Space Launches, Landings & Destinations v4

[SpaceChampion]

https://twitter.com/lorengrush/status/1456296972864851975?s=20

 

 

[SpaceChampion]

Now here's some exciting innovation in the launch market:  SpinLaunch aims to throw small payloads into space without using a rocket first stage.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/spinlaunch-completes-first-test-flight-of-alternative-rocket.html

Quote

“It’s a radically different way to accelerate projectiles and launch vehicles to hypersonic speeds using a ground-based system,” SpinLaunch CEO Jonathan Yaney told CNBC. “This is about building a company and a space launch system that is going to enter into the commercial markets with a very high cadence and launch at the lowest cost in the industry.”

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by SpaceChampion

[SpaceChampion]

Court documents from Blue Origin's lawsuit against NASA regarding the HLS procurement reveal how bad faith it at all was -- much more than obvious at the time. 

Quote

At the time, Blue Origin argued that NASA was giving SpaceX an unfair chance by waiving safety requirements for the Elon Musk-led company’s activities.

The company also argued that SpaceX’s plan required far too many Starship launches to get astronauts to the Moon, including half a dozen fuel runs into orbit.

In a controversial graphic it published back in August, Blue Origin took a swipe at SpaceX, arguing it only needed three — not over ten launches like SpaceX — to return astronauts to the Moon.

The graphic also called out their competitor’s plan as “immensely complex and high risk” thanks to the many launches.

But the newly released filings suggest that Blue Origin was secretly proposing to get astronauts to the Moon using a much larger number of launches as well, meaning that its comms strategy was deeply hypocritical.

In other words, Blue Origin was ready to show up to the table with a backup plan that sounded a lot more like SpaceX’s, including “multiple launches” to fill “a propellant depot” in low-Earth orbit, according to the new fillings.

NASA Admin Bill Nelson also blaming B.O. amongst reasons that Artemis will take longer than 2024 to return human to the moon.

Quote

"Having taken a good look under the hood these past six months, it is clear to me that the agency will need to make serious changes for the long term success of the program," Nelson told reporters.

 

A major factor, he said, is also the delay caused by the lawsuit over the agency's April selection of SpaceX to build the Human landing System to take astronauts to the lunar surface, which was dismissed last week.

"We've lost nearly seven months in litigation, and that likely has pushed the first human landing likely to no earlier than 2025," Nelson said.

Keep in mind it was Trump's idea to move it from 2028 to 2024 in the first place, so ill-considered and NASA humoured him as much as possible.  No one really believe 2024 was possible, but shackling SpaceX certainly added unnecessary obstacles.

Meanwhile, Nelson gets far less than he was hoping out of the Infrastructure bill that was passed.  $1.1 Billion for NASA, as opposed to the $5.4 B he was hoping for.

SpaceX is proceeding apace with its Starship development and expects FAA approval by end of December, completion of the launch site construction soon, and launch of the first Starship / Super Heavy combo on a test flight by February.

So Raptor 2 is yet to come but they're still planning on further engine development that will make manufacturing even simpler and faster with a complete design overhaul.  Musk certainly knows how to keep his people busy!

 

[SpaceChampion]

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by SpaceChampion

[SpaceChampion]

Forgot to post this earlier...  Crew 3 launch from last month:
 

 

and the DART (Double Asteroid Redirect Test) Mission launch from a week ago.

 

[SpaceChampion]

Quite the claim...

DARPA funded researchers accidentally create world's first Warp bubble

Quote

Warp drive pioneer and former NASA warp drive specialist Dr. Harold G “Sonny” White has reported the discovery of an actual, real-world “Warp Bubble.” And, according to White, this first of its kind breakthrough by his Limitless Space Institute (LSI) team sets a new starting point for those trying to manufacture a full-sized, warp-capable spacecraft.

In an interview, White added that “our detailed numerical analysis of our custom Casimir cavities helped us identify a real and manufacturable nano/microstructure that is predicted to generate a negative vacuum energy density such that it would manifest a real nanoscale warp bubble, not an analog, but the real thing.” In other words, a warp bubble structure will manifest under these specific conditions. White cautioned that this does not mean we are near building a fully functioning warp drive, as much more science needs to be done (Updated 08/12/21).

“To be clear, our finding is not a warp bubble analog, it is a real, albeit humble and tiny, warp bubble,” White told The Debrief, “hence the significance.”

 

[SpaceChampion]

 

[Corvinus85]

22 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:

Quite the claim...

DARPA funded researchers accidentally create world's first Warp bubble

 

Don't give me hope. 

[SpaceChampion]

Hey, that's not Steve Carrell...

The General of the Space Force has heard your jokes

Quote

Raymond, who is fifty-nine, with a head shaved bald, pointed to a space-operations badge pinned to his jacket. He noted that the delta symbol at its center had been used by the Air Force—from which the Space Force sprung—years before “Star Trek” ’s 1966 début. Raymond explained that the branch “was not a President Trump thing” but had been under discussion for decades, and came about owing to bipartisan support in Congress.

The service now has close to thirteen thousand members, known as “guardians.” “Everybody said we stole it from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ” Raymond said. “Well, no.” The term derives from the Air Force Space Command motto from 1983, “Guardians of the High Frontier.”

 

[SpaceChampion]

Another Starlink launch:

 

And the CRS-24 cargo launch to ISS, with the 100th successful landing by a Falcon 9 booster, on the 6th anniversary of the 1st landing.

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by SpaceChampion

[Corvinus85]

Launch (L) = 1/2*L + 1/4*L + 1/8*L + 1/16*L +... 

 

[Loge]

2 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Launch (L) = 1/2*L + 1/4*L + 1/8*L + 1/16*L +... 

 

https://xkcd.com/2014/

[Gronzag]

The launch is in less than 20 hours.

[Gronzag]

Livestream. About an hour.

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

The James Webb Space Telescope is on its way to L2.  Now we have an (approximately) 6 month wait for it to arrive and start sending us some really cool data.

[Loge]

The launch has been successful. But that wasn't really the critical part. Let's hope the telescope unfolds and reaches its final destination as planned.

[Loge]

1 minute ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The James Webb Space Telescope is on its way to L2.  Now we have an (approximately) 6 month wait for it to arrive and start sending us some really cool data.

It's not quite on its way yet. It's in an earth orbit.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 minute ago, Loge said:

It's not quite on its way yet. It's in an earth orbit.

It has detached from its booster.  Shouldn’t it be on its way?

[Loge]

No, that will need a boost from its own engine. The last stage brought it up to just below escape velocity. 

[Corvinus85]

Well I missed it, but glad it was successful.