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Space Launches, Landings & Destinations v4


SpaceChampion

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On 6/10/2021 at 5:51 AM, rotting sea cow said:

Finally. I wonder if they got inspired by this (amateurish) proposal.

The SFR, the Small Falcon Rocket

http://toughsf.blogspot.com/2017/10/spacex-sfr-small-falcon-rocket.html

Probably not, because it was fairly obvious and many have proposed similar.  That link was before SpaceX switched to stainless steel, so his ideas about the economics of BFR are somewhat wrong.

Anyway, designing two sizes of the same Starship would cost twice as much.

I'm wondering how much SpaceX is actually spending on R&D.  Before the switch to steel, using composites for the body, Musk estimated the development costs would be about $5 billion.  The rapid iteration with steel bodies and pressure vessels makes it materially perhaps 1% of that, plus whatever proportion is for employing the people working on it.  I wouldn't be surprised if the $2.9 billion they are suppose to get for the lunar landing development contract will actually cover all the initial development.

 

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Weekly update:

○ NASA made first PRISM selections for lunar payloads (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-selects-new-science-investigations-for-future-moon-deliveries)
○ Perseverance, Ingenuity, and Zhurong updates from Mars (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01588-6, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01537-3, https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57441757)
○ China's Shenzou-12 launched successfully (https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57504052)
○ Hubble down since Sunday (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/operations-underway-to-restore-payload-computer-on-nasas-hubble-space-telescope/)
○ Great Dimming of Betelgeuse explained (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01633-4)

On 6/17/2021 at 2:25 AM, rotting sea cow said:

Which is your channel? I do follow some.

Nora's Guide to the Galaxy :) 

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I don't think any wooden starships will be in our future, but wood apparently is a good ablative material used a heat shield, if I remember an article i read years ago correctly.  Outer later burns and produced a protective carbon coating.  As a material for making satellites though?

Finnish company is testing wood satellite

 

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7 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

I don't think any wooden starships will be in our future, but wood apparently is a good ablative material used a heat shield, if I remember an article i read years ago correctly.  Outer later burns and produced a protective carbon coating.  As a material for making satellites though?

Finnish company is testing wood satellite

 

Always good to see these types of small experiments.  Due to the massive costs, spaceflight science tends to lack the low probability experimentation that can lead to major breakthroughs.  While I wouldn't give any of these individual experiments my house deed on a bet, collectively, who knows!

As an example, a huge amount of our understanding of genetics stands on the discovery of an enzyme that is produced by a bacteria in the Yellowstone thermal pools (which forms the foundation of the technique known as PCR). 

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Saw a headline saying a comet the size of the death star is heading our way, dropping in from the Oort cloud. I can imagine some people turning that around and just saying that aliens are coming on a death star.

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Some news on the Chinese lunar program. First, it seems they have concrete plans to land there before 2030

Second, news on rockets. They have two rockets in development. For first time they acknowledge their Falcon Heavy look-alike, that's a three core rocket with a LEO capability on 70 tons and 27tons LTO. It's a kerolox based rocket. The name of the rocket is CZ-5DY

https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1407961331991388161/photo/1

The second and more surprising development is the complete change in the design of the CZ-9 rocket, which was strongly influenced by the SLS and probably faced a number of similar issues.  It was hydrolox rocket with solid fuel boosters. Well, now it's a kerolox rocket with 16 engines and no boosters. Capability is  150 tons to LEO, 53 tons to LTO.

https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1407961341441175556/photo/1

there is no mention about reusability for any of these rockets, but plainly their design will allow that at some point. SpaceX influence in those designs decisions is evident.

 

 

 

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I kind of want video of the Zhurong rover photoshopped with the Coma-Doof Warrior from Fury Road on the front of it.  I don't know why I thought of that....  Those red desert colours maybe? 

No offence intended, China, if you're listening!  Landing on Mars is quite the achievement and very cool!  Don't ban me from your country!  Please!

 

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Wally Funk, one of the original Mercury 13 women who were trained as astronauts but never allowed to fly, has been announced as an honoured guess on Jeff Bezos' first passenger flight of his New Shepherd suborbital rocket.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57686654

Still no word on who bought the 4th seat for $28 million by auction.

From what I understand the character Molly Cobb on For All Mankind (great show!) was based partly on Wally Funk and partly on her fellow Mercury 13 colleague Jerrie Cobb.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Richard Branson and five others are scheduled for a suborbital ride today --- streamcast begins in 12 minutes here:

Hosted by Stephen Colbert, and from what I see on social media Elon Musk is there to cheer the crew of VSS Unity 22 on.

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55 minutes ago, Leap said:

Pretty cool stuff. 

Always stunned by the hate that Branson (and more fairly Bezos) get for the private spaceflight stuff. We could always hope for better billionnaires (or none) but if they're gonna spend money, this is an awesome thing to put it into.

Branson was begging for government bailouts for his companies. He has absolutely no right to spend it on vanity projects. It's shameless.

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4 minutes ago, kiko said:

Branson was begging for government bailouts for his companies. He has absolutely no right to spend it on vanity projects. It's shameless.

No, that was Bezos.   Unless you're talking about what the New Mexico government invested into Spaceport America.

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1 hour ago, SpaceChampion said:

No, that was Bezos.   Unless you're talking about what the New Mexico government invested into Spaceport America.

I'm talking about Branson

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55 minutes ago, kiko said:

I'm talking about Branson

The entire aviation industry got bailouts.  Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia getting loans having nothing to do with space tourism.  He doesn't pocket the money and can't transfer it to Virgin Orbit.

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Branson is just a typical late capitalism capitalist. In good time he takes huge dividends out of his companies and makes sure that the taxman does not see a penny of it. In bad times he ensures that the taxpayers pay the losses of his companies, giving them nothing in return.

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The Club for the Future is foundation started by Blue Origin to support STEM and inspire the future.  The $28 million auction of the seat on Blue Origin's inaugural crewed flight on New Shepherd has been in turn endowed $1 million to each of 19 organizations. 

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The 19 organizations include:

  • AstraFemina is a collective of prominent leaders, including astronauts, academic professionals, and industry innovators, who have made a significant difference in the world by choosing diverse careers in STEM fields. Its mission is simple but powerful – to serve as role models to reinforce the message to today’s girls and young women that anything is possible and help bridge the gap between believing and achieving.
  • The AIAA Foundation, which is connected to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), inspires and supports the next generation of aerospace professionals. From classroom to career, the AIAA Foundation enables innovative K-12 and university programming, including STEM classroom grants, scholarships, conferences, and hands-on competitions.
  • The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF) provides merit-based scholarships for college students majoring in STEM programs at more than 44 partner universities. Founded by the Mercury astronauts, ASF selects more than 50 Astronaut Scholars each year. They also provide programs focused on career development skills and virtual family activities to inspire K-12 students to positively change and innovate our future.   
  • The Brooke Owens Fellowship offers paid internships and mentorship for exceptional undergrad women and gender minorities in aerospace. Its spin-off, the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, provides extraordinary Black students with their first work experience in the aerospace industry, personalized mentorship and a cohort of similarly driven and talented young Black people pursuing aerospace careers. 
  • Challenger Center, created by the families of Space Shuttle Challenger STS-51L crew, serves more than 250,000 K-12 students each year with experiential, hands-on education programs. The 40 Challenger Learning Centers deliver in-classroom and virtual simulation-based programs to bring STEM subjects to life. Students role-play real world STEM careers and cultivate teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills.   
  • Higher Orbits delivers an experiential learning lab for secondary school students across the United States. It focuses on the multi-faceted worlds of space exploration, research and spaceflight in order to launch the next generation our world desires. The organization facilitates activities from the novice to advanced level, drawing from the Science Futures by Design curriculum at Higher Orbits, to promote STEAM and prepare students for academic and career success.  
  • International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is the leading space advocacy body, including all leading space agencies, numerous companies, research institutions, universities, societies, associations, institutes and museums worldwide. It’s Emerging Space Leaders Grant Program (ESL), enables students and young professionals to participate in the International Astronautical Congress, the United Nations/IAF Workshop and Space Generations Congress.  
  • The National Space Society (NSS) is dedicated to the creation of a spacefaring civilization that provides a citizen’s voice on space exploration, development, and settlement. Its mission is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond Earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity.    
  • SciArt Exchange uses a science-integrated-with-art approach to help change the world through science and technology education, collaboration and innovation. It supports, prepares and convenes people of all ages, backgrounds and affiliations to discuss, and potentially solve, space, science, and technology challenges by offering multi-disciplinary art contests, events, training, consulting, and community services.  
  • Space Camp, located at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, provides a one-of-a-kind experience for campers of all ages from every state and more than 70 countries. Its curriculum teaches STEM principles, emphasizing leadership, teamwork, fun and creativity. Program instruction is aligned to national science and math standards and framed with an immersive experience amidst a backdrop of humankind’s greatest technological achievements in space hardware. 
  • Space Center Houston is dedicated to inspiring all generations through the wonders of space exploration. It is a leading science and space exploration learning center, the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate and Certified Autism Center. Space Center Houston empowers teachers and students with access to immersive learning experiences where they solve real-world challenges of human space exploration.     
  • The Space For Art Foundation works with children in hospitals and refugee centers around the world on its mission to unite a planetary community of children through the wonder of space exploration and the healing power of art. Through large-scale space-themed art projects, the Foundation aims to highlight the connection between personal and planetary health and raise awareness of our role as crewmates here on Spaceship Earth. 
  • Space For Humanity is building a foundation for an inclusive future in space by organizing the planet’s first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, where leaders from any walk of life can apply for an opportunity to go to space. Through its citizen spaceflight program, leadership training, and collaborative efforts to educate the public, Space for Humanity is setting the stage to create a better world, both here on Earth and throughout the cosmos. 
  • Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC), in support of the United Nations Program on Space Applications, is a global non-governmental organization and network which aims to focus on pragmatic space policy advice to policy makers based on the interests of students and young professionals interested in space from around the world. The SGAC network of members, volunteers and alumni has 16,000 members from more than 165 countries. 
  • Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is an international student-led  organization whose purpose is to promote space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects. SEDS is fostering the development of future leaders and contributors in the expanding space industry through individual chapters, enabling students to be connected and create networks with each other.  
  • Teachers in Space is an organization which stimulates student interest in STEM by providing teachers with extraordinary space science experiences and industry connections. As a facilitator of personal and hands-on professional development workshops for STEM teachers, it sparks a transfer of passion that prepares and encourages students to pursue further education and careers in the emerging space industry. 
  • The Mars Society is an international organization devoted to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars by both public and private means. Its activities include broad public outreach to spread its vision, STEM programs, student engineering design and Mars rover competitions, conferences, publications, and scientific projects including Mars Analog Research Stations to learn how we might best live, work, and explore on the Red Planet. 
  • The Planetary Society has inspired millions of people to explore other worlds and seek other life. Led by CEO Bill Nye and powered by space enthusiasts around the globe, the Society works to advance space science and exploration through education, innovation, advocacy, and global collaboration. Its mission is to empower the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration. 
  • The Space Frontier Foundation is an organization comprised of a diverse, multinational array of space activists, scientists, engineers, media, political professionals, entrepreneurs, and passionate citizens focused on unleashing the power of free enterprise and leading a united humanity permanently into the Solar System. Through conferences, speakers, policy papers, awards and prizes, they are actively advancing the cause of “New Space.”  

I used to be president of the Canadian chapter of the Mars Society, and interacted or participated with many of these groups.  This is surprising and welcome, because I know these grants will be put to good use!

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