January 9, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Vulcan’s Centaur upper stage finished, now ready for testing
It likely could have been ready two years ago, but there was no point since the first stage couldn’t be finished without Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines. ULA has those engines now, and is pushing hard of a 2023 Vulcan launch.
- China might be having communications issues with its Tienwen-1 Mars orbiter
It appears “a ground station is struggling to obtain a lock with the spacecraft.” If Tienwen-1 dies, it likely also means the end of Zhurong on the Martian surface. American and European orbiters might be able to step up, but the technical issues would not be trivial.
- China completes 100 second static fire test of new core engine for Long March 5
No word on whether this replaces the Long March 5B, whose core engines cannot be restarted and thus cause the core stage to crash uncontrolled to Earth.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Vulcan’s Centaur upper stage finished, now ready for testing
It likely could have been ready two years ago, but there was no point since the first stage couldn’t be finished without Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines. ULA has those engines now, and is pushing hard of a 2023 Vulcan launch.
- China might be having communications issues with its Tienwen-1 Mars orbiter
It appears “a ground station is struggling to obtain a lock with the spacecraft.” If Tienwen-1 dies, it likely also means the end of Zhurong on the Martian surface. American and European orbiters might be able to step up, but the technical issues would not be trivial.
- China completes 100 second static fire test of new core engine for Long March 5
No word on whether this replaces the Long March 5B, whose core engines cannot be restarted and thus cause the core stage to crash uncontrolled to Earth.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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