DoomsdaysCW#PhillipRench, a former #SpaceX employee, wants to give #UselessSusanCollins a run for her money. Ugh. BETTER CHOICES, PUH-LEASE!
#MainePol #NoToxicRocketsForMaine
#MainePol #NoToxicRocketsForMaine
@PeterLG He's advocating for controversial #SpaceCorp. Many folks are against #SpaceLaunches from #Maine. #NoToxicRocketsForMaine
Unfortunately, I missed this protest. But good to know that #BruceGagnon and others are bringing attention to the #MilitarizationOfSpace!
Oct 24 'Maine Space Conference' protest news release
Bruce Gagnon: "The #MaineSpaceConference is promoting the militarization of space. Efforts are being made to test #hypersonic missiles at the former #LoringAirForceBase. #bluShitAerospace is receiving funding from the U.S. #SpaceForce to launch 'dual use' (military/civilian) mini-satellites into dangerously congested #LowerEarthOrbit. [#LEO].
"Promises of lots of jobs, little to no #environmental impacts, and peaceful exploration of space are the standard claims made at a myriad of potential new launch sites the #USMilitary is exploring around the world.
"The U.S. and #Israel have been blocking a #SpaceWeaponsBan treaty (#PAROS) at the United Nations for more than 25 years.
"Our nation cannot afford to pay for a new expensive arms race in outer space."
https://space4peace.blogspot.com/2024/10/protest-maine-space-conference-portland.html
#NoToxicRocketsForMaine #SpaceCorporations #Pollution #ToxicRockets #SpacePollution #SpaceIndustry #PFASContamination #Maine #NoWar #Protest
No Toxic Rockets for Maine
Who We Are
"#NatureLovers opposed to building #polluting #RocketLaunch sites in #Maine. We monitored & resisted the rush to pass 'emergency' legislation to create a public-private partnership for rocket launch sites in our state. In April, 2022, #LD1923 was signed into law by Gov. #JanetMills after passing the House 'under the gavel' i.e. without a voice vote.
Military Use
"LD 1923's sponsor Rep. Daughtry insists that no military uses are planned for rocket launch sites in Maine. But in every location we've studied, the same promises were made and not kept.
"In# Kodiak, #Alaska 20 years ago one launch site was built with developers claiming it was only for civilian purposes. There are now multiple sites there being used by the #Pentagon and the #IsraeliMilitary. Meanwhile, the jobs that were promised for the project never developed. Sites are staffed when launches happen by outsiders who leave after the event. Only custodial and security staff jobs are available to the local community.
"Recently a #SpaceX launch of satellites saw 40 of them fall out of the atmosphere due to a #SolarStorm. In their statement about their response to the incident, SpaceX stressed their close cooperation with the Pentagon:
"The #Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag — to effectively 'take cover from the storm' — the #SpaceForce’s 18th Space Control Squadron and LeoLabs to provide updates on the satellites based on ground radars.
#Toxic Fallout
"When rocket launches go wrong -- as they frequently do -- #chemicals rain down on land and sea as highly toxic materials burn up.
"In case of fires at the rocket launch site, large scale storage of #PFAS foam is to be expected. Maine already has a severe #PFASContamination problem on #Agricultural land across the state."
Learn more about their mission:
https://www.notoxicrockets4me.org/
#NoToxicRocketsForMaine #SpaceCorporations #Pollution #MilitarizationOfSpace #ToxicRockets #SpacePollution #SpaceIndustry
#Protest outside & inside of #MaineSpaceConference
By Bruce Gagnon,
Published on Organising Notes, 7 November 2023
"About 200 people attended the conference which was intended to ramp up the establishment of Maine’s campaign to enter ‘the space race’.
"The event began with Dr. Terry Shehata, Executive Director of the Maine Space Grant Consortium, introducing a NASA headquarters speaker who was described as ‘Our sugar daddy, we need to keep him happy’. The NASA representative talked alot about reaching students across Maine and beyond in order to build their support for everything space. After all, in just a few years these students will be taxpayers and the aerospace industry wants to ensure that their generation supports massive federal spending for Moon and Mars missions and the #militarization and #nuclearization of space.
"The aerospace industry calls it an investment. I learned this years ago at a similar conference at the #KennedySpaceCenter in Florida. In a workshop on ‘updating the center’s museum’, the director told the assembled they were retro-fitting the museum on a Mars theme. He bragged that they brought in thousands of Florida students each year that ‘would soon be taxpayers’. That is now a national NASA organizing strategy to keep the aerospace funding pipeline humming for years to come. Get to the students and sell them on the ‘wonders of space’. Let’s all be astronauts!
"Maine State Sen. Mattie Daughtry (D-Brunswick) led a plenary panel discussion that promoted the joys of the space gold rush by promising loads of good paying jobs, little-to-no #environmental impacts from launching rockets, and heavy emphasis on teacher and student recruitment. Daughtry was the prime sponsor of the bill in the state legislature to create the Maine Space Corporation with its 17-member board that heavily represents the aerospace industry.
"Almost all the plenary speakers talked about the wonders of #MaineWilderness that enables us to see the starry #NightSky. Sadly none of the speakers noted the irony that due to the space gold rush, launching thousands of #satellites is ruining the dark view. #Astronomers complain that it is becoming near impossible to do astronomical research because of long-strings of blinking #satellites in the night sky.
[...]
"While many of the speakers made grand claims about jobs to come from #Maine’s participation in the space gold rush, the evidence is otherwise. One of the other speakers at the conference talked about space manufacturing becoming increasingly done via robotic and computerized operations. This would increase ‘productivity’ and increase profit but reduce the need for so many workers.
"Other places where #RocketLaunch sites have been created like #KodiakIsland, #Alaska and #RocketLab in #NewZealand promised lots of jobs (which never materialized) and only civilian launches. In both those cases virtually all launches so far have been for the US Pentagon. In the case of Rocket Lab it has been taken over by #LockheedMartin.
"Many of the people attending the Maine Space Conference were investors who are eager to ride the space rocket to grab profit and notoriety. Like any gold rush the long-term truth turns out to be quite different than the original sales pitch promises.
"It is incumbent upon Maine citizens to pay attention to this issue before taxpayers in the state get handed a huge bill for costs that were never made clear during this early round of pie-in-the-sky promotion."
Read more:
https://space4peace.org/protest-outside-inside-of-maine-space-conference/
#DarkSkies #Maine #SpaceIndustry #ToxicRockets #NoToxicRocketsForMaine #MilitarizationOfSpace #WaterIsLife #Wildlife #Pollution #SpacePollution
Some #environmental advocates oppose the creation of a #Maine #Space Corporation
Maine Public | By Irwin Gratz
Published February 28, 2022
"Encouraging the development of a #SpaceIndustry in Maine would be bad for the state's environment and do little to help its economy, according to opponents of a bill that proposes a public-private partnership to assist nascent rocket companies.
"The measure, #LD1923, would offer technical assistance and attempt to put state government behind a bid to find a suitable rocket launching site.
"Opponents, including former Independent U.S. Senate Candidate #LisaSavage of Solon, say the bill, and the idea of Maine as a rocket launch site, are bad ideas.
"Savage says rocketry has proven to be harmful to the #environment. 'Rocket launches in other places have been very hard on #wildlife, killed lots of #birds,' she said.
"And Savage adds rocket launches, 'always add to climate crisis by putting exhaust into the atmosphere. Rockets that go up high enough, punch holes in the ozone layer, which was just beginning to get repaired.'
"Savage says she doubts a space industry would generate many jobs, and it could hurt Maine's brand as a vacation haven where 'you go to enjoy pristine waters and good air quality and beautiful wildlife.'
"Savage says she's also unhappy with the way the Maine Space Corporation legislation is moving through the legislature. She says there was inadequate notice of a #PublicHearing on the bill and the committee voted to recommend its passage contingent on two amendments that have yet to be written."
TY to @NoelWauchope for posting this on the nuclear-news.net web page! "#TheGlobalNetwork and #MaineNaturalGuard are organizing the No Toxic Rockets for ME campaign that will hold a #PeacefulProtest."
#Protest #Maine #SpaceIndustry Conference in Portland
Monday, November 6, 2023 at 11:30 am
Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring St, Portland, #Maine
TALKING POINTS (via #NoToxicRocketsForMaine)
- All rocket launches cause harm to our #Climate no matter what they claim and no matter what kind of fuel they use. #ClimateCrisis is hastened by rocket launches, and this is a rapidly growing concern. #AluminumOxide produced when launches fail and burn up re-entering Earth's airspace cause significant damage to the #OzoneLayer.
- Environmental toxins such as #PFAS from fire-suppression systems at rocket launch sites pose a deadly threat to our water and soil. Aluminum fallout from rockets and payloads that fail falls to Earth, along with other chemicals from the incineration of plastics and other components of rockets.
- All rocket launch sites previously built on the promise that there would be no military use failed to keep that promise. In Kodiak, Alaska their "civilian-use only" site has both the Pentagon and Israel's military using it for rocket launches of weapons and surveillance systems.
- #Birds in particular are harmed by rocket launches, often with mass death events following a launch. Jonesport's commercial fishing community imposed a moratorium on rocket launch sites due to concerns about disruption to their livelihood.
- Publicly supported development of facilities intended for private profit is a bad deal for #taxpayers. Why socialize research and development costs while privatizing the eventual profits?
Read more: https://sites.google.com/view/notoxicrocketsforme/take-action?authuser=0
#LD1923 #PortlandMaine #Protest #NoWar #MilitarisationOfSpace #KeepSpaceForPeace
