February 2, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Spanish smallsat rocket startup PLD Space touts having two rockets under construction at its facility
Almost nothing has been released about this company in English. From their twitter page: “European #NewSpace rocket company developing a family of reusable microlaunchers to provide suborbital & orbital launch services to small satellites & payloads”
- NASA touts 2018 press release describing next Artemis mission, flying four astronauts on 10-day mission flying past the Moon
The irony is the press release claims that mission will fly in 2023, thus inadvertently revealing the bankruptcy of this SLS/Orion program. If it flies in 2025 I will be surprised.
- China conducts second static fire test of the YF-90 hydrogen-fueled rocket engine
This is the engine China wants to use in its heavy lift Long March 9 rocket, now conceived as a rough copy of Starship/Superheavy.
- European startup The Exploration Company raises $44 million to develop reusable spacecraft
They hope to do fly a small demo prototype this year. Jay describes the future planned fullscale spacecraft: “The vehicle is called Nyx, I guess it was named after the Greek Goddess of the night. From the article: ‘Nyx would be able to send 4,000 kilograms to orbit for up to six months, and bring 2,600 kilograms back down for 20,000 euros per kilogram.'”
- OneWeb signs deal with Kazakhstan National Railway Company to provide it broadband
In a sense, this is Kazakhstan telling the Russians it wants no part in Russia’s Ukraine War, as Kazakhstan still wants to do business with the west.
- ULA submits construction permits to upgrade its Cape Canaveral facilities for prepping Kuiper satellites for launch
As I noted yesterday, Amazon has got to get a lot of Kuiper satellites launched in the next 40 months to meet the FCC permit requirements. ULA is supposed to launch a large percentage of them with its Vulcan rocket, so this upgrade work is essential to make that possible.
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 BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Spanish smallsat rocket startup PLD Space touts having two rockets under construction at its facility
Almost nothing has been released about this company in English. From their twitter page: “European #NewSpace rocket company developing a family of reusable microlaunchers to provide suborbital & orbital launch services to small satellites & payloads”
- NASA touts 2018 press release describing next Artemis mission, flying four astronauts on 10-day mission flying past the Moon
The irony is the press release claims that mission will fly in 2023, thus inadvertently revealing the bankruptcy of this SLS/Orion program. If it flies in 2025 I will be surprised.
- China conducts second static fire test of the YF-90 hydrogen-fueled rocket engine
This is the engine China wants to use in its heavy lift Long March 9 rocket, now conceived as a rough copy of Starship/Superheavy.
- European startup The Exploration Company raises $44 million to develop reusable spacecraft
They hope to do fly a small demo prototype this year. Jay describes the future planned fullscale spacecraft: “The vehicle is called Nyx, I guess it was named after the Greek Goddess of the night. From the article: ‘Nyx would be able to send 4,000 kilograms to orbit for up to six months, and bring 2,600 kilograms back down for 20,000 euros per kilogram.'”
- OneWeb signs deal with Kazakhstan National Railway Company to provide it broadband
In a sense, this is Kazakhstan telling the Russians it wants no part in Russia’s Ukraine War, as Kazakhstan still wants to do business with the west.
- ULA submits construction permits to upgrade its Cape Canaveral facilities for prepping Kuiper satellites for launch
As I noted yesterday, Amazon has got to get a lot of Kuiper satellites launched in the next 40 months to meet the FCC permit requirements. ULA is supposed to launch a large percentage of them with its Vulcan rocket, so this upgrade work is essential to make that possible.
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.
Apparently U.S. General Minihan warned that the U.S. should prepare for war with China. Americans on the godless Chicom commies’ payroll immediately called him a war monger and said he was declaring war on China. This article explains why he wasn’t and also gave a good summary of some of the problems China is facing. The bullet points are quotations I lifted from the article.
Centralized economies always collapse.
Predicting and preparing for war
February 2, 2023
Gen. Michael A. Minihan is getting some flak for his remarks on possible war with China. Here’s what he really said.
• There are, in addition, economic and population concerns. China’s economy is facing long-term problems, including COVID, the collapse of the real estate market, and declining overseas investment in technology companies. Peak growth was 14.2 percent in 2007.
• China’s “one child” policy that began in the 1970s created a demographic disconnect — not only fewer people, but a preponderance of males over females — that has remained. In 2020, it was estimated that there were 30 million more men than women in China.
• A population that is both aging and declining is a security concern as well as economic one.
• China analyst Dan Wang told the Epoch Times in an interview that China’s growth relies on import and export trade, which, while good during the first part of 2022, deteriorated significantly in the second half.
• The consensus now is that the economy will continue to shrink in 2023. My view is, it’s going to be messy.
• Couple the economic difficulties with the lack of potential partners with the requirement that young people support their aging parents, and you have an unstable society. An unstable society could very well be a revolutionary society — Xi’s greatest fear.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/predicting_and_preparing_for_war.html
You can bet Xi is watching how the Russians perform in the upcoming Spring Offensive. Taiwan or Siberia, that is the question?