May 16, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Ursa Major touts video of a recent static fire test of its Ripley rocket engine
This is the engine they are selling for use on larger rockets.
- NASA: Cabin temperatures in uncrewed Soyuz with the coolant leak were in high 70s F
If so, this means the crew would have had no problem coming home in that spacecraft.
- Astra gets Defense Department launch contract for its as yet unflown Rocket-4
These military contracts are designed to help new rocket companies, but are always only a tiny amount of the money the companies need to survive. On that note, there is this next link:
- Astra and Momentus face cash crunch
Both have serious financial issues, but Momentus probably a better chance of surviving since it is actually flying its Vigoride tugs. Astra has nothing flying at the moment.
- Australian government eliminates budget for spaceports
Whether the two planned spaceports can find private investment capital to replace this money remains unclear.
- SpaceX tests Raptor-3 engine with 17% more thrust
A video of the test can be seen here. If used in Superheavy/Starship, the total rocket would have three times the power of a Saturn-5.
- SpaceX files for permit for 2nd test flight of Starship/Superheavy with the FCC
This is not the launch license, only the communications permit.
- Meteorite that crashed through roof of NJ home is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old
As Jay notes, it looks like a stony carbonaceous chondrite.
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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c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
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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.
- Ursa Major touts video of a recent static fire test of its Ripley rocket engine
This is the engine they are selling for use on larger rockets.
- NASA: Cabin temperatures in uncrewed Soyuz with the coolant leak were in high 70s F
If so, this means the crew would have had no problem coming home in that spacecraft.
- Astra gets Defense Department launch contract for its as yet unflown Rocket-4
These military contracts are designed to help new rocket companies, but are always only a tiny amount of the money the companies need to survive. On that note, there is this next link:
- Astra and Momentus face cash crunch
Both have serious financial issues, but Momentus probably a better chance of surviving since it is actually flying its Vigoride tugs. Astra has nothing flying at the moment.
- Australian government eliminates budget for spaceports
Whether the two planned spaceports can find private investment capital to replace this money remains unclear.
- SpaceX tests Raptor-3 engine with 17% more thrust
A video of the test can be seen here. If used in Superheavy/Starship, the total rocket would have three times the power of a Saturn-5.
- SpaceX files for permit for 2nd test flight of Starship/Superheavy with the FCC
This is not the launch license, only the communications permit.
- Meteorite that crashed through roof of NJ home is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old
As Jay notes, it looks like a stony carbonaceous chondrite.
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.
The fact that the capsule stayed at more or less normal temperatures on an unmanned re-entry doesn’t really tell us anything. The opposite would have been a “OK, that would have been deadly” but all this tells us is that with half the cooling capacity, it could deal with the onboard systems and any external inputs. But add three warm bodies… It might have worked, it might not, I suspect only Rosocosmos has enough knowledge of the systems to be able to say.
These military contracts are designed to help new rocket companies, but are always only a tiny amount of the money the companies need to survive.
Probably better to think of these contracts as credibility enhancers for the startups than a major source of funding per se: Makes it easier to secure investors and commercial customers. “Look, we got a DoD launch contract! We’re for real!”
Stunning idiocy in requiring Musk to apply for communications and launch permits. Just allocate the frequencies and let them have at it.
Same for the launch license. What would the FAA know that Musk doesn’t? Just accept that there will be some environmental damage and declare him an “Authorised Space Launch Facility” or some such bureaucratese. You don’t need an FAA permit to launch an airliner on its next flight.