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.
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
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.
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
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