October 5, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- NASA begins engine tests of upgraded new RS-25 engines for SLS core stage
These engines are for future SLS launches after NASA has finished throwing away the RS-25 engines that it salvaged from the space shuttles.
- Chinese slide from IAC presentation showing its proposed Long March 9 rocket, with first flight tests targeting 2033
It looks like a direct steal of Starship/Superheavy, which raises the question: Why will it take them ten years before the first launch tests?
- Rocket Lab cuts ribbon on new engine development facility
The facility had been Virgin Orbit’s headquarters, and was acquired during its bankruptcy auction.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to 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.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- NASA begins engine tests of upgraded new RS-25 engines for SLS core stage
These engines are for future SLS launches after NASA has finished throwing away the RS-25 engines that it salvaged from the space shuttles.
- Chinese slide from IAC presentation showing its proposed Long March 9 rocket, with first flight tests targeting 2033
It looks like a direct steal of Starship/Superheavy, which raises the question: Why will it take them ten years before the first launch tests?
- Rocket Lab cuts ribbon on new engine development facility
The facility had been Virgin Orbit’s headquarters, and was acquired during its bankruptcy auction.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
It will take them ten years to get Long March 9 flying, because that is how long they estimate it will take SpaceX to get Starship/Super heavy flying, with all of the red tape being thrown at them, and work out all of the bugs, so that they can then steal it. Not that I am at all jaded or syndical. *Cough.*
Continuing to refer to this rocket series as”Long March” commemorates and legitimizes the rise to power of the most murderous regime in all of human history.
It would be like the Germans calling their first orbital rocket Mein Kampf 1.
I wish we could stop it.
I suggest we refer to this new rocket as Shoplifter 9, along with all the others in the series.
Musk should be careful with his political statements. Ukrainians are easily resentful. I don’t want any physical harm to come to him.
“Musk Mocks Zelensky With Meme On War Aid | How Tesla Boss Went From Backing To Berating Ukraine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zJmg11t5i8
Here’s a summary of the Biden admin and Musk.
https://x.com/greg_price11/status/1710042810613743647?s=46
“ Just so we’re keeping score: The Biden DOJ is suing SpaceX for not hiring refugees, the DOJ and SEC are investigating Tesla, the EEOC is also suing Tesla, the FTC demanded @elonmusk hand over internal Twitter comms and the SEC is now investigating Elon’s purchase of Twitter.”
Questioner; while he was begging for money, his wife was spending it. One of several stores.
https://joemiller.us/2023/10/zelenskys-wife-spent-a-staggering-1-1-million-on-nyc-shopping-spree-raising-new-questions-of-ukraine-corruption/
In the interview with Musk, he mentions that SpaceX is talking to scientists about launching a large orbital telescope on Starship. This is the kind of thing that Congress probably had in mind when they demanded NASA make a heavy launch vehicle, back in 2010. Unfortunately, Congress specified the mass to be launched but not that it be an affordable launch vehicle.
Fortunately, commercial space companies are working on affordable launch options, so this large telescope could conceivably be affordable.
Max: Thank you. I sent the link to several Ukrainians I know personally. Maybe it will open their eyes.