Tag: quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. I am probably taking most of the rest of the day off, having just gotten back from cataract surgery on one eye. No problems, but I don’t have a lot of energy right now. If I perk up something might happen, but I can’t say if that will be the case.

• SpaceX official confirms its goal of achieving 144 launches in 2024

Kiko Dontchev is SpaceX’s VP of launch operations. He notes that they must be capable of doing thirteen launches per month to give them margin to meet this twelve-launch-per-month goal.

 

• Skyrora notes its has submitted a launch license to the UK’s CAA regulatory body

No dates provided, so we don’t know how long they have already been waiting for approval. The tweet notes optimistically that because their spaceport — Saxavord on the Shetland Islands — now has a spaceport license things will begin moving shortly. We shall see.

 

• California museum to mothball space shuttle Endeavour for several years while it upgrades the exhibit

It is building a new building to house the shuttle, where it will be put on display in the more dramatic vertical position.

 

• Satellite building Terran Orbital appears to have had payment issues from its biggest customer, Rivada

It appears the most recent payment to Terran arrived late. The compnay has a $2.4 billion contract to build Rivada’s 576 satellite constellation, 288 of which must be in orbit by mid-2026 to meet its FCC license requirements.

 

• ESA touts its use of solar-powered electrolysis to produce rocket hydrogen fuel at its French Guiana spaceport

This is nothing more than simple-minded virtue signalling that does more harm than good. ESA spent forty million euros building the system, even though it is far less efficient than the traditional way. As Jay wrote, “The most efficient way is to inject high pressure steam into methane. There are many ways to get hydrogen, but that is the best way to make large volumes of it.”

 

• NSIL, India’s new government agency designed to encourage private enterprise, has signed SpaceX for the first time to launch one of its communications satellites later this year

It appears that NSIL is essentially telling ISRO, India’s space agency, it no longer has a monopoly on Indian launches, that NSIL and the Modi government mean business in their effort to transition from a Soviet-style government-run space program to a commercial space industry where ISRO is merely one of many customers. I suspect SpaceX had two other advantages over ISRO, price and reliability. Its Falcon 9 is certainly cheaper to use, and ISRO has had some failures on its recent launches of India’s communications satellites.

 

• India plans two unmanned Gaganyaan test missions in 2024

This will be followed by a third unmanned test mission early in 2025, followed by the manned mission later that year.

 

• Another Chinese pseudo-company proposes building a fleet of SpaceX copycat rockets

Like many of these Chinese pseudo-companies, its plans are not much better than a powerpoint presentation at this point.

 

• The Ingenuity team finally posts the numbers for the helicopter’s December 22, 2023 70th flight

It appears it did as it usually does, flying slightly farther for a few seconds more, probably in order to make sure it had a good landing site.

 

• APL’s high stratospheric GUSTO balloon launched on New Year’s Eve from Antarctica to do astronomy

It is presently flying at 128,000 feet. You can follow its journey here.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• A look at Europe’s Proba-3 dual science satellites, designed to observed the atmosphere of the Sun

The two satellites will work in tandem, simulating an eclipse with one satellite blocking the Sun’s light so the second can observe that atmosphere, called the corona. The launch is set for September ’24.

 

• First Angara launch from Russia’s Vostochny spaceport in March will carry no payload

This will be Angara’s third test launch, all lacking a payload, suggesting Russia now has rocket capacity that exceeds its payload capacity. It certainly no longer has any western satellite customers.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• India’s first launch in 2024 will take place while it is still 2023 in the western hemisphere

The launch is with India’s smaller PSLV rocket. I will assign this launch to 2024, which if successful will put India on top for a short while.

 

• During Falcon Heavy launch a two-second clip showed the X-37B being deployed
  The video does not show much, as all we can see is one end of the spacecraft as it moves away, with one wing sticking up in the background. It does appear however that some experiments have been placed outside the cargo bay.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Shanghai produces first of more than 100 satellites in new production facility

The government there says it wants private companies to build up to 50 rockets and 600 satellites by 2025.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company touts video of the first in-space firing of its krypton ion engine

• The Exploration Company completes first technical review of its proposed Nyx cargo freighter

French-based, this company hopes to provide ferrying services to the private space stations being built by private consortiums, most of which are coming from U.S. companies.

 

• Juno will make its closest flybys of Io on December 30th and February 3rd

At a distance of only 930 miles, these two approaches will be the closest in over 20 years, since Galileo orbited Jupiter.

 

• Dragonfly team completes 25 subscale drop tests of aeroshell & main parachute system prototypes

It remains to be seen whether this mission will ever get to Saturn’s moon Titan, considering the serious budget issues at NASA.

 

• Another storage tank arrives at Boca Chica

This is for storing prior to the launch of a Starship/Superheavy, either methane or oxygen, I’m not sure which. Jay wonders “when they will start producing their own fuel.”

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Engineers testing solar panel design for Roman Space Telescope

These are not the panels themselves, but engineering models for testing.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Orien says it will launch its Gravity-1 rocket within days

The image at the link shows a launch from a sea platform. The pseudo-company has raised considerable investment capital. It has also promised this launch by the end of 2023 for months. Not much time left.

 

• Fifty-five years ago today Apollo 8 splashed down in the Pacific, completing humanity’s first journey to another world

After splashdown, as described in my book, Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8:

After about half an hour the sky had brightened enough for divers to hit the water and attach a flotation collar to the capsule. As everyone waited for the hatch to open, someone in a rescue helicopter radioed a question to these three first-time lunar explorers. “Hey, Apollo 8, is the moon made of green cheese?”

“No,” Bill Anders said instantly. “It’s made of American cheese.”

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• China and Russia claim their partnership to build a lunar base remains strong

They might be good buddies, but the Russian half is likely not going to contribute much to this partnership. And China knows it.

 

• Head of India’s space agency says they are targeting a 2028 launch for the first module of their space station

That first module will be only eight tons, less than half the mass of most station modules, because India doesn’t yet have a rocket capable of putting up more tonnage. The plan is to develop that rocket for later modules, using the first as a test bed.

 

• Yesterday was the thirtieth anniversary of the completion of the first repair mission to Hubble

The telescope was expected to operate for fifteen years, but instead is now in its 33rd year of operation.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. Early today because Diane and I have a social event this afternoon and I want this posted before we leave. It is the holiday season, which has made it hard for me to write any political essays yesterday or today.

• ULA video showing Peregrine lunar lander being stacked on Vulcan

Years late, it does look like Vulcan will finally launch in early January. Let us all pray all goes well.

 

• Extra objects released after launch of China’s X-37B copy were likely normal rocket debris

Jonathan McDowell, who tweets this, has been tracking objects launched and in orbit for decades, so his suppositions carry weight.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company touts video of test of rocket stage landing legs

It appears to me that these test legs are not full scale. It is also interesting how they bounce when they come down.

 

• Sierra Space claims it has completed a full-scale pressure test-to-failure of its inflatable LIFE inflatable space station module

This post provides no video of the test, and is merely a tease for the video’s release next month. Why they can’t release it now suggests they want to do some clean-up and editing beforehand, which raises other questions.

 

• Russia delays launch of ultraviolet space telescope until 2030 due to lack of funds

Gee, maybe invading the Ukraine and cancelling its deal with OneWeb and Arianespace might not have been such a good idea, eh? The lost revenue, in the billions, might have helped pay for this.

 

• The ground-based imagery taken when Apollo 8’s fired the upper stage of its Saturn 5 rocket to leave Earth orbit and head to the Moon

This was hardly one of the most important firsts achieved during Apollo 8, but the imagery, as Jay notes, is cool. For the full history of Apollo 8’s 1968 manned Christmas mission to the Moon, read Genesis, the Story of Apollo 8.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Firefly scrubs launch due to weather, reschedules for December 22, 2023 at 9:18 am (Pacific)

The live stream can be found here, starting one hour before launch.

 

• Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus capsule to leave ISS on December 22, 2023 at 9:18 am (Pacific)

It will be unberthed and released by an astronaut in ISS using a robot arm, after which it will be de-orbited, burning up over the ocean.

 

• Flying over Pluto

A short animation created using the New Horizon images taken during its July 2015 fly-by.

 

• The launch of Apollo 8 at 7:51 am December 21, 1968

The footage is only 18 seconds long, covering the final countdown and liftoff. For a full history go here. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders would go on to circle the Moon for 20 hours, read from the Old Testament on Christmas eve, and essentially win the 1960s space race for the free world.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard returns to flight after more than a year

The mission was unmanned. The link is cued to just before launch. More information about this flight here.

 

• Prototype antenna launched on rocket of Chinese pseudo-company successfully deployed

The antenna can also be retracted.

 

• Update on New Horizons as it travels outward beyond Pluto

Though it appears there are no objects close enough for it to fly past, it is still gathering a lot of detailed information of the outer parts of the solar system.

 

• Live stream for tomorrow’s Firefly launch

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Indian startup Skyroot touts the successful pressure test of the first stage of its Vikram-1 rocket

Skyroot and Agrikul are the two private rocket companies in India in the lead to get to orbit first.

 

• ISRO show aerial photo of land purchased for new spaceport in the far south of India

It appears the agency has finally purchased all the land required, over 2,700 acres. See the map at this August post for more information.

 

• Today is the anniversary of the completion of Gemini 7 in 1965, flown by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell

The flight lasted 14 days, setting a record that stood until 1970. It proved that humans could live in weightlessness long enough to get to and from the Moon.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Relativity touts its newest rocket engine

After its first and only test launch of its Terran-1 rocket, it went back to the drawing board, shifting to its bigger Terran-R rocket. This tweet is its effort to gain some press, since it will not be launching again for several years.

 

• Video from New Zealand startup Dawn Aerospace of full duration static fire engine test

 

• Sierra Space: Tenacity has entered its final test campaign

This press release makes a good bookend to NASA’s update today on the flight plan for Tenacity’s first missoin.

• Graphic showing how the original manned Dream Chaser concept did not use a fairing

 

• Bezos says “Blue Origin needs to be much faster”.

Yawn. What you say is meaningless at this point. It is what you do that counts, and will be the only thing anyone will pay attention to. However, if my readers wish to listen to him talk, they can watch the entire interview here.

 

• ISRO head unveils concept for India’s own version of a Falcon 9 rocket

He calls it the NGLV (Next Generation Launch Vehicle). Like all ISRO rockets, the name is horrible and uninspired.

 

• After ten years in space, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and later renamed NEOWISE will burn up as its orbit likely decays in 2025

A very successful low-cost space telescope that not only surveyed deep space objects but helped fill out the census of near-Earth asteroids.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Live stream for Rocket Lab’s first launch today since September launch failure

The link goes to the company’s official stream, which won’t go active until around 8:40 pm (Eastern). You can also watch it using the Space Affairs youtube live stream, which is presently on standby and will come up automatically when the stream goes live.

 

• Starship prototype #28 heads to launchpad, escorted by three Santa snowmen

In other words, SpaceX is now gearing up for the third Starship/Superheavy orbital test launch, almost exactly as Elon Musk predicted after the last test launch in mid-November. One week after that launch he said SpaceX would probably be ready in 3 to 4 weeks. Of course, we all know the FAA and Fish & Wildlife won’t be ready, till next year at the earliest. They will slow walk their approvals, as per the obvious insistence of the Biden administration.

 

• SpaceX confirms that it successfully achieved hot fire stage separation in November Starship/Superheavy test launch

The company is still investigating why the flight termination activated on both vehicles.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• India’s Air Force to become the “Air and Space Force,” with plans to launch 100 military satellites in the next 7-8 years

It also says it will complete those launches using India’s private space industry, which is at this moment barely established.

 

• This week marks the 51st anniversary of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the Moon

If you had told the astronauts then that they’d all be dead before we returned, they would have been outraged. Nonetheless, it looks like they will all be dead before humans once again step forth on the Moon, and worse, the odds of those next steps being taken by Americans is getting lower all the time.

 

• Image of one of Amazon’s two Kuiper satellites in orbit

• Satellite imagery suggests Blue Origin did an engine test of its BE-4 engine in early December

The real question is this: How many engines are they mass producing at this point? By next year they will need to produce a lot to meet the demands of both ULA’s Vulcan rocket and Blue Origin’s own New Glenn rocket, both of which have contracts to get a lot of Amazon Kuiper satellites into orbit quickly.

 

• China is apparently about to launch its own X-37B copy

The images suggest 1) that it is a copy of Boeing’s X-37B and 2) they will be reusing the rocket shroud on this launch. #2 however is unconfirmed.

I apologize to my readers for my lack of any essays so far this week. For maybe the first time in my life I have a kind of writer’s block. I find the news here in the U.S. so distressing I have trouble writing about it. This break might help me regain my writing juices.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Images of the Chinese pseudo-company Landspace’s launchpad where it plans a rocket hop test soon

The rumors say the test flight will occur next week.

 

• Space Force head admits government intentionally works slower than private enterprise

He said this to explain what he saw as a positive aspect of government, but I think he instead underlined why it should be the last place we should ever go to get anything done.

 

• Today’s Falcon Heavy launch is still set for 8:14 pm (Eastern)

You can watch it at this live stream, beginning around 7:30 pm (Eastern).

 

• Ghana in Africa warns its citizens not to use Starlink illegally

Heavy fines are threatened. Ghana is the fourth African country to issue such a warning, after South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Senegal. Apparently the citizens of those countries are tired of bad phone and internet service, and have been bypassing their incompetent government to get it on the black market from private enterprise. In other words, they are exercising independence, and we can’t have that!

 

• ISRO confirms its manned mission to ISS in 2024 in partnership with NASA

The tweet adds that the mission will fly on a Falcon 9 using a Dragon capsule.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• ULA engineers conducting dress rehearsal countdowns for December 24th Vulcan launch

• The flight plan for Ingenuity’s 68th flight

It is presently scheduled for tomorrow.

 

• India’s Aditya-L1 solar observatory takes its first full-disk images of the Sun

All images were in an ultraviolet wavelength range never previously used to image the Sun.

 

• Astronauts on ISS wish Happy Hanukkah to all Jews on Earth

I can’t help wonder if they did this because of the rise of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli hatred worldwide. Since Apollo 8, NASA has generally frowned on giving pubicity to any religious holiday.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Chinese pseudo-company Orienspace readies its Gravity-1 rocket for launch

The company says it will launch this month. Though the image makes the rocket seem as big as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, it actually more closely resembles the most powerful version India’s GSLV rocket. Makes me wonder if the design was stolen.

 

• Robert Zubrin op-ed says NASA should abandon its Mars sample return mission, use the money for many other missions

Zubrin is of course right. It is also the same thing I have said now for almost fifteen years, not only about Mars Sample Return but about Webb and the Roman Space Telescopes. NASA’s big flagship science projects are consistently run badly, wasting a lot money that could be far better spent.

No one in Congress ever listens to me. I wonder if they will listen to Zubrin. We can only hope.

 

• The ice that fills Korolev Crater on Mars

A very cool image from Europe’s Mars Express orbiter. As noted at the tweet, “This crater on Mars is 3 times the area of Greater London and its filled with ice almost 2 kilometers thick.” Korolev is located at 73 degrees north latitude, where the Martian surface appears covered by ice sheets.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. Sorry about posting this late.

• SpaceX targeting 100 launches per year at Vandenberg by 2025

This high pace is certainly because it needs to get many Starlink satellites into orbit to meet its FCC licesne requirements, and doesn’t yet have Starship as planned. The Falcon 9 however has proven it can do it however.

 

• Australian rocket startup Gilmour shows off pictures of the upper stage of its Eris rocket

They had hoped to fly this year but are now targeting a launch from Australia sometime in 2024.

 

• Sierra Space wins DARPA contract to develop oxygen extraction from lunar soil

The contract could be extended for up to ten years, and also involves developing other technologies that would use that oxygen, not just for breathing but for engine technology.

 

• Axiom touts the first module of its space station, being built by Thales-Alenia in Europe

The picture isn’t that interesting, but as Jay notes, “This small company is actually building something, the future. This is a view of the first private space station being built.”

 

• NASA officials whine that commercial companies maintain the secrecy of their proprietary in-house designs

Essentially, these officials want to stick their nose into the work of these companies (“We’re from the government and we’re here to help!”), and the companies are telling them to pound sand. I think that’s wonderful, though we should always worry when government officials begin complaining in this manner. The next step is always for them to use the power of government to enforce their desires.

 

• Hollywood movie trailer about what happens on ISS when war between the U.S. and Russia breaks out

I like Jay’s comment: “Oh for the love of….” To me it seems very predictable and not very interesting. Pure formula.

 

• NRO awards contracts to five commercial companies to develop better orbital surveillance technologies

This continues the shift by the federal government from designing, building, and owning everything to becoming a customer that obtains what it wants from the privately-developed and -owned products of the private sector.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Boeing touts the 25th anniversary of the launch of its first ISS module, Unity

Ah, those were the days, when Boeing could actually build something that works.

 

• Today in 1965 a Titan rocket launched Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on the planned two-week long Gemini 7 mission

The mission proved humans could live in space long enough to go to and from the Moon. As the astronauts both explained to me, it was like being locked in a compact car for two weeks, the windows closed and the wheel tied down so that all you could do was go in circles.

 

• Russians were forced to dock a Progress manually on December 2nd because of problems with Kurs automatic system

The real questions are this: What exactly was the problem, and what is being done to fix it?

 

• Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space releases new images of its proposed family of rockets

As noted at the tweet, all look identical to various SpaceX rockets. Let me add that these designs are nothing more than engineering by powerpoint, and at this moment represent nothing but fantasies.

 

• Indian engineers have brought the Chandrayaan-3 propulsion module back into Earth orbit, from the Moon

This achievement is way cool. They used multiple gravity assists over two months to shift the module’s lunar orbit so that crossed back into the Earth’s sphere of influence and thus return back to Earth.

 

• A storm near Mars’ north pole, as seen today by Europe’s Mars Express orbiter

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• ULA CEO Tory Bruno touts the arrival of solid rocket motors at its Florida facility

The strap-on boosters are for future Vulcan launches, when the rocket needs extra power

 

• Prior to launch a wrench was accidently dropped on the radiator of the Progress now heading to ISS

My, the Russians really do seem to have jinx when it comes to the coolant systems on all their spacecraft.

 

• China says it is working on air-launched reusable rocket system

Once again, like many similar Chinese concepts, development does not yet appear to have gotten past the powerpoint stage.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• OneWeb says it is about to provide broadband services to South Africa
  The story at the link is unclear about when this will begin, and whether OneWeb has gotten government approval.

 

• Space Force touts its fleet of two X-37Bs, with one about to take off on the program’s 7th flight

The launch is presently scheduled for December 10, 2023 on a Falcon Heavy.

 

• Progress has undocked from ISS in preparation for new freighter launching tomorrow

The old Progess was sent to burn up over the Pacific today.

 

• Video by a spectator of a Long March 3B launch, from amazingly nearby

From the videographer: ” I could literally taste the hypergolic fuel.”

And I believe him.
 

• Environmental testing of Sierra Space’s Shooting Star cargo capsule has begun

The tests are designed to make sure it can survive launch and space. It will launch as part of the first launch Sierra’s Tenacity Dream Chaser mini-shuttle, set to launch next year.

 

• Today is the anniversy of the last manned mission of the 20th century, a shuttle flight to ISS

The mission delivered new upgraded solar panels to the station.

 

• Former shuttle astronaut Mary Cleve has passed away at 76

She flew two missions, in 1985 and 1989.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Agile Space touts its shortening of lead times for its chemical satellite thrusters

The company claims it shortened the times from “the industry standard 24 months” to 3 to 6 months.

 

• Stratolaunches announces contract award from military contractor for testing hypersonic payloads

It appears Rocket Lab’s suborbital version of its Electron rocket, flying similar tests, has not put Stratolaunch out of the game entirely.

 

• China insists it will land a man on the Moon by 2030

Based on the accelerating pace of the Chinese space program, this goal remains possible, if difficult.

 

• Another explosion has occurred at the Kuaizhou-11 rocket test stand at China’s Jiuquan spaceport

The photos suggest the failure blast occurred during an engine static fire test. This is two years after a similar earlier test stand explosion at the same location.

 

• Kuiper signs a deal with Japanese company to provide broadband in that country

The deal of course hinges on Amazon getting its satellites into orbit, and that depends on whether ULA, Blue Origin, and ArianeGroup can get their new rockets flying finally.

 

• Video of new Superheavy tank being moved at Boca Chica

In other words, SpaceX is gearing up for a lot of test launches in 2024, assuming the federal paper-pushers can get out of the way.

 

• My $500M Mars Rover Mistake: A Failure Story

A great story from the history of America’s Mars rovers that every budding engineer must read!

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Firefly completes first hot fire static fire test of its Miranda rocket engine

This engine will be used on the first stage Firefly is building for Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket to replace the Russian engines and Ukrainian first stage used previously.

 

• New Glenn first stage spotted outside factory at Cape Canaveral?

The tweet suggests this is the stage’s “the LNG/LOx tank section”. From the picture it is not clear to me if it has an engine yet. Regardless, it does appear that Blue Origin might finally getting close to launching a real rocket.

 

• Soyuz-2 carrying next Progress freighter rolls to launchpad

The launch is scheduled for December 1st.

 

• ESA touts completion of first round of testing of its first carbon-fiber rocket fuel tank, dubbed Phoebus

Note that SpaceX tried making carbon-fiber tanks almost a decade ago, and abandoned them for steel because of the time and expense of manufacturing them.

 

• Today in 1964 Mariner 4 was launched, the first spacecraft to fly past Mars and return images

Today is also the fifth anniversary of the landing of InSight on Mars.

 

The next three links are all from China, touting either concepts or the engine tests. Some will turn out real, some not.

• A cartoon proposal for using lunar lava tubes as habitats

• China touts successful testing of methane-fueled rocket engine

• China touts proposed an even bigger methane-fueled engine

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who with I wish everyone a great Thanksgiving tomorrow.

• China touts concept for two-stage to orbit reusable space plane

Cute looking, but right now nothing more than engineering by PowerPoint.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company shows off video of separation test of its large fairing

The fairing will be used on a launch scheduled for December.

 

• Commercial lunar rover startup announces eight payload customers for 2026 mission

The company, Astrolab, has a contract to fly on SpaceX’s Starship to the Moon. The customers have contracts with Astrolab equaling $160 million. Everything involved however is extremely tentative and in the early development stages, even the lunar landing version of Starship.

 

• South Korea camera catches North Korean launch, showing 1st stage separation and its apparent destruction immediately thereafter

The video, part of a meteor-survey project, suggests the North Koreans might have purposely destroyed that first stage so that the South Korean military could not recover it, as was done after the May failed launch.

 

• Blue Origin shows off the now welded first stage tanks of its New Glenn rocket

It is assumed these are for the first launch, whenever that might be. Since there are no workers on the factory floor, Jay speculates it was taken after hours. I wonder, since this lack of activity has been seen in every such picture of this rocket assembly operation. I really wonder how many people even work there.

 

• Jeff Bezos sells off $240 million more Amazon shares

Though the reporters on the CNBC video at the link speculate this money is for Blue Origin, there is no evidence of this. In fact, recently Bezos has appeared to donate almost all his stock sale cash to leftist political charities, not Blue Origin.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• NASA’s dual smallsat Mars mission to fly on first New Glenn launch

When that launch occurs however remains a mystery. Blue Origin says next year, but Blue Origin has said next year for the past four.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company Galaxy Space touts a proposed communications satellite for providing cell phones global coverage

To quote Jay, “Wow, it looks like AST SpaceMobile’s Bluewalker 3 satellite. What a coincidence! The ground based astronomers are going to have kittens over this one.” My response: “No they won’t. It’s China, and those ground-based astronomers are almost all confirmed lefties who love Xi and the communist empire. Their only interest is to squelch American free enterprise, and Elon Musk.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• NASA and Boeing are now targeting an April 14, 2024 launch of the first manned Starliner mission

That date still depends on the results from a planned January parachute drop test to see if Boeing has fixed their faulty design.

 

• How to watch the final minutes of Ariane-6’s final dress rehearsal countdown, including an 8-minute engine burn of the rocket’s core stage

The test is scheduled for November 23, 2023

 

• Upcoming Chinese launches will have drop zones in habitable areas of China

The link has maps showing a variety of drop zones, but because the text is in Chinese, it is unclear when those launches will occur, and with what rocket. If anyone can translate please comment here.

 

• Boeing today celebrates 25 years of ISS operations

The picture shows the first module, Russian-built Zarya, the completion of which was paid for by American taxpayers. One wonders if its condition is as bad now as Russia’s other early module, Zvezda.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• ArianeGroup touts the deluge launch system for its Ariane-6 rocket

It would be nice if this system was put to use during a launch, now only four years late.

 

• NASA official says SpaceX will need to almost 20 launches of Starship/Superheavy to get it approved for an Artemis lunar mission

The number is slightly higher than previously stated, and likely was made public now because of SpaceX’s problems getting regulatory approval for test flights. NASA needs Starship, and the intransigence of the FAA and Fish & Wildlife to give launch approval is likely delaying that lunar manned mission by years.

 

• Russia shows off a model of a proposed commercial module for its proposed space station

Russian officials are saying they want to encourage new private Russian companies to compete for contracts for such things, but it is all smoke and mirrors. The big entities in power in Russia, such as Energia, are going to work to block it as hard as they can.

 

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Roscosmos head says Russia will stick with ISS as long as possible

Translation: Russia’s own proposed space station won’t launch this decade (surprise) and it is likely it won’t launch next decade either.

 

• Head of Russia’s Energia, which runs all of Roscosmos’ manned missions, predicts first Russian on Moon in next decade

And if you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you cheap.

 

• Today is the anniversary of the only flight of Russia’s space shuttle, Buran

That shuttle never flew again, and was finally destroyed when the roof of its storage hanger fell on it in 2002.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Sierra Space and Agile quickly develop hydrazine-rich preburner for their VRM5500-H engine

The engineers here will appreciate the technical explanation at the link as to why this is good.

 

• ULA narrows list of potential buyers to three

Blue Origin is thought to be one of the three. Whether this sale will happen before or after the December 24th launch of Vulcan is not clear.

 

• SpaceX gets extension of FCC communications license at Cape Canaveral

• Tweet touting the anniversary today of Mariner 9’s arrival in Mars orbit in 1971

The orbiter arrived during one of Mars’s worst global dust storm. It needed to wait months before the atmosphere cleared and it could begin seeing details on the surface, the first of which were the high calderas of Mars’ giant volcanoes.