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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, 2025 Quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

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

  • Jeff Wright

    Friction stir unbound
    https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-fixturing-friction-technique-barriers.html

    Friction stir tools have been attached to robotic arms in the past, but they always required a separate anvil. Self-fixturing friction stir, however, uses an attachment for a robotic arm that includes both the friction stir tool and a miniature backing plate. If the old approach was an arm holding a pencil, the new approach is an arm holding both a pencil and a clipboard.

    “Once this is perfected, there will be no fixturing, no anvil, and no force transmitted into the assembly line,” Blocher said. “The only job of the robot will be to hold the friction stir attachment in place and to maintain the correct position.”

    “After that, the researchers will package self-fixturing friction stir into a more ergonomic, “industry-hardened” form so that the technology can be applied on real-world assembly lines.”

  • john hare

    I remember JP Aerospace at Space Access conferences a couple of decades back. The eventual propulsion that would allow slow acceleration to LEO was a topic of interest.

  • Jeff Wright

    That would be nice. It might make more sense to deploy an airship in space, and use ion drive to push it to Venus so it could slow down and become the High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC) concept.

    Turbines may be about to get better:
    https://techxplore.com/news/2025-09-clever-device-drastically-vibration-rotating.html

    An EPFL Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering has developed a device that significantly dampens the flow-induced vibration caused by rotating parts, such as those in boat propellers, turbines and hydraulic pumps. His device can be produced with a 3D printer and has recently been patented.It’s a classic case of beginner’s luck. Thomas Berger had just started his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at EPFL’s School of Engineering when he made his now-patented discovery, which is published in Scientific Reports. Today, investors are taking an interest in his promising technology. The next step will be to test the gyroid under more complicated conditions, such as those inside turbines.

    From:
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-11199-0

  • @Jeff Wright re: turbines

    Thanks for the link.

  • Jeff Wright

    I always try to look for bleeding edge stories–while still respecting the past.

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