Space Stuff and Launch Info

[Borg]

Very interesting. They have cameras in the capsule!

And it's down successfully.

 

[mfb]

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.

 

[mfb]

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.

 

[mfb]

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.

 

[mfb]

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

 

[mfb]

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]
​

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.

 

[mfb]

Starhopper made it 0.001% the way to space.

Tweet in case this doesn't work:

 

[OmCheeto]

I thought this was a late April Fool's Day joke:



It doesn't look real, AT ALL!
But it is a time lapse, and NASA said these rockets would do something like that:

​

Sounding Rocket Mission Will Trace Auroral Winds​

[re: the AZURE mission, Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment]​

March 21, 2019​

​

...the rockets will fly up into space, making measurements of the atmospheric density and temperature with instruments on the rockets and deploying visible tracers, trimethyl aluminum (TMA) and a barium/strontium mixture, which ionizes when exposed to sunlight.​

​

These mixtures create colorful clouds that allow researchers to track the flow of neutral and charged particles, respectively. The tracers will be released at altitudes 71 to 155 miles high and pose no hazard to residents in the region.​

​

So, I guess it's not a joke.

ps. The Andøya Space Center is in Norway, in case anyone was wondering where this occurred.

[edit]
I suppose I could have just checked his reference, instead of googling for half an hour...

 

[mfb]

Something is wrong with the twitter link->image conversion (reported it), for now the only way to include them visibly is with a link that has a text:
Tweet 1
Tweet 2
Looks amazing!

Japan's Hayabusa2 has shot an impactor on its asteroid.
News report
Hayabusa 2 will take more samples of the asteroid. If it is considered safe enough it will take them from this fresh crater - the impact exposed material that had been locked away for over 4 billion years.

 

[OmCheeto]

Something is wrong with the twitter link->image conversion (reported it), for now the only way to include them visibly is with a link that has a text:
Tweet 1
Tweet 2

The conversion works on my end, with all 3 of my browsers: Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
Maybe Greg fixed it already?
Your Starhopper media link worked for me when you posted yesterday, which is why I didn't bother with the links to the actual tweets.

Anyways,

Looks amazing!

Japan's Hayabusa2 has shot an impactor on its asteroid.
News report
Hayabusa 2 will take more samples of the asteroid. If it is considered safe enough it will take them from this fresh crater - the impact exposed material that had been locked away for over 4 billion years.

"Scientists expected the impactor would excavate a crater roughly 30 feet, or 10 meters, wide.
...
Meanwhile, Hayabusa 2 backed away and traveled to a safe position on the other side the asteroid before the detonation."​

10 meters makes the crater about the size of the footprint of my house! hmmm... I'd hide too.

 

[Rive]

Falcon Heawy launch has ~ 80% chance today at 6:35 p.m. ET

 

[mfb]

Falcon Heavy launch was shifted by another 24 hours, the next launch window starts in 10 hours 40 minutes.
At spaceflightnow

Meanwhile Beresheet is preparing for its Moon landing. If successful it will make Israel the fourth country to softly land a probe on the Moon, after the Soviet Union (Jan 1966), the US (May 1966) and China (2013).
http://www.visit.spaceil.com/

 

[mfb]

Beresheet crashed, main engine failure apparently.

The Falcon Heavy launch was a success, and all three boosters have landed successfully. The second launch of this rocket and the first commercial customer. The two side-boosters will be reused for the third Falcon Heavy launch in about two months.

 

[mfb]

Bad news from Crew Dragon. The capsule used for the first uncrewed flight was tested on the ground in preparation for the in-flight abort test. An undisclosed anomaly happened during such a test and a lot of smoke was visible. Based on the little we know it looks like a problem with one of the SuperDraco engines in the abort system.
The investigation of this issue and fixing the cause will take time and will likely lead to delays in the schedule. In addition the capsule is likely to need repairs, or in the worst case even a replacement. In the best case the issue came from the SuperDraco engines being exposed to salt water during the landing - the crewed flights will all use new capsules, so it wouldn't affect these.

Nasaspaceflight has an article, expect updates over time.
Here is a picture of the smoke

Edit: Here is a video. I'm not a rocketry expert but this looks wrong. Replies suggest that the SuperDraco thrusters were not the problem.

Edit2: I created a thread

 

[mfb]

Not so much going on in terms of notable orbital launches recently.
LauncherOne plans its maiden orbital flight in May.
SpaceX plans to launch the first batch of Starlink satellites in May, taking the lead from OneWeb (6 satellites launched) in the race to the first operational mega-constellation (this will need hundreds of satellites).

Starhopper is being prepared for untethered hops - initially with one engine, later with three engines. As it needs three engines to control roll (rotation around its long axis) the initial hops will probably be short. The second of the third engines has been fired for 40 seconds at a test stand.
Meanwhile work on the orbital prototype is continuing and some more sections have been stacked. Still looks a bit like a water tower.

Edit: More details about Starhopper tests

 

[mfb]

The first batch of Starlink satellites will be launched on May 16, 2:30 UTC (90 minutes launch window starting at that time). "Dozens of satellites", the exact number is not known yet. It will immediately make Starlink one of the largest satellite constellations in orbit, probably second behind Iridium (75 satellites). Orbcomm has 31 satellites. There are 31 GPS satellites, 28 Galileo satellites and 24 Glonass satellites.

Unlike Iridium and Orbcomm, the Starlink satellites will fly in a very low Earth orbit and rely on satellite-to-satellite links, hundreds of satellites will be needed for reliable operation.

This will be the fourth flight of this particular Falcon 9 booster, the first time a booster will be used for a fourth flight. The previous flight of it launched (among other payloads) the Beresheet mission which tried to land on the Moon.Edit: 60 satellites. They are missing the satellite-to-satellite laser links, they are test satellites that won't be part of the final constellations. Still a lot you can do with 60 satellites.

From the tweet:

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Please continue to use this thread for random, one off type space event notices and discussion. For any official launches or topics that may invoke large discussions please create a new thread in this new Aerospace forum. Thanks!

 

[Borg]

NASA Invites Public to Submit Names to Fly Aboard Next Mars Rover.

I'm going! My wife doesn't know it yet but she's going too.

 

[anorlunda]

NASA Invites Public to Submit Names to Fly Aboard Next Mars Rover.

I think seats should be reserved for members of Congress; all of them.

 

[Stavros Kiri]

NASA Invites Public to Submit Names to Fly Aboard Next Mars Rover.

I'm going! My wife doesn't know it yet but she's going too.

Good luck with those! ...

 

[mfb]

The third Falcon Heavy launch, and the first for the US government, is planned for June 25, 3:30 UTC. This is the evening of the 24th in the US (11:30 PM East Coast). It will be its most complex mission so far, deploying ~25 satellites to four different groups of orbits.
The two side boosters will be reused from the recent Arabsat launch, they will return to landing pads near the launch site ~8 minutes after launch. The center stage is new, it will probably land on the drone ship.
In general booster reuse has become routine for SpaceX: The following three Falcon 9 launches will reuse boosters as well, one of them will see the fourth flight of a booster. The two previous Falcon 9 launches reused boosters, too.

India's lunar lander/rover mission Chandrayaan-2 now has July 15 as launch date (with the landing planned for September). If successful it will make India the fourth country to land softly on the Moon (as Israel's attempt failed).

A few companies planned maiden flights of smaller orbital rockets in the first half of 2019 but I didn't see recent updates, that typically means delays.

 

[mfb]

Three hours delay for Falcon Heavy due to ground system issues. Planned liftoff is now 6:30 UTC, in 2 hours and 45 minutes. The launch window extends up to 7:30 UTC.

Live coverage

Edit: Main launch was successful, second stage is still flying around deploying more and more satellites.
The two side boosters landed safely near the launch site, the center stage didn't make it. Here is a gif of the center stage crashing.

 

[gleem]

This mornings launch of the Falcon Heavy was special. Not for the number of satellites that it deployed (24) but for the fact that there were 20 distinct satellite separation events, four separate upper stage engine burns, three separate deployment orbits, along with 3 booster separation and landing events. all occurring over a 6 hour period. The only blemish being the center booster missing the drone barge 600 miles east of Canaveral.

 

[anorlunda]

The barge recovery method seems much less reliable than recovery by landing at the launch site. Is there a reason why they could not land all the boosters at Cape Canaveral?

 

[cosmik debris]

The barge recovery method seems much less reliable than recovery by landing at the launch site. Is there a reason why they could not land all the boosters at Cape Canaveral?

It's probably too far down range to make it back. It seems that they have lost a few boosters trying the barge landing, I imagine people living near the launch site might be a little concerned.

Cheer
s

 

[mfb]

The center booster separates later, farther downrange and at a much higher speed. Flying it back to the Cape would need a lot of fuel and reduce the performance of the rocket significantly. There is also no third landing pad at the moment.

The difference doesn't come so much from the barge vs. ground pad landing, the difference comes from the flight profile. The booster had the highest atmospheric re-entry speed of all landing attempts so far, it had a very large horizontal component, and it didn't have much fuel left. Its landing burn used three engines instead of one. That is more efficient, but it also means a much larger acceleration towards the end. Even a single engine gives the booster a thrust to weight ratio above 1: It cannot hover, it has to reach zero velocity and the right position just as it reaches zero height with the first attempt. With three engines it has a thrust to weight ratio above 3, that makes it even more difficult.

 

[berkeman]

Even a single engine gives the booster a thrust to weight ratio above 1: It cannot hover, it has to reach zero velocity and the right position just as it reaches zero height with the first attempt. With three engines it has a thrust to weight ratio above 3, that makes it even more difficult.

Sorry, I'm not understanding this part. A thrust-to-weight ratio above 1 means it can hover, no? If you can accelerate straight up, why can't you hover? And a T/W ratio of 3 would give you more capability to hover and move sideways, it would seem, no?

 

[mfb]

To hover you need a TWR of 1, not more not less. You can't throttle down rocket engines arbitrarily. Even at minimal thrust of a single engine the booster still has over 1.

 

[berkeman]

Oh, I get it now. Too much thrust and not easy to throttle down. Thanks.

 

[Rive]

The booster had the highest atmospheric re-entry speed...

by Elon Musk:

High entry force & heat breached engine bay & center engine TVC failed

So it looks like it could not bear that re-entry

Is there a reason why they could not land all the boosters at Cape Canaveral?

I've seen somewhere a list of options available for Falcon Heavy capabilities: in short, the further they are from 'all back to origin' the more load can they pack. In reusable mode they can do ~ 8000kg to GTO, while in full expendable mode it is above 25000kg... This mission was like a safe reusable mode for boosters and maybe-expendable for the center core.

 

[mfb]

Unless someone really needs the best possible performance they will probably always fly the side boosters back. They separate early at a low speed, reasonably easy to do so.

Falcon Heavy with all three cores flying back is not much better than Falcon 9 with the first stage landing on the drone ship.

The ship Ms. Tree (formerly Mr. Steven) caught one fairing half in its net. The recent Starlink launch demonstrated that the fairings can be reused even if they land in the water, but fairing parts that never touched salt water are easier to sell to other customers.

 

[nsaspook]

https://spacecenter.org/restoring-apollo-mission-control-center/