April 2, 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.
- For those interested… The Orion toilet is in the floor of the spacecraft
At the moment it is working after a short blip early on.
- Tracking Orion and its upper stage in orbit
Footage comes from the company s2a, which provides situational awareness imagery for both the military and civilian satellite users.
- Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft arrives at Tanegashima spaceport
Set to launch in ’26, it will attempt to bring back a sample from Phobos.
- Amazon still negotiating its acquisition of Globalstar
It appears Apple’s 20 per cent stake in Globalstar is complicating the deal.
- Roscosmos head says Russia’s post-ISS station would be assembled at ISS
Supposedly they will add a new docking hub there, attach new modules, and eventually separate. The real question is whether they can get it built and launched in time, as Roscosmos has not done such a thing in decades.
- On this day in 1960, the world’s first weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched
Its imagery was first to see true weather patterns, changing forever the science of meteorology.
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.
- For those interested… The Orion toilet is in the floor of the spacecraft
At the moment it is working after a short blip early on.
- Tracking Orion and its upper stage in orbit
Footage comes from the company s2a, which provides situational awareness imagery for both the military and civilian satellite users.
- Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft arrives at Tanegashima spaceport
Set to launch in ’26, it will attempt to bring back a sample from Phobos.
- Amazon still negotiating its acquisition of Globalstar
It appears Apple’s 20 per cent stake in Globalstar is complicating the deal.
- Roscosmos head says Russia’s post-ISS station would be assembled at ISS
Supposedly they will add a new docking hub there, attach new modules, and eventually separate. The real question is whether they can get it built and launched in time, as Roscosmos has not done such a thing in decades.
- On this day in 1960, the world’s first weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched
Its imagery was first to see true weather patterns, changing forever the science of meteorology.
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
Go for trans lunar injection!
https://x.com/spaceflightnow/status/2039818712568520817?s=46
It’s still a little mind-blowing that we’ve only been able to see weather patterns for some 65 years.
Elon just posted this on X: “Next flight of Starship and first flight of V3 ship & booster is 4 to 6 weeks away.”
https://x.com/i/status/2039978694425682321
The timeline had been for a launch this month, so apparently they’ve pushed it back a little again.
I was hoping they could launch together with the Orion crew able to look out and see it.
In space news, some post late that there can be such things as black hole remnants:
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-secrets-black-holes-higgs-mass.html
And positivity needed for gravity:
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-gravity-positivity-massive-particle-logically.html
I hope some boffins can get a star drive out of this, one day.
The Trump Administration has released its proposed FY2027 budget for NASA. It’s $18.8 billion, and it looks pretty similar to what they proposed for 2026, which is to say, it looks primarily like the work of OMB director Russ Vought.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/budget_fy2027.pdf
I expect it will probably share the fare of the 2026 budget proposal, with Congress restoring most of what would be cut (if they get around to approving a budget at all). It will be interesting to see how Jared Isaacman navigates it politically.
Ziplines for the Moon
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGjMfVPS55o&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D
Richard M wrote: “Elon just posted this on X: ‘Next flight of Starship and first flight of V3 ship & booster is 4 to 6 weeks away.’”
That is nice, but Elon has been giving us that same timeline for the next flight for the past 4 to 6 weeks.
Edward: eventually it will be true. There are many changes between V2 and V3, so it’s understandable SpaceX is taking its time.
Jared Isaacman’s letter to NASA employees about the president’s proposed FY2027 budget for NASA:
https://x.com/i/status/2040122078859247731
Not for one second do I believe that this is the budget Isaacman wanted or would have drafted, but I grok that he has to support his boss, and he’s been consistent and vocal about that.
Hello Edward,
We’re on Elon Time again, LOL
But I’m tolerably optimistic that they will launch by Memorial Day, just judging by the nature of prep activity I am seeing at Starbase.
More Starlink theft
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/AW5Lauqs3Vc
Richard M,
It’s always Elon Time about something or other. And yet no one else can even keep his tail lights in sight. Even late, he’s faster than anyone else.
Couple of Silly Season items in Jay’s April 2 feed:
1. The reason Amazon is trying to buy Globalstar is because it knows perfectly well by now that Amazon Leo is not going to be able to provide even beta-level service for at least two or even three more years and it needs something to tide over the customers it has been signing up, especially airlines. Even folks who bypass Starlink for what are presumably lower initial prices from Amazon Leo will actually want to see service before their competitors gobble up all of the heavy in-flight Internet user customer base.
2. If the Russians are now planning to build their notional successor space station as an appendage to ISS, they’d better shake a leg. If memory serves, the Russians haven’t even agreed to stay at ISS beyond 2028 so that gives them less than three years to build out even a token ROS, or whatever they’re going to call the thing. Or perhaps this latest bit of wishcasting is Russia’s way of implying it will stick with ISS until decommissioning without having to – you know – come right out and say that.
Whatever befalls, I don’t anticipate seeing any Russian space station in orbit after ISS’s demise whenever that turns out to be.
Anyway, even without any ISS life extension to 2032, there’s a decent probability that ISS will outlast the Russian Federation. Should that eventuate, we could have another pair of Krikalev situations, but worse. They should still be able to get back to Earth in Kazakhstan, but, after that, I’d recommend getting plane tickets to somewhere besides whatever is left of Mother Russia.
I should know better than to keep hoping for propellantless propulsion (outside of sails), but…..there are three stories that have my hopes up–a bit:
1.) “Opening The Door To More Efficient Orbitronic Devices”
Angular momentum can come from chiral photons
2.)”Quantum Ground State Of Rotation Achieved For The First Time In Two Dimensions”
Cooling can be had with ‘a single scattered photon can carry away a single quantum of mechanical energy…’
3.) “Mechanical Inputs Boost Diamond Quantum Sensor States As Q Factor Tops One Million”
This can pulse at a phenomenal rate…just the thing for a quantum frustum array…. maybe that could work where RF frustums frustrate?
Movie on wind tunnels
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=18LQkgsyGI0&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D