October 2, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- China launches a new sea launch ship, able to accomodate liquid-fueled rockets
This platform allows China to avoid the bad press from crashing stages in inhabited areas of China. Sea launches eliminate that issue.
- China will allow international science payloads on its Chang’e lunar lander/rover
The mission is targeting a 2028 launch date, and is presently in its very earliest planning stages.
- New Horizons mission extended until the end of this decade
The plan is to operate the spacecraft until it leaves the Kuiper Belt. It will now be used not only to study the outer asteroids, but the Sun’s heliosphere and solar wind.
- Astroscale gets $80 million contract from Japan to rendezvous and inspect defunct space junk
The goal is to test rendezvous with an inoperable upper stage, which cannot provide any location data. What is significant is that the Japanese government is hiring a private company to fly the mission, rather than have its space agency JAXA do it. Capitalism in space!
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.
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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.
- China launches a new sea launch ship, able to accomodate liquid-fueled rockets
This platform allows China to avoid the bad press from crashing stages in inhabited areas of China. Sea launches eliminate that issue.
- China will allow international science payloads on its Chang’e lunar lander/rover
The mission is targeting a 2028 launch date, and is presently in its very earliest planning stages.
- New Horizons mission extended until the end of this decade
The plan is to operate the spacecraft until it leaves the Kuiper Belt. It will now be used not only to study the outer asteroids, but the Sun’s heliosphere and solar wind.
- Astroscale gets $80 million contract from Japan to rendezvous and inspect defunct space junk
The goal is to test rendezvous with an inoperable upper stage, which cannot provide any location data. What is significant is that the Japanese government is hiring a private company to fly the mission, rather than have its space agency JAXA do it. Capitalism in space!
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.
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