Boeing is looking to exit the business of space exploration. Facing a loss of over US$6 billion just this past quarter, Boeing is exploring selling its space assets, including its satellite buses, its involvement in managing the International Space Station, and the Starliner spacecraft. It would retain just management of the Space Launch System rocket. Now speculation rests on just who would take Starliner over. Some have suggested SpaceX. I myself doubt that, as that would draw anti-trust scrutiny even in a less-hostile political environment. And there's really nothing Starliner could potentially do that Dragon can't already. A more likely buyer would be Northrop Grumman. They've proven a bit more competent in its stewardship of its Orbital Sciences acquisition than Boeing has in its past acquisitions of Rockwell and McDonnell Douglas. But we shall see what their exploration leads to.
Okay, Dustbuster time again. Early this morning, SpaceX launched Cargo Dragon CRS-31, marking the 400th successful launch of the Falcon 9 platform. 389 Falcon 9, and 11 Falcon Heavy. Given the current rate of launches, the Falcon family could surpass the R-7/Soyuz family for launches within a decade. ******** Astra Space has seemed awfully quiet lately. Back in April of this year, the company was taken back private to avoid bankruptcy after defaulting on a loan last November. Last week we confirmed that the 2 Astra Spacecraft Engines that launched on the Transporter-11 mission have successfully fired on orbit. Meanwhile, here on Earth, a thruster fires with krypton in one of our vacuum chambers. pic.twitter.com/norrxJ3Hpn— Astra (@Astra) September 6, 2024 But they have been working on some payload projects recently. When Transporter-11 launched in September, it carried two ion engines developed by Astra, and they were tested successfully. A couple weeks ago, they won a $44 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. The fresh influx of cash is hoped to resuscitate development of Launch System 2, which includes their next-generation Rocket 4 launch vehicle. Rocket 4 is planned to use engines designed by Firefly Aerospace, and is being designed to lift 350kg into a polar SSO. They are using laser welding to build the rocket stages. There's no word yet on when they could begin test flights. ******** New Glenn is on the final approach to its debut flight. With EscaPADE delayed to early next year, this first flight is now planned to launch Blue Ring, Blue Origin's planned satellite servicing platform. Blue Ring is intended to support satellites with a dry weight of up to 2,000 kg. It carries extra propulsion and power augmentation via roll-out solar arrays. Blue Ring will remain attached to the New Glenn upper stage for testing. #NewGlenn’s GS1 is on the move! Our transporter comprises two trailers connected by cradles and a strongback assembly designed in-house. There are 22 axles and 176 tires on this transport vehicle. It’s towed by an Oshkosh M1070, a repurposed U.S. Army tank transporter, with 505… pic.twitter.com/4Qq7Ofq2g2— Dave Limp (@davill) October 30, 2024 The completed rocket was rolled out to Pad 36, Cape Canaveral, for the first time last Wednesday. Blue Origin is hoping to launch it later this month. ******** 🎦IMAGES FROM THIS MORNING'S LAUNCH🔸At 6:48 UTC the Japanese H3-22S rocket liftoff with the aim of placing the Kirameki-3 satellite in geostationary orbit. pic.twitter.com/qW1MbRHHEr— OrbitNowEN (@OrbitNowEN) November 4, 2024 Meanwhile, H3 is on a winning streak. Early yesterday morning at 1:48am EST, an H3-22S rocket launched DSN-3 joint-venture comsat for DSN and the Japan Self Defense Forces. Upon reaching orbit, it was rechristened Kirameki 3.
36 years ago today, USA-33, the ninth KH-11 KENNEN reconnaissance satellite, was launched atop a Titan 34D rocket from Pad 4E, Vandenberg AFB. USA-33 was the fourth and last of the Block 2 KH-11 satellites, codenamed CRYSTAL. It was believed to be capable of simultaneously taking photos in both visible light and infrared. The satellite re-entered in May 1996. It was the last launch of the Titan 34D from Vandenberg. The pad would be refitted for the Titan IV. This would not include cryogenic facilities to support the Centaur upper stage, as the variants of the Titan IV used at Vandenberg were not equipped with upper stages.
67 years ago today, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave an address about the necessity of science education in the Cold War. Earlier in the day, he was shown the intact nose cone of a PGM-19 Jupiter medium-range ballistic missile which has been launched into space and survived atmospheric re-entry. Given the timing, it likely came from a Jupiter missile test-launched on August 8 from Pad 6, Cape Canaveral. He announced the creation of an executive branch office, the Special Assistant to the President on Science and Technology. It would be staffed by James Killian, the president of MIT. In the aftermath of Prosteishiy Sputnik a month earlier, Killian found an environment of discouragement initially. At that point, with the removal of Robert Oppenheimer from the Atomic Energy Commission, it was clear that the pursuit of scientific achievement was being overtaken by the Minitary-Industrial Complex. Killian would act to guide President Eisenhower to carve spaceflight back into a primarily civilian cause.
One of the payloads aboard Cargo Dragon CRS-31 is a unique innovation: a cubesat made of wood. LignoSat 1 was developed by Kyoto University with the aid of logging company Sumitomo Forestry. The sides and frames are crafted from honoki, or Japanese magnolia wood. This is the variety of wood typically used to produce sheaths for traditional swords. It was assembled using the sashimono method to put it together without fasteners or glue. It contains typical electronics, and is lined with solar panels. The plan is to launch LignoSat from Kibō's experiment airlock some time this month to test the durability of using wood for autonomous satellites. LignoSat 1 is of the 1U cubesat size standard. If all goes well, then an enlarged 2U version, LignoSat 2, could launch as soon as 2026. ******** Over the next week, there are three Starlink launches planned from Cape Canaveral, and two from Vandenberg. It will begin with this afternoon at 5:43pm EST from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral. The next commercial launch by SpaceX will be Koreasat 6A, which will take the place of Koreasat 6. It is planned to launch Monday afternoon at 12:07pm EST, from Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center. ******** Recently, NASA admonished SpaceX for the issues they have had recently with their Falcon 9 upper stages. In addition to the liquid oxygen leak on July 12, there was an issue with the deorbit burn following SpaceX Crew-9 on September 28. The performance was not as intended, and it ended up re-entering downrange from where it was planned. The FAA grounded the Falcon 9 for another two weeks to investigate the issue, though an exemption was made for the launch of Hera on October 7. It was reactivated on October 11. NASA reminded SpaceX to maintain its commitment to high safety standards. The rash of issues was not entirely unanticipated with the increase of launch cadence for Falcon 9. In fact, such issues were likely well overdue since the most recent launch mishap was in 2015, and the most recent pre-launch anomaly was in 2016. That was 334 straight successful launches just for single-stick Falcon 9.
13 years ago today, Fobos-Grunt was launched atop a Zenit-2SB rocket from Site 45/1, Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was Russia's most ambitious interplanetary mission. They wanted to land a prob on the Martian moon Phobos, collect samples, and return them to Earth. The bus probe, Yinghuo-1, was produced by the People's Republic of China. The hope was for the samples to return to Earth in August 2014. But this is Russia we're talking about. Immediately after achieving orbit, communications with the probe became spotty. It missed two opportunities to ignite the upper stage to send it to Mars. The probe would re-enter two months later.
There are currently two DoD missions planned for the Vulcan rocket by the end of the year. Neither are inked in yet, but they are planning a launch for the Air Force Research Laboratory by the end of this month, and two more situational awareness satellites for the Space Force in December. Both are being planned for the VC4S configuration of 4 SRMs and the short fairing. ******** As for SpaceX, their pickup launch for the Indian GSAT-20 comsat is scheduled now for Wednesday, November 20, at 1:30pm EST from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral. They have also tentatively set November 18 for the sixth Starship flight test. This time, they will be aiming to launch at 5pm EST, which means Starship will be touching down in its landing zone during daylight. This time, they will be attempting to light Starship's Raptor engines in orbit, something they haven't planned for since flight 3. Flight 3, of course, saw Starship burn up on re-entry as it ran out of fuel and couldn't maneuver during re-entry. Both Flights 4 and 5 saw Starship survive to stick soft landings in the Indian Ocean, though with varying levels of burnthrough on its flaps. In both cases, they had minimal fuel remaining at "landing", but just enough to do the necessary maneuvers, even with the damage to their fins. Considering how much fuel was left in the Super Heavy for its RTLS and Mechazilla catch in Flight 5, I suspect the first stage will fire for a little longer, giving Starship more fuel to play with for its maneuvers. Transporter-12, the next dedicated rideshare, is planned for later this month. The sheer number of satellites appears to be smaller so far, but there seems to be more larger smallsats. How's that for an oxymoron? ******** The next Firefly Alpha rocket could fly at any time for its next Responsive Space Mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. It will carry twelve cubesats, including two for NASA, on their Elytra cubesat dispenser. They also have another launch planned for later this month carrying two Earth observation satellites for Spanish company Satlantis. ******** Vega-C is finally returning to action. It has a planned launch on December 3 at 4:20pm EST from Pad V, Guiana Space Centre, carrying the next Sentinel Earth observation satellite.
Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev was born on November 10, 1888, in Pustomazovo Village, Russia, about 50 miles north of Moscow. His father was a discredited lawyer; he had been exiled from the Tsarist court following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Tupolev would enter Imperial Moscow Tech in 1908 to study aerodynamics. Under the tutelage of Russian aviation pioneer Nikolai Zhukovsky, he built his first glider in 1910. The next year, he was arrested for revolutionary activities, and would not be able to return to school until 1914, when he was needed for the Great War. By the time he finally graduated in 1918, the Bolsheviks were in charge of Russia. He would spend years as a professor at what was now Moscow Higher Technical School. He would found the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in 1929, and remain connected to it for the rest of his life. In 1925, he designed the first Soviet bomber, the Tupolev TB-1. Tupolev was caught up in the Great Purge in 1937, and would spend the next four years in prison. Once again, he would be freed due to existential need because of the Great Patriotic War. But like Sergei Korolev, he would not be fully rehabilitated until 1955. After the war, he led efforts to reverse-engineer the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber. The United States refused to simply give the Soviet Union one in Lend Lease, so they took some B-29 bombers that went down in Soviet-controlled territory following bombing runs over Japan. The result was the Tupolev Tu-4 bomber. Tupolev would continue to move into jets, designing the first Soviet jetliner, the Tu-104. He would continue to work through the 1960s, being a favorite of Nikita Khruschev. But his influence would wane after Khruschev was removed, as his design bureau would be eclipsed by Ilyushin. He died in Moscow on December 23, 1972, aged 84. His wife died 10 years earlier. He left two children. His son, Alexei, would take over the Tupolev bureau, and ultimately finished design of the Tu-144 supersonic jetliner, as well as the Buran space shuttle. His design bureau would be merged with all the other Russian aviation bureaux in 2006 into United Aircraft Corporation, though each would remain separate divisions. By that point, Alexei himself had been dead for five years.
When you have a probe that's over 45 years old, and is still somewhat functional, you're bound to have problems with it. Last month, NASA lost contact with Voyager 1 yet again after its fault protection system was activated by a heater. This muffled its primary X-band transmitter. Initially, it greatly reduced its data rate, which was already low with the gargantuan distance. But a second fault shut it down entirely. At that point, it activated its backup S-band transmitter. It's much fainter, but by some miracle the Deep Space Network was still able to detect its signal. JPL is now working to determine what went wrong with the X-band transmitter. Because if they can't reactivate it, then we will have a new bottleneck on how long the probe will last. Hopefully this doesn't mean they're neglecting Voyager 2 yet again. Issues after the launch of Voyager 1 led to JPL not communicating with 2 for months afterward. This caused its primary transmitter to fail. And its backup transmitter was found to have a bad capacitor, so it has to receive signals at a more precise frequency to communicate with Earth. Its last issue was a misalignment issue in July 2023. The Deep Space Network antenna in Canberra sent a high-power "shout" to force it to re-align with Earth. A few months later, they used Voyager 2 to test the programming being made for Voyager 1 to optimize its ailing thruster system. During that time, Voyager 2 finally passed Pioneer 10 to become the second most-distant human-made object from the Sun.
So, a month ago, the California Coastal Commission rejected a proposal for SpaceX to increase its launch cadence from Vandenberg Space Force Base. This would've included the activation of SpaceX facilities being constructed at Pad 6, formerly used by the Space Shuttle, Athena, and the Delta IV Medium and Heavy. Not only did SpaceX sue in federal court, but state-level politicians got involved. And last week, the California Coastal Commission reversed the rejection, permitting SpaceX to ramp up its launch cadence at Pad 4E from 37 launches per year to 50. They cited a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) from the U.S. Space Force. It will also reserve an additional 50 launches once Pad 6 comes back online next year. SpaceX is planning their first Falcon 9 launch from Pad 6 in 2025, and their first Falcon Heavy launch from there in 2026. It is unknown which launch will be first from Pad 6. The manifest for 2025 has a total of eight Falcon 9 launches that could launch from Vandenberg, but do not have a launch pad earmarked yet. This includes a few Transporter SSO rideshare missions which could also launch from Cape Canaveral. There hasn't been a Transporter launch from Cape Canaveral since Transporter-6 in January 2023. Though they did launch NASA's PACE oceanography satellite into polar orbit from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral, this past February.
Crypto is about to come to the Moon. Firefly Aerospace and IAI have finished the Blue Ghost lunar lander, carrying ten science experiments and 150 kg in cargo as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Service. Part of the non-scientific cargo is a delivery gathered by Copernic Space. It includes several NFTs and other assets associated with various cryptocurrencies. The lander is currently aiming to launch on December 30 atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX is in another cluster of launches. Falcon 9 lifts off from pad 39A in Florida pic.twitter.com/Dm3uiNSiNQ— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 18, 2024 Yesterday at 5:19pm EST, a Falcon 9 rocket launched a comsat designed by Australian communications company Optus from Pad 39A, Kennedy Space Center. Details are actually limited on the payload, labeled TD7, so there is speculation that it is a military payload for ANZAC coordination. Booster 1077.17 brought Falcon 9's 369th successful booster landing. Nice. A set of Starlink satellites was launched from Pad 4E, Vandenberg, early this morning at 12:53am EST. The launch of Indian comsat GSAT-20 is still planned for this afternoon 1:31pm EST from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral. Further on, SiriusXM's SXM-9 has been penciled in for December 2. And Starship flight 6 is still planned for tomorrow afternoon, with its launch window opening at 5pm EST. Having one of those at a more prime timeslot might even bring greater attention to the gigantic rocket.
I realized there's a few things I've missed this year. I was planning on giving a full mission review for Apollo 12, but I completely missed that. Almost. ******** 55 years ago today was Day 11 of Apollo 12. Just like Apollo 11, re-entry went well, and CM Yankee Clipper splashed down at 3:58pm EST in the South Pacific, in an area roughly equidistant to Samoa, Niue, and Arutanga of the Cook Islands. It was close to where Apollo 10 had ended its mission. Upon impact on the water, an improperly stowed camera dislodged and struck LM pilot Alan Bean in the forehead. He suffered a concussion, and required a few stitches. As with Apollo 11, he, commander Pete Conrad, and CM pilot Richard Gordon were wiped down with betadyne and put in containment suits. After being medevaced to their recovery vessel, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, they were put in a mobile quarantine facility, MQF002. Once USS Hornet docked in Honolulu, the MQF was flown to Ellington AFB in Houston for the remainder of the crew's quarantine. The parts of Surveyor 3 that were recovered by Conrad and Bean were shipped ahead to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, along with nearly 74 pounds of lunar samples taken from Mare Cognitum. Yankee Clipper was shown at the 1970 Paris Air Show before being taken to Langley Research Center. Today, it is on display at Langley's visitors center, the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Virginia. The location of the descent stage of LM Intrepid, along with Surveyor 3, were identified by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2009. They would be photographed again from a lower altitude in 2011.
Dragonfly is a lot further along than I thought. The drone which will be the next explorer of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, was made possible by the Ingenuity helicopter which flew on Mars for nearly three years. But as it turns out, the mission was approved in June 2019 as part of the fourth round of NASA New Frontiers planetary mission funding. NASA just awarded SpaceX the launch contract for the probe, which they hope to send on its way in 2028 atop a Falcon Heavy, with arrival at Titan planned for 2034. Dragonfly will use a 70-watt mmRTG. As I noted previously, the dense atmosphere on Titan, which averages 1,450 hPa, will permit it to have much smaller rotors than Ingenuity required on Mars when combined with its lesser gravity. Falcon Heavy will allow the probe to be launched almost directly to Saturn. Though I would not be surprised if this will require the side boosters to be expended in the launch. NASA is aiming for a three-week launch window in July 2028. The mission will do a single fly-by of Earth; as currently planned, it would be the first mission to Saturn that will not involve a fly-by of Jupiter.
13 years ago today, the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, was launched atop an Atlas V 541 rocket from Pad 41, Cape Canaveral. The follow-up to the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, this rover landed at Gale crater after a nine-month cruise. Unlike the MER rovers, it was lowered to the surface by a sky crane, permitting a more targeted landing. Its landing location was renamed Bradbury Landing after sci-fi author Ray Bradbury. Powered by a 110-watt mmRTG, it has only lost 10 watts of electrical output in the past 13 years. It is currently on its fourth mission extension, but there's no reason to believe it won't be extended further so long as its experiments are functioning. It began using its backup central computer in October 2018 after the primary stopped storing data in on-board storage. Curiosity has traveled 33 km around Gale crater, crossing Bagnold Dunes and the Vera Rubin Ridge. It is currently in the Mount Sharp region of nearby Aeolis Mons.
Blue Ghost is ready for the next leg of the trip! Our team of #GhostRiders aced environmental testing for Firefly's upcoming mission to the Moon for @NASA that will help pave the way for a lasting lunar presence. With this milestone behind us, we're ready to ship our lander to… pic.twitter.com/ZI5ngvI5gB— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) November 25, 2024 The Blue Ghost lunar lander has completed environmental testing, and is being shipped to Cape Canaveral. Its launch has been delayed slightly, and is now penciled in for January. RESILIENCE is also still planned for January, so we could get two lunar landings next month.
11 years ago today, SES-8 was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 40, Cape Canaveral. It was the first dedicated commercial launch for the Falcon 9, and SpaceX's first launch above LEO. They would use a supersynchronous transfer orbit, demonstrating the second stage's capabilities by launching to an initial apogee above the Clarke belt. In order to do this, SpaceX would need to reignite the second stage Merlin 1D Vacuum engine, an achievement that had eluded them in previous missions. This was precluded in Cargo Dragon CRS-1 by a first-stage engine-out, causing NASA to bar them from attempting to deploy their Orbcomm secondary payload. And a test firing failed after they deployed CASSIOPE, a Canadian resources satellite, two months earlier in their first launch from Vandenberg. For this mission, they were able to complete the reignition. From there, SES-8 was released, and would finish getting to its final orbit under its own power. It would be placed at 95°E, serving Southeast Asia from India to Vietnam. It works in tandem with NSS-6, which was moved to that location after its original deployment at 165°W prior to NSS's acquisition by SES. The second stage was left with a low perigee in its final orbit, and would re-enter in September 2014.
62 years ago today, a test launch of the LGM-25C Titan II ICBM was conducted from Pad 16, Cape Canaveral. NASA had already established its desire to use the Titan II for Project Gemini. But before they did that, they needed to fix the missile's issues involving pogo oscillations. The initial belief that a contributing factor was a coupling between the LR-87 first-stage engine and the missile hull. But a fix implemented on this launch doubled the oscillations, effectively ruling that out as a cause. Damage from the pogo caused premature shutdown of the first-stage engine. The missile achieved an apogee of 500 km, but greatly missed its targets for the primary mission of testing the Mk.4 warhead re-entry vehicle, so the launch itself was deemed a failure.