November 8, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- DHL touts its deal with Astrobotic to send more than 100,000 messages to the Moon
Anyone can send a picture, which will go digitally on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander scheduled for launch late this year.
- Lynk satellite constellation starts cell phone to satellite service in Solomon Islands
Because Lynk only has three satellites in orbit, the service is presently limited to text and emergency messages.
- ESA shifts control of Vega-C rocket from Arianespace to the private Italian company Avio
The press release at the link summarizes all the actions taken by ESA at its just ended conference, all except this story had been covered here previously. Avio essentially builds Vega-C. It will now have full ownership and control. Arianespace — the government middle-man that never made a profit — is meanwhile slowly going away.
- Three companies tout their partnership to develop nuclear power propulsion for interplanetary travel
Lockheed Martin is the lead contractor for DARPA. The contract was awarded in July 2023.
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
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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.
- DHL touts its deal with Astrobotic to send more than 100,000 messages to the Moon
Anyone can send a picture, which will go digitally on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander scheduled for launch late this year.
- Lynk satellite constellation starts cell phone to satellite service in Solomon Islands
Because Lynk only has three satellites in orbit, the service is presently limited to text and emergency messages.
- ESA shifts control of Vega-C rocket from Arianespace to the private Italian company Avio
The press release at the link summarizes all the actions taken by ESA at its just ended conference, all except this story had been covered here previously. Avio essentially builds Vega-C. It will now have full ownership and control. Arianespace — the government middle-man that never made a profit — is meanwhile slowly going away.
- Three companies tout their partnership to develop nuclear power propulsion for interplanetary travel
Lockheed Martin is the lead contractor for DARPA. The contract was awarded in July 2023.
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.
Line from the nuclear power story:
This technology has the potential to ….
How many times have we heard that?
Oh, and any program with a cringeworthy backronym like JETSON immediately tells me it is just another PR stunt.
(I’ll take back these words if they can manage to get anything flying in the next 5 years)
‘backronym’
Haven’t heard that in a very long time, although at one point, it had some currency in the language. Thanks to Concerned for reviving an oldie-but-goodie.