Space News thread

[jabir]

Great early warning system, not that a month or a year would've made much difference if it was on target.

[OhOh]

not that a month or a year would've made much difference if it was on target.

Come on, everybody knows that if everyone jumps up at the same time the Earth's orbit is affected immediately. Due to all the Chinese being smaller than the average European.

[bobo746]

Sep. 10, 2018 #1 update – ISS Sees Florence From Space

[Takeovers]

Hurricanes from above. A beautiful picture. It shows none of the violence below.

BTW SpaceX had a launch on sunday and the first stage landed on a drone ship. They are presently racing to get the stage back to port before Florence though Florence is not going to Florida but the Atlantic is getting uncomfortable for large vertical structures.

[OhOh]

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Abandons Reusable Spacecraft Idea

According to Forbes's Loren Thompson, who also consults for the private sector, SpaceX had to abandon the idea of precision landing at a chosen location on the ground. Earlier in July, Inverse and other media reported that SpaceX abandoned the concept of propulsive landing for its future Dragon manned-missions to Mars over safety concerns.


But without precision landing on the ground, the entire idea of reusability becomes unviable. "What SpaceX has learned conducting unmanned cargo missions into low-Earth orbit is that it takes a long time to refurbish spacecraft once they have been immersed in salt water. Maybe up to a year. And it's expensive," Thompson writes.


Musk didn't stop there. In a 2014 statement he predicted that the Crew Dragon, as the capsule is called, would be capable of "propulsive landing with precision" -- meaning it could make a powered touchdown at some pre-chosen place on land, rather than splashing down in the ocean. The unmanned supply spacecraft on which Crew Dragon is based are designed to splash down in the sea as a way of cushioning their landing, but Musk thought SpaceX could do even better than the Space Shuttle in returning from orbit to dry land.


Boeing, the other company that NASA selected to carry astronauts to the space station, said it could do the same thing. Boeing, a contributor to my think tank, is still on a vector to return its astronaut capsules to dry land, and then reuse them up to ten times. Over the last several months, though, and with little fanfare, SpaceX has backed away from both goals. It now says Crew Dragon, like the its cargo capsule, will land in the ocean, and therefore can only be used once to transport a crew.


It can still be re-used for carrying cargo to low-earth orbit. Nonetheless, SpaceX's quiet abandonment of what had been key selling points for Crew Dragon is a significant setback for SpaceX. It means Boeing will be the only company building a reusable space capsule for astronauts, and its spacecraft -- called Starliner - will be the only one that touches down on land. That seems to be a reversal of fortunes for Musk, who once criticized the Boeing concept as backward-looking. Now it is the SpaceX approach that looks less than revolutionary."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2018/09/10/spacex-abandons-plan-to-make-astronaut-spacecraft-re-usable-boeing-sticks-with-re-use-plan/#32da15662333

https://sputniknews.com/science/201809111067915188-spacex-reusable-spacecraft-abandoned/

Is this news or is the author just a Boeing man?

[Takeovers]

Is this news or is the author just a Boeing man?

He is on the payroll of Boeing, he's part of a thinktank funded by Boeing. It is mentioned in this article. Just one more of his well known hit pieces on SpaceX. Loren Thomson as author on SpaceX equals hitpiece even without fact checking.

The facts are not wrong, only the conclusions are. But SpaceX gave up on reusing Dragon for crew because NASA put up hurdles, that were not worth overcoming for SpaceX. It is not a big problem for SpaceX, they reuse the capsules for cargo. Also while Boeing can reuse their capsules, Boeing discards the most complex and expensive parts of their spaceship before reentering the atmosphere, the service module with all the propulsion. The tanks and engines, much of the life support. SpaceX lands their service section with the capsule for reuse. Boeing does not have a cargo contract, their offer was too expensive. Also for crew, despite the fact that Boeing is allowed reuse, their flights are about $100million more expensive than SpaceX.

SpaceX abandoned powered landing of Dragon, which unfortunately means they can now not land them on Mars as they had planned. SpaceX shifted all engineering capacity and money to their big spaceship, the BFR, which will come a lot sooner than most believe.

[Takeovers]

Latest on the hole in russian Soyuz. Who would have thought this can get more bizarre?

The russian newspaper Kommersant reports, in russian language, that the suspicions of Roskosmos now center on US astronauts doing it. With the purpose to force evacuation of a crew. Claiming a US crew member is sick and they want to get him down without paying for the evacuation cost.

Roskosmos does not confirm. But who thinks that a big russian newspaper can break that story without consent from high up?

[Topper]

Claiming a US crew member is sick and they want to get him down without paying for the evacuation cost.

Most would think that the US would pay without question....besides, who would sabotage the ride home?

[OhOh]

^^

ISS hole rumors undermine relations among crew, Russian space boss warns

"The head of Russian space corporation Roscosmos has called on reporters and the public to stop speculating about a recently discovered hole in the ISS hull, saying that such rumors harm the relations between crew members.

“Spreading rumors and speculation about what has happened on the ISS [International Space Station] does not help experts in their work and is seeking to undermine the camaraderie in the station’s crew. It is unacceptable to make any statements with reference to ‘sources’ before the commission of Roscosmos completes its work,” Dmitry Rogozin wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

Rogozin made the comments after Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted unnamed sources as saying that the commission investigating the recent incident on the ISS is looking into the theory that the hole in the station’s hull was drilled by one of the US astronauts who are currently manning the spacecraft.


The paper also alleged that it happened because one of the US crew members had health problems and needed to get to earth for treatment, adding that in case of urgent crew evacuation the part of the station with breached hull would burn in the atmosphere hiding all traces.

Roscosmos press service said on Wednesday that it would not comment on any allegations before a special commission, investigating the incident, releases its official conclusion.

On August 30, the ISS crew registered a sharp drop in air pressure, prompting emergency measures. The cause for the leak was soon discovered to be a two-millimeter hole in the hull of the recently docked Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-09.


Russian cosmonauts patched the hole with epoxy and duct tape despite a protest from the mission commander, US astronaut Andrew Feustel, who wanted more time to investigate the reasons behind the incident.

Earlier this week, Feustel said in an interview with ABC News that the crew had nothing to do with the hull breach and decompression. “I can unequivocally say that the crew had nothing do with this”, he said, adding that “it’s absolutely a shame and somewhat embarrassing that anybody is wasting any time talking about something that the crew was involved in.”


The current ISS mission is scheduled to end on December 13.

https://www.rt.com/politics/438273-rumors-surrounding-iss-hole/


Some might consider RT to be a more reliable source. Others might find an ameristani dying in an unplanned emergency return to earth in a Russian ship an even bigger problem to manage.

Unusual medical symptoms, why, what caused them dodgy experiments, infections from another species..... Fighting to get aboard one of two Russian space ship, because of nationalistic friction. One spaceship burning up in the atmosphere killing the two ameristani,s but the Russians survive either in ISIS or the non sabotaged return space ship. All wrapped around current tensions on Earth.

Quite a movie to be made I suggest.

[Takeovers]

So Dmitri Rogozin now laments rumors. He was the one starting them in the first place. Not the latest about a US astronaut doing it but everything before that.

[jabir]

Latest on the hole in russian Soyuz. Who would have thought this can get more bizarre?

The russian newspaper Kommersant reports, in russian language, that the suspicions of Roskosmos now center on US astronauts doing it. With the purpose to force evacuation of a crew. Claiming a US crew member is sick and they want to get him down without paying for the evacuation cost.

Roskosmos does not confirm. But who thinks that a big russian newspaper can break that story without consent from high up?

As I posted not sure where, seems bizarre that they spend billions to protect every part and feature against all sorts of mishaps, with backup and backup of backups, but can't find a few bucks to blanket cover the ISS with cams to detect sabotage, among other things.

Sure it may seem unthinkable for an astronaut to sabotage his own vehicle, but there's also no reason to believe it won't happen.

[Takeovers]

Sure it may seem unthinkable for an astronaut to sabotage his own vehicle, but there's also no reason to believe it won't happen.

Not unthinkable but some worker under the influence of a bottle Vodka is much more likely IMO. The problem is they would not want to admit, this is a major concern. Especially as they can basically not do anything about it. Finding the person and firing him will not solve the underlying problem.

[Takeovers]

NASA working on new concepts for landing somewhat larger masses on Mars.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/ex...ck-an-umbrella

Exploring the Solar System? You May Need to Pack an Umbrella


Gearing up for its first flight test, NASA’s Adaptable Deployable Entry Placement Technology, or ADEPT, is no ordinary umbrella. ADEPT is a foldable device that opens to make a round, rigid heat shield, called an aeroshell. This game-changing technology could squeeze a heat shield into a rocket with a diameter larger than the rocket itself. The design may someday deliver much larger payloads to planetary surfaces than is currently possible.

Spacecraft typically approach planets at speeds tens of thousands of miles per hour —screaming fast. Entering a planet’s atmosphere at those speeds compresses atmospheric gas, creating pressure shock and generating intense heat right in front of the spacecraft.

Aeroshells slow spacecraft during entry and shield them from heat. ADEPT could be key to future NASA missions that require extra-large aeroshells to protect spacecraft destined to land on the surface of other planets, all without requiring larger rockets.

ADEPT’s first flight test is scheduled for Sept. 12 from Spaceport America in New Mexico aboard an UP Aerospace suborbital SpaceLoft rocket. ADEPT will launch in a stowed configuration, resembling a folded umbrella, and then separate from the rocket in space and unfold 60 miles above Earth.

The test will last about 15 minutes from launch to Earth return. The peak speed during the test is expected to be three times the speed of sound, about 2,300 miles per hour. That is not fast enough to generate significant heat during descent, but the purpose of the test is to observe the initial sequence of ADEPT’s deployment and assess aerodynamic stability while the heat shield enters Earth’s atmosphere and falls to the recovery site.

“For a deployable like ADEPT, you can do ground-based testing, but ultimately, a flight test demonstrates end-to-end functionality – surviving launch environments, deploying in zero gravity and the vacuum of space, holding that rigid shape and then entering, in our case, Earth’s atmosphere,” said Paul Wercinski, ADEPT project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
This umbrella-like mechanical aeroshell design uses flexible 3D woven carbon fabric skin stretched over deployable ribs and struts, which become rigid when fully flexed. The carbon fabric skin covers its structural surface, and serves as the primary component of the entry, descent and landing thermal protection system.
“Carbon fabric has been the major recent breakthrough enabling this technology, as it utilizes pure carbon yarns that are woven three-dimensionally to give you a very durable surface,” said Wercinski. “Carbon is a wonderful material for high temperature applications.”

The next steps for ADEPT are to develop and conduct a test for an Earth entry at higher “orbital” speeds, roughly 17,000 miles per hour, to support maturing the technology with an eye towards Venus, Mars or Titan, and also returning lunar samples back to Earth.

The ADEPT aeroshell heat shield technology was developed at Ames. The center leads the agency in the development and innovation of thermal protection system technologies.
ADEPT was funded by the Space Technology Mission Directorate’s (STMD) Game Changing Development program. The flight test was funded by STMD’s Flight Opportunities program, managed at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. Through both programs, NASA supports promising technologies from government, industry and academia for development and/or testing. UP Aerospace, based in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, is the flight provider.
To follow the ADEPT project at Ames, visit: www.nasa.gov/ames

This kind of technology may up the ability of NASA to land bigger payloads than Curiosity on Mars. Maybe up to 3 or 5t. Probably still not enough for manned missions. But it is interesting.

[Takeovers]

Some info on the Chinese private startup Linkspace.

A very young team is on the way to develop reusable rocket technology. They are going forward systematically step by step. They can operate separately from the large government run companies, much faster and more efficient. But they do have backing from the military. So if they are successful the money for bigger systems will be available.



Pull your eyes away from the red cutie on the left. The guy on the right is the founder of Linkspace. The youngest entrepreneur in rocketry.

For some reason I presently can not add more pictures, not even in a new post. They are working on a small orbital rocket with the first stage landing for reuse. Quite similar to the much bigger SpaceX Falcon rockets. But the engineering is completely their own.

A video on the company



These are tech demos. They sure need to enhance their control software but it does work.

[OhOh]

They can operate separately from the large government run companies, much faster and more efficient. But they do have backing from the military.

They look promising which is always good.

Maybe "operate separately" but certainly tied in the Chinese Government organisations. No info on who is funding the company, any ideas?

"In January 2016, LinkSpace signed a strategic cooperation agreement on the commercial aerospace technology with Tenth Research Institute of China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (CASIC).

In mid-January 2016, LinkSpace and Fifth Research Institute 513 of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) signed a strategic cooperation agreement on the development of commercial aerospace in Yantai, Shandong.

Maybe the state organisations are seeing if a "private" group can produce things, quicker, faster etc. One could see similarities in the NASA/SpaceX duo.

Link Space

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_...gy_Corporation

http://www.linkspace.com.cn/#body


Maybe Dill can help out with their web site.

[OhOh]

but can't find a few bucks to blanket cover the ISS with cams to detect sabotage

One would think that every space walk or repair/replacement would be covered and accompanied by another astronaut, always. Safety, a second pair of hands, holding a live coverage link to earth to the watching experts - ready to assist or point out errors, tool/replacement part carrier/assitant etc. If indeed the hole was drilled in space.

[Luigi]

Great early warning system, not that a month or a year would've made much difference if it was on target.

Might make a difference to the amount of time spent rooting, looting n shooting that would go on.

[Takeovers]

Some info on the LUCY mission by NASA to look at a number of asteroids, mostly the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. I wonder how many manyears using slide rules to calculate that trajectory would have to be spent.




Trojans are the asteroids caught up in the area of the lagrange points L4 and L5 of Jupiter. Lagrange points are stable or semistable points relative to 2 large bodys, in this case Jupiter and the sun. Jupiter collected a lot of asteroids in those points.



A map of L-points. But the 2 big objects can be any two dominant bodies. The same map would be true for Earth and Moon as well.

A website on the LUCY mission.

Home - Lucy

[Takeovers]

SpaceX has signed a deal with a private customer for a flight on their new BFR spaceship. Official presentation with naming the customer will be on monday, 6pm pacific time in Hawthorne, California.

In case anyobody is interested it will be live streamed. Besides naming the customer an update on their BFR is expected.

https://www.spacex.com/webcast

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1040397262248005632

SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle—an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of traveling to space. Find out who’s flying and why on Monday, September 17.

There was a deal before with an anonymous customer, using their Dragon capsule and Falcon Heavy but they cancelled it, saying they won't manrate Falcon Heavy and concentrate on their next generation ship, the BFR.

The tweet included this picture:




You can see why this picture was received with shock and awe by the space community. I have waded through several thousand posts on several websites, because of how much new info is in it even before the presentation. New facts and lots of details causing speculation. This latest version of BFS comes close to how space ships looked in 1960ies SF. More when I have watched the presentation, which unfortunately is at 3:00am CET.

[OhOh]

Besides naming the customer

If the BFR stays in the Moons orbit, going "around and around" for ever (there's no mention of it returning to Earth), should we start a "crowdfund" page nominating a certain Donald Trump as the sole passenger?

[Takeovers]

It does come back, that ship is valuable and will be reused, so no point in putting Trump in it.

It is also unlikely to happen before 2022. We expect that Trump is out by then.

[thailazer]

Worked with a few Voyager engineers in the distant past, and they were humbled by the fact that the work they produced would outlast all signs of man on Earth.

[David48atTD]

SpaceX has signed a deal with a private customer for a flight on their new BFR spaceship.
Official presentation with naming the customer will be on monday, 6pm pacific time in Hawthorne, California.

SpaceX to send Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on journey around the moon


Elon Musk announcing Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as the first private passenger on a trip around the moon.

SpaceX says Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will be first private passenger on a solo rocket trip around the moon.
The 42-year-old entrepreneur appeared at an event in Los Angeles at the space launch company's headquarters.
Mr Maezawa said it had been his lifelong dream to go into space and that just thinking about the journey got his heart racing.

He said he would invite six to eight artists, architects, designers and other creative people on the week-long journey to circumnavigate the moon in 2023.
The billionaire said he wanted his guests to be inspired to create once they returned to Earth.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Mr Maezawa would fly to the moon aboard a new rocket called the BFR, which was still in development.

The reusable 118-metre rocket will have its own dedicated passenger ship.
The average distance from Earth to the moon is about 382,500 kilometres. No one has been there since an Apollo mission in 1972.

[Luigi]

Solo, or with 6-8 others?

[Takeovers]

Solo, or with 6-8 others?

I think he will find 6-8 artists willing to fly with him, given that he pays the bill for the whole flight.

Now this picture makes more sense. It was published by Elon Musk a few months ago.



BTW this beautiful huge window that was in the 2016 version but not in the 2017 version is now back. A rocket with a huge panorama window near the top.

Probably most of the experts see this window as pure madness, besides being unnecessary. But Elon Musk, being mad for sure, sees it as an essential component of the rocket, to inspire people to go to space.