December 31, 2024 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.
Before we get to the links, I think it is time to send a hearty Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you again for making 2024 the best year so far. And best of all, next year should even be better!
- SpaceX touts the completion of its fifth manned Dragon capsule
The tweet says this will be the last manned Dragon capsule, but Jay suspects that means the “last built in California.” He thinks future capsules will be built in Florida, the work driven from California due to its almost communist government. I’m not so sure. SpaceX remember is hoping Starship will replace the capsules in the future. Why build more in that case?
- Chinese graphic outlines the many mission configurations available for mounting missions to the Moon, the asteroids, and Mars
Jay says the graphic includes the option of nuclear propulsion to get to Mars.
- Anatoly Zak notes the Russia launch rate in 2024 fell to its lowest level this century
I will have more to say about this in my annual global launch report, coming soon!
- Air & Space museum honors the memory of five great astronauts who died in 2024
The men: – Bill Anders, Joe Engle, Jon McBride, Tom Stafford, Richard Truly
- One hundred years ago this week astronomer Edwin Hubble announced that the spiral nebula Andromeda is a distant galaxy, not part of the Milky Way
His evidence proved that the universe was filled with many distinct galaxies, with the Milky Way only one of many.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
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. 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.
Before we get to the links, I think it is time to send a hearty Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you again for making 2024 the best year so far. And best of all, next year should even be better!
- SpaceX touts the completion of its fifth manned Dragon capsule
The tweet says this will be the last manned Dragon capsule, but Jay suspects that means the “last built in California.” He thinks future capsules will be built in Florida, the work driven from California due to its almost communist government. I’m not so sure. SpaceX remember is hoping Starship will replace the capsules in the future. Why build more in that case?
- Chinese graphic outlines the many mission configurations available for mounting missions to the Moon, the asteroids, and Mars
Jay says the graphic includes the option of nuclear propulsion to get to Mars.
- Anatoly Zak notes the Russia launch rate in 2024 fell to its lowest level this century
I will have more to say about this in my annual global launch report, coming soon!
- Air & Space museum honors the memory of five great astronauts who died in 2024
The men: – Bill Anders, Joe Engle, Jon McBride, Tom Stafford, Richard Truly
- One hundred years ago this week astronomer Edwin Hubble announced that the spiral nebula Andromeda is a distant galaxy, not part of the Milky Way
His evidence proved that the universe was filled with many distinct galaxies, with the Milky Way only one of many.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
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.
“SpaceX remember is hoping Starship will replace the capsules in the future. Why build more in that case?”
I foresee an opportunity to accelerate the man-rating of Starship by ferrying crew to and from it via Dragon capsules, rather than launching or landing with crew aboard, but no escape system. This also has implications for the continued use of the proven Falcon 9.
Back ups are always good.
But think of it this way.
Starship is huge. Docking it to a smaller massed station could be a problem. Its reaction jets could actually push the station away instead of just slowing down the Starship.
Plus there will be far more customers for a smaller ship for the next decade. All of the smaller nations or anyone who wants to go to smaller stations could use the Falcon insted of waiting for a seat on the big rocket.