The SpaceX Falcon 9 Lifts Off

SpaceX - Falcon 9 First Flight patch.

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

The first SpaceX Falcon 9 launched this morning from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

This photo (above) provided by SpaceX shows the SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon rocket at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., before liftoff this morning.

The launch was a demonstration for Space Exploration Technologies Corp. or SpaceX.

The Falcon 9 rocket holds a capsule named Dragon. Once aloft, Dragon will circle the world twice, then attempt a re-entry. The plan is for the spacecraft to parachute into the Pacific, 500 miles from Mexico. No private business has accomplished this before.

NASA is hiring companies such as SpaceX to haul supplies to the International Space Station following next year's shuttle retirement. Taxi trips for astronauts may follow.

Images, Video, Text, Credits: SpaceX / NASA / Associated Press / Budd McLaughlin, The Huntsville Times.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

ESA - The new – suborbital – frontier

ESA logo.

7 December 2010

ESA is looking for new ways to conduct interesting research in space, on Earth – and in between.

A number of commercial suborbital vehicles are being considered in Europe, and ESA is looking at the possibilities they might offer for microgravity research. If you think you could help, then we would be pleased to hear from you.

‘Suborbital’ means the vehicle reaches space but does not have the much greater speed required to enter orbit. Even so, the flights provide some 4 minutes of weightlessness.

The main drivers for this new kind of vehicle are tourism and other commercial uses, but the craft may also offer a platform for scientific studies and to prepare experiments for the International Space Station (ISS).

Several commercial suborbital spacecraft are being developed by industrial consortia supported by private investors, and ESA is now asking for more information.

Half way to ISS

The ISS is nearly complete and has long been serving as a laboratory for science and technology. It is the core element of ESA’s microgravity research because it offers a unique environment and resources for experiments.

Space Station is an unique laboratory

The Station is also serving an increasingly broad range of scientific disciplines, from Earth sciences to astronomy, from biology to fundamental physics, and from technology to human psychology – to name but a few.

The ISS is at the top of a pyramid of increasingly capable platforms available for scientific experiments. Drop towers provide several seconds of microgravity, aircraft on parabolic flights offer 20 seconds and sounding rockets extend this up to 15 minutes.

Suborbital flights could be an interesting bridge between the parabolic flights and sounding rockets by combining the best aspects of the both.

Request for information

ESA is issuing this ‘Request for Information on Commercial Suborbital Human Flight Vehicles’ to gather information about craft in development in order to analyse the characteristics and possibilities of these emerging projects.

Experiment aboard a parabolic flight

“It is the first time that Europe embarks in this kind of inquiry”, explains Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight. “We see this as yet another valuable opportunity to expand the scientific endeavours in space and to promote future exploration missions”.

The requested information includes:

    * what are their characteristics?
    * what capabilities and opportunities do they offer for microgravity science?
    * what requirements do they impose on the payloads?
    * what requirements do they adopt for the crew?
    * what are their schedules and costs?

The call is aimed at all European entities involved in the development or commercialisation of suborbital manned vehicles. Responses are requested by 15 February.

For more information, please contact:

Philippe Berthe
ESA Directorate of Human Spaceflight
Transportation and Reentry System Division
Email: philippe.berthe@esa.int

Related documentation:

European User Guide to Low-Gravity Platforms: http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/HSF_Research/SEMG2W4KXMF_0.html

Erasmus Experiment Archive (EEA): http://eea.spaceflight.esa.int/

Downloads:

Request for Information on Commercial Sub-orbital Human Flight Platforms (.doc): http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/hsf/RFI_Call%20for%20suborbital_Final.doc

Images, Text, Credits: ESA / Thomas Reiter / A. Le Floc'h / NASA.

Best regards, Orbiter.ch

Falcon 9 Launch Postponed To No Earlier Than Wednesday

SapceX - Falcon 9 First Flight patch.

Dec. 7, 2010

A demonstration launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program has been rescheduled for no earlier than Wednesday, Dec. 8. The delay is because of a crack in the engine nozzle on the rocket's second stage.

Second stage Merlin Vacuum engine for Falcon 9 Flight 2, preparing to leave the Hawthorne factory for Texas. Credit: SpaceX

During a routine review of close-out photos of the rocket on Monday, SpaceX engineers discovered the crack, which measures about three-inches long. Preparations continue on the rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 in Florida.

SpaceX is considering several options, including repairing the crack or shipping a replacement part from California. More information on the launch schedule will be announced when available.

To learn more about the COTS 1 launch, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/cots

Image, Text, Credits: NASA / SpaceX.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Ejects Nanosatellite From Microsatellite in Space

NASA logo.

Dec. 6, 2010

On Dec. 6 at 1:31 a.m. EST, NASA for the first time successfully ejected a nanosatellite from a free-flying microsatellite. NanoSail-D ejected from the Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, FASTSAT, demonstrating the capability to deploy a small cubesat payload from an autonomous microsatellite in space.

Nanosatellites or cubesats are typically launched and deployed from a mechanism called a Poly-PicoSatellite Orbital Deployer (P-POD) mounted directly on a launch vehicle. This is the first time NASA has mounted a P-POD on a microsatellite to eject a cubesat.

NanoSail-D satellite during deployment testing. (NASA/MSFC)

FASTSAT, equipped with six science and technology demonstration payloads, including NanoSail-D, launched Friday, Nov. 19 at 8:25 p.m. EST from Kodiak Island, Alaska. During launch, the NanoSail-D flight unit, about the size of a loaf of bread, was stowed inside FASTSAT in a P-POD.

"The successful ejection of NanoSail-D demonstrates the operational capability of FASTSAT as a cost-effective independent means of placing cubesat payloads into orbit safely," said Mark Boudreaux, FASTSAT project manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "With this first step behind us, we have demonstrated we can launch a number of different types of payloads using this common deployment system from an autonomous microsatellite like FASTSAT."

"NanoSail D has multiple enabling technology demonstration objectives for this flight," said Joe Casas, FASTSAT project scientist at Marshall. Casas said when the NanoSail-D sail is deployed it will use its large sail made of thin polymer material, a material much thinner than a single human hair, to significantly decrease the time to de-orbit the small satellite without the use of propellants as most traditional satellites use.

Artist concept of a solar sail in space. (NASA)

The NanoSail-D flight results will help to mature this technology so it could be used on future large spacecraft missions to aid in de-orbiting space debris created by decommissioned satellites without using valuable mission propellants.

"This is a great step for our solar sail team with the successful ejection of the NanoSail-D satellite from FASTSAT," said Dean Alhorn, NanoSail-D principal investigator and aerospace engineer at the Marshall Center. "We had to carefully plan and calculate the ejection time, so we'd be lined up over the United States and our ground controllers to execute the next phase of the mission."

After ejection, a timer within NanoSail-D will begin a three day countdown as the satellite orbits the Earth. Once the timer reaches zero, four booms will quickly deploy and the NanoSail-D sail will start to unfold to a 100 square foot polymer sail. Within five seconds the sail fully unfurls.

If the deployment is successful, NanoSail-D will stay in low-Earth orbit between 70 and 120 days, depending on atmospheric conditions. NanoSail-D is designed to demonstrate deployment of a compact solar sail boom system that could lead to further development of this alternative solar sail propulsion technology and FASTSAT’s ability to eject a nanosatellite from a microsatellite -- while avoiding re-contact with the FASTSAT satellite bus.

NanoSail-D was designed and built by engineers in Huntsville and managed at the Marshall Center with technical and hardware support from NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. This experiment is a combined effort between the Space and Missile Defense Command, Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation, both located in Huntsville, Ala. and NASA.

FASTSAT launched on the STP-S26 mission -- a joint activity between NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program. The satellite was designed, developed and tested at the Marshall Center in partnership with the Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation and Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville. Dynetics provided key engineering, manufacturing and ground operations support for the new microsatellite. Thirteen Huntsville-area firms, as well as the University of Alabama in Huntsville, also were part of the project team.

For more information on the timeline of the NanoSail-D deployment visit: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/501204main_NSD2_timeline_sequence.pdf

To learn more about FASTSAT and the NanoSail-D missions visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats

Images, Text, Credits: NASA / MSFC.

Cheers. Orbiter.ch

SpaceX Success, Russian Launch Failure

SpaceX logo / Khurnichev logo labeled.

Dec. 6, 2010

The third time was a charm for SpaceX’s static fire of the Falcon 9 rocket, with a successful 2-second test of the nine engines, clearing the way for a launch next week for a NASA demonstration mission. SpaceX said preliminary he data analysis showed the engine test firing went as expected. An earlier try on Friday and then again Saturday morning ended in a-computer controlled abort.

SpaceX said the launch of the rocket, carrying a demonstration Dragon capsule could occur as early as December 7th, with December 8th and 9th as backup days. The weather prediction for Tuesday, however is for cold temperatures and high winds and they estimate a 40% chance for “go” that day. The launch window for all three days extends from 9:00 a.m. to 12:22 p.m. EST, from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

From SpaceX: “The Dragon capsule is expected to orbit the Earth at speeds greater than 17,000 miles per hour, reenter the Earth’s atmosphere, and land in the Pacific Ocean roughly 3 1/2 hours later. This will be the first attempt by a commercial company to recover a spacecraft reentering from low-Earth orbit. It is a feat performed by only 6 nations or government agencies: the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India, and the European Space Agency.”

Success for SpaceX static test fire of Falcon 9. Credit: SpaceX

There will be a webcast of the launch on the SpaceX website that will begin approximately 45 minutes prior to the opening of the daily launch window, at 8:15 a.m. EST / 5:15 a.m. PST / 13:15 UTC. During the webcast, SpaceX hosts will provide information specific to the flight, an overview of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft and commentary on the launch and flight sequences. There will be a post-mission news conference at the Kennedy Space Center.

On Sunday, a Russian Proton-M rocket launched with three Glonass-M navigation satellites, but failed to reach orbit, and some reports say the satellites crashed into the Pacific Ocean (Hawaii) after launch.

Images / Text, Credits: SpaceX / Khurnichev Space Center / Tariq Malik / Space.com.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

ESA - Satellite tracking campaign tests European abilities

ESA logo & flags.

4 December 2010

An experimental tracking campaign using European facilities is helping determine how well existing telescopes and radars can work together to observe objects in Earth orbit. The results will be used to help design ESA's future Space Situational Awareness system.

On 29 November, experts from the Agency's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Preparatory Programme began an experimental tracking campaign using scientific research telescopes and radars in five European countries. The campaign is testing how well existing facilities can track potential debris hazards in orbit using known satellites as targets.

EISCAT facilities Sweden

A series of three overnight tests during November to February will see the radars and telescopes being used to track a dozen candidate 'objects' – existing satellites including ESA's GOCE, Artemis and Envisat. Other European satellite operators, including Eumetsat and SES-Astra, have agreed to the use of their satellites in the tracking campaign as well.

Facilities in Sweden, UK, Switzerland, Spain and Cyprus

To track objects in low orbit – just several hundred kilometres altitude – the campaign is making use of research radars operated by the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) in Sweden and Norway, and by the Chilbolton Observatory in Hampshire, UK.

For objects in geostationary orbit – up to 36 000 km altitude – the tests will use optical telescopes, including ESA's own Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain.

Control room at ESA's Optical Ground Station, Tenerife

In addition, astronomical observatories in Spain (Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca), Switzerland (Zimmerwald Observatory) and Troodos, Cyprus (British National Space Centre – Starbrook) will be used.

Testing diverse sensors for interoperability

Some of the radars and telescopes were originally designed for meteorological, ionospheric or astronomical studies, so their use for tracking objects in Earth orbit is complementary but has not been fully tested.

"A significant goal of the campaign is determining how well these facilities can provide tracking data and identifying any operational problems related to, for example, weather or interoperability issues," says Emmet Fletcher, Head of the Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) Segment at ESA's SSA programme.

Fletcher says that knowing how a diverse network of independent sensors can work together is critical for designing the architecture of the future European hazard-tracking system.

Zimmerwald SMall Aperture Robotic Telescope (ZimSMART)

Results from the campaign will be used to assess the potential performance of the current European infrastructure, and how the future SST tracking capability should be designed to best make use of such assets.

About Europe's space hazard tracking capability

Under the SSA Preparatory Programme, a main aim of the SST element is to provide an independent ability to promptly acquire and catalogue precise information on objects orbiting Earth. Using these data, a wide range of services will be provided by the future European SSA System, such as warning of potential collisions and alerting when and where debris reenters Earth's atmosphere. These data will be stored in a catalogue and made available to SSA customers across Europe.

Artist's impression of future SSA radar

The infrastructure required to provide these capabilities is referred to as the '‘SST Segment'. It comprises surveillance and tracking sensors, which could use radar or optical technology, to acquire raw data, which are then processed to correlate (or link) each observed object with ones already known, or to indicate a new object.

 Animation: Space Debris larger than 1cm - est. 600 000 parts

Initially, the SST Segment will obtain data using existing sensors. When the full SSA programme begins, additional systems may be developed and deployed as required to achieve the objective of European autonomy in this area. The decision for the continuation of the SSA Programme is planned to be taken at the next ESA Ministerial Council, foreseen in 2012.

More informations:

EISCAT: http://www.eiscat.se/

RAL Chilbolton Observatory: http://www.chilbolton.rl.ac.uk/

Observatorio de Sierra Nevada: http://www.osn.iaa.es/osn_eng.html

Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) University of Bern - Observatory Zimmerwald: http://cmslive2.unibe.ch/unibe/philnat/aiub/content/e14/e356/index_eng.html

UK Space Agency: http://www.ukspaceagency.bis.gov.uk/default.aspx

Images, Animation, Text, Credits: ESA / Emmet Fletcher, Head SST Segment /  ESAC / EISCAT / University of Bern / Zimmerwald Astronomical Institute.

Greetings, Orbiter.ch

NASA Targets Shuttle Discovery's Launch For No Earlier Than Feb. 3

NASA - STS-133 Mission patch.

Dec. 03, 2010

NASA managers have targeted space shuttle Discovery's launch for no earlier than Feb. 3 at 1:34 a.m. EST. Shuttle managers determined more tests and analysis are needed before proceeding with the launch of the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station.

The Program Requirements Control Board met Thursday and reviewed engineering evaluations associated with cracks on two 21-foot-long, U-shaped aluminum brackets, called stringers, on the shuttle's external tank. NASA repaired the cracks and reapplied foam to the exterior of the stringers.

Managers decided the analysis and tests required to launch Discovery safely are not complete. They are planning to conduct an instrumented test on the external fuel tank and structural evaluations on stringer test articles to determine if the analysis is correct. Details and timelines for the tanking test are in work, but plans call for temperature and strain gauge measurements in the intertank region near the top of the tank during the test.

Discovery at the launch-pad

The test also will verify the integrity of repairs made earlier when two cracked stringer sections and foam were replaced. A team of engineers and technicians will inspect the tank for evidence of any foam cracking as it would on an actual launch day. The test also will verify the integrity of repairs to the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate, which leaked an unsafe amount of gaseous hydrogen during Discovery's Nov. 5 launch attempt. The date of the test is under evaluation, but likely will occur this month.

Engineers will continue to search for the root cause of the stringer cracks through data analysis and tests, including placement of manufacturing defects in separate stringers to demonstrate structural integrity in an effort to duplicate the same type of failure that occurred in November.

NASA will review and analyze the data from the tests before setting a launch date. Because of Discovery's delayed launch, the earliest opportunity for the liftoff of the final scheduled shuttle mission, STS-134 on Endeavour, is April 1.

For continued STS-133 updates as well as crew and mission information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

Images, Text, Credit: NASA.

Cheers, Orbiter.ch