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Readers!

 

My July fund-raising campaign to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary since I began Behind the Black is now over. I want to thank all those who so generously donated or subscribed, especially those who have become regular supporters. I can't do this without your help. I also find it increasingly hard to express how much your support means to me. God bless you all!

 

The donations during this year's campaign were sadly less than previous years, but for this I blame myself. I am tired of begging for money, and so I put up the campaign announcement at the start of the month but had no desire to update it weekly to encourage more donations, as I have done in past years. This lack of begging likely contributed to the drop in donations.

 

No matter. I am here, and here I intend to stay. If you like what I do and have not yet donated or subscribed, 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 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.

 

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Welsh university delivers spectometer for Europe’s Franklin Mars rover

Aberystwyth University in Wales this week delivered the spectometer instrument, dubbed Enfys, to be installed on Franklin Mars rover being built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and now scheduled for launch in 2028.

Enfys will work in tandem with PanCam – a camera system led by UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory – to pinpoint mineral targets. These insights will enable the rover to select optimal drilling sites on the Martian surface, with samples analysed by other onboard instruments. The instrument being shipped today will be installed on the rover’s ‘Earth twin’ known as the Ground Test Model located at the Aerospace Logistics Technology Engineering Company in Turin.

Since the Franklin rover was initially supposed to launch in 2020, it is puzzling this instrument is only being delivered now. It could be that the original spectrometer was supposed to be provided by ESA’s original partner in the project Russia, but became unavailable when that partnership broke up due to Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.

Or it could be the instrument’s development was simply late and behind schedule, as so many ESA’s projects routinely are. For example, the mission’s launch was first delayed from ’20 to ’22 because the parachutes weren’t ready. Then it was delayed until ’28 because of the break-up with Russia. Even now it remains uncertain it will meet this new date.

Genesis cover

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

One comment

  • John

    Maybe the rover already has its mass spectrometer and this is just a duplicate for R&D and troubleshooting in the ground test module.

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