January 5, 2026 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.
- New Spanish communications satellite suffers ‘space particle’ impact
It appears the satellite was hit by a very tiny micro-meteoroid, but moving at a high relative speed.
- On this day in 1958 Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, burned up on reentry into Earth’s atmosphere
It had transmitted signals back to Earth for almost a month before its batteries died.
- On this day in 2004 the rover Spirit landed in Gusev Crater
Its 90-day mission would last more than 6 years. Its twin, Opportunity, would last more than 14 years.
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.
- New Spanish communications satellite suffers ‘space particle’ impact
It appears the satellite was hit by a very tiny micro-meteoroid, but moving at a high relative speed.
- On this day in 1958 Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, burned up on reentry into Earth’s atmosphere
It had transmitted signals back to Earth for almost a month before its batteries died.
- On this day in 2004 the rover Spirit landed in Gusev Crater
Its 90-day mission would last more than 6 years. Its twin, Opportunity, would last more than 14 years.
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
This could backfire
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/trump-administration-censures-former-nasa-astronaut-mark-kelly-over-illegal-orders-video
Sorry for being completely off topic, Robert, but when posting at my home computer, I keep getting messages first about how they’re spam (I’m supposed to be doing something too fast), and when I try again, I’m told it’s a duplicate comment and I can’t post. Any ideas?
Jeff Wright: probably not. Kelly’s behavior reflects very poorly on him, his defenders appear to be doing so for partisan reasons rather than because they care about truth.
Nate P: I will mention this to my web guy. We thought we had mostly solved the “too fast” issue, which comes from wordpress, not us.
Some important NASA budget news is out, and might even be worthy of a special post of its own. Via Jeff Foust:
House and Senate appropriators have released a “minibus” appropriations bill that includes Commerce, Justice and Science (NASA, NOAA, NSF). NASA would get $24.44 billion, slightly less than FY25 but much better than the Trump Administration’s proposed $18.8 billion.
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20260105/CDS92500.PDF
A few more details on the NASA provisions from a Senate summary: https://appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fy26_cjs_conference_bill_summarypdf.pdf
Foust’s Space News article:
t.co/rUj3qSWP4c
The report language is now out. One notable item: “As proposed in the budget, the agreement does not support the existing Mars Sample Return (MSR) program.”
I can’t say that I am broken-hearted about *that*. Otherwise, it looks like we are going to have to accept that Congress is going to keep a lot more of NASA’s budget intact than the White House and OMB wanted. That will save a few worthwhile extended science missions that would otherwise have died, but it will also shovel more pork into the stalls, too.
To follow up on my last: the House Rules Committee posted a draft of the explanatory statement for the FY2026 Commerce, Justice and Science budget yesterday. It is here: https://rules.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/rules.house.gov/files/documents/division-a-commerce-justice-science_0.pdf
I would direct your attention, Bob, to age 57 in particular, which will thoroughly depress you, but it will not surprise you.
Richard M: I saw the budget stories today, and was bored. It is exactly as I expected. Congress is bankrupt and filled with corrupt fools who really care zero for the future of our country.
What makes this situation different is the nature of people running the executive branch. Just because Congress allocated the money is now no guarantee it will be spent. If a project was not specifically allocated a budget in the bill, and Trump has Isaacman cancel or defund it, it will disappear.
I need later today to review the actual bill to see what it specifically says.
Robert Zimmerman: thank you! It doesn’t happen on my phone, but I haven’t tried it through the same network or a different browser. I will attempt that tonight.
Hello Bob,
1. Yes, I am afraid that it is . . . difficult to disagree with that.
I suppose that there are a few honorable exceptions. or as Kin Hubbard once said: “Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature.”
2. Yes, I expect the administration to actually undertake some of that, after Isaacman and Vought come to some consensus on just how they want to do that. (Or, if they fail to do so, whichever one Trump decides to support, which in all probability will be the last guy to talk to him.) At that point, we will have to see how hard, or if at all, congressional leadership tries to push back on that.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk will just keep doing whatever it is he’s doing, and we can follow that with greater eagerness, or so I hope.
P.S. If you do decide to pursue this story any further, Bob, this chart created by Jack Kiraly of the Planetary Society might be useful: “Because the CJS Joint Explanatory Statement gives the House and Senate CJS reports equal standing (unless contradicted in the Conference Report), you really have to “combine” the Senate, House, and Conference CJS reports to understand what is funded and what is not for NASA Science in the Minibus.”
https://x.com/astrogrant/status/2008631848847728869
Richard M: Assuming that chart reflects the actual language of the bill, then Congress acted to limit Trump’s freedom of action as much as possible.
When people call the Republicans in Congress crap, they aren’t lying or exaggerating. These guys have no interest in helping their president (from their own party) in any way at all.
Nate P: My web guy says he has changed some settings and this issue should not show up again. If it does, please let us know.
And that request applies to all!
Robert: it’s a great thing that Congress is increasingly becoming irrelevant to dictating our future in space. The more power that is in the hands of the citizenry vs. them, the better.
Hello Bob,
I think Hill Republicans have an interest in helping their president if they believe he will actively punish them when they refuse to do so.
I think it’s clear that enough of them have concluded that he won’t punish them for defying them on the NASA budget. I guess we’ll see if that’s borne out.
…but I have a hunch that their guess is probably right.
On heat transfer
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-liquids-thermal-conductors.html
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S135943112502558X
Regenerative cooling….transpiration cooling… radiators…nothing new–but this may aid computer cooling.