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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. 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. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it 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.


December 5, 2017 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast

Embedded below the fold, in two parts.

Genesis cover

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

2 comments

  • wayne

    “The Changeling” (short version)
    ST: Original series
    https://youtu.be/egyd0cnmpPo
    (2:51)

  • J Fincannon

    Always glad to hear you on Batchelor.

    I don’t want to be picky, but something seemed “off” or “odd” when you said Pioneer is “dead” in a recent John Batchelor program. It came when you were talking about communications with various deep space probes.

    Assuming you were talking about Pioneer 10 and 11, I do not think it can be conclusively stated. they are “dead”. Dead implies destroyed or turned off or with no power. Pioneer with its radioisotope power system will have the potential for power for a long time. I am not aware that they purposefully chose to turn it off as they do recent spacecraft. I am not aware of any information stating it was destroyed (indeed how could they?).

    Pioneer 10 last received signal at Earth on 2006. For Pioneer 11 was 1995. But in both cases, this does not really mean it is “dead”. The power level maybe low, too low to send a signal back to Earth that can be heard. At least for Pioneer 10, it cannot point at Earth. So, just because it cannot communicate with Earth does not mean it is dead. I have read at https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/text/pioneer_10-11_status_971201.txt that “The Mission of Pioneer 11 has ended. Its RTG power source is exhausted.” That is actually a logical fallacy. If the power source was exhausted, the spacecraft could not report that this was the case since you need power to send such telemetry. What I think they meant was there was not enough power to support communications with Earth, so this means as far as the mission controllers are concerned, the power supply was exhausted. In reality it still provides power, although likely too low to do much and if it is broadcasting a signal, it can only be heard nearby.

    So, I think it best to say, both have ended their respective missions and their status is unknown (as it must be since they cannot send telemetry to Earth letting us know their status).

    Since the Pioneer power is radioisotope, you still get heat even today to keep the spacecraft warm, but you may not get enough power converted by the thermoelectric elements to power anything beyond simple circuits. Without telemetry/communications we do not know the status.

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