This week’s selection of videos about space stations and living in space including NASA’s latest Space to Ground report for the International Space Station:
** 25 Years of the International Space Station – NASA Johnson
Low-Earth Orbit has been home to the International Space Station for 25 years. Hear from the people helping make history daily with the laboratory and from some of those who made it possible from the start!
Microgravity gives researchers the chance to learn how humans, machines, and materials react to months-long stays. It jumpstarts medical research, proves material strength, and generates new markets for items that can only be made in orbit.
It took a lot of creative energy and careful engineering to create a spacecraft that is now the brightest human-made object in the sky. Although they never met on Earth, the modules of the space station fit perfectly together when they met in space.
** Space Station Crew Talks with Fox Weather, WCBS Newsradio 880, New York – NASA Video
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli of NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andy Mogensen discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview Dec. 1 with Fox Weather and WCBS News Radio in New York. Moghbeli and Mogensen are in the midst of a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions. Such research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future human exploration through the agency’s Artemis missions, which will send astronauts to the Moon to prepare for future expeditions to Mars.
** Ax-3 Mission | Science on the Mission – Axiom Space
Axiom Space held a virtual press conference with leaders from the Italian Air Force, Italian Space Agency, TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute (TÜBİTAK UZAY), Turkish Space Agency (TUA), European Space Agency (ESA), and the Swedish National Space Agency (SNSA) to discuss the scientific experiments, microgravity research, and technology demonstrations that will be a part of Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3).
Unique to this mission, there is a strong focus on scientific portfolios led by European countries flying on the Ax-3 mission, to include Italy, Türkiye, and Sweden in partnership with ESA. The Ax-3 crewmembers will represent their nations in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and perform scientific experiments, microgravity research, and demonstrations that are of high national importance. Commercial and academic partnership activities also remain a strong focus for the Ax-3 mission, as Axiom Space leads in building a global research community and robust and sustainable economic ecosystem in LEO.
Participants include: Dr. Lucie Low, Chief Scientist, Axiom Space Jana Stoudemire, Director of In-Space Manufacturing, Axiom Space Col. Domenico Antonacci, Space Policy and Operations Office, Italian Air Force Dr. Barbara Negri, Head of Human Flight and Scientific Experimentation Unit, Italian Space Agency Ömer ATAŞ, Project Manager/Chief Engineer, TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute Hasan Ersel Gürel, Physicist, Turkish Space Agency (TUA) Dr. Kristine Dannenberg, Head of Space Exploration and Access to Space, Swedish National Space Agency Dr. Julia Weis, ISS Utilization Planning and Integration Team Lead, European Space Agency
** Video Records Relaxing, Enjoyable Life of Shenzhou-17 Crew in Space – CCTV Video News Agency
The three Chinese astronauts aboard the country’s space station Tiangong are having a relaxing and enjoyable life apart from routine work.
** Highlight: CA – Central – Sierra Nevada Snow – Dec 1, 2023 12:09 PST – ISS Above
NASA EHDC6 Live views of the Earth from the International Space Station
** Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) – NASA
Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed.
The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It’s a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8
Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov
Check out the night sky this month, December 2023. Here are videos highlighting the top sights to observe.
** What’s Up: December 2023 Skywatching Tips from NASA – NASA JPL
What are some skywatching highlights in December 2023? Clear skies will make for ideal viewing of the Geminid meteor shower, and grab your binoculars to search for asteroid Vesta.
0:00 Intro 0:14 Moon & planet highlights 0:59 Geminid meteors peak 2:05 Observing asteroid Vesta 4:08 December Moon phases
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/skywatch….
Step outside on a cold December night when the stars shine bright to find the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. They will help you locate a binary star system, a fan-shaped open star cluster, and a variable star. Stay tuned for space-based views of a ragged spiral galaxy, an open star cluster, and an edge-on galaxy.
** Geminids, Venus, Jupiter, Orion, Comet Tsuchinshan | Night sky December 2023 – BBC Sky at Night Magazine
Find out what’s in the night sky tonight, December 2023, with astronomers Pete Lawrence and Paul Abel as your guide. Venus and Jupiter are bright, the Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak and asteroid Vesta reaches opposition. Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan increases in brightness and Orion returns with its wealth of deep-sky wonders.
00:00 – Intro 00:14 – Mercury 00:55 – Venus 02:33 – Jupiter 03:02 – Saturn 03:44 – Uranus and Neptune 05:39 – Mare Orientale 06:58 – Jupiter occults Ganymede 07:55 – Geminid meteor shower 10:02 – Vesta at opposition 10:31 – Comet 62P/Tsuchinshan 15:22 – Orion and deep-sky objects 22:16 – Taurus 23:36 – Auriga and open clusters 25:00 – Camelopardalis 26:36 Kemble’s Cascade
** Sky & Telescope’s Sky Tour Podcast – December | The Geminid Meteor Shower and Bright Evening Stars –Sky & Telescope Youtube
Our monthly Sky Tour #astronomy #podcast provides an informative and entertaining 10-minute guided tour of the nighttime sky. Listen to the December episode and keep tabs on the #Moon’s whereabouts, watch for some impressive #shootingstars, track down four #planets, and gaze at a tall tower of bright evening #stars. So bundle up, grab your curiosity, and come along on this month’s Sky Tour.
Listen and subscribe to this podcast at https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/ and don’t forget to subscribe to S&T’s YouTube channel to get alerts about new videos, including this monthly podcast
Watch the #Geminid #meteorshower on the evening of December 13th and the morning of December 14th with tips from Sky & Telescope! The #geminids are one of the top #meteor showers of the year. Learn about what the Geminids are and how they form.
This artist’s impression shows the HH 1177 system, which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbouring galaxy of our own. The young and massive stellar object glowing in the centre is collecting matter from a dusty disc while also expelling matter in powerful jets. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, a team of astronomers managed to find evidence for the presence of this disc by observing its rotation. This is the first time a disc around a young star — the type of disc identical to those forming planets in our own galaxy — has been discovered in another galaxy.
In a remarkable discovery, astronomers have found a disc around a young star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy neighbouring ours. It’s the first time such a disc, identical to those forming planets in our own Milky Way, has ever been found outside our galaxy. The new observations reveal a massive young star, growing and accreting matter from its surroundings and forming a rotating disc. The detection was made using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner.
“When I first saw evidence for a rotating structure in the ALMA data I could not believe that we had detected the first extragalactic accretion disc, it was a special moment,”
says Anna McLeod, an associate professor at Durham University in the UK and lead author of the study published today in Nature.
“We know discs are vital to forming stars and planets in our galaxy, and here, for the first time, we’re seeing direct evidence for this in another galaxy.”
This study follows up observations with the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), which spotted a jet from a forming star — the system was named HH 1177 — deep inside a gas cloud in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
“We discovered a jet being launched from this young massive star, and its presence is a signpost for ongoing disc accretion,”
McLeod says. But to confirm that such a disc was indeed present, the team needed to measure the movement of the dense gas around the star.
With the combined capabilities of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), in which ESO is a partner, a disc around a young massive star in another galaxy has been observed. Observations from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the VLT, left, show the parent cloud LHA 120-N 180B in which this system, dubbed HH 1177, was first observed. The image at the centre shows the jets that accompany it. The top part of the jet is aimed slightly towards us and thus blueshifted; the bottom one is receding from us and thus redshifted. Observations from ALMA, right, then revealed the rotating disc around the star, similarly with sides moving towards and away from us.
As matter is pulled towards a growing star, it cannot fall directly onto it; instead, it flattens into a spinning disc around the star. Closer to the centre, the disc rotates faster, and this difference in speed is the smoking gun that shows astronomers an accretion disc is present.
“The frequency of light changes depending on how fast the gas emitting the light is moving towards or away from us,”
explains Jonathan Henshaw, a research fellow at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, and co-author of the study.
“This is precisely the same phenomenon that occurs when the pitch of an ambulance siren changes as it passes you and the frequency of the sound goes from higher to lower.”
The detailed frequency measurements from ALMA allowed the authors to distinguish the characteristic spin of a disc, confirming the detection of the first disc around an extragalactic young star.
Massive stars, like the one observed here, form much more quickly and live far shorter lives than low-mass stars like our Sun. In our galaxy, these massive stars are notoriously challenging to observe and are often obscured from view by the dusty material from which they form at the time a disc is shaping around them. However, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy 160 000 light-years away, the material from which new stars are being born is fundamentally different from that in the Milky Way. Thanks to the lower dust content, HH 1177 is no longer cloaked in its natal cocoon, offering astronomers an unobstructed, if far away, view of star and planet formation.
“We are in an era of rapid technological advancement when it comes to astronomical facilities,” McLeod says. “Being able to study how stars form at such incredible distances and in a different galaxy is very exciting.”
This week’s selection of videos about space stations and living in space including NASA’s latest two Space to Ground reports for the International Space Station:
** Thanksgiving Message from the International Space Station – NASA Johnson
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara along with ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa shared their thoughts about spending Thanksgiving in space and some of the foods they plan to enjoy while in orbit.
“Spaceflight is a team sport,” astronaut Josh Cassada says as he joins Space Station Researcher Gioia Massa and Space Station Deputy Program Manager Dana Weigel in highlighting some of the ways the orbiting laboratory helps NASA advance technology and improve life on Earth.
Years of accomplishments, one day at a time. From medicinal testing to climate study and systems maintenance, every day of advancement adds up to years of groundbreaking achievements.
** Expedition 70 Astronaut Talks with Students, Celebrates Danish Comics Character – Nov. 22, 2023 – NASA Video
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Andy Mogensen of ESA (European Space Agency) discussed living and working in space as part of a celebration honoring comic book character Rasmus Klump during an in-flight interview Nov. 22. Mogensen is in the midst of a long-duration mission on the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions.
** See China’s Shenzhou 17 crew eat, work and look at Earth from the Tiangong space station – VideoFromSpace
The Shenzhou 17 crew, Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, have been keeping busy with experiments, Earth photography and more. Catch a glimpse of their activities aboard the Tiangong space station.
Haven-1 is scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station. Launching no earlier than August 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Haven-1 will be capable of sustained microgravity and testing limited duration, artificial gravity operations. Haven-1 will provide unprecedented access to low-Earth orbit (LEO) for both crew and payloads.
** Why Life Inside Inflatable Space Habitat Is The Future? –Adventures in Space
Discover the future of living in space inside the inflatable space habitat designed by Sierra Space. Learn how NASA and Sierra Space are collaborating to create a multi-floor, versatile habitat for astronauts. Find out how this innovative solution could support long-duration missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
** Highlight: Baja MX – Phoenix AZ – CO Rockies – Nov 21, 2023 15:21 PDT – ISS Above
Captured via NASA EHDC6 Live views of the Earth from the International Space Station
** Highlight: Night over UAE – Abu Dhabi – Nov 22, 2023 20:42 UTC – ISS Above
** Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) – NASA
Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed.
The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It’s a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8
Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov
Significant progress is being made towards space transportation systems that operate repeatedly rather than just fly once and then discarded. Reusable rocket powered vehicles will eventually lower the cost of access to space by orders of magnitude from expendables when the vehicles can fly hundreds of times with only brief refurbishment between flights.
While the Space Shuttle program aimed for cost-effective reusablity, the extensive refurbishment, if not rebuilding, after each flight prevented the Shuttles from making any progress towards lower cost space access.
The multiple recoveries and reuses of SpaceX Falcon 9 first stages have proven that lower cost launch can be attained even with partial reuse. The per kilogram to orbit cost is about $2000, which is roughly a factor of 10 lower than conventional expendables were when the program started.
Below are updates on the SpaceX vehicles as well as several other reusable rocket systems in development including suborbital and long distance point-to-point vehicles.
Liftoff for the first test flight of a Starship with Booster B7 and upper stage SN24 on April 20, 2023. Credits: SpaceX
The statement basically restates the same positive and negative aspects of the flight listed in the update below. However, one difference is that the destruction of the booster was due to “a rapid unscheduled disassembly“, i.e. an explosion in the vehicle’s systems, rather than a deliberate detonation by the flight termination system. The upper stage, on the other hand, was definitely destroyed by the FTS:
The flight test’s conclusion came when telemetry was lost near the end of second stage burn prior to engine cutoff after more than eight minutes of flight. The team verified a safe command destruct was appropriately triggered based on available vehicle performance data.
The statement provides no information or speculation on what might have led to the destruction of the stages.
Update Nov.20.2023: The second flight test lifted off on Nov.18th within a tight 20 minute window. The test demonstrated that the major issues that afflicted the first flight in April had been resolved.
No significant damage to the launch pad. The steel plate and water deluge system worked to protect the launch mount and the ground area beneath it. Elon Musk: “Just inspected the Starship launch pad and it is in great condition! No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch…“
No engine failures or engine compartment fires this time on the Super Heavy Booster. All 33 engines performed well from launch till staging.
Hot staging, a major design change implemented since the first test, appeared to work well.
The six engines on the Starship upper stage started up at staging and powered the stage to 148 kilometers, thus reaching space.
There were, however, two significant shortcoming to the test:
After separation, the booster began maneuvering for the boostback burn, which would have led to a soft landing on the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. However, the flight termination system soon destroyed the vehicle. SpaceX has not yet reported what led to the abort. It’s possible that the hot staging resulted in sloshing of propellants, which could have caused one or more of the engines to shut down.
After the upper stage engines burned for 6 minutes of the planned 6.5 minute thrust time, the flight termination system destroyed the stage. SpaceX has not yet indicated what caused the abort just 30 seconds before scheduled engine cutoff.
Both of these problems will probably have straight-forward fixes and won’t significantly delay the next test flight. The most important component of the Starship system yet to be tested is the heat shielding on the upper stage. This test flight would have had the upper stage reach just short of orbital velocity and reenter near Hawaii. Hopefully, the next flight will achieve this goal.
Elon Musk has indicated that a Starship for the next test flight could be ready in 3 to 4 weeks. However, before a FAA license can be approved, SpaceX must show that it understands the problems with this flight and has implemented solutions.
SpaceX has designed Starship for recovery of both stages after each mission and re-flight after a rapid turnaround. If this goal is achieved, Starships should allow the cost of access to orbit to drop by another factor of 10 over the Falcon 9. The cost could go even lower if the flight rate can rise to a very high level.
A series of test flights are planned to achieve the operational goals for the vehicle. Meanwhile, the factories at Boca Chica Beach, Texas are churning out boosters and upper stages for the tests.
As of the time of this post, the second Starship flight test is set for November 18th. Beyond simply testing as many components and systems as possible, the end goal is to send the upper stage nearly into orbit and have it reenter the atmosphere over the Pacific and survive the tremendous heating during reentry. It will splashdown in waters near Hawaii. For this test there will be no attempt at a powered landing. The booster, however, will attempt a soft landing onto the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Presumably, the stage will be retrieved if it floats.
The first orbital test flight on April 20, 2023 succeeded in testing many systems in the first stage booster and it showed in a rather spectacular manner that major fixes and improvements were needed for many of those systems. Most notably, the launch mount and its ground substructure were badly damaged, with debris and dust hurled over a wide area. There were also Raptor engine failures as well as fires in the engine compartment that eventually severed control of the booster and prevented separation of the stages. Thus there was essentially no testing at all of the Starship upper stage.
SpaceX has spent the past several months implementing those fixes and improvements. The launch mount has undergone a major overall that included the installation of metal flooring that implements a water deluge system to handle the enormous heat and blast produced by 33 Raptors firing at liftoff. The engine compartment was also modified to better prevent fires and to isolate a fire if one does occur. Using electric actuators instead of hydraulics to power the thrust vector control for the 13 inner engines (i.e. change the angle of the thrust) will eliminate a common source of problems and significantly reduce TVC related hardware.
A major design change to the vehicle will also get its first test on this flight. A vented ring was added between the stages to allow engines on the Starship to start firing while the stages are still connected. This “hot staging” should increase the payload capability by about 10%. This technique has been used on Soviet/Russian launch systems but never before on America launchers.
The Starship program is attracting massive coverage from a wide array of professional and volunteer reporters. Here are links to some articles of interest and video report sites.
See also the SpaceX Starship report, which is published by NewSpace Global and for which I was the primary author. The initial version came out in March 2023 and then we updated it in May to include coverage of the first flight test.
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** SpaceX Falcon 9 – Currently aiming for 20 flights per booster
The Falcon 9 (F9) has become one of the most successful launch systems ever developed. As of the date of this posting, there have been 282 total F9 launches starting with the first flight in 2010. F9 and the Super Heavy have flown 83 times so far in 2023 and may reach close to 100 for the year. The goal for 2024 is 144 flights, or 12 per month.
Reusability has played a big role in its success. In those 282 launches, the booster has landed 245 times and 217 used a first stage booster that had flown previously.
So far, a F9 booster has achieved 18 flights and should fly at least 20. SpaceX appears to have followed a pattern in which after achieving each additional set of five flights, a deep examination of the vehicles is made to check for any signs of fatigue and degradation in the structures and components. Whether booster reuse will extend beyond 20 will depend on another such evaluation.
A Falcon 9 first stage booster landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship following the launch of Starlink satellites on Nov.3.2023. This was the 18th launch and landing of the booster. Credits: SpaceX
A F9 payload is protected during launch by a nosecone composed of two fairings that split and fall away shortly after stage separation. The F9 fairings are now routinely recovered and reused after parachuting back to the sea. Initially, SpaceX aimed to catch fairings in a large net extended above a ship but this turned out to be more difficult than hoped. Fortunately, fairings recovered after floating on the sea showed far less damage from salt water than expected. After some design modifications to fully eliminate water effects, fairings are now routinely recovered from the ocean, refurbished and reused, saving several million dollars over construction of a new set of fairings.
SpaceX recovery vessel Doug retrieves a fairing half from Atlantic waters following a launch of Starlink satellites on Nov.3, 2023. The fairing was on its 13th mission. Credits: SpaceX
** Stoke Space –Second stage prototype successfully hops.
Stoke is developing an fully reusable two stage vehicle called Nova that will carry 7 ton payloads to LEO. Though much smaller than Starship, the goal is to achieve low cost to orbit via 24 hour turnaround and a high number of flights per vehicle. To accomplish this goal, their vehicle design uses an innovative approach to the most difficult challenge of full reusability: a second stage that can take a substantial payload to orbit and then reenter the atmosphere and execute a powered soft landing.
A space capsule like a SpaceX Dragon uses a heat shield over its “bottom” to protect the vehicle from the high temperatures generated as it is slowed by atmospheric drag. The capsule’s gumdrop shape and low center of mass keep the shield facing forward and no dynamic piloting is required. Eventually the capsule slows to the point that it simply falls through the lower portion of the atmosphere. The capsule deploys parachutes for the final phase of the descent and landing. (The Shuttles similarly used heat shields but employed their aerodynamic surfaces, i.e. the wings, to help reduce speed and glide to a landing.)
The Stoke second stage also uses a capsule-like heat shield during re-entry. Unlike the ablative materials typically used for capsule shields, the Nova upper stage will use an actively cooled metallic shield. In addition, rather than deploying parachutes for the final phase of speed reduction and landing, the vehicle is slowed and landed via the thrust of an array of combustion chambers set along the outer rim of the shield. During ascent, these same thrusters fire to send the upper stage into orbit after it separates from the first stage booster.
Relativity Space aims to begin launching the mid-lift Terran R from Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral in 2026. The vehicle design resembles the Falcon 9 with a reusable first stage that lands downrange on a sea platform and an expendable upper stage. Initial goal is 20 flights per first stage unit. The vehicle will take as much as 23,500 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
On left stands a stacked Terran R rocket with both stages and nosecone fairings. On left is the reusable first stage alone. Credits: Relativity Space
A September update marked the following milestones :
Broke new ground at the A-2 test stand Completed our fifth Aeon R thrust chamber assembly campaign, bringing us to 43 hot fires to date. Shipped and mounted our Aeon R powerpack: the first integrated test article that will be hot-fired on our new dual bay stand.
** Rocket Lab – Electron first stage recovered from launch; Neuron development underway
Rocket Lab is pursuing two reusability projects. They are progressing with a reusable first stage for the Electron small payload launch system while in parallel they are developing the reusable Neutron launch system for larger payloads.
Initially, Rocket Lab intended for a helicopter to use a hook to grab the parachute of an Electron booster and return it to land, preventing any contact with the sea. One attempt to do this briefly succeeded in snagging a booster’s parachute but it was then quickly detached due to signs of excessive stress. The booster went into the ocean but it floated and was recovered. Similar to the SpaceX experience with fairings, Rocket Lab found little sea water damage to stages and decided to eliminate the helicopter snag and let the boosters fall softly into the water. In July of 2023, Rocket Lab successfully recovered an Electron rocket booster after it was deliberately landed onto the sea.
See this video for a description of a Electron booster’s return and recovery.
So far, no booster has re-flown but they did successfully reuse an engine from a recovered booster.
Progress on development of the reusable Neutron rocket vehicle is proceeding well according to the company. The Neutron has a reusable first stage with an alligator style nosecone with hinged fairings that open to release the payload. An expendable second stage is attached to the payload for reaching orbit. The hinges close and the stage returns for a powered landing. The Neutron will place up to 13,000 kg into LEO.
An artist rendering of a Neutron rocket first stage deploying a payload attached to a propulsion stage to reach orbit. Credits: Rocket Lab
Blue Origin seldom provides updates on the progress in development of the heavy-lift New Glenn launch system. However, outside observers (e.g. here) have reported that a great amount of activity has been happening this year at the Blue Origin facilities at Cape Canaveral. These facilities include a large factory complex, testing sites, and Launch Complex 36 (LC-36).
The first-generation NG will consists of a reusable booster and an expendable upper stage. For the longer term, a reusable upper stage is in development. The seven-meter diameter and 98-meter height will make it one of the largest rockets ever built. The first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines burning liquid natural gas and oxygen propellants. BE-4 engines also power the ULA Vulcan rocket’s first stage. The NG booster will land on a ocean platform.
The upper stage has two BE-3U engines, which are vacuum optimized variants of the BE-3 engines used on the suborbital New Shepard vehicle (see below). These engines use liquid hydrogen and oxygen propellants.
It’s believed that Blue is aiming to fly the first New Glenn by late 2024 but this obviously could slip.
** Sierra Space – Assembly of first Dream Chaser cargo vehicle completed
A Dream Chaser will launch atop an expendable ULA Vulcan rocket for missions to low earth orbit (LEO). After servicing the ISS or carrying out other tasks, the Dream Chaser will return in a manner similar to the Space Shuttles:
Harnessing cutting-edge technology, Dream Chaser showcases its mettle by safely withstanding temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees during re-entry, all while being cool to the touch mere minutes after landing. The incorporation of the most advanced autonomous flight system, ensuring a minimum 15-mission lifespan, marks a monumental leap forward in space transportation.
The company currently has a contract with NASA for 7 cargo resupply missions. These include carrying experiment materials, waste, and other items back to earth.
Development of crew capable versions of Dream Chasers, referred to by the generic name DC-200, appears to be a long term priority for Sierra. These could carrying people to and from the ISS as well as commercial space stations such as Orbital Reef, for which Sierra is a co-developer.
Such flights begin with the White Knight vehicle carrying the space plane to an altitude of about 16 kilometers and then releasing it. The space plane fires its hybrid rocket motor, which can send the vehicle to an altitude of 85 to 90 kilometers. This exceeds the 80 km border to space as defined by the USAF.
Previously, the company had said it would fly Unity monthly while developing in parallel the next-generation Delta class vehicles. However, the company recently announced that it would phase out the current flight program in 2024 and focus its limited manpower and resources on development of the Delta-class vehicles. About 15% of the workforce was laid off. The much higher flight rate enabled by the Delta vehicles is essential if the company is to remain financially viable.
The Delta-class vehicles can carry up to six customers, fly twice per week, and require lower maintenance costs than the current vehicle. The company is aiming for flight operations by 2026.
*** Blue Origin developed the New Shepard rocket to learn how to do vertical takeoff and landings and to use it for suborbital tourism and science missions. The vehicle includes a capsule atop a booster stage, which is powered by the liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen BE-3 engine. The booster’s engine fires for about 110 seconds and then the booster and capsule separate at around 40 kilometers in height. Both continue upwards and exceed 100 kilometers before they begin to fall back to earth. The booster restarts its engine and makes a powered soft landing. The capsule returns for a soft landing with parachutes. A solid rocket fires just before touching down to soften the impact.
Following a series of test flights over several years, the first crewed flight happened on July 20, 2021. This was followed by an uncrewed flight with commercial payloads aboard and then there were 5 flights with paying passengers by August 4, 2022.
A New Shepard booster failed during a flight on Sept. 12, 2022 . The capsule payload included a set of experiments but no people. The capsule successfully fired its abort motor to separate from the booster and then landed safely with its parachutes. Blue Origin announced in March 2023 that the failure had been traced to a structural fatigue flaw in the nozzle of the New Shepard’s engine. They were implementing a fix and expected “to return to flight soon, with a re-flight of the NS-23 payloads“.
The PLD Space Miura-1 suborbital lifts off on Oct.7.2023. Image credits: PLD Space.
This Spanish company has been developing a reusable launch system for several years. On October 7, 2023 the company carried out their first successful test flight of the prototype suborbital rocket, MIURA 1. The rocket flew the planned trajectory to an apogee of 46 kilometers. (Range safety issues led to lowering the apogee from a previous goal of 80 km.) A payload of memorabilia items was released and the rocket’s parachute opened as planned. The vehicle reached the sea service in one piece but high lateral winds caused the vehicle to hit the water at an excessive speed that “caused one of the two main tanks to rupture, filling with water and sinking the vehicle“.
Based on lessons learned from this test, the company will proceed with development of MIURA 5, “which will make its first flight in 2025 from the European spaceport CSG, in Kourou (French Guiana), and will place satellites of up to 500 kg in polar orbit and up to one ton in equatorial orbit“. The first stage of Miura 5 will be recovered via parachute return and be reused. Commercial operations will then begin in 2026 and their goal is to average 30 launches per year subsequently.
Pangea is a Spanish company developing reusable aerospike propulsion systems. Aerospike engines can provide stable, efficient thrust at full atmospheric pressure and in vacuum while conventional engines need different nozzles for the two regimes. So theoretically aerospike engines would be ideal for single-stage-to-orbit vehicles but this has yet to be proven in practice.
Check out their collection of videos providing an introduction to aerospace propulsion.
** Jess Sponable – RLV history and a new P-2-P hypersonic rocket vehicle project
Jess Sponable discussed the history and current state of reusable rocket vehicles on a recent episode of The Space Show. While with the Air Force, DARPA, and other organizations, Sponable participated in several reusable rocket vehicle projects including the DC-X, X-33, and X-34.
Sponable also discussed his recent work with New Frontier Aerospace (NFAero), a startup company developing a rocket powered lifting body vehicle for long distance, point-to-point flights at Mach 8. The vehicle takes off and lands vertically and can reach any place on earth within two hours. It will be powered by the Mjölnir, a “3D-printed, full-flow staged combustion engine“.
Mojlnir full flow staged combustion engine. Credits: NFAero and PRLog
Venus is another company pursuing global hypersonic transportation. They say their Stargazer would reach anywhere in the world in one hour. It would be powered by a rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE) currently in development.
Stargazer will take off from a primary airport with jet engines, then when away from city-center, our rocket engine will propel passengers gently to 170,000 feet and Mach 9, crossing 5000 miles in 1 hour. San Francisco to Japan. Houston To London. All with a 2-hour turn-around.
The company has raised more than $20M and investors include Airbus, Draper Associates, and several other firms.
continue to offer and develop [Masten’s] unique test capabilities, including providing VTVL test flights for commercial and government customers. Astrobotic plans to expand these test flight offerings with the development of the next-generation Xogdor rocket, which will offer higher altitudes, longer missions, and supersonic flight for suborbital payload testing.
NASA’s Flight Opportunities has sponsored a number of projects that took advantage of VTVL flights for applications such as testing lunar landing sensors and guidance systems. In October the first flight campaign since the Astrobotic acquisition was successfully carried out with the Xodiac rocket, which has flown over 150 times. The flight test experiments were funded by NASA.
Astrobotic, a leader in vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) reusable rockets, successfully completed a flight test campaign for the University of Central Florida (UCF) last week at the company’s facility in Mojave, CA. The campaign consisted of four flights aboard Astrobotic’s Xodiac VTVL rocket to test UCF’s Ejecta STORM laser sensor, which was developed by Dr. Phil Metzger to study plume-surface interactions (PSI) between a rocket plume and lunar regolith. This test campaign will provide valuable data for researchers, including Dr. Metzger, as they seek to better understand PSI for humanity’s return to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program.
Here is a video of the test.
University of Central Florida researchers tested an instrument designed to measure the size and speed of surface particles kicked up by the exhaust from a rocket-powered lander on the Moon or Mars. The four tethered flights on Astrobotic’s Xodiac rocket-powered lander took place in Mojave, California, from Sept. 12 through Oct. 4, 2023. Researchers tested the Ejecta STORM technology’s integration with a lander and operation in flight conditions that simulated the plume effects of a lunar lander.
** Exos Aerospace – Tests engine for suborbital vehicle to fly in 2024
Exos Aerospace, a descendant of John Carmack’s Armadillo Aerospace, continues to develop reusable suborbital vehicles. The company is based in Greenville, Texas and recently test fired an ethanol engine mounted in a tethered rocket. A Purdue student group collaborated in the test:
Exos Aerospace BLK3 Engine Tests with Purdue University Sept 13 2023: “Exos Aerospace, a Greenville-based company, tested an engine for a rocket as they prepare for a launch in 2024.” -NBCdfw.com
“a team from Purdue University was on hand for the rocket test Wednesday, performing a lunar lander thermal experiment as part of the test.” -dallasinnovates.com
““This is a reduced throttle run,” said John Quinn, co-founder and CEO of Exos Aerospace, according to NBC 5 DFW. “It’ll be 60% throttle on the first test and 70% on the second test” -dallasexpress.com
North Texas commercial spaceflight tests rocket engine (Article and video) https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/nor…
“Precious Payload Inc. has partnered with Exos Aerospace Systems & Technologies to facilitate booking commercially available, suborbital capacities and to help bridge the gap between payload developers and the increased demand for suborbital slots.“
“Using its unique “ExosWorx” approach to rapid vehicle development, EXOS Aerospace completed the design, fabrication and hot-fire testing of a conceptual reusable hypersonic launch Vehicle, just 9 months after being awarded a USAF/AFWERX Phase II SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) contract to complete the work.“
BLK3 Tether and Hover Test – Youtube
Exos Aerospace BLK3 Hold Down Test and Hover Test.
0:01 BLK3 Tether Test
0:45 BLK3 Hover Test
We’re your expedited space delivery expert! You can find us at: www.exosaero.com
Booking now, SPACEavailable…
Exos Aerospace is a Preferred Partner with Precious Payload Inc. to facilitate booking. https://preciouspayload.com/launch-sc…
https://youtu.be/Ezj4DIFVlHY
** Chinese RLV development – iSpace Hyperbola-2 rocket does vertical takeoff and landing flight
The Chinese government program and several Chinese companies are pursuing rocket reusability. Some of these projects include:
Two-stage each powered by kerosene-liquid oxygen engines
Reusable first stage
71 meters long with diameter of 3.8 meter
17 mTon to LEO
2024 target for first launch
On November 2nd, iSpace flew its Hyperbola-2 methane fueled test stage to 178 meters and then came back down for a soft landing: China’s iSpace launches and lands rocket test stage – SpaceNews. Such VTVL tests were flown by the DC-X in the early 1990s, by Masten and Armadillo in the 2000s, and by SpaceX with the Grasshopper vehicle to master vertical takeoffs and landings.
The company is aiming for a SpaceX Falcon 9 type of system with a reusable first stage and expendable upper stage.
** Other reusable rocket related projects:
Lander Challenge – College competition for building and flying vertical takeoff and landing rockets.
Designed to drive elite collegiate rocketry teams to execute on self-landing rockets. Each milestone can be won by 3 teams, meaning a total of 15 awards will be distributed.
Prime – The two stage Prime smallsat launcher will have a reusable first stage booster. “The Prime rocket was designed to be re-usable, incorporating a novel recovery and reusability system.”
