December 2, 2022 Quick space links
Courtesy of Jay, BtB’s intrepid stringer, trolling Tweeter so we don’t have to.
- ULA CEO Tori Bruno claims Blue Origin is building one BE-4 engine per week
You need to scroll down and read the thread, from the bottom up, to reach this conclusion. Whether Bruno is right remains unknown. Nothing Blue Origin has done so far suggests they are yet capable of this.
- Russian private company S7 negotiates with government to finalize transfer of its ownership of Sea Launch
Putin and his stooges have been pressuring S7 for years to gain control of Sea Launch, essentially bankrupting this private operation with fees and taxes.
- Russia’s Sphere broadband satellite constellation gets international regulatory approval
Whether this 600 satellite constellation eventually launches remains unknown, due to the Ukraine War sanctions that prevent Russia from obtaining financing and many necessary components.
- JAXA notes delivery in October ’22 of the propulsion system for its upgraded HTV-X1 cargo freighter to the assembly factory
The second image at the link shows the propulsion system attached to an earlier version of the HTV, with solar panels attached to the spacecraft walls rather than as fold-out solar panels as planned for the HTV-X1.
- Shenzhou-14, with three astronauts, is now scheduled to return on December 4, 2022
This second tweet shows the primary and backup landing zones.
- South Korea awards contract Hanwha Aerospace $212 million contract to build three Nuri rockets
It appears the government wants to transfer production from the South Korean space agency, KARI, to this private company, though it also appears the government is not ceding ownership to the private company.
- Major management organization at Astra
According to CEO Chris Kemp, the reorganization has four engineering and manufacturing managers reporting directly to him, reducing a layer of management. Of the four managers involved, two once worked at Blue Origin, one at SpaceX, and one at Google.
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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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 Jay, BtB’s intrepid stringer, trolling Tweeter so we don’t have to.
- ULA CEO Tori Bruno claims Blue Origin is building one BE-4 engine per week
You need to scroll down and read the thread, from the bottom up, to reach this conclusion. Whether Bruno is right remains unknown. Nothing Blue Origin has done so far suggests they are yet capable of this.
- Russian private company S7 negotiates with government to finalize transfer of its ownership of Sea Launch
Putin and his stooges have been pressuring S7 for years to gain control of Sea Launch, essentially bankrupting this private operation with fees and taxes.
- Russia’s Sphere broadband satellite constellation gets international regulatory approval
Whether this 600 satellite constellation eventually launches remains unknown, due to the Ukraine War sanctions that prevent Russia from obtaining financing and many necessary components.
- JAXA notes delivery in October ’22 of the propulsion system for its upgraded HTV-X1 cargo freighter to the assembly factory
The second image at the link shows the propulsion system attached to an earlier version of the HTV, with solar panels attached to the spacecraft walls rather than as fold-out solar panels as planned for the HTV-X1.
- Shenzhou-14, with three astronauts, is now scheduled to return on December 4, 2022
This second tweet shows the primary and backup landing zones.
- South Korea awards contract Hanwha Aerospace $212 million contract to build three Nuri rockets
It appears the government wants to transfer production from the South Korean space agency, KARI, to this private company, though it also appears the government is not ceding ownership to the private company.
- Major management organization at Astra
According to CEO Chris Kemp, the reorganization has four engineering and manufacturing managers reporting directly to him, reducing a layer of management. Of the four managers involved, two once worked at Blue Origin, one at SpaceX, and one at Google.
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.
Did I read the thing wrong on the BE-4? I read a test firing a week but not building one per week.
john hare: I noted that you had to scroll down and read the tread. In response to questions Bruno suggests this.
There does not appear to be a link on the JAXA article.
siriusactuary: Sorry about that. Link now added.
Reading the times on the replies, it appears that the question was asked 2 December and answer was to a different question on 1 December. Not normally reading Twitter, perhaps I misunderstood the comment method there.
john hare: I admit to my own willful ignorance of Twitter and its ways. However, at the link that Jay provided, when I posted, if you scrolled down to the most recent previous tweets in the thread, Bruno was asked was Blue Origin producing an engine a week and he responded yes. Jay himself interpreted it that way, saying so when he sent me the link.
It is possible that by the time you looked, Twitter had moved on, and this exchange was no longer visible. I unfortunately am not the one to ask. I will ask Jay to clarify.
John Hare,
Mr.Bruno’s comment was implying that they, B.O., were building one BE-4 a week since they were testing a BE-4 every week. The B.O. factory in Kent, is not producing an engine a week. A lot of people on other forums were also commenting on that post.
And a Raptor engine bites the dust:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bcemrVqT8U0&feature=emb_logo
Jay and John hare,
It will be a couple of years or so before Blue Origin will need to build fifty engines each year, but I would not be surprised that these early engines are continuing to undergo extensive testing before delivery.