Tag: spaceflight

NASA thinks engine issue on SLS launch caused by misreading sensor

9:16 am

NASA engineers have now concluded that the improper temperatures in one engine in SLS’s core stage that forced the August 29, 2022 launch to be scrubbed were caused by a faulty sensor, and that the actual temperatures in the engine were correct.

During a news conference on Tuesday evening, NASA’s program manager for the SLS rocket, John Honeycutt, said his engineering team believed the engine had actually cooled down from ambient temperature to near the required level but that it was not properly measured by a faulty temperature sensor. “The way the sensor is behaving does not line up with the physics of the situation,” Honeycutt said.

The problem for NASA is that the sensor cannot be easily replaced and would likely necessitate a rollback to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a few kilometers from the launch pad. This would delay the launch of the rocket at least into October, and the space agency is starting to get concerned about wear and tear on a rocket that has now been stacked for nearly a full year.

With this SLS rocket, NASA management is now trapped between a rock and a hard place. The rocket’s solid rocket boosters has been stacked for just short of two years, almost a full year beyond their use-by date. Moreover, there are batteries on the rocket that only function for about a month before they must be replaced. Their replacement date is September 6th, which means if NASA cannot get the rocket launched by that date it will have to return it to the assembly building, delaying the launch to at least October. If it has to replace the solid rocket boosters the launch will likely then be delayed until next year, which will seriously impact the second SLS launch, set to send astronauts around the Moon and back.

At the moment the launch is scheduled for a two hour launch window beginning at 2:17 pm (Eastern) on Saturday, September 3, 2022. The countdown will be live streamed here. At the moment the weather for Saturday has improved, with s 60% chance the launch can proceed.

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Axiom gets NASA approval to fly second commercial manned mission to ISS

9:02 am

Capitalism in space: NASA and Axiom have worked out their contract to allow Axiom to fly its second commercial manned mission to ISS, now scheduled for sometime in the spring of 2023.

Through the mission specific order, Axiom is obtaining from NASA services such as crew supplies, cargo delivery to space, storage, and other in-orbit resources for daily use. The order also accommodates up to an additional contingency week aboard the space station. This mission is subject to NASA’s updated pricing policy for private astronaut missions, which reflects the full value of services the agency is providing to Axiom that are above space station baseline capabilities.

The order also identifies capabilities NASA will obtain from Axiom, including the return of scientific samples that must be kept cold in transit back to Earth, the return of a Nitrogen/Oxygen Recharge System (NORS) tank, the capability for last-minute return of two cargo transfer bags, and up to 10 hours of the private astronaut mission commander’s time during the docked mission to complete NASA science or perform tasks for NASA.

The flight, dubbed Ax-2, will carry four Axiom passengers, three of whom will be paying passengers. It will be launched by SpaceX on its Falcon 9 rocket, carrying one of SpaceX’s four reusable manned Dragon capsules.

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NASA awards SpaceX new $1.4 billion contract to launch its astronauts

8:56 am

Capitalism in space: NASA yesterday awarded SpaceX a new $1.4 billion contract to buy five more passenger flights to ISS, using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon manned capsules.

This follows a similar contract extension in February that awarded SpaceX three more NASA passenger flights.

For Boeing, this contract award must hurt. If its Starliner manned capsule wasn’t years behind schedule, with numerous engineering errors slowing development, some of the cash from these two new SpaceX contracts would have certainly gone to Boeing. Instead, the company has had to spend more than $400 million of its own money trying to get Starliner fixed and operational.

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August 31, 2022 Quick space links

3:47 pm

Thanks to BtB’s stringer Jay.

That’s nice, but years have passed and the first Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft, Tenacity, has still not flown. It is well past time for this company to finally get off the ground.

This also be the first spacewalk using the airlock on the space station’s new Wentian module.

It appears to be built by the pseudo-company Orienspace.

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Perseverance: Evidence of both past lava and liquid water on the floor of Jezero Crater

1:40 pm

Figure 6: Two models for geological history of Jezero Crater

Two new papers (here and here), published last week in Science and using data obtained during Perseverance’s first year of roving on Mars, strongly suggest that the floor of Jezero Crater was first formed by lava flows, either from impact or later flows from eruptions, followed by a period where liquid water interacted with these igneous materials to produce the chemistry seen today. From the first paper:

After emplacement of the igneous rocks on the crater floor, multiple forms of aqueous interaction modified—but did not destroy—their igneous mineralogy, composition, and texture. Evidence for alteration includes the presence of carbonate in the Séítah abrasion patches, the iron oxides in the Máaz formation abrasion patches (which we presume are due to iron mobilization and precipitation), and the deposition of salts including sulfates and perchlorate. More broadly, the appearance of possible spheroidal weathering textures suggests that aqueous alteration played a role in rock disintegration.

The graphic to the right, figure 6 in the first paper, shows two different models for the geological formation of the floor of Jezero Crater. “Basalt emplacement” are the lava flows.

According to the press release today [pdf], the first core samples that the rover gathered for later pickup and return to Earth will likely show the following:

The salts include sulfates, similar to Epsom salts, which are common on Mars. Most importantly, high levels of chlorine-containing salts are also present, such as chlorides (“table salt”) and perchlorates. These highly soluble salts reveal that the rocks were soaked in brines, and hence contain clear evidence of liquid water.

The on-going big geological mystery of Mars remains. The data suggests liquid water once existed as some form in Jezero Crater. Other data suggests liquid water existed elsewhere on Mars as well. Yet, no model exists that anyone accepts with any confidence that makes it possible for liquid water to exist on the Martian surface. Its atmosphere has always been either too cold or thin.

To underline this conundrum, note that in the graphic above, neither model includes a time period when liquid water sat on top of these layers. Though the evidence calls for liquid water at some time, the scientists do not feel confident enough to include it in these initial models.

One possible explanation that I sense some scientists are beginning to consider is the chemical interaction of melted ice at the base of past long gone ice glaciers. The ice would be frozen, but the glacier’s movement might create pockets of liquid water at its base, which over eons might result in these chemical reactions. If Jezero Crater had once been filled with glaciers, as many Martian craters in the mid-latitudes appear to be now, this could have provided the water necessary for the chemical modifications the scientists are finding.

This theory however is entirely speculative on my part, and has not yet been proposed by any scientists, though I have seen hints of it in a number of different research papers.

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Ursa Major makes rocket engine deal with Air Force

10:16 am

Capitalism in space: Ursa Major announced today that the Air Force has awarded it a contract to test and qualify its Hadley rocket engines for future military space missions.

Ursa Major will also be providing the Air Force Research Lab with statistically significant data sets from extensive testing of multiple Hadley engines, including measurements of specific impulse, or ISP, combustion stability, vibration and shock profiles, and range of inlet pressures and temperatures.

Hadley will be qualified using similar metrics according to an internal test plan based on industry guidelines and best practices, focusing on engine life, operating space, functional requirements, and performance. The qualification test campaign under this effort will include runtime at and beyond the extremes of the power level and mixture ratio targets, demonstrating that Hadley operates safely and reliably within the power level and mixture ratio required for missions of DOD interest.

Ursa Major was founded by the engineers who developed SpaceX’s Merlin engine. It has already won a number of rocket engine contracts, including an order for 200 Hadley engines from rocket startup Phantom Space., and a contract with Northrop Grumman to replace the Russian-built engines on its Antares rocket with Ursa Major’s larger Arroway engine. [Ed: Ursa Major doesn’t have this contract, Firefly does. Ursa Major’s Arroway is simply comparable and competitive for the same business.]

Getting the Hadley engine certified by the Air Force will instantly make this engine more appealing to numerous rocket companies. In fact, it will make Ursa Major as a company more appealing. If this certification moves forward quickly, expect the Air Force to follow with a certification program for the larger Arroway engine. And if that occurs this engine might supplant other engines produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne and Blue Origin, especially because it appears that Ursa Major is using the same manufacturing philosophies of SpaceX, focusing not so much on design as assembly-line manufacturing, as shown by its 200 engine contract with Phantom.

Thus, it appears focused on producing many engines at less cost, and quickly.

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Webb’s infrared view of a face-on spiral galaxy

9:44 am

M74, as seen by Webb and Hubble combined
Click for original image.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have produced a false-color infrared view of M74, a face-on spiral galaxy located 32 million light years away.

The montage above shows that image to the right, with a Hubble optical image to the left. In the center both images are combined.

The addition of crystal-clear Webb observations at longer wavelengths will allow astronomers to pinpoint star-forming regions in the galaxies, accurately measure the masses and ages of star clusters, and gain insights into the nature of the small grains of dust drifting in interstellar space.

Because infrared can see through cold dust, it provides a much sharper view of this galaxy’s central regions.

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Starlink experiences major outage lasting hours

9:32 am

For what appears to be the first time, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation yesterday experienced a major outage, covering users across the entire world and lasting hours.

Apparently, users in the U.S., New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Mexico reported issues.

The global outage lasted for a few hours for most users, but connectivity returned with a “Degraded Service” message that meant it wasn’t fully operational. Some users on Reddit also reported that their connection kept going from degraded to offline. “Our team is investigating and will resolve as soon as possible,” the Starlink service message read. However, the company hasn’t released a public message acknowledging the outage.

Based on how this system is designed, it seems that only a software issue could cause an outage that affected so many users in so many different places. Even then, such an issue would have to impact multiple independent orbiting satellites, or multiple independent terminals, and do so all at once, an event which seems difficult if not impossible.

This all suggests that someone hacked the system and sabotaged it. Recently a professional hacker demonstrated that it was possible to hack into a single Starlink terminal. From there, it may be possible to access the software on board the satellites and sabotage that.

If so, SpaceX has a very serious problem.

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SpaceX signs deal with Royal Caribbean to use Starlink on its cruise ships

9:21 am

Capitalism in space: SpaceX has won a contract with the Royal Caribbean cruise line to provide broadband internet service to its passengers using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation.

Deployment of the Starlink technology across the fleet will begin immediately, leveraging the insights obtained from the trial onboard Freedom of the Seas, which has received tremendous positive feedback from guests and crew. The installation is slated to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

The apparent success of Starlink on Royal Caribbean’s ships suggests it will quickly start appearing on other cruise lines shortly.

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Orbit Fab to offer orbital depot for refueling hydrazine fuel in satellites

9:16 am

Capitalism in space: Orbit Fab is now offering to launch for satellite customers an orbital hydrazine fuel depot, essentially a “gas station” in space, that can be used to refill that fuel on geosynchronous satellites.

Orbit Fab, a startup developing infrastructure for in-space refueling of spacecraft, will start offering hydrazine for satellites in geostationary orbit as soon as 2025 at a price of $20 million.

The company announced Aug. 30 its plans to start offering refueling services for GEO spacecraft using a depot and “fuel shuttle” spacecraft. That depot will also be able to support spacecraft such as servicing vehicles that can travel to the depot for “self-service” refueling.

At the $20 million price announced by Orbit Fab, the company would provide up to 100 kilograms of hydrazine. It’s the first time that the company has set a price for providing fuel, a move it says it made to help potential customers better understand the economics of refueling.

The depot would be placed in orbit slightly above that of geosynchronous satellites. A shuttle robot would dock with it, obtain the fuel, and then fly to a customer’s satellite, dock and refuel it. If that shuttle is built by Orbit Fab, the customer’s satellite will need the company’s standard refueling port. For geosynchronous satellites without that port, Orbit Fab is willing to partner with other orbital refueling and satellite servicing spacecraft, such as Northrop Grumman’s and Astroscale’s repair robot satellites.

This plan has several firsts. It is the first to offer a price for a specific amount of fuel. It also appears to be the first to refuel the hydrazine in satellites. Finally, it illustrates the on-going compartmentalization of the satellite servicing industry. Some companies are making tugs. Some are launching repair robots. Others are making robots to remove space junk. And Orbit Fab is going to build fuel stations where everyone else can get fuel.

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Engineers fix problem that caused data to arrive garbled from Voyager-1

9:00 am

By switching computers on Voyager-1 — now in interstellar space and having recently celebrated its 45th anniversary since launch — engineers were able to prevent data from coming back garbled from the spacecraft.

Earlier this year, the probe’s attitude articulation and control system (AACS), which keeps Voyager 1’s antenna pointed at Earth, began sending garbled information about its health and activities to mission controllers, despite operating normally. The rest of the probe also appeared healthy as it continued to gather and return science data.

The team has since located the source of the garbled information: The AACS had started sending the telemetry data through an onboard computer known to have stopped working years ago, and the computer corrupted the information.

Suzanne Dodd, Voyager’s project manager, said that when they suspected this was the issue, they opted to try a low-risk solution: commanding the AACS to resume sending the data to the right computer.

The switch worked. The mystery now is figuring out why the AACS started using that long-decommissioned computer, which could indicate another computer or software issue elsewhere in the spacecraft.

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SpaceX launches another 46 Starlink satellites into orbit

10:50 pm

Capitalism in space: Using its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX tonight successfully placed another 46 Starlink satellites into orbit, launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The first stage successfully completed its seventh flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The two fairings also completed their third flight.

The leaders in the 2022 launch race:

39 SpaceX
33 China
11 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 ULA

American private enterprise now leads China 54 to 33 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 54 to 51.

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