Category Archives: Rockets

Rockets

Space transport roundup – April.25.2019

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

** The Chinese launch startup ‘Space Transportation’ tests a winged reusable rocket, built in partnership with a team at Xiamen University: “Tianxing I-1” first horizontal recovery technology verified the success of the rocket test flight – weixin.qq.com (Google Translation).

…Aerospace Academy successfully launched the “Jia Geng No. 1” winged rocket – Xiamen University

** NASA documentary on Rocket Lab Electron launch of 10 student built CubeSats sponsored by the agency:

In December 2018, a Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched from remote Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying a NASA payload of 10 small satellites called Educational Launch of Nanosatellites-19 (ELaNa-19). The Electron is one of two vehicles NASA selected for its Venture Class Launch Service, in which small satellites, called CubeSats, fly on rockets designed especially for their needs. In this documentary, learn how the first launch of the Venture Class era demonstrates how the right ride into space can enable the designers of small satellites—from high schools and universities to NASA field centers—to dream big. To launch with ELaNa, visit http://www.nasa.gov/elana.

>>> Rocket Lab’s next launch is set for no earlier than May 4th and has a 2 week long window.

The satellites on board this mission will represent Rocket Lab’s heaviest launch to date, with the total payload weighing in at more than 180 kg. There are three research and development experiments on board for the U.S. Air Force, including: 

    • The Space Plug and Play Architecture Research CubeSat-1 (SPARC-1) mission, sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RV), is a joint Swedish-United States experiment to explore technology developments in avionics miniaturization, software defined radio systems, and space situational awareness (SSA).
    • The Falcon Orbital Debris Experiment (Falcon ODE), sponsored by the United States Air Force Academy, will evaluate ground-based tracking of space objects, such as space junk. 
    • The Harbinger research payload is a commercial small satellite built by York Space Systems that will demonstrate the ability of an experimental commercial system to meet government space capability requirements.

** Interstellar Technologies targeting April 30th for the suborbital MOMO launch attempt. There will be a live webcast. Check their Twitter page for latest info and links. Here is a video of a recent full duration test firing of the MOMO engine. Last year the engine on a MOMO rocket shut off shortly after liftoff and the rocket fell back to the pad and exploded.

** LinkSpace’s recent test (see previous roundup) is briefly described in this item: China’s LinkSpace successfully launches reusable rocket to a new height – ecns.cn.

** An update on the SNC Dream Chaser cargo vehicle program:

>> SNC also continues to pursue a crew version of the Dream Chaser: Dream Chaser progress ahead of CRS2 as SNC keeps crew version alive – NASASpaceFlight.com.

** The design of the Turbo Rocket, an oxygen breathing vertical launch rocket, was presented by John Bucknell at the recent Space Access 2019 conference: Turbo Rocket – NextBigFuture.com.

Here is a video of presentation Bucknell gave in 2018:

** Stratolaunch looks for secure launch work following the successful first flight of the company’s giant aircraft: OPINION: Stratolaunch hopes to avoid Spruce Goose’s fate – Flight Global

Stratolaunch, usurper of Spruce Goose’s biggest-ever title, might seem equally ridiculous. Composite construction, two fuselages, six engines and other bits hacked together from old 747s, lots and lots of wheels and bogeys… But it flies, and apparently flies very well.

What we do not know is whether Stratolaunch has an economically viable future. Built to heft huge rockets to 35,000ft for air-launch, it is expected to start commercial life in 2020 launching Pegasus rockets, whose payload capacity is less than 400kg – a load easily orbited by any number of existing launchers. Moreover, Pegasus – normally air-launched from a modified Lockheed L-1011 – has flown only 35 times. Not a lot of demand there.

** Blue Origin grows its facilities in Washington state: Blue Origin will expand HQ and R&D in Kent – iLoveKent

Blue Origin is “going vertical” with its new headquarters and research and development facility in Kent, as they are expanding their world-class team, and will be building a new 250,000-square-foot facility that will support their new growth.

This means more rocket building, more hiring of rocket scientists, and a continued connection to space for the home of the original Lunar Rovers – Kent!

“I am so thrilled to see the progress on their new facility and love the energy they are putting into the business and that their employees will bring to the community,” Mayor Dana Ralph said. “We are proud they call the Kent Valley home.”

** The SpaceShip Company is buiding additional SpaceShipTwo rocket vehicles for Virgin Galactic:

** More about Boeing Starliner sea recovery tests carried out with NASA: DoD practices Starliner at sea recovery for first time – NASASpaceFlight.com

In a critical first for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule, the crew transportation vehicle is putting DoD and Air Force rescue teams through their paces as they seek to understand and refine what will be needed to rescue a Starliner crew from the capsule should an off-nominal landing in the water occur.

** Scott Manley: The Expander Cycle Rocket Engines – Using Waste Heat To Drive Your Rocket:

Another installment of ‘Things Kerbal Space Program Doesn’t Teach’ – explaining the expander cycle rocket engines in more detail. Expander cycles use the waste heat from the combustion chamber and nozzles to boil liquid hydrogen and power the turbines. The main advantages are cooler, less chemically active turbine environments, but if used in a closed cycle design the total thrust is limited.

** Relativity Space gets another launch contract. The company known for 3D printing its rockets, follows the multi-launch contract with Telesat with a contract with mu Space of Thailand: Relativity’s 3D Printed Terran 1 Rocket to Launch mu Space’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite | Business Wire

Relativity, the world’s first autonomous rocket factory and launch services leader for satellite constellations, today announced a partnership with mu Space, the innovative Thai satellite and space technology company, to launch a satellite to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) on Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket, the world’s first and only 3D printed rocket.

Relativity’s groundbreaking, patented 3D printing technology platform together with Terran 1’s unique and flexible architecture provides mu Space a faster and more reliable launch at a lower total mission cost than any other launch services company in the world. With this launch partnership, two of the most visionary and innovative aerospace startups are sharing expertise, resources, and capabilities to transform the satellite launch and services industry across the U.S. and Asia-Pacific regions.

Relativity is developing the first and only aerospace platform to integrate machine learning, software, and robotics with metal 3D printing technology to build and launch rockets in days instead of years, disrupting 60 years of global aerospace manufacturing. The company expects to build its Terran 1 rocket from raw material to launch-ready in less than 60 days. As an innovator in the Asia-Pacific and international arenas, mu Space is developing both Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite and space technologies that will accelerate the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in smart cities, and encourage new space investments in the Asia-Pacific region. mu Space’s LEO satellite will be a primary, dedicated payload on Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket, launching in 2022.

** Momentus Space offers space tug services for satellites aiming to go from one orbit to another: Momentus seeks up to $25 million as it inks deals to transport cargo beyond low Earth orbit | TechCrunch

The service can deliver 300 kilograms or 400 kilograms within low Earth orbit and up to 100 kilograms to a lunar orbit, according to Kokorich — for a cost of around $4.8 million.

That’s radically cheaper than solutions that are currently on offer. Momentus uses rockets from any of the big private vendors to get its vessels into space and from there its own propulsion technologies and spacecrafts will haul a small cargo (roughly the size of a kitchen table) anywhere else it needs to go, [CEO Mikhail] Kokorich says.

** SpaceX:

>> Crew Dragon explosion investigation continues with little info released to the public so far:

>> Cargo Dragon mission remains targeted for an April 30th launch from Cape Canaveral: NASA moves ahead with cargo Dragon launch after Crew Dragon anomaly – SpaceNews.com

>> Video of the bottom half of the Falcon Heavy core booster at Port Canaveral. The booster landed successfully but later fell over onto the landing platform during heavy seas. A hold-down system for securing a core booster to prevent such toppling was not ready in time for this latest FH launch. Video via www.USLaunchReport.com:

>> Starship related activity continues at SpaceX’s Boca Chica Beach facilities but no sign yet of the Raptor engine, which was removed from the Starhopper after a short hop a couple of weeks ago.

The last few weeks of SpaceX’s work on Starship and Starhopper prototypes has been marked by less visible progress relative to the past few months. The changes that are visible, however, confirm that its Boca Chica engineers are working around the clock to complete the first orbital Starship prototype.

At the same time, it appears that SpaceX’s South Texas facilities are preparing for a rapid period of expansion and build-up. New work around the ad-hoc Starhopper pad has recently begun, while construction of a second concrete jig for concurrent prototype fabrication and what will likely be a more permanent hangar and control facility are also ramping up. Things have been quiet news-wise for SpaceX’s McGregor and Hawthorne facilities but there is reason to believe that Raptor production and testing is going smoothly.

Today there was a lot of pad work underway:

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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.20.2019

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

[ Update April.21.2019, 10:25 am EDT: An explosion took place on Saturday at Cape Canaveral during a SpaceX test of a Crew Dragon propulsion system. There is lots of speculation going on but we won’t know what actually happened, the cause, and the ramifications on SpaceX projects until the company gives a briefing on the accident. So far this is the only info released by the company:

Earlier today, SpaceX conducted a series of engine tests on a Crew Dragon test vehicle on our test stand at Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The initial tests completed successfully but the final test resulted in an anomaly on the test stand.

Ensuring that our systems meet rigorous safety standards and detecting anomalies like this prior to flight are the main reasons why we test. Our teams are investigating and working closely with our NASA partners.

Here is a statement from the NASA administrator:

More at

]

** Space Access 2019 has been underway in Silicon Valley since Thursday. Check out notes on the many space transport presentations and panels at #SpaceAccess19 hashtag on Twitter. Brian Wang has also posted notes and images of slides at NextBigFuture.com from several of the talks.

** Northrop-Grumman Cygnus berthed to the ISS on Friday following the launch from Wallops Island on Wednesday:

More about the mission:

** Chinese Long March 3B launches a Beidou navigation satellite today: Beidou-3G2Q navigation satellite launched on Long March 3B – NASASpaceFlight.com.

** Virgin Galactic plans ramp up of SS2 flights after interior is upgraded for carrying six people along with the two pilots: Virgin Galactic expects rapid conclusion of SpaceShipTwo test flights after downtime – SpaceNews.com

From VG chief test pilot Dave Mackay:

“The next time it flies, we expect to have the full commercial cabin installed,” he said. A few other modifications to the vehicle are also in progress, such as changes to cockpit displays.

“This downtime might be fairly long,” he said. “Once we get out of that, we should be able to get through the remainder of the test program pretty quickly and get into commercial service.”

** Next flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard not till mid-July at the earliest according to documents filed with the FCC:

The most recent New Shepard test flight was on January 23rd. That test flight is following the pattern of previous ones in being declared successful and then followed by a gap of a few months before the next flight, usually with no explanation for what modifications or upgrades they are making during in the interim. Blue Origin officials have indicated that passenger flights could start this year but that several more test flights were required.

** LinkSpace reusable vertical takeoff and landing rocket flies again:

See video also at Flight of LinkSpace vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket – Weibo.com.

** Blue Origin will rehab old engine stand at Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama:

“Under a Commercial Space Launch Act agreement, Blue Origin will upgrade and refurbish Test Stand 4670, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to support testing of their BE-3U and BE-4 rocket engines. Constructed in 1965, Test Stand 4670 served as the backbone for Saturn V propulsion testing for the Apollo program, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Credits: NASA”

** ULA prepares rockets for Boeing Starliner crew test missions, currently set to start in August: Atlas V Starliner Updates: Atlas V Rockets in Production to Launch Astronaut Crews – ULA

United Launch Alliance is finalizing production of the Atlas V rockets that will launch the first two crewed flights of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner to the International Space Station, known as the Crew Flight Test (CFT) and Post Certification Mission-1 (PCM-1).

At our factory in Decatur, Alabama, skilled technicians are putting the finishing touches on the CFT hardware before shipment to the Cape Canaveral launch site, and also working on the assembly and testing of the PCM-1 rocket.

These launches will be the second and third flights of the Starliner program. The first flight, the Orbital Flight Test (OFT), will be an uncrewed checkout mission to the International Space Station scheduled for August 2019. All Atlas V hardware for OFT is in Cape Canaveral and will soon begin processing for the first flight.

A Centaur upper stage with two Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Hydrogen RL10 engines. A Centaur with 2 engines, rather than the usual single engine version, is  needed for the Atlas V launcher that will send a Boeing Starliner crew vehicle to the ISS. Photo credit: ULA

** NASA and Boeing rehearse Starliner sea rescue operations in case the standard ground landing is aborted for some reason: NASA’s Commercial Crew, DoD Teams Conduct Crew Rescue Exercise – Commercial Crew Program/NASA

NASA and the Department of Defense Human Space Flight Support (HSFS) Office Rescue Division are conducting a search and rescue training exercise over the next several days at the Army Warf on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the first at-sea exercise with the Boeing CST-100 Starliner training capsule, known as Boiler Plate 3, ahead of the commercial crew flight test with astronauts targeted for later this year.

…

During normal return scenarios, Boeing’s Starliner will land on land in a safe zone of about 15 square miles in the Western United States. Throughout the commercial crew development phases with NASA, Boeing has performed dozens of qualification tests on its parachute and airbag systems simulating conditions on land and in the water.

** Update on development of the ULA Vulcan rocket: United Launch Alliance Progresses Towards Purpose-Built Vulcan Centaur for National Security Space Missions – ULA

“Manufacturing of Vulcan Centaur pathfinder and qualification hardware in the factory has been going on for nearly a year and just a few weeks ago, the team began to manufacture the first flight hardware,” said Bruno. “It is a tremendously exciting time as we watch the first flight vehicle being built.”

** SpaceX:

** A bottom portion of Falcon Heavy core booster was salvaged after it fell during rough seas: SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster tips over on drone ship, returns to port in pieces – Teslarati.

Some photos at port:

**** The fairings, though, appear to be in excellent shape after retrieval from the sea following their parasail soft landings (video via www.USLaunchReport.com):

**** Next Cargo Dragon mission set for April 30th from Cape Canaveral: SpaceX CRS-17 Launch Now Scheduled for April 30 – SpaceX/NASA

NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. Monday, April 22, to discuss select science investigations the Dragon will deliver to the astronauts living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA will stream audio from the discussion at http://www.nasa.gov/live.

**** The DoD sponsored STP-2 Falcon Heavy mission involves the launch of nearly 2 dozen satellites and multiple firings of the upper stage: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy flies a complex mission for the Air Force in launch video – Teslarati.

SpaceX has posted a webpage dedicated to the mission: STP-2 Mission | SpaceX.

And released the STP-2 Animation:

The STP-2 mission will be among the most challenging launches in SpaceX history with four separate upper-stage engine burns, three separate deployment orbits, a final propulsive passivation maneuver and a total mission duration of over six hours. In addition, the U.S. Air Force plans to reuse side boosters from the Arabsat-6A Falcon Heavy launch, recovered after a return to launch site landing, making it the first reused Falcon Heavy ever flown.

Not all of the small satellites to be deployed are military. For example, Prox-1 is

a microsat developed by students at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta through the Air Force’s University Nanosat Program to demonstrate satellite close proximity operations and rendezvous.

**** Two Falcon boosters spotted on way to Florida:  SpaceX ships two Falcon boosters to Florida for a busy spring of launches – Teslarati.

**** SpaceX raising money for development of the Starlink global Internet constellation project and the Starship space transport system: SpaceX preps second $500M fundraiser as Starlink & Starship make progress – Teslarati

**** An account of the naming of the SpaceX engines from the company’s top engine guru: SpaceX Stories: How Did SpaceX Rocket Engines Get Their Names – ElonX.net

**** Boca Chica Update:

>> The Starhopper’s Raptor engine was removed after a short test hop was made a couple of weeks ago. Presumably the three engines needed for lifting the vehicle up a few hundred meters are being prepared for installation.

>> Meanwhile, observers have watched work on the Starhopper structure and the facilities around it.

>> The construction of the high altitude test vehicle is proceeding:

**** Dragon-wings on a Starship (maybe) – On the weekend of the restart of the Game of Thrones television series, Elon Musk tweeted what seemed like a joke:

Subsequent tweets, however, indicated that he wasn’t completely kidding. In response to the question, “How serious are you on a scale of 1 to 10 tho ?!“, he responded:

The idea is that the extra surface area provided by deployable wings would distribute heat during reentry sufficiently to eliminate the need for more complex solutions such as transpiration cooling to keeping the vehicle from melting:

We’ll have to see if this goes any further than mulling an idea on Tweeter. Scott Manley did some simulations with Kerbal Space Program and was impressed with the effects such wings would have:

In an absolutely serious tweet Elon musk suggested that dragon wings might enhance the capabilities of his stainless steel starship concept. Thanks to the power of commercial spacecraft simulation software we are able to test this concept and prove that it was more than just a joke.

**** The business end of the Falcon Heavy in high contrast: APOD: 2019 April 20 – Falcon Heavy Launch Close up

** Documentaries about two American rocket pioneers:

**** The Rocket Man, Bob Traux – a Rocket Engineering Documentary from Spark

A leader in rocket engineering and a man passionate about space travel, Bob Truax cannot go unmentioned in the history of the space shuttle. Described as an “individual who is committed to his ideals, goals and objectives,” the 2006 film documents his life and achievements.

**** The American Rocketeer

“The American Rocketeer” is a 2010 Jet Propulsion Laboratory production about JPL’s origins. Much of the focus is on Frank Malina, an aeronautical engineer and protégé of physicist Theodore von Kármán.

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

Rockets

Space transport roundup – April.16.2019

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

** Northrop-Grumman Antares set to launch Cygnus cargo vehicle to the ISS from Wallops Island, Virginia on Wednesday, April 17th at 4:46 p.m. EDT (2046 GMT): U.S. Resupply Ship Poised for Launch as Crew Studies Life Science – Space Station/NASA

A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft is seen during sunrise on Pad-0A, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 11th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver about 7,600 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The Cygnus will

will deliver about 7,600 pounds of science, supplies and hardware to the orbital residents. Flight Engineer Anne McClain, with astronaut David Saint-Jacques backing her up, will command the Canadarm2 robotic arm to reach out and capture Cygnus Friday about 5:30 a.m. [EDT].

NASA TV will webcast the launch.

** A review of rocket designs chosen by Chinese commercial launch startups: The Technical Choices of China’s NewSpace Launcher Companies in 2019 – The China Aerospace Blog

… a good half of these startups (7 out of 11) are also developing liquid propulsion. This is partly due to the intrinsic performance, but also the possibility to be reusable (although solid systems can sometimes also be refurbished, such as the Space Shuttle SRBs). Reusability actually seems to be one of the dominant reasons, as nearly all liquid propulsion rockets are being developed with a reusable design, often based on the return of the first stage through retropropulsive landing. It is striking to see the extent of the consensus around SpaceX’s business model within the Chinese private sector, while heated debates in Europe and Russia still take place on its sustainability.

** DARPA’s Launch Challenge competition aims to support companies developing rockets that can “demonstrate flexible and responsive launch capabilities in days, not years” –

** SpaceX:

**** Falcon Heavy Core damaged in fall as heavy seas rolled the sea platform on which it landed last week:

“Over the weekend, due to rough sea conditions, SpaceX’s recovery team was unable to secure the center core booster for its return trip to Port Canaveral,” said James Gleeson, a SpaceX spokesperson. “As conditions worsened with eight to ten foot swells, the booster began to shift and ultimately was unable to remain upright.

“While we had hoped to bring the booster back intact, the safety of our team always takes precedence,” Gleeson said in a statement. “We do not expect future missions to be impacted.”

Elon Musk later tweeted that the “Engines seem ok, pending inspection”. There are reports that the rocket is lying horizontal on the platform so we’ll see the level damage when the platform returns to Port Canaveral. Though the vehicle is unlikely to fly again, having the core will be useful to SpaceX to examine to better understand the wear and tear that it endured during the flight. Also, perhaps some components like the engines can be reused.

**** FH fairings returned to Port Canaveral. As mentioned in the previous roundup, Elon Musk says the fairings will be used for a Falcon 9 launch of the company’s Starlink Internet satellites:

**** A nice collection of videos and images of the FH launch and boosters landings:  SpaceX’s flawless Falcon Heavy Block 5 launch and landing in pictures – Teslarati

**** Cargo Dragon flight to the ISS set to launch on April 26th from Cape Canaveral at 5:55 am EDT (0955 GMT). This will be the 17th operational Dragon mission to the ISS.

**** A giant space telescope a good fit for the Starship. Most all of the mainstream space industry and government agencies are going out of their way to pretend the Super Heavy Booster/Starship project doesn’t exist. So while this is just a graphic done for fun, it’s nevertheless a bit of a surprise that even a lower level group at NASA would dare to show the proposed LUVOIR telescope in a Starship:

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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

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