August 17, 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.
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- Startup Space Kinetic wins $50 million contract from Space Force
The contract is to develop the company’s “Whirlwind” concept, designed to slingshot orbital payloads to high speeds. No timeline however for the first in-orbit test was provided.
- Northrop Grumman touts the undocking of its 2nd Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-2)
It docked to the satellite in 2021, and thus extended its life by more than five years.
- On August 16, 1961 Explorer 12 was launched to study the radiation environment around the Earth
It provided the first good maps of the Van Allen belts and the magnetopause, the outside edge of the Earth’s magnetic field.
- On August 17, 1970 the Soviet Union launched Venera 7 to Venus, landing on December 15, 1970
It was the first spacecraft to transmit data from the surface, operating for 23 minutes, detecting temperatures about 900 degrees Fahrenheit and an atmospheric pressure 90 times that of Earth’s, about 1,300 pounds per square inch.
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

The MEV was attached to the Optus D3 satellite that supplies the VAST (Viewer Access Satellite Television) free to air digital TV and Radio across rural Australia. I have this system. It worked well until Feb/March when changes meant all the LNB’s in my units became redundant. Not an expensive process but would have been nice to be advised in advance.
I chafe at the war on landlines.
Meth-head copper thieves needed to be capped upon sight.
They’ll go after C.B./HAM yet
Marcus House shares new shots (taken by Chris Bray) from last evening of Starship S40 arriving off the shores of Christmas Island:
https://x.com/MarcusHouse/status/2089578796982882518
Just posted SpaceX’s tweet.
Kinetic Kill Vehicles…when SF turns real
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m8umyq2Mnu4