{"id":19035,"date":"2019-06-18T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=19035"},"modified":"2019-06-17T18:17:35","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T22:17:35","slug":"space-transport-roundup-june-18-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=19035","title":{"rendered":"Space transport roundup &#8211; June.18.2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport:<\/p>\n<p>**<strong> Gyroc tethered hover test<\/strong> &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ael.co.uk\/\">Airbourne Engineering<\/a> in the UK:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ael.co.uk\/successful-test-of-vtvl-rocket\/\">Successful Test of VTVL Rocket | Airborne Engineering Limited<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>&#8230;The vehicle, codenamed Gyroc (a shortening of &#8220;gyro-stabilised rocket&#8221;) is the result of an internal research and development project that has been under way at Airborne for a few years at our Westcott facility in the United Kingdom. VTVL rockets like Gyroc can be used to test technologies required for landing on other planets, such as the Moon or Mars. We believe that this is the first time such a vehicle has been successfully tested in Europe.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jHq2CpYvsDg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>&#8230; Gyroc uses non-toxic rocket propellants (nitrous oxide and isopropyl alcohol,) weighs about 20kg and can hover for over 30 seconds. After more testing, we plan to scale-up the vehicle so that it can be used to assist other organisations developing autonomous planetary landing technology and who need a way to carry out testing in a realistic way on the Earth. Although the development of Gyroc has been entirely self-funded by Airborne Engineering, we are very grateful to the European Space Agency who have kindly provided some additional funds to support the recent test programme. It is hoped this will lead to future collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>** <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.Stratolaunch.com\">Stratolaunch<\/a> is up for sale<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/06\/14\/vulcan-selling-stratolaunch-worlds-largest-airplane-for-400-million.html\">Vulcan selling Stratolaunch world&#8217;s largest airplane for $400 million &#8211; CNBC<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geekwire.com\/2019\/paul-allen-stratolaunch-sale\/\">Paul Allen\u2019s Stratolaunch space venture is up for sale, sources say \u2013 GeekWire<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>CNBC:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The hefty price tag includes ownership of the airplane as well as the intellectual property and facilities.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Stratolaunch is the world\u2019s largest airplane by wingspan, which stretches 385 feet \u2014 longer than an American football field. The plane is powered by six jet engines salvaged from Boeing 747 aircraft.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Allen\u2019s vision of a massive plane that can launch rockets from the air was at least partially fulfilled in April, when <a class=\"\" tabindex=\"\" title=\"\" role=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2019\/04\/13\/stratolaunch-first-flight-worlds-biggest-airplane-built-for-rockets.html\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-type=\"\" aria-label=\"\">Stratolaunch flew for the first time<\/a> after about eight years in development. Based at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, the giant airplane flew for more than two hours before landing after what was deemed a successful first flight.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>** <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueorigin.com\">Blue Origin<\/a> has several major projects<\/strong> underway in Florida: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridatoday.com\/story\/tech\/science\/space\/2019\/06\/11\/blue-origin-investing-1-billion-into-space-coast-road-space-florida\/1422149001\/\">Blue Origin investing $1 billion into Space Coast for &#8216;road to space&#8217; &#8211; Florida Today<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>If all goes according to Blue Origin&#8217;s ambitious plan, the Space Coast will become the opening phase of a\u00a0&#8220;road to space&#8221; for millions of people taking their livelihoods beyond Earth&#8217;s fragile atmosphere.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>The Jeff Bezos-led company is investing more than a billion dollars into the region to transform infrastructure \u2014\u00a0old and new \u2014\u00a0into gateways for its upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blueorigin.com\/new-glenn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">New Glenn<\/a> rocket, a towering vehicle slated to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station no earlier than 2021. It will also be built, launched\u00a0and refurbished here after landing on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>&#8220;New Glenn is all about millions of people living and working in space,&#8221; Scott Henderson, Blue Origin&#8217;s vice president of test and flight operations, said Tuesday during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nscfl.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-track-label=\"inline|intext|n\/a\">National Space Club Florida Committee<\/a> luncheon in Cape Canaveral. &#8220;It sets the foundation for building an infrastructure required to get to space.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>** <strong>Ariane V rocket set to liftoff from Kourou, French Guiana on June 20th<\/strong> with the AT&amp;T T-16 and Eutelsat 7C communications satellites during the window 2143-2330 GMT (5:43-7:30 p.m. EDT).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arianespace.com\/mission\/ariane-flight-va248\/\">Ariane Flight VA248 \u2013 Arianespace<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arianespace.com\/mission-update\/va248-payload-processing\/\">The AT&amp;T T-16 and EUTELSAT 7C satellites are readied for Arianespace\u2019s next Ariane 5 launch \u2013 Arianespace<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19042\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19042\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arianespace.com\/mission-update\/va248-payload-processing\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19042\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=19042\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/6-5-2019-va248-sm21.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"500,392\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"VS248 payloads\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;&amp;#8220;Flight VA248\u2019s two satellite passengers are readied for launch during parallel activity inside the Spaceport\u2019s S5 building. The photo at left shows AT&amp;#038;T T-16 during its fueling process, while at right EUTELSAT 7C undergoes its fit-check with the payload adapter that will provide the interface with Ariane 5 when integrated on the launcher.&amp;#8221; &amp;#8211; Arianespace&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/6-5-2019-va248-sm21.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19042\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/6-5-2019-va248-sm21.jpg\" alt=\"VS248 payloads\" width=\"500\" height=\"392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/6-5-2019-va248-sm21.jpg 500w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/6-5-2019-va248-sm21-300x235.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19042\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>&#8220;Flight VA248\u2019s two satellite passengers are readied for launch during parallel activity inside the Spaceport\u2019s S5 building. The photo at left shows AT&amp;T T-16 during its fueling process, while at right EUTELSAT 7C undergoes its fit-check with the payload adapter that will provide the interface with Ariane 5 when integrated on the launcher.&#8221; &#8211; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arianespace.com\/mission-update\/va248-payload-processing\/\">Arianespace<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>** <strong>Russian Proton rocket set to launch the German and Russian X-ray telescopes<\/strong> on June 21st at 1217 GMT (8:17 am EDT)<span class=\"strong\"> from the <\/span>Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: <a href=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/2019\/06\/14\/proton-rocket-russian-german-astronomy-satellite-arrive-at-launch-pad\/\">Proton rocket, Russian-German astronomy satellite arrive at launch pad \u2013 Spaceflight Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VBTUyiEtheg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ulalaunch.com\/rockets\/vulcan-centaur\">ULA Vulcan rocket<\/a> development update<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/2019\/06\/ula-new-innovations-vulcan\/\">ULA Preparing Proven Hardware and New Innovations for Vulcan \u2013 NASASpaceFlight.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>One of the only components of Vulcan Centaur which will likely not fly prior to Vulcan\u2019s debut is the BE-4 engine, two of which will power Vulcan\u2019s first stage. The BE-4 is a liquid methane and liquid oxygen fueled engine developed by Blue Origin, originally for their New Glenn launch vehicle.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/?s=New+Glenn\">New Glenn is also expected to debut in 2021<\/a>, so the BE-4 could only fly prior to Vulcan\u2019s debut if New Glenn flies first. The BE-4, as well as BE-3U engines for New Glenn, will be manufactured at a new factory in Huntsville, Alabama, not far from ULA\u2019s Decatur factory. Construction equipment has begun to arrive at the factory site.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Prototype engines have been test fired extensively at Blue Origin\u2019s West Texas facility, also the launch site of their suborbital New Shepard vehicle. Further testing and eventual qualification of the engine will take place in Texas, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/?s=Blue+Marshall\">the 4670 test stand at NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville<\/a>. Blue Origin is also preparing an engine test facility at LC-11 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, next to the future launch site of New Glenn, LC-36.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>**<strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/firefly.com\/\">Firefly<\/a> seeking payloads for first demo flight of <a href=\"https:\/\/firefly.com\/launch-alpha\/\">Alpha<\/a><\/strong> rocket:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/firefly.com\/firefly-aerospace-provides-a-dream-payload-opportunity\/\">Firefly Aerospace Provides a DREAM Payload Opportunity &#8211; Firefly Aerospace<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/firefly.com\/dream\/\">Dream &#8211; Firefly Aerospace<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/science\/2019\/06\/firefly-opens-first-alpha-rocket-launch-to-academic-and-educational-payloads\/\" target=\"_d\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Firefly opens first Alpha rocket launch to academic and educational payloads | Ars Technica<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The company<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>has an (undisclosed) customer for the flight, but the smallsat launcher also has some unused capacity for the mission\u2014the Alpha rocket has about twice as much lift as an existing competitor, Rocket Lab&#8217;s Electron vehicle.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>So on Monday, Firefly announced that it will accept some academic and educational payloads free of charge on the Alpha flight. &#8220;We&#8217;ve wanted to do something like this on our first flight from the beginning,&#8221; Markusic said. The payloads will fly to a 300km circular orbit, with a 97-degree inclination.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z8Sme567RCo?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>** <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.SpaceX.com\">SpaceX<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>*** <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spacex.com\/STP-2\">STP-2<\/a> Falcon Heavy launch preparations<\/strong>: Liftoff from Pad-39A at Cape Kennedy Space Center is set for a window that opens on the evening of June 24th at 11:30 pm-3:30 am EDT (0330-0730 GMT)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/spacex-falcon-heavy-block-5-first-flight-proven-static-fire\/\">SpaceX&#8217;s first flight-proven Falcon Heavy Block 5 rocket ready for static fire test &#8211; Teslarati<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>If the routine test goes as planned, SpaceX\u2019s third completed Falcon Heavy will be ready to lift off as early as 11:30 pm ET (03:30 UTC), June 24th. Atop the massive rocket will be the US Air Force\u2019s Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission, a collection of 24 small satellites from a variety of US government agencies and academic institutions. Practically speaking, STP is often more of an engineered excuse to launch, involving satellites and customers that are willing to accept higher risk than more valuable payloads, making it far easier for the US military to certify new technologies and new commercial launch vehicles.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>As previously discussed on Teslarati, STP-2 is an extremely ambitious mission that aims to simultaneously certify or pave the way towards certification of critical capabilities. First and foremost, it will (barring serious anomalies) give the US military the data it needs to certify SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy rocket for all national defense launches, giving ULA\u2019s Delta IV Heavy its first real competition in a decade and a half.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Included under the umbrella of that catch-all certification is a sort of torture-test validation of the long-coast capabilities of SpaceX\u2019s Falcon upper stage. To successfully complete STP-2, the upper stage will be subjected to \u201c<strong>four separate upper-stage engine burns, three separate deployment orbits, a final propulsive passivation maneuver, and a total mission duration of over six hours.<\/strong>\u201d It will likely be SpaceX\u2019s most technically-challenging launch ever.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>*** <strong>Planetary Society&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/sail.planetary.org\">LightSail-2<\/a> solar sail on FH flight<\/strong> and the Society is providing lots of information on all aspects of the launch:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.planetary.org\/blogs\/guest-blogs\/2019\/lightsail-2-launch-viewing-tips.html\">LightSail 2 Launch Viewing: Tips &amp; Tricks | The Planetary Society<\/a> &#8211; Info on watching the launch in Florida<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.planetary.org\/blogs\/jason-davis\/what-to-expect-lightsail-2.html\">What to Expect when LightSail 2 Launches into Space | The Planetary Society<\/a> &#8211; The sequence of events from liftoff through deployment of the <a href=\"http:\/\/prox-1.gatech.edu\/\">Prox-1 spacecraft<\/a> (a Georgia Tech project) that holds LightSail-2 and then the release of the sail from Prox-1.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gUEuMQivNOo?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>*** <strong>The Falcon 9 launch of the RadarSat constellation spacecraft<\/strong> looks to be the last SpaceX launch from Vandenberg for several months:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/spacex-falcon-9-california-radarsat-launch-in-photos\/\">SpaceX Falcon 9 bids temporary goodbye to West Coast in launch &amp; landing photos &#8211; Teslarati<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/spacex-falcon-9-radarsat-launch-watch-live\/\">SpaceX&#8217;s Falcon 9 sticks foggy booster recovery at California landing zone &#8211; Teslararti<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>*** <strong>Announcement of Korean satellite launch contract<\/strong> may be just one of several launches for 2019 that have not yet been revealed by SpaceX: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/spacex-wins-falcon-9-launch-contract-manifest-mystery\/\">SpaceX Falcon 9 wins Korean launch contract as 2019 mystery missions persist &#8211; Teslarati<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>As previously discussed in both Teslarati articles and newsletters, comments from SpaceX executives in February and May 2019 reiterate the company\u2019s expectation of 18-21 launches in 2019, excluding Starlink. Hofeller\u2019s \u201cmore than 21 launches\u201d admittedly came more than two months before a catastrophic Crew Dragon failure threw the spacecraft\u2019s launch manifest into limbo.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Three months later, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell reiterated the idea that SpaceX could beat its 2018 launch record (21 launches) or at least get close. Curiously, she specifically noted that SpaceX\u2019s purported 18-21 launch manifest excluded Starlink missions, of which SpaceX has already launched one. In short, SpaceX has completed 7 launches in 2019 (6 if Starlink v0.9 is excluded). The company\u2019s public manifest \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/SpaceX\/wiki\/launches\/manifest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"unofficially cobbled together by fans (opens in a new tab)\" data-unsp-sanitized=\"clean\">unofficially cobbled together by fans<\/a> \u2013 shows 9 more launches scheduled for a total of 15 non-Starlink launches in 2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">To meet Shotwell\u2019s expected 18-21 non-Starlink launches, anywhere from 3 to 6 missions are apparently missing from publicly-managed launch manifests. It\u2019s unclear if SpaceX actually has enough launch-ready customers to achieve those ambitious targets. Additionally, SpaceX is currently on track to complete 8 launches total (1 Starlink) in the first half of 2019. In 2017 and 2018 (two years without interruption), SpaceX consistently launched an equivalent number (or more) missions in the first half of the year when compared to the second half, and both years have maxed out at 9 launches in H2.<\/p>\n<p>*** <strong>SpaceX aiming Starlink internet services at markets<\/strong> outside of densely populated urban areas: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/spacex-elon-musk-starlink-250-million-people\/\">SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hints at Starlink&#8217;s global reach at Tesla shareholder event &#8211; Teslarati<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Elon Musk\u2019s specific comment indicated that Starlink \u2013 at least in its current iteration \u2013 was never meant to serve more than \u201c3-5%\u201d of Earth (population: ~7.8 billion), with most or all of its users nominally located in areas with low to medium population densities. This generally confirms technical suspicions that Starlink (and other constellations like OneWeb and Telesat) is not really capable of providing internet to everyone per se. <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>For SpaceX, each Starlink satellite \u2013 per official statements that the first 60 satellites represent more than 1 terabit of bandwidth \u2013 likely offers bandwidth of roughly 17-20 gigabits per second. In simpler terms, this means that one Starlink satellite overhead could theoretically support as many as 4000 users simultaneously streaming YouTube videos at 1080p\/30fps, a figure that sounds impressive but glosses over the sheer number of people that live in cities. Importantly, every single Starlink satellite at ~550 km will likely have a service radius of several thousand \u2013 if not tens of thousands of \u2013 square kilometers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an overview of the Starlink project:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/giQ8xEWjnBs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>*** <strong>Starhopper continues to wait for it&#8217;s Raptor engine<\/strong>, which apparently was damaged in tests at the SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas. Elon Musk said in a tweet that the next test hop of the Starhopper was awaiting repairs to the engine. This also means that his update on the Starship project, which he had hinted would be given on June 20th, will be postponed.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Might get pushed to next month. Starhopper flight first. Waiting on engine repair.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1140414413322670080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>*** <strong>The roads near the Starhopper launch pad will be closed<\/strong> during testing times: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brownsvilleherald.com\/news\/local\/county-preps-for-spacex-closures\/article_0c731bae-8eba-11e9-ac04-1bdc7a3dd027.html\">County preps for SpaceX closures &#8211; Brownsville Herald<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>In a first, Cameron County has announced possible closures of Boca Chica Beach and State Highway 4 for SpaceX testing that could span a week-long window, as opposed to three-day windows.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevi\u00f1o Jr. announced in the public notice that closures are possible on June 20 and\/or June 21 and\/or June 22, as well as June 24 and\/or June 25 and\/or June 26 from 2 to 8 p.m. for space flight activities.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Testing was initially scheduled for this week, but during the last week of May and each week of June the county has announced the testing has been rescheduled.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>*** <strong>Views of Starhopper and orbital demo Starship vehicles<\/strong> in Texas and Florida:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickorlando.com\/news\/space-news\/spacex-starship-taking-shape-at-cocoa-steel-facility\">SpaceX Starship taking shape at Cocoa steel facility &#8211; ClickOrlando.com<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>SpaceX is leasing Coastal Steel to build its largest spaceship ever. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said right now, there is simultaneous construction of the interplanetary Starship going on in both Texas and Florida.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Deep in an industrial area of Cocoa, Florida, a Starship is being built. The Cocoa Starship is coming along with the nosecone being raised this last week. The race <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@elonmusk<\/a> started between Boca Chica and Cocoa is on! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SpaceX?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SpaceX<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Starship?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Starship<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Shiny?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Shiny<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uxvlgraubq\">pic.twitter.com\/uxvlgraubq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Julia [SCLA] (@julia_bergeron) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/julia_bergeron\/status\/1140245802096431109?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dny1OhfBWGQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SpaceX?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SpaceX<\/a> crews hard at work today, the crews continuing with the shining and polishing of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/StarShip?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StarShip<\/a>. The wind\/tourist barrier is rapidly being completed. New designation signs, have been placed around the facilities. While <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/StarHopper?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#StarHopper<\/a>, sits on the pad waiting for the raptor&#x1f680; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/w5hTeuhcfe\">pic.twitter.com\/w5hTeuhcfe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Austin Barnard&#x1f680; (@austinbarnard45) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/austinbarnard45\/status\/1140652506609008641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Fathers Day off day at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SpaceX?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SpaceX<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BocaChica?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BocaChica<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Starship?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Starship<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rIQCQnLoC2\">pic.twitter.com\/rIQCQnLoC2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SPadre (@SpacePadreIsle) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpacePadreIsle\/status\/1140390437489913856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 16, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">====<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B071G3QMS2\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B071G3QMS2&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=hobbyspace&amp;linkId=f5526e5d1c26aa69f16fe78a9ece7406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V 21309<br \/>\nOuter Space Model Rocket for Kids and Adults, Science Building Kit<br \/>\n(1900 pieces)<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&amp;l=am2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B071G3QMS2\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ac&amp;ref=tf_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=hobbyspace&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B071G3QMS2&amp;asins=B071G3QMS2&amp;linkId=ebb9238717fd2b3e2654757c9a85c78a&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true&amp;price_color=333333&amp;title_color=0066c0&amp;bg_color=ffffff\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport: ** Gyroc tethered hover test &#8211; Airbourne Engineering in the UK:\u00a0 Successful Test of VTVL Rocket | Airborne Engineering Limited &#8230;The vehicle, codenamed Gyroc (a shortening of &#8220;gyro-stabilised rocket&#8221;) is the result of an internal research and development project that has been under &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=19035\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Space transport roundup &#8211; June.18.2019<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rockets"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-4X1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2787,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2787","url_meta":{"origin":19035,"position":0},"title":"Morpheus lander testing again today","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Project Morpheus VTVL rocket vehicle is on the pad for another test today. Follow developments at Morpheus Lander (MorpheusLander) on Twitter.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rockets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rockets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6857,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6857","url_meta":{"origin":19035,"position":1},"title":"Videos: Morpheus VTVL rocket test","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA\u2019s\u00a0Project Morpheus\u00a0flew their\u00a0Armadillo Aerospace\u00a0quad-style vertical takeoff and landing rocket vehicle on Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center. Here are a couple of videos of the flight; http:\/\/youtu.be\/Iq1YAMMT5_g http:\/\/youtu.be\/GWx8SgmAZNA Caption to the latter video: The Morpheus team successfully completed Free Flight 9 (FF9) the KSC SLF on Tuesday, March 11, 2014. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rockets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rockets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Iq1YAMMT5_g\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2802,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=2802","url_meta":{"origin":19035,"position":2},"title":"Video: Morpheus tethered test firings","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a video of two tethered flight tests carried out today of the Project Morpheus VTVL rocket vehicle. From the caption: This is the 24th tether test of the Morpheus Vehicle. This test was performed with the \"Bravo\" version of the vehicle and tested some of the new backup\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rockets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rockets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&l=ur2&o=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5624,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5624","url_meta":{"origin":19035,"position":3},"title":"NASA Morpheus vehicle flies without a tether","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA's Project Morpheus\u00a0has moved their vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) vehicle (modeled after Armadillo Aerospace's quad vehicles) to Kennedy Space Center, where they can do un-tethered free flights. The first such free flight test took place today: http:\/\/youtu.be\/RlbTx4fo5Tw","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rockets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rockets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/RlbTx4fo5Tw\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20128,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=20128","url_meta":{"origin":19035,"position":4},"title":"Space transport roundup &#8211; Nov.2.2019","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport (find previous roundups here). ** Northrop Grumman Antares successfully launches Cygnus cargo spacecraft. This is the 12th Cygnus mission to the the ISS. The craft is to dock with the ISS at 4:10 am EST on Monday, Nov.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rockets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rockets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ravn Releases Rocket - Aevum","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/RavnReleasesRocket-Aevum-500x260.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4159,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=4159","url_meta":{"origin":19035,"position":5},"title":"Video: Morpheus Lander tethered flight test on Aug.23.13","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's a video of last Friday's tethered flight test of the Project Morpheus rocket VTOL vehicle: http:\/\/youtu.be\/0j37DIa1Ok0 Caption: Morpheus Bravo vehicle executed another successful tether test on August 23, 2013 as NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC). All test objectives were met within the ~50 second flight including ignition, ascent and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Rockets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Rockets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/0j37DIa1Ok0\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19035"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19049,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19035\/revisions\/19049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}