January 30, 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.
- Ingenuity’s use of off-the-shelf commercial products will be a game-changer for space engineering
The article provides a nice summary of Ingenuity’s overall future impact, but notes that its use of such products might be its biggest legacy. Their use would significantly reduce the cost of future government space probes, and based on its experience with the helicopter NASA might be more willing to accept their use in the future.
- Explosion heard yesterday in Shanghai was due to a test-to-failure tank test by a Chinese pseudo-company
At least, that is what China is telling us.
- China ignites and operates its first 50-kilowatt nested Hall thruster, proving the ability of two-ring ignition
Jay notes that the University of Michigan tested a 3-channel ion thruster some years ago, suggesting that though China has done good work here, it is still years behind.
- Weather looks good for Rocket Lab’s next launch tomorrow
Right now the launch is targeting a 1:15 am (Eastern) launch tonight. Live stream available here.
- On this date in 1964 Ranger 6 was launched, hitting the Moon as planned but failing to transmit any images during its plunge to the surface
It was the third spacecraft to impact the Moon, and the first in the Ranger program to do so. It wasn’t until Ranger 7 six months later that a mission succeeded in sending pictures back before crashing.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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
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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.
- Ingenuity’s use of off-the-shelf commercial products will be a game-changer for space engineering
The article provides a nice summary of Ingenuity’s overall future impact, but notes that its use of such products might be its biggest legacy. Their use would significantly reduce the cost of future government space probes, and based on its experience with the helicopter NASA might be more willing to accept their use in the future.
- Explosion heard yesterday in Shanghai was due to a test-to-failure tank test by a Chinese pseudo-company
At least, that is what China is telling us.
- China ignites and operates its first 50-kilowatt nested Hall thruster, proving the ability of two-ring ignition
Jay notes that the University of Michigan tested a 3-channel ion thruster some years ago, suggesting that though China has done good work here, it is still years behind.
- Weather looks good for Rocket Lab’s next launch tomorrow
Right now the launch is targeting a 1:15 am (Eastern) launch tonight. Live stream available here.
- On this date in 1964 Ranger 6 was launched, hitting the Moon as planned but failing to transmit any images during its plunge to the surface
It was the third spacecraft to impact the Moon, and the first in the Ranger program to do so. It wasn’t until Ranger 7 six months later that a mission succeeded in sending pictures back before crashing.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Ingenuity was a great example of how to do something in space on the cheap (relatively). We do the same thing at Quub. Buy off the shelf, build like you know it will fail, and have robust systems to survive the failures. So far it has worked for us.
From the article on ingenuitiy’s engineering, I did not realize that the helicopter was so light. The whole thing, including rotors, motor, etc. is less than 2 kg mass. Here on earth, it weighs about 4 pounds. Of course, on Mars with much lower gravity, it weighs less but the mass is still the same..