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.
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 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.
- 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.
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 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
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.