July 18, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Vaya and Scorpius sign deal to work together to build cryogenic oxidizer tank
Lots of blather in the press release, with little concrete information.
- Blue Origin releases video of test deployment of New Glenn’s first stage landing legs
Unlike the Falcon 9’s four legs, New Glenn will have six, and they are stored inside the stage until deployment.
- Rocket Lab touts the production line of HASTE, the suborbital version of its Electron rocket
The picture shows at least seven stages, but only two have the “HASTE” logo, so it isn’t clear how many are for suborbital or orbital flights.
- China touts test success of “key cabin segment” of Lijiuan-2 (Kinetica-2) liquid-fueled rocket
I have no idea from this tweet what exactly they did or tested.
- Today in 1966 John Young and Michael Collins launched on Gemini 10
This mission completed the first entirely successful docking, followed by a rendezvous with a second target spacecraft. Gemini 8 had docked but had to abort shortly thereafter due to out-of-control thruster, and Gemini 9 couldn’t dock because the shroud did not release properly from the target spacecraft.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Vaya and Scorpius sign deal to work together to build cryogenic oxidizer tank
Lots of blather in the press release, with little concrete information.
- Blue Origin releases video of test deployment of New Glenn’s first stage landing legs
Unlike the Falcon 9’s four legs, New Glenn will have six, and they are stored inside the stage until deployment.
- Rocket Lab touts the production line of HASTE, the suborbital version of its Electron rocket
The picture shows at least seven stages, but only two have the “HASTE” logo, so it isn’t clear how many are for suborbital or orbital flights.
- China touts test success of “key cabin segment” of Lijiuan-2 (Kinetica-2) liquid-fueled rocket
I have no idea from this tweet what exactly they did or tested.
- Today in 1966 John Young and Michael Collins launched on Gemini 10
This mission completed the first entirely successful docking, followed by a rendezvous with a second target spacecraft. Gemini 8 had docked but had to abort shortly thereafter due to out-of-control thruster, and Gemini 9 couldn’t dock because the shroud did not release properly from the target spacecraft.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in the past two weeks has the mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuses to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
In that Rocket Lab photo, I count nine first stage and 6 second stage parts. It looks like in the back of the photo they have components for two complete rockets lined up for integration. Lots of work going on in that not very large production floor.
From the way those Blue Origin legs kind of flapped down and then stiffened during the last stage of their deployment, it looks like they’ve made them relatively complex. Good for getting them into a small spot for stowage out of the air stream, but I bet it comes back to bite them on reliability and/or speed of re-use.
Those legs do look overly complex and I can not see a point of shock absorbing in the design.
But I was thinking that those big covers could double as a form of guidance for the craft. Sort of like the grid fins on the Falcon 9.
It would take individual control of each leg but it might save on engine tilt/gimbaling.
It takes 8 to 9 seconds to get them deployed. Falcon looks like 4 to 5.
It may not seem important, but Falcon only deploys them in the final few hundred feet.
I have always assumed they wait for when legs will have minimal aerodynamic effect and not create as a small change the direction of the rocket on final approach. A small change higher from the ground could have big results. And, also, because at faster speeds, the leg shrouds would have to fight the air pressure to deploy. Again, these are assumptions. If someone has more data or documentation, I would love to see it.
In some ways the BO system looks closer to aircraft landing gear. That stiffening at the end looks (appearance only) like it happens when the hydraulic ram in the lower half fills, acting as a lock. Depending on speed at deployment, I hope those little top flats are resilient for the air they are going to catch air.