June 23, 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.
- Sweden and the U.S. sign deal allowing American companies to launch from Esrange
The deal removes state department restrictions designed to prevent the theft of U.S. technology by hostile foreign powers.
- Chinese pseudo-company AZSpace apparently renamed a spacecraft from DEAR-4 to DEAR-5 because the word “four” in Chinese sounds like the word “death”
That’s the theory at least.
- Arianespace official says it must increase the launch cadence of Ariane-6
He also admits just getting to 10 per year will be difficult.
- On this day in 1960 the first U.S. radar reconnaissance satellite was launched
Its classified name was Grab-1. At the time its public name was Solrad-1, with the government only telling the public about its solar research instruments.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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.
- Sweden and the U.S. sign deal allowing American companies to launch from Esrange
The deal removes state department restrictions designed to prevent the theft of U.S. technology by hostile foreign powers.
- Chinese pseudo-company AZSpace apparently renamed a spacecraft from DEAR-4 to DEAR-5 because the word “four” in Chinese sounds like the word “death”
That’s the theory at least.
- Arianespace official says it must increase the launch cadence of Ariane-6
He also admits just getting to 10 per year will be difficult.
- On this day in 1960 the first U.S. radar reconnaissance satellite was launched
Its classified name was Grab-1. At the time its public name was Solrad-1, with the government only telling the public about its solar research instruments.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
Even when Ariane 64 gets its up-rated SRBs it’s only going to be able to put about 50% more into LEO per expendable launch than F9 can now routinely do while recovering the booster and fairings. That makes 10 Ariane 64s – 2029 models – about equal to 15 present-day F9s. So the big “stretch” goal for Ariane 64 is to be able – four years from now – to do in an entire year what F9 can do right now in a typical month.
The only good thing about Europe’s mingy launch capability is that it’s at least a good fit for its general lack of production of anything much to launch. IRIS2 I will believe when I see it – if it ever actually becomes a thing. If it dies a-borning – which seems quite likely – then Ariane 64 won’t have to risk a hernia trying to launch ten whole times in a single year.
Dick Eagleson wrote, “The only good thing about Europe’s mingy launch capability is that it’s at least a good fit for its general lack of production of anything much to launch.”
Heh. I wish I had written that.
Robert Zimmerman,
Coming from an author of your demonstrated ability, I take that as high praise indeed.
Some articles of note
“Affordable laser could be mass produced for use in self-driving cars” Keep them off landers.
“Impact-resistant material mimics mantis shrimp exoskeleton for improved protection.”
Best article today–NIST’s Sujin Lee and others at that institution have learned to copy “Bouligand Structures” that protect the crustacean’s limb used to deliver the Bruce Lee 1 inch punch.
A tiny sphere fired at 600 meters per second bounced right off the sample.
“High explosives in slow motion: Freezing molecules in place shows chemical reactions.”
This may be of interest to those who would harness neutral hexanitrogen.
“Surprising versatility of boron nitride nanotubes displayed in fusion of art and science.”
This substance with aerospace applications made the cover of Langmuir.
Unlike carbon nanotubes, it is transparent, and is also pretty easy to develop.
I wonder if there can be a dual use with optics…a narrow heat-shield/laser emitter with can zap airflow on re-entry so there is no surface interaction and no oxygen interactions.
Lastly, “A new atomistic route to viscosity–even near the glass transition.”
All from today’s phys.org
NREL’s BOTTLE program is the focus of a paper called “Hot acetic acid enables full recycling of carbon-fiber composite materials.”
Now what I want to see is a chain of machines that can digest one thing and extrude another.
If this can be self-contained, perhaps asteroid mining can be more like “asteroid digestion.”
It seems that wet nanotech has been more fruitful than dry…phytoremediation may also have a part.
I seem to remember an article about a bacteria, protist/squidgy thing that expelled pure carbon.
Jeff Wright,
Good picks, as always. I like that “asteroid digestion” idea. Probably a lot of different pathways to producing useful outputs from undifferentiated carbonaceous chondrite inputs – or regolith inputs for that matter. Just separating the numerous metallic oxides in lunar regolith, for example, would be quite a valuable capability.
I am always looking for something new–just an idea guy here with no math chops.
Today’s we just got “Simulations show why grains in metals and ceramics grow the way they do.”
I have this idea of steel so thin a laser cuts out impurities, and it gets folded katana style–rense and repeat.
Then reintroduce carbon nanotube “rebar.”