June 18, 2025 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.
- ESA, Blue Origin, and Thales Alenia sign agreement to vaguely work together in low Earth orbit
It appears the deal will increase the participation of Thales Alenia and the European Space Agency in the development of Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef space station, including Thales Alenia likely building some of the station’s modules. Where Orbital Reef partner Sierra Space stands in this with its LIFE modules is unclear.
- Chinese pseudo-company Azspace touts the final assembly of its first small cargo capsule
No indication of a launch date.
- Varda touts completion of its fourth Winnebago orbital capsule, this time built entirely in-house
It will launch this week on a Falcon 9. The company has also obtained a five year FAA license to bring all its capsules back at the Koonibba Test Range in southern Australia.
- On this day in 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space
During her space shuttle mission the crew deployed two satellites.
- On this day in 2009 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched
It has been in lunar orbit ever since, is still operating, and has produced very high resolution maps of the entire Moon.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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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.
- ESA, Blue Origin, and Thales Alenia sign agreement to vaguely work together in low Earth orbit
It appears the deal will increase the participation of Thales Alenia and the European Space Agency in the development of Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef space station, including Thales Alenia likely building some of the station’s modules. Where Orbital Reef partner Sierra Space stands in this with its LIFE modules is unclear.
- Chinese pseudo-company Azspace touts the final assembly of its first small cargo capsule
No indication of a launch date.
- Varda touts completion of its fourth Winnebago orbital capsule, this time built entirely in-house
It will launch this week on a Falcon 9. The company has also obtained a five year FAA license to bring all its capsules back at the Koonibba Test Range in southern Australia.
- On this day in 1983 Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly in space
During her space shuttle mission the crew deployed two satellites.
- On this day in 2009 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched
It has been in lunar orbit ever since, is still operating, and has produced very high resolution maps of the entire Moon.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Well, there goes Orbital Reef. I predict Sierra will split off on ots own.
Vast and Voyager and Gravitas are the only serious ones….my hope was Elon does rockets, Bezos does payloads.
Re: Starship 36 suddenly exploded during a static fire on the test stand at Massey’s.
Man, 90 minutes later after the explosion, and things are still cooking off at Massey’s. The deluge system was clearly overwhelmed.
Looks like some significant rebuild work is gonna be needed for that part of Massey’s.
Clarifying my last: I should clarify that the explosion occurred about 10-15 minutes before the actual static fire — during the last stage of prop loading.
Loads of emergency vehicles on site now, still struggling to get the fire under control.
seriously, how confident is everyone that a refueled starship will never explode when its ignites its engines at the start of its travels from Earth orbit to Mars?
Richard M: I’m on it. A post is about to go up.
Hello Steve,
Things look rough now, but I don’t think we have enough insight to say.
Are a lot of these issues specific to the V2 Starship? I could be forgiven for suspecting that. But V3 doesn’t exist yet, so I can hardly begin to make comparisons.
On how to turn solar sails
https://phys.org/news/2025-06-solar.html
Researchers from the University of New South Wales have proposed an elegant solution inspired by Japan’s groundbreaking IKAROS mission: Reflectivity Control Devices, or RCDs. These are essentially electronic mirrors that can change how they reflect sunlight with the flip of a switch.