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:
** Roundtable | NASA’s Project Artemis and their plans to settle the moon – TMRO.tv
This week we have special guest Manju Bangalore along with Cariann, Jared and Jade return for our first round table in a while to talk about NASA”s plan to colonize the moon. We dive specifically in to their Project Artemis.
When it comes to space debris, regulations may help with prevention but not the cure. Yet, how do you attempt to regulate something that nobody really owns? Listen to Chris Blackerby discuss how Astroscale has been leading the conversation in terms of policy, technology and who should pay for prevention. Chris talks about regulations that would give the ability to go up and de-orbit debris that has been rotating for years. He describes building capabilities into satellite design that would enable easy removal out of orbit. Although the probability is low, an exploration of how services throughout the world might be affected by a high impact collision is also discussed.
Liftoff is at about the 2:57:30 point in this webcast video. The miscue in the trajectory is visible just before the rocket goes out of view of the camera.
A problem with the engine gimbal is mentioned in the video. Haven’t seen any update since then from the company giving more details about the problem. The vehicle appears to be undamaged so the next launch could happen relatively soon. You can follow EXOS at EXOS (@exosaerosystech) | Twitter.
Another day, another test milestone complete. A full duration hotfire of the HRM-2500 motor on the Vertical Test Stand. Valuable data gathered for our propulsion team to study. @virgingalactic 🚀 pic.twitter.com/UjFLwH9VCH
— TheSpaceshipCompany (@TheSpaceshipCo) July 1, 2019
Modern orbital rockets are made up of two or more stages. Different stages use different engine types, each optimized for a specific part of the ascent. With MAREVL, each stage will have different numbers of the same engine type and it uses a hybrid rocket, in which liquid oxidizer combines with a solid fuel, to reduce the complexity, weight, and cost of the engine.
“We are developing a modular hybrid rocket engine that will use a bio-derived solid fuel to launch cubesats into low-Earth orbit,” Lockman said.
The goal is development of a smallsat launcher. Here is a recent presentation by Seth Lockman of bluShift: 5 Minute Genius: Seth Lockman – From Maine to the Stars. Maine Science Festival 2019
The company was founded back in 2014 but only emerged into the public eye in 2018 after spending four years in stealth mode. The company raised $40 million in Series A funding in April last year from Airbus Ventures, Google Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins. They are touting launch costs of $250,000, and up to five launches per day. It’s unclear what the weight limit is per launch.
Funnels are chopped and the deck is flat on the @blueorigin recovery ship being modified in Pensacola! The loading ramp on the stern has also been shortened flush with the deck. pic.twitter.com/UGY0MInBge
— Dakota The Astrowolf (@DakotaAstroWolf) June 29, 2019
** Chinese commercial launch companies:
*** Polar Space Exploration Technology Ltd. developing vertical takeoff and landing launch system: “Tianmeng” rocket project – Weibo
The landing looks similar to concepts for the government Long March 8 VTVL medium-lift rocket, which retains side boosters for landing. pic.twitter.com/7Jl9e7tK2l
Thumbs up for our colleagues！We successfully completed 2500N bipropellant thruster hot fire test at 21st of May, this thruster is designed for precision attitude, trajectory and orbit control. pic.twitter.com/ona9HuFCac
The first commercial mission for SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy launch system will likely take place in 2021, a company executive said June 26.
Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s vice president of commercial sales, said the company is in talks with prospective customers for the first commercial launch of that system roughly two years from now.
“We are in discussions with three different customers as we speak right now to be that first mission,” Hofeller said at the APSAT conference here. “Those are all telecom companies.”
*** Falcon 9 standard launch price is now $50M according to Hofeller in the same presentation.
Hofeller said the discounted pricing SpaceX gave to early customers of Falcon 9 missions with pre-flown first-stage boosters is now the company’s normal pricing. SpaceX Founder Elon Musk said last year that previously flown booster missions were priced “around $50 million,” down from $62 million. Musk said SpaceX’s prices would continue to decline, too.
Hofeller reiterated that prices would keep dropping through the introduction of Super Heavy and Starship. The fully reusable nature of the launch system enables those lower prices, he said.
According to the official SpaceX Falcon 9 specs, the $50M price makes for $2193/kg ($995/lb) to LEO, $6024/kg ($2732/lb) to GEO, and $12440/kg ($5643/lb) to Mars.
Speaking at 2019’s Asia-Pacific Satellite (APSAT) Conference, SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Jonathan Hofeller – squeezed into a sea of breaking-news updates – announced that the company plans to launch the same Falcon 9 Block 5 booster for the fifth (or sixth) time by the end of 2019.
Just an add-on at the end of a number of updates focused on SpaceX’s next-generation Starship/Super Heavy rocket, the phrasing reported by SpaceNews.com technically means that there are plans for a Falcon 9 booster to launch for the sixth time in the second half of 2019. The demonstration of such an extreme level of operational reusability barely 18 months after Falcon 9 Block 5’s debut would make it clear that SpaceX’s latest Falcon upgrade has been a resounding success. In line with those positive signs, Hofeller also noted that SpaceX is already starting to transfer the fruits of those labors to its customers by permanently lowering the base price of Falcon 9 launch contracts.
…the Green Propellant Infusion Mission spacecraft, which enables the first ever on-orbit demonstration of the AFRL developed Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-toxic Propellant.
Space demonstration of this new propellant, ASCENT, formerly known as AF-M315E, marks a major milestone in a national effort to develop new energetic propellants to replace hydrazine, the current established chemical propellant of choice for nearly all current satellite propulsion. Not only is ASCENT 50% higher performing than hydrazine, it is also a vastly safer alternative, allowing for streamlined ground operations relative to legacy propellants. While hydrazine is flammable, toxic and requires the use of Self Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble suits for handling operations, ASCENT propellant requires minimal Personal Protective Equipment such as a lab coat and a splash guard for the face.
…
Also part of the STP-2 mission was AFRL’s Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) spacecraft. The first of its kind globally, the DSX flight experiment will conduct new research to advance DOD’s understanding of the processes governing the Van Allen radiation belts and the effect they have on spacecraft components. DSX’s elliptical path in medium Earth orbit will increase understanding of this orbital regime, and advance understanding of the interplay between waves and particles that underlie radiation belt dynamics, enabling better specification, forecasting and mitigation. This will ultimately enhance the nation’s capability to field resilient space systems, AFRL officials say.
DSX’s mission is different from most other Air Force flight experiments as it is a purely scientific mission. The spacecraft is equipped with a unique suite of technologies such as space weather sensors and graphite antenna booms used to conduct experiments with very-low frequency radio waves. DSX has two sets of immense deployable booms due to the large antenna requirements of these experiments. One set extends 80 meters tip-to-tip and the other extends 16 meters tip-to-tip, making the DSX spacecraft one of the largest deployable structures in orbit.
Despite the third launch success, there are no FH missions listed on the public manifest till the end of 2020:
A SpaceX fairing is falling from an altitude of 50 km and falls with a constant terminal velocity of 20 m/s. You are the captain of the fast boat Ms. Tree. Mission control has just determined that the fairing will land a distance of 12.3 km from your location. Since you are trying to impress everyone, you decide to wait until the last possible moment to travel to the rendezvous site. How long should you wait?
*** 57 Starlink satellites have reached operational orbit while 3 are not in contact with the controllers. These first-generation spacecraft were inserted into orbit at 440 km in May and then used on-board ion thrusters to reach 550 kilometers. Since they are in the lower orbit, the three failed satellites will reenter the atmosphere within a year or two.
2. SpaceX has been working well with NASA after April’s Crew Dragon explosion in Florida. Two sources confirm issue is not with Super Draco thrusters, and probably will cause a delay of months, rather than a year or more.
As NASA marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, here are five things to know about the Moon that you can share with others: How far away is the Moon? How big is the Moon? What color is the Moon? Why do we always see the same side of the Moon? And what are the dark areas on the Moon?
In July, find the Scorpius constellation to identify the reddish supergiant Antares, which will lead you to discover a trio of globular star clusters. Keep watching for space-based views of these densely packed, spherical collections of ancient stars, as well as three nebulas: the Swan Nebula, the Lagoon Nebula, and the Trifid Nebula.
** Alyn Wallace posts his program on the July 2019 night sky:
The two winning teams will work with engineers, artists and educators from the Playful Learning Lab, in consultation with Blue Origin and OK Go, on flight ready versions of their ideas.
The responses of the winners when informed of their selection were captured in this video:
One of the two winning teams is based in New York and includes students Alexandra Slabakis (16), Grace Clark (16), and Annabelle Clark (12). The team’s project is called “Dark Origin” and will use gravity and magnetism to simulate the origin of planet Earth.
The second winning team is based in Utah and includes students Cameron Trueblood (11), Blake Hullinger (12), and Kellen Hullinger(15). Their design proposes using environmental data taken during the space craft’s flight to create sounds and visual art.
“We were thrilled with the entries to the Art In Space contest – picking winners was so hard!” said OK Go lead singer Damian Kulash. “The submissions were all so imaginative, and really exemplified the type of thinking and creativity that OK Go is always striving for in our own work. The kids, especially our winners, clearly understand the truth that so many adults have lost along the way: there are no borders separating art and science — they’re the same thing. It all comes from curiosity and experimentation, and creativity is really just about exercising those skills.”
*** You can also send your artwork to space and back via a New Shepard. Blue Origin’s public participation initiative, Club for the Future, welcomes your art on the back of postcard
Draw or write your vision of millions of people living and working in space on the blank side of a self-addressed, stamped postcard, and send it to us. We’ll pack the first 10,000 postcards received before July 20, 2019 inside the Crew Capsule on an upcoming New Shepard flight. Your idea will launch into space! Once New Shepard returns to Earth, we’ll send your postcard back to you, officially stamped “flown to space.”
** A CNN article on the space arts covers astronaut and dancer Mae Jemison’s views on the importance of both the arts and STEM in a well-rounded education, the paintings of the Moon by the late Apollo astronaut Alan Bean, astronaut Nicole Stott’s use of art to teach kids about space, and the role of effective illustrations in explaining complex space science and astrophysics phenomena: Art and space: ‘A quest never to end’ – CNN
For the past 15 years at Caltech, the artistic duo of Robert Hurt and Tim Pyle has been creating illustrations of how gravitational waves, myriad exoplanets and even the top of the Milky Way might look if we could see them for ourselves. The images look so realistic that the captions have to remind people that they’re artistic renderings.
A rendering of the TRAPPIST-1 exo-planetary system illustrates the relative sizes of the earth-scale planets, their orbits around their ultra-cool red-dwarf sun, and the habitable zone band where water can be in liquid form rather than steam or ice for a planet with an earth-like atmosphere. Credits: Tim Pyle and Robert Hurt.
