SpaceChampion Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 Tim Dodd, Everyday Astronaut tours a new space company caled Stoke Space that is using an aerospike engine for it's upper stage, and landing too, since it's fully reusable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Ser Scot A Ellison 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 SpaceX planning on doing a 33-Raptor engine static fire test for the Superheavy booster today, the last major test before attempting an orbital launch in the next few weeks. There might be some launch pad improvements/repairs they'll have to do before then though, depending on how the static fire goes. Could be at time between 8am and 8pm. Peek at this feed to see if they have an update on ETA. Secretary of Eumenes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 (edited) It just happened. Randomly decided to check the stream and happened to see the static fire. Everything is still standing. 33 Engines, full duration! Update: 1 engine shutdown by the software, and 1 was shutdown by the flight team before ignition, so only 31 engines went the full duration. That's enough to boost Starship to altitude for stage separation, and thus orbit. Edited February 9 by SpaceChampion Secretary of Eumenes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 Best view: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 Nasa wants to probe Uranus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 14 hours ago, Spockydog said: Nasa wants to probe Uranus. Better Uranus than mine. Zorral, Spockydog and Secretary of Eumenes 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 27 Author Share Posted February 27 (edited) Crew 6 expedition to the ISS launching in about 40 minutes.... Scrubbed. Next attempt tomorrow at 1:22 a.m. ET (6:22 UTC). Edited February 27 by SpaceChampion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 1 Author Share Posted March 1 (edited) ULA rumoured to be up for sale, no doubt Bezos is interested. Ultimately that might be the best option since Blue Origin is interested in fully reusable rockets. Can the era of expendable rockets finally be over? I still find it crazy that the U.S. government gives ULA $1 billion as a subsidy just to exist. I hope that is done away with. Edited March 1 by SpaceChampion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 2 Author Share Posted March 2 Crew 6 launch stream: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 Watching the Falcon first stages land… never gets old. Why haven’t we attempted to soft land a powered crew capsule? To much delta v to shed as you come in from orbital velocities? Rhom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 2 Author Share Posted March 2 (edited) 1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said: Watching the Falcon first stages land… never gets old. Why haven’t we attempted to soft land a powered crew capsule? To much delta v to shed as you come in from orbital velocities? That was the original design for the Crew Dragon capsules, but NASA didn't accept it was safe enough without extensive testing. SpaceX decided proceeding to Starship development was a better option and use parachutes since Dragon and F9 would eventually be obsolete. There was also the question of where to put the landing legs. You create a potential failure point if the legs have to stick through the heat shield. SpaceX decided it was more trouble that it was worth the man-hours to figure it out. Edited March 2 by SpaceChampion Ser Scot A Ellison 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 It seems the DART mission attempt to see if deflection of an potential impacting asteroid went even better than we expected: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/nasa-slammed-a-spacecraft-into-an-asteroid-and-it-didn-t-go-quite-as-expected/ar-AA186fs4?fbclid=IwAR0htFtTmco4G3QSLYQCB8a1VnzvHHkCJjZu0kgnxwKp0LridaiV-qP7PH4 Rhom, SpaceChampion and Secretary of Eumenes 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 On 3/3/2023 at 8:57 AM, Ser Scot A Ellison said: It seems the DART mission attempt to see if deflection of an potential impacting asteroid went even better than we expected: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/nasa-slammed-a-spacecraft-into-an-asteroid-and-it-didn-t-go-quite-as-expected/ar-AA186fs4?fbclid=IwAR0htFtTmco4G3QSLYQCB8a1VnzvHHkCJjZu0kgnxwKp0LridaiV-qP7PH4 Quote At around 160 meters (525 feet) across, Dimorphos orbits the 780 meter-wide Didymos roughly once every 11.9 hours. Big deal. Harry Stamper has taken craps bigger than that! Ser Scot A Ellison 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 1 hour ago, Rhom said: Big deal. Harry Stamper has taken craps bigger than that! Harry Stamper measures his crap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 8 Author Share Posted March 8 (edited) In about 35 minutes, Relativity Space is looking to launch the first 3D printed rocket (at least 85% of it), hopefully also becoming the first methane rocket to make it to orbit (beating out SpaceX by perhaps a few weeks). The Terran 1 rocket would carry a payload about 1.25 metric tons, at a cost of $12 million. This demo carries just a dummy payload (a chunk of metal). Official live stream: Everyday Astronaut's stream: Edited March 8 by SpaceChampion Rhom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 The remains of a glacier at equatorial latitudes found on Mars: Secretary of Eumenes and Ser Scot A Ellison 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 Not good news for Virgin Orbit. Secretary of Eumenes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 Relativity Space launched the first methane rocket to space, but anomaly with the 2nd stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted April 3 Author Share Posted April 3 (edited) Starship liftoff could be just days away https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/spacex-moves-starship-to-launch-site-and-liftoff-could-be-just-days-away/ Quote from a comment on the article: Quote SpaceX - Starship Flight #1 - SH/SS from Starbase TX: Primary Day = Thursday, April 6 at ~~~11:30-16:30 UTC (~~~06:30-11:30 CDT) (convert time). The launch period runs from Thursday, April 6, through Wednesday, April 12, at the same time each day. Not sure if this schedule is insider knowledge or not. NASA is reserving a high altitude aircraft to observe the flight April 10-11. But FAA still needs to issue a launch license to SpaceX. In Artemis Program news, expect NASA to announce on Monday the first woman selected for the initial lunar flyby, in lead up to the first woman landing on the Moon in a subsequent mission. https://news.yahoo.com/meet-astronauts-vying-first-woman-143359824.html Edited April 3 by SpaceChampion Secretary of Eumenes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.