Tag: 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.

• Vast shows off the primary interior structure of its Haven-1 space station module

This is the only one of four private American space stations being built without federal funding, and it is likely going to be the first to launch.

 

• Blue Origin touts the arrival of thrusters for its Blue Moon manned lunar lander

• Video of today’s static fire test of Starship prototype #30

SpaceX continues to meet its target date of late May for the next Starship/Superheavy test flight. No word yet on if the FAA will go along.

 

• On this day in 1990 Hubble deployed from space shuttle Discovery

It was only supposed to operate in orbit for fifteen years.

 

• On this day in 1963 the private communications satellite Telstar 2 was launched on a Delta B rocket

Twas an entirely private mission, built and paid for by AT&T, with the near term goal of building in the mid-60s a satellite constellation to provide global telephone communications. That plan was shut down by Congress and President Kennedy, who restricted all American satellites for the next decade to a quasi-goverment corporation called Comsat, essentially destroying the American commercial satellite industry for about 20 years.

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 Lab touts its new Archimedes rocket engine

Just a picture. This methane-fueled engine will be used by its new Neutron rocket.

 

• A detailed look at the work engineers did to bring Voyager-1 back to life

• Bright light beams seen in the sky over Kansas and Oklahoma caused by Long March 6C venting fuel in orbit

• A look at two German rocket startups

An hourlong documentary on Rocket Factory Augsburg and Isar Aerospace by Tim Dodd at Everyday Astronaut.

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.

• Dick Rutan, who co-piloted the first flight around the world without refueling, has passed away at 85

His brother, Burt Rutan, who built SpaceShipOne, also partnered to design the round-the-world plane.

 

• Rocket Labs touts the on-going construction of its Neutron rocket production facility

No details except for a picture of the building’s steel frame, now built.

 

• Can India’s Space Start-ups Catch Up to Elon Musk’s SpaceX?

This is a four minute media report from India. Though somewhat superficial, it clearly is in favor of a private commercial space industry.

 

• Chang’e-6 is carrying a surprise mini-rover

The rover is very simple, and likely capable of only a few tasks and a short life span on the surface. Nonetheless, it shows that China continues to push the envelope, taking every opportunity to improve its space capabilities.

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.

• NASA administrator Nelson begs Congress for more money

You could record his testimony and play it again for every budget hearing now and into the far future. NASA administrators, no matter which party appointed them, always beg for more money at budget hearings.

 

• NASA unhappy that others are reviewing its Artemis program

Good analysis by Eric Berger, though I think he gives the IG and other review agencies that look over NASA’s shoulders too much credit. Quite often in the past two decades these review agencies have couched their reports in ways that helped NASA hide the problems at Artemis. It is good they exist, but the press should be looking over their shoulders as well.

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 Landspace touts the installation of grid fins on its hopper test first stage

Gee, I wonder where they got that idea.

 

• Video of the disarming of the backup parachute on China’s just landed Shenzhou manned capsule

At least, that’s what I think this video shows, based on the tweet.

 

• Moon map showing the target landing zone for China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission

The launch to the far side of the Moon is presently scheduled for May 3, 2024.

 

• Sierra Space gives an update on the development of its LIFE inflatable space station module

The key bit of new news is that the company intends to also market the module to others, outside its use on the Orbital Reef station Sierra is building in partnership with Blue Origin, including use as a module on interplanetary spaceships.

 

• On this day in 1979 the test shuttle Enterprise was rolled out of the VAB for launchpad fit tests

Enterprise was only used for engineering and glide tests on Earth. It never flew 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.

• Shenzhou capsule safely returns three Chinese astronauts from Tiangong-3 space station

This completed their six month mission.

 

• Yahoo visits Firefly

Reasonably good short report, even if the reporter clearly only has a shallow understanding of all the issues.

 

• Video of the arrival of Rocket Factory Augsburg’s first stage to the launchpad at Saxavord

Still no word on when the CAA will issue the launch license.

 

• Dragon cargo spacecraft splashes down successfully

SpaceX’s manned program, including these cargo Dragons, has become so routine much of it no longer merits a full post.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who has returned from a weeklong work trip in “the People’s Republic of California.” 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.

• SES’s O3b mPOWER satellite constellation starts providing service

That makes at least three constellations (including Starlink and OneWeb) in orbit ahead of and operational before Amazon has launched a single satelltie in its Kuiper constellation

 

• Hyimpulse’s suborbital test launch from Southern Launch in Australia is now targeting May 2, 2024

Though I saw no announcement, they apparently got their launch licence from the Australian government.

 

• Long March 5 ready to launch China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon’s far side

According to the article, the core stage will not reach orbit and thus not make an uncontrolled re-entry, as the core stage of the more powerful Long March 5B varient does.

 

• China touts the engines for its new Long March 12 rocket, its first launch planned for this year

• Chinese reporter notes the increase in hotel prices near the Wenchang spaceport when a manned launch is scheduled

The communists might claim they think capitalism is bad and they are building a Marxist utopia, but the invisible hand of capitalism always rules.

 

• Drop test of Gaganyaan test manned capsule now set for tomorrow

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.

• Five engines integrated into Rocket Factory Augsburg’s RFA-1 first stage

Testing will take place at the Saxavord spaceport in the Shetland Islands

 

• Russians jam two commercial satellites for six days, disrupting 39 Ukrainian television channels

The jamming was from March 13th to March 19th, and involved SES’s Astra-4 and Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13E satellites. This suggests Russia (and China) could do the same to other commercial sateliltes.

 

• Virgin Galactic proposes reverse stock split

Such reverse splits raises the value of each share in a superficial manner, and are usually done to prevent the stock from being delisted for having too low a value.

 

• Anonymous sources say NASA is considering restructuring the entire Artemis lunar program

One idea is to insert an extra mission before the lunar landing flight, during which Orion and Starship would dock in Earth orbit to test out their systems prior to going to the Moon. Since the whole Artemis program has always been haphazardly planned, this change makes sense, as it should have been considered from the beginning. In fact, it should be flown before the second Artemis flight, which presently intends to take astronauts around the Moon, on the first flight using Orion’s environmental systems.

 

• JPL releases short video showing all of Ingenuity’s flights, on a map

Since yesterday NASA took down the interactive maps that show where the rovers and Ingenuity have been and are going, this video is kind a slap in the face. Unless the agency restores those maps, the public will no longer be able to travel along with the rovers.

 

• China reorganizes its space bureaucracy, claiming that because of the change “current launch sites may get more freedom with commercial activities”

More likely this change will give the ChiComs more control over those activities.

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’s CEO claims Blue Origin is ramping up production of BE-4 engines
• ULA’s CEO touts the mating of a BE-4 to a Vulcan first stage

Both tweets are devoid of any real information, so who knows? It is likely the second is real and happening, but there continue to be rumors about Blue Origin’s production rate.

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.

• Firefly installs another payload on its Blue Ghost lunar lander

The payload is an experiment to see if electromagnetic fields can be used to protect objects from lunar dust.

 

• SpaceX to build $14M rec center, sushi restaurant in Brownsville

These retail outlets are for within Brownsville itself, and are separate from the shopping center and cafe it is planning for the Boca Chica area.

 

• Musk to meet with officials from Skyroot Aerospace, Agnikul Cosmos, Bellatrix Aerospace and Dhruva Space at New Delhi during his India visit on April 22

The first two companies are the most advanced rocket startups in India. All are central to its nascent commercial space industry.

 

• Long March 2F with Shenzhou-18 manned capsule rolled to launchpad

This next manned launch to China’s space station is target April 25th.

 

• Relativity moves forward on building its Terran-R launchpad at Cape Canaveral

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.

• Starliner now intergrated with Atlas-5 rocket

All continues to proceed to a May 6, 2024 launch.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Deep Blue touts static fire test of its Nebula-1 test vehicle with 3 Thunder-R1 kerolox engines

Next will be a static fire test with nine engines, followed next year by hop tests and first orbital flight. Jay adds a side note: “All the pseudo-companies are showing off their engines with test footage. Are they feeling left out from the space symposium? Is it a deadline among all the pseudo-companies to show their progress to the party?” That last point could very well be true.

 

• ISRO has developed a carbon-carbon nozzle for use on its PSLV rocket

It says the nozzle is 67% lighter than the alloy nozzles presently used.

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.

• Airbus planning a giant module for the private Starlab space station that will require Starship to launch

More details here [pdf]. They are targeting a 2028 launch.

 

• Washington Post article helping astronomers push to save Chandra

It is all a lobbying game. As part of typical budget negotiations, NASA has proposed terminating Chandra, in order to force Congress to give it more money. Articles like this are part of the game.

 

• China’s own GPS-type constellation almost certainly provided Iran the location data for its Israel drone attack

The tweet suggests if so it will hurt China’s space reputation. I say the only ones who will be surprised by this are the utterly naive, or China’s fellow travelers.

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.

• Firefly touts new software available to its customers in orbit

They already have a new customer who will demonstrate this new software for them.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Ispace to build a rocket assembly facility at China’s coastal Wenchang spaceport

Including Ispace, four pseudo-companies have similar plans at Wenchang, but the government is building only one pad for their use. Since it appears the governement is retaining control over launches, it will either have to build more pads, or decide at some point more to shutdown some of these pseudo-companies. Since this is China, the companies aren’t real, and can be confiscated or shuttered at will by the communists.

 

• FAA denies stories that it plans to tax commercial space launches

The NYTimes had reported that the Biden administration was considering these taxes. I guarantee it still is, and will push for them should it remain in power after November.

 

• On this day in 1970 Apollo 13 launched

The mission became a desperate rescue mission, not a lunar mission, when an explosion in the Apollo capsule’s service module occurred on the way to the Moon. It took some amazing improvisions in space and on the ground to get the crew home safely.

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.

Note also that your host today is under the weather, so no culture/political column. I’m posting the quick links early also so I can hit the sack.

• View of the solar eclipse from a Starlink satellite on orbit

• Vast’s Haven-1 announces its Haven-1 commercial space station will use Starlink for internet communications

Vast hopes to launch this first station module by August 2025, using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Two manned missions are supposedly already scheduled to follow.

 

• Video of Angara launch abort early today

The abort was caused by “a center core oxidizer tank pressurization system anomaly,” according to Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov. You can hear some sound burst at T-2:43, but there is nothing visible, so the sound could simply be some expected venting. They are going to try again tomorrow.

 

• Astrobotic’s own mini-rover, CubeRover, is now going to fly on the company’s Griffin lunar lander

To me, this suggests they have unsold payload space. They might as well fly this rover to demonstrate its capabilities.

 

• On this day 55 years ago NASA introduced the seven astronauts it had selected for its Mercury manned space program

They were Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper, Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, and Scott Carpenter.

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.

• Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata joins Axiom Space

• Sierra Space developing heat shield system designed to return small payloads from space

They are doing drop tests now. The goal is to place orbital supplies in orbit that can be delivered precisely on command to soldiers on the ground.

 

• Chinese factory set to begin producing 1,000 satellites yearly

The satellites are likely intended to compete with Starlink.

 

• China building a launchpad at its Jinquan spaceport in northwest China for pseudo-commerical companies

Related tweet here. The obvious goal is to isolate the commercial rockets from the military ones, while maintaining a tight control over the pseudo-companies. The commercial pads being built in two places in China will be where they are required to launch from, and if they don’t do as told launch access will be denied.

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 releases 28-page comic book about the origins of the Vulcan rocket

The link lets you download or view a pdf of the comic book.

 

• Space Force reiterates its requirement that ULA fly Vulcan twice before awarding it any launch contracts

According to Jay, rumors are now suggesting that the delay for the next Vulcan launch is not due to preparing Sierra’s Tenacity Dream Chaser cargo ship, but Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines that Vulcan requires. I doubt this. Tenacity only started its environmental testing a few weeks ago, and this testing can take at minimum two months, and more if anything goes wrong and needs fixing.

 

• One of the two test smallsats launched to lunar orbit with China’s Quequao-2 communications relay satellite, Tiandu-2, has now completed two of its engineering tests

The satellite has tested “key propulsion techniques [and using] a 3D printed storage box.” That’s all they tell us.

 

• Virgin Galactic counter-sues Boeing over broken deal

A true battle of insects. Boeing had been hired by Virgin to build a new mother airplane for its suborbital flights. After doing some work, Boeing decided the job couldn’t be done, withdrew, but then sued to get paid. Virgin is now claiming Boeing’s work was “shoddy and incomplete” and so poor it doesn’t deserve any payments.

 

• SpaceX’s head Gwynne Shotwell says the federal bureaucracy is slowing their work significantly

She thus confirms what I have been saying now for several years, since Biden took power. The federal government is now a major obstacle to private enterprise and innovation.

 

• On this day in 1990, Orbital Sciences flew its air-launched Pegasus rocket for the first time

Pegasus was intended to reduce orbital costs, but it never did so, and is now defunct because its cost can’t compete with SpaceX and others.

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.

• Starlink soon to be approved for Indonesia

There appears to be a lot of red tape still in the way, but it is expected the service will be available by the end of the year.

 

• Sierra Space once again touts the environmental testing its Tenacity Dream Chaser mini-shuttle is undergoing in prepartion for launch

Meanwhile, there are rumors this testing is delaying the launch until the fall, and that ULA wants to bump Tenacity from its second Vulcan launch because of these delays. ULA needs that second launch quickly in order to begin doing military launches.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Landspace moves up first launch of its Zhuque-3 rocket six months to mid-2025

Officials also say it might recover the first stage before the end of ’25 if “they get lucky.”

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.

• Rumors are that Blue Origin’s purchase of ULA will be announced next week

• CURIE two cubesat mission will launch on Ariane 6’s first flight

CURIE is a student-built probe and is part of a cubesat initiative funded partly by NASA.

 

• Video from North Korea of a test launch of what it claims is a “mid-to long-range solid-fuel, hypersonic missile”

The explosive burst at launch makes me wonder if the solid-fuel wasn’t evenly installed. North Korea’s claims about this missile are also unsubstantiated.

 

• On this day in 1984 the first Indian flew in space, on a Soyuz heading to the Salyut-7 space station

When this crew arrived, the Soviets for the first time had two crews of three on a space station.

 

• Rocket Factory Augsburg touts completion of five engines for installation on its RFA-1 rocket

It hopes to launch sometime this year from the Saxavord spaceport in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, assuming the UK’s bureaucracy finally issues launch permits.

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.

• Head of France’s space agency visits Axiom

In recent weeks France has suddenly discovered the wonders of capitalism. This visit likely involves its recognition that ISS is soon going away, and that it will have to then deal with private commercial station operators.

 

• Canadian government loans Telesat C$2.14 billion to build its own low orbit satellite constellation to compete with Starlink

More details here. The deal was finalized when Telesat switched from a European satellite manufacturer to a Canadian one.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer touts the nine engine confirguration of its proposed Tianlong-3 rocket

Hot fire tests are to start this month.

 

• On April 1, 1960 Tiros-1, the first weather satellite, was launched

It had two cameras, operated for about 2.5 months, and produced just under 23,000 pictures. It also provided meteorologists their first global view of cloud structures.

 

• The movie 2001 A Space Odyssey premiered on this day in 1968

Too bad most of what it predicted in space for the rest of the 20th century never happened, and is only now beginning to come true.

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.

• Pipeline issue in ground systems caused Delta-4 Heavy scrub last week

Launch is now scheduled for April 8, 2024.

 

• Video of Russian Soyuz-2 launch this past weekend

I’ve cued to about T-30 seconds. Some beautiful footage.

 

• US court asks India to pay $132 million to Deutsche Telekom in Devas Antrix case

Don’t ask me to explain this. The Devas Antrix legal case has been wandering through various international courts since 2005, and I have never been able to find a clear explanation for the court battles. What I do know is that it involves Antrix, what was then the commercial arm of India’s ISRO space agency, and a number of international companies, all of which have sued when the project was canceled.

 

• China touts a facility supposedly developing and testing electric satellite propulsion

Commercial satellites have been using this technology now for probably two-plus decades.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also tipped me off to the China and Japan stories immediately below. 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 some of the scientific discoveries from lunar samples brought back by Chang’e-5

In this case nothing significantly new, but good data nonetheless.

 

• European company Thales Athenia touts the hulls it is building for Northrop Grumman’s next generation Cygnus capsule

The new modules will allow Cygnus to carry almost double the cargo from the first Cygnus freighters.

 

• Starlink now available in Argentina

This is the seventh country in South American and 72nd worldwide that has signed on.

 

• Indian rocket startup Skyroot successfully tests the 2nd stage engine for its proposed Vikram-1 rocket

No word on when the other Indian rocket startup, Agnikul, will do its first suborbital test launch, which it scrubbed last week.

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 Lab touts its achievements and puts out a call for new people to join it

• Chinese pseudo-company Land Space starts manufacturing its stainless steel rocket body

Gee, I wonder where they got the idea to go back to steel?

 

• NASA official expects problem with Voyager-1 to be resolved

There is no story here, as this bureaucrat is simply repeating what the engineering team has already told us.

 

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 of Soyuz-2 upper stage coming down over inhabited parts of Russia

The flight tract and impact location shown here. This stage spent almost two days in orbit. Most of it probably burnt up in the atmosphere.

 

• Largest version of Russia’s new Angara rocket, Angara-A5, now vertical on launchpad for the first time

The first test launch from Vostochny has an April 6-10 launch window. The rocket is comparable to China’s Long March 5, capable of putting about 24 tons in orbit.

 

• Boeing and Aurora (a Boeing subsidiary) sue Virgin Galactic for $26.4 million

Virgin had hired them to build a replacement for the WhiteKnight mother ship used to launch SpaceShipTwo. They submitted plans, but then decided to back out of the deal, saying they could not complete the ship as Virgin Galactic wanted. They are now suing for payment of work done.

 

• Hi-res video of Starship/Superheavy during launch

Quite spectacular. Hat tip to John Batchelor for sending me the link.

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.

• Weather 30% for March 28, 2024 launch of ULA’s last Delta-4 Heavy

Launch is presently scheduled for 1:40 pm Eastern.

 

• China’s Queqiao-2 communications satellite is now in lunar orbit

Note that this is not its final orbit. Adjustments still have to be made. This short video (in Chinese) supposedly describes how the satellite will do its job.

 

• Soyuz-2 capsule docks with ISS

• Buzz Aldrin wishes Jim Lovell a happy 96th birthday today

Of all the Apollo astronauts, these two were probably the biggest space cadets of them all.

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 Space Pioneer touts its carbon fiber fairings

• Sierra Space’s first Dream Chaser mini-shuttle, Tenacity, begins environmental testing

These tests will confirm that the spacecraft can resist the harsh environment of space.

 

• Roscosmos approves new March 23, 2024 launch date for manned Soyuz after launch abort

It will dock with ISS two days later.

 

• On this day in 1982 the third flight of the space shuttle Columbia took place

As the tweet notes, this was the first flight where NASA did not paint the external tank, saving 600 pounds in weight. It was the third of four manned test flights of Columbia, after which NASA declared the shuttle operational.

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.

• Space Force awards three contracts for developing orbital servicing technologies

The contracts went to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, and a new startup Spacebilt.

 

• Rocket Factory Augsburg touts its proposed Argo cargo freighter

The link provides a detailed description of this new spacecraft, clearly intended to provide ferrying services to the upcoming future space stations, with its most likely customer the Starlab station being built by Voyager Space, which is partnering with ESA and Airbus. This German company hopes to launch it by 2028.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company delivers 1st stage engines for another Chinese pseudo-company

The engines are for Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 rocket, which is essentially a copy of Falcon 9, and hopes to do a first launch in July.

 

• Astronomers complain about budget cuts to Hubble and Chandra

Hey, if you are going to push for expensive, overbudget, and behind-schedule boondoggles like the Roman Space Telescope, you better recognize that real telescopes will suffer to pay for them.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who has finally returned from the Solomon Islands after his DX ham expedition (a week late). As he wrote me,

Flights got cancelled on my last week and we were stuck for another week in the Solomons. One of the reasons why we got flown off was it is election time next month, so all the politicians are flying as well. Never fly Fiji Airlines and Solomon Airlines.

I did go to the sites of the battles during the Guadal Canal campaigns during WW2, those are bloody battles that you do not hear or read about.

The Solomon Islands is a third world country and they hate the Chinese. The people are pissed off that their elected officials sold their fishing rights to the Chinese for $85,000. Yes, you read that correctly, a multi-million dollar industry for $85,000 USD. Lots of graft and corruption there. They have so much potential, and they squander it. Only a three hour jump to the west is Fiji, and it enjoys a huge booming tourist economy.

On to the quick links. 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’s CEO touts the Vulcan upper stages now ready in its manufacturing building

Three are shown in the image, suggesting ULA is ready for at least that many launches, assuming Blue Origin delivers the necessary first stage engines.

 

• Boeing has begun fueling Starliner for launch

Takes about two weeks. Once completed the capsule will be sent to ULA’s assembly building for stacking on the rocket. This loading however says they are now committed to the May launch.

 

• Video of the flight crew preparing in Kazakhstan for launch to ISS this week

The launch is scheduled for March 21, 2024 on a Soyuz-2 rocket.

 

• Image of China’s Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite

It will be used to relay signals from China’s next mission to the far side of the Moon. Launch is expected later today.

 

• On this day in 1965, Aleksei Leonov did the first spacewalk in history

The spacewalk had been hurriedly put together to beat the planned U.S. spacewalk on an upcoming Gemini mission. As such, Leonov’s spacesuit was not ideal for the task. It expanded so much in space that he had great difficulty getting back inside the 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.

This will be Jay’s last quick space links post until March 11th, as he is off to the Solomon Islands as part of a ham radio DX expedition. For those other hams who want to try to make contact with him during this expedition, the call sign is H40WA.

Note too that posting has been light today because of software issue that prevents me from uploading images. I hope it will be fixed momentarily.

• Intuitive Machines Odysseus lunar lander is in good shape on its way to the Moon

Arrival is now in seven days.

 

• Launch by India of its GSLV rocket carrying Insat satellite two days away

Launch time will be on February 17, 2023 at 4:04 am (Pacific).

 

• Europe’s Euclid orbiting space telescope now operational and is beginning its survey of billions of galaxies

Astronomers hope the data will help solve the mystery of both dark energy and dark matter.

 

• On this date in 1990, Voyager-1 looked back and took a picture of Earth as seen from the outer edge of the solar system

Environmentalists dubbed this “The pale blue dot image.”

 

• On this date in 1973 Pioneer 10 became the first human spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt

It would fly past Jupiter in December 1973, and operate until 1997 on its journey outward beyond the solar system.

 

• On this date in 1564 Galileo Galilei was born

He invented the telescope, discovered the Galilean moons of Jupiter, and proved that Copernicus was right, the Sun is the center of the solar system.

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.

• Thales Alenia touts its work building Axiom’s first module of its private space station

Axiom hopes to launch that module and attach it to ISS in 2026.

 

• Pan across 2004 Cassini high resolution photo of the Saturn moon Phoebe

Shows in detail this moon’s rough and cratered surface. The moon, irregularly shaped, has a retrograde orbit around Saturn, suggesting it is a captured asteroid.

 

• First observation from India’s Xposat X-ray telescope, launched in January

The data shows the X-ray pulse of the pulsar at the center of he Crab nebula.