The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond

Glaucus · 7 Jun 2014 at 18:54

12 cool radical designs get phase 1 funding.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/nasa-funds-12-futuristic-space-tech-concepts-112847847.html

The 12 selected concepts, along with their principal investigators, are:
• Swarm Flyby Gravimetry (Justin Atchison, Johns Hopkins University)
• Mars Ecopoiesis Test Bed (Eugene Boland, Techshot, Inc.)
• The Aragoscope: Ultra-High Resolution Optics at Low Cost (Webster Cash, University of Colorado)
• 3D Photocatalytic Air Processor for Dramatic Reduction of Life Support Mass & Complexity (Bin Chen, NASA's Ames Research Center)
• WRANGLER: Capture and De-Spin of Asteroids and Space Debris (Robert Hoyt, Tethers Unlimited)
• Titan Aerial Daughtercraft (Larry Matthies, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory [JPL])
• Using the Hottest Particles in the Universe to Probe Icy Solar System Worlds (Timothy Miller, Johns Hopkins University)
• PERISCOPE: PERIapsis Subsurface Cave OPtical Explorer (Jeffrey Nosanov, JPL)
• Titan Submarine: Exploring the Depths of Kraken (Steven Oleson, NASA's Glenn Research Center)
• Comet Hitchhiker: Harvesting Kinetic Energy from Small Bodies to Enable Fast and Low-Cost Deep Space Exploration (Masahiro Ono, JPL)
• Exploration Architecture with Quantum Inertial Gravimetry and In Situ ChipSat Sensors (Brett Streetman, Draper Laboratory)
• Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System (HERTS) (Bruce Wiegmann, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center)

More detail in above link and this link
http://www.nasa.gov/content/niac-2014-phase-i-selections/#.U5IdIxa-1g3

Lots of cool things but new propulsion is my favourite
http://www.nasa.gov/content/heliopause-electrostatic-rapid-transit-system-herts/

Anyone know if there's updates on last years?
http://www.nasa.gov/content/niac-2013-phase-i-and-phase-ii-selections/

Cosimo · 8 Jun 2014 at 16:51

Message beamed:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-177

Cosimo · 10 Jun 2014 at 14:13

Progress M-21M departs the station on Monday:

Cosimo · 14 Jun 2014 at 06:59

Cosimo · 15 Jun 2014 at 11:21

Where is Rosetta now:

http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/

Cosimo · 16 Jun 2014 at 13:42

A Soyuz 2-1B rocket carrying a Glonass-M navigation satellite launches from Plesetsk Cosmodrome on Saturday:

Cosimo · 18 Jun 2014 at 07:13

Looking good for Exploration Flight Test-1 in December:

Cosimo · 18 Jun 2014 at 14:29

More on the work for Exploration Flight Test-1 in December:

Flight described with graphics from 3:40.

Glaucus · 18 Jun 2014 at 17:18

Not much in the articles.
But Elon saying he's hopfull he can put man on mars in 10 to 12 years, but the long term aim is a self sustaining colony. So perhaps a test rum, flag had footprints mission. to prove system.

And that spaceX will be floated but not until mars missions have either started or about to.

"I'm hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10 to 12 years, I think it's certainly possible for that to occur," he told CNBC. "But the thing that matters long term is to have a self-sustaining city on Mars, to make life multi-planetary."

The rocket tycoon added that he plans to float SpaceX on the stock exchange, but only once its interplanetary mission is underway as right now its goals are too long term to attract many hedge fund managers.

"We need to get where things a steady and predictable," he said. "Maybe we're close to developing the Mars vehicle, or ideally we've flown it a few times, then I think going public would make more sense."

Cosimo · 19 Jun 2014 at 08:45

A preview of today's spacewalk which begins at 14:50 BST:

Glaucus · 19 Jun 2014 at 17:03

Another F9r test flight, sporting some new stabilising fins.

Glaucus · 20 Jun 2014 at 09:47

Spaces F9 Orbcomm OG2 launch is gi fir tonight at about 22:30
http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

Day tome launch, I hope the weather and sea conditions are good, we need to see the first stage land softly in the water.

Overview
SpaceX’s customer for its ORBCOMM Generation 2 (OG2) Mission 1 is the satellite communications provider ORBCOMM. In this flight, the Falcon 9 rocket will deliver six next generation OG2 satellites to an elliptical 750 x 615 km low-Earth orbit. The OG2 satellites are commercial telecommunications satellites.
The ORBCOMM OG2 launch window will open at approximately 6:08 p.m. EDT on Friday, June 20, 2014 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
If all goes as planned, the OG2 satellites will be deployed one at a time, beginning approximately 15 minutes after liftoff.
Satellite

Payload
OG2 SATELLITES The ORBCOMM OG2 mission will launch six OG2 satellites, the first six of a series of OG2 satellites launching on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 vehicle. Compared with ORBCOMM’s current constellation, the next generation OG2 satellites have advanced communications technologies, and are significantly larger, more capable, and more efficient. The satellites were built by Sierra Nevada Corporation and weigh approximately 170 kg each. The full series of OG2 satellites will be launched to low-Earth orbit.
ORBCOMM’s OG2 satellites will provide existing customers with significant enhancements, such as faster message delivery, larger message sizes and better coverage at higher latitudes, while drastically increasing network capacity. In addition, the OG2 satellites are equipped with an Automatic Identification System (AIS) payload to receive and report transmissions from AIS-equipped vessels for ship tracking and other maritime navigational and safety efforts, increasing asset visibility and the probability of detection for ORBCOMM’s AIS customers.

Glaucus · 20 Jun 2014 at 22:36

SpaceX stream is live,, 33mins till launch.
Still 40% chance of favourable weather.

Edit - delayed by an hour. Looks like another leak.

Marine Iguana · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:43

Haven't watched a space launch for ages since the last shuttle mission. :eek:

Hope it isn't delayed anymore.

Glaucus · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:45

I think it will be scrubbed, another launch windows tomorrow.
They're still trying to resolve it, while the clock counts down. Moore interested in the first stage recovery than the launch. That's the innovative nit. And they're getting close.

Marine Iguana · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:55

Tomorrow it is then hopefully.

Glaucus · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:55

Aborted,. pressure drop on 2nd stage tanks. Not sure which tank.

Now it depends what caused it and if they can fix it.

They need to sort their leaks out, far too many. They can't even do one a month. Let alone two.

Their rockets are good. But they're other aim was too make launches routine and on time', they're utter failing at that at the moment.

Lisapete · 20 Jun 2014 at 23:57

Aborted 2nd time

Cosimo · 21 Jun 2014 at 08:11

** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond