July 12, 2018 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
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.
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.
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.
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.
Longer stays on the ISS would be a great thing! It is more valuable because of better microgravity health data. It is safer since it’s launch and landing that are dangerous. And it reduces the ISS crew launch costs per year. But the reason they now think about doing it is awful.
Mr. Steven was the boat’s name before SpaceX bought it.
Localfluff,
You may be interested in the following Space News interview with NASA’s ISS Director, Sam Scimemi:
https://spacenews.com/trump-wants-nasa-out-of-the-iss-operations-business-easier-said-than-done/
Q: “You’ve said ISS is hitting its stride. How so?”
A: “… On the NASA side, for our exploration research program, we are starting to knock out some of the risks in human spaceflight, like bone and muscle loss mitigation strategies. Those risks are starting to come down now as we work through all that research. …”
Q: “You’ve also said ISS hasn’t reached its full potential. What more could be done?”
A: “On the exploration side, there is still more work to be done at integrating across all of our disciplines, across operations, across system demonstrations, across human health and performance, integrating all of those together in a simulation of a long-duration deep space exploration activity on ISS. …”
This might help answer questions about how affordable ISS could be for private commercial operators, after 2024, when the U. S. is planning to exit the operations of the station:
Q: “What does it cost to maintain the space station annually?”
A: “Its budget is separated into operations, use or research and transportation. The transportation is the largest part of the ISS budget. It is just over half of the budget. The budget this year was about $1.7 billion just for transportation, cargo and crew. …”
But what I found most interesting were the things that NASA said was important to them:
“We think the leadership aspect is important for the continuity, not only for the mission but also for the industrial base, having an industrial base that is able to build rockets, build crew capsules, cargo vehicles, on-orbit spacecraft. It’s important that we also keep continuity in our industrial base and knowledge here on the ground in order to continue spaceflight across multiple decades. … What’s important to NASA and the U.S. government are: the continuity of human spaceflight, leadership of the United States in human spaceflight not only in LEO but also for exploration, long-term research and astronaut opportunities. Reducing cost is also important.”
Although other, private, space stations are mentioned in the interview, the focus is on ISS. Will other space stations be successful? Scimemi thinks that depends upon whether the demand will be there. I think the prices for those other outposts will be low enough and they will be specialized enough to find eager customers. ISS is complicated by the necessity that it needs to be all things (well, many things) for all customers (who can afford it and are willing to put in the public domain, within five years, any and all of their data). Building smaller and simpler outposts should reduce construction, use, and operation costs.
Re: the successful Cygnus orbit-boosting test for the ISS.
You mentioned the dependence on ROSCOSMOS for orbit raising, and along with that, Guidance, Navigation & Control, which is done through the Zvezda module in the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS). Important to note that, since even if (when) the U.S. restores indigenous capability to deliver crew and boost orbit, it will still rely on the Russians for GNC of the station.
And yet, I was surprised to learn recently that one of the Russian modules, Zarya (which was actually the first ISS module launched), is technically owned by the United States, NOT Russia, even though the Russians built and launched it. That turnover in ownership was a critical part of making the ISS partnership financially viable for Russia at that point. Which means that, even though you will commonly see Zarya listed as part of the ROS, it’s really part of the U.S. Orbital Segment. Which maters, because Zarya has its own GNC capabilities, which were actually used for the ISS until Zvezda was launched. Theoretically, there’s no reason NASA couldn’t use Zvezda for GNC if it had to; at last check, these systems were still functional. If anyone has heard otherwise of late, I’d be keen to hear it.
Typo in my last post: That should read: “Theoretically, there’s no reason NASA couldn’t use Zarya for GNC if it had to…”
Richard M: We might own Zarya, but I wonder if controlling it is run through Russian mission control. I would suspect so. I would also suspect that mission control in Houston would not be able to take over very easily.