Apparently the Delta 4 heavy launch worked perfectly from vandenburg yesterday. Not sure what it is, but it's rumored to be a KH-11.

I think this is essentially another Hubble space telescope but pointed at the earth/with modernized systems. 15 centimeter resolution is pretty incredible.

Americaspace.com is a nice site I am adding to my list. It does sound like Boeing is ready to launch the starliner but I guess they don't have a slot to visit the ISS until August.

Quote:

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In its update, Boeing noted that it "will evaluate options if an earlier launch opportunity becomes available", but that the late summer timeframe has been dictated by an opening at the space station for docking and undocking operations, as well as the availability of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket and the Eastern Range. The company added that it will be "mission-ready" as soon as May and that all work on the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is complete, with the exception of cargo loading and fueling, which in any case will occur much closer to launch.

Although not unexpectedand understandable given the heavy ISS schedule of spacewalks, uncrewed visiting vehicles and the arrival of Russia's long-awaited Nauka ("Science") research lab in the summerit is another disappointment for Boeing's troubled spacecraft, which first launch atop a ULA Atlas V for its long-awaited OFT-1 mission to the station at 6:36 a.m. EST on 20 December 2019.

Since OFT-1, Boeing's testing of its spacecraft has continued, with additional parachute trials at White Sands during the second half of 2020 under "dynamic abort conditions and a simulated failure". And in January, Boeing reported that it had formally requalified Starliner's flight software load, ahead of OFT-2.

This work involved an intricate series of static and dynamic tests in the Avionics and Software Integration Lab (ASIL) in Houston, Texas, which validated software performance in tandem with the recommended flight hardware across "hundreds of cases, ranging from single-command verifications and comprehensive end-to-end mission scenarios with the core software".

Boeing has reportedly submitted all verification and validation paperwork to NASA and is completing all recommended actions. "Software and Mission Operations teammates in Houston have been hard at work conducting flight software simulations, including end-to-end confidence and integration testing that will serve as a mission dress rehearsal before every future Starliner flight," the company announced Saturday. "Boeing expects to conclude all software testing in April and will support NASA's post-test reviews as needed."

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Interesting question from nasaspaceflight.com forum; what should Nasa do after artemis?

I guess I'd favor an artificial gravity space station next, of course larger than the ISS. If in fact at least LEO launches become much cheaper via starship/others, this would make a lot of sense I'd think.

So are we going to see private enterprise push space exploration more and more like they did in tall ship days with ocean going? Seems like the competition is getting more and more tense. I like it!

nortex97 said:

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Musk confirmed static fire was good to go.

Interview discussing re-use etc. is embedded from above article at nasa space flight;

Elon on the "Holy Grail" of *rapid* reusability, including more comments on the Super Heavy booster catching launch tower (and goal of Starship being caught) allowing for a capability to fly vehicles several times a day. https://t.co/W1cQNy5n0A pic.twitter.com/63z5XiwCry

— Chris B - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) April 22, 2021

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This is incredible to me. Been waiting a long time for stuff like this, I'm just thankful I have lived long enough to finally see it. Musk isn't perfect, but he is the kind of innovator that has the mentality and creates the momentum to make giant leaps forward in technology and processes and causes everyone else in the field to rethink what is achievable and then push harder to keep up. Exciting times.

Once SpaceX starts orbiting Starships, on the first landing attempts I am wondering how they know when/where to deorbit?

The closest real-world analog for how a large lifting body re-enters is probably the Space Shuttle, although it is not exactly the same. Would they aim the first couple of Starships for the middle of the gulf or the Atlantic in order to get a better understanding of how much drag the Starship produces during reentry and experiment with the best glide angles etc before attempting to aim for Boca Chica?

TexAgs91 said:

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Once SpaceX starts orbiting Starships, on the first landing attempts I am wondering how they know when/where to deorbit?

The closest real-world analog for how a large lifting body re-enters is probably the Space Shuttle, although it is not exactly the same. Would they aim the first couple of Starships for the middle of the gulf or the Atlantic in order to get a better understanding of how much drag the Starship produces during reentry and experiment with the best glide angles etc before attempting to aim for Boca Chica?

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Starship reentry is closer to a capsule with better cross range. I'm not sure they won't intentionally let the firstnone crash as you suggested, but the modeling should get them very close, the same way modern capsules have been modeled.

The good news is, if it starts to go long, slamming the brakes on aren't difficult.

AgBQ-00 said:

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So are we going to see private enterprise push space exploration more and more like they did in tall ship days with ocean going? Seems like the competition is getting more and more tense. I like it!

---

Absolutely. Initially it will be space tourism (and for Musk it's more colonization) that drives this I believe, but beyond that our insatiable appetite for precious minerals/metals will probably afford plenty of economic incentive to go out to the asteroid belts etc. (The trip to Psyche is contracted and should start next year, which will be almost as significant as any human landing on the moon, imho, though it won't happen to get there until 2026). Nasa will continue to play a key role, of course.







I'm pretty bullish on silver and platinum as a hedge vs. the stock market crash that the Dems are facilitating, and I think this will just extend over the coming decade to push clever companies to go 'get it' too, in space.

More Bezos/Blue Origin shenanigans, lying in their protest about the HLS award;

I'll gladly eat crow if SLS actually launches

#SLS is here!

The Pegasus barge has arrived with the first core stage for NASA’s #Artemis program. This rocket will launch an uncrewed Orion around the Moon for its first full-system test. https://t.co/a2Xztvtz1r pic.twitter.com/3je49kJDLU

— Stephen Marr (@spacecoast_stve) April 27, 2021

Static fire #2 was.... ummmm... 🤷‍♂️ hope everything’s ok and they can continue for a flight this week! Hope @elonmusk cues us in! https://t.co/QaXUtSVfZT

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) April 28, 2021

Oh, well well well, looks like static fire may have been successful! So now we wait to hear when she’ll fly! Thursday? Friday? Game on 🙌 https://t.co/Xms8UzU5pC

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) April 28, 2021

China might launch the first part of their space station tomorrow; they are planning a very aggressive time table over the next two years to assemble it, given that they haven't even done a manned orbital flight in 5 years.

Quote:

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The Tianhe module will provide regenerative life support and living space for three astronauts as well as propulsion to maintain the orbit of the entire complex.

If launch goes well Tianhe will be visited in May by the Tianzhou-2 spacecraft. Tianzhou-2 will launch via Long March 7 rocket from Wenchang and rendezvous and dock with Tianhe and transfer propellant to the space station module.

The crewed Shenzhou-12 will then send the first astronauts to Tianhe in June. The Shenzhou spacecraft and Long March 2F launcher arrived at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in mid-April.

A Long March 2F rocket and Shenzhou spacecraft will also be on standby at all times at Jiuquan to perform emergency rescue missions to the space station, a senior space official stated in March.
China's most recent crewed mission was the 2016 month-long Shenzhou-11 mission to Tiangong-2 space lab. The latter was deorbited in 2018, avoiding a repeat of the uncontrolled Tiangong-1 reentry scenario.

The Tianhe mission will be the second launch of the expendable, cryogenic Long March 5B. The first was launched in May 2020. The mission carried a prototype new-generation crewed spacecraft as a payload to simulate launch of the Tianhe module.

The launch of the Tianhe core module was delayed by the 2017 launch failure of the second Long March 5. The saw the postponement of the test launch of the Long March 5B variant for low Earth orbit launches while issues with the YF-77 liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen engine for the core stage were isolated and remedied.

China has condensed the space station construction schedule into an intensive two-year period, maintaining an earlier target of completing the Chinese Space Station by the end of 2022.
The CSS will also be joined in orbit by the Xuntian optical module, a co-orbiting, Hubble-class space telescope. The space telescope will have a 2-meter-aperture comparable to Hubble but feature a field of view 300 times greater, allowing 40 percent of the sky to be surveyed across a decade.

---

It's interesting that their station, like ours for years, will basically depend on Soyuz-class/era reboosts/for crew.

Also, SpaceX signed a 100K/month lease for more space at the port of LA to support Vandenburg launches growing quickly (Falcon): I've read rumors that SpaceX might also buy the Sea launch odyssey rig for SH operations (again at a bargain price, surely), curious if that happens as well, though Roscosmos obviously has other ideas (but do they have $500 million to throw at it?).

Quote:

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Amid a major hiring push and calls for monthly launches, SpaceX has taken its latest step towards launching Starlink satellites from the West Coast with a lease for rocket recovery ship dock space at the Port of Long Beach.

News of the port lease broke on April 26th with a tweet from the mayor of Long Beach, California after the Port of Long Beach (POLB) Commission voted to approve SpaceX's 24-month sublease with an effective start date of May 1st, 2021. From 2014 to 2020, a massive floating rocket launch complex and associated service ships once used by SeaLaunch called POLB's Pier 16 home while mothballed and the company left behind a decent amount of infrastructure when it vacated the facility last year.

That includes a ~5600 square meter (~65,000 sq ft) warehouse and office space formerly used to process SeaLaunch payloads and Ukrainian Zenit rockets, as well as a pier and dock space generally optimized for loading and unloading large rockets from rocket transport ships. In other words, Pier 16 is a perfect fit for SpaceX's needs.
...
Over half a decade of operations, SpaceX recovered Falcon boosters with drone ship JRTI just seven times (of eight attempts) on the West Coast, making it clear why the company simply chose to make do with close quarters and a barebones dockside setup. Now, however, SpaceX appears to be preparing its Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) launch site and associated Port of LA recovery assets for a far more ambitious period of Falcon 9 launch activity.

Other observations support that conclusion. Over the last six or so months, SpaceX has been aggressively hiring to fully outfit its VAFB SLC-4 launch pad after supporting just two West Coast launches in the last ~28 months. Most notably, hiring 'flyers' distributed on social media by SpaceX employees touted a target of monthly launches from the company's West Coast pad an unprecedented cadence over the decade SpaceX has leased it.

First reported by Spaceflight Now, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell recently revealed that the company intends to begin dedicated polar Starlink launches from Vandenberg as early as this summer July 2021 if taken literally. Other "industry officials" reportedly corroborated those plans.

With its hiring campaign finally starting to slow down and a new Port of Long Beach lease set to open on May 1st, the only real 'missing link' for SpaceX's plans to restart regular West Coast Falcon 9 launches is the fleet of ships the company will need to recover Falcon boosters and payload fairings. To maximize efficiency, dedicated polar Starlink launches will require Falcon 9 boosters to land far downrange and will be even more challenging than the rocket's now-routine missions to low Earth orbit (LEO), which require almost every ounce of performance the rocket can give.

SpaceX transported its second drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) across the Panama Canal from Port of LA to Port Canaveral, Florida in 2019, where it still operates today. To achieve SpaceX's planned cadence of up to 48 launches in 2021, the company will almost certainly need both drone ships on the East Coast. A third drone ship named A Shortfall Of Gravitas (ASOG) has been in the works for years, though SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has long described the vessel as an addition to the company's Florida fleet that would enable Falcon Heavy to land all three first-stage boosters at sea for maximum payload capacity.

---

They've already test flown a new vehicle, they're just not talking about the details. If it flies it will be an orion-esque vehicle designed for LEO and their lunar program.

Gotta remember, silence doesn't imply the same thing out of the Chinese....they only tell us what they want us to know. They've been silent and not launching because they basically skipped a generation of LV and spacecraft, if they can get these working.

Wild that they had all but abandoned Vandenberg, and now they're going to ramp back up with it. I understand why, just crazy to think about

Oh hey, there I am! Never thought I’d be the subject of another photographer on Mars. Great capture by the #MarsHelicopter team.

📷: https://t.co/HS53o5kU3y https://t.co/5HUdagWxw4

— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) April 28, 2021

I ran across a couple of good videos of the SN10 launch.

One from Mexico! 5 km away!

An unusual perspective of SN10’s landing. pic.twitter.com/6DDG6dCklC

— Coop (@Cooper_Hime) March 5, 2021

Y voló... planeó... y aterrizó... tiempo después explotó. https://t.co/KVZFPQx9hz

— Memo Guerrero (@Doctormemo) March 4, 2021

Why would you send two cameras all the way to mars just to have both film within 300' of each other?

I figured there would be more to see on you know, the rest of the planet??

Cool 8 second video from Nasa's astronomy pic of the day site, another one I'd highly recommend folks check out.



https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210424.html

Quote:

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Explanation: What's happening in the sky? The pre-dawn sky first seemed relatively serene yesterday morning over Indian Harbor Beach in Florida, USA. But then it lit up with a rocket launch. Just to the north, NASA's SpaceX Crew-2 Mission blasted into space aboard a powerful Falcon 9 rocket. The featured time-lapse video -- compressing 12-minutes into 8-seconds -- shows the bright launch plume starting on the far left. The rocket rises into an increasingly thin atmosphere, causing its plume to spread out just as it is lit by the rising Sun. As the Crew-2 capsule disappears over the horizon, the landing plume of the returning first stage of the Falcon 9 descending toward the SpaceX barge in the Atlantic Ocean can be seen.

---

The helicopter is a pathfinder. From a control and testing point, they're keeping it close to the rover so if it crashes they can go investigate, and so they can quickly relay data.

I'm not sure this particular heli has the broadcast equipment to get out of LOS with the rover... it was more.meant as proof of concept than anything else.

Okay, that makes much more sense.

Love the idea of sending aircraft to these planets to really document what's out there.

Full res photo from Mars Drone:

Hard to believe they can fly anything in that atmosphere. The physics are so far from earth's that I wonder if manned air flight on Mars will ever be realistic.

A helicopter for a human would make no sense there. Blimps or balloons might make a lot of sense though for remote exploration purposes. Also on Titan and Venus. Arguably that should have been done this time too, but I think both the risk and 'sex appeal' wasn't there.

https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/373665main_NASA-SP-2009-566.pdf

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Balloons-in-Space-They-may-one-day-hover-over-2933475.php

Balloons and airships are big/bulky, and make newr groud survey work difficult, aside from the communication issues.

In a macro sense they're great, for low level observation they're really not superior.

Ag_of_08 said:

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Balloons and airships are big/bulky, and make newr groud survey work difficult, aside from the communication issues.

In a macro sense they're great, for low level observation they're really not superior.

---

The thinner the atmosphere, the bigger the balloon needed. Air weighs 0.0807 pounds per cubic foot, Martian atmosphere weighs 0.0012 pounds per cubic foot.

So for each pound you want to lift, you have to displace about 12 cubic feet on earth, but 833 cubic feet on Mars.

The former is a "box" 2 feet by 2 feet by 3 feet.

The latter is a "box" 10 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet

EDIT: forgot gravity, factor all the Mars displacements by .376 So instead of 833 cubic feet, it would be about 313 cubic feet to lift what would weigh a pound on earth

Decay said:

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Hard to believe they can fly anything in that atmosphere. The physics are so far from earth's that I wonder if manned air flight on Mars will ever be realistic.

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<Dons tinfoil hat>
What if helicopters have no problem flying in 1% atmosphere, and Big Aeroplane and Government are conspiring to hamstring helicopter performance here in 1 atmosphere?
<Doffs tinfoil hat>

RIP Michael Collins

TXAG 05 said:

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RIP Michael Collins

---

For those who like context:

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/statements-on-passing-of-michael-collins

Quote:

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"Today the nation lost a true pioneer and lifelong advocate for exploration in astronaut Michael Collins. As pilot of the Apollo 11 command module some called him 'the loneliest man in history' while his colleagues walked on the Moon for the first time, he helped our nation achieve a defining milestone. He also distinguished himself in the Gemini Program and as an Air Force pilot.

"Michael remained a tireless promoter of space. 'Exploration is not a choice, really, it's an imperative,' he said. Intensely thoughtful about his experience in orbit, he added, 'What would be worth recording is what kind of civilization we Earthlings created and whether or not we ventured out into other parts of the galaxy.'

"His own signature accomplishments, his writings about his experiences, and his leadership of the National Air and Space Museum helped gain wide exposure for the work of all the men and women who have helped our nation push itself to greatness in aviation and space. There is no doubt he inspired a new generation of scientists, engineers, test pilots, and astronauts.

"NASA mourns the loss of this accomplished pilot and astronaut, a friend of all who seek to push the envelope of human potential. Whether his work was behind the scenes or on full view, his legacy will always be as one of the leaders who took America's first steps into the cosmos. And his spirit will go with us as we venture toward farther horizons."

---

Ok, not an aerospace engineer, and not real passionate about this detail, but I am going to say roughly that it is doable based on the work of others.

20:00 minute mark or so here; (yeah yeah, angry astronaut, so take with a grain of salt....)




https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2017_Phase_I_Phase_II/Evacuated_Airship_for_Mars_Missions/

https://www.spaceanswers.com/futuretech/future-tech-can-black-holes-be-used-to-power-interstellar-spacecraft/

https://curious-droid.com/302/zeppelins-mars-havoc-venus-nasas-new-planetary-airships/

We need cloud cities on top of Venus, dammit.



https://www.space.com/29140-venus-airship-cloud-cities-incredible-technology.html

Quote:

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Ok, not an aerospace engineer, and not real passionate about this detail, but I am going to say roughly that it is doable based on the work of others.

---

Not saying it's impossible. Just pointing out that it's going to require a heck of an envelope to carry significant weight.

I get the concept that an airship with a vacuum in the envelope is going to lift more than one with helium or hydrogen in the envelope. But with a vacuum, you have to have extra structure to keep the envelope from collapsing.

Easier done on Mars, where "sea level" pressure is 6-7 millibars, opposed to 1013 millibars on earth.

But the envelope has to be pretty big, just to offset its own weight. And, of course, the bigger you make it, the heavier it is.

My earlier rough guess was based on a vacuum in the envelope, so at 833 cubic feet, you would need an envelope of 166,600 cubic feet, just to carry one 200 pound man. That's obviously ignoring the weight of the envelope itself, and any propulsion.

The latest Goodyear Blimp (Zeppelin, actually) has an envelope of 297,527 cubic feet, weighs 19,780 pound empty, carries 14 people plus the gondola, engines, etc. Estimate another 5,000 pounds or so of people and fuel, so around 25,000 pounds of lift capacity.

That same 297,527 cubic foot envelope on Mars could lift a total of 357 pounds.

I would be impressed if you could build a rigid structure of 300,000 cubic feet to hold a vacuum and get the structure itself to weigh less than 350 pounds.

Edit: Forgot gravity. Factoring by 0.376, a vacuum envelope the size of the Goodyear Blimp's could lift what would be 950 pounds on earth

Deleted a previous tweet indicating SN15 can't launch until SN11's probe is done. That's wrong. The FAA can approve SN15 for flight as long as the safety review portion of the SN11 probe is complete and didn't turn up any concerns.

— Joey Roulette (@joroulette) April 28, 2021

Just the helium for that, if my less than stellar mathematical abilities are right, would weigh between half again and double what the whole curiosity rover weighed. We do not even have a vehicle capable of launching that much weight to Mars right now with a lander.


On the other hand, the little drone weighs 4 pounds.

All weight and complexity issues aside, big balloons are not going to be practical for the mid range recon distances humans will need in the first Mars missions, and with the push for Mars becoming more...realistic, thats a serious consideration in technology demonstration. A 4#drone that can take off and be told to fly a short recon mission in front of a rover , possibly with several battery packs for multiple flights a day.... we're already doing the same thing here on earth.

nortex97 said:

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Ok, not an aerospace engineer, and not real passionate about this detail, but I am going to say roughly that it is doable based on the work of others.

20:00 minute mark or so here; (yeah yeah, angry astronaut, so take with a grain of salt....)




https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2017_Phase_I_Phase_II/Evacuated_Airship_for_Mars_Missions/

https://www.spaceanswers.com/futuretech/future-tech-can-black-holes-be-used-to-power-interstellar-spacecraft/

https://curious-droid.com/302/zeppelins-mars-havoc-venus-nasas-new-planetary-airships/

We need cloud cities on top of Venus, dammit.



https://www.space.com/29140-venus-airship-cloud-cities-incredible-technology.html

---

I know a guy to run things up there.

Maybe I was not clear, sorry, I don't think humans need to be actually 'in the sky/airborne' on Mars, period, I just think aerial exploration should involve airships/lighter than air stuff, not helicopters, there.

The helicopter RPM's, and duration of possible flights (carrying their batteries/capacitors, in addition to payloads) are just absurd, imho, beyond this 'proof of concept' phase.

It's not a matter of 'which should carry a human?' but rather 'which makes sense for remote exploration/research, there?'

El Hombre Mas Guapo said:

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Why would you send two cameras all the way to mars just to have both film within 300' of each other?

I figured there would be more to see on you know, the rest of the planet??

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So you are telling us that the only reason those two cameras were sent to mars is to take pictures of each other.

Is that really what you are telling us?

Quote:

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Maybe I was not clear, sorry, I don't think humans need to be actually 'in the sky/airborne' on Mars, period,

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Sorry, I was using the weight of a person as more of a marker for the limitations, and showing how huge an envelope would have to be to lift even a small amount.

I think the helicopter is about 2 kilos, so 4.4 pounds, requiring a 3600+ envelope, or (if I'm correct) a 20 foot diameter "balloon"

Edit: Darn gravity. Instead of 3600 cu ft, it would need about 1350 cu ft, or a 13 foot diameter balloon