December 20, 2022 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Fiscal year 2023 omnibus bill provides $25.4 billion for NASA
Increases the budget by 5.6% from last year. Overall, it appears Congress is funding everything as NASA wishes, while maintaining pork projects like SLS and Orion.
- Is Virgin Orbit a Phantom in the UK?
Interesting article, but in a word, the answer has always been “Yes!” Virgin Orbit wants to launch from Cornwall in the UK, but its factories and management is all U.S. based. Since its launch vehicle is an airplane, it is not likely to bring much else to the UK for a very long time. For anyone in Britain to think otherwise is to live in a fantasy world.
- Virgin pumps another $20M into Virgin Orbit. $25M was pumped in last month.
This money is once again needed to cover the loss of revenue because of its lack of launches in the second half of 2022, caused partly by red tape in the UK and partly from rocket technical problems.
- The secret payloads of Russia’s Glonass navigation satellites
Detailed historical article, much of it describing detectors designed to monitor nuclear tests to make sure the U.S. did not violate any test ban treaties. The U.S. equivalent was its Vela satellites.
- Video of fairing release test of new Tianlong-2 rocket from Chinese pseudo-company Space-Pioneer
According to Jay, “Tianlong-2 is almost a knockoff of the expendable Falcon-1 rocket, but it has twice the payload.”
Three quick links providing graphics of China’s next generation crew spacecraft, suggesting it will be larger. None should be taken very seriously, as yet.
- Graphic showing the new crew spacecraft compared to Shenzhou crew capsule
The new version is wider, 5 meters in diameter, and appears to not use fairings during launch.
- Animation showing new crew spacecraft docking a Tiangong-3 with an additional module
The new spacecraft is docking with the bottom port, so that much of it is not visible.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Fiscal year 2023 omnibus bill provides $25.4 billion for NASA
Increases the budget by 5.6% from last year. Overall, it appears Congress is funding everything as NASA wishes, while maintaining pork projects like SLS and Orion.
- Is Virgin Orbit a Phantom in the UK?
Interesting article, but in a word, the answer has always been “Yes!” Virgin Orbit wants to launch from Cornwall in the UK, but its factories and management is all U.S. based. Since its launch vehicle is an airplane, it is not likely to bring much else to the UK for a very long time. For anyone in Britain to think otherwise is to live in a fantasy world.
- Virgin pumps another $20M into Virgin Orbit. $25M was pumped in last month.
This money is once again needed to cover the loss of revenue because of its lack of launches in the second half of 2022, caused partly by red tape in the UK and partly from rocket technical problems.
- The secret payloads of Russia’s Glonass navigation satellites
Detailed historical article, much of it describing detectors designed to monitor nuclear tests to make sure the U.S. did not violate any test ban treaties. The U.S. equivalent was its Vela satellites.
- Video of fairing release test of new Tianlong-2 rocket from Chinese pseudo-company Space-Pioneer
According to Jay, “Tianlong-2 is almost a knockoff of the expendable Falcon-1 rocket, but it has twice the payload.”
Three quick links providing graphics of China’s next generation crew spacecraft, suggesting it will be larger. None should be taken very seriously, as yet.
- Graphic showing the new crew spacecraft compared to Shenzhou crew capsule
The new version is wider, 5 meters in diameter, and appears to not use fairings during launch.
- Animation showing new crew spacecraft docking a Tiangong-3 with an additional module
The new spacecraft is docking with the bottom port, so that much of it is not visible.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Is Arianespace’s Vega-C rocket flight animation based on actual performance telemetry, or or not?
Spoiler alert: not. The Vega-C second stage was shown merrily blasting upward toward orbit, while in the background a curve was plotted that resembled the track of the losing effort in a cliffside anvil-tossing contest, backed up by an altitude readout unwinding 90km, 89km, 88km….
NASA pulls the plug on Insight https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/groundbreaking-mars-mission-comes-to-an-end/ar-AA15xbH5?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=8b4fd60035de4686a9610c3756b1563f