A preview of the June night sky from NASA JPL: What’s Up: June 2019 Skywatching Tips from NASA | NASA Solar System Exploration
What’s up in the June sky? Jupiter is at its biggest and brightest, Mercury and Mars appear ultra-close and how you can observe the Moon’s tilted orbit.
** Another view from the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute:
** And here the view of the Northern Hemisphere from Alyn Wallace:
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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:
NASA estimates flying Europa Clipper on SpaceX Falcon Heavy “would save approximately $700 million” compared to SLS.
But NASA also says Falcon Heavy (flown twice) requires “additional flight testing” to fly the mission while SLS (never flown) “is exempt.”https://t.co/3cECCPO0UD pic.twitter.com/jeTDbOI6fs
— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) May 29, 2019
Webcasts:
** Episode T+122: National Security SpaceX Lawsuit – Main Engine Cut Off
NSSL, LSA, OMG! Last week, SpaceX filed a lawsuit against the US Air Force over the Launch Service Agreement development contracts. We’re mere months away from bids being due for the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 launch contracts, so I figured now would be a good time to take a step back to explain what these programs are, why they matter, and why SpaceX is filing this lawsuit at this moment in time.
** May 28, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black
** The Space Show – Tue, 05/28/2019 – James Donovan talked about his new book, Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11
** Sharing a Passion for Mars at the Humans to Mars Summit | The Planetary Society
This year’s Humans to Mars Summit in Washington D.C., once again ended with a panel of Martian all-stars talking about their hopes for a future that includes the Red Planet. Planetary Radio host Mat Kaplan leads the inspiring and entertaining discussion. Emily Lakdawalla shows us the beautiful, sunlit clouds of Mars, while this week’s What’s Up segment gives Mat the job of singing the answer to our latest space trivia quiz.
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A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:
** Boeing successfully tests integrated propulsion system for the Starliner crew vehicle. This comes after the system suffered a leak of the highly toxic propellant during a test in 2018. Boeing Completes Starliner Hot Fire Test – Commercial Crew Program
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner propulsion system was put to the test on Thursday at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico in support of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Teams ran multiple tests on Starliner’s in-space maneuvering system and the spacecraft’s launch abort system, which are key elements on the path to restore America’s capability to fly astronauts to the International Space Station on American rockets and spacecraft from U.S. soil.
The test used a flight-like Starliner service module with a full propulsion system comprising of fuel and helium tanks, reaction control system and orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters, launch abort engines and all necessary fuel lines and avionics.
Check out our brand new #Starliner propulsion test footage. This successful test paves the way for our first uncrewed flight this summer and is an important next step for @Commercial_Crew astronauts to fly later this year. pic.twitter.com/FZxS0BwGlw
— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) May 28, 2019
** Rocket Lab making progress on the launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia:
Fantastic progress by the team at LC2! It’s starting to look like a launch pad with the LOX tank in place. pic.twitter.com/lHvLtW1xjU
— Peter Beck (@Peter_J_Beck) May 28, 2019
**ESA’s Expander-cycle Technology Integrated Demonstrator (ETID) project tests new technologies for next-gen upper-stage rocket engines: ‘Intelligent’ thrust for Europe’s future launchers – ESA
ESA has recently completed hot-firing tests that prove technologies in a move towards ‘intelligent’ engines to power the upper stages of next-generation launchers.
The Expander-cycle Technology Integrated Demonstrator, or ETID, is a full-scale integrated demonstrator for an upper-stage rocket engine.
Yesterday ESA, industrial partners and representatives of participating Member States met at DLR Lampoldshausen, Germany, to review the results of ETID’s extremely successful nine-month test campaign on the P3.2 test bench.
In total, four configurations of ETID with three new combustion chamber geometries and designs were tested.
Two different injector heads, including a fully 3D-printed version were also tested, as well
** ULA’s Vulcan and Northrop-Grumman’s OmegA rockets make some progress towards first flights in 2021: Two National Security Space Launch Rockets Moving Forward – Air Force Magazine
** Virgin Orbit flies a fully fueled LauncherOne rocket beneath their 747 carrier:
Our pilots and launch engineers are all smiles after another successful test flight, this one with a fully-loaded #LauncherOne rocket under the wing of our ‘flying launch pad.’ Here’s a taste of the beautiful views today in the skies above @MojaveAirport pic.twitter.com/esNkpyOb0l
— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) May 24, 2019
** Virgin Orbit works with NASA on 3D printing of propulsion system components: Exploring 3-D Printing Alongside NASA Marshall Space Flight Center | Virgin Orbit
As our aspirations for space grow more ambitious, so too must the ways we build our spacecraft! So we partnered with @NASA_Marshall to study how 3-D printing can be used to build next-gen rocket parts at a fraction of the cost and lead time. Read more: https://t.co/Rcu7Uz0nwT pic.twitter.com/IdVuB1sIEu
— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) May 16, 2019
** SpaceX:
** The chain of Starlink satellites launched last week by a Falcon 9 was easy to see from the ground when passing overhead:
*** The video of the deployment of the Starlink sats showed them slowly separating in clumps rather than scattering individually like dandelion seeds, which I think many viewers had expected. Here is an animation showing what was actually happening.
*** The brightness of the Starlinks set off a Twitter ado over what impact 1200 to 15000 such satellites will have on astronomy:
*** Initial broadband Internet services could begin with just 360 Starlinks: SpaceX wants to offer Starlink internet to consumers after just six launches – Teslarati.
*** Another view of the Starlink launch via the team at www.USLaunchReport.com:
*** The recovered Starlinks booster has returned to Port Canaveral:
This was awesome to see. First time ever seeing it lifted and crew hard at work! #SpaceX #Falcon9 @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/RNzL3UcwFq
— 🚀⭐️Crystal⭐️🚀 (@Star_Shattered) May 28, 2019
*** The nosecone fairings from the were recovered as well and may be used again in a future launch:
One fairing half now on dockside. @spacex #fairing #falcon9 pic.twitter.com/3mafhm1jI0
— Jon Van Horne [SCLA]🐴📷🌴 (@therealjonvh) May 28, 2019
*** Still no official explanation for the explosion during the Crew Dragon test but the investigation is making progress according to NASA officials:
From Space News:
More than a month after a Crew Dragon spacecraft was destroyed in a test of its propulsion system, NASA and SpaceX investigators are still working to determine the cause of the accident and its implications for upcoming test flights.
In a May 28 presentation to the NASA Advisory Council’s human exploration and operations committee, Kathy Lueders, manager of the commercial crew program at NASA, offered few updates on the progress of the investigation into the April 20 incident at a SpaceX pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
In that incident, SpaceX was testing both the Draco thrusters and larger SuperDraco abort thrusters in preparation for an in-flight abort test of the capsule that, at the time, was scheduled for the end of June. “An anomaly occurred during activation of the SuperDraco system,” she said, but offered no details on what caused that anomaly.
*** Work on the Starhopper and Starship orbital demonstrator vehicles at Boca Chica Beach, Texas and Cocoa, Florida appears to be making good progress. Observers are on the lookout at Boca Chica for the arrival of the Raptor engine that will power the Starhopper’s low altitude flights, the first of which is currently set for Monday of next week.
From NSF:
Meanwhile, SpaceX techs have begun to accelerate testing operations ahead of a crucial series of flights involving the Starhopper suborbital vehicle.
The Hopper last flew on April 5th, 2019, when it successfully performed a three foot hop test at the launch site while under power from a single Raptor flight-ready engine. During this test, the vehicle was held down by a group of tethers attached to each of the three landing legs.
Those tethers will not be present during upcoming hop tests, as confirmed by Musk on Twitter on April 26th.
He also stated in the same thread that the Hopper would use a single Raptor engine like before, though it would not be the same engine that was first used to propel the vehicle off the pad.
[ Update:
No raptor as of 2pm Wednesday at #Starhopper #Spacex #BocaChica pic.twitter.com/bpQ8U6KY9h
— SPadre (@SpacePadreIsle) May 29, 2019
]
*** Elon Musk is expected to give an update on the Starship/Super Heavy project on June 20th and there appears to be an official website in preparation: SpaceX Starship website spotted ahead of Elon Musk’s June rocket update – Teslarati.
It appears that SpaceX is preparing a dedicated website for its proposed Starship point-to-point transport system, potentially capable of transporting dozens of passengers anywhere on Earth in just 30-60 minutes.
Assuming this website is actually a prelude to a SpaceX reveal (it could be completely unrelated), it seems likely that Starship.com will go live sometime around CEO Elon Musk’s planned June 20th update on Starship and Super Heavy. Much like Starlink.com went live on the day of SpaceX’s first dedicated launch, the company may be ready to tease more substantial details and fleshed-out plans for its aspirational Starship airline.
*** Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, provides a tutorial on the Raptor engine that will power the Starship and the Super Heavy booster: Is SpaceX’s Raptor engine the king of rocket engines? – Everyday Astronaut
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The Case for Space:
How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up
a Future of Limitless Possibility
Universe Today hosts Carnival of Space #612.
And Citizen Science/CosmoQuest hosts Carnival of Space #613.
The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:
1. Monday, May 27, 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. Also, this is Memorial Day in the United States.
2. Tuesday, May 28, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome noted author James Donovan for his new book, Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11
3. Wednesday, Wednesday, May 29 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, May 31, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am-1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome Dr. Greg Matloff and C. Bangs, authors of the award winning book, Stellar Engineering
5. Sunday, June 2, 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): We welcome Gideon Marcus of Galactic Journeys. This program will be a walk through space history and time like none other.
Recent shows:
** Fri, 05/24/2019 – Dr. Gilbert Levin and Dr. Patricia Ann Straat talked about the “Viking Labeled Release experiment, life detection on Mar, the book, From Mars With Love, by Dr. Straat and more”.
** Mars Hotel/The Space Show – Wed, 05/22/2019 – John Batchelor & Dr. David Livingston talked with William Harwood of CBS News about “Jeff Bezos and the Blue Moon Lander project, his recent press conference & returning to the Moon”.
** The Space Show – Tue, 05/21/2019 – Dr. Philip Metzger discussed “starting space industrialization, establishing Cislunar transportation, lunar development, asteroid development, thinking big, Mars and more”.
** Sun, 05/19/2019 – Emily Carney talked about Space Hipsters, which she co-founded, “and lots more regarding space programs, education, outreach, policy, and getting young women interested in space”.
** Tue, 05/14/2019: Dr. Robert Zubrin talked about his new book, The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility
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.
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