a slice of the military’s seemingly-limitless budget will make it a lot easier for the company to pursue its own, non-militaristic goals.

READ MORE: The US military is starting to get really interested in Starship [Ars Technica]

More on SpaceX: SpaceX IS Building a Military Rocket To Ship Weapons Anywhere in the World


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