Category: Points of Information

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Chinese pseudo-company Orienspace readies its Gravity-1 rocket for launch

The company says it will launch this month. Though the image makes the rocket seem as big as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, it actually more closely resembles the most powerful version India’s GSLV rocket. Makes me wonder if the design was stolen.

 

• Robert Zubrin op-ed says NASA should abandon its Mars sample return mission, use the money for many other missions

Zubrin is of course right. It is also the same thing I have said now for almost fifteen years, not only about Mars Sample Return but about Webb and the Roman Space Telescopes. NASA’s big flagship science projects are consistently run badly, wasting a lot money that could be far better spent.

No one in Congress ever listens to me. I wonder if they will listen to Zubrin. We can only hope.

 

• The ice that fills Korolev Crater on Mars

A very cool image from Europe’s Mars Express orbiter. As noted at the tweet, “This crater on Mars is 3 times the area of Greater London and its filled with ice almost 2 kilometers thick.” Korolev is located at 73 degrees north latitude, where the Martian surface appears covered by ice sheets.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. Sorry about posting this late.

• SpaceX targeting 100 launches per year at Vandenberg by 2025

This high pace is certainly because it needs to get many Starlink satellites into orbit to meet its FCC licesne requirements, and doesn’t yet have Starship as planned. The Falcon 9 however has proven it can do it however.

 

• Australian rocket startup Gilmour shows off pictures of the upper stage of its Eris rocket

They had hoped to fly this year but are now targeting a launch from Australia sometime in 2024.

 

• Sierra Space wins DARPA contract to develop oxygen extraction from lunar soil

The contract could be extended for up to ten years, and also involves developing other technologies that would use that oxygen, not just for breathing but for engine technology.

 

• Axiom touts the first module of its space station, being built by Thales-Alenia in Europe

The picture isn’t that interesting, but as Jay notes, “This small company is actually building something, the future. This is a view of the first private space station being built.”

 

• NASA officials whine that commercial companies maintain the secrecy of their proprietary in-house designs

Essentially, these officials want to stick their nose into the work of these companies (“We’re from the government and we’re here to help!”), and the companies are telling them to pound sand. I think that’s wonderful, though we should always worry when government officials begin complaining in this manner. The next step is always for them to use the power of government to enforce their desires.

 

• Hollywood movie trailer about what happens on ISS when war between the U.S. and Russia breaks out

I like Jay’s comment: “Oh for the love of….” To me it seems very predictable and not very interesting. Pure formula.

 

• NRO awards contracts to five commercial companies to develop better orbital surveillance technologies

This continues the shift by the federal government from designing, building, and owning everything to becoming a customer that obtains what it wants from the privately-developed and -owned products of the private sector.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Boeing touts the 25th anniversary of the launch of its first ISS module, Unity

Ah, those were the days, when Boeing could actually build something that works.

 

• Today in 1965 a Titan rocket launched Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on the planned two-week long Gemini 7 mission

The mission proved humans could live in space long enough to go to and from the Moon. As the astronauts both explained to me, it was like being locked in a compact car for two weeks, the windows closed and the wheel tied down so that all you could do was go in circles.

 

• Russians were forced to dock a Progress manually on December 2nd because of problems with Kurs automatic system

The real questions are this: What exactly was the problem, and what is being done to fix it?

 

• Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space releases new images of its proposed family of rockets

As noted at the tweet, all look identical to various SpaceX rockets. Let me add that these designs are nothing more than engineering by powerpoint, and at this moment represent nothing but fantasies.

 

• Indian engineers have brought the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module back into Earth orbit, from the Moon

This achievement is way cool. They used multiple gravity assists over two months to shift the module’s lunar orbit so that crossed back into the Earth’s sphere of influence and thus return back to Earth.

 

• A storm near Mars’ north pole, as seen today by Europe’s Mars Express orbiter

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• ULA CEO Tory Bruno touts the arrival of solid rocket motors at its Florida facility

The strap-on boosters are for future Vulcan launches, when the rocket needs extra power

 

• Prior to launch a wrench was accidently dropped on the radiator of the Progress now heading to ISS

My, the Russians really do seem to have jinx when it comes to the coolant systems on all their spacecraft.

 

• China says it is working on air-launched reusable rocket system

Once again, like many similar Chinese concepts, development does not yet appear to have gotten past the powerpoint stage.