November 15, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. Hat tip also to Jay for the earlier ABL and Impulse stories. 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.
- Recent secret commercial satellite launched on Electron is listed by the Space Force as ‘Protosat-1’ from Rwanda
The tweet says this means it was built by E-Space, a satellite startup based in France and the U.S. and founded by the same guy who founded OneWeb.
- Rocket Lab’s private Venus mission is now targeting a ’26 launch on Neutron
This is according to the company’s CEO and founder, Peter Beck.
- On this day in 1988 the Soviet Union launched its own space shuttle, Buran
This was its only flight, one orbit.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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. Hat tip also to Jay for the earlier ABL and Impulse stories. 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.
- Recent secret commercial satellite launched on Electron is listed by the Space Force as ‘Protosat-1’ from Rwanda
The tweet says this means it was built by E-Space, a satellite startup based in France and the U.S. and founded by the same guy who founded OneWeb.
- Rocket Lab’s private Venus mission is now targeting a ’26 launch on Neutron
This is according to the company’s CEO and founder, Peter Beck.
- On this day in 1988 the Soviet Union launched its own space shuttle, Buran
This was its only flight, one orbit.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
either oxygen or methane
Does not compute. Methane is the propellant, oxygen is the oxidizer. One must have both in rocketry, and that makes one fuel, not two.
“either hydrogen or methane”? That would make more sense.
Except that there is no mention in the link or anything that I can find online about the engine to say that it is in anyway odd in it’s fuel configuration. Not sure what led Bob to say otherwise. Presumably he was just zipping off a very quick post since he certainly knows better than to call Oxygen a fuel.
All: David Eastman is correct, I was working too fast. The company says in its press materials that the engine uses hydrocarbon fuels, implying both hydrogen and oxygen. I have fixed the text.
I will add that this might be incorrect. The company is vague about this.
Looks like Starship Flight Test 6 moved from Monday 18th to Tuesday 19th. Same estimated time for lift-off: 4 pm Central Time. That gives daylight landing splash in Indian Ocean.
One would think that one of the big problems with making a dual hydrogen-methane (and lox) fueled rocket would be the very different proportional sizes for the hydrogen-lox vs. methane-lox fuel/lox tanks.
Dropping this in here,
Vic Flick (May 14, 1937 to November 14, 2024)
The James Bond Theme
https://youtu.be/eeuhXwvb3V8
1:58