January 10, 2025 Quick space linksCourtesy 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.
- Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander apparently entered lunar orbit last year with a low point only 1.3 kilometers above the surface, far lower than expected
The engineers immediately scheduled an orbital burn to raise this low point to a reasonable number, as there was an actual risk the spacecraft might hit a mountain peak if not corrected.
- ESA’s director touts a joint ESA/China solar probe to study solar wind and magnetosphere
This tweet has very old information, apparently from before 2021. The probe is now scheduled for launch in 2025 on a Vega-C rocket
- Chinese grasshopper test stage spotted during transport
It appears the plan is to next test fly it up and down from a sea platform off the coast of Haiyang
- On this day in 1968 the Surveyor-7 spacecraft touched down softly on the Moon
It landed near the crater Tycho.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
- Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander apparently entered lunar orbit last year with a low point only 1.3 kilometers above the surface, far lower than expected
The engineers immediately scheduled an orbital burn to raise this low point to a reasonable number, as there was an actual risk the spacecraft might hit a mountain peak if not corrected.
- ESA’s director touts a joint ESA/China solar probe to study solar wind and magnetosphere
This tweet has very old information, apparently from before 2021. The probe is now scheduled for launch in 2025 on a Vega-C rocket
- Chinese grasshopper test stage spotted during transport
It appears the plan is to next test fly it up and down from a sea platform off the coast of Haiyang
- On this day in 1968 the Surveyor-7 spacecraft touched down softly on the Moon
It landed near the crater Tycho.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I left some tech links here—in the comments section—good propulsion news:
https://spacenews.com/rubicon-delivers-propulsion-for-nasa-dual-mode-mission/