January 2, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- A look at Europe’s Proba-3 dual science satellites, designed to observed the atmosphere of the Sun
The two satellites will work in tandem, simulating an eclipse with one satellite blocking the Sun’s light so the second can observe that atmosphere, called the corona. The launch is set for September ’24.
- First Angara launch from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in March will carry no payload
This will be Angara’s third test launch, all lacking a payload, suggesting Russia now has rocket capacity that exceeds its payload capacity. It certainly no longer has any western satellite customers.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- A look at Europe’s Proba-3 dual science satellites, designed to observed the atmosphere of the Sun
The two satellites will work in tandem, simulating an eclipse with one satellite blocking the Sun’s light so the second can observe that atmosphere, called the corona. The launch is set for September ’24.
- First Angara launch from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in March will carry no payload
This will be Angara’s third test launch, all lacking a payload, suggesting Russia now has rocket capacity that exceeds its payload capacity. It certainly no longer has any western satellite customers.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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.
On Europe’s Proba-3 satellite, it should be “dual” not “duel”. That is unless they are shooting at each other.
BillB: Fixed. Thank you.
2024 not 3 in post title
FM: No, the title is correct. this is a report for what happened in 2023.
First Angara launch from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in March will carry no payload
Have they considered launching a sports car?
Vostochny managers surely have a few to spare….
Richard M.,
Just what we need, a Lada in orbit. It will break down in orbit and the debris will be worse than an ASAT test.
Minor edit in Proba-3 headline: “designed to observe”
They should never have goaded Musk with that trampoline joke.
Now the joke’s on them.
Cluebat: The former head of Roscosmos who made that trampoline joke, Dimitry Rogozin, has already gotten his comeuppance. His incompetence, which caused Russia to lose all of its entire commercial customers and more than a billion dollars in revenues, was why he was fired and exiled to be an administrator within the occupied regions of the Ukraine, where he was subsequently injured in an attack by local Ukrainian partisans.
Just what we need, a Lada in orbit. It will break down in orbit and the debris will be worse than an ASAT test.
I doubt that your best-heeled Russian managers are skimming construction funds to buy Ladas! But I think we need to insist that the Russians put it into a heliocentric orbit, just to be safe.