Space News thread

[OhOh]

Handling the launch preparations and the the multiple activities; launch, stage separations, cover separations, satellite launch, booster and first stage re-entry/landings all together in real time. I'm very impressed.

Makes the single launch and throwaway rocket stages routine seem an easy endeavour. A great visionary leader and competent team.

[TuskegeeBen]

Handling the launch preparations and the the multiple activities; launch, stage separations, cover separations, satellite launch, booster and first stage re-entry/landings all together in real time. I'm very impressed.

Makes the single launch and throwaway rocket stages routine seem an easy endeavour. A great visionary leader and competent team.

Accolades are due to the advanced, sophisticated, technological developments, in 21st. Century Cinematology...

[OhOh]

Not having seen any movies of the spacex ground control setup it's difficult to say. The only spacex ground people I saw, were watching and hooting as the events unfolded. No sweating decision makers or men working their slide rules.

The images of hundreds of ground controllers all doing their things and shouting "go" affectionately resides in my memory.

They were generally controlling one "manoeuvre," at a time and usually held it together. What I saw on the movies made available, allegedly in real time I thought was impressive and a first view of the multiple real-time "manoeuvres" now possible.

[Takeovers]

They were generally controlling one "manoeuvre," at a time and usually held it together. What I saw on the movies made available, allegedly in real time I thought was impressive and a first view of the multiple real-time "manoeuvres" now possible.

Making the control room staff and the pad operations group small is part of reducing launch cost. You get cost down by going through every part of launches.

[OhOh]

Making the control room staff and the pad operations group small is part of reducing launch cost

You say making the control room staff small.

I remember the moon shot days and the control room" staff" was massive. The shuttle flights also.

Apollo 11 CR



Shuttle CR.



and SpaceX Control Room:



I appreciate computers and software have improved immensely but is this the SpaceX team now controlling the complete event? The rocket launch, the two boosters and one first stage earth landings as well as, in the last launch, the satellite release? I'm presuming the second ....... stage and other pieces burn up or crash land themselves in the ocean.

[Takeovers]

I appreciate computers and software have improved immensely but is this the SpaceX team now controlling the complete event?

No, this is the control room at the Cape. I believe it is for Dragon. They have a flight control room in Hawthorne, California.



Through the windows you see the factory floor.

[OhOh]

I believe it is for Dragon

Which is ?

[Luigi]

https://www.spacex.com/dragon

[Takeovers]

Which is ?

As Luigi pointed to. Plus what hangs from the ceiling behind the windows. A Dragon spaceship that has flown to the ISS.

[Luigi]

Some nice pics of it in action around.

[OhOh]

Thanks.

It appears to be a astronaut/cargo delivery module, up to an orbiting station and returning back down to earth, without a parachute phase, which lands with a rocket blast moments before landing. Similar to the Spacex first stage and boosters, yes?

Is it now viable to launch a module to orbit along with the necessary fuel for the braking rockets? Haven't the Russian landing module always had some rocket motors firing, after the parachute descent phase, just prior to hitting the earth?

Have the rocket engines become more efficient, the modules lighter or the fuel more powerful. What's made this system work now, when there always has been a landing method of speed reduction using a friction burn, speed reduction using a parachute slowdown and either a sea impact or land impact with a speed reduction rocket blast "cushion"?

[Takeovers]

It appears to be a astronaut/cargo delivery module, up to an orbiting station and returning back down to earth, without a parachute phase, which lands with a rocket blast moments before landing. Similar to the Spacex first stage and boosters, yes?

It is a Dragon 1. It is purely a cargo vessel. Presently the only cargo vessel that can bring mass back to earth. That capability was lost when the Shuttle was retired. Russian cargo vehicle Progress does not land. Only very small amounts can be taken down on Soyuz. Dragon comes down on parachutes into the sea and is picked up by a boat.

SpaceX is working on Dragon 2 which will be to bring astronauts to the ISS and of course back down. Dragon 2 has thrusters that can separate the Dragon capsule from the rocket in case of a catastrophic event to save the crew. SpaceX had intended to land them using the same thrusters. But NASA put the requirements and cost to SpaceX for proving the system so high that SpaceX had to abandon it and will now touch down in the sea like Apollo. SpaceX decided they will put their engineering efforts into the new system they design for going to Mars with crew instead. If things go well Dragon 2 will have its first flight, unmanned, to the ISS this coming September.

Soyuz touches down on land. First parachutes then very small thruster pods that soften touchdown somewhat. Emphasis on somewhat. Astronauts likened the thruster firing to a kick of a horse into the behind followed by another kick on hitting the ground.

[jabir]

You say making the control room staff small.

I remember the moon shot days and the control room" staff" was massive. The shuttle flights also.

Apollo 11 CR



Shuttle CR.



and SpaceX Control Room:



I appreciate computers and software have improved immensely but is this the SpaceX team now controlling the complete event? The rocket launch, the two boosters and one first stage earth landings as well as, in the last launch, the satellite release? I'm presuming the second ....... stage and other pieces burn up or crash land themselves in the ocean.

I imagine quite a bit of duplication, backups, backup of backups etc; 'for want of a nail...'

[OhOh]

But NASA put the requirements and cost to SpaceX for proving the system so high that SpaceX had to abandon it and will now touch down in the sea like Apollo

There was no images on the video, from luigi, of any parachutes. I assumed the same methodology of landing as the spaceX rockets, my apologies. The reason is suggested as a NASA imposed cost, spacex has it appears, not demonstrated the Dragon module launching with a human or cargo payload, connecting with the space station and then returning to earth with a human or cargo payload whilst utilising the rockets to land on earth.

Is it because the rocket landing system is technically still impossible for the fully loaded Dragon or as you suggest the NASA proving demand?

I imagine quite a bit of duplication, backups, backup of backups etc; 'for want of a nail...'

I remember the main controller, being provided with go/no go confirmations from a number of departments and if all go, ordered the launch/burn/...... command. I presume all the people in the photos were the control room reps for many departments and thus indicate the scale of the control system. Now the visible reps numbers appear to be much smaller, but the real-time complexity; launch, booster management, 1st stage management, satellite or delivery of human/cargo module to the space station, workload has increased to, at times, 3x or 4x real-time demands.

Presumably much of the workload has been accommodated by better computer power and more advanced programming, yes?

I apologise if all this has been discussed previously here.

[Takeovers]

Elon Musk very much wanted Dragon to land using engines and no parachutes, with parachutes only as a backup if the engines fail.

Here an old CGI how it was expected to work. Dragon now looks diferent but the method is as they planned.



Actual captive hover tests done with a modified Dragon 1.



SpaceX was expecting they can develop the method with captive hovers and helicopter drop tests and some hops from the ground. That done they expected NASA would agree to prove the technology on cargo flights to the ISS ending with powered landings. That would have a small risk and NASA would have to agree, maybe doing a few landings with less than essential cargo. NASA did not agree. IMO it was basically torpedoing the efforts by SpaceX. Of course fans of NASA and Boeing see this as conspiracy theory. SpaceX would have to do a number of orbital flights at their own cost, spending many hundred millions to demonstrate powered landing. At that point Elon Musk cancelled all powered landing development and decided to put the money and effort in the new big rocket, the BFR. there is no way back to powered landing now. The design of Dragon 2 no longer has landing legs and other components that are needed for precision landing.

The engines are still there. They are the Launch Escape System that is supposed to safe the astronauts when something goes very wrong with the launch vehicle, the Falcon 9 rocket.



Video of the pad abort test done as part of crew Dragon development. The propulsion system slightly underperformed but the test was accepted as successful by NASA. It was not quite as near to the shore as it looked.

[OhOh]

thanks

[OhOh]

New twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites launched in Sichuan



"China on Sunday sent twin satellites into space via a single carrier rocket, entering a period with unprecedentedly intensive launches of BeiDou satellites.

The Long March-3B carrier rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southwest China's Sichuan Province 9:48 am, the 281st mission of the Long March rocket series.

The twin satellites are the 33rd and 34th of the BeiDou navigation system.

They entered orbit more than three hours after launch.

After a series of tests, they will work together with eight BeiDou-3 satellites already in orbit, said the launch service provider.

A basic system of 18 BeiDou-3 satellites orbiting will be in place by the year's end and will serve countries participating in the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative.

Named after the Chinese term for the Big Dipper, the BeiDou system started serving China in 2000 and the Asia-Pacific region in 2012. It will be the fourth global satellite navigation system after the US' GPS system, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.

The BeiDou-3 satellites can send signals compatible with other satellite navigation systems and provide satellite-based augmentation as well as search and rescue services in accordance with international standards. The positioning accuracy is 2.5 to 5 meters.

In the past five years, the system has helped rescue more than 10,000 fishermen. More than 40,000 fishing vessels and about 4.8 million commercial vehicles in China have been equipped with BeiDou, said BeiDou spokesman Ran Chengqi.

The satellites and the rocket for Sunday's launch were developed by the China Academy of Space Technology and China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, respectively"

New twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites launched in Sichuan - Global Times

Info on the satellites can be found here:

Beidou 3 ? Spacecraft & Satellites

[harrybarracuda]

NASA’s newest exoplanet-hunting spacecraft has started taking scientific data as of last week, according to a NASA release.




TESS, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is a two-year-long mission tasked with surveying the skies for planets around other stars. After launching this past April and delivering an incredible first image of the sky, the real hunt has begun.


Earth-orbiting TESS will use its instruments to measure 200,000 stars within 300 light-years of our Sun. It can peep more and brighter stars than its predecessor, Kepler and K2 (two missions, one spacecraft). It will also be better at imaging exoplanets orbiting in the habitable zones of red dwarf stars like TRAPPIST-1 and nearby Proxima Centauri. Some scientists have speculated that those strange worlds could be home to extraterrestrial life.


The spacecraft’s four 16.9-megapixel CCD cameras each image an area of the sky about the size of an average constellation, according to the NASA release—the schedule is here. TESS will monitor each region for 27 days,then move on to the next, ultimately mapping 85 percent of the sky—that’s 350 times more sky than Kepler observed. The first data will come in August, and then every subsequent 13.5 days (every orbit).

TESS is mainly a survey mission. It will create a catalog of nearby stars whose light dims periodically, signaling the presence of an orbiting planet. These stars will be candidates for follow-up observations by other telescopes, which will be able to determine their masses and other properties, like the compositions of their atmospheres.

The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will begin to study these exoplanets. Life-hunting scientists are more interested in finding potential biosignatures, characteristic light emissions from molecules that could be indicative of life—things like organic compounds and water. We’ll likely have to wait until the 2040s, when a future telescope will have the capabilities to make observations like those.


Finding a habitable exoplanet will be a long process, but it’s a process that’s now in full swing, thanks to TESS.

https://gizmodo.com/nasas-tess-space...way-1827966959

[Takeovers]

SpaceX CRS-15 Dragon has come back to earth from the ISS. Both the Dragon and the Falcon 9 booster have flown for the second time on this mission.

Dragon being released from the ISS



Dragon on the way down



Shortly before touchdown into the sea. I am not sure they have not used a stock photo for this but it would look this way.



Dragon recovered from the sea and on the way to deliver science and tech items to NASA.

[Takeovers]

The NASA Commercial Crew program is slowly moving into its final phase. There was a presentation with the names of the Astronauts for the demo mission and for the first crew rotation flight to the ISS for both Boeing and SpaceX.

Mockups of the SpaceX Dragon 2 spaceship and the Boeing CST-100 Spaceliner. The external sight is only superficial similar but the inside is very much final. They are used for Astronaut training and need to be very lifelike.


SpaceX is planned to launch the unmanned mission in November and the manned demo mission in April next year. Despite delays and the risk they may not be able to fly Astronauts when needed NASA delays SpaceX. Their Dragon is ready to go late this month, or early next month. But NASA gives them a launch slot in November at the convenience of the ISS visiting vehicles schedule. One could think they give Boeing time to catch up. But of course NASA would never do something like this, would they?

Boeing launch is much less clear. They had a mishap in June. Preparations for the pad abort went wrong and presently it is unclear how much this will delay their time table. Pad abort was supposed to happen in April this year but was already delayed before the mishap, spilling toxic propellant over the test stand and the Starliner test vehicle after 4 valves in the Starliner service module failed to close.


The SpaceX Dragon



The Boeing Starliner



Dragon interior



Starliner interior


Boeing looks cluttered and untidy compared to Dragon. Elon Musk is behind it. He wants things not only functional but looking sleek and advanced.


The Dragon capsule as presented on the initial presentation. No paneling back then, just the machined aluminium pressure vessel. But interesting for the technically oriented.
The seats are basically the same design, except the flight version is no longer genuine leather made by Tesla.

[OhOh]

^Chalk and cheese. The Dragon crew adjacent the capsule, the Boeing crew adjacent the camera.

[Takeovers]

The new Boeing and SpaceX space suits.

These suits are not full space suits as used by Astronauts when doing outside work at the ISS. They are to be worn during flight in the capsule and protect in case of pressure loss. They need to be comfortable when not pressurized but mostly to keep the Astronauts alive in case of pressure loss.


The Boeing space suit




The SpaceX space suit




Spacesuits from left to right
Space Shuttle suit, russian Soyuz suit, Boeing suit, SpaceX suit


Comment by Astronauts trying them is that thanks to newer materials and design both Boeing and SpaceX suits are more comfortable and usable than the old ones. They avoided giving comparisons between Boeing and SpaceX.

[Takeovers]

A reminder on this post by David.

https://teakdoor.com/the-teakdoor-lou...ml#post3744315 (Space News thread)

Launch of the Parker Solar Probe is coming up on August 11. A very exciting flagship mission.

Launch vehicle is a Delta IV Heavy. For some extremely high delta-v trajectories like this one it is more powerful than the Falcon Heavy. Even then the probe needs an additional solid kickstage, a Star 48 BV. Getting near the sun is very hard. But it is still not enough. The probe will take 7 Venus flybys to get even closer to the sun.



The Delta IV Heavy getting ready for launch.

Earlier there was a different plan for the solar probe. The probe would have used a slight detour, going to Jupiter first, before descending towards the sun. Using Jupiter for a flyby would have enabled the probe to reach a polar orbit instead of an orbit in the ecliptic of the solar system. That way they could have studied more of the suns magnetic field. A pity they have dropped this mission plan.

A video on the instruments.



Studying the magnetic and electric fields is the main aim of this probe.

[OhOh]

Has the combination of rockets and boosters been tried before, successfully?

[Takeovers]

Has the combination of rockets and boosters been tried before, successfully?

The 3 core Delta IV Heavy has been used occasionally, not very much because it is very expensive but it never failed. They use Atlas V instead, if they can. The solid booster has probably not been used with the Delta, because it is already so powerful. But it is a standard off the shelf boost stage, very reliable. No reason to think it won't work. It is seen more as a part of the payload rather than the rocket.