Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years. – Behind The Black

To read this post please scroll down.

Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. There are five 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. Takes about a 10% cut.

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it 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.

Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years.

October 5, 2013 11:00 pm Robert Zimmerman

Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years.

This is unfortunate news indeed. However, if I was India (as well as other countries) I would consider this a call to develop their own deep space network.

One comment

Edward
October 7, 2013 at 4:16 pm
“However, if I was India (as well as other countries) I would consider this a call to develop their own deep space network.”

This is how the US went from 80% of the world’s commercial communications satellite business to 25% in 15 years. The federal ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) regulations were so onerous on foreign customers that Europe now makes totally non-US satellites. Even our satellite part manufacturers have been replaced by overseas manufacturers. And all because they wanted to keep the Chinese, Koreans, and Iranians from developing their own reliable rockets.

The hypothesis was that with such draconian restrictions, we would be able to control what information our space partners would give to these countries. Instead, the restrictions made doing business with the US so difficult or impossible, they drove our former partners away from the US markets and to make their own satellites and parts. There is no longer any control over what they tell these three restricted countries about making reliable launch rockets.

Now we don’t have the satellite market, and all three of those countries can launch their own rockets. Of course, now that the horse is out of the barn, the government has relaxed these restrictions. With a government like this one, who needs enemies?

Each time we prove ourselves to be an unreliable space partner we drive our friends right into the hands of our enemies. Who knows who they may partner with, should they choose to create their own deep space network, but it is clear that the US government — including NASA — is an unreliable partner.

Government can sure do some stupid things. I have a visual joke: “how does the federal government shoot itself in the foot?” Then I stick out my foot, make a gun out of my hand, and point my hand at my foot – via the back of my neck. (Note to zero-tolerance police: disregard the previous two sentences.)

Because India depends on the American Deep Space communications network — mostly unavailable due to the government shutdown — the launch of its first Mars probe, set for October 28, might have to be delayed for two years.

One comment

Leave a Reply