February 2, 2026 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.
- A picture of the memorial plaque to the crew of Columbia attached to the Spirit rover on Mars
The shuttle failure occurred just as the rover team at JPL was finishing prepping Spirit for launch, and the team wanted to pay tribute to them.
- China shows off images of ship it will use to recover its Mengzhou manned capsule returning from the Moon
The tweet notes that the next test of the Long March 10 rocket will be a launch abort test.
- The 2nd stage of first Zhuque-3 rocket launched in December reentered today in the ocean near Antarctica
It seems the press in Europe was surprisingly interested in this event, for reasons that are unclear.
- JPL touts Perseverance’s first drives using “generative AI”.
The drives took place on December 8, and 10, 2025. In many ways this story is bogus. They have been using a variation of AI now on both Curiosity and Perseverance for almost two decades. This Perservance thing was just a slightly longer push.
- To block Russian drones from using Starlink, the satellites won’t send data to anything moving faster than 75 km/hour
Apparently, the Russian drones fly at higher speeds. The limitation however is lifted for registered Ukrainian terminals.
- On this day in 1977, the test engineering shuttle Enterprise traveled 35 miles from factory to Edwards Air Force Base on a 90-wheel trailer
It moved at approximately 3 miles per hour.
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.
- A picture of the memorial plaque to the crew of Columbia attached to the Spirit rover on Mars
The shuttle failure occurred just as the rover team at JPL was finishing prepping Spirit for launch, and the team wanted to pay tribute to them.
- China shows off images of ship it will use to recover its Mengzhou manned capsule returning from the Moon
The tweet notes that the next test of the Long March 10 rocket will be a launch abort test.
- The 2nd stage of first Zhuque-3 rocket launched in December reentered today in the ocean near Antarctica
It seems the press in Europe was surprisingly interested in this event, for reasons that are unclear.
- JPL touts Perseverance’s first drives using “generative AI”.
The drives took place on December 8, and 10, 2025. In many ways this story is bogus. They have been using a variation of AI now on both Curiosity and Perseverance for almost two decades. This Perservance thing was just a slightly longer push.
- To block Russian drones from using Starlink, the satellites won’t send data to anything moving faster than 75 km/hour
Apparently, the Russian drones fly at higher speeds. The limitation however is lifted for registered Ukrainian terminals.
- On this day in 1977, the test engineering shuttle Enterprise traveled 35 miles from factory to Edwards Air Force Base on a 90-wheel trailer
It moved at approximately 3 miles per hour.
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

