June 24, 2026 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.
- Stoke Space touts its leak shroud testing of its first stage engines
“The six-sided metal enclosure around the nozzle is designed to simulate the engine bay of the integrated rocket to identify any fuel or oxidizer leaks during a full mission duty cycle burn.”
- Axiom makes Texas its full legal corporate home
I think it was already based in Texas, but this announcement seems to indicate an increased legal commitment. As Jay notes, Texas didn’t need to bribe them to stay, as it appears California needed to do to keep Vast yesterday.
- Today marks 17 years since Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) arrived in lunar orbit
The link shows off LRO’s image of Tranquility Base, with Apollo 11’s Eagle lunar module in the center, its shadow quite distinct.
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
Musk having a bit of fun:
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2069665946286043260
It sounds as though Axiom has moved its state of incorporation to Texas – most likely from Delaware. Just another American corporation looking to free itself from ever having to put up with the Delaware Chancery Court.
Hello Dick,
Indeed. Really, has there ever been a judge who has done so much damage, singlehandedly, to a state’s legal system and economy, as Kathaleen McCormick?
I can’t think of one.
Meanwhile, about an hour ago, we finally heard from Blue Origin about SLC-36 recovery status, via an energetic but still vague tweet from CEO Dave Limp on X:
https://x.com/i/status/2070122953052983796
I hope for their sake that they’re super confident in their root cause analysis of the RUD, because they clearly did not make any serious analysis of the debris field. I grok that they’re in a burning hurry to get the pad operational, but I hope they aren’t taking a risky short cut to the goal line.
In terms of cosmology, the guy behind the Variable Speed of Light thinks matter and energy can be destroyed after all….he came up with this while away from the internet:
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-thermodynamic-approach-gravity-cosmic-dark.html
Scroll down for the result that matter can be destroyed.
One sided motion?
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-quantum-reveal-sided-motion-elusive.html
For kerosene fuel
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-energy-membrane-crude-oil-room.html
Perhaps Elon can use this for his own Falcon fuel.
Now, the Beal booster was to use kerosene and HTP, but was pressure-fed.
Might Starship use pumps for that room temperature mix? Less performance but higher cadence with no cryogens?
Higher cadence would also require much larger supplies. By comparison to both LOX and LNG, RP-1 and HTP are niche products with low total annual production numbers. HTP, in fact, is all but unobtainable at even modest scale. Armadillo Aerospace had the devil’s own time sourcing the stuff even in the quite minimal quantities they needed at the turn of the 21st century.
Plus, both are considerably more expensive to produce than methalox. I know costs never have any place in your considerations, but people who live in the real world – and not just in their own heads – don’t have the luxury of ignoring them.