cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
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cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
@cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
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An astrophysicist reads the fine print on humanity’s plans for space.
Cartoons about space, progress, externalities, and the things we should probably think about before we call it innovation.
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cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 26d
Hello Bluesky!
Space is astonishing.
So is our ability to encounter something astonishing and immediately ask how we can use it.
I’m an astrophysicist. Cosmic Fine Print is my cartoon account for the issues that tend to get left out of the press releases and tech assessments.
✨🔭🧪
Black-and-white ink cartoon of a parent and child beneath a night sky crowded with satellites and streaks of moving light. Among them is a single stationary star. The child asks what the point of light is that does not move.
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
I'm not at all convinced we appreciate all the externalities we've let in the gate, but I am 100% sure it isn't the #AI companies who will pay the price.
Black-and-white ink cartoon of a huge wooden Trojan horse on wheels labeled “Generative AI.” A tiny ancient Greek soldier stands beside it holding a spear. At his feet is a small empty water trough. Looking up at the enormous horse, he says, “We’re gonna need a bigger trough.” The cartoon uses the Trojan horse and the undersized trough to evoke questions about generative AI’s water demands and the less visible consequences of allowing it into everyday life.
September 12, 2026 at 4:45 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
The spectacular #Roman mission is on its way to help us learn amazing things about the universe. Roman has successfully separated from SpaceX. NASA... not so much.
✨🔭🧪🚀
Cartoon of a Roman Space Telescope mission control room. A large checklist reads: “Launch” ✓, “Stage separation” ✓, “Roman separation” ✓, and “NASA separation from SpaceX” unchecked. Two mission controllers look at the board; one says, “Private launch. Public capture.”
August 30, 2026 at 8:52 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
Did you know the FAA wants to waive 13 federal environmental laws for commercial rocket launch and reentry?
✨Comments are due by Aug 31.✨
More at this link on the situation and how to submit useful comments.
kelseyjohnson367.substack.com/p/the-launch...
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#EnviSci
A black-and-white cartoon illustrated a rocket launch location polluting a local wetland habitat.
August 28, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
profkelsey.bsky.social
The FAA wants to waive 13 environmental laws for commercial launches. Meanwhile federal projections can’t even agree on the # of launches/reentries a year.

This seems like a spectacularly bad time to stop measuring the consequences.

Comments due Aug. 31.

open.substack.com/pub/kelseyjo...
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August 26, 2026 at 3:52 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
“Into what?”
Aluminum. Copper. Lithium. Lead. Titanium. Chromium. Nickel. Niobium. Hafnium. And a long list of metal oxides.

We are turning satellites into atmospheric chemistry.

(and before a smartypants points out meteors, the projected values from 🛰️+🚀 are orders of magnitude higher)
🧪🔭🐡
Black-and-white ink cartoon titled “Into What?” Two men in business suits stand in front of a landscape filled with rockets launching into the sky. One, holding a clipboard, says, “Don’t worry. When we’re done with them, they should each vaporize in the upper atmosphere.” The other replies, “Into what?”
August 25, 2026 at 2:31 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
Dear friends who cherish the night sky, this is a new account to share editorial cartoons related to the ethics of outer space. If you love the universe and have an inner voice that asks, "Have we really thought this through?", I'd value your support helping this new account lift off. 🔭🚀🧪🐡
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social cosmicfineprint.bsky.social @cosmicfineprint.bsky.social · 26d
Hello Bluesky!
Space is astonishing.
So is our ability to encounter something astonishing and immediately ask how we can use it.
I’m an astrophysicist. Cosmic Fine Print is my cartoon account for the issues that tend to get left out of the press releases and tech assessments.
✨🔭🧪
Black-and-white ink cartoon of a parent and child beneath a night sky crowded with satellites and streaks of moving light. Among them is a single stationary star. The child asks what the point of light is that does not move.
August 25, 2026 at 1:34 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
How quickly “shared human heritage” becomes “just a rock” once somebody shows up with explosives and an unfathomably large budget. ✨🔭🧪🐡
#SpaceEthics #Moon #Cartoon
Black-and-white two-panel cartoon. In the top panel, five people watch an explosion on the Moon and cheer: “We get to watch the show!”, “This is so cool!”, “Humans are awesome,” “The next frontier!”, and “Who cares, it’s just a rock.” In the bottom panel, seven people look at an intact Moon and describe what it means to them: stories from a grandmother, connection across time and space, inspiration for songs, a shared sky, a reminder that we are part of something vast and old, a hope that grandchildren will see it this way, and feelings of peace and wonder. A black panel beneath asks: “Can you guess which perspectives have a seat at the table?”
August 24, 2026 at 7:51 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
✨New Account
I've started drawing editorial cartoons about space ethics, because apparently writing only works if people read.
If you like space with a side of “have we really thought this through?”, please follow. Reposts, likes etc would help this new account lift off. Y'all know the drill. 🙏🏻
🔭🧪🐡
August 24, 2026 at 4:15 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
“It’s just a demonstration.”
— every precedent, shortly before becoming a precedent.
Funny how quickly one experiment can become, "Well, you approved the first one."
✨🔭🧪🛰️
Black-and-white two-panel editorial cartoon In the first panel, representatives labeled “Reflect Orbital” and “FCC” stand watching a single satellite near a launch tower. A speech bubble says, "IT'S JUST A DEMONSTRATION". In second panel, the same two figures look across a landscape crowded with many reflector satellites. A speech bubble reads, “THE PRECEDENT HAS BEEN SET.”
August 21, 2026 at 9:30 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
Some terms and conditions may apply.
Access restrictions, private property, and resource ownership sold separately.
🧪🔭✨
Black-and-white ink cartoon of two astronauts, an adult and a child, standing on the Moon outside a chain-link fence surrounding a sprawling industrial mining complex. A huge banner over the facility reads “FOR ALL HUMANKIND.” A sign on the fence reads “RESTRICTED SAFETY ZONE — PERMIT AUTHORIZED BY MANIFEST DESTINY.” Inside, excavators, trucks, drilling rigs, factories, and smokestacks fill the landscape. Another sign reads “EXTRACTED MATERIALS — PROPERTY OF OPERATOR.” Earth hangs in the sky in the distance.
August 21, 2026 at 9:13 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
A useful regulatory trick:
Don’t assess the environmental impacts because they’re outside your authority.
Then approve the project because there isn’t enough evidence of environmental harm.
See? No problem.
✨🔭🧪
Black-and-white editorial cartoon of an FCC official holding a clipboard titled “Reflect Orbital Application.” On the checklist, “Environmental Assessment prepared” is unchecked, while “Environmental effects outside our authority” and “Insufficient evidence to require environmental review” are checked. The application is stamped “APPROVED.” In the background, a Reflect Orbital satellite shines a powerful beam of reflected sunlight onto the nighttime Earth, illuminating a telescope, birds, insects, plants, and other life below.
August 21, 2026 at 8:58 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
Hard to argue with a plan this internally consistent.
✨🔭🧪
Black-and-white ink cartoon of a corporate boardroom with a screen outlining a strategy for going to Mars: “Make Earth harder to live on → Point to Earth becoming harder to live on → Conclude we need Mars.” Executives sit around the conference table listening to the presentation.
August 21, 2026 at 8:50 PM
cosmicfineprint.bsky.social
Hello Bluesky!
Space is astonishing.
So is our ability to encounter something astonishing and immediately ask how we can use it.
I’m an astrophysicist. Cosmic Fine Print is my cartoon account for the issues that tend to get left out of the press releases and tech assessments.
✨🔭🧪
Black-and-white ink cartoon of a parent and child beneath a night sky crowded with satellites and streaks of moving light. Among them is a single stationary star. The child asks what the point of light is that does not move.
August 21, 2026 at 8:21 PM