David Bowie & Freddie Mercury – Under Pressure
An evening pause: From a 1981 live performance.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Category: Behind The Black
February 7, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Why Europe might have backed off sending its astronauts to Tiangong-3
Eric Berger essentially repeats my initial one sentence analysis, just in more detail.
- JUICE ready for shipment to launchpad in French Guiana
If all goes as planned, this Jupiter orbiter will arrive at Jupiter in 2029.
- China’s space tracking ship heads to sea for 2023 launches
Jay thinks the the theme from “Love Boat” would be better background music for the video at the link.
- Progress freighter has undocked from Zvezda port, to be replaced by new Progress to be launched on February 9, 2023
Previously the Russians and NASA had said there would be no more dockings at Zvezda’s port to reduce the possibility of more stress fractures to the hull of that module. Apparently, they and NASA have changed their minds. It would be nice to know the reasoning behind that decision.
- Old Russian satellite breaks up in orbit, producing 85 pieces of space junk
The breakup was tracked by U.S. Space Defense Squadron, and occurred on January 4, 2023.
Today’s blacklisted American: Leftist professor fired by university for questioning its racist agenda
Ryan Hall
They’re coming for you next: English instructor Ryan Hall, a self-described leftist “who has never voted for a conservative in my life,” was fired by Western Kentucky University when he questioned its leftist and racist Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) agenda that was also leaving students fearful to speak their minds out of fear of being punished.
From the second link:
“While I may not categorize myself as a conservative, the assaults on free speech, self-reliance, meritocracy, the family, science, and truth should alarm everyone,” Hall said in an email interview this month with The College Fix. “Many have pointed out that our institutions of higher education increasingly look like the temples for a state religion attempting to create hierarchies based on byzantine and bogus ideas; such systems have never worked out well historically, no matter how many newly minted sinecures suggest otherwise,” he said.
Hall told The Fix he had canceled all of his classes, five of them, for a week while he confronted his university about its bias in February 2022. “They fired me that same month after a few days of discussion. … They fired me because I would not return until we reached an agreeable solution, not because of the classes I had canceled, according to the email I received,” Hall said.
The first link above goes to an op-ed Hall wrote for an organization called the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, which appears to be a loose coalition of Substack writers opposed to the bigoted policies of most universities. In that op-ed Hall added these facts as to why he challenged his superiors at Western Kentucky:
» Read more
Perseverance and Ingenuity begin the journey up onto Jezero Crater’s delta
To see the original images, go here and here.
Click for interactive map.
After two years of detailed exploration on the floor of Jezero crater, the rover Perseverance and its Mars helicopter scout Ingenuity have finally begun the climb up onto the delta that in eons past flowed into Jezero Crater.
The panorama above was created from two Perseverance images taken by its right navigation camera on February 7, 2023 (Sol 699) (here and here), looking forward and uphill. On the overview map to the right the blue dot marks Perseverance’s location, with the yellow lines indicating the approximate area covered by this mosaic. The red dotted line in both images indicate approximately the rover’s eventually path.
Ingenuity’s present position is marked by the green dot. This is where the helicopter landed after completing its 42nd flight on February 4, 2023. Planned to fly 823 feet for 137 seconds, Ingenuity actually flew a slightly shorter distance, 814 feet, in that length of time. The difference is probably the result of Ingenuity’s need to find a good landing spot, and the one it found was slightly closer to its take-off point.
The flight however took the helicopter uphill, scouting the terrain that Perseverance plans to drive. While there is no terrain here that is much of a challenge for the rover, having the helicopter’s ground images in advance allows its operators to plan longer drives, as those images will help tell them what obstacles to avoid and route to choose.
The green oval indicates the area that Perseverance has left its first ten core samples for later pickup and return to Earth.
Space Force to do major cleanup of diesel fuel spill on Hawaiian mountaintop
Space Force officials yesterday announced that it will to do major cleanup of the diesel fuel spill that occurred on the top of the mountain Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui last week.
The plan is to remove about 200 cubic yards of fuel-tainted soil, test the base of the dig, and then determine if more soil has to be removed.
The official making this announcement apologized repeatedly for the spill, so much so it was almost as if he was on his face on the ground, kow-towing. It of course made no difference. The leftist race-baiters in Hawaii made it clear where they stood on the matter.
On Friday, the Hawaiian rights group Kākoʻo Haleakalā called for the removal of all telescopes from the peak of Haleakala. The military “showcased their incompetence and lack of human decency when they allowed more than 700 gallons of diesel fuel to be spilled atop Haleakalā,” the group said in a statement.
“This is just the most recent example of how U.S. imperialism and military hegemony is protected in the Pacific while Hawaiians are ignored and our ʻāina is violated,” the statement said, using the Hawaiian term for land.
Let me translate: “We hate whites and America, and we want you out of Hawaii, now. And if you don’t go, we want you to cede all control to us, so that we treat you as the inferior beings we consider you to be.”
Note too that this group’s agenda is identical to the agenda of the race-baiters on the Big Island who are blocking construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope and are forcing the removal of telescopes there.
Japan’s H3 rocket’s first launch delayed due to problem in “flight system”
Japan’s space agency JAXA announced today that it will delay the first launch of its new H3 rocket for two days, to February 15, 2023, in order to fix an unidentified problem in the rocket’s “flight system.”
The H3 rocket’s first launch is already three years behind schedule. In 2022 the launch was delayed for a full year due to the discovery of defects in its main engines.
This government-controlled rocket was supposed to allow Japan to compete in the international launch market. It does not appear at this point that it will be able to do a very good job at that task. Though Mitsubishi is the main contractor, it appears JAXA is in charge and owns it. Such arrangements rarely produce a cheap, efficient, and reliable product for the commercial market.
Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo mother ship unveiled after major overhaul
Virgin Galactic yesterday rolled its WhiteKnightTwo mother ship from its hanger after a 15-month overhaul in preparation for taxi and flight tests.
After some initial taxi and flight tests in Mojave in California, the plane will fly to New Mexico for further flight tests with Unity attached. Company officials hope to complete these test flights by the end of March, and then begin commercial flights shortly thereafter.
In comparing the pictures released yesterday at the link above with this 2009 picture, it appears the company completely replaced the central bar that connects the plane’s two passenger sections. In the older picture, that bar was not straight, but was built like a very shallow upside-down “V”, with the center point where a SpaceShipTwo spacecraft was attached.
The new bar is straight, and appears more robust.
Russian engineers recommend staying with ISS through 2028
Russian engineers yesterday concluded that ISS is technically capable of being operated through 2028.
However, Russia’s committee system for making any decisions is not done. This first analysis was done by Roscosmos’ top managers and its lower level engineers.
The proposed decision will now be considered at a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Council of Roscosmos. Based on its results, the state corporation will draft a message the Russian government.
At that point the Putin government will have to decide on an exit date from ISS. According to the article by Russia’s state-run press, “the minimum configuration of Russia’s own orbital outpost” will be in orbit by 2028, thus giving the government the option to leave ISS. We shall see.
SpaceX successfully launches commercial communications satellites
SpaceX tonight successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to place a commercial geosynchronous satellite into orbit for the company Hispasat.
The first stage successfully completed its sixth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The 2023 launch race:
9 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
1 Japan
1 Russia
American private enterprise now leads China 10 to 5 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 10 to 7.
Chuck Berry & Etta James – Rock and Roll Music
An evening pause: Performed live 1986, on Berry’s 60th birthday.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
ULA closing facility in Texas that makes parts for the retiring Atlas-5 rocket
ULA has announced that it is shutting down its facility in Harlingen, Texas, that makes parts for the company’s soon-to-be retired Atlas-5 rocket.
The facility will shut down at the end of this year, with a loss of about 100 jobs.
This closure is actually a very positive sign for ULA. It indicates that it is streamlining its operations. For example, construction of the Vulcan rocket that replaces the Atlas-5 is all done in Alabama. One of the reasons Atlas-5 cost so much was the widespread distribution of its ULA facilities, probably done to satisfy congressional demands.
With Vulcan, ULA has instead been much more focused on making it less expensive so it can compete with SpaceX. Thus, it simplified its construction, putting everything in Alabama. (Choosing Alabama was likely to satisfy the most powerful senator at the time, porkmeister Richard Shelby (R-Alabama), who has now retired.)
February 6, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Scrapping of the ship Blue Origin purchased as a New Glenn 1st stage landing pad is ongoing
Blue Origin abandoned the idea of using this ship for landings last year. What it will do instead however remains entirely unclear.
- Polish satellite company signs launch agreement with Virgin Orbit
The press release says this deal calls for multiple satellite launches, but does not specify the number. The deal also suggests that this company thinks Virgin Orbit will survive its present hard times.
- Webb found an asteroid by accident during instrument calibration last year
I read this press release this morning, decided the story was mostly NASA fluff designed to sell Webb, and rejected giving it a full post. Discoveries like this happen all the time with all telescopes. Webb didn’t do anything special here. However, Jay is right that it deserves some mention, so here it is as a quick link.
- Comparison of three amazing rockets
You must click on the link. Trust me, you will find it worthwhile.
- ISRO releases new details about its Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander
The launch is presently scheduled for the summer of 2023.
- China building giant rocket engine test stand
The largest engines for its heavy lift Long March 9 Starship/Superheavy copy will test here.
- World View about to go public
Though it has previously touted its desire to launch high altitude balloon tourist flights, it is pushing the surveillance capabilities of its balloons at this time.