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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:

 

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. Takes about a 10% cut.
 

3. A Paypal Donation or subscription, which takes about a 15% cut:

 

4. Donate by check. I get whatever you donate. Make the check payable to Robert Zimmerman and mail it to
 
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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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.


Planetary Resources bought by blockchain company

Capitalism in space: The so-called asteroid mining company Planetary Resources has now been bought by computer blockchain company.

Planetary Resources said in a statement that it was acquired by ConsenSys, Inc. in an “asset-purchase transaction.” The companies did not disclose specific terms of the agreement. Chris Lewicki, the president and chief executive of Planetary Resources, and Brian Israel, the company’s general counsel, will join ConsenSys as part of the deal.

ConsenSys describes itself as a “blockchain venture production studio focused on building and scaling tools, disruptive startups, and enterprise software products powered by decentralized technology, specifically Ethereum.” Ethereum itself is a decentralized computing platform best known for supporting a cryptocurrency called Ether similar to the better-known bitcoin.

Don’t ask me how ConsenSys makes its money. I haven’t the faintest. I also haven’t the slightest idea what they intend to do with Planetary Resources. I can say without doubt that it won’t be asteroid mining.

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

  • wayne

    “pump-and-dump”

    DEFCON 17: Stealing Profits from Spammers or:
    How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Spam
    https://youtu.be/ytDamqTjPwg?t=220

  • Cotour

    It does not say what the company was paid for in, dollars, bitcoin, bitcoin company stock or some other arrangement. (?)

    Blockchain is very interesting an entirely fiat “currency”.

  • wodun

    What if they created a reward system based off blockchain currency to encourage individuals to participate in processing data collected by prospecting satellites? It could reward participation but also important discoveries. The value of the blockchain currency would be backed up by the value of ore mined and would change over time.

    Sending out prospecting armadas is cheaper than the funding required to process all the data. And they need to send out armadas because a handful of satellites wont be able to cover the vastness of the solar system, or even specific places in it like the asteroid belt or lagranges of Jupiter.

  • Jim Roberts

    They will make movies of people mining on asteroids after launching rockets and telling everybody the rockets were sent to outer space. This will be used to raise billions of dollars in both taxpayer loot and venture capital. Nothing else needs to happen after that.

    I wonder if anybody thought to look in the Gulf of Mexico for the Apollo rockets.

  • Jim Roberts: You are certainly entertaining, but your detachment from reality is somewhat sad to witness. You asked, “I wonder if anybody thought to look in the Gulf of Mexico for the Apollo rockets.” The answer is yes. Jeff Bezos financed a major campaign to find the Saturn 5 rocket stages, and was successful. You can go and see them at the Seattle Museum of Flight.

    They have also recovered the capsule from Gus Grissom’s flight.

    Having interviewed the widows of several astronauts who died in the American effort to achieve one of the greatest things humanity have ever done, land on the Moon, I also find your casual denigration of that achievement especially heartless.

  • Jim Roberts

    But doesn’t that just prove the moon bound rockets were in fact launched into the Gulf and the rest was just Stanley Kubrick movies?

    Have you ever seen The Shining Code? It is available for free on YouTube.

  • Edward

    Jim Roberts,
    You wrote: “But doesn’t that just prove the moon bound rockets were in fact launched into the Gulf and the rest was just Stanley Kubrick movies?

    Really sad, Jim. If you do a little clicking, you will learn where Bezos found the Saturn V parts, and it proves that they were not launched into the Gulf but went where everyone saw them go.

    From the article of the very first posting at Robert’s link in his 8:30 am comment:
    http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-111915a-bezos-f1-engines-seattle.html

    Bezos funded the expedition that discovered and raised the massive engine parts from the Atlantic Ocean’s floor.

    They were found in the Atlantic, just where they were supposed to be.

    You, Jim, hear rumors and conspiracy theories, make assumptions and guesses, and draw incorrect conclusions. I recommend that you make a high priority of learning for yourself, just as many of those who come to this site have done. You will sound smarter, be less ignorant, and have a better time posting comments on sites like this one. You might even come up with some intelligent, thoughtful, and original ideas of your own.

    Make an effort when presented with a link. As an exercise, what else did you learn by clicking on the link I have provided, above? What did you learn by clicking on Robert Zimmerman’s links? How does what you learned compare with what you had believed before you clicked on the links?

  • David Yastreb

    Edward,

    Perhaps we should ask Jim Roberts to outline the criteria for which he would accept that space flight exists?

    I worried in the past, when dealing with people with his attitude, that I was the one doing all the hard work, and all they had to do to negate it was say “nah!”

    Until he provides his criteria I feel the appropriate respone is “nah!”.

    Cheers from Australia.
    Dave

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