China completes two launches
China today successfully completed two launches, using from different spaceports its Long March 2C and Long March 3B rockets.
The 2C launched a two demo internet communications satellites designed to eventually be used in a large constellation similar to the constellations of SpaceX and OneWeb. The launch also included a third unidentified communications satellite.
The 3B placed in orbit what is believed to be a military reconnaissance satellite.
Both rockets dumped their first stages somewhere in the interior of China. No word on whether those stages carried parachutes or grid fins to better control their landing, or crashed near habitable regions.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
29 China
20 SpaceX
13 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
The U.S. still leads China 31 to 29 in the national rankings.
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China today successfully completed two launches, using from different spaceports its Long March 2C and Long March 3B rockets.
The 2C launched a two demo internet communications satellites designed to eventually be used in a large constellation similar to the constellations of SpaceX and OneWeb. The launch also included a third unidentified communications satellite.
The 3B placed in orbit what is believed to be a military reconnaissance satellite.
Both rockets dumped their first stages somewhere in the interior of China. No word on whether those stages carried parachutes or grid fins to better control their landing, or crashed near habitable regions.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
29 China
20 SpaceX
13 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
The U.S. still leads China 31 to 29 in the national rankings.
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.
Saber rattling?
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/08/pentagon-posed-to-unveil-classified-space-weapon/
Unless it’s rods from god…it should be revealed to just us
“Rods from God”
That phrase has come up once before, we were discussing the best way to place seismic/weather stations all across the surface of Mars from orbit.
Hundreds of rods can be ejected towards Mars in a regular pattern as the probe approaches orbit before breaking maneuver. A small parachute will slow the probes down for the right impact speed. The parachute or ribbon will be made from flexible Solar panel to power the devices that emerges from the impact tube with the seismic station remaining inside.
The same method could be used to search for water and to launch helium balloons with cell phone miniaturized electronics for taking pictures, weather and wind patterns. A larger balloon can hold a battery big enough to steer the balloon in directions of scientific interest. A small compressor can control the balloons altitude, and a small laser can perform spectral analysis of unusual materials, or descend into windows opening into lava caves.
Children’s drones are pre-programmed on a selection list for most of these capabilities. Autonomous maneuverability to capture details of interesting objects that fit a certain profile.
Balloons can drift across the entire landscape of mars except atop the tallest volcanoes.
Venus and titan could be explored this way also.
In “The moon is a harsh mistress” The descendants of criminals enslaved on the moon won their freedom from earth by throwing rocks at the earths spaceports.
The kinetic energy of each rock was like an atomic bomb with no radiation. Highground is everything in this type of war.