Tag: quick space links

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer touts its carbon fiber fairings

• Sierra Space’s first Dream Chaser mini-shuttle, Tenacity, begins environmental testing

These tests will confirm that the spacecraft can resist the harsh environment of space.

 

• Roscosmos approves new March 23, 2024 launch date for manned Soyuz after launch abort

It will dock with ISS two days later.

 

• On this day in 1982 the third flight of the space shuttle Columbia took place

As the tweet notes, this was the first flight where NASA did not paint the external tank, saving 600 pounds in weight. It was the third of four manned test flights of Columbia, after which NASA declared the shuttle operational.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Space Force awards three contracts for developing orbital servicing technologies

The contracts went to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, and a new startup Spacebilt.

 

• Rocket Factory Augsburg touts its proposed Argo cargo freighter

The link provides a detailed description of this new spacecraft, clearly intended to provide ferrying services to the upcoming future space stations, with its most likely customer the Starlab station being built by Voyager Space, which is partnering with ESA and Airbus. This German company hopes to launch it by 2028.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company delivers 1st stage engines for another Chinese pseudo-company

The engines are for Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 rocket, which is essentially a copy of Falcon 9, and hopes to do a first launch in July.

 

• Astronomers complain about budget cuts to Hubble and Chandra

Hey, if you are going to push for expensive, overbudget, and behind-schedule boondoggles like the Roman Space Telescope, you better recognize that real telescopes will suffer to pay for them.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who has finally returned from the Solomon Islands after his DX ham expedition (a week late). As he wrote me,

Flights got cancelled on my last week and we were stuck for another week in the Solomons. One of the reasons why we got flown off was it is election time next month, so all the politicians are flying as well. Never fly Fiji Airlines and Solomon Airlines.

I did go to the sites of the battles during the Guadal Canal campaigns during WW2, those are bloody battles that you do not hear or read about.

The Solomon Islands is a third world country and they hate the Chinese. The people are pissed off that their elected officials sold their fishing rights to the Chinese for $85,000. Yes, you read that correctly, a multi-million dollar industry for $85,000 USD. Lots of graft and corruption there. They have so much potential, and they squander it. Only a three hour jump to the west is Fiji, and it enjoys a huge booming tourist economy.

On to the quick links. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• ULA’s CEO touts the Vulcan upper stages now ready in its manufacturing building

Three are shown in the image, suggesting ULA is ready for at least that many launches, assuming Blue Origin delivers the necessary first stage engines.

 

• Boeing has begun fueling Starliner for launch

Takes about two weeks. Once completed the capsule will be sent to ULA’s assembly building for stacking on the rocket. This loading however says they are now committed to the May launch.

 

• Video of the flight crew preparing in Kazakhstan for launch to ISS this week

The launch is scheduled for March 21, 2024 on a Soyuz-2 rocket.

 

• Image of China’s Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite

It will be used to relay signals from China’s next mission to the far side of the Moon. Launch is expected later today.

 

• On this day in 1965, Aleksei Leonov did the first spacewalk in history

The spacewalk had been hurriedly put together to beat the planned U.S. spacewalk on an upcoming Gemini mission. As such, Leonov’s spacesuit was not ideal for the task. It expanded so much in space that he had great difficulty getting back inside the capsule.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

This will be Jay’s last quick space links post until March 11th, as he is off to the Solomon Islands as part of a ham radio DX expedition. For those other hams who want to try to make contact with him during this expedition, the call sign is H40WA.

Note too that posting has been light today because of software issue that prevents me from uploading images. I hope it will be fixed momentarily.

• Intuitive Machines Odysseus lunar lander is in good shape on its way to the Moon

Arrival is now in seven days.

 

• Launch by India of its GSLV rocket carrying Insat satellite two days away

Launch time will be on February 17, 2023 at 4:04 am (Pacific).

 

• Europe’s Euclid orbiting space telescope now operational and is beginning its survey of billions of galaxies

Astronomers hope the data will help solve the mystery of both dark energy and dark matter.

 

• On this date in 1990, Voyager-1 looked back and took a picture of Earth as seen from the outer edge of the solar system

Environmentalists dubbed this “The pale blue dot image.”

 

• On this date in 1973 Pioneer 10 became the first human spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt

It would fly past Jupiter in December 1973, and operate until 1997 on its journey outward beyond the solar system.

 

• On this date in 1564 Galileo Galilei was born

He invented the telescope, discovered the Galilean moons of Jupiter, and proved that Copernicus was right, the Sun is the center of the solar system.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Thales Alenia touts its work building Axiom’s first module of its private space station

Axiom hopes to launch that module and attach it to ISS in 2026.

 

• Pan across 2004 Cassini high resolution photo of the Saturn moon Phoebe

Shows in detail this moon’s rough and cratered surface. The moon, irregularly shaped, has a retrograde orbit around Saturn, suggesting it is a captured asteroid.

 

• First observation from India’s Xposat X-ray telescope, launched in January

The data shows the X-ray pulse of the pulsar at the center of he Crab nebula.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Video of factory deployment test of solar sail

The test, in partnership with Redwire and NASA, deployed one quarter of the full sail, which would cover almost 18,000 square feet.

 

• Stop-action video from Sierra Space showing assembly of Tenacity and its Shooting Star cargo capsule

Launch had been targeting the first half of this year, but at present no launch date has been scheduled.

 

• SpaceX to de-orbit about 100 early Starlink satellites

The company is concerned a failure might make it impossible to de-orbit them properly, leaving them in orbit as space junk.

 

• Progress undocks from ISS

This undocking today clears the Zvezda port for a new Progress launching on February 15, 2024. Note the use of Zvezda. When stress fractures were found in that module, Russia had said it would no longer dock there. Apparently the Russians are now satisfied that the repairs done by their astronauts are sufficient to prevent further fractures and leaks. Or maybe the Russians are willing to deal with the risk for the few years left before ISS is retired.

 

• Cassini’s first good picture of the Saturn moon Mimas, taken on this day in 2010

As Han Solo said in Star Wars, “That’s no moon.”

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Next Progress cargo ship to resupply ISS arrives at launchpad at Baikonur

Launch is scheduled for 10:25 pm (Eastern) on February 14, 2024.

 

• ULA CEO Tory Bruno touts success of first Vulcan launch

He has every right to brag. While not out of the woods quite yet, he took a dying compnay and revitalized it.

 

• New Glenn first stage test vehicle now at launchpad

This is not an actual first stage, but a dummy used to test and rehearse fueling and countdown procedures prior to that first launch, now four years late.

 

• On this date in 2001 the NEAR probe landed on Eros

The landing ended the mission, as the spacecraft was built as an orbiter. It however was able to get a last picture just before its relatively soft impact.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• NASA installs experimental optical antenna for receiving laser communications from space

Located at Goldstone in California, it is being used to prove that NASA’s Deep Space Network can be modified for receiving and sending data from and to planetary probes.

 

• Scientists propose hidden moon of 155-mile-wide asteroid could be sheparding its rings

The theory is based solely on computer simulations, and thus should be treated with skepticism.

 

• On this day in 1828 Jules Verne was born

Verne is considered by most to be the first modern science fiction writer.

Posted early because I am off to be a volunteer at this year’s annual Night to Shine event, founded by Tim Tebow.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• BE-4 engine rolled out for installation on ULA’s next Vulcan rocket

Jay writes, “Rumor is that there are only five BE4 engines built after the last two were used.” If so, there will be serious shortage once ULA starts launching Vulcans at the rate it plans, twice a month.

 

• Webb detects two exoplanets orbiting two different white dwarfs

Neither detection is as yet confirmed.

 

• Russian proposal to fly a “Kosmoplan space plane (a kind of BOR-4/Fat Spiral) for the future Russian space station”

This is essentially their version of Dream Chaser. It is also nothing more than a powerpoint presentation. Based on past Russian performance, the odds of it getting built are slim to none.

 

• Japanese lunar lander company Ispace unveils its micro-rover

It is named Resilience, and will fly on their second lunar landing mission, Hakuto-R2.

 

• Six years ago today the Falcon Heavy launched successfully

My 2018 post on that launch can be read here.

• Today in 1984 astronaut Bruce McCandless performed the first untethered spacewalk using a jetpack

While neat, NASA found the jetpack impractical and abandoned it. It was simpler to do ordinary tethered spacewalks then deal with the jetpack’s added weight and complexity

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Lynk Global finalizes SPAC investment deal merger

The company presently has a 3-satellite constellation providing internet access to a number of remote locations.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company is considering launching its rockets using “an electromagnetic catapult system”

They say it would increase the rocket’s payload capacity, but so would anti-gravity. We should believe this only when we see it.

 

• Russia proposes new plan for its post-ISS space station infrastructure

Even less likely than the Chinese proposal above. Or if it does happen, it will not happen for at least ten years from now. Got to keep those jobs funded for as long as possible, whether or not Roscosmos builds anything.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Axiom’s commercial passenger flight to ISS targeting an undocking and return to Earth tomorrow.

Undocking will be at 9:05 am (Eastern), depending on weather conditions at the splashdown point.

 

• Chinese pseudo-company planning G60 satellite constellation competitive with Starlink raises about $1 billion

Clearly Chinese investors expect to make money on this constellation. They of course must hope the communists don’t decide to confisicate it at any point.

 

• Spaceport America in New Mexico tries to convince everyone to launch rockets from its inland location

A dumb article and a dumb idea. No one is going to approve orbital launches from an inland spaceport until rockets become a lot more reliable landing their first stages.

 

• Oleg Kononenko sets new record for the most time spent, exceeding 878 days over five flights

In June he will exceed 1000 days.

 

• Teasing details about India’s proposed space station

First module will fly uninhabited and will be used to practice rendezvous and docking technologies.

 

• On this day in 1971 Apollo 14 landed on the Moon

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Blue Origin boasts about its proposed Blue Ring orbital tug

As always, company officials make a lot of promises. As always, the only thing that counts is actual achievement, something that Blue Origin has so far lacked.

 

• Related: Video of Blue Origin engine test in Huntsville of a BE-4 engine

To speed production the company is now doing static fire engine tests in Huntsville and at its Texas facility.

 

• SpaceX experiences engine failure during Merlin static fire test at its Texas facility

The company has been working to upgrade Merlin so that it can fly as many as 30 times. This might have been a test-to-failure as part of that program. Or not.

 

• 40 members of Congress send letter to NASA, complaining about cuts to Mars Sample Return mission

It’s all a game. NASA makes the cuts to generate protests. Congress screams and protests. The two get together and fund everything, then claiming they saved the world. In this game however no one ever asks: “Is the project as designed worth the money? Can this be done a better way?” To ask such questions would suggest maybe the money shouldn’t be spent, and that concept is wholly alien to these swamp players.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below. I also apologize for the lack of posting today, as I have been dealing with eye doctors.

• Flight path over the ocean for Chinese launch from ocean barge tonight

The rocket is the Jielong-3, or Smart Dragon-3, on its third launch, lifting off at 7 pm (Pacific) tonight but tomorrow in China.

 

• Video of Cygnus freighter being berthed to ISS today

• On this day in 2003 the space shuttle Columbia broke up while returning from orbit

• Gaganyaan test capsule used for launch abort flight to be refurbished for future launchpad abort test

The launch abort test was in October 2023. The launchpad abort test is expected later this year.

 

• Full production of Russia’s new Angara rocket won’t begin for at least one to one-and-a-half years

That’s at least a six month delay from previous promises. It also means Russia will take more than two decades to design and build this rocket.

 

• New section of second Starship launch tower ready for shipment from Cape Canaveral to Boca Chica by barge

I could be wrong, but it appears SpaceX finds building the tower sections in Florida for all of its Starship/Superheavy launchpads (in both Florida and Texas) is more efficient than building tower sections in both places.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Video of Sierra Space’s Tenacity Dream Chaser mini-shuttle being mounted on test vibration table

This is part of final testing prior to its launch on a Vulcan rocket later this year.

 

• Another rocky exoplanet discovered orbiting its star in only days

It is slightly larger than the Earth but has a mass 2.5 times greater. With an orbital year only 13. 7 hours long, it will be a very hot place to live, estimated to average about 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

• First launch of Ariane-6 remains on schedule for a June 15 to July 31, 2024 window

They expect to ship the rocket to French Guiana next month.

 

• On this day in 1958 the U.S. launched its first satellite

• On this day in 1971 Apollo 14 was launched to the Moon

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Ingenuity’s use of off-the-shelf commercial products will be a game-changer for space engineering

The article provides a nice summary of Ingenuity’s overall future impact, but notes that its use of such products might be its biggest legacy. Their use would significantly reduce the cost of future government space probes, and based on its experience with the helicopter NASA might be more willing to accept their use in the future.

 

• Explosion heard yesterday in Shanghai was due to a test-to-failure tank test by a Chinese pseudo-company

At least, that is what China is telling us.

 

• China ignites and operates its first 50-kilowatt nested Hall thruster, proving the ability of two-ring ignition

Jay notes that the University of Michigan tested a 3-channel ion thruster some years ago, suggesting that though China has done good work here, it is still years behind.

 

• Weather looks good for Rocket Lab’s next launch tomorrow

Right now the launch is targeting a 1:15 am (Eastern) launch tonight. Live stream available here.

 

• On this date in 1964 Ranger 6 was launched, hitting the Moon as planned but failing to transmit any images during its plunge to the surface

It was the third spacecraft to impact the Moon, and the first in the Ranger program to do so. It wasn’t until Ranger 7 six months later that a mission succeeded in sending pictures back before crashing.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Rocket startup Stoke Space files permit for building launch pad at Cape Canaveral

Stoke is the company with the radical engine design, involving a ring of tiny thrust outlets instead of a main engine with one big nozzle. It has raised $100 million in investment capital, and hopes to use this design to produce a completely reusable rocket.

 

• Possible explosion at Shanghai facility for Chinese pseudo-company Landspace

This is not confirmed, there are no details available, and the video at the link only provides audio of a boom while showing nothing but a quiet street scene. The tweet cites “leaked documents,” whatever that signifies.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.

• Next Cygnus cargo capsule now intergrated with its service module

To be launched on a Falcon 9, scheduled for January 29, 2024.

 

• LeoLabs gets contract from NOAA as part of new “traffic coordination system for Space”
  Leolabs got the deal because it already tracks more 20,000 objects in orbit. Why NOAA however is issuing this contract is baffling. It is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose responsibility is supposed to be monitoring the weather and oceans. Why is it getting involved with traffic coordination?

Note: Jay corrects me. He is off next week on business so no quick updates. His ham radio DX trip is February 16 to March 8, but during that time he will send us updates via Starlink.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. Note: This post is now officially an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, not just the links below.

• China’s deputy chief of its manned space program gives an update for 2024

They have 6 major tasks, including 4 launch missions and 2 recovery missions, with the six astronauts for those missions already chosen.

 

• China’s has reduced launches of its Tianzhou cargo freighter from 2 ships per year to 3 ships every two years

The reduction is because the construction phase of the Tiangong-3 station is now complete, and shifted into its operational phase. At the same time, China notes it can fly the Long March 7 rocket that carries Tianzhou twice within 3 months, if necessary.

 

• Rocket Lab will once again attempt to recover its Electron 1st stage on its next launch

They have added additional hardware to protect the engines better during return and splashdown.

 

• House committee backs Artemis despite latest delay

Another boring congressional hearing that will change little.

 

• Viasat demonstrates technology that the UK can use to replace the EU’s GPS-type system

After Brexit the UK lost access to some EU systems. This Viasat system can replace it.

 

• Astroscale reveals its proposed in-orbit refueling spacecraft

Essentially it will be fuel truck that will bring fuel from a depot to a satellite.

 

• Sergey Krikalev appointed “Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on international cooperation in the field of space”

Krikalev, one of Russia’s most famous astronauts, had been laid off from his job in Roscosmos, apparently due to differences with the agency’s administrator. This appointment appears to be a consolation prize.

• Image from Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander as it reapproaches Earth

Re-entry is expected later today.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Impulse plans high-powered orbital tug

The company, whose CEO is Tom Mueller who at SpaceX designed the Merlin engine, intends the tug to function as an add-on upper stage to rockets like the Falcon 9, capable of making it almost as powerful as a Falcon Heavy.

 

• This month marks the 20th anniversary of the landing on Mars of the rovers Spirit and Opportunity

Both were supposed to last only 90 days. Both lasted years instead.

 

• New Horizons’ principal investigator Alan Stern tweets a memorial to Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of the planet Pluto who died this day in 1997

Stern notes that a tiny sample of Tombaugh’s ashes are on New Horizons as it flies outward past Pluto and beyond.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who returns after his work took him away from us last week.

• Sierra Space releases video of test-to-failure of its full scale inflatible space station module

The module will be used on the Orbital Reef station the company is building in partnership with Blue Origin.

 

• Chinese engineers complete final launch rehearsal for launch of its next Tianzhou cargo freighter to Tiangong-3 station

The launch is presently scheduled for January 17, 2024 at 3:27 am (Eastern). It will use a fast 3-hour rendezvous and docking plan for the first time.

 

• Australian activists protest proposed commercial spaceport

They claim rockets pose a threat to wildlife, even though we now have almost three-quarters of a century of evidence that they do exactly the opposite, help wildlife. Just shows us that leftists are proudly ignorant, and are irrationally against everything.

 

• Voyager Space and Airbus finalize their partnership to build private the Starlab space station

The partnership also includes Northrop Grumman, and is one of three private stations being built in partnership with NASA.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer touts video of rocket engine static fire test

• Chinese pseudo-company Deep Blue touts video of rocket engine static fire test

• Chinese pseudo-company Landspace touts video of rocket engine static fire test

As Jay notes, “Look at all the test firings happening at the same time. This must have been commanded from above [by] Xi, the CCP, or the PLA, to show off Chinese technology.” All three have launches proposed this year and next, with Landspace the most developed of the three.

 

• ULA’s Vulcan rocket rolls from assembly building to its launchpad

The rocket’s first launch, carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, is still targeting January 8, 2023. ULA’s live stream of the launch can be found here.

 

• 75 years ago today Chuck Yaeger flew the Bell X-1 supersonic plane in its only ground take-off

All other X-1 flights were released in the air from the bottom of either a Boeing B-29 or a B-50 Superfortress.

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

• ULA video describes the mission profile of its first Vulcan launch scheduled for January 8th

According to the video, the Celestis payload of human ashes is not on the Astrobotic lunar lander, as I had thought, but are on the rocket upper stage, which will go into solar orbit after completing its mission. If so, the Navaho whining about putting human remains on the Moon was even more inappropriate and stupid.

 

• India’s Aditya-L1 solar telescope to make its final manuever this coming weekend

It will arrive at the L1 point one million miles closer to the Sun, where it will observe the Sun in partnership with several other solar telescopes.

 

• 20 years ago today the rover Spirit landed on Mars

It lasted six years, far more than its planned 90 day mission.

 

• 25 years ago today Mars Polar Lander was launched

All contact with the spacecraft ended shortly before its final engine burn to enter Mars atmosphere. It is thought that engine burn ended prematurely, causing the spacecraft to crash.

 

• The May 2024 launch China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon remains on target

It will try to bring back the first samples from the Moon’s far side.

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.