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):
Earth’s Moon: Lunar Prospecting Advice – LeonardDavid.com – testimony to the National Space Council by Clive Neal, Professor of Lunar Geology at the University of Notre Dame, on innovative space initiatives and using the resources of the Moon.
** VP Pence participates in National Space Council meeting –
Vice President Mike Pence chairs the sixth meeting of the National Space Council and delivers remarks on expanding space exploration and strengthening the United States’ leadership in commercial space at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center National Air and Space Museum.
** The Space Show, 08/20/2019 – Rand Simberg talked “about tardigrades on the Moon, Planetary Protection, and defining important OST legal terms which ma control who and what gets done in space in the future”.
A Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula at 12:12 am, 20 August 2019 NZST (12:12 pm, 19 August 2019 UTC). The mission, named ‘Look Ma, No Hands,’ included the first satellite in a new maritime surveillance constellation for UNSEENLABS. The launch also saw satellites deployed for rideshare provider Spaceflight, including the BlackSky Global-4 satellite and two United States Air Force technology demonstrators.
At approximately 54 minutes after lift-off, all payloads were successfully deployed by Electron’s Kick Stage to a 540 x 540 km orbit at a 45-degree inclination. The mission was Rocket Lab’s eighth launch overall and the company’s fourth launch for 2019, taking the total number of satellites deployed by the company to 39. The launch also continues Rocket Lab’s track record of 100% mission success for customers, further cementing the company’s status as the global leader in dedicated small satellite launch.
The launch vehicle also carried critical instrumentation to inform development efforts for Rocket Lab’s recently announced plans to recover and re-use of Electron’s first stage.
** Scott Manley discusses Rocket Lab’s plans for recovering and re-flying the Electron boosters:
** Long March 3B launches comm-sat but then the spacecraft failed shortly after deployment from the rocket’s upper stage:
** Three smallsats launched August 17th by new Chinese rocket developed by a “commercial” subsidiary of the government’s primary organization for launch systems, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT).
The Jielong 1 rocket was developed by China Rocket Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CALT, a government-owned enterprise. CALT builds most of China’s workhorse Long March rocket family, which includes the country’s oldest and most-flown launchers.
In a statement after Saturday’s launch, which Chinese officials did not publicize in advance, CALT said the Jielong 1 rocket measures 64 feet (19.5 meters) tall and nearly 4 feet (1.2 meters) in diameter. At takeoff, the rocket weighs around 51,000 pounds, or 23.1 metric tons.
The new rocket can lift up to 440 pounds (200 kilograms) of payload into a 310-mile-high (500-kilometer) sun-synchronous orbit, according to CALT.
The Jielong 1 rocket is the fourth new Chinese solid-fueled smallsat launcher to debut in the last 10 months. All have roughly the same carrying capacity to low Earth orbit.
** Last week Virgin Galactic invited media to see the inside of the terminal at Spaceport America, including the sections where the SpaceShipTwo flights will be controlled and a lounge and restaurant for the spaceflight adventurists and their families.
Regarding the flight test status of the SpaceShipTwo, Jeff Foust reports:
While WhiteKnightTwo is at the spaceport, the company’s existing SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity, is still in Mojave, having made its last flight to space nearly six months ago. Mike Moses, president of Virgin Galactic, said that work is continuing there to outfit the cabin interior for commercial flights, along with other upgrades, like the installation of a new digital flight control system.
The company didn’t say when VSS Unity will arrive here—when it’s ready WhiteKnightTwo will fly back to Mojave to pick it up—but when it does arrive Moses said the company will first perform a couple glide flights to test the new flight control system as well as get familiar with operations from a new spaceport.
After that, “we’ll be ready for rocket-powered flights,” he said. There are eight hybrid rocket motors stockpiled at the spaceport, he noted, although he didn’t commit to a specific number of test flights before commercial operations will begin. In documents filed last month in association with the company’s planned merger with holding company Social Capital Hedosophia, Virgin stated it expected commercial operations to begin in the first half of 2020 (see “A new path for space investment?”, The Space Review, July 29, 2019).
There was a goal in this recent launch (Saturday, June 29, 2019) of reaching the 80 KM altitude goal, but SARGE was unable to do so. If you were able to watch the YouTube launch, live, then you saw the rocket lifted off beautifully (our best launch, actually) and then a few nanoseconds and a few thousand feet into the launch, an anomaly occurred and the rocket began to “swim” back and forth. It did this a couple of times, and then the guidance and directional systems corrected it, and the rocket flew to about 14,000 feet and successfully deployed the drogue and then the parachute, and flew back to the launch site for a safe and soft landing. All payloads and the rocket were recovered in good condition. The rocket will be ready to fly again in October. The Exos team has since met to discuss what caused the anomaly, and what we have learned from it.
All lessons that may have been learned are prodded with the intent of making the rocket even better, and the next launch even higher. We considered this launch, in the end, to be a success, even though SARGE failed to reach our 80 KM altitude goal. This is because the data received from the flight will help get the navigational and directional control systems perfected sooner than without this invaluable data. Once navigation and control are balanced correctly, Exos should reach the 80 KM goal, expected in October.
If you would like to view the video recap of our latest launch, you can do so, here.
** ULA set to launch a GPS navigation satellite on a Delta IV from the Cape on Thursday. This will be the final flight of the Delta IV in the single core configuration. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:00 amd EDT (1300 GMT).
** ULA now has payloads for first two Vulcan Centaur rockets. Last week, Sierra Nevada announced that the Dream Chaser would make its first cargo trip to the ISS via a launch on a Vulcan (see previous Space Trans Roundup). This week, Astrobotic announced that the company’s Perigrine lunar lander will launch on the first Vulcan First launch expected in 2021.
Boeing and SpaceX said Aug. 19 that they expect to carry out critical test flights of their commercial crew systems this fall, with SpaceX still hopeful of launching astronauts to the International Space Station this year.
*** Elon’s presentation on Starship/Super Heavy Booster designs postponed so as to wait for milestone in the assembly of the orbital demo Starship under construction in Boca Chica Beach, Texas:
Will probably make sense to do this when Starship Mk 1 has 3 Raptors, moving body fins & landing gear installed, which is hopefully mid September
Note that Starship Mk 1 refers to the Starship orbital demonstrator under construction at the Boca Chica Beach, Texas facility. Mk 2 refers to the demonstrator being built in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
The Starship upper stage separates from the Super Heavy Booster first stage. The design may have changed from this most recent artist’s rendering released by SpaceX.
*** Starhopper’s hop to 200 meters still delayed by FAA permit request processing:
Previously expected to occur as early as August 12th, Starhopper – an ungainly testbed for SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft – remains grounded in spite of its apparent flight-readiness. News of the next hop test’s additional delays comes some four days before Elon Musk had planned to present an updated overview of Starship and Super Heavy in Boca Chica, Texas, and it seems that both events may have to wait.
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Previously expected to occur as early as August 12th, Starhopper – an ungainly testbed for SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft – remains grounded in spite of its apparent flight-readiness. News of the next hop test’s additional delays comes some four days before Elon Musk had planned to present an updated overview of Starship and Super Heavy in Boca Chica, Texas, and it seems that both events may have to wait.
Recent views of activites at Boca Chica Beach:
SpaceX crews are hard at work, re-shaping the diameter of the nosecone to fit the base.(a worker is barely visible inside the nose cone, 2nd photo) Meanwhile StarHopper is good to go and waiting per approval by FAA, for a second and last historical hop. pic.twitter.com/cQtXOjirRk
Based on some basic analysis of recent photos of SpaceX’s East Coast Starship facility, situated in Cocoa, Florida, SpaceX has almost certainly begun fabricating and staging hardware that will eventually become part of the company’s first Super Heavy booster prototype.
This is by no means surprising but it does confirm the reasonable assumption that SpaceX is already working hard to ensure that the first Super Heavy booster(s) can be assembled as quickly as possible. Additionally, SpaceX appears to have started clearing brush in the process of preparing to transport the Florida orbital Starship prototype (“Mk2”) to SpaceX’s Pad 39A launch facilities, dozens of miles away.
Based on some basic analysis of recent photos of SpaceX’s East Coast Starship facility, situated in Cocoa, Florida, SpaceX has almost certainly begun fabricating and staging hardware that will eventually become part of the company’s first Super Heavy booster prototype.
This is by no means surprising but it does confirm the reasonable assumption that SpaceX is already working hard to ensure that the first Super Heavy booster(s) can be assembled as quickly as possible. Additionally, SpaceX appears to have started clearing brush in the process of preparing to transport the Florida orbital Starship prototype (“Mk2”) to SpaceX’s Pad 39A launch facilities, dozens of miles away.
Speaking at the 2019 AIAA Propulsion & Energy Forum, SpaceX Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability Hans Koenigsmann was significantly more confident that the company is just days or weeks away from wrapping up a serious Crew Dragon failure investigation.
On April 20th, flight-proven Crew Dragon capsule C201 experienced a catastrophic failure mode – largely a surprise to SpaceX – that completely destroyed the vehicle milliseconds prior to a planned static fire test. Given the obvious mortal danger such a failure would have posed to any crew aboard, SpaceX’s plans to conduct its first crewed Crew Dragon launch (Demo-2) in Q3 2019 were thrown out the window. Thankfully, Hans believes that SpaceX is just shy of concluding that investigation, “hopefully” permitting the launch of a critical abort test and Demo-2 before 2019 is out.
The event marked the first time a fully integrated NASA and SpaceX team worked together on the ship to go through an end-to-end practice run of how the teams will recover and extract the astronauts when they return from the space station in Crew Dragon. Hurley and Behnken were taken out of the spacecraft, given a mock medical evaluation and then transported to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, or airport.
“We’re making sure that the team integrates together — that’s a key to any successful mission,” said Ted Mosteller, the NASA recovery director in charge of the agency’s team for the Commercial Crew Program. “We worked on successfully doing what we need to do to take care of the crew once they return to Earth.”
JRTI has two possible destinations: Port of Brownsville, Texas or Port Canaveral, Florida. Both options are roughly 1800 mi (3000 km) from the Panama Canal’s western mouth and, extrapolating from the first major leg of the journey, should take Alice C around 8 days to tow JRTI across the finish line. Barring mishaps, the drone ship should thus be able to arrive at its new home sometime in the final week of August – roughly August 27th to the 31st.
The event marked the first time a fully integrated NASA and SpaceX team worked together on the ship to go through an end-to-end practice run of how the teams will recover and extract the astronauts when they return from the space station in Crew Dragon. Hurley and Behnken were taken out of the spacecraft, given a mock medical evaluation and then transported to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip, or airport.
“We’re making sure that the team integrates together — that’s a key to any successful mission,” said Ted Mosteller, the NASA recovery director in charge of the agency’s team for the Commercial Crew Program. “We worked on successfully doing what we need to do to take care of the crew once they return to Earth.”
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:
Host Mat Kaplan in a long and fascinating conversation with Nicholas de Monchaux, author of Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo. This great book is about much more than creation of the suits that allowed humans to walk and work on the Moon. Jason Davis shares pointers on looking for LightSail 2 overhead, while Bruce Betts provides a solar sail update in this week’s What’s Up. And you might win a Planetary Radio t-shirt!
SmallSat was last week which meant a flurry of announcements. This year was launch heavy, so I break down some announcements from SpaceX, Arianespace, and Rocket Lab.
** The Space Show/Hotel Mars – Wed, 08/14/2019 – John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston interview Dr. Jeffrey Foust of Space News about “SLS, delays, NASA, congressional support, NASA leadership changes, Artemis 1 launch to the Moon, lunar gateway”.
** The Space Show – Fri, 08/16/2019 – Dr. Garrett Erin Reisman discussed “his astronaut experiences, human spaceflight from both the engineering and medical perspective. We talked about student interest in HSF and classes, private human spaceflight and SpaceX life support work.”
1. Monday, August 19, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): No show on Monday which is now reserved for special programming.
2. Tuesday, August 20, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Rand Simberg to talk about Planetary Protection and tiny tardigrades having crash-landed on the Moon.
3. Wednesday, August 21, 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, August 23, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am -1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome back Jeff Greason to the show to give an update on developments in advanced propulsion and on Jeff’s new business activities and projects.
5. Sunday, August 25, 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): Welcome back to John Bucknell to talk more about space nuclear propulsion.
Some recent shows:
** Fri, 08/16/2019 – Dr. Garrett Erin Reisman discussed “his astronaut experiences, human spaceflight from both the engineering and medical perspective. We talked about student interest in HSF and classes, private human spaceflight and SpaceX life support work.”
** Hotel Mars – Wed, 08/14/2019 – John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston interview Dr. Jeffrey Foust of Space News about “SLS, delays, NASA, congressional support, NASA leadership changes, Artemis 1 launch to the Moon, lunar gateway”.
**Tue, 08/13/2019 – Thomas A. Olson talked about “Vector Launch, Skyrora, NewSpace Business Plan Competition, space settlement, small dedicated launchers, lunar landers & returning to the Moon plus much more”.
** Sun, 08/11/2019 – Dr. Craig Hardgrove discussed “NASA planetary missions using CubeSats, lunar water ice at the poles, the LunaH-Map mission, and more”.
A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur #CubeSat / #SmallSat projects and programs:
** Northwest Nazarene University’s student-built RFTSat was launched into orbit from a Northrop-Grumman Cygnus spacecraft using the SlingShot deployer, developed by the SEOPS division of Hypergiant.
Northwest Nazarene University RFTSat (Radio Frequency Tag Satellite) CubeSat.
RFTSat was deployed into orbit on August 7, 2019! … The NNU RFTSat (Radio Frequency Tag Satellite) CubeSat team is designing and building a 3U CubeSat to demonstrate the application of radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting and backscatter communication to the problem of distributed sensing in space. A small RF tag will be mounted on the side of the satellite and contain a temperature sensor. The tag will not contain a battery, but will be powered by energy emitted from an RF reader inside the satellite. The tag’s sensor data will be wirelessly sent back to the reader via backscatter communication, and then to the Earth via a Globalstar satellite constellation link. RF tags equipped with sensors could be added to a spacecraft, like the ISS, without additional wires or power supplies and provide a means to monitor structural integrity, space weather, or make sensitive electric/magnetic field measurements.
[Fossa Systems], a non-profit youth association based out of Madrid, is developing an open-source satellite set to launch in October 2019. The FossaSat-1 is sized at 5x5x5 cm, weighs 250g, and will provide free IoT connectivity by communicating LoRa RTTY signals through low-power RF-based LoRa modules. The satellite is powered by 28% efficient gallium arsenide TrisolX triple junction solar cells.
A video from Fossa Systems co-founder Julian Fernandez:
Fossa Systems is a non-profit association based in Spain and dedicated to the development of picosatellite technologies. Our mission is to democratize access to space telecommunications and in-orbit hardware by launching satellites that can fit in your pocket and creating educational and development kits. Our first satellite FossaSat-1 is set to launch in Q3 of 2019 and will create the worlds first free and open source IoT network.
