August 8, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- ULA’s CEO touts reinforcements being added to Vulcan upper stage
These changes are for the first Vulcan launch, dubbed Cert1 and delayed until late this year. The name refers to the military’s requirement that ULA complete two flights of Vulcan before it will certify it to launch military satellites.
- China touts an educational facility in the Gobi desert that roughly simulates a Mars base
As Jay correctly notes, “Looks more like a tourist destination than a research facility.” It appears to me to be mostly designed as a facility to educate high school students, not to do real space research.
- Tianwen-1 image of Schiaparelli Crater on Mars
For more information about this crater, see this February 2023 cool image post.
- According to NASA the investigation into the Soyuz/Progress coolant leaks continues
It appears Russia still favors micrometeorite impacts as the cause, but no possibilities have been dismissed. If Russia concludes it was sabotage or some failure in the coolant system design, do not expect any public information release, though Russian officials might tell NASA officials, under an agreement that NASA will help Russia keep this info secret.
- SpaceX releases some additional snapshots of its Superheavy static fire test on August 6, 2023
Nothing very revealing however.
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.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- ULA’s CEO touts reinforcements being added to Vulcan upper stage
These changes are for the first Vulcan launch, dubbed Cert1 and delayed until late this year. The name refers to the military’s requirement that ULA complete two flights of Vulcan before it will certify it to launch military satellites.
- China touts an educational facility in the Gobi desert that roughly simulates a Mars base
As Jay correctly notes, “Looks more like a tourist destination than a research facility.” It appears to me to be mostly designed as a facility to educate high school students, not to do real space research.
- Tianwen-1 image of Schiaparelli Crater on Mars
For more information about this crater, see this February 2023 cool image post.
- According to NASA the investigation into the Soyuz/Progress coolant leaks continues
It appears Russia still favors micrometeorite impacts as the cause, but no possibilities have been dismissed. If Russia concludes it was sabotage or some failure in the coolant system design, do not expect any public information release, though Russian officials might tell NASA officials, under an agreement that NASA will help Russia keep this info secret.
- SpaceX releases some additional snapshots of its Superheavy static fire test on August 6, 2023
Nothing very revealing however.
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.
For Mars expedition training I recommend Antarctica. One mistake and you die. Can’t really breathe the winter air outside without warming.
Hail Ming! Sorry, I remember watching the movie as a kid.
You are correct, they should be training where it is cold. So the Mars Society has it’s Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station on Devon Island in Nunavut, Canada. I don’t know if it is still in use. I remember reading about it in Dr.Zubrin’s two books.
The deluge plate has a bit of a bald spot in the center.
Having water shoot from the East pointed West, North to South…that might give better protection.
All Raptors are built the same way, right?
In cars, the manifolds need to mirror one another.
Here, mechanical “ambigrams” may help things.
I don’t think SuperHeavy has an engine issue… perhaps more of a plumbing issue.
Jeff,
We all have bald spots. Sorry, you were talking about the plate. Actually the outer ring of twenty Raptor Engines do not have gimbals, the inner Raptors do, but they all have the same thrust.
Could be promising for the ocean moons of the solar system.
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-a-whole-new-ecosystem-hiding-beneath-earths-seafloor