October 25, 2424 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Chinese pseudo-company Deep Blue Aerospace will attempt a high altitude vertical hop test with a Nebula-1 first stage next month
It hopes to do a much larger test of its Nebular-2 in ’26, but several observers note the rocket does not yet have landing legs.
- This is a laugh: China’s state security accuses western companies of stealing its technology.
“It did not name any specific countries but claimed some had ‘carried out infiltration and stealing activities in China’s aerospace field’.” Since there is amply evidence of China stealing such technology, this claim is a bit absurd. Why should the West steal back the technology it already as and that China had stole from it.
- NASA delays decision of cutting budgets for both Chandra and Hubble
No surprise, The announced cuts were originally announced to apply pressure on Congress to fund both telescopes. With the election upcoming the agency wants to get Congress on their side. Cutting these popular telescopes just before the election will not servie its insterets.
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
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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. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Chinese pseudo-company Deep Blue Aerospace will attempt a high altitude vertical hop test with a Nebula-1 first stage next month
It hopes to do a much larger test of its Nebular-2 in ’26, but several observers note the rocket does not yet have landing legs.
- This is a laugh: China’s state security accuses western companies of stealing its technology.
“It did not name any specific countries but claimed some had ‘carried out infiltration and stealing activities in China’s aerospace field’.” Since there is amply evidence of China stealing such technology, this claim is a bit absurd. Why should the West steal back the technology it already as and that China had stole from it.
- NASA delays decision of cutting budgets for both Chandra and Hubble
No surprise, The announced cuts were originally announced to apply pressure on Congress to fund both telescopes. With the election upcoming the agency wants to get Congress on their side. Cutting these popular telescopes just before the election will not servie its insterets.
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.
Both sides seem to prepare for Musk’s “government efficiency” purge. He demonstrates with the California Coastal Commission that he’s ready to address weaponized agencies and those who’re responsible for the abuse. And the public sector shows that it’s ready to go directly after him. It’s still all a demonstration of willingness.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Friday called for an investigation into a Wall Street Journal report that SpaceX founder and Donald Trump ally Elon Musk and Russian President Vladimir Putin have been in “regular contact” since late 2022.
The report, which said the SpaceX founder has discussed “personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions” with the Russian leader, raises national security concerns as SpaceX’s relationships with NASA and the US military may have granted Musk access to sensitive government information and US intelligence.
“I don’t know that that story is true. I think it should be investigated,” Nelson told Semafor’s Burgess Everett. “If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia, then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies.”
“NASA chief calls for investigation into report that Musk and Putin have spoken regularly”
CNN, but https://archive.is/bNvwh
More battlespace preparation by the Deep State I think. Musk’s chainsaw is likely to slice particularly deeply into the intelligence apparat if that nest of vipers can’t find some way to head him off in advance. We should probably be prepared for fake phone records and Deep Fake “audio transcripts.” Cornered animals are the most dangerous kind.
While gaming Musk appears to have disclosed a conversation with a SpaceX employee about the flight 5 catch and the upcoming flight 6 launch. See this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWjKW5npr8U
At around 6:45 commenting on flight 6, the employee says “We’re not taking as much time as we might ideally want to have a very luxurious, like really study everything, but given this is the first launch in a long time that – well, really ever – that we’ve not been FAA driven, we’re trying to do a reasonable balance of speed and risk mitigation on the booster specifically.”
I will say I have doubted how much the FAA has really impacted SpaceX’s schedule but this confirms it has been driving their schedule to some degree.
Does anyone here remember the Grace Commission Report of 1984? (“Private Sector Survey on Cost Control.”)
I like Musk, but if anyone thinks federal income redistribution and spending is going down based on anything Musk recommends in the future, well…that just isn’t happening. Voting Trump, but under no illusion economic growth could ever dig us out of the tremendous hole we find ourselves in.
Lacking (at least insofar as we know) the kind of back channel conversations between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in 1962, it is probably a good thing that Mr. Putin is able to talk with someone in our country who is (1) mentally competent, and (2) does not despise the history and culture of this country (and perhaps would like to see it get into a ruinous war) like most of the people in the Biden Administration. Remember, for the World Economic Forum and the global elites, a United States in smouldering ruins — or at least taken of the field as a superpower — is not necessarily a “bad” thing.
Tim: This simply confirms what I have been reporting now for three-plus years. Now you know where to go to get the straight dope, before anyone else. :)
Indeed, I posted it here in part because you are one of the few voices pointing that the FAA has been delaying SpaceX but to this point I hadn’t seen anything definitive other than SpaceX saying “we are ready to fly” but then working for weeks or months more on things that seemingly were essential in order to launch.
I found a more complete transcript of the conversation that has some juicy details about how close they were to failing with the booster catch. “Speaker: We had a misconfigured spin gas abort that didn’t have quite the right ramp up time for bringing up spin pressure, and we were one second away from that tripping and telling the rocket to abort and try to crash into the ground next to the tower, instead of the tower. Elon: wow! Speaker: Erroneously telling the rocket to not try to catch.”
https://old.reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge/comments/1gc7rex/details_about_booster_landing_burn_shared_by_elon/
In more personal news, Homer Hickam is back home after his colon cancer surgery.
https://x.com/realhomerhickam/status/1850974521274126351
Looks like he has a long road ahead of him, – he may yet need chemo or radiation – so let’s pray for a full recovery.