October 29, 2025 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.
- Shutdown could soon slow preparations for Artemis 2
The sole source of this story is an official at Lockheed Martin, which makes Orion. That company has gotten since 2005 about $25 billion from NASA to build it, has made less than a half dozen capsules total, and has produced a capsule with an untrustworthy heat shield that still has an untested environmental system. For this company to say the shut down will impact its work is disgusting.
- An engineer looks at a Chinese attempt to reverse engineer SpaceX’s Raptor-3 engine and finds it “funny as hell”
Quote: “They couldn’t figure out how half the damn thing works so it’s been completely screwed up.”
- A new Chinese pseudo-company Zenkspace to launch their ZH-1 rocket in early 2026
Jay notes there is zero information about this company on the web. According to another tweet, the rocket’s engines were supplied by the Chinese government. Suggests to me that someone in that government is moving in to grab the business from the other Chinese government-controlled startups, essentially taking advantage of government infrastructure while stealing the engineering from those pseudo-companies (that the government requires them to release to everyone).
- On this day in 2009 Ares-1x made its only flight
It was only suborbital, and was supposed to lay the groundwork for NASA’s manned return to the Moon by 2015, as part of the program established by President George Bush Jr. It instead morphed into the never-ending boondoggle that has become SLS, Orion, and the entire Artemis program. And it now 2025, and we are still at least three-plus years from that manned lunar landing.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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. 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.
- Shutdown could soon slow preparations for Artemis 2
The sole source of this story is an official at Lockheed Martin, which makes Orion. That company has gotten since 2005 about $25 billion from NASA to build it, has made less than a half dozen capsules total, and has produced a capsule with an untrustworthy heat shield that still has an untested environmental system. For this company to say the shut down will impact its work is disgusting.
- An engineer looks at a Chinese attempt to reverse engineer SpaceX’s Raptor-3 engine and finds it “funny as hell”
Quote: “They couldn’t figure out how half the damn thing works so it’s been completely screwed up.”
- A new Chinese pseudo-company Zenkspace to launch their ZH-1 rocket in early 2026
Jay notes there is zero information about this company on the web. According to another tweet, the rocket’s engines were supplied by the Chinese government. Suggests to me that someone in that government is moving in to grab the business from the other Chinese government-controlled startups, essentially taking advantage of government infrastructure while stealing the engineering from those pseudo-companies (that the government requires them to release to everyone).
- On this day in 2009 Ares-1x made its only flight
It was only suborbital, and was supposed to lay the groundwork for NASA’s manned return to the Moon by 2015, as part of the program established by President George Bush Jr. It instead morphed into the never-ending boondoggle that has become SLS, Orion, and the entire Artemis program. And it now 2025, and we are still at least three-plus years from that manned lunar landing.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
“On this day in 2009 Ares-1x made its only flight.”
What Buzz Aldrin said at the time aboout *that* remains absolutely golden:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-we-need-better-rocket_b_351335
Brutal. And entirely fair.
Definitely on the NASA Top Ten List of You Can’t Make This Excrement Up.
Item 2 reminds me of a guy on Batchelor recently who claimed China had several programs in development which were going to “eat SpaceX’s lunch.” I chuckled.
You probably already saw it, Bob – or Jay did – but SpaceX posted a remarkably substantive update on progress on HLS Starship on their website an hour ago:
https://www.spacex.com/updates#moon-and-beyond
There’s a couple of new interior renders we’ve never seen before, too. Eric Berger: “This looks super cool.”
P.S. Peter Hague with a render of the “cockpit” of the HLS from another angle. I am not sure where he got it. But it sure does undlerline just how *big* this thing is going to be. “Big” as in “roomy.” “Big” as in, you could literally play racquetball on the main deck. In fact….as Elon notes, each of the two HLS airlocks has DOUBLE the interior volume of the entire Apollo Lunar Module!
This looks like something out of 2001. And, a flight article of it is now in fabrication.
https://x.com/peterrhague/status/1983922700297904263/photo/1
Never mind, I see where Peter got it from: SpaceX replaced its tweet, and they included four renders with it, including the one he grabbed.
I think this is just the version that will be used for the first landing. As the program progresses, I think we’re going to see significant changes to the interior design, especially once it is expected to start carrying more people.
https://x.com/spacex/status/1983921001717997728?s=61&t=Ft4UUgOLZC1G6KyTZ1bZcg
Richad M: I have been reviewing this, and will post on it in an hour or two.
Vaporware
Bash Ares I if you like–it could easily have had an upper stage with a J-2.
The OMega version better.
Jeff Wright,
I could bash Ares 1, but Buzz did pretty much the paradigmatic job of that so what would be the point?
There wasn’t anything “easy” about Ares 1 – particularly the ride quality.
OmegA was a fake rocket ginned up as a way to get government money. As soon as that ceased to work, NorGrum dropped it – as many, me included, had predicted it would.
Athena III should have been pursued at least
Solids have their uses:
https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/theoretical-new-us-heavy-icbm-concept.50048/
America needs a good asteroid defense. SLBMs are no good for that. Even Falcon takes time to fuel.
https://up-ship.com/blog/?p=18971
TAVs were to ride SRBs—I want that tech protected.
“paradigmatic”
Have not seen this word before. Thanks, Dick Eagleson.
Also, completely agree with Richard M on Explorer Aldrin’s comments.
Jeff Wright opined: “America needs a good asteroid defense. SLBMs are no good for that. Even Falcon takes time to fuel.”
How much time are we talking about? The asteroid won’t Babylon 5 Shadow itself into existence. I would expect that even out of the Sun, we’d have a few hours warning.