September 3, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, with the last two links today from readers Mike Nelson and Robert Pratt respectively. 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.
- Blue Origin releases an image of its New Glenn first stage landing ship, dubbed Jacklyn
The tweet says it is “arriving very soon.” Why is it that everything from Blue Origin is “arriving very soon?” Isn’t it time for something to get here already?
- Rocket Lab’s CEO shows off factory filled with Electron and Haste rockets, ready to launch
I wonder if they will attempt to recover and reuse any. They had been pushing hard to reuse the first stage last year, but recently that effort seems to have faded.
- China touts prototype moon soil bricks to be sent to its Tiangong-3 space station to see how they handle the harsh environment of space
They claim the bricks are stronger than concrete.
- India’s space agency is still targeting a December ’24 to February ’25 window for first unmanned Gaganyaan test flight
They still hope to fly the manned mission is 2025.
- Scientist obtain first detection of a weak electrical field around the Earth first predicted more than 60 years ago
That early data had found a stream of particles escaping at the poles, and the most likely explanation was this weak field, now confirmed.
- Keynote speech by Kathryn Lueders, SpaceX’s general manager at Boca Chica, at an August 27th event run by the Brownsville Chamber of Congress
She outlines the company’s strong commitment to the Brownsville area, and how it will facilitate the fast production and reflight of Starship spacecraft. This commitment also includes the hiring of 300 more engineers.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. 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.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, with the last two links today from readers Mike Nelson and Robert Pratt respectively. 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.
- Blue Origin releases an image of its New Glenn first stage landing ship, dubbed Jacklyn
The tweet says it is “arriving very soon.” Why is it that everything from Blue Origin is “arriving very soon?” Isn’t it time for something to get here already?
- Rocket Lab’s CEO shows off factory filled with Electron and Haste rockets, ready to launch
I wonder if they will attempt to recover and reuse any. They had been pushing hard to reuse the first stage last year, but recently that effort seems to have faded.
- China touts prototype moon soil bricks to be sent to its Tiangong-3 space station to see how they handle the harsh environment of space
They claim the bricks are stronger than concrete.
- India’s space agency is still targeting a December ’24 to February ’25 window for first unmanned Gaganyaan test flight
They still hope to fly the manned mission is 2025.
- Scientist obtain first detection of a weak electrical field around the Earth first predicted more than 60 years ago
That early data had found a stream of particles escaping at the poles, and the most likely explanation was this weak field, now confirmed.
- Keynote speech by Kathryn Lueders, SpaceX’s general manager at Boca Chica, at an August 27th event run by the Brownsville Chamber of Congress
She outlines the company’s strong commitment to the Brownsville area, and how it will facilitate the fast production and reflight of Starship spacecraft. This commitment also includes the hiring of 300 more engineers.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. 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.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Donald Trump Interview
Lex Fridman Podcast #442
https://youtu.be/qCbfTN-caFI
1:04:17
Donald Trump Interview
This Past Weekend with Theo Von #526
https://youtu.be/vC5cHjcgt5g
57:31
“My 9th grade Civics teacher, Barbara Ollinger would be tickled to know that one of her students is getting to sit down with a President today. So, I just wanted to speak her name. She taught me to care about our Country, and I still do.”
Hilarity ensues.
JAXA veteran enjoying private enterprise!
https://x.com/astro_wakata/status/1830977527457706005?s=46
‘Jacklyn’ looks to be about 5 times bigger than the SpaceX landing barges.
I don’t believe many really understand how popular SpaceX is in the Rio Grande Valley. It has driven a lot of tourism, and the area reaps those benefits along with all the jobs the Starbase has brought to the area. IFT-5, if it happens in late September/early October, will be a monster windfall to the area in that this time of the year is generally the dead time. For instance, you could probably shoot a cannon down Padre Blvd. on SPI this afternoon and not hit anyone. As soon as Labor Day is over, the place clears out until Thanksgiving.
With all the problems with leaks–I wonder if there can be an X-Prize for Valve design.
An X-Prize for LVs never made much sense in that you either had big enough money for spaceflight or you don’t.
But an X-Prize for valves is at the Make Movement scale and is more open to the hobby crowd–something besides BATTLEBOTS