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Issue No. 170
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Here’s your semi-annual reminder to please [1]share OI with your
friends. Thank you!
Oh, and by the way, next week we’re taking our first ever Orbital
Index vacation after 170 straight weeks. We’ll see you on June 8th!
The Orbital Index
=================
[2]Issue No. 170 | May 25, 2022
🚀 🌍 🛰
¶OFT-2 looks like a success! Starliner grabbed headlines this past
week with [3]a successful launch, insertion, docking, and stay at the
ISS. Later today, it should complete its mission by landing using
parachutes and airbags at [4]White Sands Missile Range, currently [5]scheduled
for 6:49 EDT. However, this second-attempt mission [6]hasn’t been
without its own set of glitches and nail biters. The insertion burn
had [7]two OMAC thrusters fail, forcing completion using a redundant
thruster. There were also some [8]concerning pump pressure readings on
the craft’s cooling system—pressure had risen due to either ice
forming in the coolant or the fluid thickening due to lower than
expected temperatures. The mission team was able to bring coolant
temps back up by rerouting coolant flow to temporarily bypass
Starliner’s radiators, a novel hack praised by NASA. Finally, leading
to a [9]hold during approach and yielding [10]some stunning photos
(one below), the NASA-designed docking adapter had to be retracted,
reset, and re-extended before Starliner could make its final approach
to the station. Since docking, the mission has proceeded without any
additional issues and once all cargo has been swapped between the
craft and the station, it will depart to jettison its service module,
deorbit, and land in New Mexico (or one of the four backup sites
available in case of poor weather) as NASA’s second-ever on-land
touchdown (OFT-1 was the first). The [11]performance of the parachute
system during landing will be of particular interest—it has yet to be
certified by NASA, and failed to deploy one chute during OFT-1.
Assuming a successful landing, [12]Boeing’s Crewed Flight Test (CFT)
is up next (TBD), before the spacecraft is fully human-rated and can
become half of the biannual cadence of NASA’s ISS astronaut delivery.
[6]
Boeing Starliner CST-100 sits just 10 meters away from the ISS
awaiting final approach while its docking adapter is reset.
The Orbital Index is made possible through generous sponsorship by:
[13][IMAGE][14][IMAGE]
[15][IMAGE][16][IMAGE]
¶DARPA moving forward with DRACO nuclear thermal engine. Early last
month, DARPA issued an [17]RFP for the next phase of their
Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) nuclear
thermal engine program. This follows on their selection, one year ago,
of an [18]early engine design by General Atomics and [19]two
spacecraft concepts from Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin. Now they’re
moving on to the development and assembly of the engine [20]through a
new open RFP (not limited to the aforementioned companies). They hope
to have a test flight in 2026, with NASA participating out of interest
for use with future crewed deep space missions, as nuclear thermal
propulsion can achieve both the required high thrust-to-weight ratio
and 2-5 times the efficiency of a chemical engine. One key challenge
with nuclear reactors in space is the risk of contaminating Earth.
While systems are designed to be safe even in the case of a launch
failure, once they’ve been activated, an accidental re-entry could be
a radiological disaster. We’ve written about this DARPA program [21]a
[22]number of times, as well as [23]NASA’s related efforts and [24]NIAC
awards. We also took a dive into the [25]history of nuclear reactors
in space in Issue 85 (which we feel is worth a re-read). Relatedly,
the DIU just funded [26]two in-space nuclear power research projects
as well.
[27]
[27]XKCD #2423
¶News in Brief. NASA has [28]suspended all planned ISS EVAs due to the
small water leak in ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer’s helmet during his
March 23rd spacewalk ● [29]Astra revealed their larger Rocket 4.0
design capable of delivering 300 kg payloads to LEO or 200 kg to SSO,
nominally for $3.95 million per launch ● [30]SpaceX is raising $1.7B
at a $127B valuation ● [31]China launched three experimental comsats
on a Long March 2C ● [32]Russia launched a Soyuz-2.1a with a military
satellite ● [33]Psyche’s launch on a Falcon Heavy has been delayed NET
Sept 20 due to spacecraft software issues discovered during ground
testing ● Both [34]Relativity Space and [35]ABL Space completed
testing of their rockets’ second stages.
¶Jobs.
* Starfish Space, who is focused on making in-space interactions
autonomous (and have great product names), is [36]hiring for a
variety of roles across GNC, Software, Systems Engineering,
Robotics, and Company Operations (Seattle, WA).
* Fortify is hiring a [37]Supply Chain Operations Manager to oversee
its DCM Flux Printer platform as it begins production (Boston,
MA).
¶Etc.
* [38]Something is off with the telemetry from Voyager 1’s attitude
articulation and control system, although the interstellar craft
seems to be otherwise behaving normally—hopefully, this doesn’t
mean the 45-year-old hero is finally breaking. Controllers may be
able to switch control to a redundant hardware system. This
wouldn’t be the first use of redundancy: in 2017 when Voyager 1’s
primary thrusters showed signs of degradation, they switched to
backup thrusters last used during its Saturn encounter 37 years
earlier.
* Oh, for the good old days when a [39]single-stage nuclear rocket
was going to cost $600.
* Russia might be [40]working on a nuclear-powered space tug for
circa 2030.
* [41]Aravind breaks down the market for EO applied to climate
change.
* On its last legs, but still busy, [42]InSight detected a magnitude
5 Marsquake, the largest quake seen yet on the red planet (or any
planet beyond Earth).
* Meanwhile, on Earth, the pressure wave from [43]the explosive
Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption was so powerful that it appears to
have created its own space weather ([44]paper) and had the [45]force
of Krakatoa.
* All about [46]that crackle that you hear during a rocket launch.
* For the first time, we’ve [47]observed the moment a red supergiant
collapses into a Type II supernova ([48]paper). Pan-STARRS on
Haleakalā and the Keck Observatory on Maunakea, both in Hawaiʻi,
watched the red supergiant during its last 130 days through the
summer and fall of 2020. It was initially seen violently ejecting
gas, which was later observed densely surrounding the star as it
exploded. The red supergiant, in galaxy NGC 5731 (about 120
million light-years away from Earth) was 10x the mass of Sol. “Direct
detection of pre-supernova activity in a red supergiant star has
never been observed before in an ordinary Type II supernova. For
the first time, we watched a red supergiant star explode!”
* [49]A summary of the whole $93B Artemis program.
“Slope streaks” result from dust avalanches on Mars and are “[50]triggered
by vaporizing frost creating just enough pressure to loosen the dust
grains, causing an avalanche” according to a new [51]paper. The
resulting avalanches “probably look something like a ground-hugging
river of dust releasing a trail of fluffy material behind. As the dust
travels downhill over several hours, it exposes streaks of darker
material underneath.”
[50]
[52]« Issue No. 169
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1. https://orbitalindex.com/subscribe/
2. https://orbitalindex.com/archive
3. https://youtu.be/gy6iam6NjsU
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Sands_Missile_Range
5. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/coverage-set-for-nasa-s-boeing-orbital-flight-test-2-return-to-earth
6. https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/05/21/boeings-starliner-capsule-completes-first-nail-biting-docking-at-space-station/
7. https://twitter.com/DJSnM/status/1527460963011596289
8. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/20/boeing-starliner-test-problems/
9. https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1527794433793486848?s=20&t=StUeZYmc91VuR-7uIG1Rmw
10. https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1529250896466415616?s=20&t=g4NwyUMWh0FYMCo_2NaLgA
11. https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/nasa-safety-panel-dont-rush-to-crewed-test-flight-as-boeing-prepares-oft-2/
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Crewed_Flight_Test
13. https://www.xometry.com/?utm_source=OrbitalIndex&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=20210512_OrbitalIndex_newsletter
14. https://www.formlogic.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=theorbitalindex&utm_content=welcome
15. https://www.epsilon3.io?utm_source=orbital_index&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=orbital_index_1&utm_id=orbital_index_1
16. https://firstresonance.io/?utm_source=OrbitalIndex&utm_medium=Logo&utm_campaign=OI&utm_id=Ad
17. https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2022-05-04
18. https://spacenews.com/general-atomics-wins-darpa-contract-to-design-nuclear-reactor-to-power-missions-to-the-moon/
19. https://spacenews.com/darpa-selects-blue-origin-lockheed-martin-to-develop-spacecraft-for-nuclear-propulsion-demo/
20. https://spacenews.com/darpa-moving-forward-with-development-of-nuclear-powered-spacecraft/
21. https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2020-07-15-Issue-73/#darpa-wants-a-nuclear-thermal-propulsion-system
22. https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2019-04-02-archive-Issue-6/#darpa-is-hoping-to-develop-a-nuclear-thermal-rocket
23. https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2019-10-08-Issue-33/#nasa-is-developing-nuclear-rocket-engines
24. https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2020_Phase_I_Phase_II/SPEAR_Probe/
25. https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2020-10-07-Issue-85/#nuclear-reactors-in-spaaaaaace
26. https://spacenews.com/diu-selects-nuclear-powered-spacecraft-designs-for-2027-demonstrations/
27. https://xkcd.com/2423/
28. https://spacenews.com/nasa-puts-iss-spacewalks-on-hold-to-investigate-water-leak/
29. https://spacenews.com/astra-reveals-details-of-next-larger-rocket
30. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/22/elon-musks-spacex-looks-to-raise-1point7-billion-in-new-funding.html
31. https://english.news.cn/20220520/697fc5a4084341e3a4dc4ff1b935e5a0/c.html
32. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJbirfq3F_o
33. https://spaceflightnow.com/2022/05/23/launch-of-nasas-psyche-asteroid-mission-delayed-to-late-september/
34. https://twitter.com/thetimellis/status/1527319824854003713
35. https://spacenews.com/abl-space-systems-completes-acceptance-testing-of-rs1-upper-stage
36. http://angel.co/company/starfish-space/jobs
37. http://3dfortify.com/careers-list?gh_jid=4527598004
38. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/engineers-investigating-nasas-voyager-1-telemetry-data
39. https://twitter.com/ScienceNews/status/1397862649111756810
40. https://tass.com/science/1292721
41. https://terrawatch.substack.com/p/from-ghg-to-esg-demystifying-earth?utm_source=email&s=r
42. https://mars.nasa.gov/news/9185/nasas-insight-records-monster-quake-on-mars
43. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/nasa-mission-finds-tonga-volcanic-eruption-effects-reached-space
44. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022GL098577
45. https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2022/05/16/new-study-involving-liverpool-expert-finds-tonga-eruption-as-powerful-as-krakatoa/
46. https://twitter.com/drchriscombs/status/1305145738272411650?s=21&t=Gp3-SW5nupikdKbIp5R61w
47. https://keckobservatory.org/dying-star/
48. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a
49. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01253-6
50. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/science-at-sunrise-solving-the-mystery-of-frost-hiding-on-mars
51. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2021JE006988
52. https://orbitalindex.com/archive/2022-05-18-Issue-169/
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