November 12, 2024 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.
Some of these stories would have normally gotten a full post. I post them now for completeness.
- NASA extends ISS cargo contracts through 2030
The companies involved are SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Space.
- Smithsonian discovers the many Juno images processed by citizen scientists
Some great stuff, similar to the many Juno images I’ve posted here for years.
- Brazil and China negotiating a deal to allow a Chinese satellite pseudo-company to work in Brazil
No deal has yet been signed.
- A look at Russia’s new proposal to build a copycat SpaceX Grasshopper
As I noted last week, this project is hardly to be taken seriously, as are all new Russian space projects. Almost none are ever built or flown.
- Graphic of the propulsion system planned (key word) for Russia’s Orel next-generation capsule
It might fly, but it is years behind schedule.
- Next Ariane-6 launch delayed from December to February 2025
The press release hides the real reason: the upper stage on the first flight failed to complete its mission, failing to fire for a controlled re-entry.
- Animation of the proposed cargo capsule from a Chinese pseudo-company
The capsule is a copycat revision of either Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser or Boeing’s X-37B.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace claims a launch cost for its Zhuque-2 and Zhuque-3 rockets will be less than RMB50k/kg and 30k/kg (about $7k/kg & $4k/kg)
Jay: “Falcon-9 is still cheaper at $3k/kg and Falcon heavy is below $2k/kg.”
- Several powerpoint slides describing China’s Chang’e-8 mission to the Moon
The slides are not translated, and provide a limited amount of information.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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. 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.
Some of these stories would have normally gotten a full post. I post them now for completeness.
- NASA extends ISS cargo contracts through 2030
The companies involved are SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Sierra Space.
- Smithsonian discovers the many Juno images processed by citizen scientists
Some great stuff, similar to the many Juno images I’ve posted here for years.
- Brazil and China negotiating a deal to allow a Chinese satellite pseudo-company to work in Brazil
No deal has yet been signed.
- A look at Russia’s new proposal to build a copycat SpaceX Grasshopper
As I noted last week, this project is hardly to be taken seriously, as are all new Russian space projects. Almost none are ever built or flown.
- Graphic of the propulsion system planned (key word) for Russia’s Orel next-generation capsule
It might fly, but it is years behind schedule.
- Next Ariane-6 launch delayed from December to February 2025
The press release hides the real reason: the upper stage on the first flight failed to complete its mission, failing to fire for a controlled re-entry.
- Animation of the proposed cargo capsule from a Chinese pseudo-company
The capsule is a copycat revision of either Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser or Boeing’s X-37B.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace claims a launch cost for its Zhuque-2 and Zhuque-3 rockets will be less than RMB50k/kg and 30k/kg (about $7k/kg & $4k/kg)
Jay: “Falcon-9 is still cheaper at $3k/kg and Falcon heavy is below $2k/kg.”
- Several powerpoint slides describing China’s Chang’e-8 mission to the Moon
The slides are not translated, and provide a limited amount of information.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
At least the Russian PowerPoint and model building industries are in healthy shape.
Space Command back to Alabama?
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/trump-expected-to-move-space-command-headquarters-out-of-colorado-in-his-first-week/article_16853811-30a5-5b55-9fc0-ea3064f49ee1.html
Buzz – First Selfie in space?
The Russians are late in copying Musk—but they did look at winged fly backs.:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikal_(rocket_booster)
They even had a concept that was to come back rather like Starship:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UsexpkG1_Wg