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Readers! A November fund-raising drive!

 

It is unfortunately time for another November fund-raising campaign to support my work here at Behind the Black. I really dislike doing these, but 2025 is so far turning out to be a very poor year for donations and subscriptions, the worst since 2020. I very much need your support for this webpage to survive.

 

And I think I provide real value. Fifteen years ago I said SLS was garbage and should be cancelled. Almost a decade ago I said Orion was a lie and a bad idea. As early as 1998, long before almost anyone else, I predicted in my first book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8, that private enterprise and freedom would conquer the solar system, not government. Very early in the COVID panic and continuing throughout I noted that every policy put forth by the government (masks, social distancing, lockdowns, jab mandates) was wrong, misguided, and did more harm than good. In planetary science, while everyone else in the media still thinks Mars has no water, I have been reporting the real results from the orbiters now for more than five years, that Mars is in fact a planet largely covered with ice.

 

I could continue with numerous other examples. If you want to know what others will discover a decade hence, read what I write here at Behind the Black. And if you read my most recent book, Conscious Choice, you will find out what is going to happen in space in the next century.

 

 

This last claim might sound like hubris on my part, but I base it on my overall track record.

 

So please consider donating or subscribing to Behind the Black, either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. I could really use the support at this time. There are five ways of doing so:

 

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Perseverance dumps debris shield in preparation for Ingenuity deployment

Dumped debris shield under Perseverance
Click for full image.

On March 21st the Perseverance engineering team released the debris shield that had been attached to the bottom of the rover to protect the Ingenuity helicopter during its journey to Mars, and thus began the deployment process for releasing the helicopter itself.

The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, shows that debris shield on the ground. The rover will next drive away from this spot and find the flat area where the helicopter will be placed on the ground for its April flight.

Genesis cover

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

9 comments

  • Jay

    Up for sale on eBay in 2064 – One slightly used debris shield, once belonging to the rover “Perseverance”. Minimum bid $100,000. Shipping not included.

    I am looking forward to the flight of Ingenuity and how it will handle the thin atmosphere. I saw that it was built by AeroVironment, my team competed against them many years ago in a technology challenge, and I have no doubts that it will succeed.

  • Mike

    This is a real game changer for exploring. If we can get the engineering down here, we can go big next mission and cover more ground than ever.
    So awesome.

  • Andi

    One would hope that they tested it in a vacuum chamber set to the right pressure so at least they should have an idea how much lift the rotors can generate

  • Jeff Wright

    Debris cover my foot. That’s the oil pan-no wonder it squeaks…:-/

  • Edward_2

    Oil pan gasket leaked.

  • Ray Van Dune

    Andi, it was tested in a vacuum chamber simulating Mars’ tenuous atmosphere, and also suspended to simulate Mars’ lower gravity. There’s no flies on JPL.

  • Cotour

    Just one more example of white male dominated culture beginning to leave their trash and destroy the environment, now on Mars!

    WHEN WILL IT END!

    I think we all know what must be done.

  • Star Bird

    Running out of Delithium Chrystal’s

  • Cotour wrote:

    “Just one more example of white male dominated culture beginning to leave their trash and destroy the environment, now on Mars!

    WHEN WILL IT END!

    I think we all know what must be done.”

    Yes, yes we do. We must find new worlds to explore (exploit). We must render the Universe more habitable. Even if from a Human-centric viewpoint. Yes.

    And the Prime Directive. Don’t forget that.

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