June 26,2025 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.
- Budget bill shifts $1 billion to Space Force’s X-37B program
It is not clear if the legislature shifted money from other programs, or simply plucked the cash off of the trees these elected officials think money grows from.
- Sierra Space touts opening of new facility to build space-hardened solar arrays
More and more I suspect the company is shifting away from manned space. I especially wonder if there is something seriously wrong with its Dream Chaser Tenacity mini-shuttle, which has been undergoing final ground testing for more than a year with its launch repeatedly delayed.
- Another new Chinese pseudo-company, Welight, touts a reusable rocket
Jay notes, “I love the comment: ‘Every other month we get to see a new Chinese Space company'”. I note that the Xi government requires all of its rocket pseudo-companies to share data, which means anyone in that government can steal this information to form their own pseudo-company, and use their position of power to get favored treatment when it comes time to compete for government contracts. It is therefore not surprising that so many new pseudo-companies keep popping up.
- Chinese scientists propose sending a fleet of smallsats probes to visit Apophis when it flies past the Earth in April 2029
It isn’t clear from the article whether this project has been funded or not by the Chinese government.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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.
- Budget bill shifts $1 billion to Space Force’s X-37B program
It is not clear if the legislature shifted money from other programs, or simply plucked the cash off of the trees these elected officials think money grows from.
- Sierra Space touts opening of new facility to build space-hardened solar arrays
More and more I suspect the company is shifting away from manned space. I especially wonder if there is something seriously wrong with its Dream Chaser Tenacity mini-shuttle, which has been undergoing final ground testing for more than a year with its launch repeatedly delayed.
- Another new Chinese pseudo-company, Welight, touts a reusable rocket
Jay notes, “I love the comment: ‘Every other month we get to see a new Chinese Space company'”. I note that the Xi government requires all of its rocket pseudo-companies to share data, which means anyone in that government can steal this information to form their own pseudo-company, and use their position of power to get favored treatment when it comes time to compete for government contracts. It is therefore not surprising that so many new pseudo-companies keep popping up.
- Chinese scientists propose sending a fleet of smallsats probes to visit Apophis when it flies past the Earth in April 2029
It isn’t clear from the article whether this project has been funded or not by the Chinese government.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
Well, early on Elon made electric car patents open source…but…we-light?
…groan…
Now I like that Space Force is starting to get real money.
Aside from Falcon–X-37 is the only re-usable vehicle worth anything….to last *years* in space and come back in one piece is just outstanding.
We are going to be in a period where re-usables and expendables co-exist…like metals and wooden hills…steam and diesel, props-and-jets…
Jeff Wright,
There was a least a modest interval following the Chixalub asteroid strike when giant reptiles co-existed with furry little mammals. Didn’t last.
Regarding Sierra. Dream Chaser was being built as a cargo delivery and return vehicle for Space Station that has an approaching expiration date. So a limited future there, if any.
Their own station (the Reef), is dependent on a partner that has not had a successful launch and return yet(Blue Origin). So delays look long. Mr. Z, you rate it low out of the four possible commercial stations.
If they want to stay in business long enough to build the Reef and sustain it with the Dream Chaser, they must find new lines of income. Rocketlab has shown how well diversifying can help with that. They make more money on the non-launch side of their business.
A possibilty anyway. I am surprised a journo has not asked them.
Sometimes I wonder if some things aren’t snakebite from the start.
Heinlein had some cutie pie just-so story about bad luck.
He never met me or Dream Chaser.
Maybe a BOR landed on some injun land or something…
Twice in my life, I was fortunate enough to have two cars–thinking there was no way BOTH would tear up at the same time….
The universe had other ideas.
I suppose in a sense money does grow on trees.
Money is made from paper,
and paper comes from…
sippin_bourbon,
Not sure how diversified Sierra Space is when considered as a stand-alone entity, but Sierra Nevada Corp., its parent company, is a defense contractor that has a fairly diversified base of work. I think Sierra Space has some other irons in the fire besides Dream Chaser, but – like Dream Chaser – I don’t think any of them have reached the point of contributing any revenue as yet.
Andi,
Actually, the paper used for US currency is made entirely from textile fibers, not trees. Paper based on wood pulp just isn’t anywhere near durable enough.
I worked in Italy for awhile in the pre-Euro days. From 500 Lire on up, currency was printed on good textile fiber paper similar to what we use. But any denomination below that was printed on wood pulp paper and looked more like store coupons than currency. I believe at least some of the 100 Lire or below notes were actually printed by big banks and not the government. Individual Lire were worth so little that it had long since become uneconomical to strike coinage in small denominations so these little notes served the same purpose as small change before digital payment systems arose. The big banks loved printing these things as they could sell them at face value but not have to later redeem any of them that got destroyed by, say, being left in the pocket of an item of clothing that was laundered. Government currency would survive that, but not these “small change” bills.
In what we might call space media news rather than space news, I am amused to note that Eric and Stephen seem to be showing signs of frustration with the Elon Derangement Syndrome regularly turning the Ars Technica comment forums into a dumpster fire. I have now noticed this warning being posted on especially nasty anti-Elon comments: ” The Rocket Report is not the place for low effort mad at Elon Musk posts.”
There are also chastisements now for those responding to the low-effort-mad-at-Elon comments, too. “Please don’t feed this stuff by making low effort replies to it.””
I doubt this sort of thing is going to be sufficient to deal with the problem, however. Someone is going to have to start using a ban hammer. For the rest of us, though, still best to….just not open the comment box.
Yeah, the Ozmens spun Sierra Space off from the rest of SN for a reason.
I think lack of resources remains the real problem. You can keep a good tab on what Sierra is up to with Dream Chaser at the NSF Update thread in the forums. DC is deep into EMI/EMC testing now, which stretched into at least late June and as I understand it, they have 4 major tests (acoustic, day in the life, tow/taxi, hot fire) still left to even start. The tests may be moving slowly because they can’t afford to move them faster. Either way….it is hard to see how they get a flight in this year.
Meanwhile, we find that their EMI test filing was dismissed without prejudice on June 4th. Why? Well: “You are advised that the Commission is unable to grant your application for the facilities requested. Your application has been dismissed due to non-payment of the required filing fee. If you wish to refile your application, please ensure submit your payment within 10-days of filing.”
Now perhaps this was just an ugly oversight by whoever was working in the Sierra compliance office. But it does make you wonder if the finances are so shaky that they struggle to even pay the test filing fees?
Maybe this is why they still haven’t gone for the IPO yet.
Richard M: Or space interested geeks can come here for intelligent discussion. :)
Hello Bob,
:)
I have this vision of Sierra making baby food and having nothing to do with space in the end.
It wasn’t long ago we only had one or two baby formula companies due to suits.
I remember a video about how older cassette players were much better–with players used by the comeback only having a single design.
Poor Vern Rayburn of the VLJ/air-taxi deal was thrown out by his own company…
Money does grow on trees. In my younger days, I was paid to pick it. Working alongside legal migrants from Mexico who got the majority of their income during summer and fall harvest.
All wealth comes from the ground. It’s either “grown” or “mined”. The rarer the commodity, the more value it has.
Way off base Max. I have picked oranges off of trees for money. The main value added though is from processes and transport. The concrete I work with is composed of materials from the ground. Those materials have very little value until processed and used to build something.. What percentage of the wealth represented by your computer came “from the ground” and how much from human value added????
The human mind is the ultimate source of wealth. That so many choose not to participate, or are prevented from effectively participating is one of the main sources of poverty.
Richard M,
Hadn’t seen these admonitions as I generally don’t read the comments at Ars anymore. Got a ban there myself some time ago for calling Beth Mole – quite deservedly – a liar. Added to Cowing’s ban at NASA Watch, that makes two lefty sites at which I’m persona non grata. My computer offended the site software in some fashion over at Space News so that’s a third place I’m muzzled, other than up- and down-votes which still work for me for some reason. Haven’t been over there much lately. Increasingly little point as nearly everyone with sense – yourself notably excepted – has long since drifted away.
Admonitions followed up by bans – if that’s what ultimately befalls – would be a bit reminiscent of Cheech & Chong’s old ‘Sister Mary Elephant’ routine. Claaaaass… Claaaaass… SHUUUUT UUUUP!
Interesting news about Sierra Space. Whatever the reason for their quite unreasonable pokiness getting Dream Chaser homologated, it’s sure not a good look. Not very confidence-inspiring for any commercial LEO destination operator – or even for Blue and Orbital Reef. If not for Vulcan’s own considerable delays I suspect the Dream Chaser situation would have invited more scrutiny and comment by now. I was, at one time, quite a fan but am now at a point where I no longer really expect much from Sierra Space at all. Too bad. They seem to genuinely want to do NewSpace-y things, but seem also to be unable to subdue what seem to me to be very OldSpace-y reflexes. Pity.
If I may offer another note anent “space media,” Fox had a very should-have-been-embarrassing-but-invincible-cluelessness-probably-precludes-any report segment on today’s ‘The Five’ about that BOLE SRB test. It noted the big crowd present but did not mention the spectacular nozzle failure. The field reporter interviewed some suit from NorGrum who made very non-specific happy-talk noises about how “this technology” can assist in exploration and national defense. The reporter specifically mentioned Golden Dome. Yeesh.
Max,
It’s remedial Econ 101 for you, my good lad.
john hare,
It’s really amazing how many people still subscribe to this sort of nonsense. It is at least understandable in the case of leftists as they misunderstand nearly everything else about economics as well. As the late David Horowitz noted, the left has written millions of words about wealth redistribution, but not a single word about wealth creation.
But I have even seen occasional people who claimed to be on the right try selling this line of bull too. Years ago, I got into an on-line scrap with one of these who was maintaining that pretty much anything done in offices was really parasitic on the “real” economy – which he took to include only growing, mining and making stuff. He was willing to allow that transportation and running stores – even though both are services and not products – were part of the “real” economy too, but he regarded anything financial – banking, insurance, the stock market – as just various sorts of scams. Weird.
john hare;
Not off-base, just the starting point of the wealth and commodity market in which we all enjoy. As you pointed out, “value added” is how a commodity becomes great wealth. I completely agree with your point.
Nuts peaches and apricots for me, oranges for you becomes processed items, extending shelflife and transported everywhere they can pay the price. (including the markup of the middleman which adds no value)
The joke is that the “money doesn’t grow on trees” saying offers a funny visual until you realize that food is money! It is necessary for all living things and A lot of it comes from trees… What we call money is just an easy way to exchange for that value. When they over print money, it devalues all money so that real commodities will go up in price, called inflation. When the government creates money to spend out of thin air, it must remove that money from the system or the system will collapse. This is done by taxation, and by interest rate where billions is removed by the federal reserve to keep the economy stable. (Who knows what they do with it?) had we stayed on the constitutional gold standard, which has a fixed limited physical amount in existence, we could never have inflation unless a unlimited supply of gold is found. Could you imagine the government spending gold? They can’t make it, so they would have to steal it and tax it for every program they come up with. At least their budget will be balanced because no one would give them credit.
That reminds me of what my mother-in-law would say, “the streets in heaven are paved with gold”. Why? Because it has no value there, but good deeds give you treasure in heaven. So she would do good things for others so she would be rich.
You said;
“The human mind is the ultimate source of wealth. That so many choose not to participate, or are prevented from effectively participating is one of the main sources of poverty”
Very profound. Well said.
What humans have accomplished is not matched anywhere in nature. Sunlight creates energy, trees and plants absorb the energy and creates carbohydrates/hydrocarbons, animals eat the carbohydrates and fertilize the plants, but it’s a balanced system without adding value and most of what’s created goes to waste.
The human mind Has learned to manage all of this, the productive minds work together and create an awesome modern world with technology… And yet we still have those in poverty who can’t or won’t improve their own situation. I’ve visited relatives on the Indian reservation that have no power or running water with dirt floor using an out house. I’ve lived in an alaskan village, thousand miles away from the nearest road, that had diesel power, but no running water with a bucket In the closet for an out house because pipes would freeze. To this day raw sewage is dumped in the Yukon River in the spring for other villages to drink downriver.
It’s hard to say who is happier, the poor in the slums or the poor in the villages or on the reservation. But then I know a lot of rich people that can’t buy happiness and have added very little value to the human condition.
Sort of like vaporware bitcoin, without electricity it has no value whatsoever. But is great at eliminating the banker middleman and their fees while sending wealth across the world. That is it’s true value!
In the end I suppose our modern technology allows us to feed those who are unproductive with our excessive product from overproduction. Simple existence waiting to die. Many born to poverty will be inspired to be better and to do more with their lives and will in turn enrich the lives of millions of more people with their talents. That one in a million is worth billions nowadays. That’s why I love the space program, It attracts the one in a million which will change everything! Can you imagine what kind of trees will grow money on Mars?
Beth Mole? Do tell!
I only infrequently visit Ars or Mos Eisley Reddit
I have been banned from Cosmoquest, SpaceNews NSF—which I wear with honor. I miss New Mars, but my ban there was due to not having visited for years.
Here are some space related finds
Methane storage for Starship?
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-06-method-high-density-methane-graphene.html
Radiation shielding
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-composite-materials-broad-spectrum-synergistic.html