December 28, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Shanghai produces first of more than 100 satellites in new production facility
The government there says it wants private companies to build up to 50 rockets and 600 satellites by 2025.
- The Exploration Company completes first technical review of its proposed Nyx cargo freighter
French-based, this company hopes to provide ferrying services to the private space stations being built by private consortiums, most of which are coming from U.S. companies.
- Juno will make its closest flybys of Io on December 30th and February 3rd
At a distance of only 930 miles, these two approaches will be the closest in over 20 years, since Galileo orbited Jupiter.
- Dragonfly team completes 25 subscale drop tests of aeroshell & main parachute system prototypes
It remains to be seen whether this mission will ever get to Saturn’s moon Titan, considering the serious budget issues at NASA.
- Another storage tank arrives at Boca Chica
This is for storing prior to the launch of a Starship/Superheavy, either methane or oxygen, I’m not sure which. Jay wonders “when they will start producing their own fuel.”
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
- Shanghai produces first of more than 100 satellites in new production facility
The government there says it wants private companies to build up to 50 rockets and 600 satellites by 2025.
- The Exploration Company completes first technical review of its proposed Nyx cargo freighter
French-based, this company hopes to provide ferrying services to the private space stations being built by private consortiums, most of which are coming from U.S. companies.
- Juno will make its closest flybys of Io on December 30th and February 3rd
At a distance of only 930 miles, these two approaches will be the closest in over 20 years, since Galileo orbited Jupiter.
- Dragonfly team completes 25 subscale drop tests of aeroshell & main parachute system prototypes
It remains to be seen whether this mission will ever get to Saturn’s moon Titan, considering the serious budget issues at NASA.
- Another storage tank arrives at Boca Chica
This is for storing prior to the launch of a Starship/Superheavy, either methane or oxygen, I’m not sure which. Jay wonders “when they will start producing their own fuel.”
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Jay wonders “when they will start producing their own fuel.”
Well, does Musk own any cows, yet? (Of all the possible people to actually try a cow-fart-capturing system, you know Elon might take an actual run at it. And name the associated company something silly/interesting.)
Mr. Zimmerman: You may correct the following small error: ” Chinese pseudo-company touts video of the first in-space firing of its kypton ion engine”. Correct is: ” … its krypton ion engine …”
Questioner: Typo fixed. Thank you.