Tag: commercial

Superheavy/Starship clears tower but fails at stage separation

7:06 am

Starship and Superheavy, having just cleared the tower
Starship and Superheavy, having just cleared the tower

In a spectacular first orbital launch attempt, SpaceX’s Superheavy and Starship successfully lifted off, clearing the tower and continuing through max-Q (maximum dynamic pressure). It then reached about 24 miles altitude when the rocket began to slowly spinn just prior to main engine cutoff and stage separation. At that point, because engine cutoff and separation had not occurred as planned, the engineering team used the flight termination system to destroy it so as to eliminate any risk to anyone on the ground.

As the announcers noted repeatedly, if the rocket simply cleared the tower they would consider this a magnificent success, considering that they had never fired Superheavy before in a real countdown. That Superheavy performed exactly as it should for almost its entire flight means SpaceX is that much closer to getting Starship into orbit than one would think at this stage of testing.
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An ordinary person’s view of the Starship/Superheavy countdown

5:54 pm

Starship and Superheavy, stacked on the launchpad for launch

One of my readers, who wishes to go by is nickname Doubting Thomas on Behind the Black, went to Boca Chica earlier this week with the hope of seeing the live first orbital launch of Superheavy with Starship stacked on top. Unfortunately, the launch on April 17, 2023 was scrubbed, and he could not remain in Boca Chica for the now rescheduled launch early tomorrow morning on April 20th.

He sent me some pictures of that experience, however, which I post here with his permission. The best of course is the one to the right, of Starship stacked on Superheavy on the launchpad. This was taken before the roads were closed, and shows how incredibly close the general public can get to that launchpad simply by driving past on a public road.

The next few pictures give us a glimpse at the options people have for viewing future Boca Chica launches.
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ILC Dover to provide spacesuits and “softgoods” for Sierra Space’s LIFE space station

9:08 am

Sierra Space yesterday announced that it has signed a partnership deal with ILC Dover for it to provide spacesuits and other “softgoods” for Sierra Space’s LIFE space station, including helping to build the station’s inflatable modules.

ILC Dover will be an exclusive partner with Sierra Space for softgoods used to support inflatable space habitat systems for low-Earth orbit (LEO), lunar and Mars transport and surface habitation, and use cases even farther into deep space.

The two companies have already been working together on the development and testing of Sierra Space’s first prototype inflatable modules.

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Axiom offers package space program deals for other countries

9:01 am

The private space station and human spaceflight company Axiom announced this week a set of package space program deals it is marketing to other countries.

In the base tier, Axiom provides countries with advice and insight, and gives those countries priority access on upcoming missions. The second tier enables research and development activities by counties. The third tier offers human spaceflight missions on a regular basis. A fourth tier offers countries the ability to co-develop parts of Axiom’s station.

The first country to join the program is Azerbaijan, which will work with Axiom on satellite solutions and inspiring students to pursue space research and development activities. New Zealand and Uzbekistan are also participating, as well as Rakia Mission, an Israeli space education and research organization involved with the Ax-1 private astronaut mission to the ISS a year ago. Italy is another nation working with Axiom through a partnership that dates back to 2018. An Italian astronaut is slated to fly on Axiom’s Ax-3 mission to the ISS, currently scheduled for late 2023. Two astronauts from Saudi Arabia are flying on the Ax-2 mission in May.

The company also notes that it has found its customers divide into three components, government, private citizens, and corporations. At present this is their order in terms of market share, though the company thinks that corporations will eventually become its biggest customer.

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SpaceX launches 21 second generation Starlink satellites

8:47 am

SpaceX this morning successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral to launch 21 second generation Starlink satellites into orbit.

The first stage successfully completed its eighth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

25 SpaceX
16 China
6 Russia
3 Rocket Lab

American private enterprise now leads China 28 to 16 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 28 to 27. SpaceX now trails the entire world, including American companies, 25 to 30.

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April 18, 2023 Quick space links

5:19 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

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Rocket Lab introduces a suborbital version of its Electron rocket for hypersonic flight testing

9:24 am

Rocket Lab today announced the availability of a suborbital version of its Electron rocket, dubbed HASTE, designed to do frequent hypersonic flight tests, with its first commercial flight scheduled in the first half of this year.

HASTE is evolved from Rocket Lab’s flagship Electron launch vehicle, which has been providing reliable access to orbit since 2018 and has successfully deployed satellites for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office), DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the U.S. Space Force. HASTE employs the same innovative carbon composite structure and 3D printed Rutherford engines as Electron but has a modified Kick Stage for hypersonic payload deployment, a larger payload capacity of up to 700 kg / 1,540 lbs, and options for tailored fairings to accommodate larger payloads.

It appears that Rocket Lab is attempting to grab market share from Stratolaunch’s Roc/Talon hypersonic testbed, which is gearing up to do its own first hypersonic test flights this year.

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Lockheed Martin tests in-orbit cubesat rendezvous

9:16 am

Using two cubesats released separately after launch, Lockheed Martin has successfully tested maneuvering and rendezvous in space.

The two cubesats, each the size of a toaster, were deployed 300 kilometers above geostationary orbit from a ring-shaped secondary payload that carried multiple smallsats. They were released three days apart about 750 kilometers away from each other and a month later they were navigating within 400 meters of each other, Karla Brown, Linuss program manager, told reporters during a news conference at Lockheed Martin’s technology center at the Catalyst Campus.

One of the cubesats performed the role of servicing vehicle and the other was the resident space object. She said she expects the satellites to come even closer, to about 200 meters as the experiment continues. The more significant goal that was accomplished was proving AI algorithms that would be needed to perform a space servicing mission, Brown said.

Maybe the most interesting aspect of this project however is how it is funded. This is old-fashioned R&D (research & development), funded not by the government but by Lockheed Martin as part of a a suite of related in-space servicing projects. Before the arrival of the military-industrial complex post World War II, such work was always paid for in house by the private sector. This commercial R&D was often given great freedom to experiment, in the hope that it would result in new products producing profits.

With the arrival of lots of government money in the 1950s and 1960s, that private R&D money dried up. Big space companies would instead only do the research and development that was funded by the government, either by NASA or the Pentagon. As a result, innovation dried up as well.

The return of private R&D likely means we shall once again see more innovation, since it will once again be done to search out new innovative ways to do things.

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Orbit Fab raises $28.5 million in private investment capital

9:03 am

The satellite servicing company Orbit Fab has raised $28.5 million in private investment capital, adding to the $21 million it had already obtained from contracts with the U.S. military.

Orbit Fab’s goal is very specific, to provide refueling services for satellites of all types. To encourage companies to sign on to its service, it markets its own refueling port that satellite companies can add to their satellites.

The company hopes to fly its first of three test refueling missions for the military next year.

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