Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – April.14.2019

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur CubeSat / SmallSat projects and programs:

** More on the Virginia university student CubeSat program mentioned in previous roundups here:

In a giant leap for Virginia Tech, the first satellite built by undergraduate students is scheduled to be launched into space on April 17, 2019.

One small step closer to reaching space, a group of Virginia Tech undergraduate students recently delivered their small satellite to Houston to be incorporated into NanoRacks’ commercially developed CubeSat deployer. Virginia Tech’s satellite, along with two satellites from other Virginia universities, is scheduled to launch on the payload section of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket and then will be headed to the International Space Station.

If the weather is clear, the Antares launch will visible over a large East Coast area: Rocket launch from Wallops Flight Facility to be visible from Hampton Roads, NE North Carolina | WTKR.com.

** An all girls team in Kyrgyzstan is building a smallsat:

Back in January we started crowdfunding on the Patreon platform and by the end of November the amount of donations has reached more than $1,100 per month. This amount has increased particularly after the aforementioned article in Quartz magazine.

Moreover, since November we have a donor-organization in the Kyrgyz space program — the Internews organization will donate sufficient amount of money that will cover expenses on building, testing and launching two (!) nanosatellites.

This does not mean that we no longer need patrons — there are quite a few unforeseen crazy ideas (for example, to test a prototype of the satellite in the mountains of the Issyk-Kul region), the costs of which are not included in the Internews grant, but are necessary to make the satellite launch happen.

** Canada’s Western University and Nunavut Arctic College will build a CubeSat to test

a novel imaging system for the engineering technology demonstration with the potential to provide virtual reality-ready images. This imagin system has future applications in the Earth observation and space exploration.

More at:

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-104 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • TAPR/AMSAT Banquet Speaker Announced
  • Seats Still Available for AMSAT Academy
  • AMSAT Activities at Hamvention 2019
  • N8HM to Appear on Ham Talk Live April 18th
  • Last Chance to Bid in ARISS Auction
  • ARISS SSTV Event Continues Through 18:00 UTC April 14th
  • Diwata-2 Designated Philippines-OSCAR 101 (PO-101)
  • March/April 2019 Edition of Apogee View Posted
  • How to Support AMSAT
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • Satellite Shorts from All Over

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Rockets

Space transport roundup – April.13.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:

** Giant Stratolaunch aircraft flies for the first time at Mojave Air & Space Port: Stratolaunch Completes Historic First Flight of Aircraft – Stratolaunch

Stratolaunch Systems Corporation, founded by Paul G. Allen, today successfully completed the first flight of the world’s largest all-composite aircraft, the Stratolaunch. With a dual fuselage design and wingspan greater than the length of an American football field, the Stratolaunch aircraft took flight at 0658 PDT from the Mojave Air & Space Port. Achieving a maximum speed of 189 miles per hour, the plane flew for 2.5 hours over the Mojave Desert at altitudes up to 17,000 feet. As part of the initial flight, the pilots evaluated aircraft performance and handling qualities before landing successfully back at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

…

The test team conducted standard aircraft testing exercises. Initial results from today’s test points include:

    • Performed a variety of flight control maneuvers to calibrate speed and test flight control systems, including roll doublets, yawing maneuvers, pushovers and pull-ups, and steady heading side slips.
    • Conducted simulated landing approach exercises at a max altitude of 15,000 feet mean sea level.

The Stratolaunch aircraft is a mobile launch platform that will enable airline-style access to space that is convenient, affordable and routine. The reinforced center wing can support multiple launch vehicles, weighing up to a total of 500,000 pounds.

“We all know Paul would have been proud to witness today’s historic achievement,” said Jody Allen, Chair of Vulcan Inc. and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust. “The aircraft is a remarkable engineering achievement and we congratulate everyone involved.”

Following the death of Paul Allen, the company canceled plans to build rocket vehicles for the aircraft launch platform. Currently the only rocket that is nominally compatible for launch from the aircraft is the very expensive Northrop Grumman Pegasus. So it’s unclear what is ahead for the company and the largest aircraft ever flown.

See also Roc – the world’s largest plane – takes flight ahead of Stratolaunch rocket goals – NASASpaceFlight.com.

** PLD Space of Spain tests first stage booster return by parachute. The suborbital MIURA 1 and orbital MIURA 5 rocket systems each reuse their first stage boosters, which return to earth via parachute. The company carried out a drop test for the MIURA 5 booster this past Thursday (April 11): Successful drop test of the demonstrator of the first stage of MIURA 5 – PLD Space –

A brief video of the test:

PLD Space has successfully completed the first drop test with a full-scale demonstrator of the first stage of the MIURA 5 orbital rocket. This project is part of the FLPP-LPSR program, promoted by the European Space Agency (ESA), supported by CDTI, INTA, Ejército de Tierra #FAMET #BHELTRAV, Tecnalia

** Japan’s Interstellar Technologies prepares for next launch of the MOMO suborbital rocket: Launch Test of “MOMO No. 3”, a Space-Shifting Sounding Rocket- Interstellar Technologies Inc. (Google Translation)

Expected launch date: April 30, 2019 (Tuesday) 
Expected launch time: 11:15 to 12:30, 16:00 to 17:20 (Japan Standard Time) 
Launch date: 
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 16: 00-17: 20 
Thursday, May 2 2019-Sunday, May 5
5: 00-8: 00 
11:15 to 12:30 
16: 00-17: 20 
Launch location: Hokkaido Taiki-cho launch site

The first MOMO test in 2017 flew for about a minute before a break in the telemetry communications connection caused a premature shutdown of the engine. On the second test in 2018, the engine shutoff shortly after liftoff and the rocket fell back to the pad and exploded.

** China’s Deep Blue Aerospace aims for a low cost launch system with a reusable first stage:

More about Deep Blue and other Chinese rocket startups:

** Blue Origin continues to add more facilities:

** SpaceX:

**** More views of the Falcon Heavy launch of Arabsat-6A and the landing of the boosters:

[ Update: Slo-mo views of the liftoff and landings:

]

**** The fairings from the Arabsat-6A mission were recovered after they landed softly in the water via paragliders and will be reused for a launch of SpaceX’s broadband Internet satellites:

See also SpaceX retrieves Falcon Heavy fairings from sea for reuse on future launch – Spaceflight Now.

**** More about the FH:

**** SpaceX wins NASA contract to launch the DART asteroid impact mission:

NASA’s first planetary defense mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), has been slated for a June 2021 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The mission, led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, will be the first to demonstrate the kinetic impactor technique, which involves slamming a spacecraft into an asteroid at high speed to shift it off course.

“We’re excited that NASA has selected the vehicle to launch DART on its important planetary defense mission,” said DART Mission Systems Engineer Elena Adams, of APL. “The DART team is eager to move ahead with our spacecraft and mission designs and demonstrate, for the first time in space, a method to keep potentially hazardous bodies from reaching Earth.”

DART will target the smaller of the two objects that make up the binary asteroid Didymos, which will be about 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth at the time of impact, scheduled for October 2022.

** Some misc. space transport items:

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Activism, Astronomy, SpaceCasts

Videos: TMRO Orbit 12.11 & 12.12 – James Webb Space Telescope’s first images & APL’s Interstellar Probe

A recent episode of the TMRO.tv Space show: Why JWST’s first images will just be 18 fuzzy blobs

This week we are joined by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Program Scientist Dr. Eric Smith. We talk about the most ambitious space telescope project humans have ever undertaken, and why when we get the first images back it will likely just be 18 fuzzy blobs.

** And here is another: APL’s Interstellar Probe

The always energetic and information powerhouse Dr. Kirby Runyon joins us to talk about New Horizons, Yuris Night and announces the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab Interstellar Probe. It’s a really fun and exciting interview, and we had a bit of stuff we missed in After Dark so we left a bit of that in there at the end as well.

** A space news report: RocketLab announces Photon, ISS Spacewalks and the weight of the galaxy!

This week in Space News from TMRO we have: Rocket Lab announces their Photon satellite system US Spacewalk 53, Space Suit Mixup Milky Way Weight There were 2 Soyuz launches in Space Traffic and of course the Space Weather Woman Dr. Tamitha Skov brings is our Space Weather.

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The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Apr.12.2019

The latest episode of NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:

** STEMonstrations: Spacewalk Part1: Safety and Training – A tutorial on ISS EVAs:

During their time on the International Space Station many astronauts have the opportunity to participate in spacewalks, also known as Extravehicular Activities (EVA). These spacewalks play a critical role in keeping the station functional as it travels approximately 17,500 miles per hour 250 miles above the Earth’s surface. In this episode, Expedition 55/56 Flight Engineer Ricky Arnold talks about the extensive training needed for spacewalks on the ground prior to a mission on the space station, and how it helps prepare astronauts for spacewalks outside of the station in low-Earth orbit. Visit https://nasa.gov/stemonstation for more educational resources that explore the research and technology of the International Space Station.

** Science on the Space Station: Women’s History Month Edition

Of the 64 women who have ever flown in space, 37 of them have spent time on board the International Space Station. In honor of Women’s History Month, here’s a look at a few of the women who have made history doing scientific research in Earth orbit. For more information, check out: http://www.nasa.gov/iss-science

** Science on the upcoming NG Cygnus cargo mission to the ISS:

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft scheduled to liftoff no earlier than April 17 will carry supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station. For this mission, Northrop Grumman will use a new late load capability that allows time-sensitive experiments to be loaded just 24 hours before liftoff.

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Come Fly with Us: NASA’s Payload Specialist Program (Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight)

Rockets, Space industry

SpaceX Falcon Heavy successfully launches Arabsat-6A and lands all 3 boosters

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SpaceX this afternoon launched a Falcon Heavy rocket with the Arabsat-6A communications satellite from Cape Kennedy Space Center. This was the second launch of a FH but this time all 3 cores of the FH were the most up-to-date Block 5 versions. And all 3 boosters  successfully landed. The 2 side boosters landed back on pads at Cape Canaveral while the center landed on a floating platform at sea.

A clip from the SpaceX webcast showing the liftoff:

Here is the segment of the webcast with the return flights and landings of the boosters:

After a coast period, the upper stage engine fired for about 85 seconds and 5 minutes later Arabsat-6A was deployed:

Contact was later made with the satellite after the deployment.

The power of the FH sent the satellite into a long ellipse with an apogee of 90,000 km (55,500 mi) beyond Earth. The satellite will fire its on-board engine to circularize the orbit and bring it to its assigned slot in geostationary orbit (35,786 km above the equator). The initial extra high orbit will reduce the amount of fuel that the satellite needs to reach its spot as compared to a launch with, say, a Falcon 9 rocket. This extra fuel will give the satellite a few more years of operation since it needs to occasionally fire the engine to maintain its position.

The next Falcon Heavy launch is expected to lift off in June (presumably with the same two side boosters as this flight). The mission will be for the U.S. Air Force and is referred to as STP-2 (Space Test Program-2). STP-2 will carry several military and scientific research satellites including the Planetary Society’s LightSail-2 solar sail: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Flies Again; LightSail 2 Is Next! | The Planetary Society

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The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

Everyone can participate in space