June 20, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- An analysis of the landing failure of Hakuto-R1
This is thirty minute presentation, which concludes that though there was a failure of the software, in the end the failure was due to management errors, including changing the landing site without doing sufficient simulations.
- Boeing CEO says company still committed to Starliner
Sounds good, eh? Don’t bet on it. The company is almost a billion dollars in the hole due to the extra costs incurred because the project’s failure, with no sign yet of any income in the near future.
- Delta-4 Heavy launch scheduled for tonight, at 3:29 am Eastern
This will be the first Delta-4 Heavy launch in almost three years. More significant, it will be ULA’s first launch in 2023, a number that is even lower that its low launch numbers of recent years. At this pace it will be a challenge for ULA to match its lowest launch counts of five, from ’19 and ’21. UPDATE: Scrubbed, reschedule 24 hours later.
- Anonymous source says Blue Origin will now require in-office work, five days per week
The source’s whining about this is amusing, but it also suggests once again the culture and management at Blue Origin is not the best.
- China claims it has a large alliance of space-faring nations who have agreed to partner on its lunar base
Except for Russia and the UAE, all are small time third world nations with no space infrastructure. Many have also not made a commitment, simply opened discussions. Russia will contribute little, and the UAE has a conflict as it also wants to participate in Artemis. U.S. law makes participating in both very very difficult, if not impossible.
- China’s state-run press deletes comments from professor claiming NASA had agreed to use China’s Queqiao lunar relay communications satellite
Either the professor was misinformed, or he revealed illegal negotiations by Biden’s NASA that NASA didn’t want revealed. If the latter, there was probably a frantic call made to China by the White House, begging them to censor this information, and China gladly obliged.
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.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- An analysis of the landing failure of Hakuto-R1
This is thirty minute presentation, which concludes that though there was a failure of the software, in the end the failure was due to management errors, including changing the landing site without doing sufficient simulations.
- Boeing CEO says company still committed to Starliner
Sounds good, eh? Don’t bet on it. The company is almost a billion dollars in the hole due to the extra costs incurred because the project’s failure, with no sign yet of any income in the near future.
- Delta-4 Heavy launch scheduled for tonight, at 3:29 am Eastern
This will be the first Delta-4 Heavy launch in almost three years. More significant, it will be ULA’s first launch in 2023, a number that is even lower that its low launch numbers of recent years. At this pace it will be a challenge for ULA to match its lowest launch counts of five, from ’19 and ’21. UPDATE: Scrubbed, reschedule 24 hours later.
- Anonymous source says Blue Origin will now require in-office work, five days per week
The source’s whining about this is amusing, but it also suggests once again the culture and management at Blue Origin is not the best.
- China claims it has a large alliance of space-faring nations who have agreed to partner on its lunar base
Except for Russia and the UAE, all are small time third world nations with no space infrastructure. Many have also not made a commitment, simply opened discussions. Russia will contribute little, and the UAE has a conflict as it also wants to participate in Artemis. U.S. law makes participating in both very very difficult, if not impossible.
- China’s state-run press deletes comments from professor claiming NASA had agreed to use China’s Queqiao lunar relay communications satellite
Either the professor was misinformed, or he revealed illegal negotiations by Biden’s NASA that NASA didn’t want revealed. If the latter, there was probably a frantic call made to China by the White House, begging them to censor this information, and China gladly obliged.
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.
The comments under the Blue Origin piece are disconcerting, it just demonstrates the ongoing reason why so little is happening there. I don’t know which organization concerns me more, Blue Origin or Boeing.
Minor edit in Hakuto paragraph: “due to management errors”
“[Boeing] is almost a billion dollars in the hole due to the extra costs incurred because the project’s failure, with no sign yet of any income in the near future.”
But look at the thousands of dollars they saved by outsourcing the software coding! Boeing management is so smart!
Andi: Thank you. Fixed.