Tag: quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls twitter so the rest of us don’t have to.

• Amazon will launch two Kuiper test satellites on first Vulcan launch

That launch is tentatively scheduled for the first quarter of ’23, but don’t bet on it. Moreover, this means Amazon is gambling its first Kuiper launch on an untested rocket.

Even if it does happen, Kuiper has taken years to get started, and is way behind SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, even though both were first announced at about the same time.

• Electron arrives at Wallops for December launch

This will be first launch by Rocket Lab from Wallops, only two years behind schedule because of delays from NASA’s bureaucracy.

Thanks to BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.

• Tory Bruno, CEO of ULA, explains why Vulcan uses Centaur-4 instead of Centaur-3 for upper stage

He mentions ULA spent $200 million to manufacture Centaur-4. Yet, he still can’t launch the Vulcan rocket without the first stage, and the first stage depends not on his engines, but on Blue Origin’s long delayed and not yet flightworthy BE-4 engine.

• UK bureaucracy questions Viasat’s takeover of Inmarsat

I covered this in August, but now the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is setting a deadline, October 13, for the companies to explain why their merger won’t destroy Starlink. Otherwise it will initiate a full probe, blocking the merger.

Typical government stupidity. There is no way this merged company will destroy Starlink. If anything, these companies are merging to survive the competition from Starlink.

• China’s second lunar sample return mission, Chang’e-6, targeting a mid-2024 launch

It plans to collect samples from the Moon’s far side.

• Russians are targeting October 12, 2022 for Proton rocket launch

This will be the first Proton launch since December ’21.

• SpaceX scrubs commercial launch today, reschedules for tomorrow

The decision was made about 30 minutes before launch, and is attributed to a desire to provide time to do more checkouts of the rocket.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.

• Foundation in place for Rocket Lab’s Newton facility at Wallops

• Wentian module shifted to the side in preparation of docking of next big module, Mengtian

A robot arm made the move at China’s Tiangong-3 space station. Wentian docked at the main port, so that it sat in a straight line with the Tianhe main module. Moved to the side, the station is now in an L-shape, so that Mengtian can dock with that center port. Once docked, the same robot arm will shift it to the port opposite Wentian, so that the station is T-shaped.

• China has issued the launch path for the Long March 5B that will launch Wentian sometime between October 31st and November 5th

The drop zone for the Long March 5B’s solid boosters is in the ocean, to the southwest of the Philippines. The core stage of course will reach orbit, and unless something as changed (unlikely), will crash uncontrolled somewhere on Earth within a week of launch.

• South Korea to budget $32.9 million to replace Russian launch contracts

The money will buy for two satellites that the Russians are presently contracted to launch, but will not due to sanctions. Reports suggest South Korea is talking to either SpaceX or Arianespace, but only SpaceX could do the launch at this low price.

• Astroscale wins three year $35 million development loan

This bank’s approval was probably encouraged by several recently won contracts by Astroscale.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Video of full duration minute static fire test of Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine

The video was actually posted by ULA CEO Tory Bruno. Blue Origin then reposted it. As one commenter there said, “I bet if @torybruno hadn’t posted it, you’d never have posted it.”

The test looked good, but ULA still needs two flight engines, and only has one so far.

• China touts the seventeen nations that are flying experiments to its Tiangong-3 space station

• The Zhuhai Airshow in China from November 8 to 13 will feature a fullscale model of Tiangong-3

Jay jokes, “Free little red books if you dress like Mao.”

• China claims its Long March 8 costs 1/3 that of the Falcon 9

This might even be true, simply because China’s labor costs are so tiny compared to the U.S. Sometimes those labor costs are even free (since China does use slave labor).

• UC-San Diego signs deal with Sierra Space to do stem cell research on Orbital Reef space station

I wonder if UC-San Diego will also require Sierra Space to segregated astronauts by race, as it does on its campus.

• Lynk Global will launch smallsat 5G test satellite in December

The goal is to eventually launch a 50 satellite constellation to provide 5G to its cell phone customers.

• Astronauts successfully return from ISS in Soyuz capsule

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Twitter so I don’t have to.

• Blue Origin sources say first flight engine should ship soon

I will believe it when it actually happens.

• Camera on Falcon 9 fairing captures plume of 2nd stage and 1st stage engine firings

Just a cool image.

• Dmitry Rogozin in line to take over as head of Russian occupied territories in the Ukraine

More specifically, the “Crimean Federal District which will include Crimea and the occupied territories of Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.” If so, Rogozin’s head is essentially being put on the block. Ukrainian partisan forces have been very successful at killing such leaders.

I guess this is a reward by Putin for Rogozin’s skill at losing Russia billions in commercial satellite sales.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who trolls Tweeter so I don’t have to.

• Want a NASA rocket engine once intended for SLS? GSA has seven for sale!

The engine is the J-2X, a supposed upgrade of the Saturn-5’s J-2 upper stage engines. GSA is selling the components for seven, the auctions to be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

• ArianeGroup releases pr video pushing its space plans for the future

Its proposed rocket family will look very familiar to those familiar with SpaceX.

• Scientists publish observations of a fast radio burst using China’s giant FAST radio telescope

FAST is essentially a larger version of the now-shuttered Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. It is hard to say if it is being used to its full potential at this time, as China right now doesn’t have that many qualified radio astronomers. This is why for a long while it tried to get foreigners to run it, unsuccessfully. With time, however, this will change.

• China’s Tianwen-4 planetary spacecraft will include a Jupiter probe and a Uranus probe

It also appears they plan to fly it past both Venus and some asteroids on its way to the outer solar system.

• Timeline graph showing China’s deep space planetary missions over the next decade-plus

It is is Chinese, so it would be nice if one of my readers who can read Chinese provides some explanation.