April 29, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who has returned from a weeklong work trip in “the People’s Republic of California.” 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.
- SES’s O3b mPOWER satellite constellation starts providing service
That makes at least three constellations (including Starlink and OneWeb) in orbit ahead of and operational before Amazon has launched a single satelltie in its Kuiper constellation
- Hyimpulse’s suborbital test launch from Southern Launch in Australia is now targeting May 2, 2024
Though I saw no announcement, they apparently got their launch licence from the Australian government.
- Long March 5 ready to launch China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon’s far side
According to the article, the core stage will not reach orbit and thus not make an uncontrolled re-entry, as the core stage of the more powerful Long March 5B varient does.
- Chinese reporter notes the increase in hotel prices near the Wenchang spaceport when a manned launch is scheduled
The communists might claim they think capitalism is bad and they are building a Marxist utopia, but the invisible hand of capitalism always rules.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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, who has returned from a weeklong work trip in “the People’s Republic of California.” 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.
- SES’s O3b mPOWER satellite constellation starts providing service
That makes at least three constellations (including Starlink and OneWeb) in orbit ahead of and operational before Amazon has launched a single satelltie in its Kuiper constellation
- Hyimpulse’s suborbital test launch from Southern Launch in Australia is now targeting May 2, 2024
Though I saw no announcement, they apparently got their launch licence from the Australian government.
- Long March 5 ready to launch China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon’s far side
According to the article, the core stage will not reach orbit and thus not make an uncontrolled re-entry, as the core stage of the more powerful Long March 5B varient does.
- Chinese reporter notes the increase in hotel prices near the Wenchang spaceport when a manned launch is scheduled
The communists might claim they think capitalism is bad and they are building a Marxist utopia, but the invisible hand of capitalism always rules.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
The engines in the Long March 12; good old kerosene fuel made me think of this thread.
What technology do you most remember disappearing from your earliest memory?
For me it was the kerosene lamp used with the roadside construction site traffic barrel. This tech did not go away until the transistor controlled battery operated flashing light became available and cheap and reliable enough for the application. Old barrels continued to be used well into the 1970s almost 100 years after https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/thomas-edisons-patent-application-for-the-light-bulb
Dialing 211 to get the long-distance operator to place an out-of-area call.
Tube radios, Still have a few that work.
Calcium carbide minors lamps
Tobacco pipes and that smell. Reminds me of my great grandpa sitting on the porch after dinner.
Real watches that wound up.
The third peddle in the car. God I love those vehicles. And who remembers the floor starting switch? Or the high/low button.
People who could read a road map without a GPS device.
Shooting clubs in high schools.
Miners not minors.
The Long March 5 is actually more powerful than the pesky Long March 5B because it’s basically a Long March 5B with an upper stage atop the core stage to power payloads beyond LEO. The Long March 5’s core stage doesn’t reach orbit, in consequence, and does not become a randomly falling nuisance.
It’s like R-7 in that regard–parallel and in-line staging both—only bigger.
It looks like upper-stage ice was impinging upon the tops of the strap-on booster foam—Columbia style.
You guys see that?