1. Monday, March 11, 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, March 12, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome Chris Blackerby, COO of Astroscale, to discuss space debris removal.
3. Wednesday, March 13, 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, March 15, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am-1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 PM EDT): We welcome David Shayler, author and space historian, to talk about the British Interplanetary Society (BIS), human spaceflight, Skylab, the Russian and Chinese space programs, and more.
5. Sunday, March 17, 2019;, 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): We welcome Dr. Rachel Seidler to the show to discuss her research into the effects of microgravity on neuromotor behavior. See www.seidlerlab.com.
Some Recent shows:
** Fri, 03/08/2019 – Jose Ocasio-Christian discussed talked about “Caelus Partners and The Caelus Foundation’s Community in Space Campaign, their upcoming opening dialog workshop with China on commercializing space and much more”.
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:
With missions like Chang’e 4 on the far side of the Moon, China has firmly established itself as a leader in space exploration. Space journalist Andrew Jones helps us explore the nation’s ambitious near and long-term plans. Emily Lakdawalla says Mars lander InSight’s Mole has hit an obstacle, while Jason Davis shows us how Japan’s Hayabusa2 has blasted asteroid Ryugu for a sample and celebrates the success of the SpaceX Crew Dragon demo mission. Chief Scientist Bruce Betts gets a polite dressing down from an impeccable source.
Chang’e-4 lander as seen from Yutu-2.
** Dennis Ray Wingo recently talked “at NASA Ames for the Commercial Space Telecon, on March 6th, 2019. It encapsulates my thoughts to date on our direction and steps to the Industrialization of the Moon”.
A team of Old Dominion University students took a giant leap toward space as they joined two other Virginia universities in delivering their CubeSats to NanoRacks in Houston on Feb. 26. The nano-sized cube satellites were successfully integrated into the company’s commercially developed NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD) in preparation for launch on Northrop Grumman’s Antares to the International Space Station. The launch is scheduled for April 17 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.
Kimberly Wright, a graduate student in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, serves as student mission manager for ODU. She was accompanied by her teammates, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering master’s student Westin Messer and Electrical Engineering master’s student Anthony Cappiello, as well as their faculty advisor, associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dimitrie Popescu. Wright was thrilled to finally hand off ODU’s CubeSat for this critical step in a multiyear journey.
Kim Wright (Center), mission lead for ODU, takes a picture of the ODU CubeSat. UVA mission lead Erin Puckette (Left) and Virginia Tech mission lead Madison Brodnax (Right) look on.
** The Alabama CubeSat Initiative will involve about 100 students and faculty from colleges around the state in the developing of CubeSats for deep space missions:
“There have been many student-developed CubeSats previously; to the best of my knowledge, there has never been a student-developed CubeSat to fly outside LEO,” says Dr. Dale Thomas, ASGC director, UAH professor and the eminent scholar in systems engineering. “I think that’s a pretty big deal. And it will be exceptionally challenging.”
On Oct. 16, the Alabama Space Authority passed a resolution supporting the Alabama CubeSat Initiative. The intent of the initiative is to ramp up a system by which ASGC members will eventually fly one collaborative CubeSat per year.
A $5,000 donation from LogiCore Corporation, a logistics and engineering services company in Huntsville Alabama is helping the Alabama Space Grant Consortium (ASGC) to design and build the first in a planned series of statewide collaborative cube satellites (CubeSats).
A recent workshop about the project, which will carry a gamma-ray burst (GRB) detector to be placed in the vicinity of the moon to detect short gamma-ray bursts, was partially sponsored by the LogiCore donation.
The Training Centre for CubeSats, Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles and their Applications (CUAVA) is currently developing two CubeSats to test the uses for cheaper, smaller satellites in the Australian context while developing local expertise in the field.
‘CUAVA-1’ is set to be the first satellite launched later this year, and will be laden with remote sensing, GPS, and communications equipment, along with sensors to monitor the environment in space.
Space BD, who is also a commercial service provider with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will provide end-to-end launch and deployment services for CUAVA.
** Latest on KickSat-2, which has over 100 tiny ChipSats on board:
“SpaceX’s Crew Dragon splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean after successful Demo-1 flight on March 8, 2019.”
****The DM-1 mission was a great success. Everything from beginning to end seemed to go smoothly and according to plan. A video of highlights of DM-1:
**** The closing of the hatch of the Crew Dragon 2 last night in preparation for its departure:
https://youtu.be/JDLTqb8EeZ4
**** The Crew Dragon departs from the ISS in this video:
A view from the ISS of the Crew Dragon shortly after it left the station to return to earth. Note that the circle at the top is the nose-cap in the open position.
**** StarHopper moves to launch pad. Meanwhile, work continues at SpaceX’s facilities at Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville, Texas on the company’s next-generation launch system. While the Crew Dragon recovery was underway in the Atlantic, the booster section of the StarHopper low altitude test vehicle was slowly transported from the construction yard to the site of the launch pad:
StarHopper booster moves to the site of the launch pad at Boca Chica Beach.
[ Update: This move was reportedly due to plans for a pressure test of the propellant tanks. Once that is safely finished, it will be moved back to the construction yard.] The propulsion system with the Raptor engines have not yet been installed. A new nosecone is also under construction to replace the one damaged when it was overturned by high winds.
**The launch of the reusable SARGE rocket last Saturday by EXOS Aerospace went well overall, though it failed to reach the planned altitude. Strong winds at liftoff caused the rocket to move outside its allowed range and the guidance system turned off the engine before it completed its burn. The rocket was recovered via paraglider return and will launch again.
** Linkspace tests vertical takeoff and landing rocket in China:
Reusable Launch Vehicle Prototype RLV-T5 (NewLine Baby) had a new milestone. We had accomplished the rocket takes off, hovers and recovers under tethered protection. At the end of March, we plan to accomplish the recovery test of RLV-T5 in free state. pic.twitter.com/BOg7C9RqPp
