Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• An analysis of the landing failure of Hakuto-R1

This is thirty minute presentation, which concludes that though there was a failure of the software, in the end the failure was due to management errors, including changing the landing site without doing sufficient simulations.

• Boeing CEO says company still committed to Starliner

Sounds good, eh? Don’t bet on it. The company is almost a billion dollars in the hole due to the extra costs incurred because the project’s failure, with no sign yet of any income in the near future.

• Delta-4 Heavy launch scheduled for tonight, at 3:29 am Eastern

This will be the first Delta-4 Heavy launch in almost three years. More significant, it will be ULA’s first launch in 2023, a number that is even lower that its low launch numbers of recent years. At this pace it will be a challenge for ULA to match its lowest launch counts of five, from ’19 and ’21. UPDATE: Scrubbed, reschedule 24 hours later.

• Anonymous source says Blue Origin will now require in-office work, five days per week

The source’s whining about this is amusing, but it also suggests once again the culture and management at Blue Origin is not the best.

• China claims it has a large alliance of space-faring nations who have agreed to partner on its lunar base

Except for Russia and the UAE, all are small time third world nations with no space infrastructure. Many have also not made a commitment, simply opened discussions. Russia will contribute little, and the UAE has a conflict as it also wants to participate in Artemis. U.S. law makes participating in both very very difficult, if not impossible.

• China’s state-run press deletes comments from professor claiming NASA had agreed to use China’s Queqiao lunar relay communications satellite

Either the professor was misinformed, or he revealed illegal negotiations by Biden’s NASA that NASA didn’t want revealed. If the latter, there was probably a frantic call made to China by the White House, begging them to censor this information, and China gladly obliged.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Sierra Space awarded a Space Act Agreement by NASA commercial space development program

It was one of seven companies receiving similar unfunded support grants, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, Vast, and others.

• China announces it will allow NASA and others to use its Queqiao lunar relay communications satellites

That’s nice, but U.S. law forbids NASA or any countries it works with to work with China. This announcement is simply a PR effort by China to make believe it works with others selflessly.

• Graphic showing all of China’s different pseudo-commercial rockets and engines, as of this date

Many of these have not yet launched, though most I expect will with time.

• Russia celebrates the 60th anniversary of the first female flight in space by Valentina Tereshkova by honoring her

According to Jay, she is still a member of Russia’s Duma (its congress), and voted for the Ukraine invasion. No wonder Putin gave her this award.

May everyone have a great weekend!

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Vast selects Impulse Space to provide the propulsion system for its first space station, dubbed Haven-1

This station is the one that Vast has hired SpaceX to launch as a single module.

• Bankers: ULA, Ball Aerospace, and Boeing’s space portfolio are being shopped around for sale

Unless you could get a really good price for their assets, right now I wonder why anyone would want ULA or Boeing, as neither seems well positioned to compete in the present space market, now or even in the near future.

• Video of today’s launch of China’s Long March 2D rocket

The panels falling from the rocket are not a mistake but intended. Used for insulation while on the launchpad, they are abandoned when no longer needed to save weight.

• Malaysian professor at Chinese university claims NASA agreed to use China’S Queqiao lunar communications satellites on its Artemis moon missions

Since there is a law on the books forbidding NASA or any government agency from working with China, this claim is almost certainly bogus. It is more likely China’s attempt to lobby an end to that law.

• Kuiper official urges governments to regulate the methods used by satellite makers to maneuver their satellites

I like Jay’s comment: “How many satellites does Kuiper have again? Zero. Damn arm-chair satellite companies!” The timing of this statement, a day after the WEF issued its proposed government guidelines for de-orbiting satellites, suggests Amazon supports that effort, but has a different approach as to how those rules should be implemented.

In other words, Amazon wants to dictate how others build their satellites. Or make it illegal for them to do so as they wish. Seems a great plan for eliminating one’s competition.