June 5, 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.
- Scientist detect what they think is the most powerful explosion yet seen
Lots of hyperbole in the press release. The data however is quite intriguing.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Epoch reports its recovered XZY-1 stage is in good shape after splashing down softly in the ocean
They plan to dissemble the prototype for a detailed inspection.
- Musk threatens to cancel his Dragon capsule contracts with NASA in response to Trump’s threat to do the same
Trump & Musk are right now behaving like 2-year-olds. They should both grow up. At the same time, Musk actually doesn’t need the government or NASA money anymore (Starlink revenue now exceeds NASA’s entire budget), and his threat here is an indication of that.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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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.
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.
- Scientist detect what they think is the most powerful explosion yet seen
Lots of hyperbole in the press release. The data however is quite intriguing.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Epoch reports its recovered XZY-1 stage is in good shape after splashing down softly in the ocean
They plan to dissemble the prototype for a detailed inspection.
- Musk threatens to cancel his Dragon capsule contracts with NASA in response to Trump’s threat to do the same
Trump & Musk are right now behaving like 2-year-olds. They should both grow up. At the same time, Musk actually doesn’t need the government or NASA money anymore (Starlink revenue now exceeds NASA’s entire budget), and his threat here is an indication of that.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
Yes, the U.S. government needs SpaceX a good deal more than SpaceX needs the U.S. government as a customer at this point.
And yet, as we saw with the last administration, a president (or his staff, at any rate!) who really has it in for SpaceX can certainly find ways to make life difficult for them. No, I don’t think it’s going to come to that, but I’d rather not find out how far it has to degenerate before it *does* happen.
Maybe the Pope can negotiate a 90-day cease-fire between ’em. Violations to be punished immediately with a power wedgie from a platoon of Swiss Guards.
Elon is a perfect example of why Americans shouldn’t trust New Space.
People in my state build rockets for Americans–even if they hate us and want us shut down.
If Elon does trash Dragons, it will be a character flaw that strands American astronauts–technical flaws like Starliner’s is an easier fix.
This is why NASA should in fact build rockets…why America should have independent, in house capability.
If an employee at MAF or ULA goes off the deep end, the institution outlasts that individual… American spaceflight deserves that stability.
What do you get with Elon? You get 85% of all mass to orbit worldwide, a 7,000 satellite constellation that literally changes the course of major wars, and occasional online ketamine freakouts. (IVF babies sold separately.)
What does the stable NASA model get you? A white elephant you spend $4 billion for every year, but which only launches every four years.
Jeff, I’ve got an idea. How about we pay a couple thousand guys in Huntsville GS-14 salaries, to have half of them spend one day digging a giant ditch, and the other thousand to spend the next day filling it back in? We can throw in free back braces.
Trump and Musk are acting foolishly, like childish Democrats.
The argument likely did not have to reach this point, and certainly did not have to reach point in a public fashion. Each man is intelligent, and should realize that in politics, it is rare that one gets EVERYTHING one wants.
While I have not followed this spat closely from the beginning, it does seem that Musk launched the first to make a public comment. I’m sure he had his reasons for it, but some discretion might have been helpful.
Elon may not need government revenue, but he needs government licenses and permits.
It hardly matters anymore, let the children bicker while we head for big beautiful insolvency.
American austerity, buy your debt bonds and receive your food vouchers. Together we’ll make America America again.
Jeff,
NASA doesn’t have a problem because Americans hate them. NASA has a problem because it failed at task of building rockets.. maybe it wasn’t their fault, but Congress turned them into another government works program whose primary job was creating jobs in as many districts as possible.
I hate it because I grew up in the Tennessee Valley and thought NASA hung the moon as a kid.
I still do.
SLI was to be about re-usability..but skinflints trashed that too.
That wasn’t about digging ditches and re-filling them (though it does aerate the soil.). Arty 1 was a great victory for all Americans.
In terms of space spending–you either commit to it or don’t.
Europe either needs to put real money in ESA, or end it.
Right now, we have a mix of public and private….that is a good in my estimation.
At any rate I hear Elon retracted his statement…but the bell is rung…and now people will have another reason to question America’s commitment to space.
You know, big-man it all you like, this is a historical disaster. Rationalize all you like. It’s bad. As a rational man, I want this problem to resolve, but also, rationally, I see things going south. Not the end of the world, but certainly a kick in the behind for the world I wanted to see. Good luck to us all. Don’t take me seriously; Scotch.
Being rational means you want LVs that don’t cartwheel.
And I see the folks who didn’t like what I had to say at Space News tried to get disqus to ax me.
Mr. Zimmerman may not like a lot of what I have to say–but he has never been petty. I will never try to silence David–even with his love of profanity.
What angers me most—is that it is fine to hurt my guys at Marshall–oh, but don’t go after my contracts.
Meanwhile Tesla took a dive.
None of this had to happen.
Hillhouse was right.
Old Space and New Space should have praised each other
Now it is a zero sum game where Elon wants it all.
We need “old space” and “new space” to be fighting.
We need the navy and the Air Force to be fighting(only on Capitol Hill, of course)
We need the Medicare and Medicaid lobbies to be fighting the Obamacare lobby.
We need people who want to keep their public money fighting each other, loudly, and in public.
We need people who spend our money to know hard decisions WILL be made. We can’t just have people arguing that their program works, as if the money just fell from the sky. A Mercedes bought with an 8 year loan works for commuting but it’s not the most rational option. We need advocates to be attacking other “needed” programs that serve a similar purposes.
When this happens, then we will know that real decisions are being made. What we’re doing now is like a couple delaying a good marital spat over money. He may get his Mercedes. She may get her kitchen remodeled. A few years later, the real decisions will still need to be made. In bankruptcy and divorce court. They will then endure hundred of times what they tried to put off. That is the fate NASA and the nation are heading to..
Cloudy: You are right, except that right now, I think I am the only one in the space community or the press who is asking these hard questions, instead of whining loudly “Please don’t cut MY program!” We don’t have anyone else in the public forums doing the same.
Instead, we have fools like Ted Cruz pushing garbage, and getting I am sure the full support of the media.
It makes me sick.
Jeff Wright wrote: “Elon is a perfect example of why Americans shouldn’t trust New Space.”
Trump, Biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Nixon, Mondale, and Proxmire are perfect examples of why Americans shouldn’t trust government space.
Musk may be a two-year-old, but at least his team’s Falcons get results reliably, often, and for a relatively low cost. We the People are finally getting what we want, and it does not take tax money to get it.
“If Elon does trash Dragons, it will be a character flaw that strands American astronauts–technical flaws like Starliner’s is an easier fix.”
Boeing’s Starliner and the SLS are perfect examples of why Americans shouldn’t trust Old Space. Starliner started out flawed on its first flight, and five years later we still don’t trust that it can do the job safely.
NASA and Lockheed and their Orion are also perfect examples of why Americans shouldn’t trust Old Space. Expensive, way far behind schedule, and we still don’t trust that a crew could survive a trip around the Moon. With them in charge we get very little for our tax money.
“Europe either needs to put real money in ESA, or end it.”
Europe is a perfect example of why no one should trust government space. In terms of space spending–they don’t commit to it. ESA spent a lot of tax money, but did the European people get what they wanted?
“What angers me most—is that it is fine to hurt my guys at Marshall–oh, but don’t go after my contracts.”
Maybe they do that in the comments at Space News, but generally on BTB, we would rather move away from government contracts to commercial enterprises performing free market capitalism. It has a few centuries experience of working better for little cost to the taxpayer.
________________
Robert Zimmerman wrote: “Instead, we have fools like Ted Cruz pushing garbage, and getting I am sure the full support of the media.”
Like many politicians, Cruz has been corrupted over time from being Mr. Smith to becoming Senator Paine in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. DC does that to politicians. Trump was on the receiving end of that kind of corruption, so he is unlikely to become corrupted in the DC way.