September 27, 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.
- Direct evidence from China that all its so-called “private” companies are government-controlled
Apparently they jointly created a single entity to share data on developing reusable rockets. Nothing is proprietary.
- American Astronomical Society demands transparency and government supervision for lunar and interplanetary spaceflight activities
The link upholds a pdf. While some of the suggestions make sense, the overall tone is a cry of desperation against the possibility that private entities might operate in space out of the control of the government and this scientific organization.
- NASA approves use of SuperDraco launch abort system should all parachutes fail during landing
Up until now NASA limited use of the SuperDracos to situations where a failure occurred during launch.
- On this day in 1997 Mars Pathfinder and its mini rover Sojourner sent its final data transmission
This lander laid the groundwork for the entire American Mars unmanned exploration program of the past quarter century.
- During this week in 1970 the Soviets’ Luna-16 unmanned lunar probe successfully returned a 1/4 pound of lunar soil to Earth
It was the first time an unmanned mission accomplished this task, though it came after two American manned landings brought back a much greater haul of lunar samples.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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.
- Direct evidence from China that all its so-called “private” companies are government-controlled
Apparently they jointly created a single entity to share data on developing reusable rockets. Nothing is proprietary.
- American Astronomical Society demands transparency and government supervision for lunar and interplanetary spaceflight activities
The link upholds a pdf. While some of the suggestions make sense, the overall tone is a cry of desperation against the possibility that private entities might operate in space out of the control of the government and this scientific organization.
- NASA approves use of SuperDraco launch abort system should all parachutes fail during landing
Up until now NASA limited use of the SuperDracos to situations where a failure occurred during launch.
- On this day in 1997 Mars Pathfinder and its mini rover Sojourner sent its final data transmission
This lander laid the groundwork for the entire American Mars unmanned exploration program of the past quarter century.
- During this week in 1970 the Soviets’ Luna-16 unmanned lunar probe successfully returned a 1/4 pound of lunar soil to Earth
It was the first time an unmanned mission accomplished this task, though it came after two American manned landings brought back a much greater haul of lunar samples.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Breaking news from Friday’s NASASpaceflight “Flame Trench” stream! Steve Sich (sp), NASA manned spaceflight honcho, has just announced that Dragon manned spacecraft will be able to use their SuperDraco engines to soft land in the event of a parachute failure, including a failure of ALL FOUR chutes!
The most mind-boggling aspect of this is that it apparently not only applies to the upcoming Crew-9 mission, but to the Crew-8 capsule ALREADY IN ORBIT at the ISS! What?!
I have always been horrified at the prospect of a parachute failure killing a spacecraft crew! And I knew that SpaceX originally wanted to use propulsive landing for manned Dragon landings (with parachutes as backup), but NASA choked on the idea.
This is simply amazing.
Curious why there must be a total failure in the primary, before the secondary can be used. I am sure there is redundancy in the system; a soft landing with three ‘chutes, perhaps. But two functioning canopies? Or one? I’d be looking real hard at that switch.
Good grief! NASA has been a joke on this issue all along.
First they denied using SuperDraco which was SpaceX’s original plan, and they even had planned to land a Dragon on Mars with them as a test that would have provided a free (or greatly discounted) ride for another Mars mission. And if we’d done that, then we’d already have a great platform to efficiently build a Mars sample return mission around. Oh well!
So SpaceX had to add parachutes because of NASA , and this added to cost, complexity, and mass to Dragon (the last limiting its payload capacity by a few hundred Kg.). What stupidity.
As far as Super Dracos go, I am certain they have some redundancy designed in or SpaceX never would have proposed them for manned missions. Elon has been very clear that safety takes priority for Man Rated applications. So I expect that however many thrusters there are it can lose 1 or 2 without compromising safety.
One last point. SuperDracos can back up parachutes no problem, but the reverse is not true. If the Dracos fail during a propulsive landing there is no time for any chutes to deploy and save the day.
It is embarrassing to see how stodgy and innovation averse NASA has become. : (
What I’m wondering is: if all four chutes had failed before this, would the crew have just been expected to die in accordance with the NASA dictate forbidding the use of the SuperDracos for landing? If it was possible to ignite them, and the alternative was an unsurvivably hard landing, I don’t think the crew would care what NASA had dictated.