MOJAVE, Calif., January 16, 2022 (Stratolaunch PR) – Stratolaunch LLC is excited to announce the successful completion of its third Roc carrier aircraft test flight. Roc is the world’s largest aircraft, with a 385 ft. wingspan. The aircraft took off at 8:47 a.m. PST and flew for 4 hours, 23 minutes over the Mojave Desert. It reached an altitude of 23,500 feet (7162.8 m) at an indicated air speed of 180 knots. This flight further prepared the carrier aircraft to support launches of its upcoming hypersonic testbed vehicle, Talon-A.
China conducted its first launch of the year on Monday when a Long March 2D rocket launched the classified Shiyan-13 satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Chinese officials gave no details about the function of the satellite. The launch occurred at 10:35 a.m. local time. A Chinese media report said that temperatures in the launch site area were as low as -37 Celsius (-34.6 Fahrenheit). It was the 406th launch […]
The problem: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Park Service do not agree that launching the world’s most powerful rocket will have a non-significant impact on federal and state-managed wildlife refuges and national monuments that surround the Boca Chica launch site. Without their sign off, ESG Hound says the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) can’t approve the plan using an ongoing environmental assessment that it aims to complete by Jan. 31. A more complicated and lengthy environmental review would be required, resulting in years of delays.
Further, if SpaceX has viable alternatives for Super Heavy/Starship launches in Florida, the company might be required to abandon the Starbase site in Texas. Developing news facilities could result in significant delays to Super Heavy/Starship and the Human Landing System that SpaceX is building for NASA to return astronauts to the lunar surface.
Confused? Let’s review a little bit of history first.
LONDON (Sen PR) — Sen announces that it has appointed Meagan Crawford, Managing Partner of U.S. venture capital firm SpaceFund, to its Board of Directors. The appointment follows SpaceFund’s investment in Sen’s seed round. Sen raised £3.7M ($5M) during the round which closed in 2021.
Sen’s first satellite, which will capture Ultra High Definition video of Earth, is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station this January aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Charles Black, Founder & CEO of Sen, said “We’re thrilled that Meagan has joined the Board. Meagan’s enthusiasm for Sen, business experience and knowledge of the space sector will be valuable to the Board. Meagan will help support the executive management team in the execution of Sen’s ambitious plans.”
This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, January 18 — 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): We welcome back BOB ZIMMERMAN for updates and more. Wednesday, January 19 — Hotel Mars pre-recorded. See the Upcoming Show Menu at www.thespaceshow.com for details. Friday, January 21 — 9:30-11 AM PST; 11:30 AM- 1 PM CST; 12:30-2 PM EST: No Program today. Sunday, January 23 — […]
Mars Perseverance Sol 320 — NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its onboard SHERLOC WATSON imager. The camera is located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. The image was acquired on Jan. 13, 2022 (Sol 320). (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
by Jennifer Trosper Project Manager NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA’s Mars 2020 mission team has been working methodically and thoroughly, making good progress on understanding the best path forward to remove the uninvited pebbles from Perseverance’s bit carousel. Over the previous weekend, and earlier this week, operational sequences were developed and tested to remove these rocky interlopers.
TUCSON, Ariz. (Paragon SDC PR) — Paragon Space Development Corporation is pleased to announce the promotion of Leslie Haas to Vice President of Business Development. Since joining the company in 2017, she has directed Paragon’s record-breaking growth in the industry and played a key role in the recently announced acquisition of Final Frontier Design, a leading supplier of spacesuits and ancillary components. These efforts have strengthened Paragon’s position as a leading supplier of life support services for the government and commercial space market. In this elevated role, Haas will continue to oversee business development, marketing, public relations, government affairs, and technology commercialization efforts as well new strategy initiatives.
Paragon’s President & CEO Grant Anderson had this to say regarding Ms.Haas and the new position, “Leslie’s negotiating acumen and ability to connect the capabilities of Paragon to the needs of the customer is a key element of our success. In her new role, she will be able to focus on the strategic initiatives while running an execution-focused business development and marketing organization commensurate with our size and company’s reach.”
Rendering of Dodona, USC’s third satellite in space. (Credit: USC SERC)
LOS ANGELES (USC PR) — Ridesharing remains a popular way to get around in Los Angeles, but what about ridesharing to get to space? The SpaceX Smallsat Rideshare program offers a viable and affordable option to launch up to 200 kg into a sun-sychronous, low Earth orbit. That is why, along with approximately 80-90 other satellites, USC’s Dodona satellite—it’s third ever—hitched a ride on SpaceX’s latest mission, Transporter 3 this week.
New ISRO Chairman Shri. S. Somanath (left) takes over from K. Sivan. (Credit: ISRO)
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
A new chairman has taken over the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a crucial time as the space agency continues to struggles with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the challenge of becoming only the fourth nation capable of launching astronauts into orbit.
An investigation has found that a design flaw in the third stage doomed the maiden launch of South Korea’s Nuri (KSLV-II) launcher on Oct. 21, according to a press release from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). The investigation found that the third stage engine shut down prematurely due to a leak in the third stage oxidizer tank. The leak was caused when a helium tank broke loose due to […]
Falcon 9 launches the Transporter-3 rideshare mission. (Credit: SpaceX webcast)
LONDON (Sen PR) — Sen announces its first satellite, which will stream Ultra High Definition videos of Earth, is now in orbit.
The satellite, ETV-A1, launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission that lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today [Thursday] at 15.25 UTC, 10.25 EST.
Debris in Perseverance’s Bit Carousel: Pebble-sized debris can be seen in the bit carousel of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover in this Jan. 7, 2022, image. (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
by Louise Jandura Chief Engineer for Sampling & Caching NASA/JPL
On Wednesday, Dec. 29 (sol 306) Perseverance successfully cored and extracted a sample from a Mars rock. Data downlinked after the sampling indicates that coring of the rock the science team nicknamed Issole went smoothly. However, during the transfer of the bit that contains the sample into the rover’s bit carousel (which stores bits and passes tubes to the tube processing hardware inside the rover), our sensors indicated an anomaly. The rover did as it was designed to do – halting the caching procedure and calling home for further instructions.
