Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – May.6.2019

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** World Scout Jamboree Gearing Up for Significant Amateur Radio Presence – Amateur radio enthusiasts aim to introduce scouts to ham radio activities including satellite communications:

“The goals of the Amateur Radio station at the World Scout Jamboree are to introduce Amateur Radio to Scouts and Scout leaders through hands-on participation in two-way communication with other stations across the globe. This activity will also serve as the Amateur Radio voice of the Jamboree,” the World Scout Jamboree Amateur Radio Exhibit Operational Vision document states. Other facets of Amateur Radio at the Jamboree will include Amateur Radio direction finding (ARDF), Amateur Radio satellite contacts, and a scheduled Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with an ISS crew member.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-125 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • Call for Nominations – AMSAT Board of Directors
  • Buxton and Glasbrenner Address CubeSat Developers Workshop
  • AO-91 Anomaly on April 30th Resolved
  • Es’hail-2 Awards at RSGB AGM
  • AMSAT Academy Registration Closes May 10, 2019
  • First Mauritius Satellite Effort Begins
  • Fly Your Satellite! 2 Team completes Phase D Workshop
  • VUCC Awards-Endorsements for April 2019
  • CSVHFS Solicits Papers, Presentations and Posters for Conference
  • World Scout Jamboree Will Feature Amateur Radio Satellites
  • Fifty Years of AMSAT History – What Happened in May
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • ARISS News
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

And a note about a veteran AMSAT:

Misc. CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Moon Rush: The New Space Race

Space policy roundup – May.6.2019

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Webcasts:

** Space Policy Edition: Lessons From the Moonshot That Never Was (with Mark Albrecht) | The Planetary Society

Thirty years ago, Dr. Mark Albrecht led the National Space Council when President George H.W. Bush announced the Space Exploration Initiative, an ambitious effort to send humans to the Moon and then on to Mars. Political divisions and a budget-busting cost estimate grounded the effort before it ever got off the ground. A new National Space Council is attempting to implement a new lunar plan from the Trump Administration. Can the lessons of a failed moonshot help today’s lunar ambitions succeed?

** The Space Show – Fri, 05/03/2019Marcia S. Smith talked about “space policy, NASA budgets, returning to the Moon, lunar return costs and policy, the congressional budget process and more”.

** Space in Videos – 2018 – 01 – Clean Space: how to build a satellite that won’t end up as dangerous debris – ESA:

** May 3, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

https://audioboom.com/posts/7251888-blue-origen-preps-for-sub-orbital-passengers-bob-zimmerman-behindtheblack-com

https://audioboom.com/posts/7251892-waiting-for-apophis-2020-bob-zimmerman-behindtheblack-com

 

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Safe Is Not an Option

The Space Show this week – May.6.2019

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, May 6, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): Dr. Greg Autry returns to discuss our China space policy, ISDC 2019, and space policy and economics.

2. Tuesday, May 7, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Robert Zimmerman for news and space policy updates.

3. Wednesday, May 8, 2019; Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, May 10, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am -1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome back Dr. Madhu Thangavelu to discuss returning to the Moon and the Moon Track at ISDC 2019.

5. Sunday, May 12 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): No show today in honor of Mother’s Day.

Recent shows:

** Fri, 05/03/2019Marcia S. Smith talked about “space policy, NASA budgets, returning to the Moon, lunar return costs and policy, the congressional budget process and more”.

** Tue, 04/30/2019Bruno Mombrinie, founder and lead designer of the electric short takeoff and landing airplane Metro Hop, talked about “flying cars for real”.

** Sun, 04/28/2019Michael Ciancone talked about his “‘Foreword to Spaceflight’ bibliography, 2019 IAC Washington, DC, Glenn Memorial Symposium, European Service Module for the Orion Program, service module integration, & more”.

See also:
* The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
* The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
* The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - David Livingston
The Space Show – David Livingston

Space transport roundup – May.4.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:

** SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launches Cargo Dragon on CRS-17 mission to the ISS. Rendezvous and berthing to the station is set for early Monday morning. NASA TV coverage will start at 5:00 am EDT.

The full webcast:

More about the launch and the CRS-17 cargo mission:

** Rocket Lab Electron launch postponed to run more checks on the satellite payloads. Next chance will be Sunday morning.

Updates at:

** More about the MOMO-F3 launch by Interstellar Technologies in Japan on Friday:

This suborbital mission, the first success after two failures, is a boost to the company, which aims eventually to send a payload to orbit. From AP:

The company, founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, who was a former Livedoor Co. President, aims to develop low-cost commercial rockets to carry satellites into space. Horie expressed high expectations for his new business.

From Interstellar:

Interstellar Technologies Inc.(Hokkaido-Hiroo-Taiki JAPAN, CEO: Takahiro Inagawa, hereafter referred to as “IST”)announces that Flight 3 of the sounding rocket MOMO has successfully launched and achieved designated trajectory.

MOMO, the third in it’s series of sounding rockets designed and fabricated in IST, lifted off at 05:45 AM (JST), May-04-2019 from IST’s launch pad in Taiki, Hokkaido.

The vehicle successfully carried it’s payload to the designated trajectory, becoming the first privately funded rocket in Japan to exceed an apogee of 100km.

Details of the launch are as follows:

    • Flight duration : 515 seconds
    • Maximum altitude : 113.4 km [preliminary value]
    • Downrange : 37 km from the launch site

This was the first successful attempt following two consecutive failures for the previous MOMO series, and has provided valuable telemetry data for further development within IST. IST expresses deep gratitude towards all sponsors, companies, institutions, and individuals who have supported the success of the MOMO project. IST is geared towards continuous development of both the MOMO series and the upcoming orbital rocket “ZERO”, with the goal of providing affordable, flexible access to space.

** SpinLaunch constructing a catapult-style launch system at Spaceport America in New Mexico:

From the SVBJ article:

The Sunnyvale, California-based company signed a multiyear lease for acreage from the commercial space hub near Truth or Consequences in January, and its facility is set to house at least 20 people, spokeswoman Diane Murphy previously told Business First.

SpinLaunch will invest $7 million in construction and $1 million in infrastructure development, Business First previously reported. The deal is important for the $220 million taxpayer-subsidized Spaceport, which has struggled in the past to secure tenants.

SpinLaunch has been shy about giving details of its system, but it appears to be similar to the Slingatron concept. The modules launched will need to be hardened for the tremendous heating from the atmosphere. The catapult would provide about three quarters of orbital speed so the module would still need a propulsion system of its own to provide the final kick to reach a stable orbit.

In 2018, the company convinced investors to provide enough capital to build an initial system: Stealth space catapult startup SpinLaunch is raising $30M | TechCrunch

[SpinLaunch founder Jonathan Yaney ] explains that reaching orbital velocities typically “requires a rocket to carry massive quantities of propellant, leaving only a small fraction (a few percent) of the overall vehicle’s mass for ‘cargo.’” But SpinLaunch replaces rocket boosters with a kinetic launch system using principles “similar to those explored by several ground-based mass accelerators that date back to the 1960s. Modern adaptations include electromagnetic rail and coil guns, electrothermal-chemical guns, light gas guns, ram accelerators, and blast wave accelerators.”

He says “SpinLaunch employs a rotational acceleration method, harnessing angular momentum to gradually accelerate the vehicle to hypersonic speeds. This approach employs a dramatically lower cost architecture with much lower power.” SpinLaunch is targeting a per launch price of less than $500,000, while Yaney says “all existing rocket based companies cost between $5 million and $100 million per launch.”

Total funding has reached about $45M according to Leonard David. See also This Startup Got $40 Million to Build a Space Catapult – Bloomberg.

The NM spaceport is an inland site intended for suborbital missions. It will be interesting to see if SpinLaunch plans to use the system there only for suborbital tests or will try to take advantage of the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range to obtain sufficient buffer distance to get to orbit before overflying civilian areas. Years ago, Kistler Aerospace seriously considered orbital rocket launches from the Nevada Range.

The tremendous accelerations and heating involved with catapult launchers limit the kinds of payloads they can send to space. However, such a launcher would be great for providing a low cost method to deliver a continuous stream of bulk supplies (e.g. food, fuel, water, etc) once there are large scale habitats and other facilities in orbit.

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The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

Everyone can participate in space