May 6, 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.
- Ispace’s Resilience lunar lander will enter lunar orbit tomorrow
The landing will take place in about a week.
- IEEE Spectrum touts China’s plans to bring a sample back from Venus’s atmosphere by citing speculations by American scientists at MIT
This is one of the most perverse news articles I have ever read. It literally admits it knows nothing really of China’s plans, has no new information to hinge the story on, and then spends the entire text quoting guesses by MIT scientists who have proposed unsuccessfully their own missions. The only real mention of China is in the headline, written almost as press release for China. With nothing to base that press release on.
Makes me wonder if IEEE is in China’s pay. Wouldn’t surprise me.
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.
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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.
- Ispace’s Resilience lunar lander will enter lunar orbit tomorrow
The landing will take place in about a week.
- IEEE Spectrum touts China’s plans to bring a sample back from Venus’s atmosphere by citing speculations by American scientists at MIT
This is one of the most perverse news articles I have ever read. It literally admits it knows nothing really of China’s plans, has no new information to hinge the story on, and then spends the entire text quoting guesses by MIT scientists who have proposed unsuccessfully their own missions. The only real mention of China is in the headline, written almost as press release for China. With nothing to base that press release on.Makes me wonder if IEEE is in China’s pay. Wouldn’t surprise me.
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 landing will take place in about a week.”
The landing will take place on June 5th.
Even Neal Boortz liked the IEEE, and he was stingy.
What China does is actually build concepts American engineers design but can’t get funded due to idiot politicians.
There does seem a great deal of acceptance of PRC PowerPoint and press release engineering at face value by the US press. DOGE has already demonstrated that more than a bit of the US press was in the pay of leftists in the US government. With times being tough for legacy media in recent years I would find it entirely unsurprising if many such outlets are also on the take from the PRC. That certainly includes publications of US-based technical and scientific societies such as the IEEE. These are all joined at the hip with American academe which is certainly in the pay of the PRC to a very considerable degree via the full-price tuitions charged to the PRC’s legions of matriculants in US colleges and universities.
“American engineers design but can’t get funded due to idiot politicians.”
Change that to “due to not being able to envision a source of funding other than the government” and it would be more correct. But too many are not so much unable, as unwilling, to learn the lesson Elon and SpaceX are trying to give them. Because capitalism bad, greedy corporations evil.
Why have I not heard of China trying to hire away western engineers? No bidding wars for the guys coming up with all the good ideas.
But yes China has been giving huge piles of cash to the best schools of engineering. To get a few extra Chinese students in but to also have better access to those great western ideas.
Just how much information could a simple tour of a manufacturing plant give you?
I have heard that a spy went on a tour of a defense plant and used soft rubber shoes to pick up metal fragments for latter analysis.
I have found that people working in those plants (supervisors) are security stupid.
I in fact had to show an IT head that he had open wifi links. I showed him with a hand held game system. Several PC’s had their wireless links on and open. It still took 6 months for him to close everything down.
What China has, is China’s.
What other people have or develop, is also China’s.
Any mission they may undertake, whatever they learn will not be shared… Just like in America where all new information discovered by American tax paid missions is proprietary owned or contracted with/by University’s and kept secret so new discoveries can be patented and someone connected to universities make money off of it. (again, usually China)
Congressman “not funding” science research have a reason to be skeptical. If they would open source discoveries, that may change. (secrets make politicians feel powerful, A drug all politicians crave, no secrets or something to hide makes them feel powerless… impotent. Don’t expect any changes)
Insider trading for example, legislation by “what makes you the most money?”
https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-reintroduces-pelosi-act-to-ban-congress-from-trading-stocks/
I think it was the last president of China that said something like;
Fixing the problems with China, is like a physician who knows how to perform surgery to save the patient. Hesitation comes when the physician is performing surgery on himself, which is far more difficult.
(China is currently in a state of collapsing, people marching in the streets demanding their long overdue paycheck or they will commit suicide)(The war between Pakistan and India has been speculated to be induced by China to prevent Apple from moving its facilities to India)
Why would there need to be a Venus sample return? Perform the spectrum analysis there, with a laboratory in the atmosphere.
If I was to send a probe to Venus, it would have a cube sat left in orbit for relay of multiple baby drones and observation. The large mother probe descending into the northern or southern hemisphere were wind speeds are at a minimal, open a “double layered” parachute to slow descent as the inner lining is filled with helium to “stop dissent” and to control position while doing air sampling at various altitudes. (Eventually migration into the stronger wind currents is expected.)
Numerous smaller cell phone style helium balloons with carbon 14 batteries (small amount of current off of radioactive decay more reliable/longer lasting than solar cells with less weight) will transmit location, airspeed, changes in atmosphere temperature, composition and pressure, with button camera capabilities if/when they get close to the ground.
A drone or rover for lower/hotter atmosphere exploration could also be balloon controlled this way. Dropped in to a location, chosen by observation, most suitable for their design. (Because of the possible high wind speeds, locating the rover “inside” the balloon might be an advantage to protect from damage at dissent, “popping open on contact” or allowed to tumble along the ground?
Or a ground probe periodically helium rising above obstacles? Returning to the upper atmosphere to recharge cooling system? Capable of covering miles per day ,Just like the helicopter on Mars, of close-up observation/with laser spectrum analysis?… yes, we have those now on some individual digging equipment to assay the material to know in seconds it’s exact composition, if it’s ore or waste on every scoop)
A Venus probe that could last year‘s instead of minutes.
To Pzatchok
What steams me the most is that Asian students–spies or no–seem the only ones interested in plant tours.