Space.com has a few really nice photos from the recent launch & landing. Especially nifty is a close-up shot showing the booster shortly after launch.
Jun 062017
Jun 062017
Fantastic Plastic has released the 1/200 scale model of the Deep Impact “Messiah” spacecraft that I mastered for them in CAD a few years ago. Took a long time to get here, but it looks like a really spiffy model. At 27 inches long and 200+ pieces including photoetch, it’s kind of a beast.
Jun 042017
Probable correction:
Color me stunned, but the article is written in a way that seems to exaggerate the actual claims. For the moment I assume that the stage didn’t so much “splash down softly” as “plummet from the sky at terminal velocity.”
——
Bwuh?
NASA Considering Using Pre-flown SpaceX Rockets for Cargo Flights
SpaceX has also had success recently in recovering Falcon 9 second stages and payload fairings, the nose cones that protect satellites and other spacecraft during launch. After its work was done on Saturday, for example, the Falcon 9 second stage apparently splashed down softly in the ocean southwest of Australia, Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX’s vice president of build and flight reliability, said during Saturday’s press conference.
Hold up. The second stage soft-landed in the ocean??? Way to bury the lede, guys.
Jun 032017
They launched a Dragon resupply module to the ISS today and successfully recovered the first stage. Not new. But this is the Dragon second flight; that’s new. They recover it and it’ll be *really* new.
SpaceX sticks 11th rocket landing after launching first used Dragon capsule
Later this summer SpaceX will do their first Falcon 9 heavy launch, and they are apparently planning to *try* to recover the second stage, though they are apparently not very confident of success. But eventually they’ll get it, and then they’ll have a reusable first stage, reusable second stage and mostly reusable payload.
May 312017
The extremely large Stratolaunch was rolled out of the hangar for the first time today. It’s still a ways away from completion and flight.
Stratolaunch Aircraft Makes First Rollout To Begin Fueling Tests
May 312017
Currently there is a large, expensive auction on eBay for several hundred pieces of Marquardt concept art. The per-piece price of about ten bucks is pretty good, but the sum total is just a whole lot. Anyway, the auction listing provides a look at a *few* of the pieces, including one that depicts a “space sled.” This was a maneuver vehicle for a single astronaut, with much greater performance than the various maneuvering backpacks that had been designed over the decades. Instead of strapping it on, the pilot sits on it somewhat as if it was a motorcycle. The propellants are almost certainly cold gas (nitrogen) thrusters, which means specific impulse was really low. But it also made them very, very simple devices.
While Marquardt did some serious design work on space sleds, including building one that is currently on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, it’s unclear how serious this one is. The space suit, after all, is pretty weak. There appear to be only two thrusters, both providing “forward” thrust; steering looks like it might have been by actually tilting the whole assembly. This would have provided only minimal thrust vectoring, and would have provided little to no pitch or roll control, and no braking thrust. My guess is that this was either the art department coming up with a concept on their own without much engineering input, or it was a very preliminary and perhaps unfinished piece.
May 252017
The first launch of the Electron launch vehicle almost made it to orbit. Launched from new Zealand, Rocket Lab’s two stage vehicle is designed to be cheap and expendable, with a projected launch price of about $5M and a payload of just a few hundred pounds. The dollars/pound cost of the vehicle is pretty bad compared to the likes of the Falcon 9, but that’s to be expected. Economics does not scale down well with launch vehicles. But if you have a burning need to put a small payload into space in a hurry, a launch vehicle like this should be attractive.
New Zealand space launch is first from a private site
May 122017
Further much-ensmallered versions of the Museum panoramas…
Apollo 15, lifting bodies, XB-70, Keyhole spy satellite.
Titan IVm XP-75, P-59, tail end of the XB-70
Two views of Bocks Car, winner of the Battle of Nagasaki
B-2 and SR-71. Not so apparent at this resolution, but at full rez you can see a whole lot of little white splotches on top of the B-2. I’m guessing bird poop, as there were a few birds flapping around inside at least Building 4 while I was there.
May 052017
Goose that lays golden eggs? KILL IT!!!!
California seeks to tax rocket launches, which are already taxed
Take a read through the proposed legislation. I’m not a law-talkin’-guy, so it reads like so much gibberish to me.
1.
Mileage ratio numerator. The numerator of the mileage ratio for each launch contract shall be
the total projected mileage that all launch vehicles launched or planned to be launched pursuant to that
launch contract will travel within this state. If a launch occurs or is planned to occur in this state, the
contribution of that launch to the numerator of the mileage ratio shall be 62 statutory miles. If a launch
occurs or is planned to occur outside of this state, the contribution of that launch to the numerator of
the mileage ratio shall be zero.
2.
Mileage ratio denominator. The denominator of the mileage ratio for each launch contract shall
be the total mileage that all launch vehicles launched pursuant to that contract are projected at the time
of the execution of the contract to travel from launch to separation.
3.
If the Internal Revenue Service or the Franchise Tax Board is prevented by reasons of secrecy or
confidentiality imposed by governmental authorities from determining the projected mileage of any
launch contract, the mileage ratio denominator of such contracts shall be conclusively presumed to be
310 statutory miles multiplied by the number of launches pursuant to that contract.
4.
Mileage factor numerator. For each launch contract under which revenue is recognized in a
taxable year, the mileage ratio for that contract shall be multiplied by the revenue recognized from that
contract in the taxable year. The product shall be added to the products for each launch contract for
which the taxpayer recognizes revenue in the taxable year the sum of which shall be the numerator of
the mileage factor.
5.
Mileage factor denominator. The total revenue recognized from all launch contracts during the
taxable year shall be the denominator of the mileage factor.
Not sure what all that blather says, but I’m sure it can’t be good.
May 032017
A number of vintage 8X10 glossies of aerospace concept art (all apparently North American/Rockwell) were recently sold on eBay. These included Apollo/Skylab, early Space Shuttle concepts, advanced spacecraft (including a manned mission to Jupiter and NERVA tugs) and various space probes and space station designs. Fortunately, the seller provided fairly good scans. I have collected them and uploaded them to the APR Patreon Extras Dropbox folder for 2017-05. If you are interested in accessing these and other aerospace historical goodies, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.
