June 21, 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.
- Ham radio operator detects change in Chang’e-6 orbit around Moon
It isn’t clear whether this was the previous orbit adjustment, a new one, or the burn that would send the sample return capsule back to Earth.
- Webb detects aligned jets in protostars
This was a press release that I thought vastly overstated what was detected by Webb. I thought however if Jay wants to provide a link, why not?
- NASA again touts the wonders of its not-yet-launched and behind schedule Lunar Gateway space station
You can usually measure the budget needs of a NASA project by the number of press releases like this. The more there are, the more the project is overbudget, behind schedule, and desperate to convince everyone it must get fully funded, no matter what.
- Ariane-6 successfully completes full dress reheasal countdown
The launch is still scheduled for July 9, 2024, only four-plus years behind schedule.
- On this day 20 years ago SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded and built spaceship to reach space
And as they say, the rest is history.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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. 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.
- Ham radio operator detects change in Chang’e-6 orbit around Moon
It isn’t clear whether this was the previous orbit adjustment, a new one, or the burn that would send the sample return capsule back to Earth.
- Webb detects aligned jets in protostars
This was a press release that I thought vastly overstated what was detected by Webb. I thought however if Jay wants to provide a link, why not?
- NASA again touts the wonders of its not-yet-launched and behind schedule Lunar Gateway space station
You can usually measure the budget needs of a NASA project by the number of press releases like this. The more there are, the more the project is overbudget, behind schedule, and desperate to convince everyone it must get fully funded, no matter what.
- Ariane-6 successfully completes full dress reheasal countdown
The launch is still scheduled for July 9, 2024, only four-plus years behind schedule.
- On this day 20 years ago SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded and built spaceship to reach space
And as they say, the rest is history.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
Another delay for Starliner, sometime in July.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/boeing-crew-flight-test/2024/06/21/nasa-boeing-adjust-timeline-for-starliner-return/
Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, has a tour of the new factory at Boca Chica, “Starfactory.” Elon Musk was the tour guide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFqjoCbZ4ik (1 hour, part 1 only)
Items I noted include:
— The video was made before the most recent
— Musk expects that Starfactory should be able to ramp up to make up to 100 Starships each year. He says they need a lot of them to colonize Mars.
— SpaceX expects to make 200 Falcon upper stages this year and more than that next year. This tells me that they are still ramping up Falcon launches.
— They discussed the problem of protecting the hinge regions, a little prescient of what did happen during the test flight. A worry that turned out to be an actual problem. Back to the drawing board!
— Musk believes that transpirational cooling (an early concept, in which residual cryogenic propellant is vented as part of the thermal protection during reentry) may be sufficient for reentry from orbit, but it may not be sufficient for reentry from “infinity” (the Moon or Mars).
— The number one biggest and toughest remaining problem is a rapidly reusable heat shield. This was the downfall of the planned rapid reusability of the Space Shuttle, in which the fleet flew at best 6 times per year rather than the expected 24 times per year.
— There seems to be CO2 in the propellant tanks, and that freezes at both liquid oxygen and liquid methane temperatures. The clogging in the valves and filters seems to be frozen CO2, commonly known as dry ice.
— Raptor version 3 will not need heat shields, but there is a lot of complex cooling going on inside the engine parts.
— Starfactory is impressive in size. I worked in a big cleanroom, at one point, but this place is much larger.
I got caught up in the video, so there is more to learn in this video. Part 2, not yet available, is the launch pad.