February 13, 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.
- Video of factory deployment test of solar sail
The test, in partnership with Redwire and NASA, deployed one quarter of the full sail, which would cover almost 18,000 square feet.
- Stop-action video from Sierra Space showing assembly of Tenacity and its Shooting Star cargo capsule
Launch had been targeting the first half of this year, but at present no launch date has been scheduled.
- SpaceX to de-orbit about 100 early Starlink satellites
The company is concerned a failure might make it impossible to de-orbit them properly, leaving them in orbit as space junk.
- Progress undocks from ISS
This undocking today clears the Zvezda port for a new Progress launching on February 15, 2024. Note the use of Zvezda. When stress fractures were found in that module, Russia had said it would no longer dock there. Apparently the Russians are now satisfied that the repairs done by their astronauts are sufficient to prevent further fractures and leaks. Or maybe the Russians are willing to deal with the risk for the few years left before ISS is retired.
- Cassini’s first good picture of the Saturn moon Mimas, taken on this day in 2010
As Han Solo said in Star Wars, “That’s no moon.”
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.
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.
- Video of factory deployment test of solar sail
The test, in partnership with Redwire and NASA, deployed one quarter of the full sail, which would cover almost 18,000 square feet.
- Stop-action video from Sierra Space showing assembly of Tenacity and its Shooting Star cargo capsule
Launch had been targeting the first half of this year, but at present no launch date has been scheduled.
- SpaceX to de-orbit about 100 early Starlink satellites
The company is concerned a failure might make it impossible to de-orbit them properly, leaving them in orbit as space junk.
- Progress undocks from ISS
This undocking today clears the Zvezda port for a new Progress launching on February 15, 2024. Note the use of Zvezda. When stress fractures were found in that module, Russia had said it would no longer dock there. Apparently the Russians are now satisfied that the repairs done by their astronauts are sufficient to prevent further fractures and leaks. Or maybe the Russians are willing to deal with the risk for the few years left before ISS is retired.
- Cassini’s first good picture of the Saturn moon Mimas, taken on this day in 2010
As Han Solo said in Star Wars, “That’s no moon.”
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.
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