September 27, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesty of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also deserves hat tips for the Ingenuity and Iran stories earlier today.
- Rocket Lab revises downward its third quarter revenue numbers because of recent launch failure
This revision is required to keep present and potential investors accurately informed.
- Related: Rocket Lab touts with a picture the many rockets ready to go, once the launch failure investigation is completed
This is just normal PR, not to be taken too seriously. However Jay adds this comment: “To the new CEO of Blue Origin, take note of this picture.”
- China to consider four capsule proposals for bringing cargo to its space station
All of the proposals come from government space agencies. This decision simply allows the four chosen to begin detailed design work.
- The most recent 22 Starlink satellites launched included next generation optical lasers
The lasers allow the satellites to connect to each other, creating essentially a communications mesh in space. More information here.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
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Courtesty of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also deserves hat tips for the Ingenuity and Iran stories earlier today.
- Rocket Lab revises downward its third quarter revenue numbers because of recent launch failure
This revision is required to keep present and potential investors accurately informed.
- Related: Rocket Lab touts with a picture the many rockets ready to go, once the launch failure investigation is completed
This is just normal PR, not to be taken too seriously. However Jay adds this comment: “To the new CEO of Blue Origin, take note of this picture.”
- China to consider four capsule proposals for bringing cargo to its space station
All of the proposals come from government space agencies. This decision simply allows the four chosen to begin detailed design work.
- The most recent 22 Starlink satellites launched included next generation optical lasers
The lasers allow the satellites to connect to each other, creating essentially a communications mesh in space. More information here.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
“The lasers allow the satellites to connect to each other, creating essentially a communications mesh in space. ”
AFAIK, jamming or intercepting laser links between sats from the ground is pretty hard, maybe impossible with today’s tech. Perhaps the day when ground stations can send or receive laser messages is not far off? Until then, messages have to come down as probably-jammable radio signals.
Another factor is that laser links can carry a lot more data at less power, making it easier to use multi-path message routing, and thus yielding a resilient network that is able to route around destroyed nodes. Sound familiar?
I predict that the next CEO of Blue Origin will be another corporate “yes-man”, no threat to Bezos‘ power, and nothing will continue to happen.