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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.
 

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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.


ESA awards Thales Alenia contract to build Mars lander for Franklin rover

Oxia Planum drainages
The drainage patterns at the Franklin rover
landing site

Click for paper [pdf].

The European Space Agency (ESA) today awarded the Italian company Thales Alenia a €522 million contract to build the entry, descent, and landing module for ESA’s Franklin rover, now scheduled for launch in 2028.

Under this contract, Thales Alenia Space will lead the definition of the Entry, Descent and Landing Module and maintenance activities for the transfer module (carrier) and the rover, including upgrades and replacement of time-sensitive elements. A full audit and tests will be carried out on the rover to ensure its readiness for the new mission. In addition, replacement of some payload elements is planned, such as integration of the new Enfys infrared spectrometer. The batteries and tanks will be replaced on the carrier module as well as potential adjustments to align with the updated trajectories to Mars. New developments on the descent module and landing pad are also required, because the European avionics part of the descent module will be reused.

This contract was necessary because the project was initially a partnership with Russia, whereby Russia provided this lander as well as the launch services. That partnership was severed after Russia invaded the Ukraine, which caused this mission to Mars to be delayed four to six years.

NASA then chipped in $30 million to help pay for launch out of Cape Canaveral, though no launch company has been announced. I suspect both ESA and NASA wish to wait before making a deal, considering how launch costs are dropping. At present it is impossible to predict the landscape of that market in 2028.

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

  • Edward

    Robert Zimmerman wrote: “NASA then chipped in $30 million to help pay for launch out of Cape Canaveral, though no launch company has been announced. I suspect both ESA and NASA wish to wait before making a deal, considering how launch costs are dropping. At present it is impossible to predict the landscape of that market in 2028.

    Ain’t competition great? Without it we didn’t have dropping launch costs, but with competition, we do.

  • markedup2

    That seems pretty fast. It’s 2024. 2028 is only four years away.

    will lead the definition of the Entry, Descent and Landing Module
    That seems like a tight timeline to design/define and build a lunar lander.

    Let’s round. 500 million over 4 years is 100 million a year w/100 million for unproductive bureaucrats and graft. 200K/year is only 500 people. While not small, that’s not YUGE, either.

    This seems like something Wikipedia can be trusted about: Since 2007, the company has been regarded as the largest satellite manufacturer, in both the civilian and military sectors, in Europe

    That doesn’t seem very related. I suppose they have “vacuum of space” in common, but I don’t think satellites need to deal with landing very often.

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