The Rolling Stones & Sheryl Crow – Honky Tonk Women
An evening pause: Performed live 2003.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Tag: commercial
ABL completes investigation of January 10th launch failure
ABL yesterday released the results of its investigation into the January 10th launch failure of its RS1 rocket.
Just over ten seconds after launch the rocket suffered “a complete loss of power,” its engines shut down, and it came crashing back to Earth about 60 feet to the east of the launch pad. The resulting explosion and fire damaged and destroyed significant equipment, including a nearby “fabric hanger.” The report then goes on to describe the cause:
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SpaceX completes first Starlink launch of 2023
Using a new first stage, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 51Starlink satellites into orbit this morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base, the first Starlink launch of 2023.
The first stage successfully landed on a drone ship in the Pacific.
At present, SpaceX and China are tied for the lead in the 2023 launch race, each having completed 5 launches so far this year. No one else has launched as yet.
Heart – Stairway to Heaven
A evening pause: Hat tip Alton Blevins.
SpaceX launches GPS satellite
Using its Falcon 9 rocket this morning SpaceX successfully placed a U.S. military GPS satellite into orbit, launching from Cape Canaveral.
The first stage completed its second flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
At this time only SpaceX and China have successfully launched in 2023, with China leading 5 to 4.
Katie Webster – I’m bad
An evening pause: Performed live, 1990.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Hakuto-R completes five of ten milestones on test flight
Ispace’s private commercial lunar lander, Hakuto-R, has now completed five of the ten milestones the company had established before launch as its goals on this first test flight to the Moon.
The first five milestones completed are:
- Completion of launch preparations
- Completion of launch and deployment
- Establishment of a Steady Operation Status
- Completion of the first orbital control maneuver
- Completion of stable deep-space flight operations for one month
The next five milestones involve entering final lunar orbit and landing successfully, the most difficult milestones of all.
SpaceX to build five Starship/Superheavy prototypes in 2023
According to Elon Musk, SpaceX intends to build five Starship/Superheavy prototypes in 2023 for flight testing.
Assuming they can get launch permits, these five rockets should provide the company ample launch testing capability for at least the next two years, especially if it succeeds in landing these units and can consider reusing them in test flights.
At this moment, the launch permits from the federal government appears the main obstacle to getting this heavy lift reusable rocket tested and operational.
The Weavers – So Long
An evening pause: That’s (l to r) Ronnie Gilbert, Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman. Performed live c1951.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Starlink service scheduled for South Korea later this year
SpaceX will begin offering Starlink service in South Korea by the spring of this year.
The article, from a South Korea news outlet, is generally negative about Starlink’s possibilities, mostly because its cost is much higher than that already available with coverage that includes 80% of the country. Nonetheless, Starlink will still be an option to those regions not yet served.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy successfully launches Space Force satellites
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket today successfully launched a Space Force communications satellite plus a secondary military payload.
The two side boosters completed their second flight, landing at Cape Canaveral. The core stage was not recovered, as planned. Actual deployment of the satellites will not occur for another six hours.
At this moment China leads SpaceX 5 to 3 in the 2023 launch race. No one else has as yet launched successfully.
Stratolaunch’s Roc airplane completes 2nd captive-carry test flight
Stratolaunch’s giant Roc airplane, the largest in existence, successfully completed its second captive-carry test flight, carrying a Talon-A (TA-0) hypersonic test vehicle under its central fuselage during take-off and landing.
The flight set a new duration record lasting a total of six hours and reached a maximum altitude of 22,500 ft., representing another important step forward in the company’s near-term goal of completing separation testing with TA-0. Primary test objectives included flight outside of the local Mojave area for the first time and evaluation of the separation environment. Roc and TA-0’s onboard data systems provide critical information on the aerodynamic loads and moments prior to release of TA-0, helping to ensure safe separation of the vehicle from Roc. The flight team also practiced chase formation and communication sequencing for the upcoming separation test.
The company has a contract with the Air Force to use the operational Talon-1 spacecraft, released from Roc, to do hypersonic test flights, hopefully in the first half of 2023.
Sweden cuts ribbon on Esrange spaceport
Sweden yesterday officially inaugurated a new commercial launch site at the Esrange spaceport that the ESA had used previously for suborbital tests.
The site is an extension of the Esrange Space Centre in Sweden’s Arctic, around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the town of Kiruna. Around 15 million euros ($16.3 million) have been invested in the site, which is expected to serve as a complement to Europe’s space hub at Kourou in French Guiana. It will also provide launch capabilities at a time when cooperation with Russia and the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan has been curtailed by the war in Ukraine.
Esrange’s state-owned operator, the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), aims to launch its first satellite from the site “in the first quarter of 2024”, a spokesman told AFP on Friday.
At this moment, there are three commercial rocket spaceports racing to complete the first orbital launch from Europe. Esrange in Sweden and the two UK spaceports, Spaceport Sutherland in Scotland and SaxaVord in the Shetland Islands. Cornwall in the UK is an airport, so it can only launch rockets that use an airplane, which essentially limits its launch customers to Virgin Orbit.
Chinese company based in Hong Kong signs deal to build spaceport in Djibouti, Africa
Djibouti’s location is indicated in black.
The government of Djibouti, one of the smallest nations in Africa and located at the southern end of the Red Sea, has signed an agreement with a pseudo Chinese company, the Hong Kong Aerospace Technology Group, to build a major spaceport there.
According to the translated press release, the five year project will cost one billion dollars, include a lease for 30 years, and involve the construction of a port, highway, and electrical power distribution system.
As much as Hong Kong for more than two centuries has been a haven for private enterprise, it is now under the control of the communist Chinese, and they would not allow anyone from Hong Kong to make such a deal unless they were in full control.
Based on the map, there is almost no launch path out of Djibouti that will not cross another nation’s territory. Unless the Chinese plan to make all the first stages launched from this site reusable, they are going to dropping stages on a lot of people’s heads, without their permission. And they will be doing it to some places where war is often and continues to be the most frequently used negotiating tactic.
Hat tip to stringer Jay.
FCC votes to create its own space bureaucracy, despite lacking statutory authority
On January 9, 2023 the commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission FCC voted [pdf] to create its own space bureaucracy designed to regulate the lifespan of new satellites, despite lacking legal authority to do so.
As noted almost as an aside by this news article,
In order for the planned changes to go into effect, the FCC will first have to obtain congressional approval for the reorganization and place a notice in the Federal Register.
This vote pushed forward the plan announced in November that attempts to expand the regulatory power of the FCC beyond its legal authority. Expect Congress to push back somewhat, but right now most power in Washington is held by unelected bureaucracies like the FCC, not the elected legislators as defined by the Constitution. The FCC will continue to push hard, and mostly win in this power game. Congress right now is too divided and weak to fight back.
The result will be new regulations on satellite construction made by non-engineers and paper-pushers in the FCC, not engineers and managers in the companies actually building the satellites.
The best news in the world
An evening pause: This short video is kind of a Paul Harvey “Rest of the Story.” Stay with it, it is worth it.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
German rocket startup signs deal with UK spaceport
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), a German rocket startup, has signed a deal with the SaxaVord spaceport in the Shetland Islands of Scotland to fly its first launch from there later this year.
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has signed a multi-year deal with the SaxaVord spaceport, being built in Unst, for the first launch of its satellite-carrying rockets. After testing at the site in mid-2023, it hopes to launch to a 500km orbit by the end of the year.
Because of the failure of the Virgin Orbit launch from Cornwall earlier this week, the honor of being the first orbital launch from within the United Kingdom remains ungrabbed. Both SaxaVord and Spaceport Sutherland, also in Scotland but at a different location, are now competing for that honor. Both now have planned launches this year, assuming the Civil Aviation Authority of the UK can issue a permit in less than fifteen months.
Meanwhile, Rocket Factory is competing with two other German startups for the honor of being the first commercial private European rocket company to reach orbit.
Saudi Arabia withdraws from Moon Treaty
On January 5, 2023, Saudi Arabia submitted its official withdrawal [pdf] from Moon Treaty, to be effective one year later.
The 1979 Moon Treaty is not the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which almost all space-faring nations have signed. The Moon Treaty has been signed by almost no one because its language literally forbids private ownership.
In a sense, the Artemis Accords, which Saudi Arabia recently signed, is in direct conflict with the Moon Treaty, and no nation can really honor both. The Artemis Accords were designed by the Trump administration to get around the less stringent restrictions on private enterprise imposed by the Outer Space Treaty. That it has encouraged the Saudis to leave the Moon Treaty, however, suggests that the Artemis Accords might eventually cause a major abandonment of the Outer Space Treaty as well. To withdraw from such treaties up until now has been considered taboo. Saudi Arabia might have broken that spell.
If so, this action by the Saudis could be the best news for the future exploration and settlement of the solar system that has occurred in years, even more significant than that first vertical landing of a Falcon 9 rocket. It might finally force a major revision in the Outer Space Treaty so that each nation’s laws can be applied to its own colonies.
Cindy Cashdollar & her 1927 Hermann Weissenborn Koa wood slide guitar
An evening pause: As she says, “They have such a different sound.”
Hat tip Judd Clark.
World View gets new lease from Pima County
Because the original lease was ruled unconstitutional under the Arizona state constitution, Pima County yesterday approved a new lease for the high altitude balloon company World View.
The original deal had the county build the building. World View would lease it for 20 years, guarantee employment of 400 people, and then buy the facility for $10 at the end of the lease. This was ruled unconstitutional.
Lesher said [the new lease] will give the county more flexibility and a safeguard when it comes to those terms and they’ll be able to base the appraisal price on a percentage of the fair market value. Another big change – the employee benchmark has been significantly lowered. In the original contract, World View was required to hire 400 workers, now that’s down to 125.
Until more details are provided, it is unclear what has changed to make the new deal acceptable to the courts. I suspect the big change is that World View will not have an option to buy for $10.