Katherine Jenkins – Abigail’s Song
An evening pause: The song apparently is from the Doctor Who television series, but as I have never been a fan, I do not know the context.
Hat tip James Street.
Tag: commercial
Launches galore!
Landing sites for both Firefly’s Blue Ghost and
Ispace’s Resilience
The next two days will be another example of the resurgent American launch industry, with a wide range of rocket launches running the gamut from the maiden flight of the New Glenn rocket, another dramatic test flight of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy, and a launch by SpaceX of two (not one!) lunar landers.
We begin however now with another successful launch by SpaceX’s of its Transporter commercial program, designed to place in orbit as many smallsats as possible at once. The company’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off today from Vandenberg in California, carrying 131 payloads, from cubesats to microsats to orbital tugs.
The first stage completed its second flight, landing on back at Vandenberg. The fairings completed their 18th and 19th flights respectively. As of posting the payloads have not been deployed.
The 2025 launch race:
7 SpaceX
2 China
SpaceX continues its relentless goal of completing in 2025 one launch almost every other day. For example, the launch above is only the first launch planned by SpaceX today. Tonight it will launch another Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying both Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander as well as Ispace’s Resilience lunar lander. The map to the right shows the landing targets of both.
Tomorrow the launch pace will continue. First SpaceX will attempt the seventh orbital test launch of its Starship/Superheavy rocket, lifting off from Boca Chica, with a launch window beginning at 4 pm (Central).
Blue Origin will later that evening once again attempt the maiden launch of its New Glenn rocket. The three hour launch window opens at 1 am (Eastern).
Boom about to go supersonic
The commercial supersonic airplane company Boom is on the verge of flying its XB-1 test vehicle faster than the speed of sound.
The company has been doing a regular test flight program, each time increasing the plane’s speed.
During the latest 44-minute flight at an altitude of 29,481 ft (8,986 m) with Chief Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg at the controls, the prototype aircraft reached transonic speed. That is, flight so close to Mach 1 that some areas of airflow over the airframe exceed the speed of sound.
It’s also the point where the XB-1 was subjected to a maximum dynamic pressure of 383 Knots Equivalent Air Speed (KEAS), which is a pressure on the fuselage and wings greater than what it would experience when flying supersonic at Mach 1.1.
In short, XB-1 pushed what was once called the Sound Barrier.
Next step: break the sound barrier.
At the completion of this testing the company will then begin manufacture of its full scale supersonic passenger plane, dubbed Overture, that will carry up to 80 passengers and will sell to airlines. It already has contracts and financial support from a number of major airlines, including United and Japan Airlines.
Malinda Kat and Rachel Hardy – Into the West
An evening pause: A cover of a song from the end credits of the 2003 The Lord of the Rings film, The Return of the King..
Hat tip Alton Blevins, whose gmail inbox is filled and thus cannot receive any emails from me, or anyone. Alton: Clean out your inbox!
After more than two years, Australian rocket startup thinks its launch approval is about to finally arrive
Australia’s commercial spaceports. Click for original map.
The Australian rocket startup Gilmour Space originally expected to complete its first test launch of its three-stage Eris rocket off the east coast of Australia in April 2022.
At that time it thought the approvals for the licenses for its rocket, its Bowen spaceport, and the launch were just weeks away.
Hah! It is now two years later, and the company is still awaiting that launch license. According to the company’s head Adam Gilmour he is now hopeful the license is only weeks away.
“There is a lot of goodwill at CASA [Civil Aviation Safety Authority], and we recognise that they have been working very hard to get it done,” Mr Gilmour said. “We know they have been working towards it. It’s just that this is the first time for everyone involved, and it is quite complex. To give you an idea, we have had Zoom calls with literally 30 people on the call.”
Based on wait periods, if the CASA permit is approved (which comes with regulatory input from Airservices Australia), the earliest Gilmour could conduct the Eris Testflight One mission would be the middle of February. It is possible the permit will be granted as early as this week.
Gilmour however has been making the same exact statements about CASA now for two years. They are great! They are working hard! They want to approve!
Yet nothing happens.
I suspect that approval is close, but this long delay suggests other rocket startups in Australia are going to face the same governmental head winds. The government there seems uninterested in allowing freedom and competition to function. Instead, it sees itself as god, deciding who can do what when, and heaven forbid you challenge it in any way. (Which by the way explains Gilmour’s kow-towing in all his statements.)
Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.
SpaceX launches another 21 Starlink satellites
SpaceX this morning continued its relentless effort to launch almost every other day this year, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral and carrying 21 Starlink satellites, 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities.
The first stage completed its fifteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The 2025 launch race:
6 SpaceX
2 China
Live stream of first launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket-Launch scrubbed!
UPDATE: The company has scrubbed the launch for tonight.
Scheduled for launch at 1 am (Eastern) on January 13, 2025 (with a three hour window), I have embedded the live stream below. On the west coast the launch will occur at 10 pm (Pacific), January 12, 2025. According to Blue Origin, the live stream will go live one hour prior to launch. Based on the company’s past broadcasts, we will have to suffer through a lot of “Gosh! Gee whiz!” Isn’t this great?!” stuff that really ain’t necessary. Maybe Blue Origin will surprise me. If not, come back five minutes before launch to spare yourself this blather.
You see, there is no need for Blue Origin to blather like that. The rocket is spectacular, and it speaks for itself.
New Glenn launched delayed one more day because of rough seas
Blue Origin announced today that it is delaying its first launch of its orbital New Glenn rocket by one day to 1 am (Eastern) Monday morning.
The company’s tweet explained that “sea state conditions are still unfavorable for booster landing.”
Without question this will be a truly heart-stopping launch. Blue Origin needs to get New Glenn operational, and it trying to also achieve its first vertical landing of the first stage on the first launch.
Right now all you need to do is stay up a little late Sunday night to watch.
Overview Effect – Spin Gravity Compared
An evening pause: A fun look at the physics and scale of the many spinning space stations proposed by science fiction writers over the decades. None of this is real, since sadly we have done only a few very inconclusive efforts in space to test this engineering.
Hat tip John Hunt.
SpaceX completes two launches, reusing first stage a record number of times
Since early this morning SpaceX successfully completed two launches from opposite coasts.
First, in the early morning the company placed a National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 22nd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The fairings completed their 9th and 16th flights respectively. It is believed but not confirmed that the payload was another batch of “Starshield” satellites, SpaceX’s military version of Starlink.
Next, SpaceX sent another 23 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage I think set a new reuse record, completing its 25th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The 2024 launch race:
5 SpaceX
1 China
The reuse record is significant, as SpaceX’s fleet of first stages is beginning to record flight numbers comparable to NASA’s fleet of space shuttles, but it is doing so in far less time. For example, this 25th flight matches the entire number of flights by the shuttle Endeavour during its lifespan of almost two decades. This booster however accomplished the same number of reflights in only three and a half years.
In the next few years we should expect SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage fleet to eclipse the numbers set by the shuttles, and do so in a very spectacular manner.
Cruz reveals another area where red tape is blocking SpaceX at Boca Chica: roads
In a interview with a local news outlet in Texas, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) revealed that the state’s bureaucracy is stymieing SpaceX at Boca Chica in another unexpected way, getting the road to the facility repaired and upgraded.
“SpaceX has offered to invest their own money to improve the highway, and the problem is they’re running into permitting obstacles, environmental permitting obstacles that is slowing it down,” Senator Cruz said.
Cruz is the new Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. There are steps he says he can take to fix these roads, even if it is not something that will directly address the issue. “As chairman of the Commerce Committee, I am very focused on permitting, on reducing the barriers of permitting, on speeding up the ability to do things like improve and expand State Highway Four,” Cruz said.
In a statement, Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Ray Pedraza said, “TxDOT is currently providing upgrades and pavement improvements for the existing SH 4 between Brownsville and Starbase Texas (SpaceX). TxDOT is also working with SpaceX on further planning and environmental efforts to achieve additional widening on SH 4 in the future.”
I think Cruz did this interview to apply some public pressure on the Texas Transportation Department. Hopefully it will get the tortoise moving.
Johannes Brahms – Hungarian Dance #5
An evening pause: Performed live 2012 by the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra.
Hat tip Judd Clark.