January 7, 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.
- Firefly provides a detailed overview of its Blue Ghost mission to land on the Moon
Launch is presently scheduled for 1 am (Eastern) on January 15, 2025 on a Falcon 9 rocket.
- On this day in 1998 Lunar Prospector was launched, the first American mission to the Moon since the Apollo days
It photographed Moon’s entire surface, with its most significant finding the possibility of water in permanently shadowed craters near the poles.
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.
- Firefly provides a detailed overview of its Blue Ghost mission to land on the Moon
Launch is presently scheduled for 1 am (Eastern) on January 15, 2025 on a Falcon 9 rocket.
- On this day in 1998 Lunar Prospector was launched, the first American mission to the Moon since the Apollo days
It photographed Moon’s entire surface, with its most significant finding the possibility of water in permanently shadowed craters near the poles.
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.
I believe the Clementine probe launched in 1994, earlier than Lunar Prospector. It was a joint NASA/Department of defense mission using off the shelf hardware. The 300 orbits of the moon photographed the surface from 60 degrees north to 60 degrees south. Apparently the DOD side of the mission was to test components to long term exposure to space for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization.
News Link:
It’s been increasingly evident for some time now that Relativity Space has been struggling more than anticipated with rocket development. Last night, though, Eric Berger published an article suggesting that their financial state is….pretty grim.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/nearly-two-years-after-its-radical-pivot-fidelity-slashes-relativitys-valuation/
One minor clarification for Lunar Prospector. It had no camera (to the consternation of some), and so it took no photographs of the Moon (but made a large variety of other measurements, of which the polar hydrogen measurements were a key finding).
File this under
“The Award Will Be Astronomical:”
Zachary Young Vs. CNN
Defamation Trial Day 2 (January 8, 2025)
https://youtu.be/6MrzRbhE1ek
(live stream)
“Zachary Young, a U.S. Navy veteran and private defense contractor, is suing CNN over a 2021 segment that aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” Young claims the network falsely painted him as an “illegal profiteer” exploiting “desperate Afghans” with “exorbitant” extraction fees amid the fallout of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
This Guy is an excellent witness, he has all the receipts, and the jury is friendly to him.
Some Starlink news:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/united-airlines-announces-accelerated-starlink-timeline-passengers