November 25, 2017

Australia Takes First Steps Toward Rejoining the Space Race (Source: News.com.au)
It’s small. But it’s significant. It took the reconstruction of an entire network of engineering, planning, co-ordination and control systems to get it into orbit. Boldly called Buccaneer, the Defence Science and Technology Group along with the University of New South Wales have breathed a collective sigh of relief — with confirmation it is “in good health” and “on orbit” following its successful launch last weekend.

It was carried aloft by a NASA Delta 2 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It represents proof Australia can rejoin the space race. But it’s also got a few jobs to do while it’s up there. What they learn from Buccaneer will lead to new generations of satellites, gradually evolving to add more and more to tasks such as environmental monitoring, communications, calibration — and national security. (11/26)

9 Billionaires, Including an Indian, in Space Race: Will They Overtake NASA? (Source: India Today)
Space travel is expensive -- considering salaries of the Scientists, equipment expenditure and all that jazz. But for people who don't have to worry about the spending, it is an amazing opportunity to tap their childhood sci-fi fantasies! With the adequate technology, will these billionaires set foot on space before NASA does? Click here. (11/25)

Paul Allen’s Stratolauncher, the Biggest Airplane Ever, Gets Ready for Takeoff (Source: Daily Beast)
When you have the wealth of billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen what do you want for Christmas? After all, the guy has two yachts, one of them one of the world’s largest, a 414-foot vessel named Octopus (suggestions of a Bond villain) with two helicopters and a 10-person submarine, plus nine mansions on Mercer Island in Seattle and homes in London, France, New York, Beverly Hills, and Hawaii.

How about the world’s largest airplane? During the last two months the desert around Mojave, California, has reverberated with the deep thunder of jet engines being tested. The Mojave airfield is home to a private collective of aerospace futurists, so the folks who live there are used to the sudden eruption of rocket motors flaring up on short runs. But this was different: recurrent and long runs of multiple jet engines. The engines, six of them, belonged to an aviation goliath, the largest airplane by wingspan ever to emerge from a hangar anywhere.

It’s called the Stratolauncher and it’s Paul Allen’s brainchild. As with most trips to the outer edge of what is possible, this project is well behind schedule. But, if Allen is lucky, by Christmas he could be within weeks of seeing his monster fly. This is not a vanity project. It seeks to prove what seems like a very basic premise: that if you launch a rocket into orbit from 35,000 feet instead of from the ground it’s a lot more efficient. Click here. (11/25)

Tech Rocketry Program Launches ‘Mustang’ at Spaceport America (Source: DChieftain)
New Mexico Tech’s Student Rocket Design Team launched the first Mustang rocket from Spaceport America at dawn on Saturday, Nov. 4. The launch of the Mustang, the largest rocket ever attempted by NMT’s program, culminated 15 months of design and construction work for the student group.

Despite a textbook ignition and clean bright plume, the rocket did not reach its intended apogee of 24,000 feet, but an impressive number of objectives were achieved. Early analysis indicates that every subsystem designed and built by the students performed nominally, including recovery of the payload bay, which was intact. The rocketry team developed the Mustang 6A in collaboration with White Sands Research and Developers, LLC (WSRD), an aerospace company based in Las Cruces. (11/25)

U.S. Army “Space Week” to Shine Light on Why Soldiers Care About Satellites (Source: Space News)
It may come as a shock to many that space is a big deal for the U.S. Army. Though most of its work is done on the ground, more than 70 percent of the Army’s major weapons and equipment need satellites to function. To push this message, Army leaders designated Nov. 27 – Dec. 1 as “space week” with a dual focus on what the Army needs and does in space. (11/25)

What Happens When North Korea Launches (Source: Axios)
Kim Jong-un has gone two months without a ballistic missile test. That's unusual for the guy President Trump calls "Rocket Man." The portly dictator fired missiles every month between February and September — 22 in total, and he detonated the most powerful nuclear bomb in North Korea's history. What we're hearing: Secretary Mattis won't say he's encouraged by Kim's pause — only that he's watching closely. Mattis won't publicly discuss even the possibility of preemptive strikes to take out North Korea's nuclear facilities. Click here. (11/25)

Boeing Starliners Taking Shape At Old Shuttle Hangar in Florida (Source: Aviation Week)
In the high bay where the space shuttle Discovery was once prepared for flight, access platforms surround three Boeing CST-100 Starliner crew modules in various stages of completion.  Spacecraft 1, a structural test article, is furthest along. Manufactured last year, Spacecraft 1 began ground verification testing in November. Next month, it will be integrated with its service module and shipped in early 2018 to NASA’s White Sands, New Mexico, facility for a key launchpad-abort test. (11/24)

NASA's Flagship Rocket Faces Yet Another Delay (Source: Popular Mechanics)
NASA is tentatively delaying the maiden voyage of its much ballyhooed Space Launch System (SLS) for the second time this year, saying it will not be ready for takeoff until perhaps 2020.

The SLS has been in development since 2011. A heavy-lift rocket in combination with a crew capsule called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the SLS lacks for nothing in ambition. NASA plans to the SLS to be 385 feet tall with it a liftoff weight of 6.5 million pounds. Its four RS-25 engines would provide enough power to keep eight 747s aloft, and at liftoff it would produce a thrust equivalent to 160,000 Corvette engines—15 percent stronger than the famed Saturn V that took Neil Armstrong to the Moon.

The SLS has come to take up roughly half of NASA's budget devoted to space exploration, the other half going towards maintaining the International Space Station. A single SLS launch will cost $500 million. For comparison, a SpaceX Falcon 9 costs only $62 million to launch, although it can only lift around 18 percent of the mass. NASA was hoping that by getting the SLS' first unmanned test flight off the ground by late 2018 would show that rocket had earned its price tag. (11/22)