June 21, 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.
- Ham radio operator detects change in Chang’e-6 orbit around Moon
It isn’t clear whether this was the previous orbit adjustment, a new one, or the burn that would send the sample return capsule back to Earth.
- Webb detects aligned jets in protostars
This was a press release that I thought vastly overstated what was detected by Webb. I thought however if Jay wants to provide a link, why not?
- NASA again touts the wonders of its not-yet-launched and behind schedule Lunar Gateway space station
You can usually measure the budget needs of a NASA project by the number of press releases like this. The more there are, the more the project is overbudget, behind schedule, and desperate to convince everyone it must get fully funded, no matter what.
- Ariane-6 successfully completes full dress reheasal countdown
The launch is still scheduled for July 9, 2024, only four-plus years behind schedule.
- On this day 20 years ago SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded and built spaceship to reach space
And as they say, the rest is history.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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.
- Ham radio operator detects change in Chang’e-6 orbit around Moon
It isn’t clear whether this was the previous orbit adjustment, a new one, or the burn that would send the sample return capsule back to Earth.
- Webb detects aligned jets in protostars
This was a press release that I thought vastly overstated what was detected by Webb. I thought however if Jay wants to provide a link, why not?
- NASA again touts the wonders of its not-yet-launched and behind schedule Lunar Gateway space station
You can usually measure the budget needs of a NASA project by the number of press releases like this. The more there are, the more the project is overbudget, behind schedule, and desperate to convince everyone it must get fully funded, no matter what.
- Ariane-6 successfully completes full dress reheasal countdown
The launch is still scheduled for July 9, 2024, only four-plus years behind schedule.
- On this day 20 years ago SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded and built spaceship to reach space
And as they say, the rest is history.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Another delay for Starliner, sometime in July.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/boeing-crew-flight-test/2024/06/21/nasa-boeing-adjust-timeline-for-starliner-return/
Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, has a tour of the new factory at Boca Chica, “Starfactory.” Elon Musk was the tour guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFqjoCbZ4ik (1 hour, part 1 only)
Items I noted include:
— The video was made before the most recent
— Musk expects that Starfactory should be able to ramp up to make up to 100 Starships each year. He says they need a lot of them to colonize Mars.
— SpaceX expects to make 200 Falcon upper stages this year and more than that next year. This tells me that they are still ramping up Falcon launches.
— They discussed the problem of protecting the hinge regions, a little prescient of what did happen during the test flight. A worry that turned out to be an actual problem. Back to the drawing board!
— Musk believes that transpirational cooling (an early concept, in which residual cryogenic propellant is vented as part of the thermal protection during reentry) may be sufficient for reentry from orbit, but it may not be sufficient for reentry from “infinity” (the Moon or Mars).
— The number one biggest and toughest remaining problem is a rapidly reusable heat shield. This was the downfall of the planned rapid reusability of the Space Shuttle, in which the fleet flew at best 6 times per year rather than the expected 24 times per year.
— There seems to be CO2 in the propellant tanks, and that freezes at both liquid oxygen and liquid methane temperatures. The clogging in the valves and filters seems to be frozen CO2, commonly known as dry ice.
— Raptor version 3 will not need heat shields, but there is a lot of complex cooling going on inside the engine parts.
— Starfactory is impressive in size. I worked in a big cleanroom, at one point, but this place is much larger.
I got caught up in the video, so there is more to learn in this video. Part 2, not yet available, is the launch pad.