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.
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
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.
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
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.