September 26, 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.
- Stoke Space touts the water deluge system for its new engine test stand
If I were them, I wouldn’t broadcast this as it increases the chances that the thugs at the EPA will move in to shut it down.
- Rocket startup Maiaspace wins lease to take over old Soyuz launchpad in French Guiana
The startup is owned entirely by ArianeGroup, builder of the Ariane-6 rocket, and is attempting to build a smaller reusuable rocket.
- Total debris from breakup of Chinese upper stage Long March 6 rocket in August now totals 538 objects
Tracking detected an additional 149.
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.
- Stoke Space touts the water deluge system for its new engine test stand
If I were them, I wouldn’t broadcast this as it increases the chances that the thugs at the EPA will move in to shut it down.
- Rocket startup Maiaspace wins lease to take over old Soyuz launchpad in French Guiana
The startup is owned entirely by ArianeGroup, builder of the Ariane-6 rocket, and is attempting to build a smaller reusuable rocket.
- Total debris from breakup of Chinese upper stage Long March 6 rocket in August now totals 538 objects
Tracking detected an additional 149.
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.
Netanyahu Issues Clear Warning To Iran
(9-27-24)
https://youtu.be/uA16IyrWy8c
35:52
This is kind of big. Via Ryan Caton of NASASpaceFlight just now, a remarkable revelation from the NASA Crew-9 Pre-launch briefing:
“@NASA’s Steve Stich announced that Dragon now has the ability to utilise its SuperDraco thrusters, designed for a launch escape scenario, during splashdown in the event that all 4 parachutes fail. @SpaceX’s Bill Gerstenmaier says that this capability has been flown before, however this is just the first time it is being flown on a @NASA mission. He confirms it allows Dragon to fire the SuperDracos “at the very end” to provide a “tolerable landing” for the crew. @SpaceX got “good comments” from the @PolarisProgram Dawn crew, and will share those with the spaceflight community. “We have extra confidence in our Draco thrusters” – I wonder what this could be referencing.”
https://x.com/dpoddolphinpro/status/1839791191258255771
NASA briefing video, in full, on X: https://x.com/NASA/status/1839774343464735043
Now, to be sure, the chances of all four Dragon parachutes ever failing simultaneously on a Crew Dragon EDL are….pretty goshdarned remote. As in, “move your decimal point over a few places” remote. But it is still very interesting to learn that NASA has sanctioned a regime for retropropulsive EDL for a crewed spaceship with its astronauts on board, a regime which has been worked out carefully and programmed with NASA approval — even if it is only for a last resort scenario. Because this could be the first crack in the door that gets us to regularized retropropulsive landing of crewed spacecraft on Earth. Even if it ends up taking NASA longer than commercial customers to make it normative for *its* employees.
Being really pedantic here – comment under first link: “If I were they”. Sounds weird, but calls for the nominative case.
Andi: What I wrote just sounds right, even if it is wrong grammatically.
Bob: fair enough. The stone those rules are cast in isn’t all that hard.. :)