🇺🇸 Donald Trump has decided against choosing Vivek Ramaswamy as his running mate and is now considering him for a position in his Cabinet, potentially as Homeland Security secretary, Bloomberg reports.

🔗 Republicans Against Trump

🇺🇸 🚀 The US government seems serious about developing a lunar economy

For the first time ever, the United States is getting serious about fostering an economy on the Moon.

NASA, of course, is in the midst of developing the Artemis program to return humans to the Moon. As part of this initiative, NASA seeks to foster a lunar economy in which the space agency is not the sole customer.

That's easier said than done. A whole host of conditions must be met for a lunar economy to thrive. There must be something there that can be sold, be it resources, a unique environment for scientific research, low-gravity manufacturing, tourism, or another source of value. Reliable transportation to the Moon must be available. And there needs to be a host of services, such as power and communications for machines and people on the lunar surface. So yeah, it's a lot.

In recent months, a US Defense organization, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has stepped in to help. This is important because DARPA is a key supporter of emerging technologies with a track record of success. (DARPA, for example, bought the very first launch on SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket.) Last year, the defense agency announced it was initiating a study, LunA-10, to understand how best to facilitate a thriving lunar economy by 2035.

In December, DARPA announced that it was working with 14 different companies under LunA-10, including major space players such as Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, as well as non-space firms such as Nokia. These companies are assessing how services such as power and communications could be established on the Moon, and they're due to provide a final report by June.

Things are moving faster than that, however. The DARPA program manager overseeing these activities, Major Michael "Orbit" Nayak, published a paper earlier this month based on learnings from these studies that only began a few months ago.

"Based on technical work and development conducted under the LunA-10 study, I have identified six hypotheses where, if revolutionary improvements in technology can be made, I assess that a direct acceleration to the fielding of a lunar economy is likely to occur," Nayak said in the paper.

🔗 https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/the-us-government-seems-serious-about-developing-a-lunar-economy/

🌍🇪🇺 The Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline, a mammoth project to connect Nigeria, Niger, Algeria to the EU gas market, is revived by African partners.

Recently, both Nigeria & Algeria made concrete steps to advance the TSGP, strengthening the South-North energy security axis of the EU

The TSGP, a project discussed for two decades and mainly promoted by African countries, is now again under the spotlight. Europe seeks alternative suppliers amid its diversification away from Russia. African countries look to Europe to export enormous and unexploited gas reserves

As it has been planned, the TSGP would be 4,000 km in length, delivering up to 30 bcm/y of gas from the rich Nigerian gas reserves up to the Sahara desert, feeding into the Algerian gas network, built and designed to secure supplies to countries such as Italy and Spain.

However, the TSGP's price tag remains unknown. A first feasibility study was conducted in 2005. The project's cost was estimated around $13 billion. Nowadays, the investment would be much higher and closer to $20 billion, making the same unbearable for African governments.

Nevertheless, signals from both Nigeria and Algeria confirm that hopes to see the project implemented have not faded. The Nigerian government has confirmed that the biggest domestic gas pipeline, the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben Gas Pipeline (OB3) project is near completion this month.

The OB3 pipeline will supply the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK) pipeline. Costing nearly $3 billion, the pipeline will be transporting gas from the Niger Delta to the Northern regions of Nigeria by the end of the year. The Nigerian government has spent billions in both projects.

The AKK pipeline is the most important node in the construction of the TSGP, bringing Nigeria's gas to Niger and then North to Algeria. This month, Algeria's state-owned energy company's CEO Rachid Hachichi has announced a new $50 billion investment plan in oil and gas projects

In 2024, the goal is to provide nearly $9 billion in 2024 to the plan's funding, boosting upstream investments in exploration and production. This is the key part of the 4-year Sonatrach's plan, with over 70% of the total financing heading to this expenditure item

Close to $5 billion will instead be invested in the upgrade of LNG facilities and the expansion of the Algerian gas network. Algeria has plenty of capacity in its existing pipelines to the EU, but it is seeking to diversify exports through LNG. Other than the financial burden, the challenges to the realisation of the TSGP are colossal.

In 2023, Niger's coup strained the relations between Abuja and Niamey, cutting the economic ties between ECOWAS and Niger. Also, no EU partner seems seriously interested in investing. Is the TSGP just wishful thinking?

🔗 Francesco Sassi

🌐 NATO ready to deploy 300,000 troops to Poland in case of threat - General Staff

NATO has 300,000 troops on high alert who could be deployed to Poland in the event of armed aggression against the country.

This was stated by the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, General Karol Dymanowski, Censor.NET reports citing TVP Info.

"These are NATO's plans, which were approved at the political level at the last NATO summit in Vilnius. Previously, there were 40,000 soldiers at the Alliance's headquarters, now there are 300,000," Dymanowski said.

The deputy chief of the General Staff stressed that "soldiers will arrive in the country in case of a threat even before the war starts".

"This is the essence of the plans aimed at deterrence. We have various scenarios ready to adequately respond to the aggression," he added.

🔗 https://censor.net/en/news/3478235/nato_ready_to_deploy_300000_troops_to_poland_in_case_of_threat_general_staff

📡🛰🤝🇺🇸 — 🏴 ZeroHedge | Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX is building spy satellite network for US intelligence agency, sources say | March 16, 2024:

"WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's space company and national security agencies."

🗄 Archive

🔗 Source:

#BREAKING

🇺🇸🤝🇺🇸❗️ — 📰 NBC News: Donald Trump eyes Marco Rubio as Potential Vice-Presidential Pick!

🇲🇽🇺🇸 AMLO Prepares to take over Vulcan property in Mexico’s Mayan Riviera

The Mexican government is preparing to take control of a quarry and port owned by Vulcan Materials Co. on the nation’s Caribbean coast after years of negotiations failed to produce a deal to buy the property, according to people familiar with the plans.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration is planning to declare the land south of the resort city of Playa del Carmen a natural protected area. That would prevent the US construction firm from extracting limestone at the site it has owned for decades.

🗣“We always seek negotiation, agreement, dialog, always — and that is what is being done in this case,” López Obrador said. “But of course, when we see that they want to impose themselves without being right because they feel very powerful, well then there’s no other option than to apply the law.”

🔎 Source
#Mexico #US

☠️ Blood Meridian

🇻🇪⚠️ — 💬 Maria Corina Machado, the main opposition leader to Nicolás Maduro's regime in Venezuela, issues a warning on social media about today's events:

WORLD ALERT

The Maduro regime unleashes brutal repression against my campaign teams. They have arrested Henry Alviarez, National Coordinator of Organization of my Campaign Command, and Dignora Hernández, Political Coordinator. Additionally, they have issued arrest warrants against several other members of the National Command, including my Campaign Chief, Magalli Meda.

These cowardly actions aim to close Venezuela's path towards change and freedom in peace and democracy. Venezuelans, I ask for strength and courage in these difficult times. Today, more than ever, we need to be united and steadfast to continue advancing towards our goals.

María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) on 𝕏 🔗