February 25, 2025 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.
- Astroforge details its first deep space mission to an asteroid, set to launch tomorrow
It is mainly an engineering test mission to see if a private commercial cubesat can get close enough to an asteroid to gather data.
- French rocket startup completes static fire test of “thrust chamber” of proposed engine
The company has great ambitions, but will only be doing engine tests through this year.
- One hour interview with Vast CEO Max Huot
Haven’t watched it yet but it appears to be well worth it.
- On this day in 1969, Mariner 6 was launched on a Mars flyby mission
Like the previous fly-by mission, Mariner 4, and Mariner 6’s parallel mission, Mariner 7 and launched at approximately the same time, Mariner 6 focused on getting images of the dark areas of Mars as seen from Earth, which we now know are the Martian cratered highlands. Thus, all these missions suggested quite incorrectly that Mars was just like the Moon.
- On this day in 2009 the Hubble Space Telescope capture an image of Saturn silhouetted by four of its moons
Pretty but hardly historic.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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.
- Astroforge details its first deep space mission to an asteroid, set to launch tomorrow
It is mainly an engineering test mission to see if a private commercial cubesat can get close enough to an asteroid to gather data.
- French rocket startup completes static fire test of “thrust chamber” of proposed engine
The company has great ambitions, but will only be doing engine tests through this year.
- One hour interview with Vast CEO Max Huot
Haven’t watched it yet but it appears to be well worth it.
- On this day in 1969, Mariner 6 was launched on a Mars flyby mission
Like the previous fly-by mission, Mariner 4, and Mariner 6’s parallel mission, Mariner 7 and launched at approximately the same time, Mariner 6 focused on getting images of the dark areas of Mars as seen from Earth, which we now know are the Martian cratered highlands. Thus, all these missions suggested quite incorrectly that Mars was just like the Moon.
- On this day in 2009 the Hubble Space Telescope capture an image of Saturn silhouetted by four of its moons
Pretty but hardly historic.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
Nothing on the NS-30 New Shepard flight and its mysterious sixth passenger? It’s weird that no one on the space sites I follow is even asking the question “Who is this guy?” Has he never heard of the Streisand Effect, or is he counting on it?
mkent: I have become entirely bored and uninterested in these suborbital hops. Had they occurred in the mid-2000s, as promised, they would have had a real impact. Now they are old news, and have little to do with the future in space.
I know I should have some interest, but sorry, that’s the way it is.
To each his own, but I disagree. Many of the passengers on these flights are quite moved by the experience, and these suborbital flights are the only way upper middle class and the lower end of the upper class are going to be able to personally experience outer space for quite some time. The flights may not generate the “buzz” they used to, but people want personal experiences. They want to go to Hawaii themselves and not just watch a video. The same with space.
Number six crew member is an R. Wilson. Who the heck that is I don’t know and possibly don’t care.