The satellites and ground receivers are said to use electronically steerable phased array antennas, a technology usually associated with military radars. These multi-element antennae have now been shrunk to the size of a silicon chip.

This about pending spectrum "discussions" is a good place to start.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/5g-proceeding-spacex-urges-fcc-protect-future-satellite-ventures/2015-02-22

Quote

In 5G proceeding, SpaceX urges FCC to protect future satellite ventures

Space Exploration Technologies, otherwise known as SpaceX, the space transport company founded by billionaire Elon Musk, wants the FCC to consider not only existing but future innovative uses of Ka-band spectrum before committing to a proceeding that might create barriers to entry.

The company made the comments as part of the FCC's Notice of Inquiry (NOI) on technical and service rules for 5G in bands above 24 GHz. Reply comments on the proceeding were due last week. Several other satellite-related entities, as well as wireless industry vendors and service providers, filed comments as well.

SpaceX pointed out that it recently announced plans to build a network of 4,000 non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) communications satellites, which it will manufacture, launch and operate. It plans to hire a large number of skilled workers at a new satellite manufacturing center in the Seattle area.

While well established as a launch services company with NASA contracts, SpaceX will be a new entrant in the satellite communications space, seeking to provide low-cost, high-speed broadband Internet service worldwide, including to end-users in the United States. SpaceX said its network will be operating in higher frequency bands, including the Ka-band spectrum at issue in the current FCC proceeding.

The company notes that the record in the proceeding firmly establishes that satellite operators have launched or are developing satellite systems to operate in the Ka-band frequencies above 24 GHz. For its part, SpaceX says it will join the ranks of Ka-band spectrum satellite operators "in the near term" as it begins to test and deploy its network of satellites.

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) has asked the commission to carefully consider the potential impact on incumbent satellite services in bands above 24 GHz from possible sharing with new 5G services, and SpaceX echoed those concerns.

SpaceX urges the commission to take into account new satellite entrants and not just incumbent satellite operators and their existing or planned operations. "SpaceX is committed to introducing a new NGSO network in the Ka-band, further enhancing competition and innovation for satellite services. Any adopted 5G policies should contemplate the continued march of innovation and new entrant business models so as to enhance competition and expand consumer choices in the Ka-band," the company said.

The company also noted that even in satellite uplink bands, there are potential challenges to sharing between intensive, high-power terrestrial operations and satellite services. Satellite earth station uplink operations have the potential to cause interference into terrestrial receive antennas, and aggregate interference from terrestrial operations could adversely affect satellite receive operations. Such effects are particularly important to consider in the context of NGSO operations, where steerable earth station transmit antennas would have a wider geographic impact and significantly lower satellite altitudes magnify the impact of aggregate interference from terrestrial transmissions, the company said.

>

>

For more:

- see this SpaceX filing

- see this Straight Path filing

- see the EchoStar filing

Super Heavy and Starship

Thread 1.... (Interplanetary Transport System)

Updated CGI pending.

FAA application for test flights pending.

FCC application for test flights...

Description of tests (duration: 24 months)

>
Description of Research Project

SpaceX is looking to fly and operate a Research and Development (R&D) Vertical Takeoff, Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle at its South Texas location. The vehicle will take off, ascend vertically to a low altitude, and then descend back to its original landing spot. While the vehicle is in the air, it is important to have communications with the vehicle for two main reasons:

1. Downlink: SpaceX can view the data in real‐time and ensure that all parameters remain nominal.

2. Uplink: If there is an anomaly, SpaceX needs the ability to command the vehicle into a safe state (as a backup to its onboard safety systems).

Thus, to ensure both a safe and useful test, it is important for SpaceX to maintain a bidirectional RF link between the control center and the vehicle.

SpaceX wishes to use the same transmitters on the VTVL vehicle that it uses on its other vehicles. The
major difference is that the ERP is reduced on this vehicle by two orders of magnitude. This transmitter
has been demonstrated to be very safe and reliable under both flight and test conditions and the regulatory agencies involved (both FAA and FCC) are familiar with the hardware and frequencies.

The tests themselves are divided into low‐altitude and higher‐altitude tests. The low‐altitude tests stay below 500 meters in altitude and last approximately 100 seconds. These tests will be run approximately three times per week during the initial portion of the program. The higher‐altitude tests can go as high as 5 km and will occur approximately once per week. These tests last approximately 6 minutes.

Please note that SpaceX is also applying for an experimental permit from the FAA in order to gain permission to run these VTVL tests.
>

Space News article...

Text, voice, and data from what amounts to cell towers in orbit, usable by cellular devices. It would appear in your network settings.

Intended to eliminate black zones, and provide emergency services in  remote areas. 

FCC has given SpaceX permission to test, currently to 4G LTE, with 840 satellites going up in the next few months. This batch went up on Falcon 9, but Starship will be able to launch them in bulk - one of its primary uses. This will be  accomplished by ejecting them from a door like a PEZ dispenser. 

AST SpaceMobile and Lynk are also in the hunt, put on a smaller scale and not as far along.

About the Starlink deployment,

https://spacenews.com/spacex-deploys-direct-to-smartphone-satellites-in-first-launch-of-2024/

Quote

 

SpaceX deploys direct-to-smartphone satellites in first launch of 2024

>

SpaceX plans to start enabling texting from space this year in partnership with cellular operators, with voice and data connectivity coming in 2025, although the company still needs regulatory permission to provide the services commercially.

>

AST SpaceMobile said Jan. 2 it is seeking to secure funds this month from “multiple parties” ahead of launching its first five commercial satellites early this year on a Falcon 9.

>

Starship Starlink "PEZ dispenser"

Thread 8:

Musk at ISS R&D

Quote

If you want to get the public really fired up, you really need a base on the Moon

In line with the earlier comments before Congress that pushed  for a cis-lunar COTS program.

Quote

Falcon Heavy requires the simultaneous ignition of 27 orbital class engines. There's a lot that could go wrong there. And I encourage people to come down to the Cape and see the first Falcon Heavy mission. It's guaranteed to be exciting. 
>

Translation: a high risk of failure on the first flight. No duh!

Quote

 

I see ISC in Adelaide as a good time to do the updated version of the Mars architecture. It's evolved quite a bit since the last talk.

>

I kind of think that if we downsize to Mars vehicle, make it capable of doing Earth orbit activity as well as Mars activity, then maybe we could pay for it using money for Earth orbit activities.

Subscale BFR/BFS confirmed to better make the business case (but still very large), and sooner so it can be used in LEO and cis-lunar space.

Red Dragon & Dragon 2 propulsive landings

Early Mars missions will use using the subscale BFR/BFS  system, so Red Dragon is cancelled. Capsules landing with side thrusters are now irrelevant to Mars entry/descent/landing as that'll be done using a lifting body - which allows for a  much larger heat shield and vehicle.

Without this testbed Dragon 2 propulsive landings are off the table for safety cert reasons (ahem - NASA suits & ASAP, again). Landing legs removed. Continuing to push the issue with NASA & ASAP would delay their crewed flights.

Propulsive landings may come back later - but they want to concentrate personnel and resources on getting Crew Dragon, FH, and the updated BFR/BFS architecture flying. And soon.

Date: TBA

Time: TBA

Spaceport: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Pad: LC-41

Payload: Astrobotic Peregrine lunar lander, a NASA payload under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Lunar landing zone: Gruithuisen Domes (near side)

https://spacenews.com/first-vulcan-launch-likely-to-slip-to-january/

Quote

 

WASHINGTON — The first launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur is likely to be delayed to early January to give the company time to complete a full dress rehearsal.

In a social media post Dec. 10, Tory Bruno, chief executive of ULA, said the company was not able to complete a practice countdown called a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) two days earlier at Cape Canaveral. During the WDR, the Vulcan booster and its Centaur upper stage were loaded with propellants and went through a countdown that would stop just before engine ignition.

Bruno said that while the vehicle performed well during that countdown, there were some “routine” issues with ground equipment. “Ran the timeline long so we didn’t quite finish,” he said. “I’d like a FULL WDR before our first flight, so XMAS eve is likely out.”

 

Uncrewed tests of the Space Launch System rocket and  Orion spacecraft.

Date: Nov. 16, 2022

Launch: 0100 Eastern

NASA TV stream starts Nov. 15, 2200 Eastern 

If Artemis I is successful, Artemis II will carry a crew, and Artemis III will transfer a crew to a SpaceX Starship HLS in high lunar orbit for a landing at the Moon's South Pole. 

(parachutes to ~10 meters, SuperDraco propulsive touchdown. One of 4 possible landing modes)

Dragon V2 Demo Mission 1: 30 day ISS un-crewed mission, NET December 2016

Dragon V2 Demo Mission 2: 14 day ISS crewed mission, NET April 2017

SpaceX Dragon V2 CCtCap milestones (PDF)....

The Boeing CST-100 milestones have not been released yet.

The first mission is Polaris Dawn, which will try to orbit higher than Gemini 11 (1,368 km), do the first civilian spacewalk, and test Starlink laser communications to a crewed spacecraft.

The first and second flights would be a board Crew Dragon, the third aboard Starship.

(hint: open in an incognito tab)

https://t.co/9fowUWJqoS

Quote

Jared Isaacman, who led the first all-private astronaut mission to orbit, has commissioned 3 more flights from SpaceX

>

The first flight, which could come by the end of the year, will aim to send a crew of four farther than any other human spaceflight in 50 years and feature the first private-citizen spacewalk, Isaacman said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post. The second flight also would be aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, the vehicle that NASA now relies on to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

>

The first flight, which could come by the end of the year, will aim to send a crew of four farther than any other human spaceflight in 50 years and feature the first private-citizen spacewalk, Isaacman said in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post. The second flight also would be aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, the vehicle that NASA now relies on to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

>

Program page,

https://polarisprogram.com/

Date: December 7th, 2023 (NSF is saying NET Dec 8th.)

Pad: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center

Boosters

- B1084 (center core, expended)

- B1064 (side)

° B1065 (side)

Booster recovery: LZ-1 & LZ-2

SpaceX launching Space Force's X-37B space plane on a Falcon Heavy rocket Dec. 7 | Space

It's interesting this isn't on top of a Falcon 9 like it was the other times.

---------------------------------------

Two designers just won $1.5 million for creating a device that can pull clean drinking water out of thin air

A rendering of Skysource/Skywater Alliance's shipping container design for making drinking water out of air.

 The Skysource / Skywater Alliance

Quote

---About 2.1 billion people around the world do not have immediate access to clean drinking water.

---The Water Abundance XPrize competition rewards innovators who come up with new ways to harvest clean water from the atmosphere.

---This year, the winning design can produce at least 2,000 liters of water per day, which would satisfy the needs of 100 people.

A California-based team of designers has built a shipping container that can harvest enough water from the air to satisfy 100 people's daily needs.

 

Architect David Hertz and his colleague, Rich Groden, recently received $1.5 million as the winners of the Water Abundance XPrize, a competition that aims to help alleviate global water shortages.

 

About 2.1 billion people around the world lack immediate access to clean drinking water, and the US Defense Intelligence Agency estimates that water requirements will exceed supplies by 40% shortage by 2030.

 

The XPrize competition was created in 2016 to address that problem by rewarding designers who come up with new ways to pull fresh water out of thin air.

 

Nearly 100 teams entered this year's competition, and two finalists were asked to test their devices last month. The finalists had to show that their inventions could extract at least 2,000 liters of water per day, at a cost of less than 2 cents per liter.

 

According to a press release, Hertz and Groden's team, called Skysource/Skywater Alliance, won the grand prize because it "demonstrated the greatest ability to create decentralized access to water."

How the system works...

Quote

Skysource/Skywater Alliance's creation is called "WeDew," which stands for wood-to-energy deployed water system. It's a combination of two existing devices. The first, Skywater, is a generator that imitates a cloud. Skywater, co-invented by Groden, cools warm air and stores the resulting condensation inside a tank. Water in the shipping container's tank can then be accessed via a tap or water fountain.

The condensation process requires electricity, so the architects also incorporated a biomass gasifier into their system as a low-cost energy source, as Fast Company reported. Gasifiers can take in organic material and vaporize it to produce a gas mixture of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide that serves as a fuel.

A gasifier can be filled with various types of biomass, including coconut shells and pieces of pine trees. The vaporization creates heat and humidity, which help the water-gathering device operate efficiently. In addition, the gasifier produces biochar as a byproduct, a carbon-rich substance that can be put in soil to help plants grow.

Quote

A race to pull water from the air

The new XPrize winner joins a growing number of teams working on devices that can produce water from the air.

 

This year's runner-up, Hawaii-based JMCC WING, received $150,000 for a wind-energy system that extracts water from the atmosphere.

 

Researchers at the University of Akron in Ohio also recently began developing a prototype water harvester that could produce up to 10 gallons of drinking water every hour.

Dr. Josh Wong, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Akron, previously told Business Insider that he hopes the water harvester can be used in regions where water is scarce.

Wong presented his findings at an American Chemical Society meeting in August, and is working to secure enough funding for developing a prototype. He said his design would be cheaper than other similar concepts, and he expects it to be smaller as well — it may take the form of a backpack.

 

Earlier this year, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, also developed a device that can harvest fresh water from the air using just the sun's heat. The group tested a prototype in Arizona and published the results of their trial in the journal Science Advances. Their device can yield about 7 ounces of water in 24 hours, which isn't enough to keep someone hydrated. But the scientists said in a video that scaling the system up would be relatively easy.

 

Another startup, Zero Mass Water, uses solar energy to produce heat and harvest liquid water from vapor in the air. The startup launched its first product, Source, in 2015, and it has since installed devices in more than a dozen countries. Source became available in the US late last year.

Hertz and Groden, meanwhile, are planning to start teaming up with nonprofits to implement their prize-winning technology all over the world, according to Fast Company. They said the shipping containers could one day help provide drinking water in areas hit by natural disasters.

https://www.businessinsider.com/device-that-harvests-water-from-air-wins-xprize-2018-10?r=UK&IR=T

--------------------------------------------

Inventor that harvested fresh water from the sky wins XPRIZE competition

Quote

At the annual Visioneering 2018 gathering in Los Angeles, the team at XPRIZE formally announced their grand prize Water Abundance competition winner: Skysource/Skywater Alliance, a company now $1.5 million dollars richer for developing a sustainable way to harvest drinking water from the sky.

 

The rules of the competition were strict: The teams’ devices had to extract 2,000 liters of water from the air per day using 100% renewable energy for a maximum of two cents per liter. Rising to the challenge of the narrow parameters, 98 teams submitted proposals, and five had ideas that made it to the final round before the winner was chosen after the two-year time frame allotted for development.

Quote

The difference brought on by the XPRIZE was the accessibility of the technology. Namely, the high energy needs of the systems historically put areas without access to such energy at a great disadvantage towards tapping into its potential. Skysource/Skywater Alliance made a key development to meet the requirements of the competition in adapting their products to produce water via sustainable, low-cost power methods like solar panels and biomass gasifiers. As specified, their modified devices operate on 100% renewable, affordable energy sources.

Thanks to motivation brought on by the Water Abundance competition, clean drinking water may soon be within reach of populations at most risk from water shortages. 

-----------------------------------------

GRAND PRIZE WINNER IN $1.75M WATER ABUNDANCE XPRIZE ANNOUNCED AT XPRIZE VISIONEERING 2018

https://www.xprize.org/articles/waxp-grand-prize-winner

Official release..

Well done by all...

A 'Polaris Hubble' mission would be after the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission, where SpaceX will test their new EVA (spacewalk) suits and take a ride into the Inner Van Allen belt, breaking Gemini 11s orbital altitude record. Their goal would be >1,400 km.

https://spacenews.com/hubble-glitch-renews-talk-about-private-servicing-mission/

Quote

Hubble glitch renews talk about private servicing mission

WASHINGTON — A problem with the Hubble Space Telescope has renewed discussion about whether and how NASA might approve a private mission to reboost and potentially repair the spacecraft.

NASA announced Nov. 29 that Hubble was in a safe mode because of a problem with one of its three operational gyroscopes. [...]

>

Jared Isaacman, the billionaire backing the Polaris program of SpaceX private astronaut missions. “Put us in coach,” he posted on social media.

That was a reference to a study announced in September 2022 involving Isaacman, SpaceX and NASA to study the feasibility of a private mission to reboost and possibly repair Hubble using SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. At the time Isaacman suggested that a Hubble mission could be the second of three planned Polaris missions.

>

Contract value between $25.000 and $2.5 billion (!!)

There are several small lunar landers getting ready to fly, but Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander is said to be good for 4 metric tons of cargo and SpaceX's BFS spaceship will be a  monster.

Presolicitation,

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=46b23a8f2c06da6ac08e1d1d2ae97d35&tab=documents&tabmode=list

Quote

Solicitation Number: 80HQTR18R0011R
Notice Type: Presolicitation
Synopsis:
Added: Apr 27, 2018 3:44 pm

The purpose of this requirement is to acquire end-to-end payload services between the Earth and lunar surface for NASA Headquarters' Science, Human Exploration and Operations and Science Technolgy Mission Directorates.  The contractors shall provide all activities necessary to safely intergrate, accomodate, transport, and operate NASA Payloads using contractor provide assets, including launch vehicles, lunar lander spacecraft, lunar surface systems, Earth re-entry vehicles and associated resources.

Please consult the list of document viewers if you cannot open a file.
>

Dream Chaser spaceplane (cargo and crew). Dream Chaser starts flying cargo missions to ISS in 1-2 years.

Shooting Star logistics module/tug/outpost

Large Inflatable Fabric Environment (LIFE) habitats (like Bigelow's)

etc.

https://spacenews.com/sierra-nevada-corporation-to-spin-off-space-division/

Quote

 

WASHINGTON — Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) will spin off its space division into a separate company, a move reflecting the “historic growth” it foresees for that business in the next several years.

 

In a message to employees April 14, SNC Chairwoman and President Eren Ozmen said the company’s Space Systems division will become a standalone company, called Sierra Space, although remain a subsidiary of SNC.

 

Creating Sierra Space, she said, will enable the company to better capture expected growth in the space industry. SNC’s space business currently generates $400 million in annual revenue, and she projected that increasing to $4 billion in 5 to 10 years. Privately-held SNC has traditionally disclosed few details about its revenue.

>

 

Date: NET January 10, 2024

Time: TBD

Pad: possibly LC-40 (per Space News), inaugural crew mission.

This would give SpaceX two pads capable of launching crew or cargo Dragon. The tower was built this summer.

Recovery: LZ-1

Crew

Commander: Michael López-Alegría (6th flight)

Pilot: Walter Villadei, MDD (2nd flight)

Mission Specialist 1: Alper Gezeravcı [fr], TSA 

Mission Specialist 2: Marcus Wandt, SNSA / ESA
 

Date: October 5, 2023

Window: 1038;37 Eastern (1438;37 UT)

Pad: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center

Boosters

- B1074 (center core, expended)

- B1072 (side)

° B1075 (side)

Booster recovery: LZ-1 & LZ-2

Arrival at 16 Psyche: August, 2029

Stream: NASA TV, NASA YouTube 

A suborbital vehicle, New Shepard, is also using the BE-3 engine and and is expected to start test flights later this year.

The SV crew vehicle is a biconic capsule originally a competitor in NASA's Commercial Crew competition.

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2015/04/09/blue-origin-eyes-cape-build-launch-rockets/25505063/

Blue Origin eyes Cape Canaveral to build, launch rockets

A billionaire-backed company that aspires to make human spaceflight more affordable would build rockets near Kennedy Space Center and launch them from Cape Canaveral if state officials can secure its commitment in the coming weeks.

Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, could choose from among several states as soon as next month. Brevard County is a contender to win a rocket manufacturing site and up to 300 jobs in preparation for orbital launches in the next five years.

"I have talked to Jeff Bezos, urging him to come to the Cape," U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson told FLORIDA TODAY, confirming Seattle-based Blue Origin is the company the state has been wooing under the code name of Project Panther.

Blue Origin's arrival would be a boost for the Space Coast's future in the commercial space sector, not long after SpaceX chose Texas as a commercial launch site.

It would also mark a successful conclusion to a deal forced to shift gears late when the company's preferred launch site near Volusia County ran into obstacles, threatening the state's bid.

The state's revised proposal would have Blue Origin set up a manufacturing site in Exploration Park, a planned research and industrial complex outside KSC's south gate, and launch from Launch Complex 36, a state-run pad on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Blue Origin so far has confirmed only that Florida is one of the states it is considering for orbital launches. "We're hoping to make a decision about that soon," said company President Rob Meyerson.

The company plans to begin flight tests this year of a suborbital spacecraft designed to carry at least three people. It is also developing an engine to power a new rocket for United Launch Alliance, the U.S. government's primary launcher of high-value missions.

Fighting for Shiloh

Talks about the so-called Project Panther initially focused on the state's proposed Shiloh commercial launch complex, which straddles the Brevard-Volusia border on property NASA shares with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. A rocket factory would have been located in nearby Oak Hill in southern Volusia County.

Blue Origin was one of the first commercial space companies to express interest in the Shiloh site after Space Florida in 2012 asked NASA for 200 acres of land there for one or two launch pads.

Like SpaceX, which plans to build a private launch complex in Texas, Blue Origin believes commercial launchers need facilities outside NASA or Air Force control to thrive, just as commercial aviation operates independently from military bases.

Blue Origin will fly its New Shepard suborbital capsule from its own private range in western Texas, a step toward development of an orbital rocket and spacecraft.

>

>[MORE]

>

Blue Origin SV crew vehicle

New Shepard suborbital concept

Reusable Booster System concept

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-accords/index.html

https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-accords/img/Artemis-Accords-signed-13Oct2020.pdf

Founding signatories; 

Australia

Canada

Italy

Japan

Luxembourg

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States of America

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-international-partners-advance-cooperation-with-first-signings-of-artemis-accords

Quote

NASA, International Partners Advance Cooperation with First Signings of Artemis Accords

>
While NASA is leading the Artemis program, which includes sending the first woman and next man to the surface of the Moon in 2024, international partnerships will play a key role in achieving a sustainable and robust presence on the Moon later this decade while preparing to conduct a historic human mission to Mars.
>
The principles of the Artemis Accords are:

Peaceful Exploration: All activities conducted under the Artemis program must be for peaceful purposes

Transparency: Artemis Accords signatories will conduct their activities in a transparent fashion to avoid confusion and conflicts

Interoperability: Nations participating in the Artemis program will strive to support interoperable systems to enhance safety and sustainability

Emergency Assistance: Artemis Accords signatories commit to rendering assistance to personnel in distress

Registration of Space Objects: Any nation participating in Artemis must be a signatory to the Registration Convention or become a signatory with alacrity

Release of Scientific Data: Artemis Accords signatories commit to the public release of scientific information, allowing the whole world to join us on the Artemis journey

Preserving Heritage: Artemis Accords signatories commit to preserving outer space heritage

Space Resources: Extracting and utilizing space resources is key to safe and sustainable exploration and the Artemis Accords signatories affirm that such activities should be conducted in compliance with the Outer Space Treaty

Deconfliction of Activities: The Artemis Accords nations commit to preventing harmful interference and supporting the principle of due regard, as required by the Outer Space Treaty

Orbital Debris: Artemis Accords countries commit to planning for the safe disposal of debris

Additional countries will join the Artemis Accords in the months and years ahead, as NASA continues to work with its international partners to establish a safe, peaceful, and prosperous future in space. Working with emerging space agencies, as well as existing partners and well-established space agencies, will add new energy and capabilities to ensure the entire world can benefit from the Artemis journey of exploration and discovery.
>

 

Let's spin the turbopump, shall we? 

Date: July 26th

Time: 2304 Eastern

Recovery: boosters RTLS, center core  expanded

≈========≠=========

StarLink 4-8

Date; February 20, 2022

Time: 1113 Eastern (1613 UT) Pad: LC-40

Booster: B1058.11

Recovery: ASDS A Shortfall of Gravitas
Payload: 46 Starlink sats w/laser links

Orbit: 53.2° inclination, SE trajectory

Date: April 27, 2023

Time: 1929 Eastern (2329 UT)

Pad: LC-39A

Orbit: direct injection to GEO

Recovery: expended

Rideshares

- Aurora 4A, a small geo-sat for Astranis
- Nusantara-H1-A, a cubesat for Indonesia

It'll also be interesting to see the engine choice for ACES: AeroJet RL-10, Blue Origin BE-3U or XCOR's XR-5K18, and how air-capture of the lower stages thrust structure works out.

http://spacenews.com/ulas-vulcan-rocket-to-be-rolled-out-in-stages/#sthash.ktfuTx6f.dpuf

ULAs Vulcan Rocket To be Rolled out in Stages

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. United Launch Alliance unveiled an incremental approach to replace its workhorse Atlas 5 rocket, an ambitious path forward that ultimately would include a new second stage and, later, reusable first-stage engines that would be captured midair by helicopter after each mission.

The plan would provide a competitive alternative to SpaceXs low-cost Falcon 9 rocket but entails risk for ULA as it funds a significant development program for as many as nine years as its competition gains momentum.

Tory Bruno, ULAs president and chief executive, declined to detail the companys exact investment in the project but suggested that new rockets typically cost about $2 billion to develop, including the main engine. During an April 13 press conference on the eve the 31st Space Symposium here, he said that cost would be borne by ULA and its strategic partners, but that the company would not turn down government money if that becomes available.

The first step in the developing the newly named Vulcan rocket is developing a new first stage featuring the methane-fueled BE-4 engine by Blue Origin of Kent, Washington. ULA is also working with Aerojet Rocketdyne on the AR-1 engine, in case the BE-4 runs into delays.

>

In addition to the new engine, the Vulcans first stage would feature a stretch version of the tank used on ULAs Delta 4 rocket, which the company is phasing out in 2018 because it is too expensive. The second stage of the initial Vulcan version, slated to debut around 2019, would feature the same Centaur upper stage and fairing now used on the Atlas 5, Bruno said.

The Vulcan could be augmented by up to six solid rocket boosters, giving it greater lift capability than the largest version of the Atlas 5 but not as much as the Delta 4 Heavy, which features three core stages in a side-by-side configuration. Bruno said he plans to issue a request for proposals within the next 12 months for the large boosters, which would likely be built by either Orbital ATK or Aerojet Rocketdyne.

ULA told the Air Force in February it plans to start two separate U.S. Air Force certification processes for the rocket later this year, one with the BE-4 and one with the AR-1. Certification is required for the Vulcan to carry U.S. national security payloads.

Bruno said ULAs first choice is the BE-4 but that it continues to fund the AR-1 work as a backup option, and that ULA will make a final decision on in 2016.

The next step in Vulcans evolution is a new upper stage known as the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage, or ACES, which could be able to operate in space for weeks at a time, ULA officials said. This would open up a whole new range of missions to the Vulcan, ULA officials said.

The ACES stage would have anywhere from one to four cryogenic engines, depending on the mission. The candidate engines are: a new variant of the RL10 produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne and currently used on both the Atlas 5 and Delta 4; Blue Origins BE-3; and an engine being jointly developed with XCOR aerospace.

ULA will select the engine for the ACES stage in the next few years, Bruno said.

Aerial Recovery

Ultimately, ULA plans to reuse the Vulcans first stage engines through a process called Sensible Modular Autonomous Return Technology. After first-stage burnout, the two engines would be severed from the tank and deploy an inflatable heat shield to slow their re-entry. They then would deploy steerable parachutes, which would slow their descent enough so they could be recovered in mid-air by a helicopter.

>

Bruno has said he hopes to drive the cost of the standard Vulcan rocket down to about $100 million.

ULA hopes to introduce the ACES upper stage in 2023 and the reusable first stage in 2024, Bruno said.

ACES S2 with piston engine/pumps/generator

Indian space program buoyed by back-to-back GSLV successes

The GSLV lifted off at 1122 GMT (7:22 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s east coast about 50 miles north of Chennai. Credit: ISRO/Spaceflight Now

India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle soared into orbit Thursday and deployed a 2.3-ton communications payload into an on-target orbit, tallying its second consecutive success with an Indian cryogenic upper stage as officials prepare to declare the once-troubled launcher operational.

The 161-foot-tall rocket launched at 1122 GMT (7:22 a.m. EDT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s east coastline, turning east over the Bay of Bengal powered by 1.7 million pounds of thrust from a core solid-fueled motor and four auxiliary boosters burning liquid hydrazine.

With its nose cone emblazoned with the Indian flag, the GSLV flew with an Indian-built third stage fueled by super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

Thursday’s launch marked the third time a GSLV flew with a domestic third stage engine, a configuration called the GSLV Mk.2 by Indian space officials.

The cryogenic engine apparently performed flawlessly, placing the 4,667-pound GSAT 6 spacecraft into the correct orbit about 17 minutes after liftoff.

“This is the mission director,” radioed R. Umamaheswaran, director of Thursday’s launch, which was codenamed GSLV-D6. “Spacecraft separatio confirmed, and the GSLV-D6/GSAT 6 mission is accomplished.”

Engineers and dignitaries gathered in the GSLV control center at the Satish Dhawan Space Center erupted in applause, celebrating India’s third successful launch of the year.

Officials reported GSAT 6’s power-generating solar panels extended after the launch, and the satellite was generating electricity.

The mission was the first by a GSLV since January 2014, when the Indian cryogenic upper stage completed its first successful test flight. An initial test of the new engine in 2010 ended in failure, and several other GSLV missions using a Russian-made upper stage did not succeed.

In remarks after Thursday’s launch, officials from the Indian Space Research Organization hailed the test flight and said the GSLV was ready to become operational.

A.S. Kiran Kumar, ISRO’s chairman, said Thursday’s success confirms the January 2014 launch “was no fluke. It was the result of a tremendous amount of hard work put in by the entire team to build an indigenous cryogenic engine, and today’s performance of the launch vehicle clearly demonstrates that all the systems have performed very normally, and the various intricacies of the cryogenic engine performance have been understood.”

The GSAT 6 satellite entered an orbit with a high point of 22,335 miles (35,945 kilometers), a low point of 105 miles (170 kilometers) and an inclination of 19.96 degrees, according to ISRO officials. That is close to prelaunch targets.

The GSAT 6 satellite is pictured during a solar array deployment test. Credit: ISRO

GSAT 6 will use its own engine to reach a circular orbit 22,300 miles above the equator, and it will unfurl a nearly 20-foot (6-meter) S-band antenna, the largest reflector of its kind ever flown on an Indian communications satellite.

The spacecraft carries S-band and C-band communications payloads with five spot beams and one nationwide beam. The main user of the GSAT 6 satellite will be the Indian military.

With Thursday’s success, the GSLV’s record stands at 5-for-9, including earlier variants with Russian hardware.

That compares unfavorably with India’s smaller Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which has logged 29 straight successful launches.

But the back-to-back performances by the GSLV give Indian officials hope the bigger rocket, which first flew in 2001, is finally over its early growing pains.

Once nicknamed the “naughty boy” of ISRO, the GSLV’s next flight is scheduled for June or July 2016, according to Umamaheswaran.

“Today, I’m really proud to say that this ‘naughty boy’ has been transformed to the most adored boy of ISRO,” Umamaheswaran said.

The GSLV Mk.2 can carry up to 5,500 pounds — 2.5 metric tons — to geostationary transfer orbit, the drop-off point for most communications satellites. That is nearly twice as much as the PSLV’s lift capability.

A smooth introduction of the GSLV into India’s launcher fleet is required to achieve ISRO’s goal of ramping up its launch rate. In the future, Indian space officials foresee up to six PSLV flights per year, plus an average of two GSLV missions annually.

That would double India’s current launch cadence.

“The indigenous GSLV with the indigenous cryogenic stage passed the ultimate (test) with flying colors and entered majestically into the operational phase,” said K. Sivan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, which leads India’s launch vehicle programs. “GSLV-D6 is very important for the GSLV program. This particular (flight) essentially demonstrates the robustness of the vehicle to get to operational service flights. That we got.”

India’s satellite production division also aims to build more satellites to keep up with ISRO’s busy launch rate by more than doubling the number of spacecraft delivered per year, said M. Annadurai, director of the ISRO Satellite Center in Bangalore.

With GSLV operational, India can launch almost all its satellites on its own rockets. A few exceptions — satellites too big for the GSLV — are booked on international rockets such as Europe’s Ariane 5 launcher.

India’s next launch is scheduled for Sept. 28 when a PSLV will blast off with Astrosat, the country’s first dedicated space telescope.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/08/27/indian-space-program-buoyed-by-back-to-back-gslv-successes/

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Successful Indian GSLV Launch Features Domestic Upper Stage

GSLV-D6 rocket on the launch pad at Sriharikota Space Centre, India. Credit: ISRO

PARIS—India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) rocket on Aug. 27 placed India’s GSAT-6 telecommunications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit in the second consecutive success for the vehicle’s domestically built cryogenic upper stage, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The launch follows the rocket’s January 2014 inaugural success, which came after a 2010 failure and an aborted launch.

“We have demonstrated that what happened on Jan. 5, 2014, was no fluke. All the systems performed normally and the various intricacies of the cryogenic engine have been understood,” ISRO Chairman Kiran Kumar said after the launch.

R. Umamaheswaran, ISRO’s mission director for the flight, said the next GSLV would be made ready for a launch in June or July 2016. He said the cryogenic stage, which has been upgraded since the January 2014 inaugural success, brings the GSLV rocket’s performance to up to 2,500 kilograms into geostationary transfer orbit.

ISRO officials have said that perhaps one GSLV rocket per year could be made available for commercial launches as GSLV enters the global market alongside India’s PSLV vehicle, designed mainly for Earth observation satellites heading to polar low Earth orbit.

With the advent of electric propulsion aboard commercial telecommunications satellites for both in-orbit station-keeping and orbit-raising to final geostationary position, the future market for a 2,000-kilogram-class vehicle has greatly improved.

What remains unclear is when ISRO and its commercial arm, Antrix Corp., will be able to establish a production and launch rhythm sufficient to bring launch costs down to a commercially competitive level, as they have done with the PSLV. Also unclear is the current U.S. policy on permitting U.S.-built satellites or satellite components to be exported to India for commercial missions.

The U.S. government in the past couple of years has granted export licenses for ostensibly commercial Earth observation missions, but only in the form of waivers to the current regulations. As China has found out, a ban on U.S. satellite exports is a de facto exclusion from the global commercial launch market.

The U.S. issue is not related to India’s missile-launch policy but rather to the Indian government’s refusal to commit to an agreement on commercial-launch pricing.

What did seem clear after the Aug. 27 flight is that the domestically built cryogenic engine is no longer a monkey on ISRO’s back, as it has been for years. Previous versions of the GSLV have employed a Russian-built cryogenic upper stage.

“The naughty boy has now been transformed into the most adored boy of ISRO,” Umamaheswaran said.

Operating from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, the GSLV carried the 2,117-kilogram GSAT-6 satellite into a transfer orbit that ISRO said was close to the intended drop-off point – a perigee of 170 kilometers, an apogee 35,975 kilometers and an inclination of 19.95 degrees relative to the equator.

The focus of attention was the cryogenic stage, but GSAT-6 includes several features of its own that represent firsts for ISRO, which built the satellite.

Notable among them is a 6-meter-diameter, unfurlable S-band antenna with five spot beams covering the Indian subcontinent. It is the largest satellite antenna ever built by ISRO.

The antenna was scheduled to be deployed after the satellite completed its orbit-raising maneuvers on its way to its operating position at 83 degrees east longitude in geostationary orbit. The satellite also carries a C-band payload.

http://spacenews.com/successful-indian-gslv-launch-features-homemade-upper-stage/

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Chinese spy payload fired into orbit

The Long March 4C rocket and Yaogan 27 satellite lifted off at 0231 GMT Thursday (10:31 p.m. EDT Wednesday). Credit: Xinhua

 

China sent the next in a series of military-operated spy satellites into orbit Thursday aboard a Long March 4C rocket in an unannounced launch from the country’s northeastern space center.

Fueled by a mixture of liquid hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, the three-stage Long March 4C rocket lifted off at 0231 GMT Thursday (10:31 p.m. EDT) from the Taiyuan launch base in northeastern China’s Shanxi province, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The blastoff occurred at 10:31 a.m. Beijing time and was not announced in advance by Chinese authorities, keeping with standard practice for Chinese military launches.

Xinhua reported the satellite will be used “for experiments, land surveys, crop yield estimates and disaster prevention.”

But analysts believe the spacecraft is intended to operate as a military spy satellite.

Tracking data from the U.S. military’s Space Surveillance Network shows the Long March rocket placed its payload, named Yaogan 27, into an orbit about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) above Earth at an inclination of approximately 100 degrees.

Details of Thursday’s launch match several previous flights with the same launch site, the same configuration of China’s Long March rocket family and nearly identical orbits. The commonalities likely mean Yaogan 27 is the next in a sequence of optical reconnaissance satellites designed to supply high-resolution imagery to the Chinese military and intelligence agencies.

The launch of Yaogan 27 comes after similar flights to the same type of orbit in December 2009, May 2012, November 2013 and October 2014.

Other satellites under the Yaogan name may carry radar payloads for all-weather reconnaissance and maritime surveillance sensors to track ships around the world.

Thursday’s launch was China’s fourth space launch of the year, and the 17th flight of a Long March 4C rocket.

 http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/08/27/chinese-spy-payload-fired-into-orbit/

Cheers.......

Vega C (3.5 ton payload) is eating its first stage nozzle and has a problem with low chamber pressure. Things are not going well, with another test failure last week. Vega C was planned to be an enhancement of the original Vega (1.5 ton). ESA has announced the original Vega may be coming back for small payloads until Vega C is fixed.

Heavy class Ariane 5 retired 2 days ago after 117 launches, and its replacement Ariane 6 is stuck in development hell - not expected to fly until late 2024. Maybe.

So, Europe will be using SpaceX's Falcon 9 for anything larger than a Vega payload until Ariane 6 flies. 

Using Russian launchers is out of the question for obvious reasons.

Japan's new H3 suffered its own launch failure several weeks ago.

Of course there are those who say no such thing could ever happen, but naysayers have often been wrong in every field. 

From the journal Science

https://www.science.org/content/article/could-chatbots-help-devise-next-pandemic-virus

Quote

Could chatbots help devise the next pandemic virus?

An MIT class exercise suggests AI tools can be used to order a bioweapon, but some are skeptical
14 JUN 2023

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Within the hour, the chatbots had suggested four viruses: the 1918 H1N1 influenza virus, a 2012 avian H5N1 influenza virus, the smallpox virus variola major, and a strain of the Nipah virus. In some cases, the chatbots even pointed to genetic mutations reported in the literature to increase transmission.

The AI engines also described techniques to assemble a virus from its genetic sequence, as well as the necessary lab supplies and companies that could provide them. Finally, the chatbots even suggested companies that might be willing to print genetic material without screening it, and contract labs that could help put the pieces together.

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