November 3, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Firefly puts its new Miranda rocket engine on the test stand, ready for its first hot fire tests
This is the engine that will power the first stage that Firefly is building for Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, replacing the Ukrainian stage and Russian engines it used to use.
- ULA’s CEO shows off four Vulcan upper stages under assembly at its factory
As Jay notes, “At least he is building something,” taking a jab at another company with the word “blue” in its name.
- Bezos is abandoning Seattle and moving to Florida
He says he wants to be closer to both his family and his Cape Canaveral space facilities in Florida, which as he says is “shifting increasingly to Cape Canaveral.” He also likely decided to get out because of a new state tax that will steal $70 million from him for every stock sale of $1 billion.
- The Times of India brags about the use of an nuclear power source for the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module still functioning in lunar orbit
The units are engineering tests, designed to work out the kinks so this power source can be used on future unmanned rovers to Mars and elsewhere.
- Next Gaganyaan launch abort test scheduled for March 2024
This second test vehicle will be closer to the final capsule version. According to ISRO, four total abort tests are planned before the manned mission.
- Review of Kepler archive confirms solar system with seven exoplanets
The review also refined the present understanding of this alien solar system.
- NASA officials say they are willing to extend ISS beyond 2030
That’s nice, but the question is whether the Russians will stay on after ’28, and even more important, whether their modules will last until then.
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.
- Firefly puts its new Miranda rocket engine on the test stand, ready for its first hot fire tests
This is the engine that will power the first stage that Firefly is building for Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket, replacing the Ukrainian stage and Russian engines it used to use.
- ULA’s CEO shows off four Vulcan upper stages under assembly at its factory
As Jay notes, “At least he is building something,” taking a jab at another company with the word “blue” in its name.
- Bezos is abandoning Seattle and moving to Florida
He says he wants to be closer to both his family and his Cape Canaveral space facilities in Florida, which as he says is “shifting increasingly to Cape Canaveral.” He also likely decided to get out because of a new state tax that will steal $70 million from him for every stock sale of $1 billion.
- The Times of India brags about the use of an nuclear power source for the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module still functioning in lunar orbit
The units are engineering tests, designed to work out the kinks so this power source can be used on future unmanned rovers to Mars and elsewhere.
- Next Gaganyaan launch abort test scheduled for March 2024
This second test vehicle will be closer to the final capsule version. According to ISRO, four total abort tests are planned before the manned mission.
- Review of Kepler archive confirms solar system with seven exoplanets
The review also refined the present understanding of this alien solar system.
- NASA officials say they are willing to extend ISS beyond 2030
That’s nice, but the question is whether the Russians will stay on after ’28, and even more important, whether their modules will last until then.
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.
Will the last billionaire leaving Seattle please turn off the lights?
Something I was thinking about..
Would it be possible to save the ISS truss to attach to Starship?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_Truss_Structure
Outfit it with lots of argon for ion engines?
The truss and other parts would be great to use in space but the problem is fitting it with a large engine because the whole thing is basically off balance and would waste a lot of fuel just keeping it running in a single direction.
The best thing to do with the ISS is to keep it running until the end and then sell it off to a private company with a de-orbit/safe orbit agreement for anything they do not keep in space.
Space X could easily send up all they need to build anything on a few Starships.