May 1, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Blue Origin has over 10K employees, as claimed by someone who appears to work there
This is a Reddit discussion, so nothing is confirmed. Someone else notes the company has over 7500 employees according to Linkedin, while another notes again Bezos’ billion dollar per year commitment to the company. None of that has yet produced an orbital rocket, or a robust production line of BE-4 rocket engines.
- New Glenn “2nd stage simulator” vertical at Cape Canaveral
To be used to test the upper stage? Its engines? A dummy stage? And when? New Glenn development started almost a decade ago. One wonders.
- Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy touts is copycat Merlin engine
No word on when it goes into operation
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Blue Origin has over 10K employees, as claimed by someone who appears to work there
This is a Reddit discussion, so nothing is confirmed. Someone else notes the company has over 7500 employees according to Linkedin, while another notes again Bezos’ billion dollar per year commitment to the company. None of that has yet produced an orbital rocket, or a robust production line of BE-4 rocket engines.
- New Glenn “2nd stage simulator” vertical at Cape Canaveral
To be used to test the upper stage? Its engines? A dummy stage? And when? New Glenn development started almost a decade ago. One wonders.
- Chinese pseudo-company Galactic Energy touts is copycat Merlin engine
No word on when it goes into operation
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.
Holy Smoke Trails! 7 to 10 thousand employees?!? What on Earth do they do all day? Surf the web? Go to meetings? Drink coffee? They don‘t seem to be making things to go into space, that‘s for sure! How many employees is Musk using to build his rockets? Probably a lot fewer!
Maybe they are Jack Parson’s cultists fresh from Satan-con for Bezos’ new Rent-A-Worshipper program.
You see-false gods fade away if not enough people believe in them.
Now, Musk mobs cheer a RUD-a success would mean an orgy.