Neil Diamond – Holly Holy
An evening pause: Performed live 1971.
Hat tip Rex Ridenoure.
Year: 2024
March 26, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Video of Soyuz-2 upper stage coming down over inhabited parts of Russia
The flight tract and impact location shown here. This stage spent almost two days in orbit. Most of it probably burnt up in the atmosphere.
- Largest version of Russia’s new Angara rocket, Angara-A5, now vertical on launchpad for the first time
The first test launch from Vostochny has an April 6-10 launch window. The rocket is comparable to China’s Long March 5, capable of putting about 24 tons in orbit.
- Boeing and Aurora (a Boeing subsidiary) sue Virgin Galactic for $26.4 million
Virgin had hired them to build a replacement for the WhiteKnight mother ship used to launch SpaceShipTwo. They submitted plans, but then decided to back out of the deal, saying they could not complete the ship as Virgin Galactic wanted. They are now suing for payment of work done.
- Hi-res video of Starship/Superheavy during launch
Quite spectacular. Hat tip to John Batchelor for sending me the link.
Part 2: A further list of upcoming Democratic Party election chaos
In part one of this series yesterday I outlined one Democratic Party scenario for stealing a Trump election victory, based on the possibility that they might regain control of both Houses of Congress this year due to Republican resignations, and use that power to interfere with the election result as a lame duck Congress.
To do this however will require some groundwork. Today I will to outline several of the far more likely tactics the Democratic Party will use in the coming months, before, during, and after the election, to make the first scenario above more doable, should it be necessary due to a Trump victory. These tactics are also intended to use fear and violence to supress the Republican vote while energizing Democrats.
» Read more
Bursting bubbles of water gas on Mars
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on January 12, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Because of a technical issue that leaves a blank strip down the center of recent high-res MRO images, I have filled in that gap using a MRO context camera photo taken on January 12, 2015. The resolution is much less, but by doing so we can see the ground features as a unit.
What are we looking at? According to the scientists, this picture shows “fresh-looking ruptures,” referring to the broken line of sharp tears inside that meandering canyon that almost resemble a fresh wound in flesh. As this location is at 28 degrees south latitude, it lies on the edge of dry equatorial regions, where orbital images have sometimes found hints of a few remaining buried glaciers that are much more common closer to the poles.
In this case it appears the warmer equatorial climate has acted to heat up the buried ice so that it sublimated into gas. At some point the gas pressure caused the surface to burst, much like bubbles bursting on the surface of a pot of simmering tomato sauce, leaving behind these scars.
» Read more
Report: 3D printing in space
A new report released today [pdf] from the space think tank Intro-act provides a nice detailed summary of the economic and technological state of 3D printing industry in space.
The report first outlines the types of 3D printing presently available, using plastics and metals, and then outlines the advantages of printing things in orbit rather than carrying them up from Earth. Essentially, 3D printers are the real version of replicators seen in sci-fi movies, except that reality requires much more complexity, including a whole range of different machines designed for specific materials and final products.
The report lists four companies of note:
Made in Space (acquired by Redwire Corp.), Relativity Space, and AI SpaceFactory are the leading companies in the 3-D printing segment. With the addition of Vaya Space, the list provides a more comprehensive overview of the companies that are pioneering the use of 3-D printing technology in the realm of space exploration and development, showcasing the diverse applications and innovative strategies being employed in this exciting field.
Each company appears to have a different focus. Redwire is developing 3D printers for use on ISS, Relativity developing 3D printers for building rocket components, and AI Spacefactory developing 3D printed space colonies for Mars or the Moon.
If I had to choose which company to bet on, my pick would be Relativity followed by Redwire. The former’s large 3D printing technology for rockets can be very easily shifted to other uses and products, giving it a product of great value far beyond space. Redwire meanwhile has already launched and operated printers on ISS, proving it can provide that technology to future space stations.
This industry is however in its infancy. As the private space stations presently under construction launch, their need for this technology will skyrocket, and thus there will be opportunities galore.
Orbital tug startup ExLabs plans mission to asteroid Apophis in 2028
The orbital tug startup Exploration Labs (ExLabs) has announced it is planning to use its tug to deliver three cubesats on a rendezvous mission to asteroid Apophis in 2028, shortly before the asteroid does a close fly-by of Earth in April 2029.
The article at the link provides no other information about this mission. In searching the web I was unable to find anything further. It seems this mission is at present nothing more than a proposal, issued at this time mostly for public relations purposes to showcase the abilities of its proposed orbital tug, presently under development.
This conclusion does not mean the mission won’t happen, only that it is very far from a reality.
Intuitive Machines: Odysseus is dead
In a tweet on March 23, 2024 the company Intuitive Machines announced that the mission of its first lunar lander, Odysseus, is officially over with the spacecraft failing to come back to life after sunrise on the Moon.
As of March 23rd at 1030 A.M. Central Standard Time, flight controllers decided their projections were correct, and Odie’s power system would not complete another call home.
The engineers had begun listening for a signal on March 20th, when their computer models said enough sunlight would reach the solar panels to charge its communications system.
The failure of the lander to survive the lunar night is a disappointment, but it was never considered a strong possibility. Right now the company’s main task is to prevent the issues that caused Odysseus to land too fast and tip over, so that the next two missions, scheduled for either this year or next, each deliver their payloads properly on the Moon’s surface.
SpaceX launches 23 more Starlink satellites
The beat goes on and on and on and… SpaceX today successfully launched another 23 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Caneveral.
The first stage completed its eighth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
30 SpaceX
12 China
4 Rocket Lab
4 Russia
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 35 to 22, while SpaceX now leads the entire world, including American companies, 30 to 27.
Ricky Rialto & the Green Rats – Rockin’ Daddy
An evening pause: I’m not sure why, but the video makers and dancers all appear to be Italian.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
March 25, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Weather 30% for March 28, 2024 launch of ULA’s last Delta-4 Heavy
Launch is presently scheduled for 1:40 pm Eastern.
- China’s Queqiao-2 communications satellite is now in lunar orbit
Note that this is not its final orbit. Adjustments still have to be made. This short video (in Chinese) supposedly describes how the satellite will do its job.
- Buzz Aldrin wishes Jim Lovell a happy 96th birthday today
Of all the Apollo astronauts, these two were probably the biggest space cadets of them all.
Pushback: Smithsonian to pay Catholic students $50K and publicly apologize for ejecting them from Air & Space for wearing pro-life hats
The evil hat that Air & Space officials banned
Bring a gun to a knife fight: The Smithsonian has agreed to pay twelve Catholic students $50K and publicly apologize to them for ejecting them from the Air & Space museum last January because they were wearing pro-life hats.
That hat is to the right. Though many others were wearing t-shirts and hats with other political statements, museum officials singled these students out for harassment and ejection. According to their lawyer,
Once in the museum, they were accosted several times and told they would be forced to leave unless they removed their pro-life hats. The group all wore the same blue hat that simply said, “Rosary PRO-LIFE.” Other individuals in the museum were wearing hats of all kinds without issue.
The museum staff mocked the students, called them expletives, and made comments that the museum was a “neutral zone” where they could not express such statements. The employee who ultimately forced the students to leave the museum was rubbing his hands together in glee as they exited the building.
According to the settlement deal [pdf]:
» Read more
Part 1: The expected upcoming election chaos caused by the left’s hatred of any opposition
The kerfuffle this week at MSNBC because NBC had hired former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is important not because of what eventually happened (MSNBC quickly announced McDaniel was banned though she would still appear on NBC), but by what it reveals of the left’s political class.
Democrat politicians everywhere, both pretending to be journalists at MSNBC as well as within the leaders of the Democratic Party, complained that it was unacceptable to hire a former Republican Party leader, simply because she had dared express opinions and conclusions they disagreed with.
“The free and independent press is fundamental to our democracy and has and continues to face unprecedented attacks by Donald Trump and his lackeys – including Ronna McDaniel – to chip away at its credibility and allow space for MAGA lies and deceit,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison fumed in a statement. “There should be no debate about the truth in our political discourse. Ronna McDaniel is a proven liar, and has no place in an honest and objective conversation about the future of this country.”
Gee, I don’t remember anyone complaining when NBC hired Chuck Todd, who hosted fund-raising events for Hillary Clinton and whose wife is a major leftist strategist who did campaign work for Bernie Sanders. Nor did anyone complain when ABC hired George Stephanopoulos, a longtime Democratic Party campaign worker who was a major player in Bill Clinton’s campaign. Nor did any of these so-called journalists complain about these hires:
» Read more