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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
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.


September 18, 2020 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast

Embedded below the fold in two parts.

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

3 comments

  • ARR

    In part 1 I believe the term you wanted was “observational data”. I have been listening to JB since 2005 and it’s where I discovered BTB.

  • LocalFluff

    Insight has discovered something interesting, and completely unexpected, about Solar eclipses on Mars. Although the tiny 11 km diameter Phobos only shades about a third of the Sun for half a minute, the Martian ground temperature in the shadow immediately drops and thus the crust shrinks a bit, which Insight’s seismometer has measured. The effect during a dust storm should be even greater. Such oscillations might cause proper Mars quakes. A phenomena not observed on Earth because our thicker atmosphere keeps the ground temperature more stable during eclipses.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SMgn16qVI0

    Anton Petrov is a bit comical “Hello wonderful person!” But he has a formal education in astronomy and plows through recent astronomy papers, that he links to:
    https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020GL089099

    @ARR
    I on the other hand discovered John Batchelor Show because of Robert Z. And I’ve recommended it to many who have an interest in international security policy and US politics. He’s a damn good radio man with damn good guests!

  • Richard M

    Re: Three Vulcan launches on short schedule for Dynetics

    A friend of mine who works the range at the Cape – who is, I should add, a big fan of ULA – was fairly dumbfounded when he heard about this plan to launch three Vulcans within “14-20 day centers.” From what I can make out, ULA has never managed turnaround on SCL-41 in less than 29 days, which looks to be, I think, something they did only once.

    Now, it is true that ULA has a second pad (SLC-37) at the Cape that perhaps COULD be used; but it’s configured only for Delta IV Heavy, and the current plan is for ULA to wind it down rather than rebuild it for Vulcan. So unless that changes, that’s out.

    This is not to say it is *impossible* that ULA could do this. But it would take, at minimum, a 2 shift workforce, which is a lot of extra payroll for ULA. I guess they could just send the bill to NASA, but oe hopes that isbeing mde clear up front. Suddenly, those Vulcan launches start getting more expensive….

    It should be noted that the three launch Vulcan architecture is only needed on the initial mission; after that, the lander is already up there to be reused, and then you’d just need two launches, to bring up the fuel.

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