Space Policy

Space policy roundup – May.3.2019

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:

** 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:

https://youtu.be/T6mdEg-1ROI

** 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”:

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – May.3.2019

The latest Space to Ground report from NASA on activities related to the  International Space Station:

** Great views of earth and vehicles approaching and docking to the station matched with a nice soundtrack:

The International Space Station’s High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment is an external camera platform located on the Columbus module of the space station. In addition to providing beautiful views of Earth, one of the goals of HDEV is to monitor the longevity and quality of its image sensors in the space environment. HDEV operations began April 30, 2014 and only a single bad pixel has been identified. Testing new engineering processes and camera system longevity expanded into having avid Earth-viewing followers and educational activities. To date, HDEV has reached over 300 million total views on UStream. Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/st…

** Science and technology payloads heading to the ISS aboard the CRS-17 Cargo Dragon:

When it launches on Friday, May 3, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will carry crew supplies, scientific research and hardware to the International Space Station to support dozens of the more than 250 science and research investigations. Learn more about the science headed to space: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages….

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Outpost in Orbit: A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station

Astronomy

May 2019 night sky highlights

A survey of the night sky for May from NASA JPL:

What’s up in the May sky? A meteor shower produced by debris from Halley’s Comet, asteroids named after dinosaurs and a “blue moon” on May 18th. Additional information about topics covered in this episode of What’s Up, along with still images from the video and the video transcript are available at https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/…

** Sky & Telescope provides another view of the May sky: May 2019: The Stars of Spring – Sky & Telescope

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Brief Answers to the Big Questions – Stephen Hawking

Rockets

Space transport roundup – May.2.2019

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

** Blue Origin New Shepard flies successfully:

https://youtu.be/fpYnnLJdyQg

Reports on the flight and the research payloads on board:

New Shepard hardware is produced at Blue Origin’s headquarters in Kent, Wash., and shipped down to Texas for flight. Cornell said people wouldn’t ride in the New Shepard capsule that was tested today, but in an upgraded capsule that’s currently sitting in Blue Origin’s “barn” in Texas.

“Because it’s such a special capsule to us, we actually decided to name the newest capsule that’s just in the barn the ‘RSS First Step,’ ” Cornell said. ” ‘RSS’? Reusable Spaceship, of course. And ‘First Step’ because it is our first capsule that is going to be taking people. It’s going to enable our vision of millions of people living and working in space

** CRS-17 Cargo Dragon launch set for early Friday morning following a fix to the ISS power problem that delayed the flight from Wednesday. However, weather is an issue. Only a 40% chance for suitable conditions for liftoff according to the USAF launch range forecast. This improves to 70% if the launch is postponed till Saturday morning

The rocket will blast off from the Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. You can watch the launch on the SpaceX webcast, which will start about 15 minutes before liftoff, currently set to occur during a 1 second window at 3:11:33 am EDT, or 7:11:33 UTC.

There will also be a NASA TV webcast as well.

The CRS-17 Mission press kit provides info on launch events, the payloads and other aspects of the mission.

Note that this Cargo Dragon vehicle also flew on the the CRS-12 mission in August 2017. The Falcon 9 booster is new. The booster will attempt to land on a sea platform not far off the coast of Florida.

** Interstellar Technologies MOMO 3 suborbital launch scrubbed today due to high winds. Next try is set for Friday:

A new launch attempt for the MOMO sounding rocket is tomorrow, May 3rd. A 75-minute launch window would open at 11:15 JST, or 2:15 UTC.

Updates at なつのロケット団公式 (@natsuroke) | Twitter.

** Scott Manley discusses a NASA report on 2 rocket failures caused by a manufacturer’s flawed materials:

In 2009 a Taurus XL rocket failed because the fairing at the top refused to separate, then in 2011 the same things happened again. A multi year investigation traced the problem to materials from a supplier which had been fabricating test results.

** Additional SpaceX:

*** More about Crew Dragon explosion in today’s CRS-17 pre-launch briefing:

Hans Koenigsmann of SpaceX said that the investigation is continuing and he would not speculate on the cause of the explosion. He did say,

  • The explosion started during the preparation for the firing of the SuperDraco thrusters and about a half second before they fired.
  • The Crew Dragon was destroyed.
  • He doesn’t think a SuperDraco itself failed.
  • He doesn’t think that the composite over-wrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) are to blame. These are not the same type of COPVs as the one that caused a Falcon 9 upper stage to explode on the pad in 2016.
  • The site of the test has not yet been fully cleared. There are, for example, pressurized COPVs visible so they must be careful when approaching the site.
  • He said the resulting cloud from the propellant mixture of monomethylhydrazine fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer became benign as it mixed with air.
  • Several Crew Dragon vehicles are in various stages of construction and so can be modified relatively easily to install the fixes required by the results of the investigation.

More at Dragon was destroyed just before the firing of its SuperDraco thrusters | Ars Technica.

*** Progress towards next Falcon Heavy flight in June: SpaceX’s third Falcon Heavy launch on track as custom booster aces static fire – Teslarati

SpaceX has successfully completed a static fire of its newest Falcon Heavy center core, a sign that the most challenging hardware is firmly on track for a late-June launch target.

Currently penciled in for June 22nd, Falcon Heavy’s third launch is of great interest to both SpaceX and its customer, the US Air Force. Most of the two-dozen payloads manifested on the mission are admittedly unaffiliated with the US military. However, the rideshare – known as Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) – was acquired by the USAF for the branch to closely evaluate and certify SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket for critical military launches. The potential upsides of a successful demonstration and evaluation are numerous for both entities and would likely trigger additional positive offshoots.

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Delta-v

Astronomy, Europa, Titan, & other deep space sites, Space Science

Space sciences roundup – May.2.2019

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images from space-related science news items:

** Latest Mars exploration news:

“Navcam Right image showing the newest “Kilmarie” drill hole on the right, <1 m away from the “Aberlady” drill hole on the left.” – NASA JPL
“Landslide in Hydraotes Chaos” – Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

… In perusing the April image release from the high resolution camera of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), I came across the image above, cropped and reduced to post here, of the discovery of another landslide within Hydraotes Chaos, one of the largest regions of chaos terrain on Mars. The image above was taken on February 9, 2019, and has since been followed up with a second image to create a stereo pair.

This is not the first landslide found in Hydraotes Chaos. I highlighted a similar slide on March 11. Both today’s landslide as well as the previous one likely represent examples of gravitational collapses as shown in this science paper about Martian ground water. Some scientists have proposed that Hydraotes Chaos was once an inland sea, and as the water drained away the loss of its buoyancy is thought to cause this kind of landslide at the base of cliffs and crater rims.

The past presence of water also helps explain the soft muddy look of this landslide. When this collapse occurred the material was likely saturated with water. Today it is most likely quite dry and hardened, but when it flowed it flowed like wet mud. Its size, almost a mile long and a quarter mile across, speaks to Mars’s low gravity, which would allow for large singular collapses like this.

** Ocean Worlds in the Outer Solar System is the title of a Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture given recently by Kevin Hand of NASA JPL:

Dr. Kevin Hand of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory asks where the best place is to find life beyond Earth. He concludes it may be that the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn harbor some of the most habitable real estate in our Solar System. Life loves liquid water and these moons have lots of it! Dr. Hand explains the science behind our understanding of these worlds, with a special focus on Jupiter’s intriguing moon Europa, which is a top priority for future NASA missions.

** Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts (FRB) are discussed by Bill Diamond, director of the SETI Institute, and Andrew Siemion, director of the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center:

** Highlights of CRS-17 science payloads that will go to the ISS on the upcoming SpaceX Cargo Dragon mission:

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Moon Rush: The New Space Race

Everyone can participate in space