November 2, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Retired Air Force general joins Rocket Lab’s board of directors
Without question this hire is to help Rocket Lab get military contracts.
- New rocket startup Veng in Argentina announces its proposed orbital rocket
The story is in Spanish, but based on Jay’s translation it is targeting a 2029 launch, with suborbital tests of a smaller version first in 2026. All launches will take place in Argentina.
- Rocket startup Keka Aerospace in the Congo touts its own rocket
The video is in French. Images of the company’s test suborbital rocket can be seen at the 5 minute mark. It certainly does not look much like a real rocket when looked at closely.
- A Chinese university touts its proposed lunar rover
The artist’s rendering looks cool, but that isn’t how one builds real engineering.
- Chinese pseudo-company Ispace releases video of hop test today of its small scale test vehicle
This is essentially its version of SpaceX’s Grasshopper. Ispace appears to be making good progress towards developing a reusable first stage for its Hyperbola rocket. More information here.
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:
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Retired Air Force general joins Rocket Lab’s board of directors
Without question this hire is to help Rocket Lab get military contracts.
- New rocket startup Veng in Argentina announces its proposed orbital rocket
The story is in Spanish, but based on Jay’s translation it is targeting a 2029 launch, with suborbital tests of a smaller version first in 2026. All launches will take place in Argentina.
- Rocket startup Keka Aerospace in the Congo touts its own rocket
The video is in French. Images of the company’s test suborbital rocket can be seen at the 5 minute mark. It certainly does not look much like a real rocket when looked at closely.
- A Chinese university touts its proposed lunar rover
The artist’s rendering looks cool, but that isn’t how one builds real engineering.
- Chinese pseudo-company Ispace releases video of hop test today of its small scale test vehicle
This is essentially its version of SpaceX’s Grasshopper. Ispace appears to be making good progress towards developing a reusable first stage for its Hyperbola rocket. More information here.
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.
_Japanese_ company Ispace. This is close to home.
“Without question this hire is to help Rocket Lab get military contracts.”
In third world countries it’s called “bribing”.
In America it’s called “lobbying”.
Dave: No, this is a Chinese operation, even thous the names are the same.
Dave,
There are two companies with the same name iSpace. This one is in China, it is known by two names “iSpace” and “Interstellar Glory”. You can look it up.
On the Keka Aerospace article:
First, they seem to be taking SpaceX’s construction techniques to an extreme, working in a dirt parking lot and holding up the structure with garbage cans. They sure are going the cheap route.
Second, did I see them use the word “Galaxionautes” for their astronauts? My French is poor (read: nonexistent), so I’m not sure what they meant by that word, but it came with drawings of space-suited hippies in space.
Climate news
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-scientist-global-experts-overheated.html