September 19, 2022 Quick space links
Courtesy of stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.
- Four liquid nitrogen tanks on their way by barge to SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility
- First flight of Sierra Space’s Tenacity Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft now targeting the summer of ’23
As this spacecraft is launching on ULA’s Vulcan rocket, this launch date is entirely dependent on when Vulcan finally gets off the ground. According to various sources, this could be either the second or third Vulcan launch. However, right now that rocket still does not have the required two BE-4 engines that Blue Origin is building for it, and so the date of that first launch remains very uncertain.
- Rocket Lab’s next launch scheduled for October 5, 2022
- ULA Delta Heavy launch of National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite scheduled for September 24, 2022
This will be the final Delta launch from Vandenberg Space Force base. ULA plans its future Vandenberg launches to use the Vulcan rocket instead.
- Next Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to Tiangong-3 station will also carry a ham radio cubesat for later deployment from station
For more information about that cubesat, go here.
- UAE’s deal with China calls for its second Rashid lunar rover to fly on China’s Chang’e-7, scheduled now for 2026
The first Rashid rover is scheduled to launch in November, 2022, on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of Ispace’s private commercial lunar lander mission. Clearly, UAE officials are spreading their business around in order to guarantee the best results.
- China and Argentina sign agreement to work together on space projects
No details were provided but the image at the link is of a radio dish, suggesting this agreement firms up Argentina’s willingness to allow China to install space communications dishes there.
- Turkey signs deal with Axiom to fly Turkish astronaut to space
The deal does not say whether that Turkish astronaut will fly to ISS, or to Axiom’s own station. No date for the flight was set. This however is the fourth foreign nation that Axiom has signed, after Italy, Hungary, and the UAE. For Turkey it is the second manned contract, having also signed on with Sierra Space to launch an astronaut to its planned Orbital Reef station.
- Italian cubesat flying in formation with DART and designed to observe its asteroid impact, completes 1st of three course corrections
DART’s impact is scheduled for September 26th.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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 stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.
- Four liquid nitrogen tanks on their way by barge to SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility
- First flight of Sierra Space’s Tenacity Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft now targeting the summer of ’23
- Rocket Lab’s next launch scheduled for October 5, 2022
- ULA Delta Heavy launch of National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite scheduled for September 24, 2022
- Next Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to Tiangong-3 station will also carry a ham radio cubesat for later deployment from station
- UAE’s deal with China calls for its second Rashid lunar rover to fly on China’s Chang’e-7, scheduled now for 2026
- China and Argentina sign agreement to work together on space projects
- Turkey signs deal with Axiom to fly Turkish astronaut to space
- Italian cubesat flying in formation with DART and designed to observe its asteroid impact, completes 1st of three course corrections
As this spacecraft is launching on ULA’s Vulcan rocket, this launch date is entirely dependent on when Vulcan finally gets off the ground. According to various sources, this could be either the second or third Vulcan launch. However, right now that rocket still does not have the required two BE-4 engines that Blue Origin is building for it, and so the date of that first launch remains very uncertain.
This will be the final Delta launch from Vandenberg Space Force base. ULA plans its future Vandenberg launches to use the Vulcan rocket instead.
For more information about that cubesat, go here.
The first Rashid rover is scheduled to launch in November, 2022, on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of Ispace’s private commercial lunar lander mission. Clearly, UAE officials are spreading their business around in order to guarantee the best results.
No details were provided but the image at the link is of a radio dish, suggesting this agreement firms up Argentina’s willingness to allow China to install space communications dishes there.
The deal does not say whether that Turkish astronaut will fly to ISS, or to Axiom’s own station. No date for the flight was set. This however is the fourth foreign nation that Axiom has signed, after Italy, Hungary, and the UAE. For Turkey it is the second manned contract, having also signed on with Sierra Space to launch an astronaut to its planned Orbital Reef station.
DART’s impact is scheduled for September 26th.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
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