March 3, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Video of lunar impact seen from Hiratsuka Observatory in Japan
They estimate the new crater to be about 65 feet wide.
- Russians Sergey Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin will today move their seat harnesses into the new Soyuz capsule, while American Frank Rubio will do it on March 6th
I’m not sure why this wasn’t done immediately, by all three, immediately after the arrival of the Soyuz capsule on February 25, 2023. If there had been a major issue the three men would have either had to scramble to make the new Soyuz usable as a lifeboat, or would have been forced to use the improvised lifeboat arrangement in the Dragon Endurance capsule and the leaking Soyuz capsule, despite having a good vessel available.
- A graph showing the steady and slow decay of Hubble’s orbit
The decay was brought up because Hubble now orbits just below SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, and thus some are concerned its work will be hindered by them. I think this is a non-issue. More important is that decay. If Hubble is going to be remain in space, work on a rescue mission must begin soon.
- Chinese satellite inspecting American military satellites in geosynchronous orbit
China has launched a number of these classified inspection satellites, designed to surveil other satellites. As long as they do no harm to others, the satellites are doing nothing wrong, or different than what Russia and the U.S. do.
- Chinese pseudo-company Sepoch now plans first test launch of its stainless steel rocket in 2025
As Jay notes, “Wow stainless steel! Who would of thought of that?”
- Astra identifies the cause of its last launch failure
In reading their conclusions, I came away with the impression that this rocket had a lot of weak links, any one of which could cause a failure. No wonder the company abandoned it after this launch to focus on a new rocket.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Video of lunar impact seen from Hiratsuka Observatory in Japan
They estimate the new crater to be about 65 feet wide.
- Russians Sergey Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin will today move their seat harnesses into the new Soyuz capsule, while American Frank Rubio will do it on March 6th
I’m not sure why this wasn’t done immediately, by all three, immediately after the arrival of the Soyuz capsule on February 25, 2023. If there had been a major issue the three men would have either had to scramble to make the new Soyuz usable as a lifeboat, or would have been forced to use the improvised lifeboat arrangement in the Dragon Endurance capsule and the leaking Soyuz capsule, despite having a good vessel available.
- A graph showing the steady and slow decay of Hubble’s orbit
The decay was brought up because Hubble now orbits just below SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, and thus some are concerned its work will be hindered by them. I think this is a non-issue. More important is that decay. If Hubble is going to be remain in space, work on a rescue mission must begin soon.
- Chinese satellite inspecting American military satellites in geosynchronous orbit
China has launched a number of these classified inspection satellites, designed to surveil other satellites. As long as they do no harm to others, the satellites are doing nothing wrong, or different than what Russia and the U.S. do.
- Chinese pseudo-company Sepoch now plans first test launch of its stainless steel rocket in 2025
As Jay notes, “Wow stainless steel! Who would of thought of that?”
- Astra identifies the cause of its last launch failure
In reading their conclusions, I came away with the impression that this rocket had a lot of weak links, any one of which could cause a failure. No wonder the company abandoned it after this launch to focus on a new rocket.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Astra was advertising the ability to launch from.anywhere. everything could be set up from shipping containers. And yet the hardware was built with “thin margins”. Margins so this they failed a launch in FL.
I hope 4.0 has many upgrades.
This may be one of the most important finds in history—a way to lessen friction:
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-03-machine-stabilizes-mechanical-friction-conditions.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSy-9rMg74U
I’ve been thinking a lot about space elevators recently and want to throw this out here:
Suppose you have two big statites with cables that cross each other in the form of the letter ‘X’
Now—the solar sail statites can tack towards or away from each other—meaning the point of intersection can be raised or lowered.
At that intersection—you have a flying windlass. As the intersection point lifts—it spins its own tether inward and up.
As the intersection point lowers—it trails out more line to the surface.
The result?
A payload can be lifted off a body using only the pressure of sunlight alone.
No elevator car needed.
Maybe I’m confused, but don’t statites orbit around the sun, using solar pressure to maintain a lower orbit than they’d normally be capable of at that orbital velocity? And wouldn’t the planet rotating under them rather make the whole thing pointless, since the line would be moving at hundreds of miles per hour relative to the surface?
I guess you could ameliorate that problem by dropping your line near or at the poles, but that has all sorts of issues as well what with the harsh climate and isolation. And I’m not so sure the geometries work out all that well.
And considering the distances involved with statites (too close and you’re stuck in an Earth orbit, not a solar one) you’ve probably got materials issues to work out, too.
But I certainly haven’t worked the math, and I might be misunderstanding your description.
A lunar-elevator…maybe Mercury…less rotation.
If it won’t melt…Venus?
Having two payloads separated by a tether/net hit by a more solid asteroid could accelerate quickly…cut the tether when the wrap comes in the direction you want to go in.
In the news;
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-im-sticking-up-for-science/