Space Stuff and Launch Info

[mfb]

Just waiting for outgassing would take too long I guess, but we could speed that up by sublimating some CO2 from the ice caps.

The idea of a magnetic field at the Lagrange point is certainly interesting. You could keep the coils superconducting with passive cooling and they would maintain a circular shape based on their self-interaction. The L1 point is not stable, but the interaction of solar wind with the coils would suggest you can do some steering based on that interaction.

 

[mfb]

Plans for a station in lunar orbit. Let's see how that will work out.

 

[1oldman2]

More "stuff"
http://archive.stsci.edu/k2/trappist1/

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017...eed-expansion-universe-could-lead-new-physics


http://www.universetoday.com/134229/rise-super-telescopes-james-webb-space-telescope/

http://www.universetoday.com/134230/future-space-colonization-terraforming-space-habitats/

 

[1oldman2]

A very useful calendar, and the price is right.
http://www.universetoday.com/132662/free-book-101-astronomical-events-2017/
https://archive.org/download/101AstronomicalEventsfor2017/101AstronomicalEventsfor2017.pdf

 

[1oldman2]

Some very cool concepts being discussed here.
http://www.universetoday.com/134274/exploring-titan-aerial-platforms/
http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/V2050/pdf/8177.pdf
"These concepts can be divided into two categories, which are Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) craft and Heavier-Than-Air (HTA) craft. And as Pauken explained, these are both well-suited when it comes to exploring a moon like Titan, which has an atmosphere that is actually denser than Earth’s – 146.7 kPa at the surface compared to 101 kPa at sea level on Earth – but only 0.14 times the gravity (similar to the Moon)."

 

[mfb]

While it would have a bad efficiency, you could fly on Titan using liquid oxygen (stable at surface conditions) as fuel and "burn it" using the methane and hydrogen in the atmosphere.

All the designs would fly "blind" - humans can program the long-term plan, but all flight decisions have to be done faster than humans can react due to 2.5 hours light-speed delay. A 1 hour multicopter would be back (or not) before we even get confirmation that it started.
Flight was also discussed to explore the gas giants. The hydrogen/helium atmosphere and the strong winds make lighter than air impractical, and the strong gravity would need supersonic flight. How do you power such an aircraft?

Yes.
Nuclear powered supersonic ramjets.
Not so different from Project Pluto, but much more compact, and with a different purpose.

 

[1oldman2]

Yes.
Nuclear powered supersonic ramjets.
Not so different from Project Pluto, but much more compact, and with a different purpose.

Amazing reading, thanks.

 

[1oldman2]

Latest SpaceX launch coming up, no 1st stage landing planned this time.

http://www.spacex.com/webcast


And news from Enceladus.
http://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-017-0063

 

[mfb]

Around 6 am in Central Europe.
Potentially the last expendable F9 launch ever - as soon as Falcon Heavy is ready they would fly missions like this with a reusable Falcon Heavy.

 

[1oldman2]

Potentially the last expendable F9 launch ever

Yes, I see they are planning on at least six re-use flights this year, trying to catch up on the back log. I hope the Heavy works out as well as they are expecting, problems with that one would really set things back.

 

[mfb]

Well, they don't want to re-launch many of the current boosters, as they plan to introduce a new version ("block 5") later this year.

According to some scattered quotes, launch pad 40 (where the rocket with AMOS exploded) is planned to be ready again in summer. Then they can launch F9 from there while preparing launch pad 39 for Falcon Heavy, which is expected to take 2 months. It doesn't make sense to block the only available launch pad on the East Coast for 2 months, so both things have to happen sequentially.

Related to the launch pads: SpaceX switched to an automated system to ensure range safety. No human has to sit at the self-destruct switch. Computers are faster and more reliable, and the whole system is in the rocket itself, it does not depend on ground infrastructure.
Range safety is an important factor for available launch windows. The existing system can only handle one rocket, reprogramming it takes something like a day, and SpaceX is not the only company launching rockets at Kennedy Space Center. With the automated system, this is no longer an issue. With two launch pads they can launch two rockets at the same day. They can also return two or even three boosters of FH at the same time, something not possible with the manual and ground-based system.

 

[1oldman2]

: SpaceX switched to an automated system to ensure range safety

These guys just keep on racking up "firsts", makes one wonder what they will accomplish next.

Hey did anyone notice I recently "racked up" a couple hundred posts on my count. my goal of perfect symmetry on post/like counts is totally blown.

Also here is the Technical webcast for those who don't care for the "extras"


Now this makes "perfect sense"
http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/world/trappist-exoplanet-belgian-researchers/index.html
"The researchers also nicknamed each exoplanet -- those that orbit stars outside our own solar system -- after monastic Trappist beers like Rochefort, Orval and Westvleteren, some of which have been brewed for centuries."

 

[mfb]

SpaceX launch got delayed to Thursday due to strong wind. Again in the night for Europe.

Hey did anyone notice I recently "racked up" a couple hundred posts on my count. my goal of perfect symmetry on post/like counts is totally blown.

At some point you had the symmetry.

 

[1oldman2]

https://phys.org/news/2017-03-trump...e=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu
http://spacenews.com/white-house-budget-proposal-targets-arm-earth-science-missions-education/
"Targeted for cancellation in the budget proposal is ARM, a NASA program to fly a robotic spacecraft to a near Earth object, retrieve a boulder from its surface and fly back to lunar orbit, where astronauts would visit it on a future Orion mission."

"We will continue the solar electric propulsion efforts benefitting from those developments for future in space transportation initiatives,"

"It specifically targets four planned or ongoing missions for termination: the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) 3 instruments for the International Space Station, and "DSCOVR Earth-viewing instruments," an apparent reference to Earth observation instruments on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), launched in 2015.

"Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, alluded to the lack of funding for a Europa lander mission in a briefing with reporters March 15. "I think we changed one of the missions to a moon at Saturn or Jupiter, but I can’t remember the details on that," he said. Europa is a moon of Jupiter."

China gets another observatory.
http://www.nature.com/news/chinese-mountain-observatory-to-probe-cosmic-ray-origins-1.21631

And,
http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1709/
http://www.mpe.mpg.de/6698274/news20170316

 

[rootone]

he said. Europa is a moon of Jupiter."

That one is nailed now then.

 

[mfb]

"Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, alluded to the lack of funding for a Europa lander mission in a briefing with reporters March 15. "I think we changed one of the missions to a moon at Saturn or Jupiter, but I can’t remember the details on that," he said.

No need to remember details (like the mission target) if you move billions of dollars around.

The fly-by mission still gets funding.

DSCOVR is in space already, all they would have to do is to continue receiving its data. I guess it gets canceled on a purely political basis.

China gets another observatory.
http://www.nature.com/news/chinese-mountain-observatory-to-probe-cosmic-ray-origins-1.21631

Looks like a second version of HESS.SpaceX has a launch date for the first re-flight of a booster: March 27. The booster has shot CRS-8 Dragon on the way to the ISS already, now it launches a communication satellite for SES. This will be a big milestone - not just for SpaceX, but for orbital spaceflight in general.

 

[1oldman2]

No need to remember details (like the mission target) if you move billions of dollars around.

The fly-by mission still gets funding.

DSCOVR is in space already, all they would have to do is to continue receiving its data. I guess it gets canceled on a purely political basis.

Purely political... that's a pretty accurate summation. I'm struggling to not include analogies with the dark ages.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/trumps-first-budget-analysis-and-reaction

SpaceX has a launch date for the first re-flight of a booster: March 27. The booster has shot CRS-8 Dragon on the way to the ISS already, now it launches a communication satellite for SES. This will be a big milestone - not just for SpaceX, but for orbital spaceflight in general.

Going to be very popular in the future.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...a-developing-system-recover-reuse-parts-space

 

[mfb]

Going to be very popular in the future.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2079822/china-developing-system-recover-reuse-parts-space

New Glenn is also planned with a reusable booster, and recovering the engines of Ariane 6 and Vulcan is considered.

Not a coincidence, it can reduce launch costs by a big margin. Rockets that cannot be reused will be too expensive - probably within the next 10 years.

 

[1oldman2]

The debate won't die.
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-scien...e=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu
http://releases.jhu.edu/2017/03/16/scientists-make-the-case-to-restore-plutos-planet-status/

http://www.universetoday.com/134509/trappist-1-an-evening-with-fraser-cain/
"In case you haven’t heard, some new potentially habitable planets were discovered, and they’re named after beer. To celebrate two of our favorite things finally coming together, Forbidden Brewing Co. welcomes local space expert Fraser Cain for an evening of space talk, beer, and pizza.

Whether you’re just curious, or you’re a bona fide astronomy nerd, this is a great opportunity to rub shoulders with others who share your curiosity. And your love of beer."

And thought I'd throw in this view of Uzboi Vallis, there's a lot of cool things going on in this image.

 

[mfb]

The debate won't die.
https://phys.org/news/2017-03-scien...e=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu
http://releases.jhu.edu/2017/03/16/scientists-make-the-case-to-restore-plutos-planet-status/

I would like to see exoplanets included in the planet definition. In other words, remove the requirement of orbiting the sun for the planet status.
Or make up a new word for "planets and exoplanets". It is annoying that there is no word for both together.

I don't care about Pluto, but adding Pluto without adding many more objects is inconsistent, and adding many more objects will lead to a potentially very large number of planets.

 

[1oldman2]

I don't care about Pluto, but adding Pluto without adding many more objects is inconsistent, and adding many more objects will lead to a potentially very large number of planets.

This is so true.
http://www.universetoday.com/134519/get-ready-100-planet-solar-system/

 

[1oldman2]

In other news...
http://www.universetoday.com/134567/stephen-hawking-going-edge-space/
"Stephen Hawking has spent decades theorizing about the Universe. His thinking on black holes, quantum gravity, quantum mechanics, and a long list of other topics, has helped shape our understanding of the cosmos. Now it looks like the man who has spent most of his adult life bound to a wheel-chair will travel to the edge of space."

A very informative article on space junk, I highly recommend this site.
http://www.universetoday.com/134560/eye-opening-numbers-space-debris/
"According to various statistical models, there is an estimated 166 million objects in orbit that range in size from 1 mm to 1 cm in diameter. There is also another 750,000 objects that range from being 1cm to 10 cm in diameter, and about 29,000 objects that exceed 10 cm in diameter. The ESA and other space agencies around the world are responsible for tracking about 42,000 of the larger ones."

Interesting goings on with a familiar Comet.
http://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-017-0092

 

[1oldman2]

Not sure if I should post this in Astronomy or Earth threads.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news...._campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20170323-2

It would seem SpaceX is going to be enjoying an advantage in competitive bidding for a while.
http://www.universetoday.com/134630...-contract-igniting-fierce-launch-competition/

http://www.universetoday.com/134624/curiosity-captures-gravity-wave-shaped-clouds-mars/

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2017/pdf/1250.pdf

 

[1oldman2]

Technical

Hosted

 

[mfb]

The first stage went to space for its second flight, and landed again.

Reusable orbital rockets are a thing. Since March 2017.

SpaceX also tries to recover the payload fairing this time. It looks like a simple component, but it is actually a huge high-tech element, with a price estimate of $2 to $4 million per piece. The huge oven needed to make them is currently one of the limits on the flight frequency.

Edit: Satellite deployed. No news about the fairing yet. We'll probably get a video if they can recover it.

Edit2: Fairing not recovered.

 

[1oldman2]

This is from http://www.universetoday.com/134812/arca-unveils-worlds-first-single-stage-orbit-rocket/
"When the Haas 2CA rocket launches, it will be the first rocket in history to place itself entirely into orbit. This opens new frontiers for exploration of the Solar System as the rocket can be refueled in-orbit and re-utilize its aerospike engine thus eliminating the need for additional upper stages. After the full qualification, the vehicle could be operated from inland spaceports as there are no stages that fall on the ground at burnout. Staged rockets, even though they provide more payload performance for the same takeoff mass, are less reliable because of an increased number of parts due to flight events requested by staging and ignition of the upper stage engine. Also, staged rockets are deemed to be more expensive because they are literally made up of more than one rocket. Manufacturing and assembling more rockets in one launcher requires more, time, money, and personnel. The SSTO technology, once implemented, will increase the space flight responsiveness and lower the cost to values expected by the industry for decades. This rocket will also be the fastest vehicle to reach orbit, taking less than 5 minutes."

 

[mfb]

I'll believe it if it flies. There were so many SSTO proposals in the last decades, one more is not particularly notable.
Several existing rocket stages could achieve SSTO - with a tiny payload. So tiny that it is not worth doing that. The interesting statement is the price. If they can keep that as low as announced, it is great.

 

[1oldman2]

The interesting statement is the price. If they can keep that as low as announced, it is great.

I was thinking the same.

 

[mfb]

Detection of the atmosphere of the 1.6 Earth mass exoplanet GJ 1132b
The smallest planet with a measured atmosphere so far. Probably water vapor and methane, but that is not sure. The planet is way too hot to have liquid water (supercritical water would be possible).

The planet is just 40 light years away, so this is one of the easiest targets, but it makes hope that we can measure more atmospheres in the future. JWST will certainly be able to do that.

phys.org news article with some context.

 

[1oldman2]

This could be pretty interesting, I'm wondering what they have found to rate a news conference?
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...ies-in-news-conference-on-oceans-beyond-earth
"NASA will discuss new results about ocean worlds in our solar system from the agency’s Cassini spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope during a news briefing 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 13. The event, to be held at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington, will include remote participation from experts across the country."