Rockets

Space transport roundup – April.9.2019

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

** SpaceX;

**** Second Falcon Heavy launch now set for Wednesday, April 11th from Kennedy Space Center:

**** A successful static firing of the Falcon Heavy took place last Friday: SpaceX conducts Static Fire on Falcon Heavy ahead of Arabsat 6A launch – NASASpaceFlight.com

**** A view of the Falcon Heavy in the hangar courtesy Elon Musk:

A nice view of the business end of the FH:

The scorched booster over to the side of the FH, is the first stage used on the Crew Dragon mission that flew in early March.

Speaking of the Crew Dragon demo, SpaceX has posted new videos on the company’s Youtube Channel with the complete webcasts for each major event during the mission.

**** A second Starhopper engine firing took place on the evening of the same day as the FH static firing. The vehicle lifted a short distance off the ground: SpaceX’s Starhopper Prototype for Starship Reaches End of Its Rope In Test Hop | Space.com

**** A dramatic view of Starhopper via Elon Musk:

Starhopper

** Ariane V launches four O3b satellites on April 4th, bringing the total number of spacecraft in the medium earth orbit constellation to twenty. The constellation provides global broadband Internet services.

** Relativity Space will launch satellites for Telesat’s low earth orbit broadband Internet services constellation. Relativity is developing expendable rockets aimed at the growing market for launching small satellites. The company has not yet launched a rocket but is making progress in developing large 3D printing systems that will print all of the large structures of the company’s rockets, drastically reducing the number of individual parts and speeding up assembly of the rocket. Their first vehicle, the Terran 1 rocket, will put 700 kg into a 1200 km altitude sun-synchronous orbit and the debut launch is set for the end of 2020.

** Reaction Engines has a successful test of a Pre-cooler prototype: UK’s Sabre space plane engine tech in new milestone – BBC News

The pre-cooler is a key component of the Sabre rocket engine, which uses oxygen from the air during the initial atmospheric phase of a space launch vehicle’s flight before switching to on-board oxygen when the vehicle leaves the atmosphere. For combustion with the hydrogen fuel to take place properlyh, the incoming air must be cooled from ~1000°C to -150°C in 1/20th of a second.

** The latest on space elevators from the Int. Space Elevator Consortium: ISEC Space Elevator Newsletter April 2019.

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

Activism, Space Policy

Space policy roundup – April.8.2019

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:

Webcasts:

** Space Policy Edition: T-minus Five Years and Counting | The Planetary Society – “Can NASA return astronauts to the Moon by 2024? Vice President Mike Pence shocked the space community by announcing this ambitious new goal just weeks after the Trump Administration proposed a half-billion dollar cut to the space agency. Is the Administration fed up with the mounting delays to the Space Launch System rocket? How seriously should we take this declaration? Is it even possible given budget cuts and political dysfunction? Brendan Curry, Chief of Washington Operations for The Planetary Society, joins the show to explore these questions.”

** Episode T+118: Rapid Agile Launch Initiative – Main Engine Cut Off – “Last week, the US Air Force announced and expounded on the Rapid Agile Launch Initiative. Along with the new initiative, the new era of small launch is finally here, so it’s worth discussing a bit.”

** The Space Show – Fri, 04/05/2019 – Dennis Wingo discussed “Returning to the Moon by 2024, V.P. Pence & NASA Administrator Bridenstine, lunar industrial development program, potential lunar development plan, and more”. In particular, they talked about Dennis’s recent essay, SLS and Lunar Return in 2024: “With Faith and Ambition”.

** The Space Show – Tue, 04/02/2019 – Author Rod Pyle talked about his two newest books, Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age and First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience.

** April 5, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

** April 3, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week – April.8.2019

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, April 8, 2019; 2-3:30 pm PDT (4-5:30 pm CDT, 5-6:30 pm EDT): No show for today. Monday is for special and timely programs only.

2. Tuesday, April 9, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Dr. Mike Gruntman will talk about the establishment of the first space port on planet Earth and the naming of the Tyuratam Missile Range and Cosmodrome Baikonur.

3. Wednesday, April 10, 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, April 12, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am – 1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome back Kim Holder of Moonwards.com for news and updates you will want to hear and experience.

5. Sunday, April 14 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): We welcome back Jay Wittner of The Integrated Space Plan and more. Lots of new developments to talk about.

Some recent shows:

** Fri, 04/05/2019 – Dennis Wingo discussed “Returning to the Moon by 2024, V.P. Pence & NASA Administrator Bridenstine, lunar industrial development program, potential lunar development plan, and more”. In particular, they talked about Dennis’s recent essay, SLS and Lunar Return in 2024: “With Faith and Ambition”.

** Tue, 04/02/2019 – Author Rod Pyle talked about his two newest books, Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age and First on the Moon: The Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Experience.

** Sun, 03/31/2019 – Dr. Christopher Morrison talked about “space nuclear propulsion and related nuclear energy issues and concerns”.

** Fri, 03/29/2019 – John Youskauskas and Melvin (Mel) Croft talked about Come Fly with Us: NASA’s Payload Specialist Program (Outward Odyssey: A People’s History of Spaceflight), plus many related topics”.

** Tue, 03/26/2019 – Ian Fichtenbaum talked about “commercial space businesses, risk, acquisitions and more”.

See also:
* The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
* The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
* The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - David Livingston
The Space Show – David Livingston

 

Activism, Events, Rockets

Update: Space Access 2019, April 18-21, Fremont, CA

Here is the latest update on the upcoming Space Access 2019 conference:

Less than two weeks till the Space Access 2019 conference, April 18-20 at the Fremont Marriott Silicon Valley in Fremont California.  Our near-final conference program is now available online.  Links to each day’s schedule:

Thursday 4/18/19 – The Entrepreneurial Revolution In Smallsat Launch
Friday 4/19/19 – Reusable Rocket Transport Networks in Earth-Moon Space
Saturday 4/20/19 – Getting There Faster: Advanced High Energy Propulsion

Overall conference info is at http://space-access.org/updates/sa2019info.html.

Register for the conference now and avoid the At-Door Registration line.  (Online registration ends after April 12th.)

Discount Hotel Rooms Available Again at the Marriott

Our SA2019 $130 per night discount Marriott room rate has been extended and is available for bookings through Wednesday April 10th.  Rooms are for the moment available at our rates for all nights of the conference, including a very limited number for Wednesday night 4/17.  Call (510) 413-3700, hit “1” for Reservations, and mention “Space Access 2019” to get the $130 rate.

(If they are again out of discount Wednesday rooms when you call, you may find an affordable Wednesday 4/17/19 rate nearby at this link.)

And, our Hospitality Space needs your help!  We’ve run into local budget problems with putting on our traditional Hospitality spread – Learn How You Can Help!

Hope to see you there!

Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – April.7.2019

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

** The SPACE HUAC project at Univ. of Massachusetts at Lowell involves undergraduates in the building a NASA sponsored CubeSat

The projects aims to

demonstrate the practicality of high data rate communications on a 3U CubeSat. A phased array of X-band patch antennas will allow for rapid beam steering.

** USC engineering students building CubeSat as a demo for Vector Launch‘s first rocket flight: Viterbi students build, deliver satellite to start-up | Daily Trojan

A team of students in the Viterbi School of Engineering have taken one small step toward space and made one big leap for their careers.

Early in March, these students finished building and delivered USC’s third CubeSat satellite, which is about the size of a breadbox. David Barnhart, a research professor in the astronautics department, led the students selected from the Space Engineering Research Center through the year-long building process of the satellite.

The team has successfully delivered the satellite to its customer, Vector Space Systems, a start-up developing satellites and launch vehicles. Vector will use this newly built satellite to test its technology in space and ensure it works before selling it to customers.

** Spudnik-1 project at University of Prince Edward Island in Toronto involves undergraduates and graduate students in the building and launching of a CubeSat for remote sensing applications: UPEI students continue work on small satellite | CBC News

Grant McSorley, project manager of the CubeSat project at UPEI, said the group of over 20 undergraduate and graduate students have been designing the satellite since September, and now, they’re putting the final touches on their first set of prototypes.

UPEI’s satellite, called SpudNik-1, will be used for what McSorley calls “precision agriculture” that will capture photos and monitor the state of farm fields across P.E.I.

“The idea is to take photos from space that researchers and farmers can use in order to decide where to apply fertilizer, where to apply water in a more efficient way than they’re doing right now,” McSorley said.

** AMSAT news on student and amateur CubeSat/smallsat projects: ANS-096 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin

  • AMSAT India AISAT APRS Payload Operational on 145.825 MHz
  • Upcoming Satellite Operations
  • UT1FG/MM QSL Procedure Announced
  • Hamvention Booth Announcement
  • AMSAT Activities at Hamvention 2019
  • The Case of the Unknown Satellites
  • Upcoming ARISS Contacts
  • International Space Station Astronauts are Calling CQ Students
  • VUCC Awards-Endorsements for March 2019
  • Raspberry Pi magazine MagPi Features Ham Radio
  • Satellite Shorts From All Over

See also ANS-095 AMSAT News Service Special Bulletin – AMSAT Files Comments in FCC Orbital Debris Mitigation Proceeding

General CubeSat/SmallSat info:

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Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

Everyone can participate in space