Space Exploration megathread

[DaFace]

Since a number of cool things are happening in space exploration these days, we'll widen the scope of this thread a smidge. Conversation about all things space exploration are welcome, whether it be from NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, or anyone else. Chances are most of the discussion will still be about SpaceX since they love to make things public and fun, but nothing's off limits. I'll eventually get around to modifying the OP to include resources for other companies too, but in the meantime, feel free to post any cool stuff you run across.

Lists of Upcoming Missions

Spoiler!

General lists:
https://nextspaceflight.com/
http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

SpaceX specific list:
https://spacexnow.com/upcoming.php

How to Watch a Live Launch

Spoiler!

SpaceX:
https://www.spacex.com/launches/

ULA:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UnitedLaunchAlliance

RocketLab:
https://www.youtube.com/user/RocketLabNZ

NASATV will also cover some launches (primarily ISS resupply missions):
https://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision

Where to Learn More

Spoiler!

Some cool pics...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/
https://www.instagram.com/spacex/?hl=en

Twitter feed is usually interesing...

https://twitter.com/SpaceX
https://twitter.com/elonmusk

The SpaceX sub is a great source of info...

https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex
https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/wiki/index

And for a more forum-style discussion board...

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php#c17

And there are plenty of YouTube channels with great content...

• Joe Scott - Lost of "future" discussion. Some about rockets and space. Much that goes beyond.
• Scott Manley - Super smart dude (engineer) who reviews a lot of major events in space exploration.
• Frazer Cain (Universe Today) - Podcast-style videos that go in-depth into space topics.
• Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut) - A "random dude" who got really into space (particularly SpaceX). He's a great resource for simple explanations of this stuff, as well as live hosting launches.
• USLaunchReport - Lost of videos of the more mundane stuff (e.g., booster recovery operations). Not a ton of commentary.
• NASASpaceFlight - Live hosting of most launches including a ton of video of Starlink operations.

Glossary

Spoiler!

Space discussions tend to get a little bogged down in jargon, so here's a list of terms you might encounter. (Others, please let me know of others that should be added.)

• ASDS - Autonomous Spaceport Droneship - The "barges" that they sometimes land rockets on.
• Dragon - The cone-shaped capsule that sits at the top of the rocket for ISS-bound launches that holds the cargo (or, in the future, humans).
• F9 - Falcon 9, the name of the rocket itself.
• FH - Falcon Heavy, the three-booster version.
• GTO - Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, a type of orbit that will eventually result in the satellite orbiting the earth as it turns so that it seems to be in the same spot from the ground (such as DirecTV or Dish satellites). These types of launches are particularly challenging because they require a lot of power to get them into the right orbit, leaving very little fuel left for landing.
• HIF - Horizontal Integration Facility - the building near the launch pad where they put all of the pieces of the rocket together before rolling it out to the pad.
• ISS - The International Space Station
• JRTI - Just Read The Instructions, the name of the "barge" that they land on for west-coast launches.
• LEO - Low Earth Orbit, a fairly low orbit shared by many satellites and ISS. These launches usually require less power to achieve the proper orbit, so the first stage can often be landed back on land rather than on a drone ship.
• LZ1 - Landing Zone 1, basically a big open slab of concrete at Cape Canaveral where the first stage will attempt to land (for some launches).
• NET - No Earlier Than, basically the date they're hoping to launch, but rocket launches have a tendency of getting delayed.
• OCISLY - Of Course I Still Love You, the name of the "barge" that they land on for east-coast launches.
• RTLS - Return to Landing Site, a mission where the first stage comes back and lands at LZ1.
• Starship - SpaceX's next-generation rocket (and spacecraft) that will hopefully one day take us to Mars. Starship is the "second stage" that will carry cargo or people, but also refers to the whole system. (It's confusing, but think of it like the Space Shuttle, which was both the shuttle itself and the entire launch system.)
• Super Heavy - The giant booster that will carry Starship to space.

[GeorgeZimZam]

Originally Posted by DaFace

Yeah, I'll be curious if they say anything about it. They said that the tower was good earlier, so presumably some sort of sensor on the booster said no.

Turned out Mechazilla was the culprit, after all.

Ok, so #SpaceX have officially stated now that "automated health checks of critical hardware on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt".

There was no issue at this point with the booster. Terrific news. https://t.co/dNu8AFiubs pic.twitter.com/0F61xGkotu

— Marcus House (@MarcusHouse) November 20, 2024

[Donger]

Starship launch from @ISS. We happened to be overhead! pic.twitter.com/SLRlLoRriv

— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) November 21, 2024

[Donger]

[alpha_omega]

NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Regular Operations After Communications Pause


NASA’s Voyager 1 has resumed regular operations following a pause in communication last month. The probe had unexpectedly turned off its primary radio transmitter, called an X-band transmitter, and turned on the much weaker S-band transmitter. Due to the spacecraft’s distance from Earth — about 15.4 billion miles (24.9 billion kilometers) — this switch prevented the mission team from downloading science data and information about the spacecraft’s engineering status.

Spoiler!

Earlier this month, the team reactivated the X-band transmitter and then resumed collecting data the week of Nov. 18 from the four operating science instruments. Now engineers are completing a few remaining tasks to return Voyager 1 to the state it was in before the issue arose, such as resetting the system that synchronizes its three onboard computers.

The X-band transmitter had been shut off by the spacecraft’s fault protection system when engineers activated a heater on the spacecraft. Historically, if the fault protection system sensed that the probe had too little power available, it would automatically turn off systems not essential for keeping the spacecraft flying in order to keep power flowing to the critical systems. But the probes have already turned off all nonessential systems except for the science instruments. So the fault protection system turned off the X-band transmitter and turned on the S-band transmitter, which uses less power.

The mission is working with extremely small power margins on both Voyager probes. Powered by heat from decaying plutonium that is converted into electricity, the spacecraft lose about 4 watts of power each year. About five years ago — some 41 years after the Voyager spacecraft launched — the team began turning off any remaining systems not critical to keeping the probes flying, including heaters for some of the science instruments. To the mission team’s surprise, all of those instruments continued to operate despite reaching temperatures lower than what they had been tested at.

The team has computer models designed to predict how much power various systems, such as heaters and instruments, are expected to use. But a variety of factors contribute to uncertainty in those models, including the age of the components and the fact that hardware doesn’t always behave as expected.

With power levels being measured to fractions of a watt, the team also adjusted how both probes monitor voltage. But earlier this year, the declining power supply required the team to turn off a science instrument on Voyager 2. The mission shut off multiple instruments on Voyager 1 in 1990 to conserve energy, but those instruments were no longer in use after the probe flew past Jupiter and Saturn. Of the 10 science instruments on each spacecraft, four are now being used to study the particles, plasma, and magnetic fields in interstellar space.

Voyagers 1 and 2 have been flying for more than 47 years and are the only two spacecraft to operate in interstellar space. Their advanced age has meant an increase in the frequency and complexity of technical issues and new challenges for the mission engineering team.

News Media Contact
Calla Cofield
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
626-808-2469
calla.e.cofield@jpl.nasa.gov

https://blogs.nasa.gov/voyager/2024/...cations-pause/

[BWillie]

For what it is worth one of my friends said he saw 20 UFOs last week.

They were probably drones.

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by BWillie

For what it is worth one of my friends said he saw 20 UFOs last week.

They were probably drones.

Probably Starlink.

[DaFace]

(Please try and keep this non-political. I know it is to some extent, but let's focus on the implications rather than shit-slinging.)

I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2024

I didn't see this coming at all. Jared is the guy behind the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions. He's a huge fan of spaceflight (and SpaceX in particular), so this pretty strongly suggests that SpaceX is going to have a lot of pull with NASA in the coming years. Crazy.

It's debatable whether it's a good thing to keep pushing more of NASA's resources toward the private sector, but there's no question that NASA has struggled under its own weight for a while (see: SLS). In general, I think Jared is a good guy - super smart, very motivated, and very passionate. I'm excited to see what he'll do.

[DaFace]

And Jared's response:

I am honored to receive President Trump’s @realDonaldTrump nomination to serve as the next Administrator of NASA. Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history.

On my last mission…

— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) December 4, 2024

[GeorgeZimZam]

SpaceX stock about to go ****ing bonkers with this incoming administration.

[Chitownchiefsfan]

Originally Posted by DaFace

(Please try and keep this non-political. I know it is to some extent, but let's focus on the implications rather than shit-slinging.)

I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2024

I didn't see this coming at all. Jared is the guy behind the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions. He's a huge fan of spaceflight (and SpaceX in particular), so this pretty strongly suggests that SpaceX is going to have a lot of pull with NASA in the coming years. Crazy.

It's debatable whether it's a good thing to keep pushing more of NASA's resources toward the private sector, but there's no question that NASA has struggled under its own weight for a while (see: SLS). In general, I think Jared is a good guy - super smart, very motivated, and very passionate. I'm excited to see what he'll do.

Not surprising considering how much money Musk threw into his campaign.

[Donger]

https://www.space.com/space-explorat...-the-iss-video

Another video from the ISS. So cool.

[MagicHef]

NASA update on Artemis in ~30 minutes

plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/nasa-artemis-campaign-leadership-news-conference/

[DaFace]

Berger is my favorite space journalist, and I thought this article about Isaacman was really solid.

Who is Jared Isaacman? Why is his nomination as NASA administrator being welcomed in most quarters of the spaceflight community? And how might he shake up the space agency?https://t.co/J64y2o7nP3

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) December 5, 2024

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by MagicHef

NASA update on Artemis in ~30 minutes

plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/nasa-artemis-campaign-leadership-news-conference/

Sounds like it's "just" another delay. Not surprising, but I bet bigger changes are in store soon.

[Otter]

These two poor bastards are going to come down looking like Jack Nicholson at the end of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30nze6e4geo

Nasa says that the astronauts stuck on the International Space Station will have to wait even longer to get home.

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were due to be back after just a week when they blasted off in June.

Their stay was extended to February next year because of technical issues with the experimental spacecraft, Starliner, built by Boeing.

Now - following a delay in launching a new capsule to the ISS - the pair won't be back until late March or possibly April.

Nasa said the delay posed no risk to the astronauts.

In a statement Nasa stated: "The International Space Station recently received two resupply flights in November and is well-stocked with everything the crew needs, including food, water, clothing, and oxygen. The resupply spacecraft also carried special items for the crew to celebrate the holidays aboard the orbital platform."