October 17, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- FCC approves SpaceX revised Starlink satellite license [pdf]
SpaceX must launch half of this constellation, about 3,750 satellites, by November 19, 2024, and the other half no later than November 19, 2027.
- India targets its first manned landing on the Moon by 2040
This was simply Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opportunity to give his Kennedy-like Moon speech, something politicans have been doing over and over again since 1961. Only Kennedy met his goals. All the others have simply been empty political speeches that were never fulfilled.
This is not to say India won’t try, as it certainly appears that the new colonial movement in space is heating up. It just means we should not take his speech very seriously.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- FCC approves SpaceX revised Starlink satellite license [pdf]
SpaceX must launch half of this constellation, about 3,750 satellites, by November 19, 2024, and the other half no later than November 19, 2027.
- India targets its first manned landing on the Moon by 2040
This was simply Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opportunity to give his Kennedy-like Moon speech, something politicans have been doing over and over again since 1961. Only Kennedy met his goals. All the others have simply been empty political speeches that were never fulfilled.
This is not to say India won’t try, as it certainly appears that the new colonial movement in space is heating up. It just means we should not take his speech very seriously.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Are these the same Starlink satellites that FAA has identified as a mortal risk?
Yes, the killer satellites from outer space!
Wait till the Chinese Mega-Constellation Satellites start flying!
When JFK set the goal he gave 8 years to do it. It would take 6 years to accomplish a soft landing unmanned, and 7 for the goal he set.
India has already done a soft landing unmanned and has 7 years left for the manned mission goal.
So they really should be able to do it.
They just need to make the right build vs buy decisions and they dont have time to fool around. When private citizens are buying their way to and from LEO you have to wonder that you just need a two person LEM, and a way to get the delta-v to the moon and back.
India should offer SpaceX a launch base for Starship in return for guaranteed access to lift its space station and lunar components. That might induce the Fish and Wildlife Service to stop stalling…