October 22, 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.
- Inversion Space touts its two autonomous drop test vehicles, Jaws and Big Tuna
The company has been using them in helicopter drops to test targeted precise reentry that its proposed Arc orbital capsule will require.
- Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo reportedly agree to merge their satellite divisions
The article speculates, without solid evidence, that the combined company will build a satellite constellation to compete with Starlink. Jay instead speculates (more accurately) that it “will will just lobby for laws that ban Starlink or tax the hell out of it.” After all, that is the European way in the 21st century.
- Chang’e-6 lunar sample is “a type of meteorite known as Ivuna-type carbonaceous chondrite”
What makes this find significant is that these types of primitive meteorites are very fragile, and almost never survive reentry on Earth. Finding this sample on the Moon will help scientists better determine the overall make-up of the solar system’s asteroid population, which will then allow them to better construct its early formation process.
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.
- Inversion Space touts its two autonomous drop test vehicles, Jaws and Big Tuna
The company has been using them in helicopter drops to test targeted precise reentry that its proposed Arc orbital capsule will require.
- Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo reportedly agree to merge their satellite divisions
The article speculates, without solid evidence, that the combined company will build a satellite constellation to compete with Starlink. Jay instead speculates (more accurately) that it “will will just lobby for laws that ban Starlink or tax the hell out of it.” After all, that is the European way in the 21st century.
- Chang’e-6 lunar sample is “a type of meteorite known as Ivuna-type carbonaceous chondrite”
What makes this find significant is that these types of primitive meteorites are very fragile, and almost never survive reentry on Earth. Finding this sample on the Moon will help scientists better determine the overall make-up of the solar system’s asteroid population, which will then allow them to better construct its early formation process.
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