August 16, 2016 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Embedded below the fold. We discussed the journey of Curiosity of course. I also spent some time elaborating on some of the engineering advantages SpaceX has because of its success at vertically landing its Falcon 9 first stages.
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:
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Embedded below the fold. We discussed the journey of Curiosity of course. I also spent some time elaborating on some of the engineering advantages SpaceX has because of its success at vertically landing its Falcon 9 first stages.
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.
Red Dragon 2018 would land more mass on Mars than the sum of all other landers on Mars have!
And if successful, it would prove that astronauts could be landed on Mars. Today. In a Dragon capsule ejected from a larger Earth-Mars transit vehicle. Although NASA claims that it is impossible to land humans on Mars without tens of tons and some huge, yet non-existent, inflatable heat shield. Reality will tell us who understand physics the best. Reality never cheats.
As long as NASA remains a politicians lap-dog bitch, it will never improve.
Orion314
Unless the politician is a space nerd! Newt Gingrich is as close we can get to that, I guess. He’s seriously educated and thoughtful. But he unbelievably said that he wants space solar power beamed down to Earth to replace coal power plants.
So that pretty much settles it. NASA maybe does better as a lap-dog bitch than being kicked out of the House. A dog has to try to be happy with whatever it gets. And it’s still fed for survival. NASA is still alive. It still has got a chance. Gotta fight to the end.
So this is a very unfair and evil way to sum it up. But it shows how the “space debate” goes around in the presidential elections. Even when a most respected and intelligent candidate tries to bring up the very reasonable idea of building a crewed base on the Moon. In MSM he’s immediately a lunatic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjBz5LdRK8
No, no, there’s nothing in the blackness above your head at night. Don’t worry about those dots, they don’t exist. Nothing to see here.