Matchbox Twenty – Overjoyed
An evening pause: Performed live 2012.
Hat tip Dan Morris.
Tag: commercial
September 13, 2022 Quick space links
Courtesy of stringer Jay.
- Sierra Space tests to failure a one-third size prototype of its inflatable LIFE space station module
- China’s astronauts, their mission 100 days old, prepare for 2nd spacewalk
- Engines for new Long March 5G rocket have accumulated 10,000 seconds of hot fire tests
- DART remains on course for a September 26, 2022 planned asteroid impact
- OneWeb and Arianespace sign new launch deal following Russian confiscation of satellites
The goal was to see how well the inflatable module could hold its atmosphere. The safety requirement is 182.2 pounds per square inch (psi). The prototype burst at 192 psi. For context, the atmosphere is about 14 psi. You can watch a video of the test here.
This appears to be different than the Long March 5D rocket, both of which are upgrades of the Long March 5. Though the tweets at the link suggest the 5D will be reusable, it remains unclear as yet whether either rocket’s core stage will be capable of a controlled re-entry, rather than falling to Earth as uncontrolled and dangerous space junk.
The tweet from Rocket Lab provides a link to the live stream, which will not go active for another 12 days.
Few specifics were released, except for the hint that the two companies are discussing the possible use of the Ariane 6 for future satellite launches. The release also noted that Arianespace will provide some support for two OneWeb launches that NSIL, the commercial space agency of India, is doing.
Alison Krauss – Down to the River to Pray
An evening pause: Performed live 2002, when traditional American Christian gospel tunes were still considered mainstream instead of “white supremacy.”
September 12, 2022 Quick space links
Courtesy of stringer Jay.
- A short tour of China’s Tiangong-3 space station
- For ham radio enthusiasts: Info for contacting the tiny Japanese lunar lander that will launch on SLS
- China building testing facility for building hydrogen/oxygen rocket engines
- SpaceX: Starlink Business is now available in France, Germany, Italy, and the UK
Sadly, the video available is very short. I’ve looked for a longer version but was unable to find one.
From the tweet, “The local government has recently kicked off the land acquisition campaign.” Jay translated this more accurately, “The local government has recently kicked out people in the land acquisition campaign.”
Blue Origin suborbital flight aborted during ascent
Capitalism in space: For what appeared to be an engine issue in the booster during the ascent phase, Blue Origin was forced to abort an unmanned New Shepard suborbital flight today.
I have embedded the live steam below, cued to just before the abort. It appears that something went seriously wrong with that first stage booster. The abort system immediately activated, separating the capsule and firing the capsule’s abort engines to take it safely away, with its parachutes bringing it down safely. That first stage booster was likely destroyed.
This particular suborbital flight fortunately was the first carrying no passengers since Blue Origin began commercial flights. Its payloads were a variety of experiments and commercial packages.
Regardless of the issue, Blue Origin will not be doing suborbital flights now for a considerable time, pending an investigation into this failure.
Firefly scrubs launch of Alpha rocket
UPDATE: September 12th launch scrubbed due to weather. No word on when the next launch attempt will be scheduled.
Original post about September 11th scrub:
————–
After making two attempts, engineers at Firefly yesterday finally scrubbed the launch of their Alpha rocket, rescheduling the next attempt for today with a four hour launch window opening at 3 pm (Pacific).
Firefly has yet to make orbit. Their first launch attempt last year of Alpha failed when one first stage engine shut down prematurely due to a loose connection.
If you wish to watch the launch, I will embed the live stream below, once it goes live later today.
UPDATE: I have embedded the live stream below, with it beginning at 1:30 pm (Pacific).
» Read more
CAPSTONE in safe mode
The lunar orbiter CAPSTONE, presently on its way to the Moon, went into safe mode on September 8th at the end of a mid-course correction engine burn.
The CAPSTONE mission team has good knowledge of the state and status of the spacecraft. The mission operations team is in contact with the spacecraft and working towards a solution with support from the Deep Space Network.
Under such conditions engineers almost always recover the spacecraft so that the mission proceeds as normal. No guarantees of course, but it is not unreasonable to expect the same with CAPSTONE.
SpaceX launches 34 Starlink satellites plus commercial satellite for AST Mobile
Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to launch 34 additional Starlink satellites into orbit. It also launched another customer’s communications satellite, AST Mobile’s BlueWalker-3.
The first stage successfully completed its record 14th flight, the most times a Falcon 9 first stage has been reused. It landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic. In addition, the two fairing halves completed their 4th and 5th flights, respectively. As of this writing, the satellites have not yet deployed from the upper stage.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
41 SpaceX
36 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA
American private enterprise now leads China 56 to 36 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 56 to 55. That U.S. lead stands a good chance of increasing this weekend, as tomorrow SpaceX plans another Starlink launch, but more significantly, Firefly will make the second attempt to complete the first launch of its Alpha rocket, almost a year after the first failed attempt.
FAA and NTSB sign deal dividing turf for investigating space accidents
Turf war! The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday signed an agreement that divides up the responsibilities for investigating accidents that occur in or by space entities.
You can read that agreement here [pdf]. A screen capture of the key clauses is to the right. Essentially, the NTSB will lead any investigation that either causes death or injury, or involves damage to property not related to the space operation itself, while the FAA will lead all other investigations.
The agreement also has a lot of clauses describing how the two agencies will work together in dividing up this turf before, during, and after investigations. Above all, the agreement now authorizes both agencies to “conduct its own analysis and determine its respective conclusions and recommendations in accordance with its authorities.”
The agreement stems from an effort by the NTSB to take over all space-related accident investigations it proposed in November 2021 that both the FAA and industry strongly opposed. This agreement however shows that the Biden administration ignored those objections in order to give the NTSB a wider range of power, while also giving bureaucrats in both agencies more power as well. Under this agreement, every space incident is now going to be investigated twice, with both the NTSB and FAA doing their own investigations.
Expect this agreement to be used by the Washington bureaucracy to slow or shut down innovation and new technology. The NTSB is designed to investigate incidents caused in the long established and robust airline industry, not developing cutting-edge experimental work. It will naturally act to discourage such experimental work.
Meanwhile, the FAA will chime in with its own investigation and analysis. The competing results will only cause confusion and disorder, thus further acting to discourage any new and risky innovations.
Counting Crows – Catapult
An evening pause: Performed live 1997.
Hat tip Dan Morris.
SpaceX successfully test fires all six engines on Starship prototype #24
Capitalism in space: SpaceX yesterday successfully completed for the first time an eight-second-long static fire test of all six engines on Starship prototype #24.
I have embedded video of the test below. The amount of power exhibited is quite impressive. In fact, it was so powerful it likely melted the concrete below the rocket, sending hot debris flying that caused a major brushfire.
Most likely, eight long seconds of blast-furnace conditions melted the top layer of surrounding concrete and shot a hailstorm of tiny superheated globules in almost every direction. Indeed, in almost every direction there was something readily able to burn, a fire started. In several locations to the south and west, brush caught fire and began to burn unusually aggressively, quickly growing into walls of flames that sped across the terrain. To the east, debris even made it into a SpaceX dumpster, the contents of which easily caught fire and burned for hours.
Eventually, around 9pm CDT, firefighters were able to approach the safed launch pad and rocket, but the main fire had already spread south, out of reach. Instead, they started controlled burns near SpaceX’s roadblock, hoping to clear brush and prevent the fire (however unlikely) from proceeding towards SpaceX’s Starbase factory and Boca Chica Village homes and residents.
The rocket itself came though the test unscathed, a major milestone on the path to its first orbital flight.
During a launch, the rocket would have quickly lifted off, and thus caused far less stress to the concrete on the ground. Nonetheless, this test suggests SpaceX needs to do more pad preparation for any tests of Superheavy prototype #7, which has 33 engines at its base.
Ronald Binge – Elizabethan Serenade
An evening pause: To commemorate the passing of Queen Elizabeth today.
Lawrence of Arabia
An evening pause: I have posted scenes from this film twice (both sadly gone now from youtube), but I think the trailer sells it well. This movie remains one of the greatest made in the history of film. If you haven’t seen it, you must. Though its facts are of course not entirely accurate, its sense of the history, culture, time, and the political machinations going on in Arabia during World War I are spot on. The visuals, acting, and script (by Robert Bolt) are also magnificent.
It also speaks to the Middle East we see today, and helps explain why the Arabs have so far not really done well with the advantages of western technology.
Hat tip Tom Wilson, who says he makes it a point to watch this epic at least once a year.
Arianespace’s Ariane-5 rocket launches communications satellite
Arianespace today used its Ariane-5 rocket, launching from French Guiana, to successfully place a Eutelsat communications satellite into orbit.
This was the fourth successful launch this year for Arianespace, so Europe still does not make the leader board. The company had predicted it would launch eleven times in 2022. At this moment it appears very questionable it will be able to match that prediction.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
40 SpaceX
36 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA
American private enterprise still leads China 55 to 36 in the national rankings, but is now tied with the entire world combined 55 to 55.
Axiom chosen by NASA to build first Artemis moonsuits
Capitalism in space: NASA today awarded Axiom the contract to build the moonsuits the astronauts will use on the first lunar landing of its Artemis program, dubbed Artemis-3.
After reviewing proposals from its two eligible spacesuit vendors, NASA selected Axiom Space for the task order, which has a base value of $228.5 million. A future task order will be competed for recurring spacesuit services to support subsequent Artemis missions.
The contract award continues NASA shift from its failed spacesuit effort — taking fourteen years and a billion dollars to produce nothing — to hiring the private sector to do it.
Previously NASA had awarded contracts to both Axiom and Collins Aerospace to build spacesuits, either for spacewalks or on the Moon. Today’s award is specifically for moonsuits for that first lunar mission.
Rocket Lab gets contract with military to study point-to-point cargo transport
Capitalism in space: Rocket Lab yesterday revealed that the U.S. military has given it a contract to study whether its rockets could eventually be used for point-to-point cargo transport.
This study contract is similar to the one the military gave SpaceX for its Starship/Superheavy rocket. Both are intended not to actual fly missions, but to look at the engineering of the rockets to see if it will be practical to use them for point-to-point cargo transport on Earth.
The deal suggests the military has been impressed with Rocket Lab’s efforts to make its smallsat Electron rocket resusable, as well as its development program for its newer and larger Neutron resusable rocket.
The Hollies – I Can’t Let Go
An evening pause: From the 1960s.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
September 6, 2022 Quick space links
Courtesy of Jay, BtB’s intrepid stringer.
- Sierra Space: Mission: Tenacity Part 1
- How does Starlink Satellite Internet Work?
This video is just an empty-of-content commercial for Sierra Space, filled with feel-good “woke” blather but little real information about the actual status of this long overdue spacecraft. It is worth watching however because it reveals this emptiness. Reminds me of the many similar videos from Blue Origin and NASA over the years, filled with big promises but little actual achievement.
This video, almost 30 minutes long, is definitely worth watching if you have any interest in signing up for Starlink, or just have an interest in the coming low orbit satellite constellation boom.
More static fire tests of Starship/Superheavy expected this week
SpaceX appears to be gearing up for more engine tests of both Superheavy prototype #7 and Starship prototype #24 this week, having called for road closures at Boca Chica today with additional options thoughout the week.
The article at the link mostly provides an overview of the changes in both stages that occurred because of the shift from the first version of the Raptor engine to the much more streamlined Raptor-2. The side-by-side image of both versions is quite revealing, showing once again how much SpaceX adheres to Musk’s adage that “the best part is no part.” Raptor-2 is astonishingly simpler and more compact, even though it produces about 25% more power.
Heart – Barracuda
An evening pause: Performed live 1977.
Hat tip Tom Wilson.