April 11, 2025 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.
- Ispace signs deal with nuclear energy startup Zeno Power
Zeno is to develop radioisotope power systems for future Ispace lunar landers.
- Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA
One of several such sob-story articles today in the propaganda press. As usual, cutting any government program will cause disaster and death. What the truth is however is unclear, since all of these stories were based on anonymous sources and reek of political lobbying. I will have more to say on Monday.
- On this day in 1970 Apollo 13 launched, the third American manned lunar mission
It instead became one of the most challenging rescue missions ever.
- On this day in 2019 astronomers released what the claimed was the first image of a black hole
The data was real and the knowledge gained was wonderful, but to call it a real image is an exaggeration, as the data was compiled from multiple telescopes worldwide and massaged into place using computer modeling.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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. 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.
- Ispace signs deal with nuclear energy startup Zeno Power
Zeno is to develop radioisotope power systems for future Ispace lunar landers.
- Trump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA
One of several such sob-story articles today in the propaganda press. As usual, cutting any government program will cause disaster and death. What the truth is however is unclear, since all of these stories were based on anonymous sources and reek of political lobbying. I will have more to say on Monday.
- On this day in 1970 Apollo 13 launched, the third American manned lunar mission
It instead became one of the most challenging rescue missions ever.
- On this day in 2019 astronomers released what the claimed was the first image of a black hole
The data was real and the knowledge gained was wonderful, but to call it a real image is an exaggeration, as the data was compiled from multiple telescopes worldwide and massaged into place using computer modeling.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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.
Popcorn In Bed w/Cassie
First Time Watching:
“Apollo 13” (1995)
https://youtu.be/pkWZ5CabUS8
37:48
I’m still skeptical that the administration is really going to propose a cut this big on NASA science.
But even if Vought really is pushing for this — and the rumors seem to keep having him at the center of these proposals — there are other stakeholders that get a vote even before it gets to Congress. I find it hard to believe that Jared Isaacman would back whacking the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (which is nearly complete now) and DAVINCI+.
But we shall see.
Eric Berger has always been one of my favorite space reporters, but wow, his TDS is getting tiresome.
In another sign that Vought is likely not going to win this fight over cuts to NASA science (or at least, not win a lot of what he seems to want), Elon Musk weighed in on X:
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1910709496382439504