April 1, 2026 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.
- A quick look at SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor 3 engine
This is apparently a clip from a longer video but no link was provided.
- Delta airlines signs up Amazon’s Leo constellation to provide internet to its fleet
Scheduled to start in 2028.
- China targets 140 launches in 2026
China has started the year slow. To meet this goal it will have really pick up the pace.
- Exclusive: NASA’s Jared Isaacman Talks Artemis II, Moon Base, & Gateway Corrosion
Mostly a repeat of what Isaacman has said before, except for one item: He confirmed the rumors that some parts of Lunar Gateway have become “corroded”, though he denied the corrosion was “beyond repair.”
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. 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.
- A quick look at SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor 3 engine
This is apparently a clip from a longer video but no link was provided.
- Delta airlines signs up Amazon’s Leo constellation to provide internet to its fleet
Scheduled to start in 2028.
- China targets 140 launches in 2026
China has started the year slow. To meet this goal it will have really pick up the pace.
- Exclusive: NASA’s Jared Isaacman Talks Artemis II, Moon Base, & Gateway Corrosion
Mostly a repeat of what Isaacman has said before, except for one item: He confirmed the rumors that some parts of Lunar Gateway have become “corroded”, though he denied the corrosion was “beyond repair.”
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
New high temperature tech
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-03-memory-chip-survives-temperatures-hotter.html
Better aerogel
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-microporous-aerogel-van-der-waals.html
The interviewer’s question about rumored corrosion on one of more Gateway modules comes at 36:22 into the video. Isaacman said, “I won’t comment on the “beyond repair” part of it, but the first part is true.” So he flatly states that the corrosion story is true and does not actually deny that repairs may be impossible. It’s entirely possible that the provider in question doesn’t actually know yet whether the corrosion can be fixed. If whatever was corroded was an obvious write-off, I think Isaacman would have said so. He didn’t hem and haw at all about the fact of the corrosion.
One needn’t be an Einstein to figure that the fact of said corrosion was certainly useful leverage anent Isaacman’s decision to “pause” Gateway.
An interesting, and disturbing, development: SpaceX Starlink tells FCC that it was forced to perform 30 collision-avoidance maneuvers after Amazon LEO’s Feb 12 launch Arianespace because the satellites were released at 480 km, 50-90 km higher than authorized, and did not warn other operators beforehand.
You can see SpaceX’s formal letter in the X post here:
https://x.com/i/status/2039418199608017370
Hello Dick,
Regarding Gateway: I was also struck by the fact that he seemed more optimistic about the prospects of salvaging the iHab module (or components thereof) than he seemed to be about HALO. Of course, that may have been Jared being more diplomatic toward international partners. But then again, perhaps the corrosion is just worse on HALO?
Either way, I think Jared deserves major credit for binning Gateway and getting stakeholder buy in on the binning. For a long time, it has seemed (like EUS) to be a zombie program that was very hard to kill. Maybe the corrosion issues helped him to get that buy-in, but he hasn’t exactly centered that issue in his discussion of Gateway’s termination, so … Maybe it was only a secondary justification in closing the case.
Also, he stated that NASA would issue a report on Gateway and its issues, and I appreciate his transparency on that.