June 21, 2024 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast
Embedded below the fold in two parts.
To listen to all of John Batchelor’s podcasts, go here.
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Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Starliner return delayed again, until July
NASA tonight announced that it is once again delaying the undocking from ISS and the return to Earth of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, carrying two astronauts, with the return date a as-yet unspecified date in July.
The move off Wednesday, June 26, deconflicts Starliner’s undocking and landing from a series of planned International Space Station spacewalks while allowing mission teams time to review propulsion system data.
It seems to me that they have decided the more time Starliner spends in space right now, the more data they can gather about its flightworthiness in the future. Remember, the first manned Dragon demo mission stayed at ISS for more than two months.
Their approach however — announcing small delays over and over again — is extremely poor PR. It makes it seem as if the capsule’s various issues — thrusters, helium leaks, and valves — are a more serious than I think they are.
Family whose home was damaged by NASA battery ejected from ISS files claim
The Florida family whose home was damaged when a battery that NASA had ejected from ISS smashed through the roof of its house has now filed an $80,000 claim with the space agency.
Alejandro Otero, owner of the Naples, Florida, home struck by the debris, was not home when part of a battery pack from the International Space Station crashed through his home on March 8. His son Daniel, 19, was home but escaped injury. NASA has confirmed the 1.6-pound object, made of the metal alloy Inconel, was part of a battery pack jettisoned from the space station in 2021.
An attorney for the Otero family, Mica Nguyen Worthy, told Ars that she has asked NASA for “in excess of $80,000” for non-insured property damage loss, business interruption damages, emotional and mental anguish damages, and the costs for assistance from third parties. “We intentionally kept it very reasonable because we did not want it to appear to NASA that my clients are seeking a windfall,” Worthy said.
No lawsuit has been filed so far, as the family is trying to work this out with NASA amicably, and also help set a precedent for future such incidents. NASA in turn gave the family a claim form and is now reviewing the form they submitted.
The article I think is incorrect when it states that this incident “falls outside the Space Liability Convention” (which was written under the Outer Space Treaty) because the debris didn’t come from a foreign country but was launched and de-orbited by an American government agency. The Outer Space Treaty makes whoever launches anything in space liable for any damages. If NASA attempts to fight this it will be violating not only the language but the spirit of the treaty.
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.
Emerson College in Boston leads the way in supporting Hamas and losing enrollment
Emerson College: Where only
leftist pro-Hamas speech is allowed
This week Emerson College in Boston announced that, because of a significant and unexpected drop in enrollment for the coming year, it is going to have to lay off staff as well as not fill a number of vacant positions.
In an email to college’s faculty and staff, the college’s president Jay Bernhardt obliquely mentioned what could be the main cause of this lack of new students:
We attribute this reduction to multiple factors, including national enrollment trends away from smaller private institutions, an enrollment deposit delay in response to the new FAFSA rollout, student protests targeting our yield events and campus tours, and negative press and social media generated from the demonstrations and arrests, [emphasis mine]
To put Bernhardt’s oblique comments into clarity, Emerson was hit in April with a gigantic pro-Hamas occupation that took over a local public right-of-way. The university’s response to this take-over was, to put it mildly, very supportive of the mob, even after the police moved in to clear the road and arrested 118. Here is what Bernhardt wrote to the Emerson community after those arrests:
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Spanish high altitude balloon company releases artwork of its proposed passenger capsule
Artist rendering of EOS-X’s balloon capsule
The Spanish high altitude balloon company EOS-X has now released several artist renderings of the proposed capsule that will take passengers on a high altitude balloon flight.
According to the company, the first flights will occur sometime late next year, lifting off from either Seville in Spain or Abu Dabi in the Middle East. The proposed ticket prices range from $160K to $214K, with flights lasting about five hours.
All of this sounds highly speculative, especially because EOS-X in November 2023 was one of two balloon companies indicted by a Spanish court for stealing its balloon concepts from a third company. I have not seen the final decision in that court case, so it is unclear what the long term ramifications might be. It could be that the company which sued, Zero-2, has taken over EOS-X.
Italy approves new space law
Italy’s Council of Ministers yesterday approved language for a new space law and five year space economic plan, designed to regulate the commercial space operations inside Italy as well by Italian companies operating in foreign lands.
In addition to mandating authorization for national and foreign operators who intend to conduct space activities from Italian soil, the law will also regulate the activities of national operators intending to conduct business from foreign territories. One element of regulatory compliance outlined within the law addresses the management of space incidents. Operators will be required to secure insurance coverage of up to €100 million per incident. There are, however, provisions allowing for the potential for lower caps in cases of reduced risk.
More details about the law can be found here. It gives regulatory authority to Italy’s space agency ASI, while also establishing a five-year government program (funding not disclosed) to stimulate the space sector.
The released details are insufficient to find out the real consequences of this law. If written correctly, the regulations could actually make it easier for the private sector to prosper. If not, it could instead squelch new startups as well as existing companies.
SpaceX announces a mini-version of Starlink designed for backpackers
SpaceX today unveiled what it calls Starlink Mini, a smaller version of the Starlink antenna that can fit inside a backpack.
Early Starlink customers were invited to purchase the Starlink Mini kit for $599, according to an invitation sent to customers and viewed by TechCrunch. That’s $100 more than the standard Starlink kit. They were also given the option to bundle Mini Roam service with their existing service plan for an additional $30 per month, though the data is capped at 50 gigabytes per month.
That would mean a Starlink residential customer on the standard service plan would spent $150 month. SpaceX aims to reduce the price of the kit, it said in the invitation. As of now, there is no stand-alone Mini Roam plan.
The unit weighs only 2.5 pounds, with the first deliveries arriving in July. It is designed specifically for travelers who want a reliable internet connection wherever they go.
Nova Scotia spaceport approved for new government grants
The proposed Nova Scotia spaceport run by the company Maritime Services has now been approved to apply for new government grants for its proposed satellite processing facility.
The Nova Scotia CITC is an annualized reimbursement program designed by the Government of Nova Scotia to drive economic growth and incentivize development within Nova Scotia. The program provides significant financial advantages to eligible corporations that invest in infrastructure and capital equipment for approved projects located in Nova Scotia.
Maritime Launch has received approval for an initial qualification of up to $7.5M in reimbursements under the CITC for the satellite processing facility project. Reimbursement is eligible to begin at the start of the construction of the satellite processing facility, planned for late 2024 and follows approval of a separate application in September 2023 for a project at Spaceport Nova Scotia.
Maritime Launch has been around since 2016 but as of this moment it is unclear when the first orbital launch from the spaceport will occur. Initially the plan had been to provide both spaceport and a Ukrainian rocket for satellite makers, but the Ukraine war ended that plan. Now the spaceport offers its facility to any rocket company, but so far no launch company has yet signed a launch deal.
New debris from another Dragon service module discovered in North Carolina
NASA has now confirmed that debris discovered in scattered places in North Carolina several weeks ago came from the trunk section of a Dragon service module that was supposed to burn up in the atmosphere.
Between late May and early June, News 13 spoke with three mountain residents who stumbled upon what some believed to be debris from space. One piece found on a remote trail in Haywood County was three feet high and so heavy it had to be carried out using a lawn mower. Two smaller objects were found by residents in Franklin and Jackson County.
It is believed the material came from a Dragon cargo capsule that undocked and returned to Earth on April 30, 2024, its service module supposedly burning up in the atmosphere.
This is the second time in the past few months that debris from a Dragon service module trunk has been recovered on Earth. SpaceX nor NASA can no longer assume it will burn up completely, and are required to instead to de-orbit that service module more precisely over the ocean, not only because the Outer Space Treaty demands it but because crashing debris carries serious liabilities that SpaceX especially does not want to face.
Japan’s space agency reveals it was hacked in 2023
Japan’s space agency JAXA today revealed that beginning in 2023 and periodically into this year it has been attacked repeatedly by hackers, with data from more than 10,000 files stolen.
Attacks occurred in June 2023 and multiple times a year, although investigations are ongoing regarding whether more information was stolen in this year’s attacks.
In addition to internal data, potentially compromised entities include NASA, Toyota Motor Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Defense Ministry, with which JAXA has nondisclosure agreements. Information from numerous aerospace and defense-related organizations and companies was also exposed.
JAXA stated that no sensitive information related to national security or rocket technologies was stolen in last year’s breach. Personal data of approximately 5,000 JAXA personnel and employees from partner companies was used to access the Microsoft 365 accounts of JAXA executives.
It appears JAXA officials only found out about the attack when police told them about it months after the June 2023 attack. Agency officials now say no sensitive rocket or satellite data was stolen. Instead, it appears the attack targeted personal communications as well as research facilities.
The report provided no indication about the source of these attacks, but noted that a 2016 attack is known to have come from China.
SpaceX launches commercial geosynchronous satellite for SES
SpaceX today successfully launched a commercial geosynchronous satellite for the Luxembourg company SES, its Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral.
The first stage completed its ninth flight, landing successfully on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
64 SpaceX
27 China
8 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the world combined in successful launches, 75 to 41, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 64 to 52.