Vast Space's Haven Demo Launches to Test Commercial Space Station

Private sector versus public sector!

"It may look like an ordinary satellite, but the recently launched Haven Demo is a major step toward the first commercial space station. Built by Vast, the 1,100-lb (500-kg) uncrewed spacecraft will test core systems of the planned Haven-1 outpost. ...

If all goes well, Haven Demo will be followed by Haven-1, which will also launch using a Falcon 9 rocket. This will go into a 264-mile (425-km) orbit and the single module will be inflated and the solar array deployed by ground control. This will be followed by a 45-day commissioning period.

When Haven-1 is fully operational, a crew of four private astronauts will dock with the station using a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. This initial visit will last about 30 days before they return to Earth."

"2026: Haven-1

The world’s first commercial space station

Haven-1 is a state-of-the-art, human-centric space station, home to an innovation lab for private astronauts and government missions, demonstrating Vast’s operational and technical capabilities."

Vast's Haven Demo Launches to Test Commercial Space Station Tech

Vast Space: Building next-generation space stations

Will Trump Privatize the US Postal Service?

Good question! Hopefully, President Trump will do it!

"“President-elect Donald Trump has expressed a keen interest in privatizing the US Postal Service [USPS] in recent weeks,” reports the Washington Post. The article discusses Trump’s long-standing complaints about the postal agency and possible reforms in the spirit of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The article mentions hurdles to privatization, but ongoing declines in letter volume mean that the status quo is not an option. First-class mail has plunged from 104 billion pieces in 2000 to 46 billion by 2023. On a per-capita basis, 2023’s mail volume was just 37 percent of 2000’s. Congress provides the USPS with a legal monopoly over mail, but mail is a dying industry. ..."

Will Trump Privatize the USPS? | Cato at Liberty Blog

Pakistan moves to sell national airline in test case for privatization drive

Good news!

"Pakistan International Airlines has been thrust into the spotlight as a test case for the government's ambitious plan to sell off state-owned enterprises as Pakistan seeks a multibillion-dollar package from the IMF to bail out the economy.

 

The national airline, which has lost over $3.6 billion in the past 20 years, is one of more than 80 state-owned companies on the auction block -- ranging from power plants and utilities to a women-focused bank and a hotel in New York."

Is Pakistan's national airline ready to go private?

Government workers across Atlantic Canada receive 11.9% higher wages, on average, than comparable private-sector workers

How fair are wages and salaries of government employees compared to private sector employees? As far as Western countries are concerned, this is a good question and it is probably only infrequently researched.

Compensation of the many government employees is also a form of vote buying on all levels of government!

Theoretically, government has the power to pay their employees any wages and salaries irrespective of prevailing and comparable private sector compensation.

"... government-sector workers (federal, provincial, and local) in the Atlantic provinces enjoyed an 11.9% wage premium, on average, over their private-sector counterparts in 2021. When the wage difference between unionized and non-unionized workers is taken into account, the wage premium for the government sector declines to 7.2%. ..."

Comparing Government and Private Sector Compensation in Atlantic Canada, 2021 | Fraser Institute