November 21, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- NASA’s dual smallsat Mars mission to fly on first New Glenn launch
When that launch occurs however remains a mystery. Blue Origin says next year, but Blue Origin has said next year for the past four.
- Chinese pseudo-company Galaxy Space touts a proposed communications satellite for providing cell phones global coverage
To quote Jay, “Wow, it looks like AST SpaceMobile’s Bluewalker 3 satellite. What a coincidence! The ground based astronomers are going to have kittens over this one.” My response: “No they won’t. It’s China, and those ground-based astronomers are almost all confirmed lefties who love Xi and the communist empire. Their only interest is to squelch American free enterprise, and Elon Musk.
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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.
- NASA’s dual smallsat Mars mission to fly on first New Glenn launch
When that launch occurs however remains a mystery. Blue Origin says next year, but Blue Origin has said next year for the past four.
- Chinese pseudo-company Galaxy Space touts a proposed communications satellite for providing cell phones global coverage
To quote Jay, “Wow, it looks like AST SpaceMobile’s Bluewalker 3 satellite. What a coincidence! The ground based astronomers are going to have kittens over this one.” My response: “No they won’t. It’s China, and those ground-based astronomers are almost all confirmed lefties who love Xi and the communist empire. Their only interest is to squelch American free enterprise, and Elon Musk.
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.
FYI, it looks like Rocketlab is setting up to start launches again.
Hmmmmmmm
Quote…. “those ground-based astronomers are almost all confirmed lefties who love Xi and the communist empire. Their only interest is to squelch American free enterprise, and Elon Musk.”
I’m pretty sure I’m missing something here, but just want to point out that not all ground based leftie astronomers ( IE me ) support China, their communist empire, and want to squelch free enterprise or Elon Musk.
( I have to be honest tho.. I’m loving his fight against the Swedish Unions Vs Tesla
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/21/tesla-sweden-unions-us-strikes-blockade-carmaker
Every worker should have access to help when negotiating fair pay and working conditions. I’m sure this opinion is not looked upon favourably here, but hey… It’s hardly the first time for me ;-)
Lee,
You should read all past posts on astronomers who have complained about StarLink. StarLink has gone to great lengths to minimize the reflected light on their birds. China does not care about reflected light with their proposed satellite conventions. If you take a look at the link, the Galaxy Space bird is roughly 700 square feet or roughly 65 meters in area. That is pretty big compared to the roughly 4 meters in area of Starlink. Yes, I am a user of Starlink.
Why are the Swedish Unions complaining about Tesla? Under the IKEA Convention of 1995, all Tesla cars are assembled with 10mm hex bolts just like all IKEA furniture.
Sorry, wrong term. Satellite Conventions => Satellite Constellations.
Ahhhh…
Thanks for the clarification Jay…
I have been very inactive here lately, but I know that Swedish Tesla’s will require self assembly, and will also arrive with just one important bolt missing. Anything else would be just unsatisfactory!
Lee
There is nothing wrong with Unions, as long as they are optional.
I am not familiar with Union Rules in Sweden.
I do not want to be forced to join one as part of my employment, nor have wages taken to put in their coffers.
In parts of the US, such wages were taken and used for political spending for candidates and issues people disagreed with.
That is not protective bargaining.
In other cases, like GM, the “protective bargaining” bargained a deal so great, it put the parent company into bankruptcy.
That article is clearly written with a pro-union slant.
If I were Musk, I would simply stop selling Tesla in Sweden. I am sure that there are other places that will happily buy them.
Musk has just been good about not letting the UAW get their claws in. All they want is a piece of the money.
Instead, Musk gives the employee’s stock options, making them, essentially, part owners of the company.
It is interesting that people say that he can avoid Unions because of weak labor laws. But if the workers really wanted a Union, they could get one. “Weak labor laws” translates as “forced to have a union by law”.
It should also be noted that Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, etc (foreign car companies with plants in the US) are not union either.
They managed to get votes to take place at some VW plants, where the workers themselves overwhelmingly rejected unions.
But for some reason that was looked at as bad.
There was an interesting asteroid documentary called THREE MINUTES TO IMPACT on Discovery years ago about this landform:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Río_Cuarto_craters
A strong nickel/iron slug at a shallow angle at sea might be mistaken for seamounts/guyot.
If so, asteroid mining might be had with no spaceflight at all.