January 29, 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.
- Rocket startup Stoke Space files permit for building launch pad at Cape Canaveral
Stoke is the company with the radical engine design, involving a ring of tiny thrust outlets instead of a main engine with one big nozzle. It has raised $100 million in investment capital, and hopes to use this design to produce a completely reusable rocket.
- Possible explosion at Shanghai facility for Chinese pseudo-company Landspace
This is not confirmed, there are no details available, and the video at the link only provides audio of a boom while showing nothing but a quiet street scene. The tweet cites “leaked documents,” whatever that signifies.
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.
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.
- Rocket startup Stoke Space files permit for building launch pad at Cape Canaveral
Stoke is the company with the radical engine design, involving a ring of tiny thrust outlets instead of a main engine with one big nozzle. It has raised $100 million in investment capital, and hopes to use this design to produce a completely reusable rocket.
- Possible explosion at Shanghai facility for Chinese pseudo-company Landspace
This is not confirmed, there are no details available, and the video at the link only provides audio of a boom while showing nothing but a quiet street scene. The tweet cites “leaked documents,” whatever that signifies.
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.
It is truly amazing that the Japanese SLIM landed in one piece. Well, actually, two pieces..
“Japan’s first lunar lander made an unsteady touchdown on the Moon last week, moments after one of its two main engines inexplicably lost power and apparently fell off the spacecraft, officials said Thursday.”
As the saying goes, luck favors the prepared. I have been thinking that the lander turned over because it hit a rock. Not so apparently..
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/01/a-japanese-spacecraft-faceplanted-on-the-moon-and-lived-to-tell-the-tale/
This was likely an explosion caused by a methane leak and shows the dangers associated with using this fuel.
Now China is repeating what SpaceX has already experienced several times. I would like to recall the explosion that destroyed Starship prototype SN 4, as well as the explosion under Booster 4, during one of the first attempts to burn this booster.
Are you following the fun about “ZOOZVE” ( 2002-VE) a quasi-moon of Venus?
Pro or Con?
And are the quasi-moons of Earth exploitable?
I read that one of the “quasi-moons” of Earth turned out to be an Apollo-Saturn upper stage!
This was likely an explosion caused by a methane leak and shows the dangers associated with using this fuel.
There’s no support for either proposition here!
I really like how fast Stokes is moving. Bodes well for their future, if SpaceX is any guide.