Merle Haggard – If I Could Only Fly
An evening pause: Performed live 1986.
Hat tip James Street.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
The anti-Semitic Pro-Hamas Democratic Party shows its colors again
Democrats burn American flags in support of Hamas
Today the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, came to Washington to meet with American government officials and give a speech before both houses of Congress.
Not surprisingly, numerous Democrats both inside and outside Congress showed their hatred of Israel and love of the Hamas terrorists, enthusiastically slandering Netanyahu, Israel, and its struggle to survive while elevating terrorists into “freedom fighters”, even though on October 7 last year those Hamas fighters weren’t fighting for freedom, they were out to kill Jews, eagerly raping, torturing, and murdering more than a thousand men, women, children, and babies simply because they were present inside Israel.
Inside Congress more than forty Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s speech, including Vice President Kamala Harris (now running for president against Trump). Apparently Harris is courting the American Hamas voting block. Democrats who did attend made it clear in numerous ways that they oppose the right of Israel and Jews to exist and that they support Hamas’ murder of women, children and babies, though of course they couched their statements in cute ways filled with lies in order to give themselves plausible deniability. For example, Nancy Pelosi said this:
» Read more
July 24, 2024 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.
- Rocket Lab touts a picture of a stack of “carbon composite structures” to be used in its new Neutron rocket
The company says it is making progress on “fairing panels, propellant tanks, interstage panels, and more.” The company is targeting mid-2025 for the first launch.
- The core stage of SLS for the next Artemis launch, the first manned, has now been delivered to Florida
You can watch the entire unloading process here. The launch is presently scheduled for September 2025, but don’t be surprised if it slips considerably.
- On this day in 1969 the Apollo 11 crew went through customs in Hawaii, declaring “moon rock and moon dust samples” as part of their “baggage”
The picture of the customs form at the link is very amusing. As the tweet notes, “Best day in this Hawaiian customs agent’s life.”
July 23, 2024 Zimmerman/Space Show podcast
My appearance yesterday on The Space Show with David Livingston is now available here.
It was a fun show as always. The discussion with David and Charles Lurio about the cancellation of Viper and Astrobotic was most illuminating. My only regret is that we had fewer callers and email questions than normal.
The mountains of Mars
Click for full resolution. For original images go here and here.
Click for interactive map.
Cool image time! The panorama above, created from two left navigation camera photos taken by the Mars rover Curiosity on July 24, 2024 (here and here), looks south up the flanks of Mount Sharp as well as into the Gediz Vallis channel that the rover has been exploring for the past year or so.
The overview map to the right provides us a wide view of Gale Crater and the rover’s entire journey there since it landed on Mars in 2012. The blue dot marks its present position. The yellow lines indicate the approximate view in the panorama above. The red line indicates the planned route, leaving Gediz Vallis to take a parallel canyon uphill to the west.
Curiosity during its dozen years on Mars has traveled just under 20 miles and climbed about 2,500 feet. The peak of Mount Sharp however is still about 26 miles away and about 16,000 feet higher.
The rover is now at the very base of the sulfate-bearing unit, which is why last month it literally ran over some rocks that were its first detection of pure sulfur crystals on Mars. Once Curiosity reaches that sulfate-bearing unit it is likely going to be an extremely alien landscape, comprised of rock that is suffused everywhere with sulfur. Such landscapes are likely impossible on Earth due to its oxygen-rich atmosphere. The sulfur and oxygen would interact, forming different molecules.
Judge issues injunction against NLRB in favor of SpaceX
A U.S. federal district judge today issued an injunction against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), blocking any further action on its complaint against SpaceX until the courts rule on the constitutionality of that complaint, accepting SpaceX’s position that the NLRB’s decision to suspend that complaint pending a court decision was irrelevant.
The NLRB has sued SpaceX, claiming it had violated the labor rights of several former employees because it fired them for criticizing Musk publicly. SpaceX responded by suing the NLRB itself, claiming the law which founded it and allowed it to act as prosecutor, judge, and jury in all cases while also limiting the President’s ability to fire its officials was unconstitutional.
As the case moved through the courts, the NLRB suspended its case against SpaceX. The company however demanded this injunction as well, since it considered that suspension merely a ploy that could be rescinded at any time.
Judge Albright ruled in favor of SpaceX and imposed an injunction as the case proceeds. He said the ruling came in part because of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s ruling that restrictions on removal for administrative law judges in the Securities and Exchange Commission are unconstitutional.
You can read the judge’s decision here [pdf]. This quote from it however is very telling:
» Read more
Webb takes infrared image of exoplanet
Click for original image.
Cool image time! Using the Webb Space Telescope, scientists have taken an infrared false color image of a multi-Jupiter-sized exoplanet located only twelve light years away and orbiting the K-type star Epsilon Indi A.
That picture, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, is to the right. The light of the star, indicated by the star symbol, has been blocked by Webb’s coronagraph, the size of which is shown by the dashed circle. The exoplanet is the orange blob to the left.
[This exoplanet] is one of the coldest exoplanets to be directly detected, with an estimated temperature of 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) — colder than any other imaged planet beyond our solar system, and colder than all but one free-floating brown dwarf. The planet is only around 180 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) warmer than gas giants in our solar system. This provides a rare opportunity for astronomers to study the atmospheric composition of true solar system analogs.
The data also revealed that the exoplanet is twice as massive as expected and has a slightly different orbit than expected based on previous less precise data.
SpaceX’s contract to de-orbit ISS reveals the inability of the older space companies to compete
Link here. The article goes into detail about the bidding process that led to SpaceX winning the contract $843 million fixed-price contract to build a specialized Dragon capsule to dock with ISS and de-orbit it. While its focus is on the refusal of the older companies (Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing) to sign the fixed-price contracts that NASA now prefers and that SpaceX can handle with no problem, it was this section that struck me the most:
SpaceX’s bid price was $680 million. The source selection statement did not reveal a price for Northrop’s bid other than saying it was “significantly higher.” Based on NASA’s budget request, Northrop’s bid was likely approximately twice as high.
But SpaceX did not just win on price. Its “mission suitability” score, effectively its technical ability to design, develop, and fly a vehicle capable of deorbiting the space station, was 822, compared to Northrop’s score of 589. SpaceX’s approach had one weakness, compared to seven weaknesses in Northrop’s bid, according to NASA evaluators.
Finally, the selection was also based on past performance by the contractors. SpaceX’s performance was rated as “very high,” given how it has delivered with the Cargo and Crew Dragon spacecraft and its Falcon 9 rocket. Northrop’s performance on Cygnus and its various rockets was given a “moderate” rating. Overall, the NASA evaluators expressed a “very high level” of confidence in SpaceX being able to complete the mission, whereas a “moderate level” of confidence was expressed in Northrop.
In other words, Northrop not only couldn’t do the job as cheaply and wasn’t even willing to do it at a fixed price, its technical performance has not been that good either.
The article focuses rightly on the present lack of any viable competitors to SpaceX, and the problems this raises for the entire American aerospace industry. I want to point out how this situation reveals a much more fundamental problem with the industry itself. The established aerospace industry is not only doing poor work, it is overcharging for it.
Or to put it more bluntly, it is unwilling or unable to compete. Relying on businesses with such bankrupt attitudes is not a good way to get anything done.
The hope had been that the newer startups (Rocket Lab, Blue Origin, Relativity, Firefly, etc) would pick up this slack, but except for Blue Origin the rocket capabilities of these companies are just not big enough yet to do it. Blue Origin’s proposed New Glenn rocket and associated spacecraft could do the job, but the company has demonstrated for the past decade its desire to emulate the older and failing big space companies rather than a new fresh face.
The new companies, given time, could solve this problem, since they are all willing to innovate and compete, but the apparent increase in the regulations imposed by the FAA and other government agencies in the past two years suggests they will be squelched as well.
Unless something changes, the U.S. is not going to see the space renaissance that seemed so promising only two years ago.
Axiom hires British astronaut Tim Peake
Axiom has now added British astronaut Tim Peake to its staff, making him the fourth astronaut after Michael Lopez-Alegria, Peggy Whitson, and Koichi Wakata working for the commercial space station and space tourism company.
The decision appears to be in connection with Axiom’s agreement with the UK Space Agency to fly an all-British manned commercial mission in exchange for $19 million in government funding. NASA regulations require any commercial mission that docks with ISS to include as a company commander an experienced astronaut. By hiring Peake Axiom fulfills this requirement.
No date for this four-person two week mission to ISS has been announced. Nor have any other passengers been named. It is very possible this announcement today is a PR effort by Axiom to drum up interest from potential British customers because the earlier announcements have possibly failed to do so.
Scientists find hydrogen molecules in Chang’e-5 lunar samples
According to China’s state-run press, scientists analyzing the lunar samples brought back by its Chang’e-5 lander have detected extensive “hydrated” molecules in Moon’s regolith.
The mineral’s structure and composition bear a striking resemblance to a mineral found near volcanoes on Earth. At the same time, terrestrial contamination or rocket exhaust has been ruled out as the origin of this hydrate, according to the study.
The Chinese article keeps referring to these molecules as a form of “water molecules” but that is dead wrong. These are mineral molecules that simply have hydrogen as a component. There is no water here.
The discovery suggests that the detection of hydrogen on the surface of the Moon, both in the permanently-shadowed craters at the poles as well as lower latitudes, might not be water at all, but hydrated minerals. If so, the Moon is going to be a much more difficult place to establish colonies or even research bases, as getting water (and hydrogen and oxygen) is going to require a much more difficult mining and processing effort.
For several years the data has increasingly pointed in this direction. And for several years I have noticed a strong unwillingness of scientists and the press to recognize the trend (as illustrated by the above article’s false insistence that these are water molecules). Water ice has not been ruled out yet in the permanently-shadowed craters at the poles, but the evidence is mounting against it.
I suspect this reluctance is fueled by a desire to not say anything that might discourage exploration of the Moon, and the possibility of water there has been the main driver for all the recent lunar exploration programs. I can’t play that game. As much as I want humanity to explore the Moon and the solar system, we mustn’t do it based on lies. The facts need to be reported coldly.
Ann Miller – I’ve Gotta Hear That Beat
An evening pause: From the 1953 film Small Town Girl. Proves once again that America was not hostile to highlighting women in all things in the past. They simply had to have the talent, skill, and determination to earn that spotlight.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
July 23, 2024 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.
- Rocket startup ABL experiences pad fire following static test firing
Apparently the rocket suffered ” irrecoverable damage”. This company did its first launch (a failure) in January 2023, completed the investigation and design changes required to fix the issues by October 2023. Since then little has happened.
- NASA expands its ground-based antenna network for communications beyond Earth orbit
Three antenna dishes to be added in New Mexico, South Africa, and Australia.
- Long article describing various nuclear powered rocket engines under development
Jay’s comment says it all: “I will believe it when I see it. Every time they put money into a NERVA program, all it does is produce a report with the same data as the first project or the money gets moved into another project. I have seen it twice before.”
Everything connected to Washington and the Democratic Party stinks like a rotting corpse
I didn’t post an essay yesterday because I could not figure out what to write. The insanity of the past week, with Trump’s near assassination, the horrendous incompetence of the Secret Service, the sudden disappearance of Joe Biden, and then his somewhat mysterious withdrawal from the candidacy of the presidency, all presented too many topics that were changing too fast to digest.
All I can now take from these events is an impression of a rotting corpse, the Democratic Party, that the voters should have buried decades ago. Instead, the voters have propped it up, allowing its stink to spread until it has poisoned everything related to American government and the noble but now dying principles that formed it.
For example, it now appears that the colossal security failure on July 13th during Trump’s Pennsylvania rally was the result of providing the Secret Service too few resources, forcing it to depend more on local authorities than normal. The Secret Service and the local police then showed themselves to all be utterly incompetent. It appears communications between these different government agencies was poor or non-existent. The local people were supposed to secure the top of the roof where the assassin eventually placed himself, but decided instead to go inside the building because the roof “was too hot.”
Unfortunately, it seems this decision wasn’t conveyed to the Secret Service properly. It therefore appears Crooks was able to station himself on the roof and fire at Trump because the Secret Service thought he was a local police sniper.
At least, that’s my interpretation of the facts, as presently understood. » Read more
More great hiking on Mars
Click for original image.
Today’s cool image takes us to another place on Mars where future colonizers will find the hiking breath-taking. The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on April 18, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The camera team labeled it merely as a “terrain sample,” indicating it was not taken as part of any specific research project request, but to fill a gap in the schedule in order to maintain the camera’s proper temperature. When the MRO team does this, they try to pick interesting sites, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
In this case the image captured the sharp nose of a 2,100-foot-high mesa which to my eye immedately said, “I want to hike a trail that switchbacks up that nose!” Ideally, the trail would then skirt the edge of the mesa, then head up to the top of that small knoll on the plateau. Though only another 200 feet higher or so, the peak would provide an amazing 360 degree view of the surrounding terrrain.
» Read more
New collection of X-ray false-color Chandra images
Click for original image.
Cool image time! As part of a PR campaign by NASA to convince Congress to give it more money to keep the Chandra X-ray Observatory funded, the agency this week released twenty-five new images, supposedly to celebrate the space telescope’s 25th anniversary since launch.
It must be emphasized that these photos are not solely produced by Chandra. They combine its X-ray data wth optical data from Hubble and infrared data from a number of other telescopes.
The picture to the right is of the galaxy NGC 6872 that is interacting with its nearby smaller neighbor. From the caption:
NGC 6872 is 522,000 light-years across, making it more than five times the size of the Milky Way galaxy; in 2013, astronomers from the United States, Chile, and Brazil found it to be the largest-known spiral galaxy, based on archival data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer. This record was surpassed by NGC 262, a galaxy that measures 1.3 million light-years in diameter.
Chandra will get its funding to continue operations. NASA is simply playing its old game of bluff with Congress to force it to give the agency a boost in funding. Like a toddler throwing a tantrum, it cancels a successful project, citing funding shortages (even though those shortages are almost always because of mismanagement elsewhere in the agency), and Congress eventually gives in like a weak parent, raising NASA’s budget.
The big image release this week is part of that game. Nonetheless, the images are spectacular, and loaded with new information not otherwise available without Chandra’s X-ray capabilities. If Congress had any spine, it would force NASA to fully fund such successful projects and simply delete the failed ones (such as SLS and Mars Sample Return). It has no spine, however, and thus we have a national debt in the trillions that is bankrupting us.
Russia releases timeline for its Russian Orbital Station to replace its ISS operations
A tabletop model of the station unveiled in 2022
Earlier this month Russia released a detailed timeline for the construction of its Russian Orbital Station (ROS) to replace its ISS operations once the older station is retired and de-orbited, with the first station module supposedly launched in 2027 and the station completed by 2033.
Russia is set to launch the future orbital outpost’s first research and energy module in 2027, Roscosmos said. Roscosmos also plans to launch the universal nodal, gateway and baseline modules by 2030 to form the core orbital station together with the research and energy module, it said. “At the second stage, from 2031 to 2033, the station is set to expand by docking two special-purpose modules (TsM1 and TsM2),” Roscosmos said.
The project is estimated at 608.9 billion rubles (about $6.98 billion).
This project has been discussed in Russia since the middle of the last decade, and as usual for Russian government-run space projects, it has limped along with little but powerpoint proposals and small demo models (as shown on the right) for years. The impending end of ISS and its replacement by commercial stations (that will not include any Russian participation) seems to have finally helped get the project started for real.
Don’t expect this above schedule however to meet its target dates. Russia’s track record since the fall of the Soviet Union is that such projects usually take two decades to launch, not three years.
Astroscale wins contract to deorbit OneWeb satellite
The orbital tug company Astroscale has won a $15 million contract from both the UK and European space agencies to launch a mission to rendezvous, grab and then deorbit a defunct OneWeb communications satellite.
The company, originally from Japan, has established operations in both the U.S. and Europe in order to win contracts from those regions, and had already signed contracts with OneWeb, several UK companies, the the European Space Agency (ESA), and the UK Space Agency for this project. This new contract apparently releases the money from both ESA and the UK.
The mission, dubbed ELSA-M, is will fly no later than April 2026, will be built by Astroscale’s UK division in Oxford, and is a follow-up of the ELSA-d mission that in 2021 demonstrated rendezvous and proximity operations but was unable to complete a docking using Astroscale’s magnetic capture system because of failed thrusters. I suspect the reason this new deal was finally approved is because of Astroscale’s more recent successes in another mission for Japan’s JAXA space agency, ADRAS-J, rendezvousing and flying in proximity to an old abandoned H2A rocket upper stage.
The new mission will attempt once again to prove the practicality of Astroscale’s magnetic capture system, which it is trying to convince all satellite companies to include on their satellites.
On the radio
I will be appearing for a long interview with David Livingston on the Space Show on July 23, 2024, beginning at 7 pm (Pacific). You can listen here.
As always, I hope my readers will call in with questions and comments. Makes the show more lively.
They Might Be Giants – Instanbul (Not Constantinople)
An evening pause: Performed live 2013.
Hat tip James Street.
July 22, 2024 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.
- China touts new system for holding down stages during static test fires
It is (surprise!) a copy of the collar and hold-down guide wires that SpaceX used previously.
- China’s X-37B copy spaceplane lowered its orbit sometime around July 18-19
It might be preparing to return to Earth, or not.
- Today in 1994 the broken pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy collided with Jupiter
Fortunately Hubble’s fuzzy vision had been repaired a year earlier, and its produced some spectacular pictures and amazing data.