August 20, 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.
- The view from a Kuiper satellite launched last week by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket
This imagery was captured over a 24-minute period — enough time for the satellite to travel 5,500+ miles in orbit, from over Italy to the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar.
- BlackSky signs seven-figure space domain awareness expansion contract with HEO Space for fully automated non-Earth imaging missions
Essentially, HEO’s software will be used by its customers to task BlackSky’s satellites “to detect, track, characterize, and classify objects in orbit, as well as assess potential threats and predict their effects.”
- BlackSky touts an image of China’s Tiangong space station at a distance of 83 kilometers, taken by one of its satellites
Quite spectacular. The station was above Bulgaria, and the picture was taken on March 13, 2025.
- Webb discovers another new moon orbiting Uranus
It is estimated to be about six miles in diameter, and has an orbit close to the gas giant’s rings. Uranus now has 29 moons, but do not be surprised when that number rises significantly.
- NASA celebrates the Mars helicopter Ingenuity on National Aviation Day, noting it carried a small swatch of material from the Wright Brothers flyer
All told Ingenuity flew 72 times, the first powered, controlled flights on another planet.
- The head of India’s space agency ISRO says its next rocket will be 40 stories tall and carry 75 tons into orbit
He made a lot more promises. We shall see.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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.
- The view from a Kuiper satellite launched last week by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket
This imagery was captured over a 24-minute period — enough time for the satellite to travel 5,500+ miles in orbit, from over Italy to the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar.
- BlackSky signs seven-figure space domain awareness expansion contract with HEO Space for fully automated non-Earth imaging missions
Essentially, HEO’s software will be used by its customers to task BlackSky’s satellites “to detect, track, characterize, and classify objects in orbit, as well as assess potential threats and predict their effects.”
- BlackSky touts an image of China’s Tiangong space station at a distance of 83 kilometers, taken by one of its satellites
Quite spectacular. The station was above Bulgaria, and the picture was taken on March 13, 2025.
- Webb discovers another new moon orbiting Uranus
It is estimated to be about six miles in diameter, and has an orbit close to the gas giant’s rings. Uranus now has 29 moons, but do not be surprised when that number rises significantly.
- NASA celebrates the Mars helicopter Ingenuity on National Aviation Day, noting it carried a small swatch of material from the Wright Brothers flyer
All told Ingenuity flew 72 times, the first powered, controlled flights on another planet.
- The head of India’s space agency ISRO says its next rocket will be 40 stories tall and carry 75 tons into orbit
He made a lot more promises. We shall see.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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