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.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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. 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.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
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