October 6, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Axiom and ESA sign deal to do more business together
The agreement includes access to Axiom’s proposed station, training of ESA astronauts using its spacesuits, and possible future commercial astronaut missions.
- Chinese pseudo-company sold two remote sensing satellites to private Wagner military group
I suspect Russia now controls those satellites, since Wagner’s leader was killed in suspicious plane crash.
- Video of dismantling of Saturn-1B rocket at Alabama rest stop
The rocket had been on display there for decades and could no longer be maintained properly. The decision was made in January to remove it and renovate the rest stop entirely.
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.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Axiom and ESA sign deal to do more business together
The agreement includes access to Axiom’s proposed station, training of ESA astronauts using its spacesuits, and possible future commercial astronaut missions.
- Chinese pseudo-company sold two remote sensing satellites to private Wagner military group
I suspect Russia now controls those satellites, since Wagner’s leader was killed in suspicious plane crash.
- Video of dismantling of Saturn-1B rocket at Alabama rest stop
The rocket had been on display there for decades and could no longer be maintained properly. The decision was made in January to remove it and renovate the rest stop entirely.
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.
That makes me so angry
Jeff,
I said a few expletives out loud when I saw them drop it.
Just one more example of NASA being a poor custodian of its own history.
The story about the sale of two PRC spysats to the Wagner Group is most likely confirmation of something that has been suspected for awhile, namely that Russia has no remaining functional spysats of its own and that it cannot make more.
Regarding the Axiom/ESA partnership, I had long expected commercial space companies to be hired by various nations in order to give those nations inexpensive access to space so that the nations could have their own space programs without the cost of developing launch vehicles, manned spacecraft, or space stations. What I didn’t expect was for well established space programs would rely so heavily on the new and coming commercial space companies.
Axiom seems to have a robust plan for its future space station. Sierra Space also has their Life module, so I suspect that their space station can probably survive the loss of Blue Origin. Northrup Grumman’s abandonment of its own space station in NASA’s competition is disappointing, as they had a viable spacecraft that is ready-made for adaptation for use as a space station module — in my mind, they suffer from a lack of innovation, as they were ahead of the competition and are now falling back on the old tried-and-true resupply mission for their Cignus spacecraft.
The loss of Bigelow habitats was a tremendous disappointment, as I believe that they would already have had their own space station in orbit by now, with Dragon taking crews to and from the Bigelow space station(s), and Starliner not far behind.
If SpaceX adapts a Starship as a huge space station, that is practically cheating, as Starship was designed for a tremendous amount of versatility, like a chassis that could fit a tanker, a cargo bed, or a passenger bus, depending upon the customer’s needs, and at a construction cost much lower than any single module that the current competitors can make.
Despite the shakeout that is happening in this competition, Axiom’s apparent strength leaves me believing that this commercial space station industry will be a huge success. With NASA an eager customer and ESA another eager customer, I think we will see great things in the 2030s.