July 31, 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.
- Astroforge updates status of second cubesat demo mission, intended to get close-up views of asteroid
After discovering that the cubesat intended for the mission had serious technical issues, they junked it and have been rushing to prepare the cubesat intended for the third mission. It is not clear yet whether it will be ready on time.
- Amateur astronomer snaps magnificent picture of ISS, with Starliner docked in the lower port
The image’s resolution is so good you can also see one of the station’s robot arms inspecting Starliner.
- New video of Tianlong-3 test first stage crashing after it launched by mistake during a static fire engine test
This Space News article claims the Chinese pseudo-company, Space Pioneer, is pushing forward anyway, but a close read suggests nothing about its future is certain.
- Anthony Zak graphs what I have documented now for several years, that the pace of Russian launches since its invasion of the Ukraine has plummeted
The main cause of the drop is the loss of Russia’s entire international commercial market due to its breakup with Arianespace.
- A new Canadian rocket startup, Nordspace, announces its intention to build its own spaceport in Canada
I wish them good luck but note that there is a lot of blarney here, revealed by the fact that it took me a lot of digging to discover they don’t yet have a location for this spaceport, a detail they very carefully fail to mention on their webpage or press materials.
- On this day in 2008 NASA announced that the Phoenix lander had confirmed the presence of water ice on the high latitude surface of Mars
The discovery was actually not a big surprise to the scientists. The press however thought it a very big deal, since it really knew nothing about the research that had already shown evidence of lots of near surface ice in the high latitudes.
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.
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.
- Astroforge updates status of second cubesat demo mission, intended to get close-up views of asteroid
After discovering that the cubesat intended for the mission had serious technical issues, they junked it and have been rushing to prepare the cubesat intended for the third mission. It is not clear yet whether it will be ready on time.
- Amateur astronomer snaps magnificent picture of ISS, with Starliner docked in the lower port
The image’s resolution is so good you can also see one of the station’s robot arms inspecting Starliner.
- New video of Tianlong-3 test first stage crashing after it launched by mistake during a static fire engine test
This Space News article claims the Chinese pseudo-company, Space Pioneer, is pushing forward anyway, but a close read suggests nothing about its future is certain.
- Anthony Zak graphs what I have documented now for several years, that the pace of Russian launches since its invasion of the Ukraine has plummeted
The main cause of the drop is the loss of Russia’s entire international commercial market due to its breakup with Arianespace.
- A new Canadian rocket startup, Nordspace, announces its intention to build its own spaceport in Canada
I wish them good luck but note that there is a lot of blarney here, revealed by the fact that it took me a lot of digging to discover they don’t yet have a location for this spaceport, a detail they very carefully fail to mention on their webpage or press materials.
- On this day in 2008 NASA announced that the Phoenix lander had confirmed the presence of water ice on the high latitude surface of Mars
The discovery was actually not a big surprise to the scientists. The press however thought it a very big deal, since it really knew nothing about the research that had already shown evidence of lots of near surface ice in the high latitudes.
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.
Wow, that is an amazing photo of ISS to have been captured from the ground. I’m going to have to do some digging to see what kind of equipment was used, I didn’t think it was even possible to get that good a photo from the surface.
Starliner looked wider than I expected in that shot.
Can you post a side-by-side of that angle shot with a shuttle orbiter on that dock?
The Chinese video–even after going over a hill–the shock wave knocked things over in the photographers apartment.
David Eastman: Ditto that.
An interview with the photographer, with images of some equipment:
https://www.zwoastro.com/2021/02/21/astrophotographers-story-michael-tzukran/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/your.daily.astro/?fbclid=IwAR3b5hCMZLQw-zb-sE3MyqGunvUckmJTNvo1iyOFfcfiI5_TbsUnzfradRI
A page chock full of similar-resolution ISS images by others:
https://spacestationguys.com/spom/
There’s another Canadian spaceport project in the Maritimes that’s been struggling to get off the ground for years but Nordspace at least claims to have its own launch vehicle even if it doesn’t yet have a venue.
As big as Canada is, and as unpopulated as most of it is, there is certainly ample room for at least a second spaceport. To optimize logistics I would recommend picking a site within a two-hour drive north of a significant city in one of the prairie provinces – Calgary or Edmonton, say. Close enough to make supporting a launch site straightforward. Far enough away to keep noise from being an issue and to keep all but the ideologically motivated NIMBYs at bay too.
Shakeup (another) at Roscosmos?
https://x.com/katlinegrey/status/1819032743159759345?s=46
Gary,
It looks as though the downsizing continues at Roscosmos. Will the last person to leave Star City please turn out the lights.
Eric Berger less confident Starliner will carry crew back from ISS.
https://x.com/sciguyspace/status/1819095633145614782?s=46