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.

• Pentagon’s Space Development Agency certifies 19 space companies to bid on development contracts
  The list covers almost every low orbit satellite and rocket company.

• Space News op-ed calls for new effort to defend against attacks on GPS
  It claims little has been done, but Jay disputes this: “We, the USA, have been researching and testing this for over fifteen years.” He notes that his own company has participated in installing systems for detecting and blocking attacks.

• Blue Origin proudly shows off first stage of first New Glenn rocket, its seven BE-4 engines finally installed
  Still no word on when the launch will occur.

• An animation showing the spread of debris in geosynchronous orbit from the breakup of Intelsat 33E satellite
  It appears the debris could threaten almost every satellite in geosynchronous orbit, though the odds of impact probably remain slim.

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.

• Chinese pseudo-company is accepting reservations for suborbital flights on its New Shepard copycat spacecraft
  They are targeting commercial tourist flights by 2027, with test flights beginning next year.

• Astra gets Defense Department contract worth $44 million to develop its Rocket-4 launch system
  It appears the Pentagon wants Astra to survive, and has given it this contract for that purpose.

• NASA unveils prototype of its proposed LISA orbiting gravitational-wave telescope
  LISA has been under development for almost two decades, has been delayed numerous times and now is not expected to launch until the 2030s. Great work if you can get it.

• NASA negotiating with China about research access to Chang’e-5 lunar samples
  The law requires NASA to bring in the FBI in such negotiations to make sure the talks will not release American technology to the Chinese. According to NASA’s administrator Bill Nelson, NASA has not yet done this, but intends to before any samples are delivered to the U.S. In other words, he is violating not only the letter but the spirit of the law, designed to keep China away from American space assets.

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.

• Next American unmanned lunar mission is Firefly before end of year, landing in early ’25, with Intuitive Machines next attempt launching and landing at about the same time
  If both go off as promised the end of the year will be quite interesting.

• Intuitive Machines picks Cobalt-60 as fuel for new spacecraft electrical power source
  This appears to be the first time Cobalt-60 has ever been used. From Jay: “It is easy to make Co-60, just bombard iron with neutrons. It happens all the time at nuclear reactors when stray neutrons hit steel, but it has a short half life of five years. It puts outs beta decay, that is what they are using for heat, but the gamma rays it puts out worries me with the electronics. They probably licked that problem or else they would not do it.”

• Vast unveils a new website
  Nicely done. Simple and easy to navigate.

• Long March 2F and Shenzhou capsule now at launchpad for eighth manned mission to China’s Tiangong-3 space station
  The video provides a lot of visual shots of the rocket, the stacked spacecraft, and the launchpad. The grid fins on what I think is the rocket’s upper stage are most intriguing. That stage takes the capsule into orbit. Is China trying to bring it back to Earth for reuse?

• A picture of Laika, the first dog in space, launched November 3, 1957 on Sputnik 2
  The Soviets made no plans to bring her back to Earth, and so she died in space.

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.

• Amazon requests temporary authority from FCC to operate one of its two Kuiper test satellites in a lower orbit for six month [pdf]
  The original plan was to lower the orbits of both satellites just prior to de-orbiting. Amazon now wants to do additional orbital communications testing with one satellite at this lower orbit for six months.

• Stoke Space touts its new vertical engine static fire test stand
  The company is doing final tests of the stand before actual engine tests.

• Russia touts mock-ups of its Oryol manned capsule intended to replace Soyuz
  Note that these are “mock-ups”, not the real thing. Oryol was first proposed in 2009 and isn’t supposed to launch until 2028. In other words, Russia is taking about as long as it took NASA to create a new manned capsule. And both are demonstrating their incompetence as they do so.