May 21, 2024 Quick space links
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.
- ULA to study using blimps to transport rocket sections from factory to launchsite
It signed a deal with the airship company Aeros.
- RFA touts video of its first static fire test of the first stage of its RFA-1 rocket
The test went off perfectly. However, one local news report stated that the company hopes to launch “by the end of the year”, which suggests a delay, caused either by development issues or red tape from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. Previously the word had been the launch would happen by June.
- China to expand its commercial launchpad facilities at its Wenchang coastal spaceport
The expansion indicates the continuing growth in China’s pseudo-private launch industry. It also illustates another way the Chinese government maintains control over those pseudo-companies, which have to launch from government-run sites.
- On this day 50 years ago the Soviet Union ended its Moon rocket program
The rocket was the N1, which never launched successfully.
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.
- ULA to study using blimps to transport rocket sections from factory to launchsite
It signed a deal with the airship company Aeros.
- RFA touts video of its first static fire test of the first stage of its RFA-1 rocket
The test went off perfectly. However, one local news report stated that the company hopes to launch “by the end of the year”, which suggests a delay, caused either by development issues or red tape from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. Previously the word had been the launch would happen by June.
- China to expand its commercial launchpad facilities at its Wenchang coastal spaceport
The expansion indicates the continuing growth in China’s pseudo-private launch industry. It also illustates another way the Chinese government maintains control over those pseudo-companies, which have to launch from government-run sites.
- On this day 50 years ago the Soviet Union ended its Moon rocket program
The rocket was the N1, which never launched successfully.
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 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 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
Glacial tributaries draining south on Mars
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 27, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as a “valley network”, what appears to be several tributaries flowing downhill from the northeast to come together into a larger single flow to the southwest. The elevation drop from the high to the low points in this picture is about 600 feet.
What formed the valleys? This location is at 35 degrees south latitude, so we are almost certainly looking at what appear to be shallow glaciers within those valleys, protected by a thin veneer of dust and debris. It also appears that the stippled surrounding plains might also contain a lot of near-surface ice, also protected by a thin layer of dust and debris. The stippling indicates some sublimation and erosion.
» Read more
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 27, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as a “valley network”, what appears to be several tributaries flowing downhill from the northeast to come together into a larger single flow to the southwest. The elevation drop from the high to the low points in this picture is about 600 feet.
What formed the valleys? This location is at 35 degrees south latitude, so we are almost certainly looking at what appear to be shallow glaciers within those valleys, protected by a thin veneer of dust and debris. It also appears that the stippled surrounding plains might also contain a lot of near-surface ice, also protected by a thin layer of dust and debris. The stippling indicates some sublimation and erosion.
» Read more
Air Force proposes installing seven more telescopes on Hawaiian peak
Air Force is proposing the addition of seven more telescopes on the top of Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
It appears it is also facing major opposition within Hawaii to this proposal.
Last week, the Air Force held scoping meetings in Kahului, Pukalani and Kihei that drew hundreds of people, many of them Native Hawaiians who consider Haleakala sacred and oppose any further installation of telescopes. They made their voices loud and clear in many hours of testimony.
“The American military is like a sick old man who won’t take no for an answer,” said Sesame Shim. Shim described the installation of telescopes on Haleakala as a violent desecration of a family member, an analogy several other women echoed in testimony, eliciting loud applause.
According to the Air Force, the telescope are needed to track the growing number of orbiting objects in space.
If the Air Force proceeds, I am sure this opposition will attempt to physically block construction, as it did with the now practically defunct Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s big island. It appears that the political forces on Hawaii not only are opposed to all technology, they are hostile to all non-natives, and are working in the end to cleanse their islands of these white-skinned devils.
Air Force is proposing the addition of seven more telescopes on the top of Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
It appears it is also facing major opposition within Hawaii to this proposal.
Last week, the Air Force held scoping meetings in Kahului, Pukalani and Kihei that drew hundreds of people, many of them Native Hawaiians who consider Haleakala sacred and oppose any further installation of telescopes. They made their voices loud and clear in many hours of testimony.
“The American military is like a sick old man who won’t take no for an answer,” said Sesame Shim. Shim described the installation of telescopes on Haleakala as a violent desecration of a family member, an analogy several other women echoed in testimony, eliciting loud applause.
According to the Air Force, the telescope are needed to track the growing number of orbiting objects in space.
If the Air Force proceeds, I am sure this opposition will attempt to physically block construction, as it did with the now practically defunct Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s big island. It appears that the political forces on Hawaii not only are opposed to all technology, they are hostile to all non-natives, and are working in the end to cleanse their islands of these white-skinned devils.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
China’s Kuaizhou-11 rocket launches four satellites
China yesterday successfully placed four satellites into orbit, its solid-fueled Kuaizhou-11 rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.
The only information about the satellites released by China’s state-run press was that one was “an ultra-low orbit technology test satellite,” likely similar to the reconnaissance satellites that Redwire is producing here in the U.S.
The state-run press also made no mention on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
52 SpaceX
23 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 59 to 36, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 52 to 43.
China yesterday successfully placed four satellites into orbit, its solid-fueled Kuaizhou-11 rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.
The only information about the satellites released by China’s state-run press was that one was “an ultra-low orbit technology test satellite,” likely similar to the reconnaissance satellites that Redwire is producing here in the U.S.
The state-run press also made no mention on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
52 SpaceX
23 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 59 to 36, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 52 to 43.
Sierra Space’s Tenacity mini-shuttle arrives at the Cape
Capitalism in space: Sierra Space’s Tenacity Dream Chaser mini-shuttle has finally arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its final testing and assembly onto ULA’s Vulcan rocket.
Upon arrival at Kennedy, teams moved Dream Chaser Tenacity to the high bay inside the Space Systems Processing Facility, where it will undergo final testing and prelaunch processing ahead of its launch scheduled for later this year.
…The remaining pre-flight activities at Kennedy include acoustic and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing, completion of work on the spaceplane’s thermal protection system, and final payload integration.
If all goes right, Tenacity’s first mission will last 45 days, delivery about 7,800 pounds of cargo to ISS, and prove out the reusable mini-shuttle for up to seven more flights to ISS.
Capitalism in space: Sierra Space’s Tenacity Dream Chaser mini-shuttle has finally arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for its final testing and assembly onto ULA’s Vulcan rocket.
Upon arrival at Kennedy, teams moved Dream Chaser Tenacity to the high bay inside the Space Systems Processing Facility, where it will undergo final testing and prelaunch processing ahead of its launch scheduled for later this year.
…The remaining pre-flight activities at Kennedy include acoustic and electromagnetic interference and compatibility testing, completion of work on the spaceplane’s thermal protection system, and final payload integration.
If all goes right, Tenacity’s first mission will last 45 days, delivery about 7,800 pounds of cargo to ISS, and prove out the reusable mini-shuttle for up to seven more flights to ISS.
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke
ESA narrows Ariane-6 launch date to first two weeks in July
In an announcement today, the European Space Agency (ESA) narrowed the launch window for the first launch of its new Ariane-6 rocket to the first two weeks in July.
It also stated that the final launch date will be revealed in the first week of June, during presentations at an air show in Berlin, Germany.
In the next month the rocket will undergo a full dress rehearsal countdown on the launchpad. It will then be “drained of fuel in preparation” for the actual launch.
This rocket is built and mostly owned by the private consortium ArianeGroup, made up of a partnership of Airbus and Safran, and working in conjunction with ESA. Though Arianespace, ESA’s long time commercial arm, is mentioned as ESA’s “launch service provider” for this launch, it is very clear that it is being pushed aside and will soon become irrelevant. The rocket is four years behind schedule and being entirely expendable it is too expensive to compete in the modern launch market. The member nations of ESA have rejected it, and so they are shifting to a capitalism in space model, whereby they no longer have a government commercial “launch service provider” like Arianespace, but instead buy launch services from competing private European rocket companies.
Europe’s problem is that it will take time to develop these private companies. In the interim it will be forced to use Ariane-6, but likely only for a few years. There are at least five new rocket companies in Europe, with three (Rocket Factory Augsburg, PLD, and Hyimpulse) having already completed their first launch tests.
In an announcement today, the European Space Agency (ESA) narrowed the launch window for the first launch of its new Ariane-6 rocket to the first two weeks in July.
It also stated that the final launch date will be revealed in the first week of June, during presentations at an air show in Berlin, Germany.
In the next month the rocket will undergo a full dress rehearsal countdown on the launchpad. It will then be “drained of fuel in preparation” for the actual launch.
This rocket is built and mostly owned by the private consortium ArianeGroup, made up of a partnership of Airbus and Safran, and working in conjunction with ESA. Though Arianespace, ESA’s long time commercial arm, is mentioned as ESA’s “launch service provider” for this launch, it is very clear that it is being pushed aside and will soon become irrelevant. The rocket is four years behind schedule and being entirely expendable it is too expensive to compete in the modern launch market. The member nations of ESA have rejected it, and so they are shifting to a capitalism in space model, whereby they no longer have a government commercial “launch service provider” like Arianespace, but instead buy launch services from competing private European rocket companies.
Europe’s problem is that it will take time to develop these private companies. In the interim it will be forced to use Ariane-6, but likely only for a few years. There are at least five new rocket companies in Europe, with three (Rocket Factory Augsburg, PLD, and Hyimpulse) having already completed their first launch tests.
David Bowie – Cat People
May 20, 2024 Quick space links
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.
- Georgia governor signs law dissolving Camden spaceport plan
The spaceport had been dead due to a voter referendum, but this seals the deal.
- PLD team working with French Space Agency in French Guiana, planning future launches
The Spanish company plans to launch its orbital Miura-5 rocket from there. France, which owns and now runs the spaceport, apparently wants to open it to other independent European companies.
- Another instrument installed on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander
The launch is presently targeting a launch this year.
- China’s Long March 2D launch today tested grid fins on first stage
This apparently was the third such test, aimed at simply narrowing the crash sites for these stages, not recovering the stages.
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.
- Georgia governor signs law dissolving Camden spaceport plan
The spaceport had been dead due to a voter referendum, but this seals the deal.
- PLD team working with French Space Agency in French Guiana, planning future launches
The Spanish company plans to launch its orbital Miura-5 rocket from there. France, which owns and now runs the spaceport, apparently wants to open it to other independent European companies.
- Another instrument installed on Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander
The launch is presently targeting a launch this year.
- China’s Long March 2D launch today tested grid fins on first stage
This apparently was the third such test, aimed at simply narrowing the crash sites for these stages, not recovering the stages.
Solar storms are simply no longer a threat
The sunspot cycle as of May 2024. Click
for full details.
Today’s Chicken Little Report: When NOAA predicted on May 9, 2024 that a powerful solar flare had erupted from the Sun and was aiming a major solar storm directly at the Earth, the scientists at the federal government’s Space Weather Prediction Center could not help underlining the disaster potential, and were ably aided by the mainstream press. This CNN report was typical:
“Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth’s surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations,” according to the Space Weather Prediction Center. “(The center) has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action.”
The center has notified operators in these areas to take action to mitigate the potential for any impacts, which include the possibility of increased and more frequent voltage control problems. Other aspects operators will monitor include a chance of anomalies or impacts to satellite operations and frequent or longer periods of GPS degradation.
And as always, the news report has to end with this warning of doom:
» Read more
Court rules COVID jab mandate unconstitutional
One more COVID story to start the week: Earlier this month the 10th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled unequivocally that the mandates requiring the jab and limiting who could be exempted that were imposed by the University of Colorado were unconstitutional.
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in 2021 required COVID-19 vaccination of all students and employees. It initially offered religious exemptions to anyone who checked a box, but it later stated that administrators would “only recognize religious exemptions based on religious beliefs whose teachings are opposed to all immunizations.”
Officials, for instance, said Christian Scientists would qualify for an exemption but Buddhists would not. They also said exemptions would be granted only to people who never received any vaccinations.
Medical exemptions, on the other hand, were available if a doctor said the prospective recipient’s health or life would be endangered.
College officials would also reject exemptions solely on their own opinion on whether the applicant’s religion was really against vaccinations or not.
The court’s ruling now allows the lawsuit of seventeen students and employees to go forward.
One more COVID story to start the week: Earlier this month the 10th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled unequivocally that the mandates requiring the jab and limiting who could be exempted that were imposed by the University of Colorado were unconstitutional.
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in 2021 required COVID-19 vaccination of all students and employees. It initially offered religious exemptions to anyone who checked a box, but it later stated that administrators would “only recognize religious exemptions based on religious beliefs whose teachings are opposed to all immunizations.”
Officials, for instance, said Christian Scientists would qualify for an exemption but Buddhists would not. They also said exemptions would be granted only to people who never received any vaccinations.
Medical exemptions, on the other hand, were available if a doctor said the prospective recipient’s health or life would be endangered.
College officials would also reject exemptions solely on their own opinion on whether the applicant’s religion was really against vaccinations or not.
The court’s ruling now allows the lawsuit of seventeen students and employees to go forward.
Former head of NIH admits 6-foot social distancing rule had no scientific basis at all
It was all a lie: In the transcript of a closed-door interview of former NIH director Francis Collins that was released on May 16, 2024, Collins admitted under questioning that there was absolutely no science research or justification behind 6-foot social distancing rule that the government imposed during the Wuhan panic.
“We asked Dr. Fauci where the six feet came from and he said it kind of just appeared, is the quote,” the majority counsel on the committee told Dr. Collins, per the transcript. “Do you recall science or evidence that supported the six-feet distance?”
“I do not,” Collins replied.
Counsel then asked, “Is that I do not recall or I do not see any evidence supporting six feet?”
To which Collins replied “I did not see evidence, but I’m not sure I would have been shown evidence at that point.”
“Since then, it has been an awfully large topic. Have you seen any evidence since then supporting six feet?” Counsel replied.
“No,” said Collins.
None of this is a surprise to those who were paying attention. Back in August 2020 I reported how there was no scientific evidence backing up the six-foot social distancing rule, and that in fact it appears it came from a high school research project that was not based on actual data but on a computer simulation comparable to SIM City.
Even now, the CDC continues to recommend the 6-foot spacing rule, though those rules are based on nothing more than the opinion of some petty dictator in the bureaucracy.
During the entire COVID panic I complained repeatedly about the lack of scientific evidence. Every time the CDC or the government would change its rules, I’d ask, “What new research has appeared to justify this change?” Of course, there never was any new research. These petty goons simply made it up as they went along.
It was all a lie: In the transcript of a closed-door interview of former NIH director Francis Collins that was released on May 16, 2024, Collins admitted under questioning that there was absolutely no science research or justification behind 6-foot social distancing rule that the government imposed during the Wuhan panic.
“We asked Dr. Fauci where the six feet came from and he said it kind of just appeared, is the quote,” the majority counsel on the committee told Dr. Collins, per the transcript. “Do you recall science or evidence that supported the six-feet distance?”
“I do not,” Collins replied.
Counsel then asked, “Is that I do not recall or I do not see any evidence supporting six feet?”
To which Collins replied “I did not see evidence, but I’m not sure I would have been shown evidence at that point.”
“Since then, it has been an awfully large topic. Have you seen any evidence since then supporting six feet?” Counsel replied.
“No,” said Collins.
None of this is a surprise to those who were paying attention. Back in August 2020 I reported how there was no scientific evidence backing up the six-foot social distancing rule, and that in fact it appears it came from a high school research project that was not based on actual data but on a computer simulation comparable to SIM City.
Even now, the CDC continues to recommend the 6-foot spacing rule, though those rules are based on nothing more than the opinion of some petty dictator in the bureaucracy.
During the entire COVID panic I complained repeatedly about the lack of scientific evidence. Every time the CDC or the government would change its rules, I’d ask, “What new research has appeared to justify this change?” Of course, there never was any new research. These petty goons simply made it up as they went along.
Pushback: NJ gym wins total victory in court after refusing to obey illegal COVID mandates
Bring a gun to a knife fight: The owners of the New Jersey gymnasium announced on May 18, 2024 that they have now won a total victory in court against the numerous citations and penalties the state government attempted to impose upon them and their operation because they refused to obey any of the insane and illegal COVID mandates imposed by New Jersey governor Phil Murphy.
ALL OF THE 80+ municipal citations of violations of a governor’s order, public nuisance, disturbing the peace, and operating without a license against us have been dropped by the courts WITH prejudice. This means the State has NO ability to revisit or refile these charges.
This victory opens the battlefield again and gives us options to continue to push back and bring justice to the treasonous actions of Phil Murphy and his lackies.
The first paragraph above suggests the owners now have legal grounds to sue Murphy and the state for illegal harassment and false prosecution. The second paragraph says that they intend to.
The owners in 2022 had already gotten their business license reinstated. In the interim they had managed to keep the gym functioning by asking, and getting, donations from those who used it.
I pray they proceed in court with as many lawsuits as possible against all the government officials involved in this bad behavior, including the local police, who at one point changed the locks on their building and boarded up the gym, thus allowing the plumbing to back up.
Bring a gun to a knife fight: The owners of the New Jersey gymnasium announced on May 18, 2024 that they have now won a total victory in court against the numerous citations and penalties the state government attempted to impose upon them and their operation because they refused to obey any of the insane and illegal COVID mandates imposed by New Jersey governor Phil Murphy.
ALL OF THE 80+ municipal citations of violations of a governor’s order, public nuisance, disturbing the peace, and operating without a license against us have been dropped by the courts WITH prejudice. This means the State has NO ability to revisit or refile these charges.
This victory opens the battlefield again and gives us options to continue to push back and bring justice to the treasonous actions of Phil Murphy and his lackies.
The first paragraph above suggests the owners now have legal grounds to sue Murphy and the state for illegal harassment and false prosecution. The second paragraph says that they intend to.
The owners in 2022 had already gotten their business license reinstated. In the interim they had managed to keep the gym functioning by asking, and getting, donations from those who used it.
I pray they proceed in court with as many lawsuits as possible against all the government officials involved in this bad behavior, including the local police, who at one point changed the locks on their building and boarded up the gym, thus allowing the plumbing to back up.
Blue Origin resumes manned suborbital New Shepard flights
Blue Origin yesterday flew its first suborbital New Shepard flight since a failure during an unmanned flight in 2022, flying six passengers on a short ten-minute jump.
This suborbital flight got a lot of press yesterday and today, but I consider these suborbital tourist flights somewhat old news. Had they occurred two decades ago, in the 2000s as promised, they could have helped trigger the commercial space industry. Instead, both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic took another two decades to get started, and by that time orbital tourist flights were taking place.
There might be money to be made in suborbital hops like this, but the future of space exploration lies elsewhere.
As for Blue Origin, this flight confirms that the company has fixed the nozzle issues that caused the September 2022 launch failure. During ascent just after launch the spacecraft’s abort system activated, sending the New Shepard capsule free from the first stage booster, which subsequently crashed. The capsule landed safely with parachutes.
The investigation then stretched out over more than two years. It remains unclear why it took so long, though the FAA’s regulatory burden appears to have been one factor, with Blue Origin’s own sluggish pace of operations another.
Blue Origin yesterday flew its first suborbital New Shepard flight since a failure during an unmanned flight in 2022, flying six passengers on a short ten-minute jump.
This suborbital flight got a lot of press yesterday and today, but I consider these suborbital tourist flights somewhat old news. Had they occurred two decades ago, in the 2000s as promised, they could have helped trigger the commercial space industry. Instead, both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic took another two decades to get started, and by that time orbital tourist flights were taking place.
There might be money to be made in suborbital hops like this, but the future of space exploration lies elsewhere.
As for Blue Origin, this flight confirms that the company has fixed the nozzle issues that caused the September 2022 launch failure. During ascent just after launch the spacecraft’s abort system activated, sending the New Shepard capsule free from the first stage booster, which subsequently crashed. The capsule landed safely with parachutes.
The investigation then stretched out over more than two years. It remains unclear why it took so long, though the FAA’s regulatory burden appears to have been one factor, with Blue Origin’s own sluggish pace of operations another.
China launches four satellites
China early this morning successfully launched four satellites, its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in the northwest of China.
No further information about the satellites was released. Nor did China’s state-run press provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages, using toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed within the country.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
52 SpaceX
22 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 59 to 35, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 52 to 42.
China early this morning successfully launched four satellites, its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in the northwest of China.
No further information about the satellites was released. Nor did China’s state-run press provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages, using toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed within the country.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
52 SpaceX
22 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 59 to 35, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 52 to 42.
Piece from SpaceX Dragon service module falls on Canadian farm
Though not yet confirmed a 90-pound piece of burned debris that crashed on a Canadian farm and found in late April appears to be a section from the trunk section of a SpaceX Dragon service module.
Jonathan McDowell, who tracks space launches and re-entries, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the trunk from the private Axiom Space Ax-3 mission fell over Saskatchewan on Feb. 26.
This incident, along with several others over the last few years, tells us that not everything engineers thought would burn up upon re-entry does so. A major rethinking of how objects are de-orbited could be necessary.
Though not yet confirmed a 90-pound piece of burned debris that crashed on a Canadian farm and found in late April appears to be a section from the trunk section of a SpaceX Dragon service module.
Jonathan McDowell, who tracks space launches and re-entries, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the trunk from the private Axiom Space Ax-3 mission fell over Saskatchewan on Feb. 26.
This incident, along with several others over the last few years, tells us that not everything engineers thought would burn up upon re-entry does so. A major rethinking of how objects are de-orbited could be necessary.
NLRB suspends case against SpaceX
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has agreed to suspend one of its cases against SpaceX while the company’s lawsuit challenging the board’s constitutional authority proceeds.
SpaceX alleged that the NLRB’s in-house enforcement proceedings violate its constitutional right to a jury trial. It also said limits on the removal of the NLRB’s board members and administrative judges violates the Constitution. Amazon, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s have asserted similar claims in recent months.
A second NLRB case has already been suspended by the federal 5th Court of Appeals, for the same reasons.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has agreed to suspend one of its cases against SpaceX while the company’s lawsuit challenging the board’s constitutional authority proceeds.
SpaceX alleged that the NLRB’s in-house enforcement proceedings violate its constitutional right to a jury trial. It also said limits on the removal of the NLRB’s board members and administrative judges violates the Constitution. Amazon, Starbucks, and Trader Joe’s have asserted similar claims in recent months.
A second NLRB case has already been suspended by the federal 5th Court of Appeals, for the same reasons.
SpaceX launches another 23 Starlink satellites
This bunny never stops. SpaceX today successfully launched 23 more Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.
The first stage set a new record for reflights, completing its 21st flight after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The company has said it is upgrading these stages to last for 40 launches instead of 20, and this launch clearly is the first step in that direction.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
52 SpaceX
21 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the world combined in successful launches, 59 to 34, while SpaceX by itself still leads the rest of the world, including other American companies, 52 to 41.
This bunny never stops. SpaceX today successfully launched 23 more Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.
The first stage set a new record for reflights, completing its 21st flight after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The company has said it is upgrading these stages to last for 40 launches instead of 20, and this launch clearly is the first step in that direction.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
52 SpaceX
21 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the world combined in successful launches, 59 to 34, while SpaceX by itself still leads the rest of the world, including other American companies, 52 to 41.
May 17, 2024 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more
An Engineer’s Guide to Cats 2.0 – The Sequel
Starliner launch delayed again, to May 25, 2024
Boeing, ULA, and NASA have decided to delay the first manned flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule another four days to 3:09 pm (Eastern) on May 25, 2024.
The additional time allows teams to further assess a small helium leak in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster. Pressure testing performed on May 15 on the spacecraft’s helium system showed the leak in the flange is stable and would not pose a risk at that level during the flight. The testing also indicated the rest of the thruster system is sealed effectively across the entire service module. Boeing teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system retains sufficient performance capability and appropriate redundancy during the flight.
It appears they simply want to give themselves extra time to review their data thoroughly, with no rush, before lighting the rocket.
Boeing, ULA, and NASA have decided to delay the first manned flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule another four days to 3:09 pm (Eastern) on May 25, 2024.
The additional time allows teams to further assess a small helium leak in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft’s service module traced to a flange on a single reaction control system thruster. Pressure testing performed on May 15 on the spacecraft’s helium system showed the leak in the flange is stable and would not pose a risk at that level during the flight. The testing also indicated the rest of the thruster system is sealed effectively across the entire service module. Boeing teams are working to develop operational procedures to ensure the system retains sufficient performance capability and appropriate redundancy during the flight.
It appears they simply want to give themselves extra time to review their data thoroughly, with no rush, before lighting the rocket.
May 17, 2024 Quick space links
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.
- Rocket Factory Augsburg completes successful static fire test of first stage of its RFA-1 rocket
The test took place at the Saxaford spaceport on the Shetland Islands, which also suggests a launch licence from the UK bureaucracy is imminent.
- Eurepean company Aerospacelab breaks ground on new satellite factory in Belgium
The company says it will begin production by 2026, but it is unclear who it will be building the satellites for.
- China proposes mission to Jupiter and beyond by 2029
No real details, other than a single powerpoint graphic.
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.
- Rocket Factory Augsburg completes successful static fire test of first stage of its RFA-1 rocket
The test took place at the Saxaford spaceport on the Shetland Islands, which also suggests a launch licence from the UK bureaucracy is imminent.
- Eurepean company Aerospacelab breaks ground on new satellite factory in Belgium
The company says it will begin production by 2026, but it is unclear who it will be building the satellites for.
- China proposes mission to Jupiter and beyond by 2029
No real details, other than a single powerpoint graphic.
A Catholic threatened with blacklisting because he gave an unapologetic Catholic speech at a Catholic university to a class of Catholics: How dare he!
Harrison Butker committing leftist heresy
by simply stating his basic Christian beliefs
They’re coming for you next: This week’s blacklisting kerfuffle centers on a graduation speech given by football player and Super Bowl champ Harrison Butker at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas on May 11, 2024.
It appears a lot of leftists and advocates of the queer agenda didn’t like what he had to say, and are pushing to have the Kansas City Chiefs fire him. A petition at change.org has already collected nearly 200,000 signatures to have the “Kansas City Chiefs management … dismiss Harrison Butker immediately for his inappropriate conduct.” On social media and within the media the outrage was just as sharp. Several tweets on X attempted to dox both Butker and his family, with one (immediately deleted) coming from the office of the mayor of Kansas City.
It got so bad that the NFL disavowed Butker, stating publicly that “his views are not those of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger.”
But what did Butker do that was so terrible? You can find out for yourself by reading the full text of his speech here. I can sum it up however quite simply: » Read more
A really really big landslide on Mars
Click for original image.
Sometimes the cool geological features I find in the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) image archive are so large they are difficult to present on this webpage. Today is an example. The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 13, 2024 by the high resolution camera on MRO. It shows the distinct run-out of debris from a landslide that flowed downhill to the north as a single unit of material. Along the way it carved its track in the ground, almost like a ramp.
The full picture however suggested something much more spectacular. In that full image this landslide is merely a small side avalanche to a landslide many times larger. And that high resolution picture only shows what appears to be a small section of that giant slide. Obviously, this required a look at the global mosaic produced by MRO’s context camera to find out how far that avalanche actually extended.
» Read more
Click for original image.
Sometimes the cool geological features I find in the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) image archive are so large they are difficult to present on this webpage. Today is an example. The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 13, 2024 by the high resolution camera on MRO. It shows the distinct run-out of debris from a landslide that flowed downhill to the north as a single unit of material. Along the way it carved its track in the ground, almost like a ramp.
The full picture however suggested something much more spectacular. In that full image this landslide is merely a small side avalanche to a landslide many times larger. And that high resolution picture only shows what appears to be a small section of that giant slide. Obviously, this required a look at the global mosaic produced by MRO’s context camera to find out how far that avalanche actually extended.
» Read more
NASA signs new agreement with ESA to partner on Franklin Mars rover
NASA yesterday signed a new agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) that confirmed its previous commitment to help land ESA’s Franklin rover on Mars.
With this memorandum of understanding, the NASA Launch Services Program will procure a U.S. commercial launch provider for the Rosalind Franklin rover. The agency will also provide heater units and elements of the propulsion system needed to land on Mars.
Previously NASA had committed $30 million to pay for that launch provider, as yet undetermined. It now wants $49 million for the Franklin mission, with the extra money likely to pay for the new additional equipment outlined in this agreement.
Whether NASA gets this money from Congress however remains unknown. It has not yet been appropriated.
This overall European project has been fraught with problems. It was first designed as a partnership with NASA. Then Obama pulled NASA out in 2012, and ESA switched to a partnership with Russia, which was to provide the rocket and lander. Then in 2022 Russia invaded the Ukraine and Europe broke off all its partnerships with Russia.
Since then ESA has signed a deal with the company Thales Alenia to build the lander.
As these political foibles were going on, the rover also had parachute issues that forced ESA to cancel its original launch date in 2022, using the Russian rocket.
It is likely Congress will approve this additional funding, though it seems to me that Europe should be able to afford paying for its own launch, especially if it is buying that service from the much cheaper U.S. market.
NASA yesterday signed a new agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) that confirmed its previous commitment to help land ESA’s Franklin rover on Mars.
With this memorandum of understanding, the NASA Launch Services Program will procure a U.S. commercial launch provider for the Rosalind Franklin rover. The agency will also provide heater units and elements of the propulsion system needed to land on Mars.
Previously NASA had committed $30 million to pay for that launch provider, as yet undetermined. It now wants $49 million for the Franklin mission, with the extra money likely to pay for the new additional equipment outlined in this agreement.
Whether NASA gets this money from Congress however remains unknown. It has not yet been appropriated.
This overall European project has been fraught with problems. It was first designed as a partnership with NASA. Then Obama pulled NASA out in 2012, and ESA switched to a partnership with Russia, which was to provide the rocket and lander. Then in 2022 Russia invaded the Ukraine and Europe broke off all its partnerships with Russia.
Since then ESA has signed a deal with the company Thales Alenia to build the lander.
As these political foibles were going on, the rover also had parachute issues that forced ESA to cancel its original launch date in 2022, using the Russian rocket.
It is likely Congress will approve this additional funding, though it seems to me that Europe should be able to afford paying for its own launch, especially if it is buying that service from the much cheaper U.S. market.
Russia’s Soyuz-2 rocket launches classified payloads
Russia yesterday placed an unnamed number of classified satellites into orbit, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from its Plesetsk spaceport in the northern part of Russia.
The flight path went north, so the rocket’s four strap-on boosters and lower stages all fell in remote regions or in the Arctic Ocean.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
51 SpaceX
21 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 58 to 34. SpaceX by itself still leads the rest of the world, including other American companies, 51 to 41.
Russia yesterday placed an unnamed number of classified satellites into orbit, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from its Plesetsk spaceport in the northern part of Russia.
The flight path went north, so the rocket’s four strap-on boosters and lower stages all fell in remote regions or in the Arctic Ocean.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
51 SpaceX
21 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 58 to 34. SpaceX by itself still leads the rest of the world, including other American companies, 51 to 41.
Emmy Russell & Lukas Nelson – Lay Me Down
An evening pause: Performed at an October 2022 concert celebrating the life of Loretta Lynn.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
May 15, 2024 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
» Read more
May 16, 2024 Quick space links
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.
- China touts a proposed New Shepard suborbital copycat
Tourist flights to begin in 2028.
- NASA touts the future assembly of its Lunar Gateway space station
Lots of details and promises here, last updated June 2023.
- ISRO finalizes design of its Shukrayaan Venus orbiter
They are targeting the 2026 launch window.
- On this day in 2011 the space shuttle Endeavour launched on its 25th and last flight
The final shuttle flight followed two months later.
- On this day in 1987 the Soviet Union’s Energia heavy lift rocket launched for the first time
The launch was supposed to put a large module into orbit, but failed to do so when that module’s engines got the wrong software command.
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.
- China touts a proposed New Shepard suborbital copycat
Tourist flights to begin in 2028.
- NASA touts the future assembly of its Lunar Gateway space station
Lots of details and promises here, last updated June 2023.
- ISRO finalizes design of its Shukrayaan Venus orbiter
They are targeting the 2026 launch window.
- On this day in 2011 the space shuttle Endeavour launched on its 25th and last flight
The final shuttle flight followed two months later.
- On this day in 1987 the Soviet Union’s Energia heavy lift rocket launched for the first time
The launch was supposed to put a large module into orbit, but failed to do so when that module’s engines got the wrong software command.
Another “rightwing COVID conspiracy theory” proves to be true
Burning witches: The debate technique used by
those in charge during the Wuhan panic
Since the very beginning of the COVID panic in 2020 many perfectly reasonable people, both inside and outside the medical community, suggested that COVID was artifically created and that the evidence strongly suggested its source was from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Worse, the evidence suggested that this work was partly funded by the United States itself — approved by federal bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci — that funnelled government contracts to China to do dangerous infectious disease research which that hostile nation could then use against us.
Unfortunately, those individuals found themselves routinely mocked as pushing a “rightwing COVID conspiracy theory,” with many finding their careers destroyed by blacklisting. During those dark times it was forbidden to ask any questions that went against the leftist government narrative that pushed the myths that COVID was a deadly perfectly natural disease, that lockdowns, masks, and social distancing were the only ways to stop it, and that in the end only the COVID jab could cure it.
We now know without question that those accepted wisdoms, enforced by brutal intolerance, were all wrong, and that the blackballed individuals who advocated otherwise were 100% correct.
Or to put it more bluntly, the only difference between a “rightwing conspiracy theory” and the truth is a few months.
This week we got another proof of this apt saying.
» Read more
Burning witches: The debate technique used by
those in charge during the Wuhan panic
Since the very beginning of the COVID panic in 2020 many perfectly reasonable people, both inside and outside the medical community, suggested that COVID was artifically created and that the evidence strongly suggested its source was from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Worse, the evidence suggested that this work was partly funded by the United States itself — approved by federal bureaucrats like Anthony Fauci — that funnelled government contracts to China to do dangerous infectious disease research which that hostile nation could then use against us.
Unfortunately, those individuals found themselves routinely mocked as pushing a “rightwing COVID conspiracy theory,” with many finding their careers destroyed by blacklisting. During those dark times it was forbidden to ask any questions that went against the leftist government narrative that pushed the myths that COVID was a deadly perfectly natural disease, that lockdowns, masks, and social distancing were the only ways to stop it, and that in the end only the COVID jab could cure it.
We now know without question that those accepted wisdoms, enforced by brutal intolerance, were all wrong, and that the blackballed individuals who advocated otherwise were 100% correct.
Or to put it more bluntly, the only difference between a “rightwing conspiracy theory” and the truth is a few months.
This week we got another proof of this apt saying.
» Read more