March 19, 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.
- Andoya spaceport signs partnership deal with satellite packager Exolaunch
Exolaunch will act to help Andoya integrate satellites on future launches.
- Chinese pseudo-company touts its capsules for both manned and cargo flights
It claims it will begin test flights in “2027 or 2028,” but the graphic at the link mostly shows copies of Dragon and Cygnus capsules.
- Exlabs and Antares form partnership to develop spacecraft using nuclear power for operations
The idea is to create better on-board power systems so that interplanetary missions will be less reliant on solar power.
- This week in 2011 NASA’s Messenger spacecraft became the first to enter Mercury orbit
It operated for four years, collecting data and images.
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.
- Andoya spaceport signs partnership deal with satellite packager Exolaunch
Exolaunch will act to help Andoya integrate satellites on future launches.
- Chinese pseudo-company touts its capsules for both manned and cargo flights
It claims it will begin test flights in “2027 or 2028,” but the graphic at the link mostly shows copies of Dragon and Cygnus capsules.
- Exlabs and Antares form partnership to develop spacecraft using nuclear power for operations
The idea is to create better on-board power systems so that interplanetary missions will be less reliant on solar power.
- This week in 2011 NASA’s Messenger spacecraft became the first to enter Mercury orbit
It operated for four years, collecting data and images.
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
“a strategic partnership with Antares, a startup developing scalable microreactors for terrestrial and space applications“
(that’s Earth, Mars, moon, ships!)
“It provides high power and consistent energy for larger propulsion systems and larger payloads. Solar panels cannot provide the type of power that’s required for our envisioned future operations.”
Propulsion systems? Too much power for EM drive so they must be talking about reaction mass substitution for rocket fuel?
YES! it’s about time, once a workable model is in orbit…. the space race really takes off!
Arrays of high-power Hall Effect thrusters using argon as reaction mass would be readily implementable using extant technology. Argon is readily available and inexpensive on both Earth and Mars. But more exotic tech such as VASIMR might also prove practical given a suitably light and compact reactor design. This bears watching.