Monthly Archives: October 2013

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Oct.11.13

Wayne Hale points to the video and slides of his presentation at the von Braun Symposium held this week in Huntsville, Alabama. : AAS Von Braun Symposium Live Stream – Morning – Panopto Viewer. His talk begins at around 28:30 into the video. His comments about the SLS/Orion program got some attention but he wants people to see the full context of his remarks (see earlier post).

—

The Florida Space Development Council will hold a Southeast Regional Workshop this Saturday October 12 at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront. Morning talks by NASA reps were canceled due to the govt shutdown but afternoon National Space Society related presentations are still on: Space Workshop October 12 in Cocoa Beach – Space KSC

—

More space policy related links:

DIY space, Rockets, Space Systems

Copenhagen Suborbitals: Preparing for Heat-2X and 2X-capsule launch in 2014 + Space suit testing video

Copenhagen Suborbitals posts an update on their current work, which is focused on preparations to launch the Heat-2X rocket with the 2X-capsule next summer: 2X-Capsule Design for Download and Suggest a Name – Wired Science

In short, the HEAT2X-launch vehicle will take the 2X-capsule to app 70+ km (apogee kind of changes every week). HEAT2X is our pressure-fed LOX/Alcohol Bi-propellant engine and the total diameter of the rocket is app 640 mm. The complete engine is being tested live ultimo December – this year. Hold on to your hats and trousers.

The 2X-capsule has been chosen to meet certain requirements and to perform certain tests – which we are not capable of doing elsewhere.

They are also requesting suggestions for a name for the capsule

—

And here is a video about their space suit testing in a freefall wind chamber:

Caption:

During the visit at Copenhagen Suborbitals by DIY space suit guys Cameron Smith and John Haslett we performed freefall testing donned the suit. This procedure must be rehearsed in the case of emergency bail-out during capsule descent.

http://youtu.be/OlfPC5wXO2A

Events, History

Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut, dies at 88

Mercury 7 astronaut Scott Carpenter has died at the age of 88:

Here is a 10 minute documentary about his Aurora  7 flight:

Update: Here’s a nice gallery of images showing Carpenter and family and also middle class life in the early 1960s: Scott Carpenter (1925 – 2013): Rare and Classic Photos of a NASA Legend – LIFE.com

Astronomy, Events, Space Systems

Juno gravity assist successful despite safe mode + Amateurs image the flyby

The Juno spacecraft successfully ricocheted from earth yesterday to set itself on course to Jupiter (see earlier posting) : Juno goes into safe mode during Earth flyby – Spaceflight Now.

It went into safe mode, some time around closest approach to earth. In safe mode a spacecraft shuts most everything down except the most essential services and prepares to reboot on command from mission control. It’s a way of dealing with potential computer problems that might otherwise put the system into a permanent hanged state.

Despite this glitch, it looks like everything went well.

Amateur observers around the world were able to track and image the spacecraft during its visit: Amateur Images Show Juno’s ‘Slingshot’ Around Earth Was a Success – Universe Today

Science and Technology

Gerard ′t Hooft on physics beneath quantum mechanics + Video: Joe Polchinsky on Black Holes and Firewalls

The following two items involve topics that you may not be fully understand  (I sure don’t) but can still be fun if you have any interest in fundamental physics:

Nobel physicist Gerard ′t Hooft offers some interesting speculation on what sort of physics might lie beneath quantum mechanics: Does Some Deeper Level of Physics Underlie Quantum Mechanics? An Interview with Nobelist Gerard ’t Hooft – Critical Opalescence/Scientific American Blog Network

(‘t Hooft, by the way, is an enthusiastic supporter of the Mars One initiative: Prof. Dr. Gerard ‘t Hooft, ambassador of Mars One – Mars One.)

===

Joe Polchinsky gives a general overview of the black hole intersection of quantum mechanics and general relativity and the key questions that arise there:

Caption:

Speaker: Joe Polchinsky, Kavli Institute for Particle Physics, UC Santa Barbara

Abstract:

Thought experiments have played an important role in figuring out the laws of physics. For the unification of quantum mechanics and gravity, where the phenomena take place in extreme regimes, they are even more crucial. Hawking’s 1976 paper “Breakdown of Predictability in Gravitational Collapse” presented one of the great thought experiments in the history of physics, arguing that black holes destroy information in a way that requires a modification of the laws of quantum mechanics. Skeptics for years failed to poke holes in Hawking’s argument, but concluded that if quantum mechanics is to be saved then our understanding of spacetime must break down in a radical way.

Dr. Polchinsky will present some of the history of these ideas, what has already been learned from this puzzle, and the recent `firewall’ controversy, which argues that Einstein’s theory breaks down radically for an observer falling into a black hole.