Hi-tech shrimp fishing
An evening pause: It might seem simple, throwing a net overboard to catch shrimp, but as with everything humans do, it involves a far more sophisticated technology.
Hat tip Rocco.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
Prep work for SpaceX’s Texas spaceport continues
The competition heats up: Though the first launch there is likely delayed until 2018, SpaceX has begun the preliminary foundation work to begin constructing its private spaceport near Brownsville, Texas.
They are hauling in a gigantic amount of dirt to stabilize the ground before work on the launchpads themselves begins.
Privately-built inflatable module installed on ISS
The competition heats up: Bigelow Aerospace’s BEAM inflatable module, built in only three years for a mere $17 million, was installed on ISS this past weekend.
BEAM will allow Bigelow and NASA to demonstrate the capabilities of the inflatable habitat on ISS. It is expected to perform for at least two years of testing on the Station, providing a key shake out of the technology that is likely to play a major role in human deep space exploration. “(BEAM) will be a great way to test out the thermal characteristics of this new type of module, along with its radiation protection,” added Kopra. “It’s going to be a neat thing.”
Following its test period, the SSRMS will remove the module from the Station before releasing it Nadir (Earth-facing). The module will eventually re-enter around a year later.
Audioslave – I Am The Highway
An evening pause: Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
“I am not your rolling wheels – I am the highway.
I am not your carpet ride – I am the sky.”
North Korean missile launch fails
Does this make you feel safer? An attempt by North Korea to test a ballistic missile launched from a mobile platform failed seconds after launch today.
Obamacare unsustainable according to insurers
Finding out what’s in it: Healthcare insurance companies are warning that because of Obamacare they either must be allowed to raise rates significantly or they will have to close down.
The rate increases will be on top of gigantic increases already imposed. Read it all. None of the news is good, and it is only going to get worse.
ExoMars instrument activation so far good
The activation and check-out of ExoMars as it heads towards its rendezvous in October has so far uncovered no problems.
The check-out will continue over the next few weeks but right now it looks like the concern about possible damage during launch was unfounded.
Funds needed to identify “Wow!” signal
An astronomer who thinks the “Wow!” radio signal was not from aliens but caused by two comets that were not known at the time is trying to crowd-source the funds he needs to obtain radio telescope time to prove his theory.
Comet 266P/Christensen will pass the Chi Sagittarii star group again on 25 January 2017, while 335P/Gibbs will make its passage on 7 January 2018. Paris plans to observe these events to look for a recurrence of the mystery signal. But time is not on his side for using an existing radio telescope – they are all booked out.
So, he has launched a crowdfunding campaign on gofundme to raise the $13,000 he needs to buy a radio telescope to make the observation. Donations are rolling in and he is already most of the way to his target. “I would like to [be fully funded] in May, order the stuff so that I can have it by October,” he says. This would give him time to construct the dish, test it and prepare for the January encounter.
Drone racing deal for ESPN
The success of competitive drone racing this year has resulted in a broadcast deal with ESPN.
ESPN’s new multi-year, international distribution deal will bring a number of races to television screens this year, beginning with the 2016 US National Drone Racing Championships on Governors Island, New York City, between August 5 and 7. This will be followed by the 2016 World Drone Racing Championships in October, which will attract pilots from more than 30 countries to the Kualoa Ranch private nature reserve in Hawaii for a share of $200,000 in cash prizes. Both events will be streamed live on ESPN3, and then packaged into one hour specials to be shown on the ESPN network thereafter.
First test flight for Rocket Lab upcoming
The competition heats up: With ground testing of its second stage completed, the first test flight of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is expected before the end of the year.
They are getting their launch site in New Zealand up and running, are beginning qualification tests of Electron’s first stage, and if all goes as scheduled hope to begin commercial launches in 2017.
April 14, 2016 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Tonight’s podcast is embedded below the fold. Lots of ULA discussion, as well as Russian court battles.
» Read more
L’Arpeggiata – Ciaconna by M. Cazzati
An evening pause: Anyone who says classical musicians can’t jam has not seen this video. Man, are they enjoying themselves! And for good reason, as the music is quite beautiful, and has rhythm.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
The history of Falcon 9’s recoverable first stage
This is a beautiful short supercut of the history of SpaceX’s effort to develop a recoverable first stage. Hat tip Rand Simberg.
The video notes that it took less four years, from the first flight of Grasshopper to the first successful landing by a Falcon 9 first stage. This is the kind of pace I remember as a child in the America I grew up in. New ideas were fast and continuous, and things moved. I pray we are heading for a new renaissance where things will move again.
Next Atlas 5 launch delayed again
In the heat of competition: ULA has once again suspended future Atlas 5 launches indefinitely while it investigates the launch anomaly during the Cygnus launch several weeks ago.
The problem involves the system that delivers kerosene fuel to the rocket’s Russian-made RD-180 first-stage engine. Bruno said he expects to know within the next few days which components are suspect. Engineers have not found anything in the processing of the rocket for that launch on March 22 that was different from any previously flown, Bruno added. “We have a very good idea (of what the problem is), but we’re not quite done isolating it,” Bruno said. “I think in the next few days we should be able to say which components … we’re actually focused on.”
Tucson to be sued over space tourism deal
In the heat of competition: A think-tank has announced that it plans on suing the Tucson city government over its deal with the space tourism balloon company World View.
Jim Manley, Senior Attorney with the conservative think-tank Goldwater Institute in Phoenix, told us he’s filing the suit tomorrow on behalf of three Pima County residents. “We’re asking the court to put a stop to the World View deal and all of the deals that come out of it.”
Manley calls the World View deal “illegal” for, among other things, violating Arizona’s Gift Clause. He says, “What the Gift Clause requires is that money be spent for a public purpose, and that the government receive fair compensation in return.” The lawsuit will also state the deal violates competitive bidding laws, because, Manley says, it was negotiated in secret, with no public bidding.
As much as I think it smart of the city government to try to encourage this business to settle in Tucson, I know, living here in Tucson, that a taint of corruption lingers over the city’s very liberal government. It would not surprise me if this deal includes some of that.
McCain challenges ULA cost figures for new engine
Senator John McCain (R-Arizona), the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has questioned the cost numbers that ULA has given the government for replacing the Russian engines it uses in the first stage of its Atlas 5 rocket.
ULA has been trying to convince Congress to let it use those Russian engines indefinitely. McCain wants their use discontinued, now. The result: a battle of numbers.
The real bottom line has really nothing to do with the Russian engines, however. The real bottom line is the bottom line itself: ULA has to quickly develop a rocket that costs less to launch, or else they will lose all their business to SpaceX. Their use of these Russian engines now in the Atlas 5 is really irrelevant, in the long run.
Vostochny’s past and future
Link here. The article provides an excellent overview of the problems at Vostochny as well as it future, even as the new Russian spaceport prepares for its first launch. Two key quotes:
During 2016, reports about mismanagement, non-payment of salaries and corruption persisted despite all the political scandals in 2015 and the Kremlin’s promises to resolve problems. In January, the Izvestiya daily reported the arrest of three leading engineers of the technical oversight directorate in Vostochny in a massive bribery investigation. Around the same time, the total amount of stolen federal funds from Spetsstroi was estimated at nearly 1.4 billion rubles, according to the Izvestiya.
However in February, a Moscow court ordered the release of former head of the Far-Eastern division of Spetsstroi, (known as Dalspetsstroi) Yuri Khrizman from prison to house arrest, apparently after prosecutors had failed to substantiate charges of unlawful spending of more than five billion rubles against him. Khrizman led construction at Vostochny until 2013 and, reportedly, had a reputation for excellence and integrity among his associates and subordinates. Since his arrest, at least one independent publication described the case against Khrizman as a misguided attempt to find a scapegoat in the hopelessly corrupt construction business. [emphasis mine]
And this:
[G]iven likely delays faced by new projects, Vostochny could see little use until the introduction of the launch pad for the Angara rockets, which was not expected until at least 2021.
Why does this all remind me so much of SLS and Orion? Both seem to be gigantic overpriced projects initiated by the government that are so expensive the government itself can’t afford to do much with them? At least in the U.S., we have one saving grace: the amount of corruption is significantly less.
Construction of China’s next space station complete
The competition heats up: China has completed construction of its next space station module and plans to launch it in September, with a 30 day manned mission to it to follow one month later.
This single module station, like China’s first, is really just a prototype, preparing them for the assembly of their multi-module station, beginning in 2018.
Falcon 9 first stage hoisted from barge
The competition heats up: The recovered first stage from last week’s Falcon 9 launch has been hoisted from the barge where it landed and is being prepared for testing prior to reuse.
The crane maneuvered the first stage on to a cradle, where ground crews were expected to complete procedures to “safe” the rocket — a process which includes draining the vehicle of its toxic igniter fluid, disarming of its pyrotechnic destruct system, and removal of propellants and high-pressure gases. Some of the safing procedures were accomplished at sea before the rocket booster, which also includes the “interstage” adapter to connect with the Falcon 9’s upper stage, arrived back on Florida’s Space Coast.
The rocket’s four landing legs will be removed or retracted, and then the booster will be rotated horizontal and loaded on a trailer for transport to a nearby SpaceX facility for inspections and a series of “static fire” engine tests.
The link has some good pictures of the operation and the stage.
More job cuts planned at ULA
The competition heats up: Tory Bruno, ULA’s CEO, announced yesterday that the company plans to cut 400 jobs next year, in addition to the 375 jobs they are trimming now.
The goal is to cut costs so that the company has a better chance of competing with SpaceX.