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:
** The Space Show – Tue, 07/23/2019 – Michelle Evans, President of the Orange County Space Society, discussed “Apollo program & Moon landing memories, observations and lessons learned, our future space and Moon plans and our emerging private sector”.
*** Starhopper makes first successful hop within a fiery storm of flame, smoke, and steam. Late Thursday evening, SpaceX’s Starhopper, a Raptor methane engine powered prototype Starship, lifted off the ground untethered for the first time and moved sideways a short distance on the flat pad. The high swirl of smoke and steam hid most of the vehicle during its brief flight. Elon Musk this morning, however, released a video showing a view of the engine from an onboard camera during the hop. Plus he provided a video from a drone where one can see much more of the vehicle during the flight than from the ground videos.
This view from the ground shows an overlay for the location of the vehicle within the cloud:
A grass fire was set off by the exhaust and was still burning this morning. However, local firefighters seem to have it under control.
Elon also said, there will be “200m hop in a week or two”.
Now that the Starhopper has made its first flight, he will soon give a presentation on the latest design and development plans for the Super Heavy Booster/Starship system.
*** Falcon 9 launches Cargo Dragon and booster lands back at the Cape. The Dragon is on its third flight and the first stage booster was on its second. The Dragon is scheduled to berth to the ISS on Saturday morning.
** The Dragon is wearing some ceramic tiles to test them for use as heat shields on the Starship. Tiles appear to be the latest approach to protecting the Starship during reentry. Previously, the plan was to pressure feed water or liquid methane through tiny holes in the steel body panels to soak up the heat to protect the vehicle. The passive tile approach seems more robust to flaws than an active transpiration system. SpaceX testing ceramic Starship heat shield tiles on flight-proven CRS-18 Cargo Dragon – Teslarati
SpaceX announced during its CRS-18 Cargo Dragon webcast that the twice-flown orbital spacecraft will feature a handful of ceramic Starship heat shield tiles, meant to flight-test a critical component of the next-generation SpaceX spacecraft.
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If Cargo Dragon capsule C108 continues its successful record of orbital missions and recoveries, SpaceX will be able to recover Starship’s prototype ceramic heat shield tiles perfectly intact and thus have access to orbit- and reentry-tested hardware that should provide invaluable data for Starship. It’s unclear where exactly ceramic heat shielding would be used on Starship or if this means that the spacecraft’s transpirationally-cooled steel tiles did not pass muster, but CEO Elon Musk will hopefully provide additional details in a presentation later this month or early next.
The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 spacecraft has successfully deployed the large, aluminized Mylar sail it will use to raise its orbit solely with sunlight.
Flight controllers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California commanded the spacecraft to deploy its solar sails [on July 23rd] at about 11:47 PDT (18:47 UTC). Images captured during the deployment sequence and downloaded today show the 32-square-meter sail, which is about the size of a boxing ring, deploying as the spacecraft flew south of the continental United States.
** iSpace becomes first commercial Chinese company to put satellites into orbit. The company Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., which also goes by the shorter name iSpace, put 2 satellites into low earth orbit with the four-stage Hyperbola 1 rocket on Thursday. The lower three stages uses solid-fueled motors while the final stage has a liquid fueled engine..
Beijing-based startup iSpace successfully sent two satellites into the designated orbits with their own rocket on Thursday. It is the first company to complete such a mission in the commercial space industry at a domestic level. The SQX-1 Y1 is the 20.8-meter-tall four-stage solid-propellant carrier rocket carrying two satellites. The rocket blasted off at 1:00 p.m. BJT from a supporting pad in the large desert at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China. With a liftoff weight of 31 metric tonnes and a diameter of 1.4 meters, the rocket can carry a payload of 260kg into a sun-synchronous orbit 500 km above the Earth. Established in 2015, the startup iSpace is China’s first private company to get a license to develop carrier rockets.
** China launches three remote sensing satellites.
China’s liquid oxygen-methane rocket engine completes key test – ecns.cn :
“80-tonne thrust liquid oxygen-methane engine has completed a full-thrust run test with a duration of 100 seconds, the developer said Tuesday.The engine, named TQ-12, was independently developed by the private rocket company LandSpace and has the third-highest thrust level among liquid oxygen-methane engines globally.“
Kyushu Yunjian (Beijing) Space Technology Co.
Kyushu Yunjian “Lingyun” liquid oxygen methane engine completed the hot test – (Google Translate) – Original: 九州云箭.
“As the first liquid oxygen methane engine in China that truly realizes reusable, multiple start and deep variable thrust capability, the “Lingyun” engine has low-cost rapid maintenance and multiple start-up capability, large-scale change of engine during the development process. A series of bold and difficult explorations and attempts have been made in the adjustment technology of thrust, control technology and the adaptability technology of key assemblies. The successful completion of this round of hot test marks that the Kyushu Yunjian “Lingyun” engine has achieved the pumping type in China. Several effective breakthroughs in the bottleneck technology of cryogenic liquid rocket engines.“
Another day, another methalox engine test for Chinese NewSpace. Jiuzhou Yunjian (九州云箭, est. 2017) testing deep throttling and multiple starts with its ‘Lingyun’ 10-tonne variable thrust liquid oxygen-methane engine. https://t.co/IKEsDK6zJppic.twitter.com/7dQf9896g5
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) July 23, 2019
This week’s episode of NASA’s Space to Ground report on activities related to the International Space Station:
** Explore Your Project Ideas for Space Station
Have a science or technology idea? Flying experiments on the International Space Station is a unique opportunity to eliminate gravity as a variable, provide exposure to vacuum and radiation, and have a clear view of the Earth and universe. For more information on how you can conduct your research in microgravity, visit www.nasa.gov/stationopportunities
** What Launches to Space on SpaceX’s Next Cargo Mission?
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will deliver supplies and critical materials to directly support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations that will occur aboard the International Space Station for current and future crews. Learn more about CRS-18: https://go.nasa.gov/2L9ioX7
** NASA’s webcast of the SpaceX CRS-18 cargo mission to the ISS: Includes discussion and reports on ISS R&D.
Orbiting some 20,000 miles [35,786 km (22,236 mi) to be exact] above the Earth – much further than the International Space Station (245 miles) yet much closer than the Moon (c238,900 miles) – while perpetually fixed over the Eastern Hemisphere, Himawari-8 provides a unique perspective on the planet and its weather patterns. With the film’s haunting soundtrack and swirling imagery, it’s easy to get lost in the hypnotic clouds and forget that below them is half of humanity, rendered almost entirely invisible by the distance.
Muriel Anderson performs “View From Space” on harp guitar, during her “All Star Guitar Night” charity event [2009] at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN.
Pulsar music based on the data obtained from the Spectr-R space telescope and the Radioastron project. Pulsar is a rapidly rotating ultra high-density neutron star left over from a supernova explosion. Pulsar signals could be used as time references and navigation for satellites. By converting the frequency of pulsar signals into sound waves, you can compose music. Spectr-R is a space observatory launched in 2011. It was in orbit for 8 years, surpassing its warranty period by more than 2.5 times. The Radioastron project made a great contribution to the research of pulsars.
On Friday 7 June, ESA began a three-day starring role at the World Club Dome electronic dance music festival. Billed as the Space Edition, this event is the latest stage of an 18-month partnership with BigCityBeats, the company behind the show. This year’s festival featured Armin van Buuren, Jason Derulo, Steve Aoki and David Guetta among its star performers – as well as a 28-m high model of an Ariane 5, which dominated the main stage.
World Club Dome Space Edition was inaugurated with a spectacular light and music show for the crowd of 55 000 music fans. The programme recounted the history of human space exploration and highlighted ESA’s many achievements. ESA astronauts André Kuipers and Matthias Maurer took to the stage to recount their experiences and their hopes for the future.