Israel launches spy satellite
Israel yesterday successfully launched a radar reconnaissance satellite using its Shavit-2 solid-fueled three-stage rocket.
This was Israel’s first launch since 2020. It took place from Israel’s coastal launchpad, and traveled west over the Mediterranean so that its stages would not fall on habitable areas. This retrograde orbit, opposite of the Earth’s rotation, is costly in terms of fuel and the size of payload put in orbit, which is why the satellite weighed only 661 pounds.
The leader board for the 2023 launch race remains the same:
20 SpaceX (with a planned launch later today)
11 China
5 Russia (with a planned launch later today)
3 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads China 23 to 11 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 23 to 20. SpaceX now trails the rest of the world, including other American companies, 20 to 23.
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Israel yesterday successfully launched a radar reconnaissance satellite using its Shavit-2 solid-fueled three-stage rocket.
This was Israel’s first launch since 2020. It took place from Israel’s coastal launchpad, and traveled west over the Mediterranean so that its stages would not fall on habitable areas. This retrograde orbit, opposite of the Earth’s rotation, is costly in terms of fuel and the size of payload put in orbit, which is why the satellite weighed only 661 pounds.
The leader board for the 2023 launch race remains the same:
20 SpaceX (with a planned launch later today)
11 China
5 Russia (with a planned launch later today)
3 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads China 23 to 11 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 23 to 20. SpaceX now trails the rest of the world, including other American companies, 20 to 23.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
Speaking of launches: Dutch Satellites, a Twitter anon with usually reliable sources, just tweeted this: “The FAA is in the final stage of completing the launch license for Starship’s Orbital Flight Test. SpaceX should have it in hand in under a fortnight.” He claims this from sources he has at both NASA and SpaceX. https://twitter.com/DutchSatellites/status/1641079617048944640
Of course, knowing how the FAA works, we should all retain some skepticism until it manifests itself concretely and officially. But I hope it’s true.
P.S. Congrats to the Israelis for a successful return to the launch arena.
Meanwhile, as SpaceX moves up a launch timetable, Boeing moves one back (via Joey Roulette of Reuters):
NASA’s Steve Stich says Boeing’s first crewed Starliner test flight is now scheduled for “no earlier than July 21st.” Most of the pre-mission work will be completed in April, but certification work for Starliner’s parachute system will last a bit longer. In NASA’s mid-Feb Starliner call, officials expected to decide on a T-60 day mark in early March. But now the mission is pushed back nearly 4 months. That buys time for an extra ground test with Starliner’s parachutes, though “no issues or concerns” with that system, Stich says.
It also turns out that Aerojet has not been playing well with the other kids:
Boeing is cutting Aerojet Rocketdyne out of its prop system valve redesign process and working with Aerojet’s valve supplier Marotta instead.
Aerojet disagreed with NASA/Boeing’s assessment on why the valves stuck shut in 2021, and refused to pay for a redesign.
Boeing is also mulling a redesign of Starliner’s batteries for after this delayed crewed flight test. It also expects to redesign Starliner’s smart initiator system, which separates the crew from service module. NASA’s paying $24 million for that redesign amid added requirements
https://twitter.com/joroulette/status/1641139219211886594
What a mess.
But are any of us really surprised?
Hoping for a Starship launch in two weeks