Not A Pound For Air To Ground – The Slick Chick
An evening pause: How about some Cold War military aviation history to take us into the weekend?
Hat tip Tom Biggar.
Category: Behind The Black
November 17, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- ArianeGroup touts the deluge launch system for its Ariane-6 rocket
It would be nice if this system was put to use during a launch, now only four years late.
- NASA official says SpaceX will need to almost 20 launches of Starship/Superheavy to get it approved for an Artemis lunar mission
The number is slightly higher than previously stated, and likely was made public now because of SpaceX’s problems getting regulatory approval for test flights. NASA needs Starship, and the intransigence of the FAA and Fish & Wildlife to give launch approval is likely delaying that lunar manned mission by years.
- Russia shows off a model of a proposed commercial module for its proposed space station
Russian officials are saying they want to encourage new private Russian companies to compete for contracts for such things, but it is all smoke and mirrors. The big entities in power in Russia, such as Energia, are going to work to block it as hard as they can.
The southernmost extent of Mars’ youngest lava flood event
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on August 24, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
Labeled “flow margin in Elysium Planitia,” it shows the very edge of what scientists believe was the most recent large lava event on Mars, dubbed the Athabasca Valles, that is thought to have occurred only 600 million years ago. In only a matter of weeks the fast flowing lava covered a region about the size of Great Britain. What we see here is the southernmost edge of that flow, with the smooth terrain on the west an older lava flood plain, covered by the new flood lava from Athabasca on the east.
The polygon cracks likely indicate cracks that formed during the hardening process (like the polygon cracks in drying mud). Hot lava then pushed up from below to form the ridges. It is also possible the ridges are what scientists call “wrinkle ridges,” formed when material shrinks during the drying process.
» Read more
Salt glaciers on Mercury?
From Figure A1 of paper.
Based on a new analysis of data from the Messenger spacecrat that orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015, scientists today posited the possibility that salt glaciers exist on Mercury and have reshaped its terrain in manner vaguely comparable to what Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has found on Mars.
You can read the paper here [pdf]. The image to the right, enhanced by the scientists to bring out the faint blue in the hollows, is remarkably reminiscent of the hollows and scallop terrain found in many places in the high Martian latitudes. From its conclusion:
Detecting widespread elemental volatile surface compositions, ubiquitous sublimation hollows, and extensive chaotic terrains has significantly reshaped our perception of Mercury’s geological past. These observations collectively point to the presence of volatile-rich strata spanning several kilometers in depth and likely formed before the [Late Heavy Bombardment] (∼3.8 billion years ago). This notion challenges the conventional view of a volatile-depleted Mercurian crust.
The morphologies within Mercury’s Raditladi basin bear a striking morphologic resemblance to glaciers on Earth and Mars, suggesting their origin from an impact-exposed [volatile-rich layer], likely containing halite. Our numerical simulations show that the unique rheological properties of halite, including the high thermal sensitivity of its viscosity, reinforce this hypothesis. These glacier-like features occur beyond the chaotic terrain boundaries, indicating a potentially global yet concealed, volatile-rich upper stratigraphy. We posit that the exposure of these volatile-rich materials, instigated by impact events, could have been instrumental in the formation and evolution of hollow features, signifying a complex geodynamic history of volatile migration and redistribution, essentially interconnecting some of the oldest and youngest stratigraphic materials on the planet.
The scientists do not have enough information as yet to determine if these glaciers are still active or not. Moreover, the theorized layer of volatile material near the surface remains unconfirmed, requiring in situ investigation to determine its existence with certainty. Like Mars, if it exists it likely only does so in the high latitudes.
Researchers confirm it was a Chinese rocket stage that impacted Moon in 2022
The crash site is the double crater in the
lower image.
Researchers have now confirmed that the unknown rocket stage that impacted the Moon in 2022 was from a Chinese rocket, a Long March 3B that launched China’s Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission in November 2020.
“In this paper, we present a trajectory and spectroscopic analysis using ground-based telescope observations to show conclusively that WE0913A is the Long March 3C rocket body (R/B) from the Chang’e 5-T1 mission,” the researchers, led by Tanner Campbell, a doctoral student in the UA’s Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, wrote in a study that came out Thursday (Nov. 16) in the Planetary Science Journal. These two lines of evidence — how the object was moving and what it was made of — leave little doubt about WE0913A’s provenance, Campbell and his colleagues report.
The data, combined with the unusual double crater caused by the impact, also suggests that this stage had additional unknown equipment at its top, matching the mass of its engines at the bottom. Since the Chinese continue to deny it was their stage and have said nothing about it, we have no idea what that extra equipment might have been.
German rocket startup signs deal with Norwegian spaceport
The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace has signed a deal to provide the Andoya spaceport in the north of Norway with a new flight tracking and safety system, to be used by all launches including Isar’s own Spectrum rocket.
The purpose of the autonomous flight tracking system is to precisely and reliably keeping track of the Spectrum launch vehicle’s position, speed and direction of travel as it ascends to orbit, which is important to guarantee Andøya Spaceport’s flight safety requirements. The objective is to further evaluate the use of the system in enabling automated flight termination functionality for launches by Andøya Spaceport’s ground system, autonomously triggering an abort of the mission if ever operational parameters of the launch vehicle are out of bounds.
This announcement today illustrates the rising competition between German rocket startups and European spaceports. Yesterday the Saxavord spaceport in Scotland and another German rocket startup, HyImpulse, announced their own launch deal. Today’s announcement is the response from Andoya and Isar.
Today’s announcement also increases the pressure in the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to get its regulatory act together. Andoya is positioning itself as a good alternative to the two new British spaceports in Scotland, as shown by the red dots on the map above, should red tape in the UK slow launches there.
House committee delays vote on commercial space bill due to new White House proposal
Because of the sudden announcement by the White House of its own version of a new commercial regulatory space bill, the House Science committee was forced to delay the voting on November 15, 2023 of its own new commercial space bill, put forth by Republicans.
The committee met Nov. 15 to mark up the Commercial Space Act of 2023 and one other bill. At the end of the markup, lasting more than three and a half hours including a recess, the committee’s chairman, Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) said the committee would delay votes to advance both bills until after the Thanksgiving break because of votes on the House floor and “and the nature of additional information that has become available to us.”
The latter comment appeared to be a reference to a legislative proposal released by the White House’s National Space Council less than an hour before the markup regarding a mission authorization concept for new space activities. That proposal would establish a system where both the Commerce Department and the Transportation Department would oversee activities not regulated today, based on the type of activity.
The House bill, introduced Nov. 2 by Lucas and space subcommittee chairman Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), would create its own mission authorization system at the Commerce Department. It would also direct Commerce to hand over responsibility for a civil space traffic coordination system to a consortium led by an academic or nonprofit organization, rather than keeping it within the Office of Space Commerce as currently planned. Lucas, in his opening remarks, said he was aware of the new White House proposal but has reservations about it. “These proposals, I fear, simply go in the wrong direction and hurt rather than support America’s space industry,” he said.
Both bills were aimed at realigning the regulatory regime governing private space activities. The House bill’s final form apparently had been written with a lot of industry input. The White House bill, supported by Democrats, appears designed instead to clamp down on commercial space by allowing the federal bureaucracy to regulate everything.
Both bills unfortunately give too much power to the federal government, though the Republican bill at least tries to shift some of that power to the private sector, where it belongs.
One of the main reasons we have had a rennaisance in commercial space in the past decade is that there has been little regulation. The private sector has been left to regulate itself, and it has generally done so very successfully because of the invisible hand of free market forces. Build things right and the world beats a path to your door. Do it badly and no regulation is needed, you go out of business.
Modern Americans no longer trust these fundamentals of freedom and capitalism, and so we have a rush by government to establish “rules,” none of which will really accomplish anything but slow development and innovation and squelch this emerging industry.
Sierra Space shakes up its staffing
Sierra Space yesterday did a major staffing shake up, laying off 165 workers while shifting 150 with secruity clearances from its parent company Sierra Nevada.
Sierra Space this week shipped the first Dream Chaser, named Tenacity, for pre-launch testing at NASA’s Armstrong facility in Ohio. The layoffs began soon after, the Sierra Space spokesperson said, noting the company conducted a surge in hiring this year to complete work on the Tenacity spacecraft.
With Tenacity shipped, Sierra Space’s spokesperson said the company is realigning to focus on the operations phase of Dream Chaser’s first mission, as well as on classified national security work. The latter part of Sierra Space’s realignment includes adding nearly 150 employees with security clearances from Sierra Nevada Corp., the aerospace and defense contractor owned by Fatih and Eren Ozmen, which the space company was spun out of two years ago. Sierra Space’s spokesperson said the company is creating a national security space team to work on several classified contracts.
This shift suggests that at least in the short run, Sierra is putting more focus on future military contracts rather than its civilian manned space projects like its LIFE space module (for the Orbital Reef space station) and future manner versions of its Dream Chaser mini-shuttle. I wonder if the company is having more internal doubts about Orbital Reef and its main partner, Blue Origin. Unlike the stations being built by Axiom and Voyager Space, which have already garnered contracts from both national and international customers, Orbital Reef has not done the same. There could be great doubts in the space community it will be built because of Blue Origin’s absymal record for building anything.
John Tams – Over the hills and far away
An evening pause: I’m not sure if John Tams is singing, but these are his lyrics used in the British historical television series, Sharpe, set to a traditional British song from the 18th century (hence the line “King George commands and we obey). I like this lyric however:
When Evil stalks upon the land
I’ll neither hold nor stay me hand
But fight to win a better day,
Over the hills and far away.
Hat tip Alton Blevins.
Thank you to all who donated during short two-week November fund-raising campaign
UPDATE: My quickie two-week fund-raising campaign for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to all those who donated or subscribed. I am as always overwhelmed with gratitude. No one has to give me a dime to read what I write, and yet you all do so anyway.
This note of thanks will remain at the top of the page for the next few days, just to make sure everyone sees it. Scroll down for new stories.
November 16, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who notes it has been “a slow news day. I guess everyone is waiting to see SpaceX launch.” For me this has been good, as the day has mostly been tied up with doctors (nothing serious).
- Japan’s Ispace unveils the tiny rover that will fly on Hakuto-R2 to the Moon
The rover, dubbed Resilience, is essentially a copy of the Rashed rover the UAE built for Ispace’s first Hakuto-R1 lunar lander which unfortunately failed at landing.
- Upper stage for India’s rocket that launched Chandrayaan-3 re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the north Pacific
India’s space agency noted that it made sure the stage was emptied of fuel prior to re-entry, but did not mention whether it did anything to control that re-entry to arrive over the Pacific.
Amazon’s first two Kuiper satellites in orbit worked exactly as planned
Amazon announced today that its first two Kuiper satellites, launched into orbit by ULA’s Atlas-5 rocket on October 6, 2023, have worked exactly as planned, thus allowing the company to begin building operational satellites.
With the prototypes’ testing in space now complete, Badyal said Amazon plans to begin building the first production Kuiper satellites in December and launch the first satellites for its network in the “latter part of the first half” of 2024. Badyal emphasized that Amazon wasn’t sure what performance to expect from the prototype satellites, since “you don’t know how well it’s going to work in space.”
“They’re working brilliantly,” Badyal said.
The need of Amazon to start launching lots of satellites next year — in order to meet its FCC license requirements to put half of its 3,000+ constellation in orbit by 2026 — puts great pressure on ULA, Blue Origin, and Arianespace to get their new but as yet unlaunchd rockets operating. All three have big launch contracts with Amazon, but none presently appear to have the capability to meet the demands of those contracts.