Space News thread

[Takeovers]

There is a major news hidden behind the peregrine probe failure, I want to share.

Peregrine launched on the first flight of the new ULA Vulcan rocket. ULA had a successful flight, which is very good for a new rocket.

A short launch video with good pictures. If you wish, you can skip the first 50 seconds of ULA advertising, or watch that too.



Vulcan is the successor to the Atlas V rocket, after ULA can no longer purchase the russian RD-180 engine. The new rocket uses methane and liquid oxygen as propellant and the BE-4 engine. To increase liftoff thrust as needed by the payload, they add solid boosters as needed. Vulcans second stage is a newly developed version of the Centaur upper stage. While Centaur had 1 hydrogen RL-10 engine, Vulcan uses a larger stage with 2 RL-10 engines. The engine supplier has upgraded the engine and the new version of RL-10 is supposed to be much cheaper, though we don't have numbers.

The engine was developed and built by Blue Origin, the company of Jeff Bezos, who subsidizes it with $ 1 billion a year. Blue Origin is developing their own launch vehicle, the New Glenn rocket that intends to land the booster the way SpaceX Falcon 9 does. While ULA Vulcan uses 2 BE-4 engines, Vulcan uses 7 engines and does not need non reusable solid boosters. Blue Origin may launch this year too, but most observers expect the maiden launch to slip into 2025.

02

[helge]

Sad that the pregrine lunar lander is failing. It is hard for a small company to develop a system while russian state company Roskosmos has also failed.

Na na na na na nah



More failures than successes in that trade.

All a vaste of energy, talent and Schauspiel fur die Massen

We'll be gone in a hundred years, so who gives a ....Scheisse.

[Edmond]

Japan looking to be the 5th nation to soft land on the moon later today.

Japan hopes 'moon sniper' will complete 'precision' lunar landing today | Science & Tech News | Sky News


Given the fancy-pants magic they pulled off with asteroid Ryugu I wouldn't bet against them.

[Takeovers]

Anyone wants to watch it live?

Watch Japan attempt to ace its 1st-ever moon landing on Jan. 19 with this free livestream (video) | Space

Live stream starts 1 hour from now.

Not too much drama please. Had a cardiac arrest on monday, got out of hospital Wednesday. Quick repairs nowadays with 2 stents implanted. Almost like I am not young any more.

[Edmond]

Had a cardiac arrest on monday, got out of hospital Wednesday.

Damn, get well soon TO.

[harrybarracuda]

Not too much drama please. Had a cardiac arrest on monday, got out of hospital Wednesday. Quick repairs nowadays with 2 stents implanted. Almost like I am not young any more.

Glad they managed to get the repair in before the unit failed.

Take it easy!

Added: Seems it should happen around 22:20 our time.

[harrybarracuda]

I don't know if the YT video above mentioned that Peregrine is dead.

Doomed Peregrine moon lander burns up in Earth’s atmosphere

[harrybarracuda]

So the telemetry says it has landed.

[harrybarracuda]

"Now checking the status".

[harrybarracuda]

Well they're ending the broadcast without telling us if it's working, which is a bit shit.

[Topper]

"Now checking the status".

You'd think they'd mounted a fooking gopro camera on the thing...

[Takeovers]

They have cameras. But the lander is busy running other tasks than relaying images back.

Press conference coming. But if I had to hazard a guess, it did not go well. The lander was supposed to tip over, but the animation indicated it did not. Battery status going down. If it did not tip over the solar panels don't get enough light to charge them.

The control center people did also not look happy.

We will get info at the press conference.

[Takeovers]

They are still receiving telemetry, good strong signal. But others share my concern it did not end in the right attitude and the solar panels don't provide power.

[Topper]

Heck, I wonder if they can teach it to roll over like a puppy?

[harrybarracuda]

"The Deep Space Network receiver in Spain is receiving signals from Lev1, which is one of the rovers that the lander jettisoned a few metres above the moon's surface. The rover is equipped with a camera so if it is functioning correctly and can orientate itself towards its mother ship - it might be able to send back crucial information about what might have gone wrong.
Now the critical descent phase is over, mission control might be able to exchange messages with their lander to establish what exactly happened at landing."

Erm....

"The rover is equipped with a camera so if it is functioning correctly and can orientate itself towards its mother ship - it might be able to send back crucial information about what might have gone wrong."

What, like a picture you mean?

[harrybarracuda]

OK presser starting at 00:10 here.

[harrybarracuda]

What are the chances their first "Investigation of the Moon" will reveal it slopes more than they thought it does?

[harrybarracuda]

Well that's exciting.

"We need more time".

"We'll update information every now and then".

FFS I honestly thought they would be a bit more disciplined.

What a shit show.

[harrybarracuda]

"The solar cell is not generating electricity" so that's fucked then.

[harrybarracuda]

It's running on battery using limited function to extend the battery life.

Will die in......

waffle
waffle
waffle
waffle

[Takeovers]

They talk a lot, but say very little.

So they did touch down softly. Don't detect any damage from landing. The solar cells don't seem damaged or failed. But they don't produce power. So much we knew at the moment of landing already from telemetry data on screen.

There is no other explanation IMO than the lander did not reach the attitude planned on the surface. It did not fall over as intended. Telemetry indicated it did not fall over at all, but they don't talk about it.

[harrybarracuda]

I'm still baffled as to how they have not diverted Lev 1 to take a photo of the lander to see what state it's in.

Or at least announced that they're trying.

They have made a complete fucking mess of the PR with a load of uninformed blathering.

[harrybarracuda]

This is a mock up of Lev 1 and Lev 2. One is a rover and the other one is a, er, rolling ball.

[Topper]

er, rolling ball.

BB-1, right?

[harrybarracuda]

BB-1, right?

I'm sure there is some brilliant wit there, but I don't get it.