November 28, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Firefly completes first hot fire static fire test of its Miranda rocket engine
This engine will be used on the first stage Firefly is building for Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket to replace the Russian engines and Ukrainian first stage used previously.
- New Glenn first stage spotted outside factory at Cape Canaveral?
The tweet suggests this is the stage’s “the LNG/LOx tank section”. From the picture it is not clear to me if it has an engine yet. Regardless, it does appear that Blue Origin might finally getting close to launching a real rocket.
- Soyuz-2 carrying next Progress freighter rolls to launchpad
The launch is scheduled for December 1st.
- ESA touts completion of first round of testing of its first carbon-fiber rocket fuel tank, dubbed Phoebus
Note that SpaceX tried making carbon-fiber tanks almost a decade ago, and abandoned them for steel because of the time and expense of manufacturing them.
- Today in 1964 Mariner 4 was launched, the first spacecraft to fly past Mars and return images
Today is also the fifth anniversary of the landing of InSight on Mars.
The next three links are all from China, touting either concepts or the engine tests. Some will turn out real, some not.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Firefly completes first hot fire static fire test of its Miranda rocket engine
This engine will be used on the first stage Firefly is building for Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket to replace the Russian engines and Ukrainian first stage used previously.
- New Glenn first stage spotted outside factory at Cape Canaveral?
The tweet suggests this is the stage’s “the LNG/LOx tank section”. From the picture it is not clear to me if it has an engine yet. Regardless, it does appear that Blue Origin might finally getting close to launching a real rocket.
- Soyuz-2 carrying next Progress freighter rolls to launchpad
The launch is scheduled for December 1st.
- ESA touts completion of first round of testing of its first carbon-fiber rocket fuel tank, dubbed Phoebus
Note that SpaceX tried making carbon-fiber tanks almost a decade ago, and abandoned them for steel because of the time and expense of manufacturing them.
- Today in 1964 Mariner 4 was launched, the first spacecraft to fly past Mars and return images
Today is also the fifth anniversary of the landing of InSight on Mars.
The next three links are all from China, touting either concepts or the engine tests. Some will turn out real, some not.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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