June 30, 2026 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, plus one from reader Nate P. 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.
- Starlink is now New Zealand’s largest rural internet provider, with a 27% share
This is an increase from 19% to 27% in one year.
- Mel Brooks was born four years before Pluto was discovered in 1930
Now 100 years old, he has also outlived the entire time Pluto was defined as a planet (by some).
- Startup Inversion touts the precision landing capability demonstrated during drop tests of their engineering test vehicle
The tests are for Arc, the company’s proposed point-to-point orbital cargo delivery capsule.
- Startup Outpost touts the payload capacity of its proposed point-to-point orbital cargo delivery capsule
The company claims its CarryAll capsule will be able to return as much as 10,000 kilograms.
- Chinese pseudo-company LandSpace completes static fire test of first stage of its ZhuQue-3 reusable rocket
No word on launch date, which will be its second attempt to recover the first stage. In December 2025 The first launch reached orbit, but the first stage crashed.
- France’s capsule startup The Exploration Company is now recruiting in Texas for its Nyx capsule team
It appears the company is considering developing a U.S.-based operation, possibly to grab some NASA business. Up until now it has focused on getting work in Europe.
- Firefly touts its plan to use AI on its Elytra lunar orbiter to process data and images from its Blue Ghost Mission 2 lander
It says this will speed up the data download and analysis. It also means AI will be deciding what is important in the images, before any human sees it.
- On June 30 1971 Soviet cosmonauts Georgiy Timofeyevich Dobrovolsky, Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev and Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov died during their return from the first space station, Salyut 1
The Soyuz-11 crew spent 24 days on the station, a record at that time, but died when a small valve opened by mistake when the service module detached from the descent capsule. See chapter 2 (“I wanted him to come home”) in Leaving Earth. I interviewed the daughter of Dobrovolsky to get some real background.
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
I think it’s clear that there’s a larger potential market both for robotic and manned spacecraft in the United States, with all the various companies designing stations and needing transport to and from space. The Exploration Company must think they’ll have either an easier time competing for American business, or at least hiring skilled personnel here, with a US-based presence.
ISS Canadarm2 repaired:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-astronauts-repair-iss-robot-arm/
They could well be correct about both of those things.
But I’m still dubious about the economics of using small capsules as the primary logistics mechanism for small post-ISS space stations. I think a shared-launch, multiple-“transit stop” system based on either Starship or some future vehicle from Blue Origin would make both crew and cargo logistics much cheaper and more frequent than at present.
I guess the robots have some ways to go yet anent longevity. Humans don’t generally start needing joint replacements until they hit 70 or so.
For whatever it may be worth I’m still having the same comment bothers I recently reported plus a new wrinkle – a comment I intended as a reply here turned up as a stand-alone, first-level comment instead. If there is an alternative to Cloudflare, please chalk up a vote from me for finding and implementing it.
Because of the verification problems, Shane removed his fix, which appeared to cause the problems. He might have even removed the nesting capability, I’m not sure.
He is on the road, so he can’t address the issues at the moment. Have patience. He’ll be back in a few days.
I see Elon just turned 55
Happy Canada Day to all those in the Great White North, eh? :)
From The Wrong Stuff by John Starusbaugh on Soyuz 11/Salyut 1 (pg. 228-229):
“They buttoned up Salyut and climbed into the Soyuz, wearing only their leisure suits. Which became a problem when they prepared to disengage and a warning light began to blink, Sounding nearly hysterical at this point, Volkov shouted at ground control, “The hatch isn’t pressurized!What should we do? What should we do?” Obviously they couldn;t disengage if the hatch wasn’t completely sealed, unless they were in their spacesuits and helmets. They tried various procedures suggested by the techies on the ground. Nothing worked.
Ground control finally advised them to tape a piece of paper over the warning light and proceed [emphasis in original]. […] [The crew did what they were told, crazy and stupid as it sounded. They were desperate to get the hell away from hell. They covered up the light warning them that the hatch was not entirely sealed, disengaged from Salyut, and headed home.”
When the capsule landed, the three cosmonauts were found dead with signs consistent with the capsule losing pressure and exposing those inside to the vacuum of space.
Ground control finally advised them to tape a piece of paper over the warning light and proceed [emphasis in original]. […] [The crew did what they were told, crazy and stupid as it sounded. They were desperate to get the hell away from hell. They covered up the light warning them that the hatch was not entirely sealed, disengaged from Salyut, and headed home.”
I used to have a car with a very small gas tank, 10.2 gallons and sometimes I’d cover the fuel gauge with a piece of paper. I never imagined that was tried by Russian engineers.
Click and Clack used to mock that method, calling it “the black tape solution”. Never imagined it would actually be used!
Anthony,
It is the same philosophy as the peril-sensitive sunglasses in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. If you don’t see the danger, you won’t worry about it.
To folks working with fibers
Rowan University researchers have demonstrated a new method for repairing damage in advanced composite materials, offering a faster, more effective alternative to conventional repair techniques used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, infrastructure, maritime and energy production.
In a study published in the Journal of Thermal Spray Technology, a multidisciplinary Rowan-led team investigated the use of polymer cold spray to restore the strength of glass fiber-reinforced polymer composites after impact damage.
These lightweight materials are widely used for their strength and durability, but they are vulnerable to impact-induced damage that can reduce performance and lead to catastrophic failure over time.
“If you start to break a composite, it acts sort of like a zipper,” said co-author Francis Haas, Ph.D., an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering. “One fiber breaks and then another fiber breaks. The fibers that are left have to carry all the load. If there’s a big gust of wind or some other force that’s applied, they can unzip catastrophically.”