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:
Thirty years ago, Dr. Mark Albrecht led the National Space Council when President George H.W. Bush announced the Space Exploration Initiative, an ambitious effort to send humans to the Moon and then on to Mars. Political divisions and a budget-busting cost estimate grounded the effort before it ever got off the ground. A new National Space Council is attempting to implement a new lunar plan from the Trump Administration. Can the lessons of a failed moonshot help today’s lunar ambitions succeed?
** The Space Show – Fri, 05/03/2019 – Marcia S. Smith talked about “space policy, NASA budgets, returning to the Moon, lunar return costs and policy, the congressional budget process and more”.
1. Monday, May 6, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): Dr. Greg Autry returns to discuss our China space policy, ISDC 2019, and space policy and economics.
2. Tuesday, May 7, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Robert Zimmerman for news and space policy updates.
3. Wednesday, May 8, 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 10, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am -1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome back Dr. Madhu Thangavelu to discuss returning to the Moon and the Moon Track at ISDC 2019.
5. Sunday, May 12 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): No show today in honor of Mother’s Day.
Recent shows:
** Fri, 05/03/2019 – Marcia S. Smith talked about “space policy, NASA budgets, returning to the Moon, lunar return costs and policy, the congressional budget process and more”.
** Tue, 04/30/2019 – Bruno Mombrinie, founder and lead designer of the electric short takeoff and landing airplane Metro Hop, talked about “flying cars for real”.
** Sun, 04/28/2019 – Michael Ciancone talked about his “‘Foreword to Spaceflight’ bibliography, 2019 IAC Washington, DC, Glenn Memorial Symposium, European Service Module for the Orion Program, service module integration, & more”.
A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:
** SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launches Cargo Dragon on CRS-17 mission to the ISS. Rendezvous and berthing to the station is set for early Monday morning. NASA TV coverage will start at 5:00 am EDT.
The full webcast:
More about the launch and the CRS-17 cargo mission:
** Rocket Lab Electron launch postponed to run more checks on the satellite payloads. Next chance will be Sunday morning.
Standing down from today’s launch to conduct additional payload checks. The next launch opportunity is no earlier than 06:00 UTC / 18:00 NZT, 5 May. Stay tuned for updates!
This suborbital mission, the first success after two failures, is a boost to the company, which aims eventually to send a payload to orbit. From AP:
The company, founded in 2013 by entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, who was a former Livedoor Co. President, aims to develop low-cost commercial rockets to carry satellites into space. Horie expressed high expectations for his new business.
From Interstellar:
Interstellar Technologies Inc.（Hokkaido-Hiroo-Taiki JAPAN, CEO: Takahiro Inagawa, hereafter referred to as “IST”）announces that Flight 3 of the sounding rocket MOMO has successfully launched and achieved designated trajectory.
MOMO, the third in it’s series of sounding rockets designed and fabricated in IST, lifted off at 05:45 AM (JST), May-04-2019 from IST’s launch pad in Taiki, Hokkaido.
The vehicle successfully carried it’s payload to the designated trajectory, becoming the first privately funded rocket in Japan to exceed an apogee of 100km.
Details of the launch are as follows:
Flight duration : 515 seconds
Maximum altitude : 113.4 km [preliminary value]
Downrange : 37 km from the launch site
This was the first successful attempt following two consecutive failures for the previous MOMO series, and has provided valuable telemetry data for further development within IST. IST expresses deep gratitude towards all sponsors, companies, institutions, and individuals who have supported the success of the MOMO project. IST is geared towards continuous development of both the MOMO series and the upcoming orbital rocket “ZERO”, with the goal of providing affordable, flexible access to space.
The Sunnyvale, California-based company signed a multiyear lease for acreage from the commercial space hub near Truth or Consequences in January, and its facility is set to house at least 20 people, spokeswoman Diane Murphy previously told Business First.
SpinLaunch will invest $7 million in construction and $1 million in infrastructure development, Business First previously reported. The deal is important for the $220 million taxpayer-subsidized Spaceport, which has struggled in the past to secure tenants.
SpinLaunch has been shy about giving details of its system, but it appears to be similar to the Slingatron concept. The modules launched will need to be hardened for the tremendous heating from the atmosphere. The catapult would provide about three quarters of orbital speed so the module would still need a propulsion system of its own to provide the final kick to reach a stable orbit.
[SpinLaunch founder Jonathan Yaney ] explains that reaching orbital velocities typically “requires a rocket to carry massive quantities of propellant, leaving only a small fraction (a few percent) of the overall vehicle’s mass for ‘cargo.’” But SpinLaunch replaces rocket boosters with a kinetic launch system using principles “similar to those explored by several ground-based mass accelerators that date back to the 1960s. Modern adaptations include electromagnetic rail and coil guns, electrothermal-chemical guns, light gas guns, ram accelerators, and blast wave accelerators.”
…
He says “SpinLaunch employs a rotational acceleration method, harnessing angular momentum to gradually accelerate the vehicle to hypersonic speeds. This approach employs a dramatically lower cost architecture with much lower power.” SpinLaunch is targeting a per launch price of less than $500,000, while Yaney says “all existing rocket based companies cost between $5 million and $100 million per launch.”
The NM spaceport is an inland site intended for suborbital missions. It will be interesting to see if SpinLaunch plans to use the system there only for suborbital tests or will try to take advantage of the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range to obtain sufficient buffer distance to get to orbit before overflying civilian areas. Years ago, Kistler Aerospace seriously considered orbital rocket launches from the Nevada Range.
The tremendous accelerations and heating involved with catapult launchers limit the kinds of payloads they can send to space. However, such a launcher would be great for providing a low cost method to deliver a continuous stream of bulk supplies (e.g. food, fuel, water, etc) once there are large scale habitats and other facilities in orbit.
A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:
** SpaceX to try again to launch a Falcon 9 early Saturday morning with the Cargo Dragon for mission CRS-17 to the ISS. The liftoff is set for 2:48 am EDT (6:48 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The weather forecast gives a 70% chance of acceptable conditions for the 1 second launch window.
The SpaceX webcast will go live about 15 minutes before the launch time.
All systems are currently go and weather is 70% favorable for launch of Dragon’s seventeenth resupply mission on May 4 at 2:48 a.m. EDT, 6:48 UTC.
**Rocket Lab is also set to launch an Electron tomorrow morning with three USAF payloads
Launch readiness review is complete and we are green for tomorrow’s launch of the STP-27RD mission from Launch Complex 1. The launch window opens at [2:00 am EDT] 06:00 UTC / 18:00 NZT, 4 May. Join us then for Electron’s first night launch!🚀
** Interstellar Technologies of Japan successfully launched the MOMO 3 suborbital rocket on Friday. The liftoff is at just after 1:29:00 into this video of the webcast:
[ Update: A nicer video with views from the rocket:
]
The rocket reached beyond the Kármán line according to this Tweet (Google translated):
The launch time of “shift MOMO3 to space quality” is at 5:45:0, and the arrival altitude is 113.4 km as a preliminary value, and the combustion time is about 118 seconds. The detailed values will be determined by the future analysis and will be announced again.
New Shepard had a great mission on May 2, 2019. This particular rocket has flown to space and back 5 times. The mission flew 38 payloads for a variety of schools, universities, government agencies and private companies.
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:
** How NASA is preparing to launch another mission to the moon – PBS News Hour with Miles O’Brien
The Trump administration wants NASA to get back to the moon by 2024, using any means necessary. But will the money and the commitment be there to support the effort? Science correspondent Miles O’Brien talks to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine about technical and political risk, international competition and his broader vision for the agency.
** SpaceX Starlink Satellites in Lower Orbit got FCC Approval: Why Other Firms were Not Happy About It? – Engineering Today:
**The Space Show – Sun, 04/28/2019 – Michael Ciancone talked about his “‘Foreword to Spaceflight’ bibliography, 2019 IAC Washington, DC, Glenn Memorial Symposium, European Service Module for the Orion Program, service module integration, & more”.
** A video from DARPA about the Launch Challenge, which “aims to demonstrate flexible and responsive launch capabilities in days, not years, for our nation’s defense”:
