September 20, 2024 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.
- Chinese pseudo-company building lunar low-gravity simulation test platform
China developed something similar to test its Zhurong Mars lander. This appears to be an upgraded version.
- Russia’s geosynchronous surveillance satellite moves close to Intelsat satellite
The Russians appear to use this geosynchronous Luch satellite to do reconnaissance of the electronic signals coming from these satellites.
- On this day in 1956 the Jupiter-C rocket was test fired for the first time
This was the rocket used to launch the U.S.’s first orbital satellite, Explorer-1, in 1958.
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.
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.
- Chinese pseudo-company building lunar low-gravity simulation test platform
China developed something similar to test its Zhurong Mars lander. This appears to be an upgraded version.
- Russia’s geosynchronous surveillance satellite moves close to Intelsat satellite
The Russians appear to use this geosynchronous Luch satellite to do reconnaissance of the electronic signals coming from these satellites.
- On this day in 1956 the Jupiter-C rocket was test fired for the first time
This was the rocket used to launch the U.S.’s first orbital satellite, Explorer-1, in 1958.
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.
Pretty cool space photo of Saturn and the Moon.
https://x.com/ajamesmccarthy/status/1837219848478412935?s=46
Paper on space based lasers
https://phys.org/news/2024-09-plenty-powerful-lasers-space.html
The PDF
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2409.08873
Crater guns
https://phys.org/news/2024-09-lunar-crater.html
This is kind of amazing: Deep Blue Space Nebula-1 just conducted a VTVL test, and posted footage. It is amazing because 1) the drone footage is jaw dropping (the drone gets *too* close for comfort), and 2) the test failed on landing, but Deep Blue posted their failure publicly anyway.
Maybe SpaceX is rubbing off on them in more ways than one?
https://x.com/starmil_admin/status/1837847137176244457
Something of note that I suspect will pass under almost everyone’s radar: Eric Berger’s Reentry, his history of the rise of SpaceX between Falcon 1 and the present day, comes out tomorrow (and many here know that, I think), he also did an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) Q&A session on the SpaceX subreddit on Reddit this afternoon. Some of his answers are worth scrolling down to read, especially where he fields questions about how the FAA’s relationship with SpaceX has changed in recent years. There are some things I did not know!
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/1fnq02q/eric_berger_rspacex_ama/
But here are just two of them, to give a taste:
Q: How do you think SpaceX would fare without Elon around? Still breakneck innovation? Do you think there would be a culture shift?
Eric Berger: “I think they would lose their founder’s mentality, and I think that would be bad for the Mars settlement ambitions. I have a lot more to say about this in the Epilogue of Reentry.”
Q: What do you respond to comments that say you have pro SpaceX bias?
Eric Berger: “I would say, hell yes I’m biased. I’m biased toward progress. I just missed the Apollo landings as a kid (born in 1973) and I would like to see humans get out there and explore and settle the Solar System, and beyond. Looking at the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, we didn’t go very far or fast. I chalk that up to a couple of things, including a lack of geopolitical need for deep space exploration, and large contractors doing only what the government asked and seeking to maximize profits over progress. I’ve been a critic of the SLS rocket because it exemplifies the way of doing things that is so slow, and so expensive, that you never really get anywhere.
“What excites me about commercial space is that you’ve got entrepreneurs and private capital seeking to do interesting things in space that could push humanity out there. A company like Astro Forge may well fail, but they’re giving asteroid-mining-on-the-cheap a go. Intuitive Machines is landing on the Moon. Astrolab is trying to build autonomous lunar rovers. I’m biased toward these new and innovative approaches to spaceflight. And yes, I’m biased toward SpaceX, because they are the greatest exemplar of progress in spaceflight in the 21st century. As a thought exercise, imagine what the US spaceflight enterprise looks like today if the fourth flight of the Falcon 1 fails, and SpaceX goes under. It’s kind of scary.”
Richard M,
First: SpaceX without Musk would likely be like Apple Computer without Steve Jobs. Both companies were creative with their founders, but Apple without its founder has been much less creative (and almost went out of business the first time).
Second: Berger’s reason for a bias toward SpaceX is the same as everyone else’s. It is why I am also biased toward Rocket Lab, which is working hard to find better efficiencies than SpaceX has. If Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic/Virgin Orbit had been as successful, we would be biased toward them, too. A decade ago, we would have been excited about them if they were where they are now, but in the meantime, excitement for their flights have been superseded by private orbital missions — missions that do science, research, and advancements rather than tourism.
I root for the NewSpace companies. Most of them are avoiding the traps that the large contractors fell into: skipping commercializing space in favor of working only for government customers on cost-plus contracts. No wonder the large contractors were so terribly slow; that is how their money is made. Having a cost-plus contract is like having a bird in the hand. If you finish on time and on budget, you just have to go out and win another contract, and that is like a bird in the bush; maybe you will get it, but you probably won’t.
NewSpace will soon not much depend upon government contracts but will make most of their money working for We the People. SpaceX has already made that transition, and several of the other NewSpace companies are headed in the same direction, where the majority customers are not the taxpayers but are the consumers; Rocket Lab may already be there, too. This is an admirable goal. It means that these companies are doing more of what We the People want, even though the government still gets the same amount of what it wants. The market is expanding rapidly. At long last, NewSpace companies have come along to make forward progress in this free market capitalist nation. We should have started doing this two-thirds of a century ago, but government held onto its monopoly and its monopsony.
Starlink makes billions of dollars each year (have they reached $3 billion, yet?), almost entirely from non-government sources, and the launch side of the company is working hard to keep up with that level of revenue, many from non-government sources (50 launches are worth around $3 billion, but will they have 50 non-Starlink launches this year?). SpaceX’s success and admiration comes from its willingness and ability to design its products for commercial customers — who, in the 1990s, had expressed their need for lower launch costs — but still appropriate for government customers. ULA (Boeing and Lockheed) designed its pre-Vulcan rockets for government customers only, which is why Arianespace was able to keep its market share for three decades.
Our bias for SpaceX comes from the company finally putting the priority where it belongs: low cost, readily available access to space. Ten years ago the company disrupted the paradigm for getting to space, and the other launch companies are still scrambling to catch up. SpaceX opened space to many more commercial endeavors than the previous half century of space launches did in total, making the dreams of the 1950s closer to reality than ever before.
So, yes, we are biased in favor of the company that is finally making our dreams come true and is forcing the rest of the world to do the same. For half a century, governments did not give us what we wanted, but now members of We the People are beginning to give us what we expected.