Space News reported that SpaceX “is prepared to shift testing of its Starship next-generation launch vehicle from Texas to Florida if there are extended delays in an ongoing environmental review.” SpaceX founder Elon Musk said, “We don’t have a ton of insight into where things stand with the FAA. We have gotten sort of a rough indication that there may be an approval in March, but that’s all we know.” Musk also suggested that the Boca Chica Starbase is “well suited to be our advanced R&D location, where we would try out new designs and new versions of the rocket.”
Full Story (Space News)
Tag: Astronautical
Ingenuity Performs 19th Flight, Perseverance Sets Distance Record
SPACE reports that the Ingenuity helicopter “aced a 100-second sortie on Tuesday (Feb. 8), its 19th Red Planet flight overall but its first since Dec. 15.” The flight had been planned for January 5 but was delayed due to a dust storm near the Jezero Crater on Mars.
Full Story (SPACE)
NOAA to Move GOES into Position Over Western United States
Space News reports that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “will move its next Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) weather satellite into position over the Western United States soon after launch to speed up data delivery to the National Weather Service.” After the GOES-18 satellite is deployed into geostationary transfer orbit, “the satellite will spend about three weeks moving to geostationary orbit.”
Full Story (Space News)
ULA Atlas V Rocket Rolls to Pad at Cape Canaveral, Setting Stage for Friday Liftoff
Florida Today reports that a “nearly 200-foot Atlas V rocket rolled to its pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday, setting the stage for liftoff from Launch Complex 41 a little more than 24 hours later.” Just before noon, United Launch Alliance confirmed that the “rocket’s mobile platform secured itself on four “piers” at the pad, marking the end of rollout operations with two Space Force satellites onboard.” Unlike other rockets, “Atlas V is configurable based on mission needs. For this flight known as USSF-8, the rocket is set to the 511 configuration: a five-meter payload fairing, one upper stage engine, and one additional side-mounted solid rocket booster.” Liftoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Friday, the “opening of a roughly two-hour window.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
DARPA to Test Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft
Space News reported that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to “send to orbit a spacecraft powered by a nuclear propulsion system.” The technology “could give the U.S. military an advantage over enemies by making satellites more maneuverable and less vulnerable to attack.” DARPA’s Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2025.
Full Story (Space News)
Ingenuity Prepares for First Flight of 2022
CNET News reported that NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter “is getting ready to take its first flight of the year, and its 19th flight overall. The Ingenuity team anticipates takeoff could be tough due to the terrain it’s sitting on.” The flight is “scheduled to take place no earlier than Friday.”
Full Story (Air Force Magazine)
James Webb Space Telescope Deploys ADIR
SPACE reports that the James Webb Space Telescope deployed its Aft Deployable Instrument Radiator (ADIR) Thursday at about 8:38 a.m. EST. The ADIR “is a 4 foot (1.2 meters) by 8 foot (2.4 m) panel attached to the back of the observatory and connected by aluminum foil straps to Webb’s instruments. The radiator is covered in honeycomb cells with an ultra-black surface, allowing the mechanism to pull heat away from the observatory instruments and send it into space.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Chinese Space Station Maneuvered to Avoid Collision with Starlink Satellites
Space News reported that China “has informed the United Nations that its crewed space station twice maneuvered to avoid potential collisions with SpaceX Starlink satellites earlier this year.” A notification “dated Dec. 6 by China under Article V of the Outer Space Treaty stated that the Tianhe space station module conducted preventive collision avoidance due to close approaches by the Starlink-1095 (2020-001BK) and Starlink-2305 (2021-024N) satellites on July 1 and Oct. 21[,] respectively.” The two Starlink satellites had lowered their altitudes as part of deorbiting maneuvers carried out at the end of service life.
Full Story (Space News)
AIAA Statement on Successful Launch of James Webb Space Telescope
For Immediate Release
December 25, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:
“On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we congratulate NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the entire James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) team on today’s successful launch. This amazing observatory will allow us to look into the history of our cosmos. We look forward to the new discoveries from JWST that will help us understand the origins of the universe.
Countless AIAA professional members have dedicated years of their careers to the research, engineering, testing, and development of this incredible astronomy mission. In addition, numerous academic and industry partners on the JWST team are AIAA corporate members who contributed mightily to this mission. Applying their technical expertise with determination and perseverance since 1996 has led us to this exciting day. Over the years, they have chronicled their work on JWST by authoring articles for AIAA journals and meeting papers for AIAA forums. These original research results and technological progress on JWST have been published in AIAA’s Aerospace Research Central, at arc.aiaa.org, to fulfill our commitment to ensuring students and professionals can stay current on the most important advances in aerospace science and technology. Through the combined efforts of AIAA members on the JWST mission, they are shaping the future of aerospace.”
Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
About ASCEND
Powered by AIAA, ASCEND promotes the collaborative, interdisciplinary, outcomes-driven community of professionals, students, and enthusiasts around the world who are accelerating humanity’s progress toward our off-world future! For more information, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Boeing Positive on T-7 Potential
Air Force Times reported that Boeing Company officials are confident that the “high-tech methods Boeing used to design and build the T-7 are saving time, simplifying processes, improving quality and cutting down on defects.” Boeing Vice President and T-7 Program Manager Paul Niewald said, “Everything’s in 3D, everything’s digital. It’s an authoritative source of data. So our technical publications, our flight manuals, our service manuals, they all use the same data that the engineers are using, that our mechanics are using to build the airplane.”
Full Story (Air Force Times)