Space transport roundup – April.20.2019

Apr20
by TopSpacer on April 20, 2019 at 3:37 pm
Posted In: Rockets

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

** Space Access 2019 has been underway in Silicon Valley since Thursday. Check out notes on the many space transport presentations and panels at #SpaceAccess19 hashtag on Twitter. Brian Wang has also posted notes and images of slides at NextBigFuture.com from several of the talks.

** Northrop-Grumman Cygnus berthed to the ISS on Friday following the launch from Wallops Island on Wednesday:

More about the mission:

** Chinese Long March 3B launches a Beidou navigation satellite today: Beidou-3G2Q navigation satellite launched on Long March 3B – NASASpaceFlight.com.

** Virgin Galactic plans ramp up of SS2 flights after interior is upgraded for carrying six people along with the two pilots: Virgin Galactic expects rapid conclusion of SpaceShipTwo test flights after downtime – SpaceNews.com

From VG chief test pilot Dave Mackay:

“The next time it flies, we expect to have the full commercial cabin installed,” he said. A few other modifications to the vehicle are also in progress, such as changes to cockpit displays.

“This downtime might be fairly long,” he said. “Once we get out of that, we should be able to get through the remainder of the test program pretty quickly and get into commercial service.”

** Next flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard not till mid-July at the earliest according to documents filed with the FCC:

The most recent New Shepard test flight was on January 23rd. That test flight is following the pattern of previous ones in being declared successful and then followed by a gap of a few months before the next flight, usually with no explanation for what modifications or upgrades they are making during in the interim. Blue Origin officials have indicated that passenger flights could start this year but that several more test flights were required.

** LinkSpace reusable vertical takeoff and landing rocket flies again:

See video also at Flight of LinkSpace vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket – Weibo.com.

** Blue Origin will rehab old engine stand at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama:

“Under a Commercial Space Launch Act agreement, Blue Origin will upgrade and refurbish Test Stand 4670, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to support testing of their BE-3U and BE-4 rocket engines. Constructed in 1965, Test Stand 4670 served as the backbone for Saturn V propulsion testing for the Apollo program, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Credits: NASA”

** ULA prepares rockets for Boeing Starliner crew test missions, currently set to start in August: Atlas V Starliner Updates: Atlas V Rockets in Production to Launch Astronaut Crews – ULA

United Launch Alliance is finalizing production of the Atlas V rockets that will launch the first two crewed flights of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station, known as the Crew Flight Test (CFT) and Post Certification Mission-1 (PCM-1).

At our factory in Decatur, Alabama, skilled technicians are putting the finishing touches on the CFT hardware before shipment to the Cape Canaveral launch site, and also working on the assembly and testing of the PCM-1 rocket.

These launches will be the second and third flights of the Starliner program. The first flight, the Orbital Flight Test (OFT), will be an uncrewed checkout mission to the International Space Station scheduled for August 2019. All Atlas V hardware for OFT is in Cape Canaveral and will soon begin processing for the first flight.

A Centaur upper stage with two Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Hydrogen RL10 engines. A Centaur with 2 engines, rather than the usual single engine version, is  needed for the Atlas V launcher that will send a Boeing Starliner crew vehicle to the ISS. Photo credit: ULA

** NASA and Boeing rehearse Starliner sea rescue operations in case the standard ground landing is aborted for some reason: NASA’s Commercial Crew, DoD Teams Conduct Crew Rescue Exercise – Commercial Crew Program/NASA

NASA and the Department of Defense Human Space Flight Support (HSFS) Office Rescue Division are conducting a search and rescue training exercise over the next several days at the Army Warf on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the first at-sea exercise with the Boeing CST-100 Starliner training capsule, known as Boiler Plate 3, ahead of the commercial crew flight test with astronauts targeted for later this year.

…

During normal return scenarios, Boeing’s Starliner will land on land in a safe zone of about 15 square miles in the Western United States. Throughout the commercial crew development phases with NASA, Boeing has performed dozens of qualification tests on its parachute and airbag systems simulating conditions on land and in the water.

** Update on development of the ULA Vulcan rocket: United Launch Alliance Progresses Towards Purpose-Built Vulcan Centaur for National Security Space Missions – ULA

“Manufacturing of Vulcan Centaur pathfinder and qualification hardware in the factory has been going on for nearly a year and just a few weeks ago, the team began to manufacture the first flight hardware,” said Bruno. “It is a tremendously exciting time as we watch the first flight vehicle being built.”

** SpaceX:

** A bottom portion of Falcon Heavy core booster was salvaged after it fell during rough seas: SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster tips over on drone ship, returns to port in pieces – Teslarati.

Some photos at port:

**** The fairings, though, appear to be in excellent shape after retrieval from the sea following their parasail soft landings (video via www.USLaunchReport.com):

**** Next Cargo Dragon mission set for April 30th from Cape Canaveral: SpaceX CRS-17 Launch Now Scheduled for April 30 – SpaceX/NASA

NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. Monday, April 22, to discuss select science investigations the Dragon will deliver to the astronauts living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA will stream audio from the discussion at http://www.nasa.gov/live.

**** The DoD sponsored STP-2 Falcon Heavy mission involves the launch of nearly 2 dozen satellites and multiple firings of the upper stage: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy flies a complex mission for the Air Force in launch video – Teslarati.

SpaceX has posted a webpage dedicated to the mission: STP-2 Mission | SpaceX.

And released the STP-2 Animation:

The STP-2 mission will be among the most challenging launches in SpaceX history with four separate upper-stage engine burns, three separate deployment orbits, a final propulsive passivation maneuver and a total mission duration of over six hours. In addition, the U.S. Air Force plans to reuse side boosters from the Arabsat-6A Falcon Heavy launch, recovered after a return to launch site landing, making it the first reused Falcon Heavy ever flown.

Not all of the small satellites to be deployed are military. For example, Prox-1 is

a microsat developed by students at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta through the Air Force’s University Nanosat Program to demonstrate satellite close proximity operations and rendezvous.

**** Two Falcon boosters spotted on way to Florida:  SpaceX ships two Falcon boosters to Florida for a busy spring of launches – Teslarati.

**** SpaceX raising money for development of the Starlink global Internet constellation project and the Starship space transport system: SpaceX preps second $500M fundraiser as Starlink & Starship make progress – Teslarati

**** An account of the naming of the SpaceX engines from the company’s top engine guru: SpaceX Stories: How Did SpaceX Rocket Engines Get Their Names – ElonX.net

**** Boca Chica Update:

>> The Starhopper’s Raptor engine was removed after a short test hop was made a couple of weeks ago. Presumably the three engines needed for lifting the vehicle up a few hundred meters are being prepared for installation.

>> Meanwhile, observers have watched work on the Starhopper structure and the facilities around it.

>> The construction of the high altitude test vehicle is proceeding:

**** Dragon-wings on a Starship (maybe) – On the weekend of the restart of the Game of Thrones television series, Elon Musk tweeted what seemed like a joke:

Subsequent tweets, however, indicated that he wasn’t completely kidding. In response to the question, “How serious are you on a scale of 1 to 10 tho ?!“, he responded:

The idea is that the extra surface area provided by deployable wings would distribute heat during reentry sufficiently to eliminate the need for more complex solutions such as transpiration cooling to keeping the vehicle from melting:

We’ll have to see if this goes any further than mulling an idea on Tweeter. Scott Manley did some simulations with Kerbal Space Program and was impressed with the effects such wings would have:

In an absolutely serious tweet Elon musk suggested that dragon wings might enhance the capabilities of his stainless steel starship concept. Thanks to the power of commercial spacecraft simulation software we are able to test this concept and prove that it was more than just a joke.

**** The business end of the Falcon Heavy in high contrast: APOD: 2019 April 20 – Falcon Heavy Launch Close up

** Documentaries about two American rocket pioneers:

**** The Rocket Man, Bob Traux – a Rocket Engineering Documentary from Spark

A leader in rocket engineering and a man passionate about space travel, Bob Truax cannot go unmentioned in the history of the space shuttle. Described as an “individual who is committed to his ideals, goals and objectives,” the 2006 film documents his life and achievements.

**** The American Rocketeer

“The American Rocketeer” is a 2010 Jet Propulsion Laboratory production about JPL’s origins. Much of the focus is on Frank Malina, an aeronautical engineer and protégé of physicist Theodore von Kármán.

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

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Space policy roundup – April.19.2019

Apr19
by TopSpacer on April 19, 2019 at 12:43 pm
Posted In: Space Policy

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:

**  #30: Space Force: Out of This World or The Future of Global Engagement? by What in the World? | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Houston, do we have a problem? President Trump announced the establishment of Space Force in February. Skeptics have asked, what could we possibly need a space military for when we haven’t found aliens to fight and what’s the difference between NASA and Space Force?. Guest experts, Victoria Samson and Krystal Wilson, discuss space security, space technology’s beneficial values, and the plans behind President Trump’s Space Force.

** Ep 101 | Can Space Force Stop Somali Rocket Pirates? | Guest: Anthony Colangelo – Something’s Off with Andrew Heaton – Omny.fm

Is a U.S. Space Force an inevitable step to protecting satellites and commercial space activities, or just an expensive exercise in shuffling Pentagon bureaucracies? Military and aerospace expert Anthony Colangelo joins Heaton to sort things out.

** The Space Show – Sun, 04/14/2019 – Jay Wittner talked about “Integrated Space Plan, human spaceflight development now and into the future, [and] why The Space Plan and human spaceflight is essential”.

** April 16, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

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Videos: NASA “Space to Ground” ISS report – April.19.2019

Apr19
by TopSpacer on April 19, 2019 at 11:50 am
Posted In: In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

A new episode of NASA’s weekly Space to Ground report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** A look at what is on the Cygnus spacecraft that berthed to the ISS this morning: Cygnus Carries Tech and Science Investigations to Space Station | NASA

** Part 2 of a tutorial on spacewalks:

During their time on the International Space Station many astronauts have the opportunity to participate in spacewalks, also known as Extravehicular Activities (EVA). These spacewalks play a critical role in keeping the station functional as it travels approximately 17,500 miles per hour 250 miles above the Earth’s surface. In this episode, Expedition 55/56 Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold talks about the critical parts of the spacesuit that keep astronauts safe as they perform maintenance in the harsh environment surrounding the space station. Visit https://nasa.gov/stemonstation for more educational resources that explore the research and technology of the International Space Station.

** A brief NASA video focusing on the importance of observing Earth from space:

“Space for U.S.” highlights some of the many ways that NASA’s Earth observations help people strengthen communities across the United States and make informed decisions about public health, disaster response and recovery, and environmental protection. For six decades, NASA has used the vantage point of space to better understand our home planet and improve lives. By highlighting advanced technology from a global perspective, our data helps provide people achieve groundbreaking insights. “Space for U.S.” features 56 stories illustrating how our science has made an impact in every state in the nation as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and regions along the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes. NASA freely and openly provides its Earth-observing data to those seeking answers to important global issues. The Applied Sciences Program in NASA’s Earth Science Division funds projects that enable innovative uses of NASA Earth science data, resulting in informed decision making to strengthen America’s economy and improve the quality of life worldwide.

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Outpost in Orbit: A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station

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Videos: TMRO Orbit 12.13 – “How we will survive out in Space”

Apr18
by TopSpacer on April 18, 2019 at 3:43 pm
Posted In: Space business, Space Systems, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

The latest episode from the TMRO.tv Space webcasts: How we will survive out in Space – Orbit 12.13

Engineer Brittany Zimmerman of Paragon Space Development Corporation joins us to talk about the different ways Space wants to kill you. We cover how Paragon is working on Life Support And Environmental Control Systems, including water purification to help keep us all alive on out journey to Mars. This one is an eye opener including a lot of stuff that will be required if us ugly giant bags of mostly water are to colonize the solar system.

A recent space news report:

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Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

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Sci-Tech videos: 3 Boston Dynamics robots, MIT Mini Cheetah, & Agility Robotics Cassie

Apr17
by TopSpacer on April 17, 2019 at 4:41 pm
Posted In: Science and Technology

A selection of items about robotics:

** The SpotMini looks to be Boston Dynamics‘s first major commercial robot. Here is a video released this week:

It only takes 10 Spotpower (SP) to haul a truck across the Boston Dynamics parking lot (~1 degree uphill, truck in neutral). These Spot robots are coming off the production line now and will be available for a range of applications soon.

** Boston Dynamics robots for warehouse work include Handle and Pick:

Handle is a mobile manipulation robot designed for logistics. Handle autonomously performs mixed SKU pallet building and depalletizing after initialization and localizing against the pallets. The on-board vision system on Handle tracks the marked pallets for navigation and finds individual boxes for grasping and placing. When Handle places a boxes onto a pallet, it uses force control to nestle each box up against its neighbors. The boxes used in the video weigh about 5 Kg (11 lbs), but the robot is designed to handle boxes up to (15 Kg) (33 lb). This version of Handle works with pallets that are 1.2 m deep and 1.7 m tall (48 inches deep and 68 inches tall).

Using a combination of vision sensors and deep learning software, Pick works with commercial robotic arms to palletize and depalletize boxes. Pick enables logistics, retail, and manufacturing companies to achieve high rates of box moving with minimal set up or training for both multi-SKU and single-SKU pallets.

** “Evolution of Boston Dynamics Robots“:

** Backflipping MIT Mini Cheetah – Mini cheetah is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip | MIT News

MIT’S new mini cheetah robot is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip. At only 20 pounds the limber quadruped can bend and swing its legs wide, enabling it to walk either right side up or upside down. The robot can also trot over uneven terrain about twice as fast as an average person’s walking speed.

** Cassie: Dynamic Planning on Stairs from Agility Robotics

This video shows the progression of increasingly complex gait strategies from ATRIAS through recent results with Cassie. Specifically, Cassie’s controller now includes planned footstep placements in addition to dynamic balancing, allowing access to substantially more complicated terrains.

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Einstein’s Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes

SpaceIL diagnosing landing failure and planning for next lunar mission

Apr17
by TopSpacer on April 17, 2019 at 10:42 am
Posted In: Amateur/Student Satellite, Space participation, The Moon

The attempt by SpaceIL, a private non-profit organization, to land the Beresheet craft softly on the Moon last week went awry just a few minutes before it was to set down onto the surface. Initial results of an investigation into what went wrong were released today:

See also:

** Final image taken by Beresheet released:

** Planning for a second Beresheet mission is now underway:

More at

** SpaceIL member participated in an Ask Me Anything session on reddit this week: Hi, my name is Ben Nathaniel, I work on the team of Beresheet, the spacecraft that Israel sent to the Moon on April 11 (as you may know the landing didn’t go so well). Ask Me Anything. – space/reddit.com.

** A vast knowledge database on Beresheet may have survived the crash: There may be a copy of Wikipedia somewhere on the moon. Here’s how to help find it – Mashable.com

The Arch Lunar Library contains 100GB, or 30 million pages of text and pictures, literally embedded in 25 nickel disks in the tiniest type you can possibly imagine. You don’t need anything more specialized than a microscope to read it, and the etchings should survive for billions of years. 

This library was supposed to be delivered to the surface of the moon — specifically, the Sea of Serenity — by Israel’s Beresheet Mission last week. The bad news: After a glitch that turned its engine off and on again at the worst possible moment, the Beresheet lander smashed into the moon at 300 miles per hour.

The good news: Those disks were designed to be indestructible. And the Arch Foundation is all but certain its payload survived the crash.

“We have either installed the first library on the moon,” says Arch Mission co-founder Nova Spivack, “or we have installed the first archaeological ruins of early human attempts to build a library on the moon.”

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First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience

Space transport roundup – April.16.2019

Apr16
by TopSpacer on April 16, 2019 at 4:39 pm
Posted In: Rockets

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

** Northrop-Grumman Antares set to launch Cygnus cargo vehicle to the ISS from Wallops Island, Virginia on Wednesday, April 17th at 4:46 p.m. EDT (2046 GMT): U.S. Resupply Ship Poised for Launch as Crew Studies Life Science – Space Station/NASA

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft is seen during sunrise on Pad-0A, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 11th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,600 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Cygnus will

will deliver about 7,600 pounds of science, supplies and hardware to the orbital residents. Flight Engineer Anne McClain, with astronaut David Saint-Jacques backing her up, will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and capture Cygnus Friday about 5:30 a.m. [EDT].

NASA TV will webcast the launch.

** A review of rocket designs chosen by Chinese commercial launch startups: The Technical Choices of China’s NewSpace Launcher Companies in 2019 – The China Aerospace Blog

… a good half of these startups (7 out of 11) are also developing liquid propulsion. This is partly due to the intrinsic performance, but also the possibility to be reusable (although solid systems can sometimes also be refurbished, such as the Space Shuttle SRBs). Reusability actually seems to be one of the dominant reasons, as nearly all liquid propulsion rockets are being developed with a reusable design, often based on the return of the first stage through retropropulsive landing. It is striking to see the extent of the consensus around SpaceX’s business model within the Chinese private sector, while heated debates in Europe and Russia still take place on its sustainability.

** DARPA’s Launch Challenge competition aims to support companies developing rockets that can “demonstrate flexible and responsive launch capabilities in days, not years” –

** SpaceX:

**** Falcon Heavy Core damaged in fall as heavy seas rolled the sea platform on which it landed last week:

“Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX’s recovery team was unable to secure the center core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral,” said James Gleeson, a SpaceX spokesperson. “As conditions worsened with eight to ten foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright.

“While we had hoped to bring the booster back intact, the safety of our team always takes precedence,” Gleeson said in a statement. “We do not expect future missions to be impacted.”

Elon Musk later tweeted that the “Engines seem ok, pending inspection”. There are reports that the rocket is lying horizontal on the platform so we’ll see the level damage when the platform returns to Port Canaveral. Though the vehicle is unlikely to fly again, having the core will be useful to SpaceX to examine to better understand the wear and tear that it endured during the flight. Also, perhaps some components like the engines can be reused.

**** FH fairings returned to Port Canaveral. As mentioned in the previous roundup, Elon Musk says the fairings will be used for a Falcon 9 launch of the company’s Starlink Internet satellites:

**** A nice collection of videos and images of the FH launch and boosters landings:  SpaceX’s flawless Falcon Heavy Block 5 launch and landing in pictures – Teslarati

**** Cargo Dragon flight to the ISS set to launch on April 26th from Cape Canaveral at 5:55 am EDT (0955 GMT). This will be the 17th operational Dragon mission to the ISS.

**** A giant space telescope a good fit for the Starship. Most all of the mainstream space industry and government agencies are going out of their way to pretend the Super Heavy Booster/Starship project doesn’t exist. So while this is just a graphic done for fun, it’s nevertheless a bit of a surprise that even a lower level group at NASA would dare to show the proposed LUVOIR telescope in a Starship:

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

The Space Show this week – April.15.2019

Apr15
by TopSpacer on April 15, 2019 at 11:30 am
Posted In: Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

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

1. Monday, April 15, 2019; 2-3:30 pm PDT (4-5:30 pm CDT, 5-6:30 pm EDT): No show for today. Monday is for special and timely programs only.

2. Tuesday, April 16, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Dr. Greg Autry for space economics, budgets, ISDC 2019, and US China space policy.

3. Wednesday, April 17 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, April 19, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT; 11:30 am – 1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT. No show today as am at the Space Access Conference.

5. Sunday, April 21, 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT, (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): No show today due to Easter and the Space Access Conference.

Some recent shows:

** Tue, 04/09/2019 – Dr. Mike Gruntman gave a “historical analysis of Tyuratam Missile Range to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, aerospace education, returning to the Moon, inspiration, Elon Musk, SpaceX, Jeff Bezos and much more”.

** Fri, 04/12/2019 – Kim Holder talked about “Moonwards.com news and update. Returning to the Moon, the Moon as a virtual world and more”.

**  Sun, 04/07/2019 – Open Lines program with Dr. David Livingston who led the discussion of the Space Access Society Conference update and multiple caller topics.

** Fri, 04/05/2019 – Dennis Wingo discussed “Returning to the Moon by 2024, V.P. Pence & NASA Administrator Bridenstine, lunar industrial development program, potential lunar development plan, and more”. In particular, they talked about Dennis’s recent essay, SLS and Lunar Return in 2024: “With Faith and Ambition”.

** Tue, 04/02/2019 – Author Rod Pyle talked about his two newest books, Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age and First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience.

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 policy roundup – April.15.2019

Apr15
by TopSpacer on April 15, 2019 at 10:30 am
Posted In: Activism, Space Policy

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:

** The Space Show – Tue, 04/09/2019 – Dr. Mike Gruntman gave a “historical analysis of Tyuratam Missile Range to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, aerospace education, returning to the Moon, inspiration, Elon Musk, SpaceX, Jeff Bezos and much more”.

** The Space Show – Fri, 04/12/2019 – Kim Holder talked about “Moonwards.com news and update. Returning to the Moon, the Moon as a virtual world and more”.

** Celebrating Yuri’s Night with Legendary Astronaut Story Musgrave | The Planetary Society –

The Los Angeles celebration of Yuri’s Night came six days early this year. It attracted hundreds of space party animals, along with celebrities like Bill Nye and Story Musgrave. Host Mat Kaplan talked with both under the wing of space shuttle Endeavour. Jason Davis is counting down to Space IL’s attempt to soft land Beresheet on the Moon. “Where We Are” is a great new visual feature of the Planetary Society. Emily Lakdawalla introduces us to it. There’s a lot to see in the night sky! Get a What’s Up preview from Bruce Betts.

** April 12, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

** April 9, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

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Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – April.14.2019

Apr14
by TopSpacer on April 14, 2019 at 5:33 pm
Posted In: Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

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

** More on the Virginia university student CubeSat program mentioned in previous roundups here:

In a giant leap for Virginia Tech, the first satellite built by undergraduate students is scheduled to be launched into space on April 17, 2019.

One small step closer to reaching space, a group of Virginia Tech undergraduate students recently delivered their small satellite to Houston to be incorporated into NanoRacks’ commercially developed CubeSat deployer. Virginia Tech’s satellite, along with two satellites from other Virginia universities, is scheduled to launch on the payload section of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket and then will be headed to the International Space Station.

If the weather is clear, the Antares launch will visible over a large East Coast area: Rocket launch from Wallops Flight Facility to be visible from Hampton Roads, NE North Carolina | WTKR.com.

** An all girls team in Kyrgyzstan is building a smallsat:

Back in January we started crowdfunding on the Patreon platform and by the end of November the amount of donations has reached more than $1,100 per month. This amount has increased particularly after the aforementioned article in Quartz magazine.

Moreover, since November we have a donor-organization in the Kyrgyz space program — the Internews organization will donate sufficient amount of money that will cover expenses on building, testing and launching two (!) nanosatellites.

This does not mean that we no longer need patrons — there are quite a few unforeseen crazy ideas (for example, to test a prototype of the satellite in the mountains of the Issyk-Kul region), the costs of which are not included in the Internews grant, but are necessary to make the satellite launch happen.

** Canada’s Western University and Nunavut Arctic College will build a CubeSat to test

a novel imaging system for the engineering technology demonstration with the potential to provide virtual reality-ready images. This imagin system has future applications in the Earth observation and space exploration.

More at:

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-104 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • TAPR/AMSAT Banquet Speaker Announced
  • Seats Still Available for AMSAT Academy
  • AMSAT Activities at Hamvention 2019
  • N8HM to Appear on Ham Talk Live April 18th
  • Last Chance to Bid in ARISS Auction
  • ARISS SSTV Event Continues Through 18:00 UTC April 14th
  • Diwata-2 Designated Philippines-OSCAR 101 (PO-101)
  • March/April 2019 Edition of Apogee View Posted
  • How to Support AMSAT
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Space transport roundup – April.13.2019

Apr13
by TopSpacer on April 13, 2019 at 5:41 pm
Posted In: Rockets

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

** Giant Stratolaunch aircraft flies for the first time at Mojave Air & Space Port: Stratolaunch Completes Historic First Flight of Aircraft – Stratolaunch

Stratolaunch Systems Corporation, founded by Paul G. Allen, today successfully completed the first flight of the world’s largest all-composite aircraft, the Stratolaunch. With a dual fuselage design and wingspan greater than the length of an American football field, the Stratolaunch aircraft took flight at 0658 PDT from the Mojave Air & Space Port. Achieving a maximum speed of 189 miles per hour, the plane flew for 2.5 hours over the Mojave Desert at altitudes up to 17,000 feet. As part of the initial flight, the pilots evaluated aircraft performance and handling qualities before landing successfully back at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

…

The test team conducted standard aircraft testing exercises. Initial results from today’s test points include:

    • Performed a variety of flight control maneuvers to calibrate speed and test flight control systems, including roll doublets, yawing maneuvers, pushovers and pull-ups, and steady heading side slips.
    • Conducted simulated landing approach exercises at a max altitude of 15,000 feet mean sea level.

The Stratolaunch aircraft is a mobile launch platform that will enable airline-style access to space that is convenient, affordable and routine. The reinforced center wing can support multiple launch vehicles, weighing up to a total of 500,000 pounds.

“We all know Paul would have been proud to witness today’s historic achievement,” said Jody Allen, Chair of Vulcan Inc. and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. “The aircraft is a remarkable engineering achievement and we congratulate everyone involved.”

Following the death of Paul Allen, the company canceled plans to build rocket vehicles for the aircraft launch platform. Currently the only rocket that is nominally compatible for launch from the aircraft is the very expensive Northrop Grumman Pegasus. So it’s unclear what is ahead for the company and the largest aircraft ever flown.

See also Roc – the world’s largest plane – takes flight ahead of Stratolaunch rocket goals – NASASpaceFlight.com.

** PLD Space of Spain tests first stage booster return by parachute. The suborbital MIURA 1 and orbital MIURA 5 rocket systems each reuse their first stage boosters, which return to earth via parachute. The company carried out a drop test for the MIURA 5 booster this past Thursday (April 11): Successful drop test of the demonstrator of the first stage of MIURA 5 – PLD Space –

A brief video of the test:

PLD Space has successfully completed the first drop test with a full-scale demonstrator of the first stage of the MIURA 5 orbital rocket. This project is part of the FLPP-LPSR program, promoted by the European Space Agency (ESA), supported by CDTI, INTA, Ejército de Tierra #FAMET #BHELTRAV, Tecnalia

** Japan’s Interstellar Technologies prepares for next launch of the MOMO suborbital rocket: Launch Test of “MOMO No. 3”, a Space-Shifting Sounding Rocket- Interstellar Technologies Inc. (Google Translation)

Expected launch date: April 30, 2019 (Tuesday) 
Expected launch time: 11:15 to 12:30, 16:00 to 17:20 (Japan Standard Time) 
Launch date: 
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 16: 00-17: 20 
Thursday, May 2 2019-Sunday, May 5
5: 00-8: 00 
11:15 to 12:30 
16: 00-17: 20 
Launch location: Hokkaido Taiki-cho launch site

The first MOMO test in 2017 flew for about a minute before a break in the telemetry communications connection caused a premature shutdown of the engine. On the second test in 2018, the engine shutoff shortly after liftoff and the rocket fell back to the pad and exploded.

** China’s Deep Blue Aerospace aims for a low cost launch system with a reusable first stage:

More about Deep Blue and other Chinese rocket startups:

** Blue Origin continues to add more facilities:

** SpaceX:

**** More views of the Falcon Heavy launch of Arabsat-6A and the landing of the boosters:

[ Update: Slo-mo views of the liftoff and landings:

]

**** The fairings from the Arabsat-6A mission were recovered after they landed softly in the water via paragliders and will be reused for a launch of SpaceX’s broadband Internet satellites:

See also SpaceX retrieves Falcon Heavy fairings from sea for reuse on future launch – Spaceflight Now.

**** More about the FH:

**** SpaceX wins NASA contract to launch the DART asteroid impact mission:

NASA’s first planetary defense mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), has been slated for a June 2021 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The mission, led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will be the first to demonstrate the kinetic impactor technique, which involves slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid at high speed to shift it off course.

“We’re excited that NASA has selected the vehicle to launch DART on its important planetary defense mission,” said DART Mission Systems Engineer Elena Adams, of APL. “The DART team is eager to move ahead with our spacecraft and mission designs and demonstrate, for the first time in space, a method to keep potentially hazardous bodies from reaching Earth.”

DART will target the smaller of the two objects that make up the binary asteroid Didymos, which will be about 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth at the time of impact, scheduled for October 2022.

** Some misc. space transport items:

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Videos: TMRO Orbit 12.11 & 12.12 – James Webb Space Telescope’s first images & APL’s Interstellar Probe

Apr12
by TopSpacer on April 12, 2019 at 2:30 pm
Posted In: Activism, Astronomy, SpaceCasts

A recent episode of the TMRO.tv Space show: Why JWST’s first images will just be 18 fuzzy blobs

This week we are joined by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Program Scientist Dr. Eric Smith. We talk about the most ambitious space telescope project humans have ever undertaken, and why when we get the first images back it will likely just be 18 fuzzy blobs.

** And here is another: APL’s Interstellar Probe

The always energetic and information powerhouse Dr. Kirby Runyon joins us to talk about New Horizons, Yuris Night and announces the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab Interstellar Probe. It’s a really fun and exciting interview, and we had a bit of stuff we missed in After Dark so we left a bit of that in there at the end as well.

** A space news report: RocketLab announces Photon, ISS Spacewalks and the weight of the galaxy!

This week in Space News from TMRO we have: Rocket Lab announces their Photon satellite system US Spacewalk 53, Space Suit Mixup Milky Way Weight There were 2 Soyuz launches in Space Traffic and of course the Space Weather Woman Dr. Tamitha Skov brings is our Space Weather.

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

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Apr.12.2019

Apr12
by TopSpacer on April 12, 2019 at 1:29 pm
Posted In: In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

The latest episode of NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** STEMonstrations: Spacewalk Part1: Safety and Training – A tutorial on ISS EVAs:

During their time on the International Space Station many astronauts have the opportunity to participate in spacewalks, also known as Extravehicular Activities (EVA). These spacewalks play a critical role in keeping the station functional as it travels approximately 17,500 miles per hour 250 miles above the Earth’s surface. In this episode, Expedition 55/56 Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold talks about the extensive training needed for spacewalks on the ground prior to a mission on the space station, and how it helps prepare astronauts for spacewalks outside of the station in low-Earth orbit. Visit https://nasa.gov/stemonstation for more educational resources that explore the research and technology of the International Space Station.

** Science on the Space Station: Women’s History Month Edition

Of the 64 women who have ever flown in space, 37 of them have spent time on board the International Space Station. In honor of Women’s History Month, here’s a look at a few of the women who have made history doing scientific research in Earth orbit. For more information, check out: http://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

** Science on the upcoming NG Cygnus cargo mission to the ISS:

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft scheduled to liftoff no earlier than April 17 will carry supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station. For this mission, Northrop Grumman will use a new late load capability that allows time-sensitive experiments to be loaded just 24 hours before liftoff.

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Come Fly with Us: NASA’s Payload Specialist Program (Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy successfully launches Arabsat-6A and lands all 3 boosters

Apr11
by TopSpacer on April 11, 2019 at 7:59 pm
Posted In: Rockets, Space industry

SpaceX this afternoon launched a Falcon Heavy rocket with the Arabsat-6A communications satellite from Cape Kennedy Space Center. This was the second launch of a FH but this time all 3 cores of the FH were the most up-to-date Block 5 versions. And all 3 boosters  successfully landed. The 2 side boosters landed back on pads at Cape Canaveral while the center landed on a floating platform at sea.

A clip from the SpaceX webcast showing the liftoff:

Here is the segment of the webcast with the return flights and landings of the boosters:

After a coast period, the upper stage engine fired for about 85 seconds and 5 minutes later Arabsat-6A was deployed:

Contact was later made with the satellite after the deployment.

The power of the FH sent the satellite into a long ellipse with an apogee of 90,000 km (55,500 mi) beyond Earth. The satellite will fire its on-board engine to circularize the orbit and bring it to its assigned slot in geostationary orbit (35,786 km above the equator). The initial extra high orbit will reduce the amount of fuel that the satellite needs to reach its spot as compared to a launch with, say, a Falcon 9 rocket. This extra fuel will give the satellite a few more years of operation since it needs to occasionally fire the engine to maintain its position.

The next Falcon Heavy launch is expected to lift off in June (presumably with the same two side boosters as this flight). The mission will be for the U.S. Air Force and is referred to as STP-2 (Space Test Program-2). STP-2 will carry several military and scientific research satellites including the Planetary Society’s LightSail-2 solar sail: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Flies Again; LightSail 2 Is Next! | The Planetary Society

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

Webcast: SpaceIL to land Beresheet on the Moon today [Update]

Apr11
by TopSpacer on April 11, 2019 at 11:02 am
Posted In: Space participation, Space Systems, The Moon

[ Update 2: The final image returned from Beresheet as it came down the lunar surface:

Update 3:30 pm EDT: Unfortunately, Beresheet failed to make a soft landing. The descent was going as planned but then the main engine cut off and could not be restarted before it was too late.

The good news is that a low-cost privately funded and designed lunar project successfully for the first time reached the Moon’s surface after successfully going into lunar orbit, also a first for a private project.

The spacecraft made a selfie made during the descent:

]

Today Israel’s SpaceIL team plans to send the Beresheet (which translates to “genesis” or “in the beginning”) spacecraft from its orbit around the Moon down to the surface for a soft (we hope) landing. The de-orbit operation will start at 22:05 Israeli time (UTC+03:00) or 04:05 in Tokyo, 05:05 in Sydney,12:05 in Los Angeles, 14:05 in Mexico City, 15:05 in New York, 16:05 in Rio, 20:05 in London, 21:05 in Paris. The landing should happen about 20 minutes later.

A live webcast of the landing will begin about 20 minutes before de-orbiting begins:

Updates are available at Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) | Twitter.

Here is a SpaceIL video about the landing:

More info at

The SpaceIL Beresheet spacecraft.

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First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience

Carnival of Space #606 – NextBigFuture.com

Apr11
by TopSpacer on April 11, 2019 at 10:30 am
Posted In: General

Next Big Future hosts the latest Carnival of Space.

Possible methane release mechanisms on Mars.

Space sciences roundup – April.10.2019

Apr10
by TopSpacer on April 10, 2019 at 3:17 pm
Posted In: Astronomy, Space Science

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images from space related science news:

** Radio telescope array images a black hole for the first time. This is the big news not just of the week but for 2019: First Image of a Black Hole | ESO –

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) — a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration — was designed to capture images of a black hole. In coordinated press conferences across the globe, EHT researchers revealed that they succeeded, unveiling the first direct visual evidence of the supermassive black hole in the centre of Messier 87 and its shadow.

The shadow of a black hole seen here is the closest we can come to an image of the black hole itself, a completely dark object from which light cannot escape. The black hole’s boundary — the event horizon from which the EHT takes its name — is around 2.5 times smaller than the shadow it casts and measures just under 40 billion km across. While this may sound large, this ring is only about 40 microarcseconds across — equivalent to measuring the length of a credit card on the surface of the Moon.

Although the telescopes making up the EHT are not physically connected, they are able to synchronize their recorded data with atomic clocks — hydrogen masers — which precisely time their observations. These observations were collected at a wavelength of 1.3 mm during a 2017 global campaign. Each telescope of the EHT produced enormous amounts of data – roughly 350 terabytes per day – which was stored on high-performance helium-filled hard drives. These data were flown to highly specialised supercomputers — known as correlators — at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and MIT Haystack Observatory to be combined. They were then painstakingly converted into an image using novel computational tools developed by the collaboration.

Chandra X-ray Observatory close-up of the core of the M87 galaxy. Credits: NASA/CXC/Villanova University/J. Neilsen

More at:

** SpaceIL Beresheet spacecraft will land on the Moon tomorrow April 11th, hopefully softly. The Israeli privately developed vehicle made orbit corrections this past week that brought the vehicle into the final close lunar orbit in preparation for the landing firing: Find updates at Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) | Twitter.

Resources for the mission:

There will be a webcast of the landing. The estimated landing times:

  • 22:00 – 23:00 Israel
  • 19:00 – 20:00 UTC
  • 15:00 – 16:00 EDT
  • 12:00 – 13:00 PDT

Some info on the landing site: Beresheet lunar landing site revealed 3 April 2019 – Weizmann Institute of Science.

** Launch of the Indian Chandrayaan 2 lunar lander/rover mission will be delayed somewhat due to some minor damage during a test: Chandrayaan 2: Vikram hurt during practice, puts Chandrayaan-2 on bench – Times of India

Vikram, the Lander on India’s ambitious mission that envisages to land a probe on Moon, has suffered minor injuries in two of its legs during a test late February, putting Chandrayaan-2 on the bench at least until May. But the need to find the most suitable launch window could see the mission take off only in the second half of the year.

A source in the know, said: “The rover and orbiter are in good health and tests met all the parameters. However, after the ‘Lander Drop Test’, we found that Vikram (the lander) needed to be strengthened in its legs. Prima facie, it appears that not all parameters were set correctly before the test, it could also be that the additional mass—a result of the new configuration—caused the problem.”

** Curiosity captures Demos and Phobos eclipses of the Sun: Curiosity Captured Two Solar Eclipses on Mars | NASA

When NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover landed in 2012, it brought along eclipse glasses. The solar filters on its Mast Camera (Mastcam) allow it to stare directly at the Sun. Over the past few weeks, Curiosity has been putting them to good use by sending back some spectacular imagery of solar eclipses caused by Phobos and Deimos, Mars’ two moons.

Phobos, which is as wide as 16 miles (26 kilometers) across, was imaged on March 26, 2019 (the 2,359th sol, or Martian day, of Curiosity’s mission); Deimos, which is as wide as 10 miles (16 kilometers) across, was photographed on March 17, 2019 (Sol 2350). Phobos doesn’t completely cover the Sun, so it would be considered an annular eclipse. Because Deimos is so small compared to the disk of the Sun, scientists would say it’s transiting the Sun.

** More Martian image commentaries from Bob Zimmerman:

  • A dance of dust devils – “Many of my image posts about Mars have emphasized how slowly things change there. This post will highlight the exact opposite. When it comes to dust devils, it appears they can leave their trace frequently and often, and for some reason they seem to also favor specific locations.“
  • Monitoring the ice scarps on Mars for changes – “Monitoring these scraps will be crucial for future exploration. The ice here is very readily available, as it is exposed and should be relatively easy to access. Moreover, tracking might tell us whether it will be easier to get at this ice from the top of the cliff by drilling down, or approach it from the bottom. Some of the ice bands in these scarps was very close to the surface at the top of the cliff.“
  • A decade of changes at the Martian south pole – “The mystery here is that these images were both taken at almost the same moment in the late southern summer, though about five Martian years apart. Why should the white areas have shrunk? We would expect a reduction from winter to summer, but these were both taken in summer. While it would make sense to see changes, with some areas growing and others shrinking, we should expect to see about the same amount of white area.“

Dust devil trails in southern highlands of Mars. Credits: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera.

** Martian soil studies may bring medical spinoff benefits: Martian soil detox could lead to new medicines – ESA

“During their experiments they noticed that when bacteria grew in partial gravity, they became stressed as they accumulated waste around them that they couldn’t get rid of. This holds great potential because when microbes belonging to the Streptomyces family become stressed, they usually start making antibiotics,” adds Prof. Claessen.

“Seventy percent of all the antibiotics humans use are derived from Streptomyces bacteria and we know they have the potential to produce even more. Using the RPM to stress them in new ways may help us to find ones we’ve never seen before.”

** Hayabusa2 successfully fired a projectile into Ryuga to investigate the asteorid’s surface structure:

Debris from the impact of the projectile shot from Hayabusa2 can be seen in this cropped section of an image taken by the DCAM3 free-flying imager. Hayabusa2 went to the far side of Ryuga to wait for the debris to settle back to the surface.


Here is the full image:

** Parker Solar Probe makes another close pass of the Sun –

From the Parker Solar Probe mission:

Parker Solar Probe has successfully completed its second close approach to the Sun, called perihelion, and is now entering the outbound phase of its second solar orbit. At 6:40 p.m. EDT on April 4, 2019, the spacecraft passed within 15 million miles of our star, tying its distance record as the closest spacecraft ever to the Sun; Parker Solar Probe was traveling at 213,200 miles per hour during this perihelion.

The Parker Solar Probe mission team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland scheduled a contact with the spacecraft via the Deep Space Network for four hours around the perihelion and monitored the health of the spacecraft throughout this critical part of the encounter. Parker Solar Probe sent back beacon status “A” throughout its second perihelion, indicating that the spacecraft is operating well and all instruments are collecting science data.

“The spacecraft is performing as designed, and it was great to be able to track it during this entire perihelion,” said APL’s Nickalaus Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager. “We’re looking forward to getting the science data down from this encounter in the coming weeks so the science teams can continue to explore the mysteries of the corona and the Sun.”

Parker Solar Probe montage. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Steve Gribben

** Will the Sun remain quiet or not? Bob Zimmerman reports on the latest sunspot activity and on predictions for the next phase of the solar cycle: Sunspot update March 2019: An upcoming Grand Minimum? | Behind The Black

Even though we are now deep into the beginning of what might become the first grand minimum in sunspot activity since the invention of the telescope, that does not mean the Sun has as yet stopped producing sunspots. Yesterday NOAA released its the monthly update of its tracking of the solar cycle, adding sunspot activity for March 2019 to its graph. Below is that graph, annotated by me to give it some context.

It shows the Sun with a slight burst in activity in March, suggesting that though we are now in the solar minimum that minimum still has the ability to produce sunspots.

** Sounding rockets produced a  spectacular sky show after releasing tracer gases. The goal of the NASA project is to help better understand the flow of charged particles in the earths magnetic fields at the poles: Two rockets dropped tracers into the northern lights and the result was glorious | Ars Technica

Late Friday night, two sounding rockets launched from a small spaceport in northern Norway. The two skinny rockets soared to an altitude of 320km, and along the way each released a visible gas intended to disperse through and illuminate conditions inside the aurora borealis. Some of the resulting images were stunning.

This NASA-funded AZURE mission, which stands for Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment, is one of a series of sounding rocket missions launching over the next two years as part of an international collaboration known as “The Grand Challenge Initiative – Cusp.” The goal of these flights is to study the region where Earth’s magnetic field lines bend down into the atmosphere, and particles from space mix with those from the planet.

See also Sounding Rocket Mission Will Trace Auroral Winds | NASA.

April 8, 2019: The Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment or AZURE mission was successfully conducted April 5 from the Andøya Space Center in Norway. The first Black Brant XI sounding rocket was launched at 6:14 p.m. EDT and flew to an altitude of 200 miles, followed by the launch of the second Black Brant XI at 6:16 p.m. EDT flying to an altitude of 202 miles. The initial assessment from the field showed that the rockets were launched into a good science event and ground based photos/data of the vapor releases were obtained from at least two locations.  Preliminary reports state that the scientist for the mission were very pleased with the results.

** The next Northrop-Grumman Cygnus cargo mission to the ISS will carry an array of experiments: Cygnus Carries Tech and Science Investigations to Space Station | NASA

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft scheduled to liftoff on April 17 carries supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station. It uses a new late load capability that allows time-sensitive experiments to be loaded just 24 hours before liftoff. Previously, all cargo had to be loaded about four days prior to launch, creating challenges for some types of experiments.

The launch on the company’s Antares rocket departs from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. This Cygnus mission is the 11th and final under Northrop’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)-1 contract with NASA; a CRS-2 contract begins with a cargo launch in the fall. Resupply missions from U.S. companies ensure NASA’s capability to deliver critical science research to the space station and significantly increase its ability to conduct new investigations in the only laboratory in space.

Continue to the article to see a list of the experiments.

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Brief Answers to the Big Questions – Stephen Hawking

Space transport roundup – April.9.2019

Apr09
by TopSpacer on April 9, 2019 at 10:00 am
Posted In: Rockets

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

** SpaceX;

**** Second Falcon Heavy launch now set for Wednesday, April 11th from Kennedy Space Center:

**** A successful static firing of the Falcon Heavy took place last Friday: SpaceX conducts Static Fire on Falcon Heavy ahead of Arabsat 6A launch – NASASpaceFlight.com

**** A view of the Falcon Heavy in the hangar courtesy Elon Musk:

A nice view of the business end of the FH:

The scorched booster over to the side of the FH, is the first stage used on the Crew Dragon mission that flew in early March.

Speaking of the Crew Dragon demo, SpaceX has posted new videos on the company’s Youtube Channel with the complete webcasts for each major event during the mission.

**** A second Starhopper engine firing took place on the evening of the same day as the FH static firing. The vehicle lifted a short distance off the ground: SpaceX’s Starhopper Prototype for Starship Reaches End of Its Rope In Test Hop | Space.com

**** A dramatic view of Starhopper via Elon Musk:

Starhopper

** Ariane V launches four O3b satellites on April 4th, bringing the total number of spacecraft in the medium earth orbit constellation to twenty. The constellation provides global broadband Internet services.

** Relativity Space will launch satellites for Telesat’s low earth orbit broadband Internet services constellation. Relativity is developing expendable rockets aimed at the growing market for launching small satellites. The company has not yet launched a rocket but is making progress in developing large 3D printing systems that will print all of the large structures of the company’s rockets, drastically reducing the number of individual parts and speeding up assembly of the rocket. Their first vehicle, the Terran 1 rocket, will put 700 kg into a 1200 km altitude sun-synchronous orbit and the debut launch is set for the end of 2020.

** Reaction Engines has a successful test of a Pre-cooler prototype: UK’s Sabre space plane engine tech in new milestone – BBC News

The pre-cooler is a key component of the Sabre rocket engine, which uses oxygen from the air during the initial atmospheric phase of a space launch vehicle’s flight before switching to on-board oxygen when the vehicle leaves the atmosphere. For combustion with the hydrogen fuel to take place properlyh, the incoming air must be cooled from ~1000°C to -150°C in 1/20th of a second.

** The latest on space elevators from the Int. Space Elevator Consortium: ISEC Space Elevator Newsletter April 2019.

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Space policy roundup – April.8.2019

Apr08
by TopSpacer on April 8, 2019 at 7:14 pm
Posted In: Activism, Space Policy

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: T-minus Five Years and Counting | The Planetary Society – “Can NASA return astronauts to the Moon by 2024? Vice President Mike Pence shocked the space community by announcing this ambitious new goal just weeks after the Trump Administration proposed a half-billion dollar cut to the space agency. Is the Administration fed up with the mounting delays to the Space Launch System rocket? How seriously should we take this declaration? Is it even possible given budget cuts and political dysfunction? Brendan Curry, Chief of Washington Operations for The Planetary Society, joins the show to explore these questions.”

** Episode T+118: Rapid Agile Launch Initiative – Main Engine Cut Off – “Last week, the US Air Force announced and expounded on the Rapid Agile Launch Initiative. Along with the new initiative, the new era of small launch is finally here, so it’s worth discussing a bit.”

** The Space Show – Fri, 04/05/2019 – Dennis Wingo discussed “Returning to the Moon by 2024, V.P. Pence & NASA Administrator Bridenstine, lunar industrial development program, potential lunar development plan, and more”. In particular, they talked about Dennis’s recent essay, SLS and Lunar Return in 2024: “With Faith and Ambition”.

** The Space Show – Tue, 04/02/2019 – Author Rod Pyle talked about his two newest books, Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age and First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience.

** April 5, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

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

The Space Show this week – April.8.2019

Apr08
by TopSpacer on April 8, 2019 at 11:13 am
Posted In: Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

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

1. Monday, April 8, 2019; 2-3:30 pm PDT (4-5:30 pm CDT, 5-6:30 pm EDT): No show for today. Monday is for special and timely programs only.

2. Tuesday, April 9, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Dr. Mike Gruntman will talk about the establishment of the first space port on planet Earth and the naming of the Tyuratam Missile Range and Cosmodrome Baikonur.

3. Wednesday, April 10, 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, April 12, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am – 1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome back Kim Holder of Moonwards.com for news and updates you will want to hear and experience.

5. Sunday, April 14 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): We welcome back Jay Wittner of The Integrated Space Plan and more. Lots of new developments to talk about.

Some recent shows:

** Fri, 04/05/2019 – Dennis Wingo discussed “Returning to the Moon by 2024, V.P. Pence & NASA Administrator Bridenstine, lunar industrial development program, potential lunar development plan, and more”. In particular, they talked about Dennis’s recent essay, SLS and Lunar Return in 2024: “With Faith and Ambition”.

** Tue, 04/02/2019 – Author Rod Pyle talked about his two newest books, Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age and First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience.

** Sun, 03/31/2019 – Dr. Christopher Morrison talked about “space nuclear propulsion and related nuclear energy issues and concerns”.

** Fri, 03/29/2019 – John Youskauskas and Melvin (Mel) Croft talked about Come Fly with Us: NASA’s Payload Specialist Program (Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight), plus many related topics”.

** Tue, 03/26/2019 – Ian Fichtenbaum talked about “commercial space businesses, risk, acquisitions and 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