December 30, 2025 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Chinese pseudo-company Interstellor touts testing of the landing thrusters on its CYZ-1 crew capsule
It blurred the thrusters. Jay rightly asked “What’s there to blur? We all know it is a copy.” To my eye, it appears to be copying Stoke’s concept.
- Chinese pseudo-company Azspace touts absurdly ambitious plans for 2026
It says they will inaugurate a reusable suborbital capsule for tourists, a commercial space station, a larger orbital spacecraft, and a re-entry capsule. Wanna bet?
- Typical mainstream propaganda piece opposing White House proposal to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado
Mainstream outlets (in this case Space News) always oppose all government budget cuts, blindly and without any thought. This is just another example. I have become very bored with their empty-headed predictability.
- NASA touts Perseverance’s excellent health, bragging it can function until at least 2031
This story was from a week or two ago. It is just NASA lobbying for cash. Perseverance was always expected to last that long, if not longer, especially as it has upgrades that Curiosity lacks. And yet Curiosity is still going strong after more than a dozen years.
- A nice summary of what was learned when Voyager 1 and 2 passed through the boundary of our solar system, the heliopause
Voyager 1 crossed in 2012. Voyager 2 did it in 2018. Both are still functioning, though their lifespan is only another few years.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Chinese pseudo-company Interstellor touts testing of the landing thrusters on its CYZ-1 crew capsule
It blurred the thrusters. Jay rightly asked “What’s there to blur? We all know it is a copy.” To my eye, it appears to be copying Stoke’s concept.
- Chinese pseudo-company Azspace touts absurdly ambitious plans for 2026
It says they will inaugurate a reusable suborbital capsule for tourists, a commercial space station, a larger orbital spacecraft, and a re-entry capsule. Wanna bet?
- Typical mainstream propaganda piece opposing White House proposal to close the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado
Mainstream outlets (in this case Space News) always oppose all government budget cuts, blindly and without any thought. This is just another example. I have become very bored with their empty-headed predictability.
- NASA touts Perseverance’s excellent health, bragging it can function until at least 2031
This story was from a week or two ago. It is just NASA lobbying for cash. Perseverance was always expected to last that long, if not longer, especially as it has upgrades that Curiosity lacks. And yet Curiosity is still going strong after more than a dozen years.
- A nice summary of what was learned when Voyager 1 and 2 passed through the boundary of our solar system, the heliopause
Voyager 1 crossed in 2012. Voyager 2 did it in 2018. Both are still functioning, though their lifespan is only another few years.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News


“” A wall of superheated plasma at the edge of everything we’ve ever known—discovered by 1970s technology still transmitting from beyond our solar system.””
We never, EVER get tired of Voyager news & information.
Just imagine – The Voyager spacecraft use 8-track digital tape recorders (DTRs) to store scientific data, a form of magnetic tape technology, as their primary data storage, relying on this older, robust tech due to limited memory (around 69 KB) and the need to overwrite old data for new observations. These rugged tape systems, built with radiation-hardened components, has allowed the probes to function for decades in deep space, recording and playing back massive amounts of data before transmitting to Earth. Vintage tech still working in interstellar space.
(from Google)
Using the word “robust” is an understatement.