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):
But what is terrain relative navigation? And why is it so important to NASA’s Artemis program to return American astronauts to the Moon by 2024, and future human missions to Mars?
Without capabilities like GPS, which is designed to help us navigate on Earth, determining a lander vehicle’s location is much like comparing visual cues (e.g., road signs, important buildings, notable landmarks) while driving a car with those cues identified on road maps.
“We have onboard satellite maps loaded onto the flight computer and a camera acts as our sensor,” explained [Draper’s Matthew Fritz]. “The camera captures images as the lander flies along a trajectory and those images are overlaid onto the preloaded satellite maps that include unique terrain features. Then by mapping the features in the live images, we’re able to know where the vehicle is relative to the features on the map.”
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** Launchpad fire ends countdown for Japanese rocket with ISS cargo vehicle:
Japanese officials called off the launch of an H-2B rocket and HTV space station cargo ship Tuesday after a fire broke out on the launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center.
The fire occurred at around 1805 GMT (2:05 p.m. EDT) Tuesday, or 3:05 a.m. local time Wednesday, around three-and-a-half hours before the H-2B launcher was scheduled to lift off with an automated supply ship bound for the International Space Station.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation when officials briefed reporters on the fire four hours after cameras first observed the blaze near the base of the 186-foot-tall (56.6-meter) rocket. The launch pad was evacuated at the time of the fire, and the rocket’s manufacturer, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, reported no injuries.
An unpiloted Russian Soyuz spacecraft, carrying a humanoid robot instead of cosmonauts, parachuted to a rare nighttime landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan Friday (U.S. time) to wrap up a test flight to the International Space Station that paved the way for crewed launches using upgraded Soyuz boosters next year.
The 16-day test flight, which launched Aug. 22, also demonstrated technology Russia aims to use on a future automated payload return vehicle to bring cargo and experiments back to Earth.
The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft’s descent module landed in a rural zone of south-central Kazakhstan at 2132 GMT (5:32 p.m. EDT) Friday, or 3:32 a.m. local time Saturday at the landing site, according to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
Virgin Orbit VP of Special Projects William Pomerantz joins us on station to talk about everything they are working on. Sounds like Virgin Orbit isn’t just near flying, but ready to come out of the gate strong with a series of vehicles already being built! In this hour long interview Jared and Will talk about the small satellite market and Virgin Orbit’s place in it, rocket reusability and the Brooke Owens Fellowship. Will is an amazing force within the NewSpace community and this is an interview you don’t want to miss!
According to the document, the company plans to start with 16 flights a year in 2020, then to increase this to 270 flights a year by 2023, when it will have its entire fleet of five vessels — which works out to around one flight every 32 hours.
Within four years, it will eventually have the capacity to transport 1,565 people on a year-round basis.
No word, though, on when VG will resume flight tests of the SpaceShipTwo. The last flight to high altitude took place on Feb, 22, 2019.
** Aevum wins USAF payload contract given up by Vector following suspension of work at Vector after funding shortfall:
The first stage of Ravn consists of a reusable, fully autonomous unmanned aircraft system designed for atmospheric flight. “The overall aerodynamic design of the vehicle has been optimized for the rocket separation,” Skylus said. “The maximum speed of the Ravn first stage is Mach 2.85 [2,186 mph, or 3,519 km/h].”
This aircraft carries an expendable two-stage rocket engineered for spaceflight. The first stage of this rocket uses a proprietary fuel approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, while the second stage relies on liquid oxygen. “The rocket engines have already been hot-fire demonstrated,” Skylus said.
Launch of the USAF ASLON-45 mission is expected in the third quarter of 2021.
** Northrop-Grumman Pegasus launch of ICON mission is scheduled following a long delay due to technical issues with the rocket.
The launch of a NASA ionospheric research satellite off Florida’s east coast is targeted for Oct. 9 after persistent technical problems with its air-dropped Pegasus rocket stymied two launch opportunities last year.
The launch campaign for the Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, mission resumed this week.
The launch agreement, announced during Euroconsult’s World Satellite Business Week here, covers one launch of Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket in 2021 with an option for up to five additional launches. The companies did not disclose the terms of the agreement, but Relativity offers the Terran 1 for a list price of $10 million.
The 2021 launch will fly Momentus’ Vigoride Extended tug, capable of carrying up to 350 kilograms of satellites. The tug will transport the satellites from an initial low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit using its water plasma thruster technology.
** Momentus says the water plasma thruster is working well on the company’s first prototype to reach space:
#ElCaminoReal is performing as expected! This successfully demonstrates for the first time, in-space water plasma propulsion, and also demonstrates the technology, which has the highest specific impulse among other water-based propulsion.
Firefly Aerospace, one of several new rocket companies working on orbital launch services, has pushed back its first launch to early 2020 due to supplier delays.
“We were trying for this year, but won’t get there,” Eric Salwan, Firefly’s director of commercial business development told UPI. “Primarily, we are having issues with a few externally sourced components, such as the flight termination system.”
A couple of tweets showing some of the Alpha work underway:
The newest addition to the Firefly test site: a high-speed video camera. High speed video reveals new details about critical processes, such as startup and shutdown dynamics. Check out this Reaver engine test we captured on the new cam yesterday! #Firefly#MakingSpaceForEveryonepic.twitter.com/AugUqCzFbR
The Alpha 1st stage RP tank is proofed and ready for action! At 24 ft tall, it holds 4,500 gallons of RP-1 (rocket fuel). Now back to assembly to be integrated into the Alpha 1st stage qual unit. Looking forward to launching the largest all carbon composite vehicle in the world! pic.twitter.com/JseCNy7aGr
Work on Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch complex – LC-36 – is well underway. Recent aerial imagery of Cape Canaveral from NOAA shows how far Blue has come on the launch complex. Meanwhile, the company is also working on an engine factory in Alabama, and a first stage refurbishment facility near Kennedy Space Center.
This trend is partially visible in the status of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster fleet over the course of 2019. In the first eight months of 2019, SpaceX has completed 10 launches (two Falcon Heavies and eight Falcon 9s), compared to 15 in 2018 and 12 in 2017. However, Falcon 9 Block 5 has proven itself to be extremely reliable and reusable since its May 2018 debut, truly coming into its own around the start of 2019. By May 2019, SpaceX’s fleet of flight-proven boosters had grown to eight, at least half of which were at or approaching flight-readiness.
SpaceX hopes to launch 24 Starlink missions in 2020 as the company builds out a broadband megaconstellation that could ultimately number close to 12,000 satellites, a company executive said Sept. 10.
SpaceX’s Starlink launch cadence will likely average “two a month,” in addition to customer launches, Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, said at the World Satellite Business Week conference here.
“Next year, I hope we launch 24 Starlinks,” Shotwell said.
*** SpaceX working through the permits process for the first test flight of the Starship Mk. 1 demonstrator, which will attempt to reach about 22 kilometers (74000 feet or 14 miles) in altitude.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) 1631-EX-ST-2019 FCC Experimental License – Communications permits for “Starship suborbital test vehicle communications for SpaceX Mission 1569 from the Boca Chica launch pad, and the experimental recovery following the suborbital launch”. Purpose: “Experimental launch, landing, and recovery of the Starship suborbital test vehicle from Boca Chica TX”.
From Teslarati:
On September 9th, the first signs of SpaceX planning for Starship Mk1’s South Texas launch debut appeared in the form of FCC applications, requesting permission to communicate with the rocket prototype during its first flight.
*** FAA re-evaluates environmental impact of SpaceX activities at Boca Chica Beach, Texas with the change from Falcon 9 operations to Starship development and test flights:
By May 2018, Musk said that SpaceX was dropping its commercial-spaceport plan and instead dedicating the site to building and flying Mars rocket-ship prototypes. The company is now using different launch vehicles (Starship prototypes), different fuel (methane instead of RP-1, a rocket-grade kerosene), and a new rate of launches, as well as switching up construction projects and other details.
This shift in plans prompted the FAA to step in, reevaluate, and square these new details with the original EIS [Environmental Impact Statement] to see whether there’d be any unaddressed public-safety threats or environmental damage.
So far the FAA doesn’t see a need for a new impact statement.
*** Recent views of the Boca Chica facilities:
SpaceX crews on fast track getting StarShip ready, for the StarShip Interplanetary Press conference on the 28th. The final tank bulkhead for the vehicle was spotted, the 4 pads in the skip yard are definitely getting ready to hold some rings of some time. pic.twitter.com/g1avE0xQ7M
Despite a number of technical hurdles, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk believes that the company’s next-generation Starship spacecraft could eventually be capable of pad aborts in the event of a Super Heavy booster failure before liftoff.
For a vehicle as large and heavy as Starship, this would necessitate a number of compromises, but would undoubtedly serve as a major confidence-booster for prospective passengers in lieu of an established record of reliability. If Starship were capable of pad aborts like the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, high-profile and high-value customers like NASA and other space agencies could be far more willing to place astronauts and payloads on what they perceive to be a bizarre but high-performance launch vehicle.
Although it flew under the radar in the heat of the moment, SpaceX’s final Starhopper test flight – completed on August 27th – happened to include an unusual bit of test hardware – eight (give or take) ceramic Starship heat shield tiles.
On the same day that Starhopper lifted off for the last time and completed a 150m (500 ft) hop test in South Texas, SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule C108 wrapped up its third successful orbital mission, reentering Earth’s atmosphere with a complement of several ceramic Starship heat shield tiles. This marked the first known orbital test of Starship hardware on the same exact day that Starhopper was putting nearly identical tiles through an entirely different kind of flight test.
SpaceX tests ceramic Starship heat shield tiles on Starhopper’s final flight testhttps://t.co/3U6E4bu60r
*** Another Florida site for Starship construction spotted:
New @NOAA imagery shows that #SpaceX is making significant progress on their planned operations center at Roberts Road. It is likely that the Florida-based Starship construction will eventually be moved here, as it is on KSC property and will allow for easier transport. pic.twitter.com/WmhU7ii5Li
A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs (find previous smallsat roundups here):
Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory announced today that it has delivered a small satellite designed for NASA to measure the microphysical properties of cloud water and ice particles.
The HARP CubeSat satellite was built by SDL to carry the HyperAngular Rainbow Polarimeter payload built by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County under the direction of principal investigator J. Vanderlei Martins. HARP is currently being prepared for launch by International Space Station small satellite launch service provider NanoRacks, LLC. HARP is scheduled to launch to the ISS in October aboard Northrop Grumman’s robotic resupply space freighter Cygnus at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. HARP will be ejected into space following its placement on the ISS.
The first hour of the program featured special Open Lines guest Dr. John Jurist who was brought on to respond to the Jim Davis question posted on the blog. Jim had asked a question about the 2005 paper Dr. Jurist, Dr. Dinkin and I wrote, wondering if it was out of date due to the progress SpaceX has made in rocket development and reusability. John and I discussed our 2005 paper in the context of the Davis questions. The second hour of today’s Open Lines program was a more traditional Open Lines discussion covering several topics suggested by the callers and those sending in emails.
** Fri, 09/06/2019 – Andrew Chanin discussed his company ProcureAM and “gobal space Exchange-Traded Fund (ET), commercial space investing, aerospace opportunities, exchange-traded products, mutual funds, space investment influencing issues”.
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):
The Future of Space 2060 and Implications for U.S. Strategy: Report on the Space Futures Workshop – Air Force Space Command – 5 September 2019 – Politico (pdf)
Today we’re focusing on the commercialization of Low Earth Orbit with a focus on the International Space Station and other potential commercial habitats. This is the first part of a two part series and my guest is Adrian Mangiuca, the Commerce Director at NanoRacks. NanoRacks describes themselves as both the largest commercial user and private investor on the International Space Station with customers from over 30 nations
** The Space Show – Fri, 09/06/2019 – Andrew Chanin discussed his company ProcureAM and “obal space Exchange-Traded Fund (ET), commercial space investing, aerospace opportunities, exchange-traded products, mutual funds, space investment influencing issues”.
The first hour of the program featured special Open Lines guest Dr. John Jurist who was brought on to respond to the Jim Davis question posted on the blog. Jim had asked a question about the 2005 paper Dr. Jurist, Dr. Dinkin and I wrote, wondering if it was out of date due to the progress SpaceX has made in rocket development and reusability. John and I discussed our 2005 paper in the context of the Davis questions. The second hour of today’s Open Lines program was a more traditional Open Lines discussion covering several topics suggested by the callers and those sending in emails.
