April 2, 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.
- Head of France’s space agency visits Axiom
In recent weeks France has suddenly discovered the wonders of capitalism. This visit likely involves its recognition that ISS is soon going away, and that it will have to then deal with private commercial station operators.
- Canadian government loans Telesat C$2.14 billion to build its own low orbit satellite constellation to compete with Starlink
More details here. The deal was finalized when Telesat switched from a European satellite manufacturer to a Canadian one.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer touts the nine engine confirguration of its proposed Tianlong-3 rocket
Hot fire tests are to start this month.
- On April 1, 1960 Tiros-1, the first weather satellite, was launched
It had two cameras, operated for about 2.5 months, and produced just under 23,000 pictures. It also provided meteorologists their first global view of cloud structures.
- The movie 2001 A Space Odyssey premiered on this day in 1968
Too bad most of what it predicted in space for the rest of the 20th century never happened, and is only now beginning to come true.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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.
- Head of France’s space agency visits Axiom
In recent weeks France has suddenly discovered the wonders of capitalism. This visit likely involves its recognition that ISS is soon going away, and that it will have to then deal with private commercial station operators.
- Canadian government loans Telesat C$2.14 billion to build its own low orbit satellite constellation to compete with Starlink
More details here. The deal was finalized when Telesat switched from a European satellite manufacturer to a Canadian one.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer touts the nine engine confirguration of its proposed Tianlong-3 rocket
Hot fire tests are to start this month.
- On April 1, 1960 Tiros-1, the first weather satellite, was launched
It had two cameras, operated for about 2.5 months, and produced just under 23,000 pictures. It also provided meteorologists their first global view of cloud structures.
- The movie 2001 A Space Odyssey premiered on this day in 1968
Too bad most of what it predicted in space for the rest of the 20th century never happened, and is only now beginning to come true.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Dawn of Man
https://youtu.be/EcmJFeKJNcg
8:03
I remember going with my dad to see the premier of 2001. As we were walking out of the movie theater, he said to me: “I didn’t really understand the beginning and end of the movie”. I was 14 and too cool to admit that I was a little unsure myself. Now I wish I had told him the truth.
I went to the premier showing with a bunch of young guys my age. Later, over beers we discussed what parts we liked the best. The popular winner by far was the light show near the end.
But I picked the early scene where the high-flung bone morphed into an orbiting satellite, and HAL telling the astronaut “I’m sorry Dave, but I’m afraid I can’t do that!”
2001 got the government coverups correct.
My dad, Chief of Meteorological Satellites at the time, took me to the launch of his baby, Tiros I. From what I remember, it was quite spectacular. I have a letter addressed to him from T Keith Glennan, NASA Administrator, dated April 1, 1960, congratulating him on the “splendid achievement represented by the flight of Tiros I”, and going on to state “This first step on the road to meteorological satellite systems means very much to this nation and, I hope, to the world.” Tiros, and its followon, Nimbus, proved to be fantastically successful. Quite a feather in his cap!
What was really interesting that Tiros used a TV camera (it was after all, Television Infra Red Observation Satellite) to take pictures and record them on magnetic tape, which was then rewound and played back when the satellite was over a ground station. No space-based communications network at the time!
Miss you, Dad.
You were lucky.
My Dad—a good man I also miss—hated space and vacation travel.