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.

• A video rehash of the Orion heatshield problems during its return to Earth at the end Artemis-1
  Nothing new.

• Gaia mission to end today because its fuel has run out
  The archived data from the mission however has barely been absorbed by the astronomical community, Eventually it will provide very precise distances to billions of stars.

• Vast ships its Haven-1 primary structure qualification article to its testing facility in California
  If this is only a test module, I can’t see how Vast will have the flight model ready for launch later this year.

• On this day in 2006 the Stardust sample capsule returned, bringing with it dust samples from Comet P/Wild-2
  The samples also included the first interstellar particles ever captured.

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.

• Leftist media makes hay because Quantas had to reschedule flights to South Africa due to potential Starship landings in Indian Ocean
  The link goes to The Guardian, but Reuters picked this up as well. There is no story here, but these leftists are trying to gin it up to damage SpaceX and Musk. So what Quantas might have to reschedule a flight or two once every several months? This isn’t an unreasonable burden. In fact, I wonder why the airline didn’t simple re-route the flights to avoid the splashdown zone.

• Axiom touts its progress in 2024 and expected achievements in 2025 in building its space station
  Nothing new, merely pr to convince us all is well. It could be. We shall see.

• Today in 2004 the European probe Huygens landed softly on Saturn’s moon Titan
  The probe obtained some great data, but the real achievement was the landing itself. For Europe’s engineers it was a stellar accomplishment.

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.

• Intuitive Machines’ first lunar lander apparently entered lunar orbit last year with a low point only 1.3 kilometers above the surface, far lower than expected
  The engineers immediately scheduled an orbital burn to raise this low point to a reasonable number, as there was an actual risk the spacecraft might hit a mountain peak if not corrected.

• ESA’s director touts a joint ESA/China solar probe to study solar wind and magnetosphere
  This tweet has very old information, apparently from before 2021. The probe is now scheduled for launch in 2025 on a Vega-C rocket

• Chinese grasshopper test stage spotted during transport
  It appears the plan is to next test fly it up and down from a sea platform off the coast of Haiyang

• On this day in 1968 the Surveyor-7 spacecraft touched down softly on the Moon
  It landed near the crater Tycho.

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.

• Blue Origin now targeting January 12, 2025 1 am (Eastern) for first launch of New Glenn
  Just stay up late Saturday night to watch. I will try to post the live stream here. [Note: Link fixed! My error. Sorry.]

• Astra touts testing of its Rocket-4 upper stage tank
  Very puzzling, as the company had said it was delaying construction of Rocket-4 for several years as rebuilds the company from its almost bankruptcy. Maybe now that it is in private hands again things are moving. Or not. We shall see. [Note: Link fixed. My error. Sorry.]

• Rocket Lab touts its progress as prime contractor to build eighteen satellites for the military
  My how things have changed. In the old days, it would take almost a decade for the Pentagon to build and launch one satellite, and it would cost billions. Buying the product from the private sector now means they get it fast many times over, and for far less.

• The orbital debris that fell in Kenya possibly identified as coming from an Ariane-5 launch in 2008
  Nothing is confirmed as yet.

• Vast installs hatch on the “primary qualification unit” for its Haven-1 space station
  It remains unclear whether this unit will become the station module itself, or act merely as a testing unit. If the latter, I wonder if it will be possible for Haven-1 to be launched before the end of 2025, as the company promises.

• On this day in 1972 the Soviet Union launched Luna 21, carrying its second lunar rover, Lunikhod-2

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.

• Stoke Space honors the memory of John Glenn as it refurbishes the launchpad he used for his first American orbital flight
  The company hopes to launch its Nova two-stage reusable rocket there, though no date as yet been announced.

• Rocket Lab touts its proposal to get Perseverance’s sample back
  The company claims it can do the job for less than $4 billion, with samples returned as early as 2031. This is faster and cheaper than what was NASA is now considering, as described at the press conference yesterday.

• Scientists propose a gentle collusion between Pluto and Charon caused the double planet system
  Very cute sales job with its description as “kiss-and-capture”, but the entire theory is very speculative based on such a tiny amount of knowledge we have both planets that it is absurd to take this too seriously.

• A tweet listing the ten new rockets China hopes to launch for the first time in 2025
  Go here for a more detailed report.

• For its Chang’e-7 lunar mission, China will use electromagnetic currents to make its flag “wave” on the lunar surface

• China touts its own Mars sample return mission, Tianwen-3, targeting 2028
  The mission has been kept very simple by scaling up what China’s engineers learned in doing its two lunar sample return missions. Or to put it another way, they will almost certainly fly at least two of these missions before NASA even comes close to deciding how it get Perseverance’s samples back.

• ISRO once again delays the autonomous docking of its two Spadex orbiting spacecraft
  Apparently during the maneuver to bring the chase satellite within 225 kilometers of the target satellite, engineers detected a “drift … more than expected.” Before attempting the docking they need to know exactly where the two spacecraft are, relatively to each other, and apparently this drift requires more analysis.

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 provides a detailed overview of its Blue Ghost mission to land on the Moon
  Launch is presently scheduled for 1 am (Eastern) on January 15, 2025 on a Falcon 9 rocket.

• On this day in 1998 Lunar Prospector was launched, the first American mission to the Moon since the Apollo days
  It photographed Moon’s entire surface, with its most significant finding the possibility of water in permanently shadowed craters near the poles.

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.

• SpaceX touts some of the changes in the latest Starship prototype
  More information here. The 7th test flight will deploy 10 Starlink dummy satellites to test the deployment engineering. Superheavy will also re-use an engine that flew on the October test flight.

• On this day in 1999 the Mars Polar Lander was launched
  The mission failed when the spacecraft crashed on landing.

• On this day in 2004 the probe Stardust made its close approach to Comet Wild-2 in order to capture samples
  Those samples were successfully brought back to Earth two years later.

• On this day in 2004 the rover Spirit landed on Mars
  Built to last 90 days, it continued to rove for six years, traveling almost five miles.

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.

• The rough specs of the Chinese Halong re-usable mini-shuttle being built to ferry cargo to the Tiangong-3 space station
  It can carry two tons of cargo and stay docked for three months, then return with cargo.

• Chinese pseudo-company Landspace touts completion of nine engines for its Zhuque-3 rocket
  The rocket is essentially a copy of the Falcon 9, with a re-usable first stage. The first three launches in ’25 will use an older version, followed by the upgraded re-usable version.

• A detailed survey of the new rockets China will launch in 2025
  Most of the rockets are coming from pseudo-companies, with several aiming for re-usability soon thereafter.

• Astronomers now posit that at least one fast radio burst came from the magnetosphere of neutron star
  Interesting study, with a lot of uncertainty.

• Eutelsat-OneWeb constellation down for two days, now back in operation
  The outage was caused because software did not realize 2024 was a leap year.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who surprised me today with these links. I had assumed he’d take the day off!

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 a static fire test of its Alpha rocket
  The tweet also suggests the company will launch “multiple” times in 2025. We shall see.

• FCC allocates additional spectrum for commercial launches

• India’s space agency announces it will telecast the docking of its Spadex satellites
  The unmanned docking is scheduled to take place at 4 pm (Indian standard time) on January 7, 2025.

• Video of the two Spadex spacecraft in orbit yesterday
  Over the next week the chase satellite will approach the target increasingly closer, 5 km, 1.5 km, 500 m, 225 m, 15 m, and 3 m, followed by the January 7th docking.

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.

Before we get to the links, I think it is time to send a hearty Happy New Year to all my readers. Thank you again for making 2024 the best year so far. And best of all, next year should even be better!

• SpaceX touts the completion of its fifth manned Dragon capsule
  The tweet says this will be the last manned Dragon capsule, but Jay suspects that means the “last built in California.” He thinks future capsules will be built in Florida, the work driven from California due to its almost communist government. I’m not so sure. SpaceX remember is hoping Starship will replace the capsules in the future. Why build more in that case?

• Chinese graphic outlines the many mission configurations available for mounting missions to the Moon, the asteroids, and Mars
  Jay says the graphic includes the option of nuclear propulsion to get to Mars.

• Anatoly Zak notes the Russia launch rate in 2024 fell to its lowest level this century
  I will have more to say about this in my annual global launch report, coming soon!

• Air & Space museum honors the memory of five great astronauts who died in 2024
  The men: – Bill Anders, Joe Engle, Jon McBride, Tom Stafford, Richard Truly

• One hundred years ago this week astronomer Edwin Hubble announced that the spiral nebula Andromeda is a distant galaxy, not part of the Milky Way
  His evidence proved that the universe was filled with many distinct galaxies, with the Milky Way only one of many.

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 startup Arca unveils clothing fashion line, “made with materials used to fabricate rockets and spacecraft”
  The company was destroyed in 2018 when its CEO was twice arrested (though cleared), first by state officials and then by Homeland Security. At the time it was testing an aerospike engine with prospects for launch soon. All that vanished after his persecution by government officials. It appears whoever runs the company now is trying to earn revenue from the remaining assets.

• Chinese pseudo-company CosmicLeap completes testing of its “chopstick” launch tower
  As Jay notes, “Easy to build the tower, where is the rocket?”

• On this day in 1930 Robert Goddard completed his first rocket flight in Roswell, New Mexico
  He had shifted operations there when he scaled up operations. The southwest gave him better weather and plenty of room for testing.

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.

• Chart showing total mass put in orbit in 2024 by various companies and nations
  Not surprisingly, SpaceX has launched more mass than everyone else combined.

• Air & Space touts the navigational work done by Jim Lovell during Apollo 8 in 1968
  For most of the mission, Lovell’s work was merely a back-up to calculations provided by ground computers and plugged into the capsule computer for use with its inertial measuring unit (IMU). Only once was Lovell’s navigation necessary, when he accidentally rebooted the IMU so it thought it was on the launchpad, not on its way back to Earth. To reprogram it he had to do his sextant sightings and enter those numbers into the computer.

• On this day in 1984 the Martian meteorite that scientists later claimed carried evidence of microscopic life was collected on the Antarctica ice cap
  Other scientists later challenged the claim, and today it is generally dismissed.

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.

• Senate authorization bill focuses on commercial space stations and science mission cost overruns
  Doesn’t mean that much, as it is unlikely to be passed before the end of the term. The increased interest and enthusiasm for space station development however is encouraging, though what these swamp creatures will do with it is always a worry.

• On this day in 1928 Robert Goddard completed the third flight of a liquid-fueled rocket
  The flight lasted 3.2 seconds.

• On this day in 1974 the Soviet Union launched Salyut 4
  This single module space station was visited by two crews, spending 30 and 63 days on board respectively.

Today has been, not surprisingly, a very slow news day, so I’ve been spending it trolling the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) archive for more cool images from Mars.

BtB’s stringer Jay however found some quick links, so here they are. 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.

• Santa today will travel many times faster than the Parker Solar Probe, even as the probe sets a new speed record for human-engineered objects

• Image from the Martian south pole taken by China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter on April 25, 2024
  Lacking specific location information, my guess based on the formations as this is in or on the edge of the south pole’s dry ice cap.

• Chinese pseudo-company touts its space products
  And it is doing so through Space News, which is now publishing press release advertising in exchange for money.

• “Look at that picture over there! Here’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!”
  The words of Frank Borman as he saw his first Earthrise while orbiting the Moon, Christmas Eve 1968. The Air and Space Museum tweet shows the picture that Bill Anders took of that Earthrise, but orientates it incorrectly, as almost everyone on Earth always does. with the horizon on the bottom. Anders however framed it with the horizon on the right, as he told me himself when I interviewed him for Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8.

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.

• South Korea’s Danuri lunar orbiter detects the strongest gamma ray burst (GRB) so far this century
  Their GRB detector supplements other orbiting GRB survey instruments.

• ESA Comet Interceptor mission to launch in ’29 will be parked in space to await the arrival of a new comet
  Interestingly, the probe could also conceivably rendezvous with an interstellar object, should it be arriving in the right direction. Either way, the goal is to get a good look at a very pristine comet before it passes the Sun.

• Blue Origin releases another short propaganda video, touting how wonderful it is
  I think everyone would much rather have the company announce an actual launch date for the first New Glenn rocket, now approaching five years behind schedule,

• Vast touts the “wet trash” disposal system it is building for its Haven-1 space station
  The module toilets will apparently have eight disposable tanks. As each fills it is sealed and vented to a vacuum to keep the station’s atmosphere free of unpleasant odors.

• This week in 1968 Apollo 8 headed to the Moon, the first time humans ever traveled to another planet
  Want to know more? I hear someone wrote a book about it.

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.

• Samples from the Chang’e-6 mission to the Moon’s far side have provided scientists added detail about its magnetic history
  The tweet provides little information. Go here for more information.

• Stratolaunch’s giant Roc airplane completes another flight test
  No hypersonic Talon craft was seen attached below it, suggesting either none was flown or it had been dropped for a test prior to anyone spotting the plane.

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.

• Astroscale begins work on next space junk removal mission
  The next mission will do further proximity and rendezvous testing in orbit, but do it approaching “large satellite debris” rather than an intact upper stage, as done in the first mission.

• Taiwan studying locations for a possible spaceport, even as it discusses a collaboration with Amazon on space matters
  Not much real information to go on.

• ISRO to attempt a “tethered satellite capture via robotic arm experiment” on next launch
  The launch, using a PSLV rocket, is presently scheduled for December 30, 2024, will launch a payload designed to test autonomous docking. This specific test will involve using a robot arm to capture a tethered cubesat, and is aimed at developing technology for orbital servicing and space junk removal.

• On this day in 1972 Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, completing the last mission to land humans on the Moon
  That was 52 years ago. I wonder when Americans will ever do it again.

• On this day in 1999, the shuttle Discovery launched on the third Hubble repair mission
  The launch had been moved up six months because of gyroscope failures on Hubble that had put it in safe mode. During three space walks astronauts replaced all six gyroscopes on the telescope, putting it back in operation.

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.

• Ispace confirms its Resilience lunar lander will launch on the same SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will launch Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander
  The launch is presently scheduled for a six-day window in mid-January 2025.

• Biden administration releases its final space policy for exploring the Moon
  While some proposals have value, it is largely meaningless with a new administration about to arrive.

• On this day in 1965 Frank Borman and Jim Lovell of Gemini 7 splashed down after completing 14 days in orbit
  This flight was the longest ever at the time and proved that humans could live in weightlessness long enough to get to and from the Moon. Borman and Lovell followed this up when in 1968 they crewed the Apollo 8 mission, with Bill Anders, the first mission to actually circle the Moon.

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 wins contract to build 100 OneWeb satellites
  These 2nd generation satellites are to maintain the constellation presently in orbit.

• On this day in 1903 the Wright Brothers completed the first heavier-than-air powered manned flight

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.

• After its spectrum approval was withdrawn by Liechtenstein, satellite company Rivada searches for another national regulatory body to give its approval
  It is unclear why Liechtenstein withdrew its license for this 600 satellite constellation. The company has since applied in Germany.

• Chinese researchers publish paper on using simulated lunar soil to test construction techniques

• ULA touts its Vulcan upper stage as a military “space interceptor”
  It is really unclear how this would work.

• Today in 1965 Pioneer 6 was launched, the first of a four-satellite constellation to study the solar wind
  The satellites discovered that the solar wind is made up of a fast and slow wind, and that the solar cycle correlated with the rise and fall of cosmic radiation entering the solar system.

• On this day in 1965 Gemini-6 astronauts suddenly reported seeing an unidentified “satellite going from north to south, probably in a polar orbit”
  They then began playing “Jingle Bells” on a harmonica and bell set, indicating the “satellite” involved a sled and reindeer.

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.

• FAA is considering creating an online electronic process for applying for launch licenses
  This is pap. Stupid government bureaucrats always wave the newest technology like a bright object as if that changes anything. It doesn’t. What will change things will be to throw out the bad regulations that don’t really follow the law, and demand that stupid government bureaucrats stop getting in the way — or go find another job.

• On this day in 1998, Mars Climate Orbiter was launched on a Delta-2 rocket
  The mission was a failure, missing its orbital insertion point because one set of engineers used metric and another English measurements, and didn’t talk to each other.

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 touts completion of the primary structure of its Haven-1 module, still targeting a 2025 launch
  Next on the list is “painting, window, and hatch integration,” then pressure and load testing.

• Spanish rocket startup PLD touts the on-going work on its Miura-5 orbital rocket
  The company is targeting a 2025 launch date.

• Chinese pseudo-company CosmoLeap touts the on-going development of its “Leap-1” “chopstick” reusable liquid rocket
  It is very dangerous building things like this by watching youtube videos of SpaceX Starship/Superheavy launches. Some very important details will not be evident.

• Video of Tiangong-3 astronauts adding protective layers to the front and back of station’s hatches
  The shields are obvious designed to lower the risk of impact to the hatch while it is open during spacewalks. Damage at that time might prevent the astronauts from getting back inside.

• On this day in 1972 Apollo 17 landed on the Moon
  Fifty-two years later it remains the last time humans walked on another planet.

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.

• Sierra Space in partnership with NVIDIA now using neural network software to predicting location of orbital junk

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Epoch successfully completes 20-second static fire test of its stainless steel Yuanxingzhe-1 rocket
  It uses methane-fuel engines, and intends to land the first stage vertically after launch.

• China’s Long March 5B to launch the first 10 satellites in the Chinese SatNet megaconstellation
  According to tweet, the core stage will not reach orbit, which means it will drop into the ocean instead of crashing uncontrolled somewhere else on Earth.

• Vast touts video showing the shield design it is using on its Haven-1 space module
  The video shows a test where the shield blocked 6mm projectile moving at 6.5 kilometers per second.

• India’s Navy and space agency ISRO conduct rehearsal for recovering manned Gaganyaan capsule from the ocean

• On this day in 1999 Europe’s XMM space telescope was launched
  The article outlines some of the space telescope’s discoveries in the past 25 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.

As Jay noted to me in his email, not much news today. I have been working on a long essay outlining my recommendations for NASA and Jared Isaacman, should he cancel SLS and Orion as I expect he will. Hopefully it will be finished by tomorrow. I might post it here, or see if some other venue might be interested.

• Blue Origin’s CEO touts its prep work on New Glenn on the launchpad
  Blue Origin also sent out an email today saying the Blue Ring demo payload for the launch is also ready. Yet, the key quote from the tweet above was this:: “While we wait for regulatory approvals for hotfire and launch…” Why the hell is the FAA holding up this launch? For what reason? Or is it simply that the agency wants to be an equal opportunity red tape destroyer of everyone?

• Redwire to acquire military satellite builder Hera Systems
  Redwire is also partnering with Vast in building its privately funded Haven-1 space station.

• An uncontrolled Soyuz-2 upper stage weighing 3 to 4 tons missed China’s Tiangong-3 space station by about one mile yesterday
  Jay says there will be another close encounter in two days.

• China touts the first operational use of a magnetic anode Hall thruster on one of its recently launched satellites

• This week in 1972 an Apollo 17 astronaut took what would be the only color photograph of a full Earth available for decades
  There were many Apollo color pictures of Earth, but always with the Earth either waning or waxing. The timing of Apollo 17 took place when the Earth was full. It wasn’t until decades later that other probes or satellites looked back at Earth from a sufficient distance to see the full globe.

• On this day in 1978 Pioneer Venus-2 dropped four probes into the atmosphere of Venus
  Two probes survived long enough to impact the ground, with one transmitting data afterward for more than an hour.

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.

• Telesat and MDA Space complete the preliminary design review of satellite for Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation
  MDA has a contract to build 198.

• PSLV launch today delayed one day due to issue with payload
  The payload is a European solar observation satellite. Engineers detected an issue with the propulsion system on the chronograph.

• China touts the launch capacity of its two new launchpads at its coastal Wenchang spaceport
  According to the report, both combined can launch 32 times per year.

• Op-ed advocating greater independence from Air Force for Space Force
  As always, government agencies grow beyond their original purpose.

• On this day in 1973 Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter
  Why the tweet uses an artist’s rendition when actual images exist baffles me.

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.

• Sierra Space touts final testing of its first Shooting Star cargo capsule, set to launch on Tenacity, its first Dream Chaser reusable mini-shuttle
  The first launch is years behind schedule. The company notes however that the next two Shooting Star capsules are now under construction. All will bring cargo up to orbit but then be disposed of when its Dream Chaser returns.

• Scientists claim, with only a little data, that Venus was always too dry to support life
  The result is interesting, but if you take this seriously I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you real cheap.

• Scientists create map of known gravitational waves
  This result, like the one just above, is about as certain and solid as liquid water, which is why neither was a full post on Behind the Black. The mainstream press might go ga-ga over both, but neither is very significant.

• Burst water pipe will prevent scientists from accessing data from Solar Dynamics Observatory for “an extended length of time”
  The data is still being downloaded and archived, so nothing is expected to be lost.

• European Space Agency (ESA) puts out a call for a study to explore the development of a reusable super heavy-lift rocket
  Another non-story that didn’t deserve more than a quick link. Note the lack of urgency. This is “call” for a “study” to “explore” the “options” for development. Hell will freeze over before ESA starts construction.

• The Commercial Space Federation (CSF) that acts as a political lobbyist for the commercial space industry announces a major restructuring
  Maybe this change will make it possible for this generally ineffective organization to finally pack some clout in DC.

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.

• Australian rocket startup Gilmour delays first launch of its Eris Rocket to mid-January
  The delay appears mostly to avoid conflict with the Christmas holidays. The launch will be from Gilmour’s own Bowen spaceport on the east coast of Australia.

• South Korea reports a sea launch platform from an unnamed “satellite launch startup” ran aground due heavy weather
  The picture suggests this ship was far too small to launch anything orbital. I suspect it was instead used for communications support during launches.

• ABL replaces its CEO in its new focus on missile defense
  One co-founder has stepped down, while the other has now taken charge.

• Vast touts its ongoing work on its Haven-1 space station module
  The company is building it in-house, and is targeting ’26 for a launch and manned mission.

• Rocket Lab touts on-going testing of the second stage of its new Neutron rocket
  The company continues to target ’25 for the first launch.

• Pdf of Chinese science paper outlining decision process to pick landing site for its Mars sample return mission
  No decisions apparently have yet been made, other than the landing will be somewhere between 17 to 30 degrees north latitude, with all but one of the candidate sites in the northern lowland plains.

• On this day in 1969, the Soviet Union accidentally crashed a spacecraft in China, at a time the two nations were not talking to each other
  The spacecraft was part of a program to test upper stages for future lunar missions, but few details are really known about the whole project.

• On this day in 1961 the chimpanzee Enos became the first chimp to orbit the Earth, launched on a Mercury-Atlas-5 rocket

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 says they are right now modifying the nozzle design on the Vulcan solid-fueled strap-ons
  He also says the changes will be ready for next launch.

• ULA’s CEO says that the number of BE-4 engines on hand is 3X what others claimed yesterday
  Based on his claim, ULA has enough BE-4 engines now for 12 Vulcan launches next year.

• December 3, 2024 Vega-C launch delayed again
  No new launch date announced. The reason for the new delay was not given, other than a vague statement that “preliminary checks” have to be done.

• On this day in 2018 InSight touched down on Mars
  Though the mission was able to do the first seismology on Mars, overall it was a troubled mission. It was delayed years because the first seismometer, built by France, didn’t work and had to be replaced, and then the second science instrument, a German-built drill designed to drill down five meters, failed to work on Mars.

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 confirms it has the engines in house for flights 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Vulcan Centaur
  What this means is that Blue Origin is finally figuring out how to produce BE-4 engines on an assembly line basis. Not only does this bode well for Vulcan launches, it bodes well for Blue Origin’s own New Glenn rocket.

• Asteroid that was a temporary moon of the Earth might have come from the Moon itself
  Its solar orbit allows it to loop around the Earth periodically, but then escape back into its solar orbit. This time it was captured by the Earth for 57 days.

• Progress hatch now open and cargo unloading is proceeding as planned
  The Russians think the “toxic smell” first detected when the hatch was first opened came not from this freighter but from the docking port itself. No further details however have been released.

• Russian government approves sale by Roscosmos of older hardware lacking historical value
  This allows Roscosmos to earn quick cash by selling off things like older Soyuz capsules sitting unused in warehouses.

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer is reported to have resumed static fire tests of the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket
  In June during a previous test the stage broke free from its mounts and launched itself.

• Missouri senator touts his effort to reform the space regulatory framework
  Lots of blather, but little substance. The bottom line remains that the administrative state has too much power, and the bills this guy helped pass did little to change that.

• Blue Origin has lowered New Glenn at the launchpad from vertical to horizontal
  It did so without doing any static fire tests. Either there is an issue that is delaying things again, or the company is still proceeding in its normal leisurely pace that gets nothing done now if it can be done months hence.

• On this day in 2011 Curiosity was launched in a ULA Atlas-5 rocket

• On this day in 1958 NASA chose the name “Mercury” for its first manned space program
  This was before there was any plan to send astronauts to the Moon, so the Gemini and Apollo programs did not yet exist. Mercury was the entire American manned program.