The competition heats up: SpaceX’s test vertical-landing rocket Grasshopper successfully climbed to 250 meters in its most recent test flight.
Video below the fold.
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Yesterday, Orbital Sciences successfully completed the first test launch of its Antares rocket, developed, designed, and built in less than five years under a commercial contract with NASA to provide cargo to the International Space Station. The launch went like clockwork, perfectly, with no hitches at all, something that is quite remarkable for a new rocket on its first launch. Kudos to the engineers at Orbital Sciences for a job well done!
Besides demonstrating the skill of Orbital Science’s engineers, however, this successful launch illustrated in stark reality a fundamental fact about the culture of the United States that continues to allow it to stand out from the rest of the world, even as a large percentage of the present generation of Americans are doing their darndest to try to destroy that culture. Moreover, that fundamental cultural fact is basic to human nature, not just the United States, and if we recognize it, it will provide us all the right framework for what to do and not to do in trying to maintain human societies, both here on Earth as well as in the future in space.
In order to understand the true significance of Orbital Sciences’s success yesterday with Antares, however, we must first review the capabilities of the world’s launch industry. I am not going to list all the rockets capable of putting payloads into orbit, only those that are successfully competing for business in the open commercial market.
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All systems are now go for the first launch of Antares at 5 pm (Eastern).
We have liftoff. All is nominal. The first stage has shut down and separated after operating perfectly. The fairings protecting the dummy payload have separated perfectly, which for Orbital is a big deal, as they have had problems with fairing shrouds on previous launches with other rockets.
The second stage engine has ignited, as planned. All is nominal, as the launch director keeps saying.
The second stage engine has shut down, as planned. Antares is in orbit. After a 90 second pause the dummy payload has separated, as planned.
A perfect launch. The United States now has two companies capable of putting cargo and payloads into orbit at reasonable prices. The competition continues to heat up.
The countdown for the first launch of Antares today at 5 pm (Eastern) has begun.
The launch is now been delayed to 6:10 pm to allow more time for the winds to settle.
Update: due to the winds, they have decided to scrub the launch until Sunday, 5 pm (Eastern).
The next Antares launch attempt has now been scheduled for Saturday, April 20, 5 pm (Eastern).
The Antares launch was scrubbed at T-12 minutes because one of the umbilical lines to the rocket separated prematurely.
Update: in a press release Orbital Sciences now says they’ve set the tentative new launch date as no earlier than April 19.
The countdown has begun for the first Antares launch. Go here for regular updates.
Right now the weather looks to be the biggest question mark, with a 50% chance it will cause the launch to be scrubbed.
The Antares rocket has been cleared for its first test launch tomorrow at 5 pm (Eastern).
The competition heats up: Because its FAA test flight permit will expire on May 23, SpaceShipTwo’s first powered flight has to occur by then and be supersonic.
What is unclear to me is how the expiration of this permit could affect future flights. Does Virgin Galactic have to get a new permit to continue test flights? What about the tourist flights that are supposed to follow?
The competition heats up: Russia’s Proton rocket successfully launched a Canadian communications satellite today.
This is the second successful Proton launch in a row, suggesting that the technical problems of the Briz-M upper stage have been overcome.
Putting its money where its mouth is: Russia under Vladimir Putin has announced a big financial boost from its government to its semi-private space industry.
Want to go to Mars? You better get in line. Dennis Tito’s project already has hundreds of volunteers.
I still have doubts whether this non-private company can pull this off by 2018, but only by 2018. Given a bit more time and research, the obstacles for sending two humans on a fly-by of Mars can easily be overcome.
