October 10, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also deserves thanks for cluing me on the Vast, EPA, and Chinese launch stories posted earlier. 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.
- Hubble and New Horizons look at Uranus from opposite directions
By doing simultaneous observations like this, astronomers get data covering the planet’s entire globe.
- Impulse’s new Deneb rocket engine ready for testing
The company wants to use it on its Helios orbital tug as a fast way to get payloads to different locations in Earth orbit and beyond.
- Sierra Space is now targeting a May 2025 launch for its Tenacity mini-shuttle on a ULA Vulcan rocket
Only a year later than originally announced, and years behind schedule overall.
- Space Force: X-37B in orbit will next use aerobraking to change its orbit as well as “safely dispose … service module components.”
At present the mini-shuttle is in a highly elliptical orbit. By using the atmosphere during its close fly-bys of Earth to lower that orbit’s high points it save fuel for other purposes, which can extend its mission considerably.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who also deserves thanks for cluing me on the Vast, EPA, and Chinese launch stories posted earlier. 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.
- Hubble and New Horizons look at Uranus from opposite directions
By doing simultaneous observations like this, astronomers get data covering the planet’s entire globe.
- Impulse’s new Deneb rocket engine ready for testing
The company wants to use it on its Helios orbital tug as a fast way to get payloads to different locations in Earth orbit and beyond.
- Sierra Space is now targeting a May 2025 launch for its Tenacity mini-shuttle on a ULA Vulcan rocket
Only a year later than originally announced, and years behind schedule overall.
- Space Force: X-37B in orbit will next use aerobraking to change its orbit as well as “safely dispose … service module components.”
At present the mini-shuttle is in a highly elliptical orbit. By using the atmosphere during its close fly-bys of Earth to lower that orbit’s high points it save fuel for other purposes, which can extend its mission considerably.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
Will the Falcon 9 fly again before the election?
Aurora tonight.
Saw pics from coastal NC. Reports Maine has a show.
I ain’t can’t see …anything.
As the X37B is an aerodynamic vehicle with control surfaces I wonder if the aerobraking test will include some attempt to alter its inclination a bit in addition to altitude and eccentricity? That would truly be new ground research IMHO.
I don’t know where to put this so that everyone sees it, but it appears that the FAA has approved SpaceX to return to normal Falcon 9 flight operations, which will resume after the Europa Clipper launch.
Some small good news: The FAA has approved the return to flight for Falcon 9. All investigations appear to be now closed.
Someone has lit a fire under ’em.
https://x.com/trevormahlmann/status/1844847408699887697
I think mkent ninja’d me!
But yes, this is important because after Europa Clipper (which NASA licenses itself, rather than the FAA), SpaceX has Starlink launches lined up for Oct. 14, 15, and 16. Time is money!
There is no official word on what the Crew-9 “observation” on the second stage deorbit burn was (nor is SpaceX obliged to tell us), but rumor has it, via Aviation Week, that it was a “fuel leak.” Stay tuned. Usually the facts get out before long.
https://aviationweek.com/space/operations-safety/space-ops-hurricane-hiatus
An interesting discussion about LOX/alcohol rockets here:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=61566.0
“Ethanol (or most other alcohols for that matter) almost certainly could be used for fuel-rich staged combustion…Now, how practical would that engine be? No idea. It could be that you would have to clean the engine before restarting it, making propulsive landing impossible. Or it could be more reusable than an SSME. Don’t know. But I am fairly confident you could get at least enough run time for a first stage burn (at least 4-6 minutes) out of an Ethanol-rich preburner.”
I am thinking this might be great for winged rockets so a restart is not needed.
In other news–the long missing 3-foot Enterprise has been uncovered and the mystery solved:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSFjF-Wjl70&t=1s