Rockets, Space Systems

Space transport roundup – Feb.15.2019

A sampling of recent items related to traveling to and through space:

** LEO Aerospace is a young launch company started by Purdue engineering students. They recently did a test of their balloon launch architecture: Successful launch of rocket from high-altitude balloon makes space more accessible to microsatellites – Purdue University News

A startup that plans to use high-altitude balloons to deploy rockets has successfully fired a test launch, moving closer to its goal of helping end the backlog of microsatellites that wait months or longer to “hitch” a ride on larger rockets.

Leo Aerospace Inc., a Purdue University-affiliated startup based in Los Angeles, launched its first “rockoon,” a high-power rocket from a reusable balloon platform, from the Mojave Desert in southern California in December. …

“It was thrilling to see that first launch after all those months of hard work and planning,” said Michael Hepfer, head of product development for Leo Aerospace and a senior in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering. “It confirmed our early testing that using high-altitude balloons and rockets to send microsatellites into space will work.”

Leo Aerospace aims to revolutionize access to space for those looking to launch small satellites about the size of toasters, weighing up to 25 kilograms, or about 55 pounds. It plans to be a “dedicated” launch for microsatellites, serving one customer at a time.

** Firefly Aerospace, a Texas-based company developing smallsat launch systems, has an unusual history: After a remarkable resurrection, Firefly may reach space in 2019 | Ars Technica

Polyakov had the resources to bring Firefly back and fund the company through its first two launches. Although neither he nor Markusic would specify the amount of the investment, it is likely on the order of $75 to $100 million. This infusion of cash removed the fundraising burden from Markusic’s shoulders, as well as the mental stress of uncertainty, allowing him to focus on technical problems.

As well as money, Polyakov also brought a businessman’s mentality to the company and a broader sense of the rapidly changing aerospace industry. In the United States, China, and elsewhere around the world, dozens of firms are developing new, lower-cost rockets to launch small- and medium-sized satellites.
…

The end result is a 29-meter-tall rocket with four first-stage Reaver engines and one upper-stage Lightning engine, both fueled with kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen. The new Alpha can lift as much as 1 ton to orbit, which is relatively unusual in the commercial market at its price point of $15 million—a price per kilogram of $15,000.

Future competitors in this range will include Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket and ABL Space Systems’ RS1 vehicle. So the game now is to build a safe rocket and bring it to market quickly. In the end, Markusic accepted Polyakov’s changes, both because it was the only way to save Firefly and because he’d gone through enough failure to see the big picture.

** Relativity Space aims to build most all of a rocket with big 3D print systems. The company recently hired some space industry heavyweights:

No press releases from the company but they did post these tweets:

And here is an article about the company’s 3D printing systems: 3D-Printed Rocket Maker Gets Its Own Launch Site > ENGINEERING.com

Relativity is building its rockets this way for two reasons. First, it keeps costs relatively low. Since the printer can make complex parts in just one piece, Relativity will be able to create rockets with 100 times fewer parts. For example, the Terran 1’s engine injector and chamber are made of just three 3D-printed parts rather than the nearly 3,000 parts needed by conventional rocket assembly processes. And the team can quickly adjust the design as needed through software. In addition, by simplifying the manufacturing process, Relativity can build a rocket much faster—the company aims to do so in as little as 60 days.

Second—and this is a long-term objective—3D printing rockets could allow Relativity to take its manufacturing process to Mars, where it could set up a rocket factory on site. Once it perfects its printing process on Earth, the company hopes to reduce the size of its printers and ship them to Mars to see if they can print rockets with the raw materials on the red planet. If it works, it provides a way to get materials, and astronauts, back home to Earth.

** PLD Space of Spain is developing smallsat launch system that will have a reusable first stage. Here is a new video showing preparations for an engine test campaign:

Preparing MIURA 1 engine for its first flight. This video shows the preparations before starting the largest liquid rocket engine test campaign that PLD Space has prepared. Our goal is to qualify MIURA 1 engine, called TEPREL-B for its first flight into space.

** Blue Origin continues with testing of the big BE-4 methane fueled engine, which will power Blue’s New Glenn rocket as well as United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan –

** Stratolaunch recently terminated plans to develop its own rockets but work continues on development of the world’s largest aircraft, which was designed as a high altitude launch platform for rocket powered vehicles to go to orbit: FAA certificate offers new details on Stratolaunch’s plans for test flights of world’s largest aircraft – GeekWire

The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the world’s largest airplane for takeoff — but it’s not yet clear exactly when Stratolaunch, the aerospace venture founded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, will put the plane in the air.

Stratolaunch’s unique aircraft, code-named Roc, measures 385 feet from wingtip to wingtip, longer than three Boeing 737s lined up end to end. The company hopes to win full FAA certification for the Roc and use it for airborne rocket launches as soon as next year.

So far, the only remaining task for the aircraft is to launch Northrop-Grumman’s Pegasus rockets.

** Spaceflight arranges launch transportation for spacecraft, often as secondary payloads on a big rocket with a big satellite as the primary payload. The company hopes this month to see customer payloads go beyond low earth orbit for the first time. The spacecraft will travel as secondaries on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of a communications satellite going to geostationary orbit:

From the Spaceflight PR:

Spaceflight, the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, today announced it will launch two payloads on its first rideshare mission to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The mission is scheduled for no earlier than mid-February 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launching from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The primary payload on the mission is a telecommunications satellite for the South East Asia region. It was built by SSL, a Maxar Technologies company, which also procured the launch vehicle. Spaceflight will manage the launch of the two secondary payloads, Israeli non-profit SpaceIL’s lunar lander, and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab’s (AFRL) experimental small satellite, S5.

** SpaceX:

*** Launch schedule: The Falcon 9 launch mentioned above with the two rideshare payloads from Spaceflight is currently set for Feb.21st from Cape Canaveral at 8:45 p.m. EST (or 0145 GMT on 22nd).

And the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight is set for March 2nd at 2:48 a.m. EST (0748 GMT) from Pad 37A at Cape Kennedy Space Center.

The second Falcon Heavy launch is also planned for March but no specific day has been announced yet.

*** More photos posted of activities at the Boca Chica launch facility:

*** Ship for catching nosecone fairings has arrived at Cape Canaveral Port after its long voyage from the West Coast:

*** The Boca Chica site will not be split by a border wall: Texas butterfly sanctuary protected from border barrier, says shutdown deal | The Texas Tribune.

*** Another video analysis of why SpaceX switch the Super Heavy Booster/StarShip structure design from composites to stainless steel:

*** SpaceX protests NASA’s decision to use a ULA Atlas V rocket for a science payload rather than the Falcon 9:

** More space transport items:

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Check out the Best Selling Electronics at Amazon

Amateur/Student Satellite, Education, Space Systems

Cygnus cargo ship deploys CubeSats for NanoRacks

Following its departure from the ISS last week, a Northrop-Grumman Cygnus cargo vessel has deployed three CubeSats, including MySat-1, which was built by students in the UAE, and KickSat-2, which originated with a Cornell university program led by Zac Manchester and involved a Kickstarter campaign with contributors assigned to one of hundred tiny “Sprite” chipsats to be released from the “mothership”.

NanoRacks arranged for the deployments and has posted the following release about the program:

NanoRacks Completes Sixth CubeSat Deployment
from Cygnus Spacecraft, Continues Historic Program

February 14, 2019 – Dulles, Virginia – Last night, NanoRacks successfully completed the Company’s sixth CubeSat deployment mission from Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft. Cygnus (S.S. John Young) departed the International Space Station on February 8th, 2019 and performed a number of on-orbit activities, including yet another historic NanoRacks deployment.

Cygnus maneuvered to a higher-than-Space Station altitude (445 kilometers) where the NanoRacks External Cygnus Deployment mission released two of the three CubeSats on board into orbit, MySat-1 and the second CHEFSat satellite. The spacecraft then lowered to an altitude of 300 kilometers to deploy KickSat-2.

The deployment of MySat-1 marks an additional historic moment for NanoRacks, being the first payload that NanoRacks has launched and deployed from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). MySat-1 is a joint program from Yahsat, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, and Northrop Grumman, and is the first satellite built at the Yahsat Space Lab in Masdar City, and among the first to be developed by local students.

“We could not be more excited about all of the activity happening in the space industry in the UAE,” says NanoRacks Vice President of Business Development and Strategy, Allen Herbert. “We have a number of groundbreaking programs in the works, and the MySat-1 deployment is the perfect way to kick start NanoRacks activities in the region.”

KickSat-2 was selected for flight by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) and was launched as the sole CubeSat in the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites-16 (ELaNa-16) mission complement, sponsored by the NASA Launch Services Program (LSP).

KickSat-2 was deployed well below the International Space Station altitude due to the satellite sub-deploying smaller “ChipSats,” a prototype representing a disruptive new space technology. These ChipSats, also known as “Sprites,” are tiny spacecraft that include power, sensors, and communication systems on a printed circuit board measuring 3.5 by 3.5 centimeters, with a thickness of just a few millimeters and a mass of just a few grams. The ChipSats are expected to be in orbit for merely a few days before burning up.

“This entire mission is a testament to the flight safety teams in-house at NanoRacks and at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and the flight operations team at Northrop Grumman,” says NanoRacks External Payloads Manager, Henry Martin. “We were able to shepherd some extremely challenging payloads through the NASA system on a timeline that met the needs of our customers. This required a lot of teams working very closely together, and we’re proud to have yet another successful mission that demonstrates the extended use of cargo vehicles.”

The NanoRacks External Cygnus Program is the first program to have leveraged a commercial resupply vehicle for use beyond the primary cargo delivery to Space Station, demonstrating the future possibilities for using cargo vehicles for the NanoRacks Space Outpost Program and other commercial space station activities. With successful completion of this mission, NanoRacks has deployed 35 satellites from the Cygnus into multiple orbits.

“Thank you again to the teams at NASA and Northrop Grumman for allowing our creativity in orbit to grow with our customers’ dreams,” continues Martin.

To date, NanoRacks has deployed 231 satellites into low-Earth orbit.

For additional updates, follow @NanoRacks on Twitter.

For NanoRacks media inquiries, please email Abby Dickes, adickes@nanoracks.com.

About NanoRacks: NanoRacks LLC, an XO Markets company, is the world’s leading commercial space station company. NanoRacks believes commercial space utilization will enable innovation through in-space manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, fiber optics – and more, allow for transformational Earth observation, and make space a key player in finding the solution to Earth’s problems.

Today, the company offers low-cost, high-quality solutions to the most pressing needs for satellite deployment, basic and educational research, and more –in over 30 nations worldwide. Since 2009, Texas-based NanoRacks has truly created new markets and ushered in a new era of in-space-services, dedicated to making space just another place to do business.

In 2017, the Company announced their long-term plans via the NanoRacks Space Outpost Program. This program is dedicated to the repurposing of the upper stages of launch vehicles in-space and converting these structures into commercial habitats, both humanly and robotically tended, throughout the solar system.

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Archaeology from Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past

Space Policy

Space policy roundup – Feb.14.2019

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:

Space Webcasts:

** The Space Show – Sun, 02/10/2019 – Dr. Beth O’Leary and Lisa Westwood discussed preservation of “space historical sites in space, on the Moon, on Earth and throughout the solar system”.

** Episode T+110: Starship, New Glenn, and RS1 Updates – Main Engine Cut Off

** Panel Discussion: Innovation and Policies Redefining Location Market:

** Weekly Space Hangout: Feb 13, 2019 – Luciano Iess of the Cassini Radio Science Team – Universe Today

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Galaxy Girls: 50 Amazing Stories of Women in Space.

Activism, Events, Space Settlement

Conference announcement – “SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise”

Here is an announcement from the Space Studies Institute on their conference this summer (see also the recent announcement for the Space Access Society‘s upcoming meeting):

SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise

(Seattle, WA) The Space Studies Institute (SSI) is pleased to announce the date and location for its 2019 conference. Make your plans now to attend SSI 50: The Space Settlement Enterprise July 15 and 16 at the renowned Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Tickets are on sale now at https://ssi50.eventbrite.com, Super Early Bird tickets are already sold out, but a limited number of discount Early Bird tickets are still available.

“This year marks the 50th anniversary of Professor Gerard O’Neill’s High Frontier concept and the start of a new era for the Space Studies Institute,” said SSI senior researcher and conference chairman Edward Wright. “We’re about to embark on a multi-year effort to update the High Frontier vision, incorporating new technology, new knowledge of the solar system, and new commercial space ventures.”

The conference dates were chosen to coincide with another historic anniversary. The Apollo 11 lunar mission launched from Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969, Conference attendees will be able to view museum exhibits including the Apollo 11 command module and other historic artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian Institution.

“The Space Settlement Enterprise is not about the past, however,” Wright said. “This will be a working conference where some of the space industry’s top thinkers put their minds together to help identify the technological and economic obstacles to space settlement”

Panel discussions will cover six major areas:

Habitat Design: What do we want to build?
Construction: How do we build it?
Resources: Where and how do we get the materials?
Transport: How do we get there?
Life in Space: How do we survive there?
Economics: How do we pay for it?

The conference is structured to allow plenty of time for questions and audience interaction,

“The questions developed at this conference will inform SSI’s research programs over the next several years,” Wright said.

“We’ve also planned two gourmet luncheons catered by McCormick and Schmick’s. These luncheons will provide a great opportunity for networking and informal discussion of the day’s topics. Luncheon tickets are limited, however, due to the size of the dining room. We strongly recommend that conference attendees take advantage of the luncheon option, but the museum has two excellent cafes that are available if luncheon tickets sell out.”

About SSI: In 1969, while Apollo was preparing to land on the Moon, Professor Gerard O’Neill was teaching a physics seminar at Princeton University. As a class project, O’Neill asked his students to examine a question: “Is the surface of a planet the best place for an expanding technological civilization?”

A Bernal Sphere design for an in-space habitat.

Over the course of the semester, Professor O’Neill and his students came to a remarkable conclusion: It was possible to build large space habitats, each one housing millions of people, using materials readily available from the Moon or asteroids. A fleet of such habitats could house more people than are currently living on the surface of the Earth.

As a first step, O’Neill conceived a smaller habitat, called Island One, capable of housing 10,000 people. The residents of the Island One habitat could build solar power stations that would supply clean electrical power to the surface of the Earth.

Professor O’Neill authored a best-selling book, The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space, which was published in 1977. To promote and develop his High Frontier vision, O’Neill created the Space Studies Institute (SSI).

SSI continues in its dedication to the High Frontier Vision. As we approach the 50th anniversary of this vision, the Space Studies Institute is preparing for a dramatic reboot of Professor O’Neill’s research program. Everyone interested in space settlement is invited to support our research by becoming a Supporting Member or Senior Associate. For more information, visit www.ssi.org.

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, micro-g R&D

Refabricator 3D printer on ISS will use recycled plastic as feedstock

Tethers Unlimited sent me this update on the installation of the Refabricator 3D printer on the International Space Station:

Refabricator Installed on the ISS
Tethers Unlimited Announces Successful Installation
of the First Recycler-3D Printer On-Board the ISS

Astronaut Anne McClain installs Tethers Unlimited’s Refabricator™ recycling and 3D printing payload aboard the International Space Station.

Bothell, WA, 8 February 2019 – Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully installed the first integrated recycler and 3D printer into the station’s experiment racks. This technology demonstration, called the Refabricator, will perform repeated recycling and 3D printing of plastic materials to demonstrate capabilities for supporting long-duration crewed space missions with sustainable manufacturing.

The Refabricator was developed and built by Tethers Unlimited, Inc. for NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing Project under funding from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. It combines the ability to recycle plastic items into high-quality 3D printer feedstock, and then use this feedstock to print new items. It is the first plastic recycler on the space station and the first combination of recycling and 3D printing capability in one unit.

“The Refabricator is key in demonstrating a sustainable model to fabricate, recycle and reuse parts and waste materials on extended space exploration missions,” said Niki Werkheiser, manager of In-Space Manufacturing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Tethers Unlimited engineers in Bothell, Washington supported the space station operations team while astronaut Anne McClain, also from Washington state, installed the Refabricator into the equipment rack. With the installation complete, Tethers Unlimited eagerly looks forward to the opportunity to begin experiment operations within the next few weeks.

“I’m incredibly proud and thankful for the hard work put in by our team, the astronauts, and the NASA In Space Manufacturing Team to get the Refabricator all the way to installation aboard the space station,” said Dr. Rob Hoyt, Tethers Unlimited’s CEO.  “The Refabricator is intended to demonstrate sustainable in-space manufacturing capabilities that are crucial to minimizing the costs and risks for long duration manned missions on the ISS, to the Moon, and someday to Mars.  It will provide future astronauts the ability to manufacture tools, replacement parts, utensils, and medical implements when they need them and greatly reduce the logistics costs for manned space missions by re-using waste materials and minimizing the amount of replacement parts that must be launched from Earth.”

The Refabricator™ recycling and 3D printing payload has been successfully installed into the International Space Station’s EXPRESS rack.

About Tethers Unlimited, Inc.: Tethers Unlimited, Inc. develops transformative technologies for Space and Defense missions.  Its technology portfolio includes programmable radios for small satellites, advanced space propulsion modules, and systems for in-space manufacturing of spacecraft components.   To learn more about TUI and its products, please visit www.tethers.com.

About NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing Program: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/2356.html

The mission patch for the Refabricator on the ISS.

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The High Frontier: An Easier Way

Everyone can participate in space