Tag: engineering

SpaceX Successfully Launches More Starlink Satellites

UPI reports that SpaceX successfully “launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of nearly two dozen Starlink satellites into space from Florida’s famed Cape Canaveral late Wednesday.” The rocket “launched at 11:36 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.” The mission “deployed 22 additional Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit where they will join a constellation of thousands that provide high-speed, low latency Internet worldwide.” The first-stage booster “returned to Earth where it landed upon the autonomous barge A Shortfall of Gravitas that had awaited its return in the Atlantic Ocean.” The launch – which “was SpaceX’s 56th of the year and 255th overall – came hours before SpaceX was to launch a second Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of 21 Starlink orbitals from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 1:42 am PT, or 4:42 a.m. EDT.”
Full Story (UPI)



Video

Starlink Mission, August 16, 2023
(SpaceX; YouTube)

Lockheed Martin, NASA Working Around the Clock to Complete Artemis II’s Orion Capsule in Time for 2024 Launch

NASA Space Flight reports that the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission “is nearing final assembly and testing at prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) production facility.” After a final standalone test “on the Orion crew module (CM), it is expected to be mated to the service module (SM) in mid-September.” If there are no problems “in the remaining months of testing, Lockheed Martin believes they can complete their work by the end of April next year.” NASA is “planning Artemis II as a week-and-a-half long, lunar-flyby mission; it will be the first crewed test flight for Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) and the four-person astronaut crew recently visited KSC together for the first time to see their spacecraft.” NASA is still “retaining its late November 2024 launch forecast as a ‘work to’ date, although the pace of work is currently ‘a number of weeks’ behind that forecast.”
Full Story (NASA Space Flight)

China Launches World’s First Geosynchronous Orbit Radar Satellite of its Kind

Space News reports that China “launched what is thought to be the world’s first geosynchronous orbit synthetic aperture radar satellite on Saturday.” A Long March 3B rocket “lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China at 1:36 p.m. Eastern (1736 UTC) Aug. 12.” The Land Exploration-4 01 (Ludi Tance-4 (01)) satellite successfully “entered geosynchronous transfer orbit, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. … (CASC) announced within an hour of liftoff.” Few details of the satellite “were provided by CASC.” However the group’s “blue book” outlining plans for 2023 released in January noted the launch of a “high-orbit 20-meter [resolution] SAR satellite.” The L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite “will provide all-day, all-weather observation of China and surrounding areas, boosting the country’s disaster prevention, reduction, and relief capabilities.”
Full Story (Space News)

FAA Issues Safety Warning for 737 MAX Anti-Icing Systems

Economic Times (IND) reported that the Federal Aviation Administration is warning airlines to limit the use of an anti-icing system on Boeing’s 737 MAX jets in dry air to avoid overheating engine-housing components which could cause them to break away from the plane, with the finding affecting CFM International LEAP-1B engines used on all versions of the aircraft.

DOD Considering “All” Options as it Seeks Upgrades to F-35’s Cooling System

Breaking Defense reports the “Defense Department is considering ‘all’ options as it seeks upgrades to the F-35’s cooling system, … with the F-35 Joint Program Office not ruling out the potential for a new competition to upgrade the system currently provided by incumbent producer Honeywell Aerospace.” Honeywell makes the F-35’s Power and Thermal Management System (PTMS), “which combines an auxiliary power unit, environmental control and emergency power into a single apparatus that, among other capabilities, cools off the aircrafts subsystems. The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) wants to upgrade the PTMS in order to enable future capabilities on the fifth-generation aircraft.” When asked “whether the F-35 program is planning a competition to field a new PTMS, JPO spokesman Russ Goemaere on Thursday said, ‘All PTMS options will be assessed to ensure we provide the greatest capability to the warfighter.’”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)

Virgin Galactic Flies First Tourists to the Edge of Space

Reuters reports that on Thursday, Virgin Galactic “blasted three tourists to the edge of space aboard its air-launched VSS Unity spaceplane, a live stream showed, the Richard Branson-founded company’s second commercial mission as it starts routine flights.” The rocket-powered VSS Unity craft “dropped from the carrier plane over New Mexico around 9:20 a.m. local time and blasted its four passengers, a company instructor and three tourists, to an altitude of roughly 55 miles (88.51 km).” Aerospace America reports that the tourists onboard “were Anastatia Mayers, 18; her mother, Keisha Schahaff, 46; and Jon Goodwin, 80, of the United Kingdom.” Mayers and Schahaff won their tickets “to board the Virgin Galactic flight in a drawing run by Colorado nonprofit Space for Humanity, which has a goal to send 10,000 people to space in the next 10 years.” Goodwin paid $250,000 “for his ticket in 2005 when Virgin Galactic first began selling them.” The crew members “were mission commander Frederick ‘CJ’ Sturckow, pilot Kelly Latimer and Beth Moses, the company’s chief astronaut instructor.” Previous Virgin Galactic flights “had carried test pilots, company founder Richard Branson, company employees and, most recently, two Italian Air Force officers and an aerospace engineer from the National Research Council of Italy.”
Full Story (Reuters); Full Story (Aerospace America)

Vertical Aerospace’s Air Taxi Prototype Appears to Have Crashed

Aerospace America reports that a remotely piloted air taxi prototype “appears to have crashed during testing at the company’s Flight Test Centre at Cotswold Airport, based on photos posted online by local journalists.” Vertical Aerospace confirmed that its VX4 all-electric “experimental prototype” was involved in an “incident” at the test center, and said “there were no injuries.” The statement “was made in a note filed today to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).” Vertical is “required to reveal ‘results of operations’ and other significant developments to SEC because its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.” The company told the SEC, “Our flight test programme is designed to establish the limits of the aircraft’s performance, and the incident occurred during an uncrewed test of the aircraft’s maneuverability during a motor failure test scenario, which is a key requirement to progress to crewed operations.”
Full Story (Aerospace America)

Slingshot 1 Provides Aerospace Corp with Demonstration of Satellite Integration

Space News reports that through the Slingshot 1 mission, the Aerospace Corp. “has demonstrated how open standards and nonproprietary interfaces can help streamline satellite integration and operation.” Aerospace Slingshot Payload Operator David Hinkley said that after more than a year of on-orbit operations, Slingshot “has been a huge success.” The 19 Slingshot payloads “were developed independently and integrated in a couple of weeks prior to launch in July 2022 of the 12-unit cubesat on a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket.” Speedy integration “was possible thanks to Handle, a modular plug-and-play interface that allows payloads to draw power from the satellite bus and to communicate with the satellite and other payloads.”
Full Story (Space News)

NRO Contracts Firefly, Xtenti for Responsive Space Mission

Aviation Week reports Firefly Aerospace is “parlaying technology” developed for its “Alpha launch vehicle and Blue Ghost lunar lander with expertise acquired through its purchase of Spaceflight into a new business line focused on in-space services, with the National Reconnaissance Office.” Space News reports that on Tuesday, NRO “announced a contract with Firefly Aerospace and Xtenti for a responsive space mission.” The NRO mission is “scheduled to launch on a Firefly Alpha launch vehicle in 2024,” and will “demonstrate multiple on-orbit deployments with Firefly’s Elytra orbital vehicle and Xtenti’s Fantm-Ride small satellite dispenser.” Elytra will “deploy commercial rideshare payloads with Fantm-Ride, before performing an on-orbit maneuver.” After the maneuver, Elytra “will remain in orbit on standby, prepared to deploy U.S. government payloads on-demand.”
Full Story (Aviation Week); More Info (Space News)