Behind The Black – Robert Zimmerman

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. 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.

• Lunar Trailblazer failed because the software pointed the solar panels *away* from the Sun
  Apparently Lockheed Martin failed to test the solar panel pointing software before launch. The NPR article the tweet links to of course advocates more money for NASA, even though comparably budgeted commercial lunar missions have succeeded just fine.

• Changes in leadership at NASA’s commercial crew and space operations programs
  The changes appear linked to Starliner report, which put some blame on those in charge at the time.

• The Starship header tank from test flight 9 has washed up in Madagascar
  SpaceX sent out two contractors to inspect it. If SpaceX doesn’t reclaim it, the locals want to turn it into a monument.

• The January 22nd tank failure on Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket attributed to manufacturing defect by 3rd party contractor
  Rocket Lab has made changes in the design, and is now building the tank in-house. Neutron’s maiden launch is now targeting the fourth quarter of this year.

• Senate version of NASA re-authorization bill bans NASA from buying more than 50% of its launches from one provider
  The bill also allows NASA to seek waivers. Considering that the options other than SpaceX are presently few, expect this rule, if passed into law, to be waived frequently.

• On this day in 1966 a Saturn-1B rocket launched Apollo capsule/service module on its first unmanned test flight
  The suborbital flight was a test both of the Saturn-1B rocket and the Apollo capsule.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. 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.

• A graphic of the crew ejection system on the Soviet Union’s Buran shuttle
  The copycat of the American shuttle only flew once, unmanned. For all we know this was never installed or even built.

• None of the Soyuz equipment at French Guiana will be preserved as rocket startup MaiaSpace takes over the launchpad
  Some want it put in a museum. The director of the spaceport: “I’m not of that mindset.”

• Australia’s space agency touts its support for India’s Gaganyaan manned mission
  India’s space agency ISRO has installed a tracking antenna at one of Australia’s facilities.

• On this day in 1972 the Soviet Union’s 2nd lunar sample return mission, Luna 20, returned a core sample to Earth
  The sample came from the Moon’s Sea of Fertility. The tweet shows a 2010 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Luna 20 on the lunar surface.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. 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.

• DIRECTV and SKY Brasil sign deal with Amazon Leo to offer satellite internet across South America
  I suspect that Amazon is offering great deals in order to attract customers, since it is way behind Starlink in market share and operations.

• The reentry Mengzhou capsule used in the recent launch abort test will remain at sea for further drop tests

• On this day in 1969 Mariner 6 was launched on a Mars flyby mission
  Aimed at the Martian southern cratered highlands because that region was thought to exhibit seasonal changes, the images instead showed a lifeless and cratered Mars, much like the Moon, a very mistaken impression.

• On this day in 2009 the Hubble Space Telescope took this photo of Saturn with of its four moons visible—Titan, Mimas, Dione, and Enceladus

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. 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.

• One of the largest known stars has changed color
  The star is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud 160,000 light years away, and has a diameter believed to be 1,500 times that of the Sun. What is happening is not really understood, but the possibilities are fascinating,

• Perseverance’s software can now more precisely pinpoint the rover’s location
  The article makes a lot of silly claims (such as this is “like GPS”), but all that is happening is the software compares multiple images to gather a 3D picture of its surroundings. And it is simply doing it more precisely than in the past.

• On this day in 1990, Pioneer 11 crossed the orbit of Neptune, the first human spacecraft to travel that far
  Contact was lost in 1995.

• On this day in 1997, the Air Force’s Titan IVB rocket launched for the first time
  The tweet shows a photo from the launch of the Cassini-Huygens mission later that year.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. 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.

• Video from Sierra Space of the Tenacity Dream Chaser tow tests
  Posted last week, but I think it shows the tow tests done in November 2025. As I noted then, these tow tests should have been done years ago, not after final electromagnetic, telemetry, and vibration tests. There is something wrong here that Sierra Space is not telling us.

• On this day in 1966, the USSR launched an adapted Voskhod spacecraft carrying the dogs Veterok and Ugolyok
  The mission lasted 21 days — the first such long term flight — and returned the dogs alive, though in poor health. They had lost weight, but more important was the discovery that weightlessness caused a loss of bone density.

• On this day in 1969, the Soviet Union attempted the first test flight of its giant N-1 rocket
  The launch was a failure, as were the three that followed.