July 31, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Video of booster separation test by Chinese pseudo-company Orienspace
The subtitles are all in Chinese, but still the countdown audio narration is in English. How strange.
- China unveils plan for 13,000 satellite constellation, what he calls “China’s Starlink”
This is one of several different proposed big constellations in China, none of which have begun launching.
- Overview video of test of launchpad water system to be used to deflect shockwaves during Superheavy launch
Quite impressive indeed.
- ULA’s CEO Tory Bruno whines about the military decision to allow more competition for launch contracts
The military is considering letting a third as yet unnamed rocket company compete for contracts against SpaceX and ULA. Not surprisingly, Bruno opposes this, probably because he knows ULS is having enough difficulty winning contracts now just against SpaceX. A third company would likely cut its market share in half.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Video of booster separation test by Chinese pseudo-company Orienspace
The subtitles are all in Chinese, but still the countdown audio narration is in English. How strange.
- China unveils plan for 13,000 satellite constellation, what he calls “China’s Starlink”
This is one of several different proposed big constellations in China, none of which have begun launching.
- Overview video of test of launchpad water system to be used to deflect shockwaves during Superheavy launch
Quite impressive indeed.
- ULA’s CEO Tory Bruno whines about the military decision to allow more competition for launch contracts
The military is considering letting a third as yet unnamed rocket company compete for contracts against SpaceX and ULA. Not surprisingly, Bruno opposes this, probably because he knows ULS is having enough difficulty winning contracts now just against SpaceX. A third company would likely cut its market share in half.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Shades of the ABMA, Colorado cokeheads stole Space Force away from my state.
That “deluge” system is a joke. The spray is all “eyewash”. It takes mass to dampen the acoustic waves not a bunch of droplets. This knowledge is apparently lost with the retirement of the moon shot launch Pad engineers.
Exactly how many gallons does this system pump out compare to all the other sound suppression systems? I don’t expect an answer because I don’t think anyone knows.
Elon is really selling himself short on the GSE.
There will just be more deadly and damaging objects thrown around during the next launch attempt.
pawn If it is eyewash, how come deluge systems have been used successfully since the dawn of the Space Age? How come NASA uses it?
“The moment of launch is a dangerous time for any rocket due to the incredible energy released. The SLS is an extremely powerful design—it will be the most powerful booster ever built—and the extreme heat, sound pressure, and acoustic vibrations must be controlled to protect the SLS, the Orion capsule, and the launching pad. The SLS’s 4 RS-25 engines and 2 boosters produce a combined 8.4 million pounds of thrust, and along with the heat produced, there is an extreme amount of acoustic energy.
To control all that energy and keep crew and equipment safe, NASA employs the IOP/SS water deluge system. It has been in place since the days of the Space Shuttle Program. But with the upcoming launch of the SLS in 2020, the system needed to be upgraded to handle the additional load. NASA tested the system on October 15th, and the test was a success.”
https://www.universetoday.com/140316/this-is-how-nasa-releases-almost-half-a-million-gallons-of-water-in-60-seconds/
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=rocket+launch+water+deluge+system&view=detail&mid=F38C230503878C7885EFF38C230503878C7885EF&FORM=VIRE
Shouldn’t there be a relationship between the wavelength of the generated sound and the water droplet size that causes the sound energy to be reflected or absorbed more or less well? Not that mass is not important, but couldn’t wavelength / droplet size also be?
pawn,
Keep in mind that during the launch, the exhaust pressure (16 million pounds striking an area around 30 feet in diameter) from the engines will change the water flow significantly. What you are seeing does not have the resistance that will happen to the water supply lines during the launch. The design of the whole thing must be able to overcome this exhaust pressure, otherwise the hot gasses will push the water backward through the lines and the pad will not be protected. The flow will be very different after engine ignition, and there may be less opportunity for the smaller droplets to form.
The next few engine tests will also allow for a test of this water drench system to assure that it works properly.
Also keep in mind that SpaceX has been very willing to try new ideas and to violate well established methods in order to find more efficient ways of design, development, test, manufacture, and operations. I keep being amazed by what they succeed in doing. However, they have had some spectacular failures in the past, including the destruction of the concrete pad during their April test launch. During their webcast, they specifically mentioned that they were testing “stage zero,” by which they meant the launch facility. As has been noted at other times and in other threads, they learned plenty.
This may be another new method of deluge, doing some things differently than have been tried before, but that seems to be SpaceX’s nature — to experiment and push the envelope of what can be done with materials that we have today, creating methods that shock and amaze those of us who know better than to ever try to do these things.
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Ray Van Dune asked:”Shouldn’t there be a relationship between the wavelength of the generated sound and the water droplet size that causes the sound energy to be reflected or absorbed more or less well? Not that mass is not important, but couldn’t wavelength / droplet size also be?”
What would be the frequency of the sound that is the length of the size of a droplet? Rocket exhausts tend to rumble as fairly low frequencies, therefore fairly long wavelengths. Or maybe those are the frequencies that survive the distances from the launch sites to the viewing sites; the higher frequencies may be attenuated along the way.
The heat from the exhaust is likely to cause rapid evaporation (flash) of the water. The smaller the droplet size, the more surface area it has to absorb the great amount of heat, and the faster the flash into water vapor. Droplets may do more for heat absorption than acoustic suppression.
Jeff Wright wrote: “Shades of the ABMA, Colorado cokeheads stole Space Force away from my state.”
Considering that the Space Force headquarters was planned to be moved from Colorado to Alabama, isn’t it more accurate to say that Alabama had tried to steal it away from Colorado?