September 11, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Video describing SpinLaunch’s plan to throw payloads into space
This is 42 minutes long so I haven’t watched it yet. I assume it includes a lot of details.
- SpaceX gets contract for 14 launches from Telesat, beginning in 2026
Telesat hopes to have its low orbit constellation operational and serving customers by 2027. With Starlink, OneWeb, and this new constellation, it appears that Blue Origin’s Kuiper system is getting to the pier long after the ship has sailed.
- Tianzhou freighter undocked from China’s Tiangong station today
It will remain in orbit until tomorrow, when it will be de-orbited to burn up over the ocean.
- China tests ground prototype of electromagnetic propulsion, obtaining speeds of 145 mph
The tweet claims this technology is being developed for launch technology, but that’s absurd based on the speed obtained in a 1,246 foot long track. More likely it will be used for ground transportation.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Video describing SpinLaunch’s plan to throw payloads into space
This is 42 minutes long so I haven’t watched it yet. I assume it includes a lot of details.
- SpaceX gets contract for 14 launches from Telesat, beginning in 2026
Telesat hopes to have its low orbit constellation operational and serving customers by 2027. With Starlink, OneWeb, and this new constellation, it appears that Blue Origin’s Kuiper system is getting to the pier long after the ship has sailed.
- Tianzhou freighter undocked from China’s Tiangong station today
It will remain in orbit until tomorrow, when it will be de-orbited to burn up over the ocean.
- China tests ground prototype of electromagnetic propulsion, obtaining speeds of 145 mph
The tweet claims this technology is being developed for launch technology, but that’s absurd based on the speed obtained in a 1,246 foot long track. More likely it will be used for ground transportation.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
The Spinlaunch video is worth watching just to see the demo of the airlock doors and other tech, also applicable to a linear tube launch system. The video out of China could be of a prototype that could be scaled
from the a=5m/s/s 300m to 200m/s/s 10km. China has an advantage in large construction projects due to the communist way they deal with local opponents, and US history of corruption that dates at least back to the Brooklyn Bridge Wire Rope fiasco.
Large flywheels are a good energy storage method too, as used in the MIT fusion experiments. Linear launch needs huge energy storage. So you heard it here first all in one place.