June 11, 2025 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.
- Proposed Nova Scotia spaceport gets $10 million government grant
This spaceport was first proposed in 2016, and has yet to launch anything of significance. It remains to be seen if this is nothing more than more government waste and corruption.
- Sierra Space creates a division focused solely on military contracts
The company is attempting to latch onto money coming from Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” project. It is also telling us indirectly that its space division might be having problems. The first launch of its Tenacity mini-shuttle remains endlessly delayed (for unexplained reasons that could be unfortunate) and its partner in the Orbital Reef space station project, Blue Origin, continues to disappoint. It could be that management is now going where the money is, even if it isn’t in space exploration.
- Falklands government finally removes major obstacles preventing its citizens from buying Starlink
The service isn’t yet available as there are more licensing issues, but it looks like it will happen.
- On this day in 2004 Cassini flew past the Saturn moon Phoebe
The image at the link is definitely cool.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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.
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.
- Proposed Nova Scotia spaceport gets $10 million government grant
This spaceport was first proposed in 2016, and has yet to launch anything of significance. It remains to be seen if this is nothing more than more government waste and corruption.
- Sierra Space creates a division focused solely on military contracts
The company is attempting to latch onto money coming from Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” project. It is also telling us indirectly that its space division might be having problems. The first launch of its Tenacity mini-shuttle remains endlessly delayed (for unexplained reasons that could be unfortunate) and its partner in the Orbital Reef space station project, Blue Origin, continues to disappoint. It could be that management is now going where the money is, even if it isn’t in space exploration.
- Falklands government finally removes major obstacles preventing its citizens from buying Starlink
The service isn’t yet available as there are more licensing issues, but it looks like it will happen.
- On this day in 2004 Cassini flew past the Saturn moon Phoebe
The image at the link is definitely cool.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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.
Just listening to the latest John Batchelor / Robert Zimmerman podcast discussion about the EV subsidies.
Whether I was driving, or a passenger in a car, I used to point out every EV, and remind people that all of us helped pay for that individual to purchase and drive that car. Subsidies are taxpayer dollars. While I did not say it every time we encountered an EV, I did it enough that I was eventually asked to “tone it down.” But by then, friends and family were fuming at helping someone else purchase a car we cannot afford (even if we could afford one, no way).
Ronaldus Magnus: You might have sensed my frustration at Batchelor’s effort to justify subsidizes, not just to companies but to individuals in order to buy Starlink. We have been down this road now hundreds and hundreds of times, and it does not work. That he could even be arguing that position considering how bankrupt the federal government presently is brings me back to my essay today:
Why Kennedy’s decision to fire everyone at the CDC advisory panel was only a start
How many times does the little boy have to tell you that the emperor is wearing no clothes before you finally believe him?
An ugly but not entirely shocking development at a major legacy space prime, via Christopher Rufo:
Link to full thread (it gets uglier as you read through it all):
https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1933188887985430745
The full City Journal article: https://www.city-journal.org/article/lockheed-martin-civil-rights-law-bonuses-race-merit
Experienced HR pros know not to put it in writing like this, where discovery requests can obtain it….
Curious to see how the Trump Administration reacts. I doubt the new DoJ staff will ignore this.
Richard M: Back about six or seven years ago (I can’t find my story then), I reported these discriminatory DEI policies at numerous corporations, and noted that they left the corporations very exposed to legal action and expensive lawsuits. These racial quota policies violated numerous civil rights laws, and they did so blatantly.
Then I stated my bafflement that the legal departments of these companies were not objecting loudly to these policies. They might have, but apparently management decided to ignore the obvious risks.
As expected and predicted, the chickens are now finally coming home to roost. First we have seen a decline in quality at these companies because of these idiotic policies. Now we are seeing them faced with legal action that is going to cost them dearly.