May 19, 2025 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who apologies for their lateness. 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.
As I noted to him when he sent these links, I had read all these stories and considered them bottom of the barrel and not worth a full post. They do rate however as quick links.
- Startup Venus Aerospace does successful suborbital test of its “Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine”
Video here. This is still not much more than at the large model rocket stage, but the potential is great.
- Jared Isaacman posts two tweets (here and here) noting how budgets are limited and we must face the reality of NASA budget cuts.
He specifically slams SLS and the issuance of two lunar lander contracts, to SpaceX and Blue Origin. Says we can’t afford it, while robbing NASA of money it could use for “dozens of scientific programs.”
He must be confident he has enough confirmation votes in the Senate or he wouldn’t say these things now.
- Headline: “SpaceX launches 1,000th Starlink satellite of the year during Friday morning mission”
This was the May 16, 2025 launch. Jay calls this an “insane headline,” adding “I remember back when there were only about 1000 active satellites total, as in for the whole world.”
- Russia & China ink agreement for Russia to supply a nuclear power source for Chinese lunar base
Anatoly Zak I think correctly notes, “I think that ‘collaboration’ was actually a simple purchase of the Russian hardware with no Russian access to the resources of the project.” Russia has a very limited ability to send much of anything to China’s lunar base. It will deliver some hardware and let the Chinese deliver it to the Moon.
- On this day in 2009 the last shuttle servicing mission to Hubble ended, with the robot arm releasing the telescope after major repairs
At the time Hubble’s engineers estimated the repairs would give the telescope a minimum of another five years of operation (see the afterword in the paperback edition of The Universe in a Mirror for more details). It is now sixteen years later. The telescope is still functioning but it is also definitely on thin ice, with only two working gyroscopes.
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, who apologies for their lateness. 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.
As I noted to him when he sent these links, I had read all these stories and considered them bottom of the barrel and not worth a full post. They do rate however as quick links.
- Startup Venus Aerospace does successful suborbital test of its “Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine”
Video here. This is still not much more than at the large model rocket stage, but the potential is great.
- Jared Isaacman posts two tweets (here and here) noting how budgets are limited and we must face the reality of NASA budget cuts.
He specifically slams SLS and the issuance of two lunar lander contracts, to SpaceX and Blue Origin. Says we can’t afford it, while robbing NASA of money it could use for “dozens of scientific programs.”He must be confident he has enough confirmation votes in the Senate or he wouldn’t say these things now.
- Headline: “SpaceX launches 1,000th Starlink satellite of the year during Friday morning mission”
This was the May 16, 2025 launch. Jay calls this an “insane headline,” adding “I remember back when there were only about 1000 active satellites total, as in for the whole world.”
- Russia & China ink agreement for Russia to supply a nuclear power source for Chinese lunar base
Anatoly Zak I think correctly notes, “I think that ‘collaboration’ was actually a simple purchase of the Russian hardware with no Russian access to the resources of the project.” Russia has a very limited ability to send much of anything to China’s lunar base. It will deliver some hardware and let the Chinese deliver it to the Moon.
- On this day in 2009 the last shuttle servicing mission to Hubble ended, with the robot arm releasing the telescope after major repairs
At the time Hubble’s engineers estimated the repairs would give the telescope a minimum of another five years of operation (see the afterword in the paperback edition of The Universe in a Mirror for more details). It is now sixteen years later. The telescope is still functioning but it is also definitely on thin ice, with only two working gyroscopes.
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.
Readers: the rules for commenting!
No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.
However, name-calling and obscenities will not be tolerated. First time offenders who are new to the site will be warned. Second time offenders or first time offenders who have been here awhile will be suspended for a week. After that, I will ban you. Period.
Note also that first time commenters as well as any comment with more than one link will be placed in moderation for my approval. Be patient, I will get to it.