April 25, 2025 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.
- Startup Radian Aerospace announces its development of a spacecraft coating that can be used “operate repeatedly without degradation”
The company claims this coating surpasses the thermal tiles presently used by SpaceX.
- NASA Dragonfly mission to Titan passes its critical design review
All this means that construction can now begin.
- In answering further questions by science committee senators, Jared Isaacman calls proposed budget cuts to NASA not “optimal”
Of course he did. Congress critters never want any budget cuts, no matter which party they belong to. He needs their votes to get confirmed. He is therefore always going to tell them what they want to hear. What he actually believes remains unknown.
- China touts a pseudo-commercial new cargo ferry for its space station
It is scheduled for its first flight later this year. Jay notes that it is not reusable.
- On this day in 1967 Vladimir Komarov died when the parachutes on the first Soyuz capsule tangled during re-entry and the capsule crashed
The Soyuz really wasn’t ready, and Komarov was having serious technical problems almost immediately after reaching orbit.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
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.
- Startup Radian Aerospace announces its development of a spacecraft coating that can be used “operate repeatedly without degradation”
The company claims this coating surpasses the thermal tiles presently used by SpaceX.
- NASA Dragonfly mission to Titan passes its critical design review
All this means that construction can now begin.
- In answering further questions by science committee senators, Jared Isaacman calls proposed budget cuts to NASA not “optimal”
Of course he did. Congress critters never want any budget cuts, no matter which party they belong to. He needs their votes to get confirmed. He is therefore always going to tell them what they want to hear. What he actually believes remains unknown.
- China touts a pseudo-commercial new cargo ferry for its space station
It is scheduled for its first flight later this year. Jay notes that it is not reusable.
- On this day in 1967 Vladimir Komarov died when the parachutes on the first Soyuz capsule tangled during re-entry and the capsule crashed
The Soyuz really wasn’t ready, and Komarov was having serious technical problems almost immediately after reaching orbit.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
At the risk of being flagrantly obvious, I know a place where Radian Aerospace can go for some real-world testing of its Dur-E-Therm tech. And, if it works, there could be a nice long-term supply contract or licensing deal to follow.
Isaacman’s one-word answer to Sen. Cruz anent Mars Sample Return all but guarantees that MSR, as an all or mostly NASA project, is dead. Good.