Leon Redbone – Old Familiar Blues
An evening pause: That’s Cindy Cashdollar playing behind him.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Tag: commercial
SpaceX successfully launches 53 Starlink satellites
Using its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX early this morning successfully launched from Cape Canaveral another 53 Starlink satellites.
This was the 200th Falcon 9 launch. The first stage, making its fifth flight, landing successfully on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairing halves completed their sixth and seventh flight respectively. At of this writing the satellites themselves have not yet been deployed.
The 2023 launch race:
8 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
1 Japan
American private enterprise now leads China 9 to 5 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 9 to 6.
Petula Clark – Sign Of The Times
A evening pause: This performance, almost certainly lip-synced, is from the Ed Sullivan Show in 1966. It is absolutely worth watching, not only because the song is good, but the set, costumes, and dance choreography will give those too young to have lived in the 1960s a real sense of the crazy no-holds-barred culture of that time. People were willing and free to try anything.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Is Amazon’s Kuiper Constellation project in trouble, or is it fleeing Seattle?
According to a on-going listing of open space-related jobs in Seattle, Amazon has almost completely ceased hiring in that city, even as it is about to launch the first prototype test satellites in its proposed internet Kuiper satellite constellation.
To see the decline, take a gander at the graph here.
The analyst at the first link also noted in a later tweet this fact about Amazon hiring in Seattle:
…Went from 189 at end of October to 14 yesterday (in WA state, not total). It’s unusual, at least in the nearly 3 years I’ve been monitoring. Could be due largely due to Amazon hiring freeze.
Amazon is required by its FCC license to get over 1,600 Kuiper satellites launched in the next 40 months. The first two are only scheduled for launch on the first Vulcan launch now targeting a late March liftoff. As test prototypes, they will have to be tested for a period of time in orbit, followed by an assessment that might require changes in the design and construction of later satellites. These satellites would then have to be launched at an unprecedented rate, almost faster than anything SpaceX has done with its Starlink constellation.
At the moment it thus seems impossible for Amazon to meet the FCC deadline.
That the company appears to have stopped hiring space-related positions in Seattle at this very moment makes that goal even more impossible. This hiring freeze thus suggests that management has decided that the Kuiper project is untenable and is quietly cutting it off at the knees.
Or it could be that the hiring freeze is instead an indication that Amazon is slowly shifting operations out of leftist and insane Washington state. If so, work on the Kuiper project, including hiring, might be going on elsewhere.
Regardless, the state of the Kuiper project continues to be tenuous and uncertain, at best.
Hat tip to Jay, BtB’s stringer.
Two die at Northrop Grumman facility that makes solid rocket boosters
Two individuals died last night from an as-yet unknown cause at the Northrop Grumman Bacchus facility in Utah that makes solid rocket strap-on boosters for ULA’s rockets.
Further details about what exactly led to the deaths and who died were not made available.
The West Valley City Fire and Police Departments said they responded to the Bacchus facility after the two employees were found unconscious. Crews attempted life-saving measures and transported the two employees to the hospital, where they later died.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Depending on circumstances, delivery of strap-on boosters for upcoming Atlas-5 and Vulcan launches could be impacted.
Hat tip to Jay, BtB’s stringer.
Developments at the Houston Spaceport industry park
Link here. The article gives a detailed review of the various space-related businesses (Axiom, Intuitive Machines, Collins Aerospace) that have set up operations at this industry park focused on attracting space companies to the Houston area.
The park in a sense in misnamed, as it isn’t a launch facility. However, it is now building a taxiway that will connect the park directly to Ellington Airport, which for these businesses will help facilitate the transport of large space station modules and lunar landers.
Linda Ronstadt – You’re No Good
An evening pause: Performed live on television, 1973.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
SpaceX successfully launches 49 Starlink satellites and a D-Orbit space tug
SpaceX today successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to launch 49 Starlink satellites as well as a D-Orbit space tug carrying one of its own customer’s satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The first stage successfully completed its seventh flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The D-Orbit tug with its four payloads has also successfully deployed.
The 2023 launch race:
7 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
1 Japan
American private enterprise leads China 8 to 5 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 8 to 6.
Gary Wright – Love Is Alive
An evening pause: Performed live on television 1976.
Hat tip Tom Wilson.
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me
An evening pause: Performed live in New Orleans 2002.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Lalo Schifrin – Mission Impossible
An evening pause: Performed live in Prague, 2010.
Hat tip Roland.
German rocket startup Isar Aerospace gets first American customer
The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace, which hopes to complete the first launch of its Spectrum rocket this year, has signed its first launch contract with an American company, the satellite broker and space tug company Spaceflight.
U.S.-based launch services provider Spaceflight said Jan. 25 it has booked a dedicated launch in 2026 from Isar Aerospace, the German rocket developer aiming to perform the first test flight of its Spectrum vehicle this year. The mission is slated to lift off from Isar’s launchpad in Andøya, Norway, to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
Their agreement also includes an option for an additional dedicated launch in 2025, which Isar chief commercial officer Stella Guillen told SpaceNews could also use a launchpad it is developing at the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana.
Spaceflight has been scrambling to find rockets for its tugs, since SpaceX announced in March 2022 it would no longer carry them. It signed a deal with Arianespace to fly on its Vega rocket, but launch failures have delayed its launch.
Isar is one of three German rocket startups vying for business. The race to be the first to launch remains very tight.
SpaceX successfully launches a record 56 Starlink satellites
SpaceX early today successfully launched a record 56 Starlink satellites on a single Falcon 9 rocket, which also carried a record mass for the rocket.
The first stage successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic, completing its 9th flight. The fairing halves completed the 6th and 7th flights.
The 2023 launch race:
6 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
1 Japan
American private enterprise now leads China 7 to 5 in the national ranks, and the entire world combined 7 to 6.
Cher & Tina Turner – Shame on You!
A evening pause: Performed live on television 1975.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
Arianespace’s chief condemns the idea of independent private European rocket companies
Stéphane Israël, the head of Arianespace, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) commercial rocket division, yesterday strongly condemned the idea of allowing independent private European rocket companies to develop and compete with his government operation.
“It is not possible to copy-paste the US model,” he said. “It is not possible. The level of space spending in the United States is five times higher than in Europe, and the private capital is not the same. So if the answer is to say let’s do what the US has done, I think we will not manage to do it.”
Moreover, Israël said the European Space Agency must resist supporting microlaunchers to the point where these companies might compete with the existing capabilities.
“A huge mistake would be that this focus on microlaunchers destabilizes Ariane 6 and Vega C—it would be a historic mistake,” he said. “Microlaunchers can be of support to boost innovation. But we should not make any confusion. This launcher will never give autonomous access to space to Europe. They’re on a niche market representing maybe 10 percent of the market, and less than that when it comes to European needs.”
He said this in Brussels at the 15th European Space Conference, where it appears he was trying to convince the ESA to block any competition with Arianespace.
Israël might say this, but not only has his track record in predicting the success of commercial space in the U.S. been bad, other European governments are not taking his advice. Both Germany and the United Kingdom have several rocket startups gearing up for their first launches this year, with others in Spain and France not far behind. Moreover, Israël doesn’t have much to offer in competition. Arianespace’s Vega rocket, intended to be a low cost option, has failed on three of its last eight launches. The Ariane 6 rocket is years behind schedule, and has not yet launched. And both are overpriced and cannot compete, not only with the American rocket startups but with India’s government rockets.
Moreover, those European governments have in recent years been taking control and power away from Israël and Arianespace. Unlike earlier rockets, the Ariane 6 rocket is not controlled or owned by Arianespace. Instead, it belongs to ArianeGroup, the partnership of Airbus and Safran that is building it. Arianespace’s role in operating it will be greatly limited, once it begins flying.
Stacked Starship and Superheavy complete first full wet dress rehearsal countdown
SpaceX yesterday successfully completed a full wet dress rehearsal countdown of its stacked Starship prototype #24 and Superheavy prototype #7, fueling both completely and taking the countdown down to T-0.
On this rehearsal however the Superheavy engines were not fired. From two SpaceX tweets:
Starship completed its first full flight-like wet dress rehearsal at Starbase today. This was the first time an integrated Ship and Booster were fully loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant
Today’s test will help verify a full launch countdown sequence, as well as the performance of Starship and the orbital pad for flight-like operations
Next step: Another full wet dress rehearsal countdown that includes a short static fire test of all 33 Superheavy Raptor-2 engines. Once that is done successfully, the company will be ready for that first orbital launch.
Meanwhile, SpaceX awaits its launch license from the FAA. I remain pessimistic that it will be issued on a timely manner, as there are clear signs the Biden administration wants to use its power against Musk, whom it now sees as an enemy.
Rocket Lab successfully completes first launch from the U.S.
Using its Electron rocket, Rocket Lab yesterday placed three smallsats into orbit, launching for the first time from Wallops Island in Virginia.
The company now has three launchpads, one in Wallops and two in New Zealand. Expect its launch pace in 2023 to ramp up to, at a minimum, once per month.
The 2023 launch race:
5 China
5 SpaceX
1 Rocket Lab
In the national rankings, the U.S. leads China, 6 to 5. No one else has yet launched, though Japan plans a launch today.
Fender – recreating the classic “Brownie” Stratocaster used by Eric Clapton
An evening pause: Apparently Clapton used what is called a “Brownie” Stratocaster when he recorded the song Layla. In this video Fender rebuilds an old one to make it like new, for Clapton.
Hat tip Cotour.
Johann Sebastian Bach – Christmas Oratorio BWV 248
An evening pause: Good music is good music, and should not require the right season to enjoy.
Hat tip Judd Clark.
First Vulcan rocket arrives at Cape Canaveral
ULA’s first Vulcan rocket has now arrived at Cape Canaveral in preparation for its planned inaugural launch before the end of March.
This first mission for Vucan will fly in a VC2S configuration. “VC” stands for “Vulcan Centaur.” The number, in this case “2,” represents the number of solid rocket boosters needed and the final letter stands for the payload fairing length.
VC2S will use a 51-foot-long Standard payload fairing. Nestled inside will be a few different payloads. This mission will send the first two Kuiper prototype satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander to the Moon and a Celestis Memorial Spaceflight payload into deep space. The remains of several people connected to the original Star Trek series will be launched on what Celestis dubbed the “Enterprise Flight,” including show creator Gene Roddenberry along with actors Nichelle Nichols and Jackson DeForest Kelley.
This first Vulcan launch will also be the first of two flights required by the Pentagon in order to certify Vulcan for military launches. Since ULA already has contracts for seven Vulcan military launches, it very much wants to get these two launches off this year, as soon as possible. According to the article at the link, ULA is thus aiming to fly this year those two test flights, followed quickly by the first military launch.
Whether it can complete three Vulcan launches in 2023 is quite uncertain. For example, it will need to get four more BE-4 engines from Blue Origin for the second and third launches, and there is no indication at this time that Blue Origin is close to delivering.
Then there is the delays and risks involved with this first launch. Though ULA has decades of experience building and launching rockets, the first launch of a rocket almost always experiences delays during testing. We should expect the same with Vulcan.
Assuming this schedule holds, however, this means ULA is targeting 10 launches in 2023, five Atlas-5 launches, two Delta Heavy launches, and three Vulcan launches. That would be the most launches by this company in a year since 2016.