The Cactus Cuties – The National Anthem
An evening pause: Performed live, 2008. Their singing makes you listen to the words.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
Tag: commercial
Dude Dad – If Toddlers Had Lawyers
An evening pause: Definitely not Perry Mason, though certainly inspired by him.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Another flying car gets FAA approval for flight testing
The Aska-5 flying car
The FAA has approved another flying car for flight testing, this time for a flying car designed to also be able to do vertical take-offs if necessary.
The Aska A5 … has four wheels and four seats. Like the Klein Vision [another flying car proposal], it can take off on a runway if there’s one available. Unlike the Klein Vision, it can also takeoff on a very short runway, or indeed no runway at all, thanks to an electric VTOL [vertical take-off and landing] system that folds out at the touch of a button. And unlike, say, the Xpeng AeroHT [a different flying car proposal], it’s capable of transitioning to efficient, winged cruise mode to expand its range.
The A5 will look fairly ridiculous driving down the road, all propellers and struts, a clog with a dishrack full of cutlery piled on top. But when the main rear wing and canard fold out, it all makes a lot more sense. There are six large propellers, four at the back, two at the front, and in VTOL operations these will lift the Aska off the ground and allow it to hover. For forward flight, the two inner rear propellers can tilt forward, allowing horizontal thrust in cruise mode with the rest of the props switched off and the car’s weight supported by its wings.
The proposed price tag for the Aska-5 is presently just under $800K, though it will be a while before you can buy one. The company says it is doing both driving and flight testing, but provided no images or data of it in the air. Thus, a lot of work remains before you could climb in, drive from your home to an airport and take off.
The company says it has $50 million in preorders. If so, at least 50 people think this might be the real deal.
SpaceX launches Europe’s Euclid space telescope
SpaceX this morning successfully launched Europe’s Euclid space telescope, designed to map the spatial distribution of several billion galaxies across one third of the sky.
The first stage successfully completed its second flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairing halves completed their first flight.
This ESA science mission would have normally been launched on an Arianespace rocket, but Europe’s ability to launch anything now is nil, as it is about to retire its Ariane-5 rocket (with one launch left) and has so failed to get its replacement, Ariane-6, operational. As such, SpaceX got the business, since it is the cheapest and most reliable alternative.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
44 SpaceX
24 China
9 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
In the national rankings, American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 50 to 24, and the entire world combined 50 to 41, with SpaceX by itself leads the entire world, excluding other American companies, 44 to 41.
TheDailyWoo -The Day The Music Died
An evening pause: Retracing the moments leading to the airplane crash that killed Buddy Holly , the Big Bopper and Richie Valens. For pictures of the memorial items left by others at the crash site, go here.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Dragon cargo freighter safely splashes down in Atlantic
After three months docked to ISS, one of SpaceX’s reusable Dragon cargo freighters safely splashed down today off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic.
This was SpaceX’s 28th cargo mission to ISS, all successful except for one launch failure not caused by the capsule itself, which post-failure analysis suggested that if it had been equipped to release parachutes it might have landed in the ocean undamaged.
This capsule brought back 3,600 pounds from the station, including some experiments that had been on the station for six years.
Voices of Music: Andante from Bach’s Flute Sonata in E Minor
An evening pause: The players are Kate Clark, baroque flute, and Hanneke van Proosdij, harpsichord.
Blue Origin negotiating with India to use its rockets and capsule for Orbital Reef space station
According to the head of India’s space agency ISRO, he has been in discussions with Blue Origin about using different versions of that nation’s largest rocket (dubbed LVM-3 or GSLV-Mk3 depending on configuration) and its manned capsule (still under development) for eventually ferrying crew and cargo to Blue Origin’s proposed Orbital Reef space station.
Somanath said: “We are exploring … In fact, we’ve already discussed it with Blue Origin and they are very keen to consider this option of LVM-3 becoming a crew capsule mission to service the Orbital Reef. It is a possibility and we are engaging through IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre).”
On the challenge of integrating a docking system that is compatible, he said standard docking systems are in the public domain. “…Whoever can design a docking system that matches with the US design and standard, can be used. However, we will still need to have agreements with agencies to try it out given that there are multiple interfaces — electrical, mechanical and so on. It is not just one document, we will need to work with them to develop it. We will do that.
It appears Somanath has also had discussions with NASA about also providing the same service to ISS.
An Orbital Reef deal however suggests something very disturbing about Blue Origin. The plan had been to use Blue Origin’s New Glenn orbital rocket (also still under development but years behind schedule) to launch crew and cargo capsules to the station. That in fact is supposed to be Blue Origin’s main technical contribution to the station. Why would the company then look to India for such capability, unless it recognizes that there are more problems with New Glenn that it has not revealed?
It is also possible that Jeff Bezos is simply expressing his leftwing globalist agenda with these negotiations. Or it could mean some combination of both. This situation bears watching.
Redwire gets new contract to build two more replacement solar panels for ISS
Redwire has gotten a new contract from NASA, through its main contractor Boeing, to build two more Roll-Out Solar Arrays (IROSA) for ISS that are being installed to replace the stations aging original solar panels.
Since 2021, a total of six Redwire-built arrays have been developed, delivered, and deployed on the ISS, augmenting its critical power supply. Each wing provides an additional 20+ kW of power once deployed, and all eight IROSA wings combined will provide more than 160 kW for over 10 years.
These roll out arrays are installed during a space walk, and then roll out on top of the old panels. They are small but more power efficient.
The Highwaymen – Ghost Riders In the Sky
An evening pause: Performed live 1990.
Hat tip Mike Nelson.
Sierra Space says first Dream Chaser will be ready for launch by December
In a presentation at an investor conference on June 27, 2023, a Sierra Space official provided an update on the status of its first Dream Chaser reusable mini-shuttle, dubbed Tenacity, stating that they expect it to be ready for launch by December, with the main question whether its ULA Vulcan launch rocket will also be ready.
The launch is supposed to be the second for Vulcan, but the first launch was just delayed for an undetermined amount of time so ULA can make modifications to the rocket’s Centaur upper stage. Once Tenacity is flying Sierra has a contract with NASA for seven cargo flights to ISS, with plans beyond.
The company is also working on a second version that can carry both crew and cargo. Vice said that version will have 40% greater cargo capacity than the first version and can support a six-person crew.
The ability of Dream Chaser to glide back to Earth in a runway landing, rather than splash down in the ocean, is a key selling point to customers, he argued. “We just think that landing at runways around the world is a huge differentiator: low-g landing back on a runway for both time-critical cargo and science, but also just the way people are going to want to fly back and land.”
The official also indicated that this human-rated version is being designed to work with the private Orbital Reef space station that Sierra Space is building in partnership with other companies. The company also said it is planning its own free flying version of its Orbital Reef LIFE module that the company hopes to launch by the end of 2026, ahead of Orbital Reef. If so, that would make this the sixth independent private space station planned by American companies.
Because much of this presentation was designed to impress potential investors, we should take it with a touch of skepticism. Nonetheless, that the company is considering launching its own station, independent of the Blue Origin-led Orbital Reef station, suggests it has its own doubts about whether that project will ever take off as planned, and has thus decided to make its own contingency plans.
Hat tip to Jay, BtB’s stringer.
Las Vegas developer touts spaceport plan
A Las Vegas developer is publicizing his plan to build a spaceport for rockets and spaceplanes on his 240 acre lot, with launches taking place within five to seven years.
He is also building a hotel/casino at this location, and I suspect the spaceport proposal’s purpose has more to do with publicizing that casino than actually launching rockets. He claims he will have a spaceport permit in two years, but for him to get such a thing for this land-based site is questionable.
The developer is also proposing to include a space-focused engineering school at the site, as well as fly zero-gravity planes from there, both of which are far more feasible.