September 1, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Short animation from China showing its manned lunar landing concept
Though the details are very different, the basic concept remains essentially a copy of Apollo.
- Translation of Chinese press release describing its low-orbit internet-of-things constellation, dubbed the Apocalypse Constellation
The constellation will eventually have 38 satellites in orbit, with 17 already in place. With that name, both Jay and I wonder if it poses a threat to everyone’s computer-connected appliances.
- Another scientist expresses strong skepticism concerning the claimed discovery of particles from an interstellar meteorite
The skepticism is good. The sense of strong hostility I sense is not.
- The Perseverance team posts another dumb tweet making believe the rover is some cute person
The tweet includes an image looking towards the western rim of Jezero Crater, but they don’t tell us that. Instead, the tweet says: “I’ve had a great time here poking around the ancient riverbed. Gonna wrap up a few tasks and hit the road soon. What’s over this next rise? Let’s find out”
Jay writes, “I really don’t care for them to make Perseverance sound like a person. Don’t get me wrong, it is a marvelous piece of engineering, but it is not a person. I know they do this to make Mars more interesting to the general public.”
I say, “Why are you insulting my intelligence?” Not only isn’t Perseverance a person, to make believe it is on the stupid assumption that is the only way anyone will become interested reveals your utter contempt for the general public. Please stop!
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.
- Short animation from China showing its manned lunar landing concept
Though the details are very different, the basic concept remains essentially a copy of Apollo.
- Translation of Chinese press release describing its low-orbit internet-of-things constellation, dubbed the Apocalypse Constellation
The constellation will eventually have 38 satellites in orbit, with 17 already in place. With that name, both Jay and I wonder if it poses a threat to everyone’s computer-connected appliances.
- Another scientist expresses strong skepticism concerning the claimed discovery of particles from an interstellar meteorite
The skepticism is good. The sense of strong hostility I sense is not.
- The Perseverance team posts another dumb tweet making believe the rover is some cute person
The tweet includes an image looking towards the western rim of Jezero Crater, but they don’t tell us that. Instead, the tweet says: “I’ve had a great time here poking around the ancient riverbed. Gonna wrap up a few tasks and hit the road soon. What’s over this next rise? Let’s find out”
Jay writes, “I really don’t care for them to make Perseverance sound like a person. Don’t get me wrong, it is a marvelous piece of engineering, but it is not a person. I know they do this to make Mars more interesting to the general public.”
I say, “Why are you insulting my intelligence?” Not only isn’t Perseverance a person, to make believe it is on the stupid assumption that is the only way anyone will become interested reveals your utter contempt for the general public. Please stop!
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.
Desch says “These are pretty typical cosmic spherules.”
Dr. Loeb stated flatly that the spherules exhibited totally atypical isotopic ratios.
Which is it: Loeb is mistaken, or Desch can’t read.
Mr. Zimmerman: I want to correct you. The planned Chinese manned lunar mission seems to be more similar to the Soviet moon landing mission profile, although you can’t immediately tell from the short video.
The difference is that the Chinese lunar lander consists of practically only one rocket stage and not two rocket stages like the US model LEM. This Chinese lunar lander lands on and also takes off from the moon with just this single rocket stage. Much of the braking for landing the lunar lander from lunar orbit, as with the Soviet variant, is provided by a special rocket stage that is not an integral part of the lunar lander and is separated prior to the final landing phase performed by the lander alone (after this rocket stage has done its job). I’m assuming it’s the same rocket stage that was used to slow the entire Chinese manned lunar spacecraft assembly into lunar orbit.
Here is the Soviet mission profile to explain my comment above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw61OW4WEo0
The crasher stage.
I see another successful Falcon mission at Vandy…Tranche 0
“The skepticism is good. The sense of strong hostility I sense is not.”
Absolutely agree. It is apparent on Twitter (err, X) that Loeb has alienated much of the scientific community – or at least those whose tweets I see. That said, I do not know how many of the *obvious* steps Loeb has taken, but I am aware that it is certainly more than zero.
Perseverence is not a person” Still ANOTHER bigoted, right wing piece of drivel, Of course (insert pronoun of your choisc) is a person, unlike those deplorable MAGAs. We in the DNC will add granting citizenship to robots to our 2024cplatform. FREE THE ROBOTS !!
For those (like me) who can’t read thread on X-Twitter, here is an unroll of Steve Desch:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1697538023666397513.html
Another successful mission by the CIA and Mossad working together “Top Russian Space Scientist Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances” https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OfEgtTxxU2I?feature=share
David,
There’s also nitter, which lets you read X/Twitter w/o being logged in. You can search for keywords and accounts or go to a post directly by replacing twitter.com like this:
https://nitter.net/SpaceX/status/1698567498923389162
In case that domain is down, there are more nitter instances:
https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/wiki/Instances