Two rockets set to launch: A SpaceX Falcon 9 and Blue Origin’s New Shepard

December 17, 2018 TopSpacer

[ Update Dec.18 #3: : All the launches set for today have been scrubbed:

To recap today:

Falcon 9: scrubbed due to vehicle issue
New Shepard: scrubbed due to ground equipment issue
Soyuz: scrubbed due to high upper-level winds
Delta 4 Heavy: scrubbed due to high ground-level winds. https://t.co/peVmRqm0yK

— Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) December 18, 2018

Update Dec.18 #2: The Falcon 9 has also been scrubbed for today. No reason yet provided. They will try again tomorrow during a launch window that opens at 9:07 am EST (1407 GMT).

Update Dec.18: The Falcon 9 launch is now set for 9:34 EST. The New Shepard flight has been postponed:

We are scrubbing today’s #NewShepard launch due to a ground infrastructure issue. The vehicle is in good standing. Stand by for updates as we see what weather looks like for tomorrow #NS10

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 18, 2018

Three other launches are also expected in the next day:

** ULA Delta-4 Heavy to launch a military payload from Vandenberg AFB in California this evening at 5:57 p.m. PST, 8:57 p.m. EST, 0157 GMT (19th)

** Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk. 2 (GSLV Mk.2) will launch the GSAT 7A communications satellite for the Indian military. Liftoff currently set for 5:40 a.m. EST (1040 GMT) on Wed. Dec. 19.

** Russian/Arianespace Soyuz from Guiana Space Center in South America with a military reconnaissance satellite for France. Liftoff set for 11:37:14 a.m. EST (1637:14 GMT) on Wed. Dec.19.

]

Two rocket launches are scheduled for Tuesday morning within half hour of one another:

** GPS III SV01 MISSION | SpaceX – A Falcon 9 rocket is to place a USAF upgraded GPS satellite into orbit:

SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, December 18 for launch of the United States Air Force’s first Global Positioning System III space vehicle (SV) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The 26-minute launch window opens at 9:11 a.m. EST, or 14:11 UTC. The satellite will be deployed to medium Earth orbit approximately 1 hour and 56 minutes after liftoff. A 26-minute backup launch window opens on Wednesday, December 19 at 9:07 a.m. EST, or 14:07 UTC.

Due to mission requirements, SpaceX will not attempt to land Falcon 9’s first stage after launch.

You can watch the live launch webcast below, starting about 15 minutes before liftoff, and find out more about the mission in our press kit.

** Blue Origin New Shepard NS-10 – Nine NASA sponsored experiments will ride Blue‘s reusable New Shepard suborbital rocket to over 100 km in altitude:

New Shepard to fly 9 NASA-sponsored Payloads to Space on NS-10

Blue Origin’s next New Shepard mission (NS-10) is currently targeting liftoff tomorrow at 8:30 am CST [9:30 am EST] / 14:30 UTC. This will be the 10^th New Shepard mission and is dedicated to bringing nine NASA-sponsored research and technology payloads into space through NASA’s Flight Opportunities program.

NASA’s Flight Opportunities program is an essential program for researchers providing access to microgravity for technology development. Blue supports NASA’s Flight Opportunities program and its role in perfecting technology for a future human presence in space.

The payloads flying with us on NS-10 include:

Carthage College Space Sciences Program: The Modal Propellant Gauging experiment led by Dr. Kevin Crosby is a joint effort with the NASA Kennedy Space Center Cryogenics Laboratory. It demonstrates a way to measure fuel levels in microgravity by using sound waves.

Controlled Dynamics Inc.: The Vibration Isolation Platform (VIP) aims to separate payloads from the normally occurring vibrations experienced during spaceflight. The payload led by Dr. Scott Green allows researchers to have a clear understanding of microgravity’s effects on their research results.

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab: On its second flight with Blue, the EM Field experiment will observe and collect data on the naturally occurring electromagnetic fields both inside and outside New Shepard during the launch. Principal Investigator Dr. Todd Smith will use success of this experiment to determine how global measurements of the Earth’s electromagnetic field can be conducted in the future.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Cooling tightly-packed electronics onboard a spacecraft can be challenging, and many solutions have not been able to undergo robust testing. Principal Investigator Franklin Robinson will test one of these solutions in his Flow Boiling in Microgap Coolers experiment.

NASA Johnson Space Center: On its third flight on New Shepard, the Suborbital Flight Experiment Monitor-2 (SFEM-2) led by Dr. Katy Hurlbert will analyze various aspects of the flight environment during New Shepard’s mission profile, measuring cabin pressure, temperature, CO2, acoustic conditions, acceleration and more. The data collected will help future researchers on New Shepard design the most effective experiments for the vehicle.

Purdue University: Dr. Steven Collicott’s payload looks at Zero-Gravity Green Propellant Management Technology, which aims to help advance the use of a safer and more environmentally friendly rocket propellant by better understanding the fuel’s behavior in microgravity.

University of Central Florida: Two teams led by Dr. Josh Colwell and Dr. Addie Dove both have planetary science payloads on NS-10. The Collisions Into Dust Experiment (COLLIDE) aims to understand how dust particles react after surface contact during exploration missions to places such as the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The Collection of Regolith Experiment (CORE) addresses the unique challenge of collecting and analyzing material samples in microgravity.

University of Florida: Dr. Rob Ferl and Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul are adapting technology designed for the ISS to suborbital uses with their experiment, Validating Telemetric Imaging Hardware for Crew-Assisted and Crew-Autonomous Biological Imaging in Suborbital Applications. By recalibrating the way data is collected, the experiment will enable more biological research on suborbital missions.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter for launch day updates and join us at BlueOrigin.com to watch the launch live!

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Telescopes and Binoculars at Amazon

Activism, Space Policy

The Space Show this week – Dec.17.2018

December 17, 2018 TopSpacer

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

1 Monday, Dec. 17, 2018: 2-3:30 pm PST (4-5:30 pm CST, 5-6:30 pm EST): We welcome back Professor Madhu Thangavelu along with two of his students – Ivan Figueroa and Alexander Sullivan – to discuss the latest USC Space Design Workshop. See the Upcoming Show Menu on our website home page for details.

2. Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018: 7-8:30 pm PST (9-10:30 pm CST; 10-11:30 pm EST): We welcome back Christopher Richins, CEO of the commercial satellite ground station services company RBC Signals.

3. Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018: 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, Dec. 21, 2018: 9:30-11 am PST (11:30 am -1 pm CST; 12:30-2 pm EST): We welcome back noted space attorney Laura Montgomery to the show.

5. Sunday, December 23, 2018: 12-1:30 pm PST, (3-4:30 pm EST, 2-3:30 pm CST): We offer our final Open Lines program for the year. All callers are welcome. So are all space, science, STEM, and STEAM calls. Please give us a call and let us know your thoughts on the space year 2018 and what you think will happen in the space year 2019.

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*

Amateur/Student Satellite, Education

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Dec.17.2018

December 17, 2018 TopSpacer

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

** Satellite built by Champaign firm, UI students about to set sail | News-Gazette.com

The small “CubeSail” satellite, more than a decade in the making, is set to launch sometime after 10 p.m. from New Zealand, hitching a ride on the Electron rocket from the commercial space company Rocket Lab.

Designed and built by UI engineering students and CU Aerospace, a Champaign technology firm, CubeSail will demonstrate a new technique for steering a “solar sail,” a solar-powered satellite propulsion system.

** NASA Mission Supports Launch of CubeSats Built by Students | NASA

NASA has enabled the deployment of two small research satellites, or CubeSats, developed by a middle school and high school. These CubeSat missions were selected through the CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) as the 24th installment of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions. The ELaNa 24 mission embarked on the first Spaceflight Industries contracted small payload mission for NASA on a Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off Dec. 3 at 10:32 a.m. PST from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Over the past three years, more than 200 students have been involved in the design, development and construction of these CubeSats that will be deployed.

** Laser-pointing system could help tiny satellites transmit data to Earth | MIT News

The new laser-pointing platform for CubeSats, which is detailed in the journal Optical Engineering, enables CubeSats to downlink data using fewer onboard resources at significantly higher rates than is currently possible. Rather than send down only a few images each time a CubeSat passes over a ground station, the satellites should be able to downlink thousands of high-resolution images with each flyby.

“To obtain valuable insights from Earth observations, hyperspectral images, which take images at many wavelengths and create terabytes of data, and which are really hard for CubeSats to get down, can be used,” says Kerri Cahoy, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. “But with a high-rate lasercom system you’d be able to send these detailed images down quickly. And I think this capability will make the whole CubeSat approach, using a lot of satellites in orbit so you can get global and real-time coverage, more of a reality.”

** Cal Poly’s 10th CubeSat Mission to Blast Off From New Zealand on Dec. 12 – Cal Poly News – Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

“This was a big mission for us with a tight schedule,” said Grigory Heaton, a senior studying aerospace engineering and physics, who is the co-mission lead for the ISX mission for PolySat, the student-run research lab. “Most of the assembly occurred last winter. It’s awesome that we get to have this spacecraft launched while most of the students who worked on the assembly itself are still here at Cal Poly.”

ISX will be launched into an orbit with an altitude of about 500 kilometers — about 30 miles higher than the team’s last satellite, DAVE, or Damping and Vibrations Experiment, which launched in September from Vandenberg Air Force Base. ISX will be “in a fairly polar orbit, so the satellite will fly over almost all points on Earth at some point,” Heaton said.
….

“This is also our lab’s first time launching a satellite on a launch that is all CubeSats. Every other time we’ve launched, the satellite has been behind a much bigger satellite. So it’s pretty cool that our satellite actually gets to be inside the fairing as part of the main payload.”

PolySat is a multidisciplinary and independent lab made up of students from a variety of majors. ISX team members include students studying aerospace, computer, electrical, mechanical and software engineering as well as computer science and physics.

** Jordan’s First CubeSat, JY1Sat, is Designated as JO-97 – ARRL.org

JY1Sat, launched on December 3 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as part of the SpaceX SSO-A: SmallSat Express launch, has been designated as Jordan OSCAR 97 (JO-97). The 1U CubeSat is a project of the Crown Prince Foundation of Jordan. Telemetry has been received and decoded around the world since the launch.

** USI Team Builds Satellite Heading to Space Station – Inside INdiana Business

A team of students from the University of Southern Indiana designed and built a satellite that launched last week on a SpaceX rocket heading for the International Space Station. The satellite will collect data for NASA research until the end of its life cycle in January 2020.

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane says the students worked on the satellite as part of the multi-year, undergraduate Nano Ionospheric Temperature Explorer, or UNITE, CubeSat project. USI student Ryan Loehrlein, who is also an intern at NSWC Crane, called working on the NASA-funded project a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-350 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin:

AO-85 Operation Guidelines
AMSAT Engineering Team Moves Forward
Recurring Donations Feature Added to AMSAT.org
Support AMSAT Using Your IRA
Updates to AMSAT-NA TLE Distribution
Fox-1E and Co-Passenger Amateur Radio Frequencies
ELaNa XIX Launch Delayed
Upcoming Satellite Operations
AMSAT Award Announcements
Dragon/NanoRacks Delivers Cubesats to ISS
Apollo 8 50th Anniversary Special Event
Amateur Satellite News From South Africa
Satellite Shorts From All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Telescopes and Binoculars at Amazon

Amateur/Student Satellite, Rockets

Videos: Rocket Lab launches Electron rocket with NASA sponsored CubeSats

December 16, 2018 TopSpacer 1 Comment

Rocket Lab today successfully launched an Electron rocket from the Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. The vehicle reached low earth orbit and its kick stage later circularized its orbit and then deployed 13 small satellites sponsored by NASA, including several university built CubeSats:

Here is a view of the liftoff from a nearby observer:

A statement released by the company:

Rocket Lab successfully launches NASA CubeSats to orbit
on first ever Venture Class Launch Services mission
The mission follows just five weeks after the successful ‘It’s Business Time’ launch in November,
and marks Rocket Lab’s third orbital launch for 2018

*ELaNa-19 mission launches on Rocketlab Electron. Photo credit: Trevor Mahlmann*

Huntington Beach, California – December 16, 2018 – US small satellite launch company Rocket Lab has launched its third orbital mission of 2018, successfully deploying satellites to orbit for NASA. The mission, designated Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)-19 , took place just over a month after Rocket Lab’s last successful orbital launch, ‘It’s Business Time.’ Rocket Lab has launched a total of 24 satellites to orbit in 2018.

On Sunday, December 16, 2018 UTC, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted off at 06:33 UTC (19:33 NZDT) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula. After being launched to an elliptical orbit, Electron’s Curie engine-powered kick stage separated from the vehicle’s second stage before circularizing to a 500×500 km orbit at an 85 degree inclination. By 56 minutes into the mission, the 13 satellites on board were individually deployed to their precise, designated orbits.

Until now, launch opportunities for small satellites have mostly been limited to rideshare-type arrangements, flying only when space is available on large launch vehicles. This mission, awarded under a Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) Agreement, marks the first time NASA CubeSats received a dedicated ride to orbit on a commercial launch vehicle. VCLS is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program headquartered at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck says the ELaNa-19 mission represents a forward-thinking approach from NASA to acquiring launch services and recognizes the increasingly significant role small satellites are playing in exploration, technology demonstration, research and education.

[ Rocket Lab CEO and founder Peter Beck says, ]

“The ELaNa-19 mission was a significant one for NASA, the Rocket Lab team and the small satellite industry overall. To launch two missions just five weeks apart, and in the first year of orbital flights, is unprecedented. It’s exactly what the small satellite industry desperately needs, and Rocket Lab is proud to be delivering it. Regular and reliable launch is now a reality for small satellites. The wait is over,” […] “We’re providing small satellite customers with more control than they’ve ever had, enabling them to launch on their own schedule, to precise orbits, as frequently as they need to.”

NASA ELaNa-19 Mission Manager Justin Treptow adds,

“The CubeSats of ELaNa-19 represent a large variety of scientific objectives and technology demonstrations. With this the first launch of a Venture Class Launch Service on the Rocket Lab Electron, NASA now has an option to match our small satellite missions with a dedicated small launch vehicle to place these satellites in an optimal orbit to achieve big results.”

The ELaNa-19 launch webcast can be viewed in full at http://youtu.be/F7Kr3664hJs and images from the mission are available in the media library at www.rocketlabusa.com/news/updates/link-to-rocket-lab-imagery-and-video

The next Rocket Lab Electron vehicle will be on the pad at Launch Complex 1 in January 2019. For real-time updates and mission announcements, follow Rocket Lab on Twitter @RocketLab.

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More about the launch and the satellites:

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

Rocketry, Rockets, Spaceflight & Parabolic Flight

Videos: DIY rocketeer profile, Retrieving a big wet rocket, Blue Origin’s giant lifter, & More about Virgin Galactic’s SS2

December 15, 2018 TopSpacer

Some miscellaneous rocket/space related videos:

** The DIY Rocketeer Building SpaceX Replicas of Self-Landing Rockets: A Motherboard profile of Joe Barnard, who is about developing model rockets with vectored thrust and landing capabilities (see posts here and here):

Joe Barnard left his background in videography and music production to launch his life of amateur rocketry, and he shares his DIY adventures in building rockets on his YouTube channel BPS.space.

** SpaceX CRS-16 booster recovery: Reports from www.USLaunchReport.com on what has been happening with that SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage that landed in the water during the launch of a Dragon cargo ship to the ISS:

**** SpaceX CRS-16 Booster Towed To Port 12-07-2018