August 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.
- NASA to resume issuing lunar lander contracts after a year-plus pause
The article adds nothing specific or concrete, only a lot of mights and maybes and soons.
- Sierra’s Tenacity mini-shuttle begins final preparations for launch
The press release indicates the launch will be on a ULA Vulcan rocket, but no date is revealed.
- Japanese rocket startup Interstellar releases the payload user’s guide for buying space on its Zero rocket
The guide says the company has launched a number of times, but those must have been suborbital tests. Its Zero orbital rocket is aiming for a 2025 first launch.
- Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space touts an image of its proposed Kinetica-2H rocket
This pseudo-company has posted a variety of graphics in the past year, but there has been very little clear information about actual construction.
- Northrup Grumman and NASA are targeting August 3rd for the Falcon 9 launch of the next Cygnus cargo capsule to ISS
Weather remains the biggest concern, presently holding at a 50%.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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. 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.
- NASA to resume issuing lunar lander contracts after a year-plus pause
The article adds nothing specific or concrete, only a lot of mights and maybes and soons.
- Sierra’s Tenacity mini-shuttle begins final preparations for launch
The press release indicates the launch will be on a ULA Vulcan rocket, but no date is revealed.
- Japanese rocket startup Interstellar releases the payload user’s guide for buying space on its Zero rocket
The guide says the company has launched a number of times, but those must have been suborbital tests. Its Zero orbital rocket is aiming for a 2025 first launch.
- Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space touts an image of its proposed Kinetica-2H rocket
This pseudo-company has posted a variety of graphics in the past year, but there has been very little clear information about actual construction.
- Northrup Grumman and NASA are targeting August 3rd for the Falcon 9 launch of the next Cygnus cargo capsule to ISS
Weather remains the biggest concern, presently holding at a 50%.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Japanese Zero orbital rocket?
Tora Tora Tora!
“Climb Mount Niitaka.”
That must have been an interesting meeting. “We need a name that conveys . . . ?” Lightness? Maneuverability (flexibility)? Non-sealing fuel tanks? Japanese culture has been around for millenia; was there nothing else?
Like ‘BOOM!”, for an airplane company, I would shy away from names with negative connotations. You don’t want people to think, ZERO orbital launches.
At least it isn’t made by Mitsubishi. :)
Dick/Blair/Concerned-
Good stuff.
Totally Not my Thing, but I have the impression the Japanese used that term/symbol in a culturally different manner than the West. That being said, wouldn’t be the first time something didn’t cross a border with unintended consequences.
Changing Thought Tracks…
Hunley / Groubert (8-2-24)
“Free Form Friday: The Ascending Cackle”
https://youtu.be/OQGyW233kog
2:06:58
And I’ll drop this personal comment in:
With Biden, republicans called him demented, the democrats stole the election, and they run the Country.
With Kamala, republicans call her stupid, democrats intend to steal the election and continue running the Country, forever.
In the news
Tough Alloys
https://phys.org/news/2024-08-3d-visualization-aluminum-nanocomposite-auto.html
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-seesaw-simultaneously-strength-elongation-metallic.html
“Experiments revealed that alloys produced using the team’s method demonstrated superior structural integrity compared to traditional alloys, achieving a yield strength of 1.1 GPa (gigapascals). This represents a 187% improvement over the alloy without spinodal decomposition. Remarkably, even with this increased yield strength, the alloy maintained nearly the same elongation (28.5%) as before. This advancement enables both improved strength and elongation.”
For hypersonics
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-thermal-insulation-material-ultra-high.html
“Due to its unique hierarchical structure, the prepared PHEC ceramic has outstanding compressive strength (28.1±2 MPa) and exceptionally low thermal conductivity at room temperature (0.046 W·m−1·K−1). This makes it a promising thermal insulation material in ultrahigh temperature application,” said Ouyang.”
For lubrication
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-superlubricity-frictionless-state-macroscale.html
For deployables
https://phys.org/news/2024-07-futuristic-material-properties-soft-rigid.html
To reduce vibrations
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-07-magnet-vibrations.html
I accessed SpaceX.com for the latest weekend launch information. As part of one article, there was this:
“Following stage separation, Falcon 9 will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.”
It reads like an announcement of a train or subway arriving at the next station. That is how regular, dependable SpaceX has become. As Mr Zimmerman has noted, the SpaceX SuperHeavy booster is already operational as a single use, huuuuge rocket, able to place large tonnage in space. Once SuperHeavy is reusable, well…..Katy bar the door. Musk had originally planned to use Starship to send many, many more StarLink satellites into orbit. How many commercial, small sats, cubesats would fit into Starship? Come to think of it, how many private space companies will fit their product to use SuperHeavy?
If President Trump returns to the Oval Office, perhaps we shall witness all of this much sooner. My brothers and sisters and I watched every launch of the first Mercury astronauts, every Gemini launch, and, of course, every Apollo launch; then the Space Shuttle became fairly regular.
We hope to live long enough to witness Elon Musk and SpaceX succeed even more with Starship and SuperHeavy.
Ronaldus Magnus wrote: “Once SuperHeavy is reusable, well…..Katy bar the door.”
Someone has to figure out the logistics of getting all the propellants to the various Starship launch sites, and with rapid turnaround, that is a lot of propellant. Even with these rapid launches years away, this task must be whelming.