NASA and other global space programs (excluding Indian) news, Updates and Discussions

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Wikipedia for overview of the new rocket for noobs.

SLS are biggest rockets to be made in human history besides Saturn V.
NASA's SLS vs India's space capabilities
  • It's five-segment solid rocket boosters produce 3 times more thrust than India's current S-200 solid rocket boosters. We will either have to build bigger SRBs or put more SRBs on a single rocket.
  • It's RS-25D/E main engine is more than twice in thrust over our current Vikas-X engine but similar to our under development SCE-200 engine which will come in service no earlier than 2026. We then can cluster engines just like NASA for launch but we lack a facility yet to test 4 engines together for such a rocket stage which will produce 7 to 8 MN thrust at once.
  • It's second and upper stage RL10 C-3 cryogenic engines are although are just 50% against thrust of India's current CE-20 cryogenic engine. So we might not have to cluster as many engines on upper stage or even might achieve a higher payload capacity to TLI and TMI.
So, if funded now, India can produce a similar SHLV sometime in mid-2030s. Though, there is no point to have an SHLV in absence of an indigenous human spaceflight capability and space station. China might churn out a similar launcher in second half of this decade though.
 

DumbPilot

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Wikipedia for overview of the new rocket for noobs.

SLS are biggest rockets to be made in human history besides Saturn V.
I would say it's the biggest rocket to be flown yet besides Saturn V. Starship is bigger than SLS Block I Crew(one that launched today) but is pretty much equal to SLS Block II Crew and Cargo

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DumbPilot

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This is epic.

With Orion we have live feed cams, so expect a lot of real space footage on important events(TLI-trans lunar injection, lunar orbit injection, work around the NRHO where Orion will spend its time)

 

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Japan space agency gives up on landing Moon probe

Japan's space agency said Tuesday it has given up on landing the country's ultra-small space probe on the Moon after communication with the lander failed to stabilize following its launch last week.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the Omotenashi lander could not receive transmissions from Earth to correct its trajectory and position, as its solar cells kept facing away from the sun. Attempts to correct its position and orbit were also unsuccessful, the agency said.

Tatsuaki Hashimoto, a professor at JAXA, called the development a "failure beyond failure" at a press conference following the decision to forgo the moon landing.

Development costs for the probe were 800 million yen ($5.6 million), he said.

JAXA hoped the box-shaped lander, measuring 11 centimeters in length, 24 cm in width, and 37 cm in height and weighing 12.6 kilograms, would have become the country's first probe to land on the lunar surface.

The Omotenashi, touted as the world's smallest lunar lander, was launched Wednesday from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the U.S. megarocket Space Launch System.

After the launch, the lander was successfully separated from the rocket and started to travel toward the Moon.

But its solar cells failed to function as its body rotated away from the sun once every four to five seconds, which is eight times faster than the assumed limit.

Waiting until the solar cells recovered on Tuesday or later would have meant losing the opportunity to enter a lunar orbit and land on the Moon, the agency said.
 

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2022: More space launches than any year in history since 1957

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USSR conducted 108 orbital launches in 1982.

More than 2/3 of US launches come from one company.:bplease:


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First Arab mission to the moon's surface, in which UAE's 10-kg lunar rover will land in Atlas crater aboard iSpace's Hakuto-R lander of Japan, to be launched by SpaceX's Falcon-9 on Nov.30
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skywatcher

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Booster 7 completed a long-duration static fire test of 11 Raptor 2 engines on the orbital launch pad at Starbase yesterday
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skywatcher

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Five methalox launchers almost ready for orbital flight
Blue Origin New Glenn
Land Space Zhuque-2
Relativity Terran-1
SpaceX Starship
ULA Vulcan
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Britain's groundbreaking satellite launch ends in failure
NEWQUAY, England, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Britain's attempt to become the first European nation to launch satellites into space ended in bitter disappointment early on Tuesday when Virgin Orbit said its rocket had suffered an anomaly that prevented it from reaching orbit.
The "horizontal launch" mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin's LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 called "Cosmic Girl", and later released over the Atlantic Ocean.
"We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit," the company said. "We are evaluating the information."
The failure deals a further blow to European space ambitions after an Italian-built Vega-C rocket mission failed after lift-off from French Guiana in late December.
The rockets have since been grounded. read more
https://www.reuters.com/business/ae...iled-italian-vega-c-rocket-launch-2022-12-21/
Europe has suffered a series of setbacks in the past year, with its key Ariane 6 launcher delayed, access to Russian Soyuz rockets blocked by the Ukraine war, Vega grounded and now a showcase launch for the burgeoning small launcher industry abandoned.
Virgin Orbit had initially said on Twitter that LauncherOne had reached earth orbit, a tweet it later deleted.
"Over the coming days there will be an investigation by the government and various bodies, including Virgin Orbit," Matt Archer, Commercial Space Director at the UK Space Agency said.
Virgin Orbit (VORB.O), part-owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, had planned to deploy nine small satellites into lower Earth orbit (LEO) in its first mission outside its United States base.
The mission had been heralded as a historic first for Cornwall, Britain and Europe, and thousands of enthusiasts watching from beside the runway cheered when "Cosmic Girl" took off and when they were told the rocket had been deployed.
The crowd quickly and quietly dispersed following the announcement of failure.
MISSION FAILURE
A mission failure would be the second in Virgin Orbit's history since its first launch in 2020. The company has had four successful missions.
Archer, at the UK Space Agency, said the a first stage burn had taken the rocket into space but the second stage had a "technical anomaly and didn't reach the required orbit".
A graphic display on an official video feed showed the mission at second-engine cut-off, three steps short of payload deployment about two hours after take-off.
The war in Ukraine has highlighted the importance for tactical military purposes of smaller satellites, like those being launched from Newquay, which can get into low orbit at much shorter notice than bigger ones.
It was not immediately clear how the failure, which will have to be investigated, would affect the timing or location of future missions. Virgin Orbit Chief Executive Dan Hart told reporters on Sunday that the company hoped to return to Newquay before the end of 2023.
Britain says it is the leading non-U.S. manufacturer of satellites, with 47,000 people employed in its space industry, and has called for the development of multiple potential microlaunch sites including two vertical launchpads in Scotland.
The UK Space Agency had described the Cornish mission as a moment of national pride for Britain's growing space industry while Britain's minister for science, George Freeman, told Reuters at the spaceport that it was a "historic moment".
"Lots and lots of things have been achieved and yet the milestone is obviously disappointing," Archer said. "But we will continue to press on and we will get there in the end."
 

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ULA's methane powered new toy Vulcan almost ready for first launch
Payload: Peregrine Moon lander

 

skywatcher

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SpaceX edges closer to first Starship orbital launch attempt
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SEATTLE — SpaceX and its chief executive, Elon Musk, say the first orbital launch attempt of its Starship vehicle is approaching, but the company must first overcome both technical and regulatory obstacles.

SpaceX tweeted Jan. 12 that it was moving ahead with a final series of tests of its Starship vehicle and Super Heavy booster at its Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas. The company installed a Starship vehicle called Ship 24 on top of a Super Heavy booster designated Booster 7 on the launch pad there Jan. 9.

Those tests, the company said, include a “full stack” wet dress rehearsal of the combined vehicle. That would be followed by a static-fire test of all 33 Raptor engines on Booster 7, the first time all those engines have fired simultaneously.

Those tests would clear the way for an orbital launch attempt from a technical standpoint. SpaceX did not estimate when that launch could take place other than the “weeks ahead.”

Musk, though, has been more forthcoming. “We have a real shot at late February. March launch attempt appears highly likely,” he tweeted Jan. 7, responding to a person who cited a South Texas publication that claimed the launch was planned for the end of January.

However, SpaceX has missed several past estimates, by both Musk and others, regarding the schedule for the first Starship orbital launch. At an event in February 2022, with a fully stacked Starship as a backdrop, Musk estimated the vehicle would be ready to fly in “a couple months.”

At an advisory committee meeting in late October, a NASA official said he expected Starship to be ready for launch as soon as early December, after completing a wet dress rehearsal of the full vehicle and a 33-engine static-fire test of the booster. NASA is closely following the progress of Starship as it plans to use a version of the vehicle as a lunar lander for Artemis missions. SpaceX has received two NASA awards with a combined value of more than $4 billion to develop those landers.

It’s not clear why SpaceX missed both Musk’s forecast in February or the more recent NASA estimate. The company did suffer one notable testing setback in July when propellants underneath a Super Heavy booster ignited during a test, damaging the booster.

In addition to major technical milestones, SpaceX also needs a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration for an orbital Starship launch. The FAA completed an environmental review in June, allowing Starship orbital launches to proceed from Boca Chica but requiring the company to implement more than 75 measures to mitigate environmental effects.

Neither SpaceX nor the FAA have provided updates on the progress of implementing those mitigations or the status of a Starship launch license. However, the FAA, in statement to SpaceNews Jan. 12, said not all of the measures need to be completed before issuing a launch license.

“The timeframe for SpaceX to implement the more than 75 FAA required environmental mitigations for its Starship/Super Heavy program varies,” the agency said. “For example, some measures must be completed prior to launch while others are designed to occur during post-launch activities or following a mishap event. The FAA will ensure SpaceX complies with all required mitigations.

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skywatcher

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SpaceX completes Starship wet dress rehearsal
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SpaceX conducted a fueling test of its full Starship launch vehicle Jan. 23, taking the vehicle one step closer to its first orbital launch attempt.

The fully stacked Starship vehicle, consisting of a Super Heavy booster designated Booster 7 and a Starship upper stage named Ship 24, was filled with liquid oxygen and methane propellants during the test at SpaceX’s Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas. The test, called a wet dress rehearsal, simulates a countdown without firing the vehicle’s engines.

SpaceX disclosed few details about the test while it was in progress, although observers could see frost accumulating on the vehicle as it was filled with cryogenic propellants. Only after the wet dress rehearsal was complete did SpaceX confirm that it took place.

“Starship completed its first full flight-like wet dress rehearsal at Starbase today,” the company tweeted late Jan. 23, noting that the vehicle was loaded with more than 4.5 million kilograms of propellant. “Today’s test will help verify a full launch countdown sequence, as well as the performance of Starship and the orbital pad for flight-like operations.”

The wet dress rehearsal was one of the final milestones for the vehicle before the company was ready to attempt an orbital launch. Another is a static-fire test of all 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster, something SpaceX has yet to attempt.

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted earlier in the month that the company could be ready for that launch as soon as late February, with a launch in March “highly likely.” However, the company has missed past schedules for Starship launch readiness.

That first Starship orbital launch attempt is a critical event not just for SpaceX, which is counting on Starship to further reduce launch costs and increase launch rates, but also for NASA. The agency has provided SpaceX with more than $4 billion in awards through its Human Landing System (HLS) program to develop versions of Starship to land astronauts on the moon for its Artemis lunar exploration campaign.

The agency is closely following SpaceX’s Starship tests. “I’m just thoroughly impressed by the scale of these pictures and what the vehicle looks like in an integrated stack,” said Ryan Joyce of NASA’s Langley Research Center, who is working on HLS, during a panel discussion Jan. 23 at the AIAA SciTech Forum, showing several images of Starship development. “We are literally trying to launch skyscrapers here.”

NASA’s insight into Starship development includes having astronauts visit to ensure that the vehicle can be safely operated by them. “This is ultimately a vehicle that needs to be operated by the astronauts,” he said. “If you don’t have the conversations with astronauts, as crew members and operators of the spacecraft, during the design phase, you might get far enough along with your design before you find your vehicle is inoperable.”

As SpaceX conducts Starship tests at Boca Chica, it is constructing a new Starship launch facility on the grounds of Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The tower for that launch pad now overshadows the existing pad used for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.

“It’s very exciting to see the progress being made at SpaceX facilities right now, including at KSC where they’re building a second orbital launch capability,” he said. NASA’s HLS awards leave it up to SpaceX to conduct its lunar lander launches either from KSC or Boca Chica, he noted.

 

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