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Rockets

Space transport roundup – Nov.5.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport (find previous roundups here):

** SpaceX Falcon 9 set for static firing test on the pad at Cape Canaveral. This is in preparation for a launch of Starlink satellites on Nov. 11th.

[ Update: The static firing test took place successfully. The Falcon 9 nosecone will include the first fairing to be reused.

See also: SpaceX finally fires up Falcon 9 ahead of Starlink mission – NASASpaceFlight.com.

A video of the firing:

]

See also: SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 launch in months gets a launch date- Teslarati.

More SpaceX items below.

** Boeing Starliner blasted off on Monday in a pad abort test and made a soft landing though only 2 of the 3 parachutes deployed properly:

NASA:

During the test, Starliner’s four launch abort engines, and several orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters simultaneously ignited to rapidly push the spacecraft away from the test stand. Five seconds into flight, the abort engines shut off as planned, transferring steering to the control thrusters for the next five seconds.

A pitcharound maneuver rotated the spacecraft into position for landing as it neared its peak altitude of approximately 4,500 feet. Two of three Starliner’s main parachutes deployed just under half a minute into the test, and the service module separated from the crew module a few seconds later. Although designed with three parachutes, two opening successfully is acceptable for the test parameters and crew safety. After one minute, the heat shield was released and airbags inflated, and the Starliner eased to the ground beneath its parachutes.

The demonstration took only about 95 seconds from the moment the simulated abort was initiated until the Starliner crew module touched down on the desert ground.

“Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner’s four launch abort engines and several orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters ignite in the company’s Pad Abort Test, pushing the spacecraft away from the test stand with a combined 160,000 pounds of thrust, from Launch Complex 32 on White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The test, conducted Nov. 4, 2019, was designed to verify that each of Starliner’s systems will function not only separately, but in concert, to protect astronauts by carrying them safely away from the launch pad in the unlikely event of an emergency prior to liftoff. The Pad Abort Test is Boeing’s first test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which is working to launch astronauts on American rockets and spacecraft from American soil for the first time since 2011.” – NASA

Here is the webcast of the test. Liftoff happens at around 24:55 into the video.

Scott Manley comments on the test:

** Northrop Grumman Cygnus arrives at the ISS after traveling in space for two days since its launch on an Antares rocket on Saturday.

** Chinese Long March 4B launches remote sensing satellite on Sunday:

** And a Long March 3B launched a Beidou navigation satellite on Monday:

** Report on EXOS Aerospace suborbital launch: Unsuccessful Attempt in the Desert … EXOS Aerospace Systems & Technologies Fourth Launch of a Reusable Vehicle- Satnews

Unfortunately a reusable suborbital sounding rocket launched by EXOS Aerospace malfunctioned shortly after liftoff causing the vehicle to crash back to Earth minutes later. Even though today’s attempt was unsuccessful this EXOS flight was the third time a suborbital-class rocket stage has been reused for a fourth time.

The launch took place at the Spaceport America. Spaceport America which is an FAA-licensed spaceport located on 18,000 acres of State Trust Land in the Jornada del Muerto desert basin in New Mexico, directly west and adjacent to U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range. It lies 89 miles north of El Paso, 45 miles north of Las Cruces, and 20 miles southeast of Truth or Consequences.

** Video: Review of reusable rocket engines with Matt Richardson of Univ. of Tokyo – TMRO.tv

We’re joined by Dr Matt Richardson of U Tokyo/JAXA to talk reusable rocket engines. Matt recently graduated with a PhD in aerospace engineering where he tested ways to extend the lifetime and reduce refurbishment costs of liquid-fueled rocket engines.

** SpaceX;

*** Starlink early deployment: What to expect from SpaceX Starlink broadband service next year and beyond – CIS 471

… it sounds like SpaceX is serious about pursuing the consumer market from the start. When asked about price recently, Shotwell said millions of people in the U. S. pay $80 per month to get “crappy service.” She did not commit to a price, but homes, schools, community centers, etc. with crappy service would pay that for good service, not to mention those with no service. Some customers may pay around $80 per month, but the price at a given location will be a function of SpaceX capacity, the price/demand curve for Intenet service and competition from terrestrial and other satellite service providers, so prices will vary within the U. S. and globally. In nations where Starlink service is sold by partner Internet service providers, they will share in pricing decisions.

Since the marginal cost of serving a customer is near zero as long as there is sufficient capacity, we can expect lower prices in a poor, sparsely-populated region than in an affluent, densely-populated region. Dynamic pricing is also a possibility since SpaceX will have real-time demand data for every location. “Dynamic pricing of a zero marginal cost, variable-demand service” sounds like a good thesis topic. It will be interesting to see their pricing policy.

National governments will also have a say on pricing and service. While the U. S. will allow SpaceX to serve customers directly, other nations may require that they sell through Internet service providers and some — maybe Russia — may ban Starlink service altogether.

*** SpaceX ramps up rate of Crew Dragon parachute tests: SpaceX says Crew Dragon parachute upgrade nailed more than a dozen tests in a row – Teslarati. These included single parachute tests. Elon notes that they need to do 9 more multi-chute tests of the Mk3 design:

*** Demo Starship Mk.1 coming back together. For Elon Musk’s presentation back in September, the top nosecone and lower propulsion module were stacked atop each other and each had their respective “wings” (to provide drag during reentry, not for flying) attached.  After the presentation, the two parts were de-stacked and the wing sections removed. Outfitting of the Starship modules with fuel line, wiring, misc. sub-systems, etc. then proceeded. Last week the propulsion module was moved to the launch site, presumably to prepare for static engine tests. The wing sections, or canards, are now being added back to the nosecone. SpaceX installs Starship Mk1 rocket’s flaps for the second time in build-up to flight debut – Teslarati

*** SpaceX and the Brownsville community: SpaceX connects Brownsville to a new world of space enthusiasts – HoustonChronicle.com

*** Starship launch pad at KSC under construction:

*** Starships will eventually operate from offshore launch facilities.

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Activism, Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Nov.4.2019

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 (find previous space policy roundups here):

Webcasts:

** Space Policy Edition: How a Report Can Move Mountains | The Planetary Society

How can a simple report—just words on a page—lead to creation of a spacecraft? We explore how a 2019 report on the need for a dedicated, space-based telescope to find threatening near-Earth asteroids motivated NASA to pursue that very mission. We speak with Dr. Jay Melosh, planetary scientist and chair of the National Academies committee behind that report, on how it came together and how the process works behind the scenes. We also check on NASA’s budget process in Congress and news from the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, D.C.

** November 1, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

** Fri, 11/01/2019 – Michael Mealling and and Steven Jorgenson discuss Starbridge Venture Capital and commercial space investments.

** Hotel Mars – Wed, 10/30/2019 with John Batchelor, Dr. David Livingston – William Harwood of CBS News talks about NASA’s Artemis lunar program.

** IAC 2019 – WeMartians Podcast

The 70th International Astronautical Congress descended on Washington, DC this week, with 6300 delegates from around the world coming together to talk about space technology, policy and more. Jake is on site to report on the happenings, and connected with a range of people on robotic missions and human architectures.

Guests include Walter Cugno from Thales Alenia Space, Khaled Ali Al Hashmi from the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, and Gary Napier from Lockheed Martin.

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Activism, Space Policy

The Space Show this week – Nov.4.2019

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

1. Monday, Nov. 4, 2019; 2 pm PST (4 pm CST, 5 pm EST) We welcome Dr. Melissa Trainer to discuss the Mars 2020 project.

2. Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PST (9-10:30 pm CST; 10-11:30 pm EST): We welcome Dr. Hal Doiron and Dr. Tom Wysmuller, retired NASA Apollo engineers & scientists, now part of the project known as The Right Climate Stuff, to speak about climate, space, NASA and more.

3. Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019; Pre-recorded Hotel Mars Program with John Batchelor. See Upcoming Show on The Space Show website for details.

4. Friday, Nov. 8, 2019; 9:30-11 am PST (11:30 am-1 pm CST, 12:30-2 pm EST): We welcome Dr. Ella Atkins, Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she is director of the Autonomous Aerospace Systems (A2SYS) Lab.

5. Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019; 12-1:30 pm PST (3-4:30 pm EST, 2-3:30 pm CST): We welcome back Dr. Christopher Morrison, and Dr. Marcelo Vazquez to discuss human spaceflight radiation concerns and medical research tests for simulating human radiation exposure in space.

Some recent shows:

** Sun, 11/03/2019 – Adam Hadhazy talked about his article, Homo sapiens astronauta in Aerospace America, which looks at modifying genes to better adapt humans to spaceflight.

** Fri, 11/01/2019 – Michael Mealling and and Steven Jorgenson discuss Starbridge Venture Capital and commercial space investments.

** Hotel Mars – Wed, 10/30/2019 with John Batchelor, Dr. David Livingston – William Harwood of CBS News talks about NASA’s Artemis lunar program.

** Tue, 10/29/2019 – Dr. Umair Siddiqui discussed the Phase Four “radio frequency plasma thruster, plasma science, Hall thrusters, LEO, comsats, mega satellite constellations and more”.

** Mon, 10/28/2019 –  Anthony Longman discussed “his expandable rotating shielded space habitats”.

See also:
* The Space Show Archives
* The Space Show Newsletter
* The Space Show Shop

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

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

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Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Nov.3.2019

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):

** NG Cygnus carries HuskySat-1, built by Univ. Washington students, to ISS.

HuskySat-1 is a 3U CubeSat designed, built, and tested by the Husky Satellite Lab. HuskySat-1’s goal is to test two experimental payloads, a Pulsed Plasma Thruster, and a high-frequency K-band communication system, as well as hosting an Amateur Radio Linear Transponder.

HuskySat-1 is being developed by an interdisciplinary team at the University of Washington and will be launched into Low Earth Orbit to become the first amateur satellite from Washington state. This CubeSat will demonstrate the capabilities of new technologies being developed at the University of Washington and expand the capabilities of CubeSats as a whole. In particular, a high-thrust pulsed plasma thruster (PPT), and high-gain communications system will form the core technology suite on board the satellite. The HuskySat-1 will also be flying a newly developed Amateur Radio Linear Transponder developed by AMSAT which will contribute to the worldwide communication networks built and operated by ham radio enthusiasts.

HuskySat-1
HuskySat-1

More about the project: Washington’s first student-built satellite preparing for launch | UW News

Some of the student-built parts will still be in test mode. A custom-built thruster uses sparks to vaporize small amounts of solid sulfur as a propellant. The thruster will fire about 100 times as the satellite passes over Seattle, only enough thrust to provide a slight nudge. A high-bandwidth communications system built by former graduate student Paul Sturmer, now at Blue Origin, transmits at 24 Gigahertz, allowing the satellite to quickly send reams of data. That system will send down a test packet from space.

“Usually people buy most of the satellite and build one part of it. We built all the parts,” Northway said. “It was a pretty serious undertaking.”

** Seven student built CubeSats on Cygnus in total: Seven Student-Made CubeSats Set To Fly Aboard Antares –  NASA

On Saturday, seven small research satellites, or CubeSats, developed by students from eight universities across the nation will fly on Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops, Virginia, targeting a launch at 9:59 a.m. EDT.

All seven CubeSats were selected through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) and are a part of the 25th Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission. CSLI enables the launch of CubeSat projects designed, built and operated by students, teachers and faculty, as well as NASA Centers and nonprofit organizations. ELaNa missions provide launch and deployment opportunities and ride-shares to space for CubeSats selected through CSLI. Students are heavily involved in all aspects of the mission from developing, assembling, and testing payloads to working with NASA and the launch vehicle integration teams. The ELaNa CubeSats are held to rigorous standards similar to those adhered to by the primary spacecraft.

Five of the CubeSats were developed through NASA’s Undergraduate Student Instrument Project or USIP.

The 5 USIP CubeSats flying on Antares are:

    • RadSat-u –  Montana State University – Bozeman
    • Phoenix –  Arizona State University – Tempe
    • SOCRATES  (Signal of Opportunity CubeSat Ranging and Timing ExperimentS) – University of Minnesota – Minneapolis
    • HuskySat-1 – University of Washington – Seattle
    • SwampSat II – University of Florida – Gainesville

…

The additional two CubeSats flying through CSLI are:

    • Argus-02 – St. Louis University – Missouri
    • HARP (Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter) –  University of Maryland, Baltimore County – Baltimore and Utah State University – Logan

More about HARP: Tiny NASA satellite will soon see ‘rainbows’ in clouds | EurekAlert.

** 300 days operating in orbit for ZACube 2 research CubeSat built at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT): South African nanosatellites will track shipping, fires | The BRICS Post

A constellation of South African nanosatellites will be put in orbit next year to monitor shipping to prevent the poaching of marine resources such as abalone and sharks, while they will also track fires so ground-based personnel can move livestock out of harm’s way and prevent the spread of the fire.

The technology for this constellation is being proven right now as the ZACube 2 research nanosatellite from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) will log its 300th day in orbit on the 23rd October 2019. ZACube 1, also known as TshepisoSat, was launched on 21st November 2013 and is still communicating with the ground station.

…

The ZACube 2 satellite is performing well in orbit and proving the technology that the university has developed,” Professor Robert van Zyl, the Director of French South African Institute of Technology (FSATI) said.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-307 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • HuskySat Successfully Lifted into Space
  • ARISS Contact Opportunities – Call for Proposals
  • FoxTelem Version 1.08r Released
  • Fox-in-a-Box Upgrades for FoxTelem V 1.08
  • AMSAT Seeks Digital Communications Team Members
  • The 39th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference Announced September 11-13, 2020, Charlotte, NC
  • VUCC Awards-Endorsements for October 2019
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • ARISS News
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Rockets

Space transport roundup – Nov.2.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport (find previous roundups here).

** Northrop Grumman Antares successfully launches Cygnus cargo spacecraft. This is the 12th Cygnus mission to the the ISS. The craft is to dock with the ISS at 4:10 am EST on Monday, Nov. 4th.

Lift off is at the 30:32 point in the webcast video:

The pre-launch briefing given on Friday:

** Japan’s HTV-8 “Kounotori” cargo vehicle left the ISS on Friday: HTV-8 departs ISS ahead of destructive re-entry – NASASpaceFlight.com

** Interview with Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck: Episode T+138: Peter Beck, Founder of Rocket Lab – Main Engine Cut Off

Peter Beck, Founder, CEO, and CTO of Rocket Lab, joins me to talk about what they’ve been up to with Electron and Photon, as well as some of their new offerings like ground station support through KSAT and Photon missions to the Moon.

** Aevum gains a USAF contract for its drone-launched rocket: Vector’s lost contract gives wings to new startup Aevum – SpaceNews.com

Aevum, an Alabama startup designing a drone-launched rocket in a former textile mill, went from winning a $50,000 study grant to landing a $4.9 million U.S. Air Force launch contract in the span of three weeks.

About a month later, on Oct. 10, Aevum then became one of eight launch service providers qualified by the Air Force to compete for $986 million worth of small- and medium-sized launch missions over nine years.

Ravn Releases Rocket - Aevum
Ravn Releases Rocket – Aevum

** Virgin Orbit promotes LauncherOne for beyond earth orbit missions:

With the addition of a third stage housed within the rocket’s fairing, LauncherOne can send cutting-edge satellites on a ride past LEO into deep space. We’ve run the numbers, and we think we’ve got a solid engineering plan for ways to use a third stage to launch payloads not only into LEO, MEO, and GEO, but even towards the Moon, any of the Earth-Moon LaGrange points, various main-belt asteroids, Venus, or Mars. With this simple adaptation, LauncherOne unlocks the ability to deliver enough mass to interplanetary destinations to conduct some really valuable smallsat missions, whether that’s studying the potential for extraterrestrial life or learning more about the chemical composition of far-flung worlds.

** bluShift Aerospace hopes to launch bio-fueled rockets from Maine: Billion-dollar ‘Space Port’ business could be headed to Maine if state legislator has her way | newscentermaine.com

“For long enough people have thought of Mainers as, ‘We do great lobster, we do, heck, we do great beer,'” Sascha Deri, founder of bluShift, said. “It’s time for us to show the world that, ‘No, we do a lot of really cool things too like, rockets.'”

** China prepares for launch of Long March 5 heavy lift rocket: China on pace to resume Long March 5 launches by end of year – Spaceflight Now

Components for China’s third Long March 5 rocket arrived at the country’s southern launch base this week as teams prepare for the first flight of the heavy-lift launcher since a 2017 mission ended in failure.

The return-to-flight mission, expected in the second half of December, is a major test of the heavy-lift rocket before China commits to launching a Mars rover and a lunar sample return mission on Long March 5 vehicles next year.

** French space agency tests Frog, a prototype vertical takeoff & landing vehicle: Successful captive flights for FROG – CNES. It is jet powered but serves to teach the VTOL techniques needed for rocket landings.

Both demonstrations in captive flight take-off and landing were a success. FROG is a small scale flight demonstrator designed to test vertical landing algorithms for future reusable launchers.

The project team is currently preparing the Free Flight Fitness Review (RAV) which will take place in October and will allow free flight tests, without gantry or safety cable.

FROG VTOL Prototype
FROG jet powered VTOL prototype in tethered tests.
FROG Schematic
Schematic diagram of the FROG VTOL demonstrator.

** Japan preparing the RV-X vertical takeoff and landing rocket vehicle for test flights. The RV-X is essentially a re-start of the RVT (Reusable Vehicle Test) program of the late 1990s, early 2000s. See my interview with Yoshifumi Inatani, who led the RVT program.

Here is a set of program overview slides in Japanese (pdf). Note that CALLISTO mentioned on the slides refers to a VTOL suborbital rocket vehicle under development by the French and German space agencies. See CALLISTO – Reusable VTVL launcher first stage demonstrator, E. Dumont et al, 2018 (pdf).

** Exodus Space pursues two-stage space plane RLV design. Here is an overview by Fraser Cain:

Exodus CEO Miguel Ayala recently gave a presentation to the FISO (Future In-Space Operations Working Group): Fully Reusable, Two-Stage-To-Orbit (TSTO), Horizontal Takeoff & Landing Spaceplanes – Here are the slides (pdf) and the audio:

AstroClipper - Exodus Space
The flight sequence for the Exodus Space AstroClipper reusable launch system.

** Latest update on space elevators from ISEC (Int. Space Elevator Consortium): ISEC Newsletter – November 2019

The ISEC has had an impact. In the last 6 years the technical maturity and engineering substance of the Space Elevator has solidified and become organized; most notably as the Galactic Harbour.   ISEC’s Technology Development and Maturation approach has melded a better definition of the Space Elevator Engineering solution(s). 

The Elevator is no longer a mystery. Engineering approaches for the Tether Climber, the Earth Port, the GEO Region, and the Apex Anchor have been expressed in terms everyone understands; a harbor. The last technology hurdle – strong material for the tether – was conquered.

*** NASA Commercial Crew update:

The current dates for the tests:

  • Boeing:
    • Nov.4: Pad abort test at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico. The event will be webcast.
    • Dec.17: Orbital Flight Test (OFT) will send an uncrewed Starliner to the ISS via a ULA Atlas V launch.
  • SpaceX:
    • Nov. 6: Static firing of all the SuperDraco engines on the Crew Dragon.
    • Early Dec.: In-flight abort test in which a Crew Dragon will fire its abort engines to depart from a Falcon 9 during the max-Q portion of the flight.

** SpaceX:

** Attaching a canard to the Spaceship Mk.1:

** Next Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites set for Nov. 11. Presumably these Starlinks will be operational spacecraft rather than the demo prototypes on the first launch.  Over the coming year, SpaceX hopes to get into a routine of Starlink launches about every two weeks. 2nd Starlink Mission Launch Campaign Thread : spacex/reddit.com.

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