August 3, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Northrop Grumman to upgrade Cygnus freighter
The changes will increase its payload capacity, allow it to dock directly to a port rather than being berthed by a robot arm, and — most importantly — refine is ability to raise ISS’s orbit using its engines. This last capability replaces the Russians, and will be a need that future commercial stations will require.
- Rumors suggest Blue Origin is considering buying Ball Aerospace
Considering the other rumors that suggest it also is interested in buying ULA, it increasingly appears Blue Origin needs to buy other companies to get anything built.
- ESA will not live stream the long duration static fire engine test of Ariane-6 on the launchpad
The reporter is disappointed because he says NASA, SpaceX, and ULA “have live-streamed comparable tests.” It think he is overstating the number of such tests that have been aired live.
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.
- Northrop Grumman to upgrade Cygnus freighter
The changes will increase its payload capacity, allow it to dock directly to a port rather than being berthed by a robot arm, and — most importantly — refine is ability to raise ISS’s orbit using its engines. This last capability replaces the Russians, and will be a need that future commercial stations will require.
- Rumors suggest Blue Origin is considering buying Ball Aerospace
Considering the other rumors that suggest it also is interested in buying ULA, it increasingly appears Blue Origin needs to buy other companies to get anything built.
- ESA will not live stream the long duration static fire engine test of Ariane-6 on the launchpad
The reporter is disappointed because he says NASA, SpaceX, and ULA “have live-streamed comparable tests.” It think he is overstating the number of such tests that have been aired live.
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
If Jeffey ends up buying a rocket instead of trying to build one, what’s going to happen to all the people and infrastructure already in place working on NG?
Maybe this is what was meant by the rumor I heard that he was throwing in the towel. No more NG. Of course it will be properly spun. Synergy or some such corpspeak.
Meanwhile NS is grounded which is good because it won’t kill anybody. Hopefully the people with more money than sense learned a lesson recently.
That is one bizarre rumor. ULA has always been a bastard and now it seems NASA and Boeing are breaking up since they started seeing SpaceX.
I don’t think Ball has enough flash to satisfy his ego.
Anybody got any links?
Pawn,
The rumors are going around that B.O. will buy ULA so it will get Vulcan. As for New Glenn, they are building it, but I don’t see them launching it in two years. I willing to bet that the first New Glenn rockets will be disposable before they start attempting to make them reusable.
Another reason to get the Vulcan is Kuiper is very behind on schedule. They have to get 1600 birds up by 2026. I am sure they are courting SpaceX now for launches.
“Another reason to get the Vulcan is Kuiper is very behind on schedule. They have to get 1600 birds up by 2026. I am sure they are courting SpaceX now for launches.”
My wife says it’s okay if I court Taylor Swift for about 1600 dates. She doesn’t seem too worried, though!
“The reporter is disappointed because he says NASA, SpaceX, and ULA ‘have live-streamed comparable tests.’ It think he is overstating the number of such tests that have been aired live.”
I think that NASASpaceFlight dot com live-streams the SpaceX engine tests, not SpaceX itself. The live-stream of the recent water deluge at Starbase was from NSF, but SpaceX gave another view via Twitter — post test.
We often think of SpaceX as being very open and forthcoming, but it is not really that accommodating. Other than launches and landings, most of what we see live comes from third-party viewers. Some of these third-parties even present updates on the other space companies, but mostly updates on what can be seen from public spaces. Starbase and McGregor are very visible. The space companies themselves, even SpaceX, do not present a whole lot of information on what they plan to do or what they are actually doing.
Elon Musk is not the only person who gives interviews of what is happening at the various companies. Other companies are also somewhat open and forthcoming. ULA and Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck have also given YouTube interviews, and various other companies have too. Several of the companies founded this past quarter century give such interviews. I’m not sure how many people are asking for interviews from the older companies, and if they aren’t, then that explains why there are so few from those companies. However, these interviews are not to be confused with live-streamed engine tests.