See, things like the BFR (SpaceX) and the Vulcan (ULA) and the New Glenn (Blue Origin) are where I disconnect from many people.
I mean, in the case of all three of them, I know some development is ongoing, so I'm a bit more excited about them than I am a totally 'paper' rocket.
But mostly, until I see them on the launchpad, I don't buy into too much hype.
(Although I have to say that SpaceX, at least, earned my respect when they under-promised on the Falcon 9 and then uprated it on several occasions to its current functionality. Now it just needs to prove its frequent reusability and I'll be full-on drinking the SpaceX Kool-Aid! )
Whereabouts do things stand with Vulcan and New Glenn anyway? I freely admit I've been wearing SpaceX Blinkers for the last while despite knowing better and am curious as to what the competition (such as it currently is) is up to.
Vulcan's funding is somewhat in doubt. ULA is committing funds a quarter at a time but is dependent on government money they don't have yet.
New Glenn's in a better place, since Blue Origin is doing contract and commercial launches and Bezos is dumping his own money on the project. Way more money has gone into it than Vulcan and both want to launch mid-2020.
I've seen an article last year that if the government isn't pushing back against how much of Vulcan's funding they're providing, they should be, because we're now way past the days when if the government didn't fund rockets they wouldn't get them, even for SLS scale monsters. ULA's looking for R&D earmarks while their competition is climbing over one another to sell launches to fund their rockets.
Its early and I'm not comprehending the last paragraph. Is the argument that the Government should be pushing harder for more of NASA's funding to go towards the Vulcan?
Also, just the idea that companies inside the US are effectively having their own space race sounds wild to me. Probably just because Blue Origin is less publicly visible to me, so I haven't noticed their stuff as much.
Would someone mind throwing up some words on what Blue Origins is up to, and how they are doing?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
No, the opposite. ULA has been trying to secure more funding and haven't gotten it yet. The article speculated that the government was pushing back against funding it like they are, because it's a relic of a dying age where, if the government didn't pay up, these rockets couldn't exist.
But now two companies are rolling out comparable rockets with less government money and not asking for more (except payment for services rendered), the government no longer needs to pay up for development and then pay more for use, unless they want exclusive use, and for that they're already paying for the SLS, to most of the same companies as the Vulcan, in fact, and with about as much to show.
Hevach on
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
I'd almost rather drop funding on US launch vehicles and spend the money and satellites/landers/moon bases. It would free up more capital for new research, and I feel like it would add incentive to privatized rockets, maybe even coax more people into the arena.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Sadly the pressure for the next few years is going to be the other way, dropping funding on research and satellites (or at least anything that has climate science applications) in order to put more money into launch vehicles whose maiden flight dates are getting pushed back at a rate of about one year per year.
It's pretty hard not to just assume USGov spaceflight programs are a wash for the next several years and that the private companies are the only ones who are actually going to be consistently getting things done in terms of launch potential. I'd love to be wrong in that assumption, but I just can't see it until Congress gets hauled through the laundry a few times. As is, I'm not going to really believe SLS will fly until I see it leave the pad, which is a frustrating state of mind to be in.
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BeNarwhalThe Work Left UnfinishedRegistered Userregular
Just a small update to this weekend's SpaceX launch:
The launch has slipped by ~24 hours to "allow for additional time for pre-launch systems checks".
Rocket and payload are reportedly healthy, so one assumes its a technical issue on the Ground Support Equipment or Mission Control side of things.
Anyway, new launch time is now Sunday, February 18th at 6:16am Pacific, 9:16am Eastern, 1416 UTC.
The launch is delivering Paz, and Earth Observation satellite, as well as two prototype satellites for SpaceX's future telecommunications ambitions.
This is a previously-flown Block 3 Falcon 9 core, and as such there will be no attempt to recover or land the vehicle. They may well use it to experiment with unusual "landing" profiles over the ocean, a common theme to recent "expendable" boosters.
Sundays are more amenable to me being up early, so I may well be around to provide coverage of this launch
Coming up on the orbital launch manifest:
- February 24th at 8pm Pacific, 11pm Eastern, 0400 UTC: Japan will be launching an "optical reconnaissance" (spy) satellite onboard an H-2A launch vehicle into Low Earth Orbit.
- February 25th at 9:35pm Pacific (on the 24th), 12:35am Eastern, 0535 UTC: SpaceX will be launching Hispasat 30W-6 to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit onboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
- March 1st at 2:02pm Pacific, 5:02pm Eastern, 2202 UTC: An Atlas V 541 will launch GOES-S, a weather and climate-monitoring satellite, into a Geostationary Orbit for NASA and NOAA. This one is a mission I've been personally looking forward to, as GOES-S will bring significant capabilities to our weather-monitoring community for much of North and South America.
What advances have there been in space related technology? Materials, robotics and such. Rocketry is great, but it's not the whole package of space exploration.
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BeNarwhalThe Work Left UnfinishedRegistered Userregular
What advances have there been in space related technology? Materials, robotics and such. Rocketry is great, but it's not the whole package of space exploration.
Probably the "cutting edge" of what we have re: spacecraft right now is, of course, Juno, currently doing its thing orbiting Jupiter.
The Mars 2020 rover will basically be an upgraded and more capable version of Curiosity, which is set to launch in Summer 2020.
Insight is another Mars lander planned to launch in May, and it is a bit of a technological demonstration, with an ambitious mission plan of up to two years. It's also launching with two CubeSat relay satellites, which are technological demonstrators for miniaturizing and simplifying communications and relay satellites.
Last but not least, the James Webb Space Telescope is a triumph of bleeding edge observational and temperature control technology, and if it launches and deploys successfully next year, will provide a quantum leap in our ability to observe the universe.
Oh, and one of my favourite robots operating in Low Earth Orbit is named Dextre - he likes to crawl around on the outside of the Space Station and grab incoming spacecrafts, help astronauts on spacewalks, and make whatever repairs / upgrades he can do by himself, too! It's very important that he always maintains at least one point of contact with the space station, though, and so far he's been very good about following that rule.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
So, you are saying you can't pat his belly and rub his head?
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
So, you are saying you can't pat his belly and rub his head?
Well I think Dextre has a non-standard number of limbs
And I don't think it has a belly, for that matter
But if it did have one, I suspect it could! :P
BeNarwhal on
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BeNarwhalThe Work Left UnfinishedRegistered Userregular
Orbital Launch Update: SpaceX launching Paz has slipped again to their next available launch window: Wednesday February 21st 6:17am Pacific, 9:17am Eastern, 1417 UTC.
Not 100% yet on what my schedule will be for Wednesday - I'll certainly be up, but occasionally demands are placed on my time! But if I'm free, I will of course provide to-the-minute launch coverage
Asian News International's got an article talking about Indian spaceflight plans for the next while that sounds like they're feeling pretty optimistic, suggesting that the barriers to human spaceflight from ISRO being political rather than technical at this point. We'll see how that goes in coming years, of course, but the more the merrier for sure.
One interesting thing that jumped out is that, on top of looking into reusable and heavy-lift vehicles, they're also interested in smaller rocket designs in order to help take a few bites out of the smallsat market, which they've been doing quite well in already.
(The in-article links are just internal searches/SEO stuff, BTW, so the article's basically all there is on that one.)
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
Another week and the roadster will surpass this Volvo for highest mileage, although the comments mention there are semi's with much more, so I guess we'd have to wait a month or so before there's a clear winner.
Miles which the car is carried by another vehicle and not rolling on it's own wheels don't count. Like, that Volvo has probably been on a few flatbeds in its life, but those miles don't count, it's the flatbed truck racking up miles.
So, really, only the rocket is clocking miles, the car is bolted to a frame on the upper stage.
Miles which the car is carried by another vehicle and not rolling on it's own wheels don't count. Like, that Volvo has probably been on a few flatbeds in its life, but those miles don't count, it's the flatbed truck racking up miles.
So, really, only the rocket is clocking miles, the car is bolted to a frame on the upper stage.
Miles which the car is carried by another vehicle and not rolling on it's own wheels don't count. Like, that Volvo has probably been on a few flatbeds in its life, but those miles don't count, it's the flatbed truck racking up miles.
So, really, only the rocket is clocking miles, the car is bolted to a frame on the upper stage.
Now you know why they angled the cameras so you can't see the final fairing: World Records keeping.
Miles which the car is carried by another vehicle and not rolling on it's own wheels don't count. Like, that Volvo has probably been on a few flatbeds in its life, but those miles don't count, it's the flatbed truck racking up miles.
So, really, only the rocket is clocking miles, the car is bolted to a frame on the upper stage.
By their logic, my car just sitting in my garage racks up 587,000,000 miles a year because the Earth is moving at 67,000 mph through space.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
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BeNarwhalThe Work Left UnfinishedRegistered Userregular
Miles which the car is carried by another vehicle and not rolling on it's own wheels don't count. Like, that Volvo has probably been on a few flatbeds in its life, but those miles don't count, it's the flatbed truck racking up miles.
So, really, only the rocket is clocking miles, the car is bolted to a frame on the upper stage.
By their logic, my car just sitting in my garage racks up 587,000,000 miles a year because the Earth is moving at 67,000 mph through space.
Now let's be clear: I don't think anyone's logic was involved here. :P
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
It's still the farthest car from its place of manufacture.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Do self-driving cars count? I thought Lunakhod 1 and 2 were technically further away because of where they landed on the moon (the Mare Ibrium and Le Monnier), and where they traveled.
No, obviously not. You can't ride in them. But the second one went really far! Not Mars far though...
Synthesis on
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BeNarwhalThe Work Left UnfinishedRegistered Userregular
Do self-driving cars count? I thought Lunakhod 1 and 2 were technically further away because of where they landed on the moon (the Mare Ibrium and Le Monnier), and where they traveled.
No, obviously not. You can't ride in them. But the second one went really far! Not Mars far though...
Since this image was produced, I'm happy to announce that Opportunity did indeed finish running its Martian marathon, and continues to roll over its odometer to this day!
Hopefully some engineers got a bonus or two over that.
Primary mission goal: 90 days.
JPL know what they're doing when they build a robot!
It's pretty par for the course at this point, it feels like NASA stuff doesn't stop working until they decide to deliberately break it in the name of science.
Hopefully some engineers got a bonus or two over that.
Primary mission goal: 90 days.
JPL know what they're doing when they build a robot!
It's pretty par for the course at this point, it feels like NASA stuff doesn't stop working until they decide to deliberately break it in the name of science.
Or they think it turns off, they forget about it, and then find out it's still working.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Hopefully some engineers got a bonus or two over that.
Primary mission goal: 90 days.
JPL know what they're doing when they build a robot!
It's pretty par for the course at this point, it feels like NASA stuff doesn't stop working until they decide to deliberately break it in the name of science.
Or they think it turns off, they forget about it, and then find out it's still working.
Or they decide to see if they can fire it up for a laugh after it's been drifting in space for decades
Hopefully some engineers got a bonus or two over that.
Primary mission goal: 90 days.
JPL know what they're doing when they build a robot!
It's pretty par for the course at this point, it feels like NASA stuff doesn't stop working until they decide to deliberately break it in the name of science.
Cassini had enough fuel to make a fair attempt at getting to Neptune. It would get there in the 2060's and it would probably still work. NASA decided against it because if it still worked it'd be in much the same shape as Voyager today, and they weren't sure they could get close enough to do anything with that. But, still, they toyed optimistically with a half-century stretch goal before deciding, "No, let's send this fucker into fiery oblivion instead."
Hopefully some engineers got a bonus or two over that.
Primary mission goal: 90 days.
JPL know what they're doing when they build a robot!
It's pretty par for the course at this point, it feels like NASA stuff doesn't stop working until they decide to deliberately break it in the name of science.
Cassini had enough fuel to make a fair attempt at getting to Neptune. It would get there in the 2060's and it would probably still work. NASA decided against it because if it still worked it'd be in much the same shape as Voyager today, and they weren't sure they could get close enough to do anything with that. But, still, they toyed optimistically with a half-century stretch goal before deciding, "No, let's send this fucker into fiery oblivion instead."
They weren't just throwing it away, the choice was between "get some Saturn atmospheric sample data now" and "if we are lucky, maybe get some pictures 50 years from now". They actually had to reprogram the whole thing to do real-time data transmission to get that sample data because there wasn't going to be enough time as it fell into the atmosphere to do its normal store-and-forward process.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
Hopefully some engineers got a bonus or two over that.
Primary mission goal: 90 days.
JPL know what they're doing when they build a robot!
It's pretty par for the course at this point, it feels like NASA stuff doesn't stop working until they decide to deliberately break it in the name of science.
Cassini had enough fuel to make a fair attempt at getting to Neptune. It would get there in the 2060's and it would probably still work. NASA decided against it because if it still worked it'd be in much the same shape as Voyager today, and they weren't sure they could get close enough to do anything with that. But, still, they toyed optimistically with a half-century stretch goal before deciding, "No, let's send this fucker into fiery oblivion instead."
They weren't just throwing it away, the choice was between "get some Saturn atmospheric sample data now" and "if we are lucky, maybe get some pictures 50 years from now". They actually had to reprogram the whole thing to do real-time data transmission to get that sample data because there wasn't going to be enough time as it fell into the atmosphere to do its normal store-and-forward process.
I think the point Hevach was trying to make was that it was built well enough that it probably could have made an additional 50 year flight, to another planet, and still gotten some data out of it.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Asteroid mining. Rich little Luxembourg is wanting to invest hundreds of millions into mining asteroids. Obviously, much more bang for the buck if they don't have to spend all that cash on a single launch.
A more powerful and also cheaper rocket, which is to say the Falcon Heavy currently, increases the number of potentially profitable near Earth asteroids from 3% to 45% of those known. Sure, the technology to actually mine the asteroids is not there yet, but it's looking a lot more feasible to try.
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
I feel like we already have the materials technology we need for conducting space mining, the issue is the basic startup cost of the infrastructure (and getting it all physically into space). Once we can establish at least building the heavy iron-based stuff in orbit, that is going to result massive cost-savings as payload mass can be given over to sophisticated components instead of trying to push iron and aluminum up into orbit.
One teeny little factory spitting out usable refined iron would be a total game-changer for humans in space, even if it was just a ton a month at first. It doesn't need to be fast, it just needs to be reliable and long-lasting. Once that happens, no more being reliant on lifting modules into space and no more having to keep modules small to fit on rockets.
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Its early and I'm not comprehending the last paragraph. Is the argument that the Government should be pushing harder for more of NASA's funding to go towards the Vulcan?
Also, just the idea that companies inside the US are effectively having their own space race sounds wild to me. Probably just because Blue Origin is less publicly visible to me, so I haven't noticed their stuff as much.
Would someone mind throwing up some words on what Blue Origins is up to, and how they are doing?
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
But now two companies are rolling out comparable rockets with less government money and not asking for more (except payment for services rendered), the government no longer needs to pay up for development and then pay more for use, unless they want exclusive use, and for that they're already paying for the SLS, to most of the same companies as the Vulcan, in fact, and with about as much to show.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
It's pretty hard not to just assume USGov spaceflight programs are a wash for the next several years and that the private companies are the only ones who are actually going to be consistently getting things done in terms of launch potential. I'd love to be wrong in that assumption, but I just can't see it until Congress gets hauled through the laundry a few times. As is, I'm not going to really believe SLS will fly until I see it leave the pad, which is a frustrating state of mind to be in.
The launch has slipped by ~24 hours to "allow for additional time for pre-launch systems checks".
Rocket and payload are reportedly healthy, so one assumes its a technical issue on the Ground Support Equipment or Mission Control side of things.
Anyway, new launch time is now Sunday, February 18th at 6:16am Pacific, 9:16am Eastern, 1416 UTC.
The launch is delivering Paz, and Earth Observation satellite, as well as two prototype satellites for SpaceX's future telecommunications ambitions.
This is a previously-flown Block 3 Falcon 9 core, and as such there will be no attempt to recover or land the vehicle. They may well use it to experiment with unusual "landing" profiles over the ocean, a common theme to recent "expendable" boosters.
Sundays are more amenable to me being up early, so I may well be around to provide coverage of this launch
Coming up on the orbital launch manifest:
- February 24th at 8pm Pacific, 11pm Eastern, 0400 UTC: Japan will be launching an "optical reconnaissance" (spy) satellite onboard an H-2A launch vehicle into Low Earth Orbit.
- February 25th at 9:35pm Pacific (on the 24th), 12:35am Eastern, 0535 UTC: SpaceX will be launching Hispasat 30W-6 to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit onboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
- March 1st at 2:02pm Pacific, 5:02pm Eastern, 2202 UTC: An Atlas V 541 will launch GOES-S, a weather and climate-monitoring satellite, into a Geostationary Orbit for NASA and NOAA. This one is a mission I've been personally looking forward to, as GOES-S will bring significant capabilities to our weather-monitoring community for much of North and South America.
Probably the "cutting edge" of what we have re: spacecraft right now is, of course, Juno, currently doing its thing orbiting Jupiter.
The Mars 2020 rover will basically be an upgraded and more capable version of Curiosity, which is set to launch in Summer 2020.
Insight is another Mars lander planned to launch in May, and it is a bit of a technological demonstration, with an ambitious mission plan of up to two years. It's also launching with two CubeSat relay satellites, which are technological demonstrators for miniaturizing and simplifying communications and relay satellites.
Last but not least, the James Webb Space Telescope is a triumph of bleeding edge observational and temperature control technology, and if it launches and deploys successfully next year, will provide a quantum leap in our ability to observe the universe.
Oh, and one of my favourite robots operating in Low Earth Orbit is named Dextre - he likes to crawl around on the outside of the Space Station and grab incoming spacecrafts, help astronauts on spacewalks, and make whatever repairs / upgrades he can do by himself, too! It's very important that he always maintains at least one point of contact with the space station, though, and so far he's been very good about following that rule.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Well I think Dextre has a non-standard number of limbs
And I don't think it has a belly, for that matter
But if it did have one, I suspect it could! :P
Not 100% yet on what my schedule will be for Wednesday - I'll certainly be up, but occasionally demands are placed on my time! But if I'm free, I will of course provide to-the-minute launch coverage
One interesting thing that jumped out is that, on top of looking into reusable and heavy-lift vehicles, they're also interested in smaller rocket designs in order to help take a few bites out of the smallsat market, which they've been doing quite well in already.
(The in-article links are just internal searches/SEO stuff, BTW, so the article's basically all there is on that one.)
Incidentally, on this topic, NASA has a new picture of Jupiter from Juno!
It's all swirly
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As long as it's not a swarm, returning to an Oasa emitter.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
http://www.whereisroadster.com/index.html
So, really, only the rocket is clocking miles, the car is bolted to a frame on the upper stage.
Sergeant Killjoy, over here.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
Now you know why they angled the cameras so you can't see the final fairing: World Records keeping.
By their logic, my car just sitting in my garage racks up 587,000,000 miles a year because the Earth is moving at 67,000 mph through space.
Now let's be clear: I don't think anyone's logic was involved here. :P
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Or is it? :winky:
No, obviously not. You can't ride in them.
Since this image was produced, I'm happy to announce that Opportunity did indeed finish running its Martian marathon, and continues to roll over its odometer to this day!
It's 2018.
Hopefully some engineers got a bonus or two over that.
Primary mission goal: 90 days.
JPL know what they're doing when they build a robot!
It's pretty par for the course at this point, it feels like NASA stuff doesn't stop working until they decide to deliberately break it in the name of science.
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Or they think it turns off, they forget about it, and then find out it's still working.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Or they decide to see if they can fire it up for a laugh after it's been drifting in space for decades
Cassini had enough fuel to make a fair attempt at getting to Neptune. It would get there in the 2060's and it would probably still work. NASA decided against it because if it still worked it'd be in much the same shape as Voyager today, and they weren't sure they could get close enough to do anything with that. But, still, they toyed optimistically with a half-century stretch goal before deciding, "No, let's send this fucker into fiery oblivion instead."
Sounds reasonable to me.
They weren't just throwing it away, the choice was between "get some Saturn atmospheric sample data now" and "if we are lucky, maybe get some pictures 50 years from now". They actually had to reprogram the whole thing to do real-time data transmission to get that sample data because there wasn't going to be enough time as it fell into the atmosphere to do its normal store-and-forward process.
I think the point Hevach was trying to make was that it was built well enough that it probably could have made an additional 50 year flight, to another planet, and still gotten some data out of it.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Update: turns out someone already ran some calcs on asteroid mining using the Falcon Heavy.
Matthew Loffhagen wrote the article I linked.
A more powerful and also cheaper rocket, which is to say the Falcon Heavy currently, increases the number of potentially profitable near Earth asteroids from 3% to 45% of those known. Sure, the technology to actually mine the asteroids is not there yet, but it's looking a lot more feasible to try.
One teeny little factory spitting out usable refined iron would be a total game-changer for humans in space, even if it was just a ton a month at first. It doesn't need to be fast, it just needs to be reliable and long-lasting. Once that happens, no more being reliant on lifting modules into space and no more having to keep modules small to fit on rockets.
Are you coming on to me?