June 10, 2025 Quick space linksCourtesy 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.
I post this early because I have a hour-long taping with Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas this afternoon, and want to get it up beforehand.
- Astrolab touts the prototype it is using on Earth to test its Flip lunar rover
They are using it to do trials of the rover’s remote control systems.
- Relativity provides a May update of its work developing its Terran-R rocket
It certainly does appear real progress is being made toward a 2026 launch date, though an earlier report suggested that schedule will slip.
- Astronomers develop new numbers for the mass, spin, and accretion rate for the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87
The mass is estimated at 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. The spin is estimated to be 80% of the speed of light. The accretion rate says material is falling into the black hole at about 20% of the speed of light, and is catching about 40% of the Sun’s mass per year.
- United shuts down Starlink on its regional jets because it was causing interference with the pilot’s radio equipment
Jay notes that he has experienced a lot of WiFi issues on United, not just its regional jets, and thinks the company might be trying to pin the blame for own equipment issues on Starlink.
- On this day in 2003 the rover Spirit was launched on a Delta-2 rocket
The rover, designed for a 90-day mission, operated on the surface of Mars for six years, traveling 4.8 miles.
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.
I post this early because I have a hour-long taping with Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas this afternoon, and want to get it up beforehand.
- Astrolab touts the prototype it is using on Earth to test its Flip lunar rover
They are using it to do trials of the rover’s remote control systems.
- Relativity provides a May update of its work developing its Terran-R rocket
It certainly does appear real progress is being made toward a 2026 launch date, though an earlier report suggested that schedule will slip.
- Astronomers develop new numbers for the mass, spin, and accretion rate for the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy M87
The mass is estimated at 6.5 billion times that of the Sun. The spin is estimated to be 80% of the speed of light. The accretion rate says material is falling into the black hole at about 20% of the speed of light, and is catching about 40% of the Sun’s mass per year.
- United shuts down Starlink on its regional jets because it was causing interference with the pilot’s radio equipment
Jay notes that he has experienced a lot of WiFi issues on United, not just its regional jets, and thinks the company might be trying to pin the blame for own equipment issues on Starlink.
- On this day in 2003 the rover Spirit was launched on a Delta-2 rocket
The rover, designed for a 90-day mission, operated on the surface of Mars for six years, traveling 4.8 miles.
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
New magnetometer
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-compact-magnetometer-enables-ultra-sensitive.html
For methane production
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-mechanochemical-approach-enables-temperature-capture.html
Remarkably, the team achieved a 99.2% conversion rate of CO₂ at this low temperature, with 98.8% of the reacted CO₂ turning directly into methane, rather than byproducts. The process also proved highly effective in continuous operation, maintaining an 81.4% reaction participation rate and 98.8% methane selectivity even at 15°C, below room temperature. This demonstrates its potential for scalable industrial use.
More news:
Dr. Dae-Yoon Kim and his team at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Composite Materials Research Institute have succeeded in constructing the coil of an electric motor using only carbon nanotubes (CNTs) without any metals, and realizing it to the point where it can actually run.
The team conducted experiments by applying the coil made of CNTs to the motor and found that the revolutions per minute (RPM) of the motor could be stably controlled according to the input voltage. This demonstrates that the basic operation of a motor, which converts electrical energy into mechanical rotational force, can be accomplished without metal.
Lastly–
Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a highly effective new coating that can protect iron from rust with 99.6% efficiency. Led by Prof. Elad Gross from the NanoCenter and Institute of Chemistry at Hebrew University, the study introduces an innovative two-layer coating system that significantly improves upon existing methods for preventing corrosion. The work is published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.