Space

[Jdsk]

Knock-on impacts of Covid treatments

COVID-19 Treatments Require so Much Oxygen it Could Delay Rocket Launches
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It’s common knowledge at this point that liquid oxygen (LOX) is an important tool for combating severe symptoms of Covid-19. Most patients admitted to the hospital with the virus need oxygen directly pumped into the lungs, usually supplied by LOX suppliers such as AirGas or other commercial gas companies. Oxygen is also used in high quantities in a completely different application – rocket engines.
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Chilled oxygen is a necessary propellant chemical for all the leading launch firms, including SpaceX, Virgin Orbit, and ULA. But it’s becoming harder and harder to obtain the liquid form of the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. That’s in no small part because the same process used to create oxygen for rocket fuel can also create oxygen used for Covid patients. And as Richard Craig, the vice president of technical and regulatory affairs for the Compressed Gas Association, put it: “People come first.”
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Florida is one of the hardest-hit states in the current resurgence of the pandemic. LOX normally isn’t transported over far distances – most is created about 200-300 miles from where it is distributed. It is possible to transport the liquid further. However, another confounding factor impacts the intricate LOX supply chain – truck drivers.

LOX is highly flammable and explosive, so drivers that ferry it between production and consumption sites such as rocket pads have to be even more highly trained than a standard commercial truck driver. Right now, there is a shortage of commercial truckers of all stripes and a particular shortage of those qualified to haul liquid oxygen. While some suppliers are, in fact, able to ship oxygen supplies farther than their usual customer base, that takes up valuable time from the truckers who would otherwise be able to deliver it to closer locations.
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Ian

Thanks. I hadn't heard of that before.

Interesting effect on liquid nitrogen!

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

What he does with Amazon he does with other companies he own (it seems)

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin described as ‘toxic’ and putting ‘billionaire space race’ before safety in essay by 21 ex-employees
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The essay claims that the Amazon entrepreneur’s company pushes workers into signing strict nondisclosure agreements, disregards safety concerns, creates a sexist environment for women and smothers internal feedback.
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It was written by Blue Origin’s former head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams, who says it was co-signed by 20 other current and former employees who have not been named.

“I’ve gotten far enough away from it that I’m not afraid enough to let them silence me anymore,” Ms Abrams said in a CBS interview.
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Ian

[jb]

I'd a thought putting faith into your own product by being the first to try it out was a good thing, it doesn't bother me that they might also enjoy it.
It'll probably be a short lived way of experiencing space but may start to bring more investment in to benefit more useful activities.

[Psamathe]

A NewsBiscuit article but, despite being a "spoof" I felt it's more a valid summary of events

Picard slams Kirk's latest "mission" as "little more than a publicity stunt"
Starfleet's Jean-Luc Picard has slammed former colleague, James T Kirk's flight into space today, as "nothing more than a tawdry publicity stunt from a man whose glory days are now long behind him". The stinging remarks were made on live TV when Picard was asked to comment on the latest mission by Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket. He told reporters: 'You call that a space mission? Good God, space joke more like. It was nothing other than than an elaborately overpriced fairground ride. A risible joke. He'd have been more at risk on The One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. "Now if Kirk had maybe gone to the Delta Quadrant, been captured by the Borg, assimilated into the collective as a drone, but then escaped and shagged a few alien birds along the way, that would be a different matter altogether. But, come on, he just went straight up in the air above the Texas Desert and came straight back down again. Blink and you'd miss it. No more five-year missions, now. Eh, Jimbo?''
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Ian