To read this post please scroll down.

 

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
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.


Rocket Lab gets another contract

Capitalism in space: With its first test launch set for Monday, Rocket Lab today earned a new launch contract, this time from Spaceflight, a company that acts as a charter company putting together launches for smallsat companies.

Spaceflight buys a launch from a rocket company, and then sells slots to smallsat companies that cannot afford to buy the whole launch. This way Spaceflight can tailor each launch to the needs of the different smallsats. Though they have previously purchased launches from India’s PSLV, Russia’s Dnepr, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Rocket Lab’s Electron fits this model more perfectly, because — as a small rocket designed for smallsats, it doesn’t require a lot of smallsats to fill its payload. Thus, they can offer the smallsats on board access to orbits not normally available. This will make it relatively easy to find customers for the launch.

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

5 comments

  • LocalFluff

    “Dedicated rideshare”, isn’t that an oxymoron? What’s better with being secondary payload on an Electron than on a large launcher? And what special orbit will it launch into that larger launchers don’t launch to? Spaceflight has arranged the launch of over 100 smallsats so they obviously know what they are doing. But I don’t get it.

  • LocalFluff: This is how I see it: Electron is a smallsat launcher. It will be very cheap to buy, and can deliver a handful of smallsats to high inclination orbits that these smallsats will never get the chance to reach as secondary payloads on a large rocket like a Falcon 9.

    In other words, by buying a launch from a small rocket the smallsat companies obtain flexibility.

  • LocalFluff

    I see that the typical launch cost per unit cubesat (max 1.33 kg) is $100,000. And Electron could take more than a hundred cubesat units. Hmm.

    So this market has nothing to do with large launchers’ cost per kilogram to orbit. I suppose there are high fixed costs for compliance and certification and such, which a dedicated small rocket provider can cut down by alot by not having a billion dollar primary payload. If administration (and insurance) costs $100,000 then the per kilo price doesn’t really matter. $110,000 on Ariane 5 or $102,000 on Falcon Heavy. So now I wonder however the large launchers will be able to compete with small launchers for smallsats ;-) Hey, I change as I learn.

  • great post. it is nice to visit your site.

  • Edward

    LocalFluff wrote: “So this market has nothing to do with large launchers’ cost per kilogram to orbit.

    It has a lot to do with the flexibility of being able to get to the proper orbit sooner rather than later. If you are going to piggyback on another satellite’s ride “uphill,” then you have to wait for another satellite that is going close to where you want to go. This often takes time. Time that hurts your business model. Waiting for the (assumed) cheaper ride may cost more in lost business than the savings.

    Plus, secondary payloads are second in importance, not first.

    It sounds like the company Spaceflight is working like NanoRacks works for the ISS. They both make it easier to work with the actual service provider.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *