Space Stuff and Launch Info

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Launched, finally

 

[Stavros Kiri]

Launched, finally

Looks like the winds came here now ...

 

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ISS program has been extended until 2030. As usual funding might change from year to year and nothing is final, but it looks like the ISS won't be given up soon.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

ISS program has been extended until 2030. As usual funding might change from year to year and nothing is final, but it looks like the ISS won't be given up soon.

Oouff! (relief) ... I'm an ISS fan

 

[Stavros Kiri]

How to Watch New Horizons' Ultima Thule Flyby on New Year's Day: A Webcast Guide

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https://www.space.com/

 

[Stavros Kiri]

Record Breaker! NASA Probe Slips into Orbit Around Asteroid Bennu

 

[Stavros Kiri]

China just landed on Moon's far side, first time for humanity ...
China Makes 1st-Ever Landing on Moon's Mysterious Far Side

 

[Stavros Kiri]

And ... as if that wasn't enough, there are now animals and plants on the moon!: China just put them there! ...
"There Are Plants and Animals on the Moon Now (Because of China)"

 

[nsaspook]

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/space/go-for-launch/os-bz-spacex-mass-layoff-20190111-story.html

Private space leader SpaceX plans to lay off about 10 percent of its more than 6,000 employees across the nation, the company said Friday.

The Hawthorne, Calif.-based company, which has a prominent presence on Central Florida’s Space Coast, said in a statement that the move would help the company reach its goals.

“To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company. Either of these developments, even when attempted separately, have bankrupted other organizations,” SpaceX said in a statement. “This means we must part ways with some talented and hardworking members of our team. We are grateful for everything they have accomplished and their commitment to SpaceX’s mission.”

“This action is taken only due to the extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead and would not otherwise be necessary.”

 

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The interesting question is "who". People building Falcon 9 boosters? That would mean reuse works nicely and saves money. Engineers working on future projects? That would be bad. Engineers working on Falcon 9/Dragon 2 development? Both are essentially done, if SpaceX doesn't need them for Starship or the satellite constellation this can happen.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

China's Moon Plants are dead

 

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Not surprising if you don't heat them.

Japan did https://digitalindiapreview.com/first-artificial-meteor-shower/. They launched a satellite designed to produce sets of artificial shooting stars. The first set is planned for Hiroshima early 2020 but they can produce many more.

The first flight of Dragon 2 is now planned for February 9, although the US government shutdown will add more delay if it goes on too long. The static fire tests could be as early as January 23.
Edit: Static fire done, but the launch is now not before February 23, assuming no more US government shutdown.

Probably mid February SpaceX will launch Beresheet (aka Sparrow), an Israeli Moon lander, as a secondary payload. It should land there in April to May. If successful it makes Israel the fourth country to land softly on the Moon, and it will be the first private lander.
Edit: Launch date is now February 19.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

And ... as if that wasn't enough, there are now animals and plants on the moon!: China just put them there! ...
"There Are Plants and Animals on the Moon Now (Because of China)"

China's Moon Plants are dead

Not surprising if you don't heat them.

So much for the headlines! ...

Japan did https://digitalindiapreview.com/first-artificial-meteor-shower/. They launched a satellite designed to produce sets of artificial shooting stars. The first set is planned for Hiroshima early 2020 but they can produce many more.

Now that is strange!

 

[Stavros Kiri]

NASA Probe Snaps 1st Photos from Just a Mile Above Asteroid Bennu and the View's AMAZING!
Check out the pictures

 

[Stavros Kiri]

A Year After SpaceX's 1st Falcon Heavy Launch, Starman (and a Tesla) Sail On
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https://www.livescience.com/64696-starman-tesla-celebrates-year-in-space.html
(After 1-Year Joyride in Space, Starman Has Probably Trashed Elon's Roadster ... exceeding its warranty policy! ...)

 

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Few cars come with 750 million km warranty.

The first flight of Dragon 2 was shifted to March. Both Dragon 2 and Falcon Heavy need the same launch pad and hangar for preparation, we’ll see how SpaceX handles this conflict. Dragon 2 will probably get preference as it is on the critical path for NASA’s access to the ISS (Dragon 2 uncrewed -> in-flight launch abort -> Dragon 2 crewed -> sign-off by NASA before the Soyuz contract runs out).

 

[Rive]

Crew Dragon demo flight scheduled at 2:49 a.m. EST Saturday, March 2
link

 

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Time zone conversion: 7:49 UTC, 8:49 CET.
It is now 4:53 am EST. The launch is 2 days ~22 hours after this post.

Edit: More information:

Flight schedule
Docking with the ISS is planned 26 hours after launch. Dragon 2 will be close to the ISS for a few hours before that. From the northern hemisphere it can be visible in the very early morning, typically around 5 am local time. calsky, heavens-above and various other websites have the precise time for your position. From the southern hemisphere there is a chance to see it in the evening.
The ISS is visible frequently, but the ISS plus another spacecraft (flying ahead in this case) visible in the night sky is a rare event.

 

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Crew Dragon launched successfully and is approaching the ISS. NASA coverage will begin in 1 hour 15 minutes (8:30 UTC), opening the hatch is planned for 13:45 UTC, or 6:30 after this post.

NASA TV - not sure if that is the right place, but it should be.

 

[Rive]

Crew Dragon splashdown expected at at about 8:45 a.m. EST.
(~ 45min left, according to the time of posting)
Live

 

[Borg]

Very interesting. They have cameras in the capsule!

And it's down successfully.

 

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SpaceX plans a first hop with Starhopper as early as this week in Texas. Just 1-3 meters or so, enough to demonstrate that the Raptor engine works with the rocket and to test the landing legs.
Starhopper is a small-scale prototype of the larger Starship, the latest (final?) name for SpaceX's fully reusable rocket (aka Mars Colonial Transporter, Interplanetary Transport System, BFR). It will make low-altitude "hops" (up to a few kilometers probably) to demonstrate the launch, flight and landing capability.

In parallel they are working on the first prototype for orbital flights already. While Starship could reach orbit on its own it wouldn't have enough fuel left to land, which is defeating the point of having a reusable system. Orbital flights will also need a booster, "Super Heavy".

For a long time SpaceX was working with a carbon composite core but recently they announced that they changed to stainless steel. It tolerates higher temperatures, that helps with reusability. It also sped up development a lot. A 9 meter diameter carbon composite structure is a big challenge, but making such a cylinder out of steel is not an issue, there is a large industry for steel parts of all types and shapes. It is more robust in general, too. They assembled Starhopper outside - no clean room, not even a roof against rain.

 

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A lot of secrecy about the Starhopper tests. https://www.themonitor.com/2019/03/23/spacex-cleared-testing/ and road closures early next week.
Meanwhile Musk released new information and renderings in an obscure way - to school children.

Some upcoming events:

The fifth flight of Electron will be March 24, 22:30 UTC, or 6:30 pm EDT, that is 17.5 hours after this post. That time is the start time of the two hour launch window. Livestream

The second flight of Falcon Heavy is scheduled for April 7, 22:36 UTC (6:36 pm EDT) from Kennedy Space Center, with a two hour launch window. The beginning of the launch window is about an hour after before sunset. If the rocket launches towards the end of the launch window this could become the most spectacular rocket launch to watch this decade, maybe even the most spectacular launch ever (not counting explosions). Imagine this, but add two side boosters separating and flying back to the launch site to land there.

Beresheet is on the way to the Moon, the planned landing date is still April 11 (it will enter orbit April 4).

The first crewed flight from the US since 2011 is now planned for July 25, on a Dragon 2. Boeing's program faced more delays, their uncrewed flight is now planned for August and the crewed flight not before November.

 

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Space is hard...

The Electron launch has been delayed, first by a transmitter issue and then by weather, the next launch date is now 28 March 2019 22:30 UTC, or 26 hours from now.

Meanwhile OneSpace, a private rocket company in China, had a failed maiden flight of OS-M.
Similarly, the maiden flight of Zhuque-1 by LandSpace - another Chinese startup - failed in October last year.

Up to 7 more companies aim for a maiden flight of small rockets this year. There is clearly a market for smaller satellites - but probably not for 10 different systems (the 9 here plus Rocketlab's Electron) at the same time.

 

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Starhopper had its first test fire! It took longer than expected due to some issue with cryogenics.
Here is a video
A news report
Another news report

Somewhat unusual for such a test fire: The vehicle sits on bare concrete. No ducts to direct exhaust away, no water deluge system. Probably on purpose: This vehicle is supposed to launch on Mars in the future where these things won't exist either.Falcon Heavy is still scheduled for April 7, 22:36 or not more than two hours later. I learned that the Sun behind the exhaust makes it much more spectacular, something we won't get this time even with the right amount of delay. We still get a lot of action, including two simultaneous booster landings (in daylight if there is not too much delay).

 

[berkeman]

Here is a video

What's on fire at the right edge of the frame at the end of the video? Some building?

 

[OmCheeto]

What's on fire at the right edge of the frame at the end of the video? Some building?

After 10 minutes of googling, I have a guess that it's a "detanking flare".
It can be seen in the following somewhat boring video. Boring, as in; "You only need to watch it for as long as it takes you to identify everything, as nothing new happens for the next minute or so.".



"detanking flare" came from a space forum

 

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The Falcon Heavy launched moved by 48 hours, now April 9, 22:36 UTC.
Viewing conditions will be the same.

 

[OmCheeto]

Beresheet is on the way to the Moon, the planned landing date is still April 11 (it will enter orbit April 4).

I saw yesterday that it entered orbit.

SpaceIL Chairman, Morris Kahn: “The lunar capture is an historic event in and of itself – but it also joins Israel in a seven-nation club that has entered the moon’s orbit. A week from today we’ll make more history by landing on the moon, joining three super powers who have done so. ...” [ref]
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Although I knew who the three super powers were, I had to look up what other 3 nations had managed a moon orbit: Japan, ESA, and India.

And going through the wiki entry on Moon missions, I was amazed at the number of failures to get there.

 

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Starhopper made it 0.001% the way to space.

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