Space News thread

[Takeovers]

Any near end of term women booked a cot?

Not quite. They went for the other end of the spectrum.

[Topper]

Thanks for this thread, TO....its one I do check every day.

[Saint Willy]

Ditto. I don’t have much to add, but I enjoy reading it.

[Takeovers]

Thanks for this thread, TO....its one I do check every day.

Ditto. I don’t have much to add, but I enjoy reading it.

Thanks.

[Takeovers]

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1432270085415124995

SpaceX will try to catch largest ever flying object with robot chopsticks.


Success is not guaranteed, but excitement is!

The black pipe structure is one of the chopsticks.

This clip is part of the tweet, not invented by me.

[Takeovers]

A short video showing the latest Falcon9 flight booster landing. The flight was CRS-23, a cargo supply mission to the ISS. The drone ship where it landed is the new third upgraded landing platform, named "A Shortfall of Gravitas".



ASOG looks a lot more streamlined and efficient than the first two drone ships, "Just read the instructions" and "Of course I still love you".

[OhOh]

^

"That is the 90th successful landing of an orbital class rocket and the very first for our newest drone ship, 'A Shortfall of Gravitas,'" Andy Tran of SpaceX said during a webcast of this morning's launch.

"What a great way to start today's mission."

Indeed.

The rocket system - check.

Does the drone ship have any humans aboard?

[Takeovers]

Does the drone ship have any humans aboard?

That's a simple question with a complicated answer.

Elon Musk calls them ASDS "Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship". But they are not ships, they are barges. They are without a crew. They get moved by tug boats. Barges are not able or not allowed to move by themselves. While waiting for a landing they are autonomous, too dangerous to have crew on board. They are especially designed with the capability to keep station very precisely. The landing boosters do not aim for the drone ship. They aim for a geographic location, using precision GPS. The drone ships maintain that position, also using GPS.

Once landed the early missions then had crew enter and safe the booster, which is somewhat dangerous, especially in bad weather with high waves. For that reason they developed a device called octograbber. A device that moves under the landed booster, attaches to it and safes it for the return trip. This is done with remote control by a tug boat crew. Then the tug boat approaches and tugs the drone ship to port.

The new drone ship ASOG has the capability to move by itself. But so far regulations don't allow it. They still use a tug boat. Maybe that will change in the future.

I have posted this video before. Still worth watching. To see what happens when the booster can not be safed due to sea state, skip to 1:20. They got this one, but they lost one, that went over board because it could not be safed.




BTW, they intentionally crashed all those boosters on the drone ships, even when they knew they would not succeed. Purpose was to demonstrate to the Airforce range commander that they are very precise. With the aim to get permission for land landing, which indeed they got, before they successfully landed on the drone ship. Their first land landing attempt was successful, their first success.

[OhOh]

Again.

[Edmond]

James Webb Space Telescope folded up and getting ready for launch in November.


Among many of the amazing feats it will achieve, one is to view the biochemistry of exoplanet's atmospheres for telltale bio traces of life.


Though, with no possible way of popping round to say hi and see what they're up to (are they just microbes, or semi-intelligent beings spending their days annoying people on their version of the internet), would be a bit of a dick tease.

[Takeovers]

Not a good week for small launch vehicle start up companies.

Firefly Alpha



Astra Skip to 100 for the launch. There is a lot of pre launch coverage. I have to give them this: Their control software is first class, unbelievable they were able to stabilize the rocket and get off at all. A must see.



Both are early tests. SpaceX Falcon 1 failed 3 times. Their fourth launch worked. If it had not worked they would have been out of money for another test and SpaceX would not exist now.

To add on to this, FAA revoked the launch license for the Virgin Galactic suborbital space plane after their flight with Richard Branson on board was not able to stay within the approved launch corridor. Virgin Galactic will have to do a lot of explaining and possibly hardware improvements before they can fly again.

Edit: Major oops. the Virgin galactic plane is suborbital, not orbital. Does not even reach 100km altitude.

[Saint Willy]

To add on to this, FAA revoked the launch license for the Virgin Galactic orbital space plane after their flight with Richard Branson on board was not able to stay within the approved launch corridor. Virgin Galactic will have to do a lot of explaining and possibly hardware improvements before they can fly again.

oops! I didn’t know that…

[OhOh]

^^
There does appear to be a great deal of venting whilst on the launch pad.

Presuming it is fuel, how much can they vent, prior to not having enough left for the mission?

[Takeovers]

^^
There does appear to be a great deal of venting whilst on the launch pad.

Presuming it is fuel, how much can they vent, prior to not having enough left for the mission?

It looks like a lot but it really isn't. It takes very little boil off of cryogenic propellant or LOX. The venting gas is very cold and what you see is condensing water from the humid air.

[Takeovers]

oops! I didn’t know that…

FAA grounds SpaceShipTwo after problem on July flight - SpaceNews

LOMPOC, Calif. — The Federal Aviation Administration will not allow Virgin Galactic to resume flights of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane until it completes an investigation into a problem on the vehicle’s previous flight in July.


In a Sept. 2 statement, the FAA said it is overseeing a Virgin Galactic mishap investigation into the July 11 flight of SpaceShipTwo, called “Unity 22” by the company, which appeared to go as planned but in fact suffered a problem that caused it to stray from its restricted airspace.


“Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” the agency stated.


The statement came a day after the publication of an article by The New Yorker that revealed that the two SpaceShipTwo pilots ignored an “entry glide cone warning” during the July 11 flight from Spaceport America in New Mexico. The flight took them and four others on board, including Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, to the edge of space and back with no indication at the time of any problems.


That warning indicated that the vehicle was outside the volume of space known as the glide cone where it had enough energy to glide back to a runway landing at the spaceport. The warning appeared late in the powered portion of the flight, indicating that the vehicle was not climbing steeply enough.


Company sources cited in the article said that, in the event of such a warning, SpaceShipTwo’s hybrid rocket motor should have been shut down, aborting the flight. Instead, the pilots, David Mackay and Mike Masucci, let the motor fire for the full duration. An abort could have prevented SpaceShipTwo from reaching the 80-kilometer altitude that the company defines as space, thwarting Branson’s bid to get to space before Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos did so on his company’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle July 20.


During SpaceShipTwo’s glide back to the runway at Spaceport America, it flew for a time outside of its designated airspace, according to flight tracking data. The vehicle landed safely.


In a Sept. 1 statement, Virgin Galactic said it disputed “the misleading characterizations and conclusions” of the article. However, it did acknowledge that SpaceShipTwo “did drop below the altitude of the airspace that is protected for Virgin Galactic missions for a short distance and time,” which it estimated at 101 seconds.


Virgin Galactic blamed high winds at upper altitudes for the deviation in trajectory that triggered the warning. “Our pilots responded appropriately to these changing flight conditions exactly as they were trained and in strict accordance with our established procedures,” the company said. “Although the flight’s ultimate trajectory deviated from our initial plan, it was a controlled and intentional flight path that allowed Unity 22 to successfully reach space and land safely at our Spaceport in New Mexico.”


The former director of Virgin Galactic’s test flight program criticized the company. “The most misleading statement today was @virgingalactic’s,” tweeted Mark “Forger” Stucky. “The facts are the pilots failed to trim to achieve the proper pitch rate, the winds were well within limits, they did nothing of substance to address the trajectory error, & entered Class A airspace without authorization.”


Stucky, who piloted SpaceShipTwo on its first suborbital spaceflight in December 2018 and had been an internal critic of some flight test practices at the company, was let go by Virgin Galactic a week after the July 11 flight.


Hours before the FAA statement, Virgin Galactic announced plans for its next SpaceShipTwo flight. The Unity 23 flight will be a dedicated flight for the Italian Air Force carrying three Italian researchers and one Virgin Galactic employee in the cabin. The flight will be piloted by Masucci and CJ Sturckow. Unity 23 is the last before the company goes into a maintenance period for both the spaceplane and its WhiteKnightTwo aircraft scheduled to run to the middle of 2022.


“Being selected by the Italian Air Force to support their microgravity research is a testament to the unique scientific capabilities of our spaceflight system,” Michael Colglazier, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, said in a Sept. 2 company statement. “This flight will be remembered as an important milestone in unlocking the transformative potential of repeatable and reliable access to space for years to come.”


The Virgin Galactic announcement made no mention of the mishap investigation, but stated it expected to perform the Unity 23 mission in late September or early October. The FAA did not disclose when it expected to give its approval for the company to resume flights.

[OhOh]

James Webb Space Telescope

What it will look like once deployed:

A long way from Earth as well:

As I see some "Startrackers" are already on board, may I suggest this as the launch tune?

[harrybarracuda]

Company sources cited in the article said that, in the event of such a warning, SpaceShipTwo’s hybrid rocket motor should have been shut down, aborting the flight. Instead, the pilots, David Mackay and Mike Masucci, let the motor fire for the full duration. An abort could have prevented SpaceShipTwo from reaching the 80-kilometer altitude that the company defines as space, thwarting Branson’s bid to get to space before Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos did so on his company’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle July 20.

So "Pilot error" then.

[Takeovers]

Musk gave Sergei Korolyov's grandson a tour of the SpaceX factory. "We are incredibly grateful for the invitation,hospitality," said Andrey Korolev,"and an unforgettable almost hour-long personal meeting.Continue to move the world forward,Mr. Musk!"

Remember Sergei Koloyov? Soviet rocket genius on par with Wernher von Braun, working for NASA. Elon Musk is a great admirer of him.

[OhOh]

Another decisive move on Musk's chessboard lands successfully.

Inside or outside the box, the Musk phenomenon moves through the sparse prairies to Eldorado.

[harrybarracuda]

The Russians can't seem to do anything right at the moment.

Fire alarms have sounded on the International Space Station, with the crew reporting that they could see smoke and smell burning.

The problems began early on Thursday and appears to have been overcome for now, with the team returning to rest.

It is just the latest problem for the floating laboratory, which is widely considered to be nearing the end of its lifespan. Officials have said that cracks have been found in the body of the space station, and it is suffering an increasing number of issues.

Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said the incident took place in the Russian-built Zvezda module and occurred as the station’s batteries were being recharged.

According to Roscosmos, the crew activated air filters and returned back to their “night rest” once the air quality was back to normal.

The crew will proceed with a space walk scheduled for Thursday as planned, the agency noted.

The space station is currently operated by NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov of Russia’s Roscosmos; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.

Novitsky and Dubrov are scheduled to carry out a six-hour-long space walk on Thursday to continue integrating the Russian-built Nauka science lab that docked with the space station in July.

Shortly after docking, the lab briefly knocked the orbital outpost out of position by accidentally firing its engines — an incident Russian space officials blamed on a software failure.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/fire-alarms-sound-on-international-space-station-as-crew-reports-smoke-and-smell-of-burning/ar-AAOfx8Y

[Saint Willy]

Jeepers, time to deorbit it perhaps?

[harrybarracuda]

Jeepers, time to deorbit it perhaps?

They have just the place.

Spacecraft cemetery - Wikipedia

[Takeovers]

Jeepers, time to deorbit it perhaps?

Time to deorbit the Russian section, or rather decouple Russian and US section and let the Russians handle things as they please. I have mentioned before, that the Russian space agency is in a death spiral and the day will come when it comes crashing down. Roskosmos has been profiting by flying US astronauts to the ISS for a hefty profit and selling their excellent RD-180 engines to ULA. But both income sources are coming to an end. They are still selling the RD-181 engine for the Antares rocket that flies the Cygnus supply ships to the ISS.

A little problem there is that the Russian section is the part that has the propulsion for orbit raising and debris avoidance maneuvers. NASA would have to come up with a means to do that on their own. Not too hard but it takes the will to do it and to provide some funding. Easier to just close their eyes and pretend everything is fine. Cygnus could be quite easily modified for ISS propulsion. To be completely independent of Russia and Russian engines SpaceX Falcon 9 could replace the expensive Antares rocket.

[Takeovers]

BTW, how does Northrup Grumman build a rocket that complies with the majority US made requirement for NASA projects?

Buy the engine from Russia, buy the stage from Ukraine, connect the two, add 100% to the cost as price. Voila, you have a majority US rocket.

Of course there is the second stage, which is indeed US made. Also the Cygnus spacecraft. Body made in Italy by the same company that built the pressure vessels of I think all NASA ISS modules.

[misskit]

Mars rover's first rock samples reveal lengthy water exposure


The Mars rover Perseverance drilled the first two successful samples from a Mars rock NASA calls Rochette on Monday and Wednesday. Photo courtesy of NASA


ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The first two rock samples examined by NASA's Mars rover Perseverance give scientists a firm belief that water inundated Jezero Crater for a sustained period of time, the agency announced Friday.


"We determined salt granules in the rock indicate it was exposed to water," Julia Goreva, a NASA scientist for the rover program, said in a news conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.


The rocks, drilled Monday and Wednesday, came from an igneous or volcanic rock. The agency previously knew that water once filled the crater, but not for how long.


The salt deposits mean NASA can now rule out a sudden "flash in the pan" water event, the agency said in a news release.

"It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment," said Ken Farley, project scientist for the mission, said in the release. "It's a big deal that the water was there a long time."

The rover sampled a rock NASA dubbed Rochette on a ridge named Artuby. The two samples are named Montdenier and Montagnac after a French mountain and region, respectively.


Scientists chose the Rochette drilling site after a previous attempt to drill a sample failed because the brittle rock target crumbled.

The samples now are stored and sealed inside the rover as part of a multinational effort to bring Mars rocks back to Earth by 2031, said Kate Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist.


The samples may be dropped on the Martian surface for a future rover to retrieve and launch into space, where another spacecraft would catch them and return them to Earth. Ultimately, the goal is to use advanced equipment on Earth to analyze the rocks for signs of ancient life on Mars.


"We plan to continue exploring Jezero Crater ... for about two Earth years," Stack Morgan said in the news conference. "We will make decisions then on which samples we'd like to put down in that first cache."


The samples, about the thickness of a pencil, were 2.4 inches long and 2.6 inches long, which are nearly ideal, said Jessica Samuels, the Perseverance surface mission manager, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


"Reflecting on this moment, it has been the culmination of so many years of so many people's hard work and time and effort," Samuels said.


"While it definitely was a very long time waiting, I think all of us can say that it feels fantastic to ... be up here and share this with you."

Mars rover’s first rock samples reveal lengthy water exposure - UPI.com