November 14, 2022 Quick space links
Courtesy of Jay, BtB’s on-the-ball stringer.
- Starlink now has a website allowing anyone to donate a terminal to charity
While you can pick some categories for where you’d like your donation to go, you cannot pick a specific charity. The final donation destination remains Starlink’s decision.
- Apple to soon provide emergency SOS service to phone customers
Initially it will only be available in the U.S. and Canada.
- A picture of a New Glenn fairing
The photographer says its a new fairing. Maybe. Either way, my heart be still.
- SpaceX Superheavy booster test apparently planned for tomorrow in Boca Chica
The company sent residents a warning notice.
- A six-second video of three exterior experimental payloads on the Tianzhou freighter docked to Tiangong-3
One of the payloads is a hydrogen-oxygen fuel-cell being developed for lunar manned missions.
- VERITAS managers lobby for reprieve from NASA decision to delay mission
There is a lot of political lobbying going on at NASA and at JPL right now for more cash from Congress (including a report that practically demands the taxpayers give JPL more, and give a lot), and this delay appears to be one of NASA’s bargaining chips. “Give us more and VERITAS won’t be delayed!”
- A new Chinese sea launch platform is experiencing a “significant delay.”
It was supposed to begin operations this year. Now construction is not expected to begin until next year.
- AST SpaceMobile has successfully deployed the largest orbital communications array ever
This deployment is a test satellite, dubbed BlueWalker-3, designed to demonstrate technology enabling standard cell phones to use satellites for broadband access in remote areas.
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 Jay, BtB’s on-the-ball stringer.
- Starlink now has a website allowing anyone to donate a terminal to charity
While you can pick some categories for where you’d like your donation to go, you cannot pick a specific charity. The final donation destination remains Starlink’s decision.
- Apple to soon provide emergency SOS service to phone customers
Initially it will only be available in the U.S. and Canada.
- A picture of a New Glenn fairing
The photographer says its a new fairing. Maybe. Either way, my heart be still.
- SpaceX Superheavy booster test apparently planned for tomorrow in Boca Chica
The company sent residents a warning notice.
- A six-second video of three exterior experimental payloads on the Tianzhou freighter docked to Tiangong-3
One of the payloads is a hydrogen-oxygen fuel-cell being developed for lunar manned missions.
- VERITAS managers lobby for reprieve from NASA decision to delay mission
There is a lot of political lobbying going on at NASA and at JPL right now for more cash from Congress (including a report that practically demands the taxpayers give JPL more, and give a lot), and this delay appears to be one of NASA’s bargaining chips. “Give us more and VERITAS won’t be delayed!”
- A new Chinese sea launch platform is experiencing a “significant delay.”
It was supposed to begin operations this year. Now construction is not expected to begin until next year.
- AST SpaceMobile has successfully deployed the largest orbital communications array ever
This deployment is a test satellite, dubbed BlueWalker-3, designed to demonstrate technology enabling standard cell phones to use satellites for broadband access in remote areas.
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.
14 engines fired today.
https://twitter.com/liftport/status/1592276250642587654?s=20&t=q63Pr1Svqv6JxT0jxAHowQ
For those who like to track satellites, the AST Blue Walker 3 is showing up on the Heavens Above satellite site. No estimated magnitudes yet.
https://heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=53807&lat=33.9562&lng=-83.988&loc=Lawrenceville&alt=0&tz=EST