Tag: Space X Crew Dragon

Space news for March 2021: Special Space Tourist Edition.

Space tourism is actually nothing new. Back in the 1990s the breakup of the old Soviet Union left the Russian space program in a severe budget crisis. At that time the USSR possessed the only operating space station, a collection of modules named Mir, Russian for Peace. So desperate were the Russian space engineers to try to keep Mir functioning that they were forced to look outside of their own country for the necessary funds.

Like the present International Space Station (ISS) Russia’s MIR space station was a collection of modules assembled in orbit. (Credit: Wikipedia)

One of the ways that the Russians considered to get the money they needed was to provide a few rich capitalists with the vacation of a lifetime, a trip into space with a stay on the Mir space station. It took a few years to set up and the first paying customer for the Russian’s was not actually a tourist but rather a journalist named Toyohiro Akiyama. It was Akiyama’s employer, the Tokyo Broadcasting System who paid an estimated $30 million USD for his weeklong stay at Mir in 1990.

Toyohiro Akiyama, a journalist with the Tokyo Broadcasting System was the first paying customer to go into space spending a week at the Mir station. (Credit: The Japan Times)

The first real space tourist was American businessman Dennis Tito. Tito was originally scheduled to fly to Mir but when the decision was made to de-orbit the Russian station in order to concentrate on the construction of the International Space Station (ISS) Tito was able to rearrange his plans to a weeklong stay at the ISS. The reported price was a cool $20 million. Since then six other men, and yes only men so far, have paid the necessary price to ride into space aboard Russia’s Soyuz capsule.

American businessman Dennis Tito paid an estimated $20 million for a week’s vacation aboard the ISS becoming the first space tourist. (Credit: BBC)

The end of NASA’s shuttle program in 2011 however left Soyuz as the only means for real astronauts to get to the ISS. With seats on the Russian spacecraft at a premium the space tourism business was put on hold until NASA’s commercial crew program could get underway and provide a second means of putting a man into orbit.

With the success of Space X’s first two manned missions however the space tourism ‘industry’ is now poised to begin a new phase of growth. Both Space X and Boeing, if it ever works out the problems in its Starliner capsule, have expressed interest in scheduling missions entirely devoted to space tourism whether they be to the ISS or simply into Low Earth Orbit (LOE).

The Space X Crew Dragon has successfully taken six astronauts to the ISS in two missions. As a private, commercial company Space X has indicated it is willing to launch paying customers into space. For the right price. (Credit: Wikipedia)

In fact the first such purely tourist space mission is already tentatively scheduled for sometime late this year. Designated as the Inspiration4 mission the flight is being paid for by the billionaire Jared Isaacman. Isaacman has contracted with Space X to launch him and three guests into space aboard the corporation’s Dragon capsule for a flight that could last as long as five days in orbit. Isaacman intends for the trip to help promote his favourite charity, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital so the remaining seats aboard the capsule will be filled with St. Jude’s in mind. The second astronaut for the trip has already been chosen and is St. Jude’s physician’s assistant Hayley Arceneaux who was herself a cancer patient at St. Jude’s when she was a child.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman likes to fly jet planes for fun. Soon he’ll be taking the Space X Dragon Capsule into orbit! (Credit: The New York Times)
Hayley Arceneaux, a physician’s assistant at St. Jude’s Hospital for Children and a childhood bone cancer survivor herself, will become the first ‘guest’ to be treated to a vacation in outer space! (Credit: The Guardian)

One of the remaining two seats will be chosen from a sweepstakes drawing to benefit St. Jude’s while the final seat will go to a randomly selected customer of Isaacman’s Shift4 corporation, a payment processing company. Notice that I failed to mention any NASA astronaut going along on the trip. That’s because Isaacman, who holds a pilot’s license plans on commanding the mission himself once he’s taken some training from Space X.

 Inspiration4 may be the first but it certainly won’t be the last Space X mission dedicated to paying tourists. In fact Space X has teamed with a company called Axiom Space 1 to begin taking paying customers to the ISS beginning in 2022. And Space X has further ambitions as well, in 2017 the company’s CEO Elon Musk announced that he had made a deal with Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa to send the millionaire and up to eight ‘artists’ on a trip around the Moon using Space X’s Starship rocket. Now that rocket is still under development so no time frame for the trip has been announced.

Elon Musk, CEO of Space X hopes that his Starship vehicle now under development will be able to make atrip around the Moon in just a few years! (Credit: Futurism)

Some other companies have equally ambitious dreams, let’s just call them that for the moment. Both Bigelow Aerospace Corporation and Orion Span Corporation intend to launch modules of their ‘luxury space hotels’ into LOE sometime in the next few years. The idea is that Space X or Boeing or maybe even the Russians will launch the tourists to the ‘hotels’ and then bring them back after a month or so in space. All of these plans depend on the companies involved getting sufficient financial backing so don’t be surprised if there’s a delay of a couple of years or so.

Bigelow Aerospace Corporation hopes to launch their inflatable B330 module into LOE in just the next few years. (Credit: Universe Today)

So if space tourism is about to ‘take off’, excuse the pun, as an industry, who’s regulating it? According to a UN treaty outer space doesn’t belong to anyone so what governmental agencies are going to be responsible for safety, training, launch schedules and hundreds of other mundane bureaucratic tasks?

Well, again according to the UN, the nation from which the space tourist mission will be launched shall have jurisdiction over how those missions shall be regulated and conducted. To that end the Federal Aviation Authority here in the United States has already opened an Office of Commercial Space Transportation. This office has been granted the power by act of congress to license all commercial space flights, including those under NASA’s commercial crew program, with an emphasis on safety for personnel and property.

In today’s world nothing can be done until all of the red tape has been filled out in triplicate! (Credit: SlideServe)

So when will you be able to take a trip into space? Well if you happen to have a spare $20 million or so it looks like you could get your chance sometime in the next five years or so. For the rest of us however it’s probably going to be a rather long time.

Space News for October 2020.

There’s quite a wide variety of news items happening that deal with space to talk about this month. Both manned and unmanned programs are involved. I think I’ll start with the news of Earth’s second Moon. You heard me right, Earth’s second Moon.

Our planet has only one large Moon which we have christened ‘The Moon’! (Credit: The Fayetteville Observer)

Over the last decade or so astronomers have been finding quite a few space rocks, very small asteroids orbiting the Sun in an orbit that brings them close to that of our Earth’s. These objects are collectively known as ‘Near Earth Objects’ or NEOs and some may actually pose a threat of striking the Earth in the coming decades.

In 2018 the small space rock 2018 VP1 came close to our Earth twice! 2018 VP1 is classified as a Near Earth Object or NEO. (Credit: Orlando Sentinel)

It’s also possible that on occasion one of these space rocks may get captured by the Earth’s gravitational field and become a ‘mini-Moon’, at least for a few months or years. This happened back in 2006 and 2007 when the NEO named 2006 RH120 was briefly captured and again from 2018 to 2020 with 2020 CD3.

Now it looks as if Earth is about to gain another mini-Moon for a while as the object 2020 SO is on an incoming trajectory. Between now and next March 2020 SO will make two loops around the Earth before heading back out into interplanetary space. Click on the link following to be taken to YouTube video of 2020 SO’s orbit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxPYh1s8KB4

And 2020 SO appears to be an oddball for yet another reason. You see 2020 SO’s orbit around the Sun is the closest match to Earth’s of any object yet discovered and that made astronomers suspicious. Checking the object’s orbit backward in time they think they’ve figured out just what 2020 SO really is.

It seems that 2020 SO is probably man made! NASA now believes that 2020 SO is actually the Centaur stage of the rocket that sent the Lunar lander Surveyor 2 to the Moon back in September 1966. If true that would mean that 2020 SO has been just floating around out there for more than 50 years.

An upper stage Centaur booster about to be loaded onto an Atlas rocket. The Centaur is a commonly used booster for sending space probes beyond Earth Orbit. (Credit: Spaceflight Now)
The Surveyor 3 space probe on the Moon’s surface as photographed by the crew of Apollo 12. Surveyor 2 crash landed on the Moon but it’s Centaur booster went past the Moon into interplanetary space. (Credit: NASA)

It makes sense if you think about it. By now humanity has sent close to a hundred space vehicles beyond Earth orbit into interplanetary space. Every one of those vehicles had to be accelerated to escape velocity by means of a booster rocket and those boosters didn’t just vanish after they had completed their task. They’re all still on an orbit around the Sun that occasionally intersects that of Earth’s.

The largest of these boosters would be the nine S-IVB stages that sent the Apollo astronauts to the Moon. They’re all still out there and now it seems that one of them is coming home for a brief stopover. As astronomers get better at keeping track of NEOs I daresay that we’ll be seeing a lot more visits from our long lost offspring.

The S-VIB stage of Apollo 8 photographed by Apollo 8 between the Earth and Moon. There are 9 such rocket stages floating somewhere near our Earth! (Credit: CollectSpace)

In other news, aerospace giant Boeing has suffered another problem in its efforts to launch the corporation’s Starliner commercial crew vehicle. After last year’s Unmanned Test Flight (UTF) of Starliner that was plagued by numerous software problems Boeing has been working full blast to correct the issues so that a second UTF can been carried out before this year is over, something that looks ever more doubtful. Even if a successful UTF can be accomplished this year the first Crewed Test Flight (CTF) in NASA terminology of Starliner will come no earlier that the middle of 2021.

Boeing’s Starliner manned space capsule has yet to carry anyone. Maybe next year. (Credit: Wikipedia)

And now it’s been announced that that first manned mission will have to be with a new commander. Christopher Ferguson, the commander of the final flight of the space shuttle, had been assigned as CTF commander back in August of 2018. Now however the veteran astronaut is stepping down from the mission in order to spend more time with his family.

Veteran Astronaut was scheduled to be mission commander of the first manned flight of Starliner, technically the Crewed Test Flight (CTF). Now however he has stepped back from his assignment for personal reasons. (Credit: SoundCloud)

Starliner’s new commander will be NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore. Meanwhile Ferguson, who is an executive at Boeing, will remain involved with the program but such a major change in personnel is just one more complication for Starliner.

Meanwhile Boeing’s competitor Space X is also having a few difficulties of its own. An October 2nd unmanned launch of a Space X Falcon 9 rocket was halted just 2 seconds before liftoff because of what has been described as an anomalous rise in pressure in one of the nine Marlin engine’s turbomachinery gas generator.

Static test firing of a Space X Merlin rocket engine. A recent Space X launch was aborted two seconds before launch due to excessive pressure in an engine’s gas generator. (Credit: Wikipedia)

That scrubbed flight has prompted NASA to delay the next Space X manned mission to the ISS, previously scheduled for the 31st of October. That mission, officially designated as Crew-1 Mission because it is actually the first mission in Space X’s contract to deliver NASA astronauts to the ISS, has now been officially pushed back to early to mid November. The extra time is to allow Space X to carry out a through investigation into what happened in the Oct 2nd launch attempt.

The crew of Space X’s Crew Mission 1 flight training for their mission. (Credit: NASA Blogs)

Hopefully Space X will quickly identify the cause of the problem so that NASA’s commercial crew program can finally get unto some kind of a regular schedule. The whole idea of having two commercial carriers was so that if one had a small problem, like Space X’s engine issue, the other could take up the slack. Because of Boeing’s major and continuing difficulties however even small problems at Space X can become major headaches.

Finally, we do have one scheduled space event to look forward to during the rest of this month. On October 20th the Osiris-REX space probe, which has been in orbit around the asteroid Bennu for almost two years will descend down to the rocky surface in an attempt to collect a sample of the asteroid’s material.

Artists impression of Osiris-REX reaching out to grab a little piece of the asteroid Bennu. (Credit: FIS Technology)

This will be the first of potentially three touchdown sampling attempts, each landing lasting for no more than 5-10 seconds. During the few seconds of contact Osiris-REX’s robotic arm will reach out and suck in as much as 50-60 grams of dust and other material. The material collected will then be stored in a nitrogen bottle. Since Osiris-REX has three such bottles there can be a maximum of three collecting attempts.

The site chosen for Osiris-REX to make its first attempt is a small crater named Nightingale which was chosen because, based on observations over the last two years the material there is considered to be ‘fresh’, that is uncontaminated by the solar wind. At the same time there is a small area, only the size of two or three parking spots that is flat and boulder free for the landing.

A silhouette of Osiris-REX against its chosen landing area on Bennu. Not a lot of room to maneuver. (Credit: Kids News)

And Osiris-REX will have to carry out the landing all on its own because at a distance of about 330 million kilometers the time it takes a radio signal to go from the probe to ground control is about 18.5 minutes. That time delay means that any last minute adjustments to Osiris-REX’s course will have to be made by the probe itself.

Osiris-REX is scheduled to leave the asteroid Bennu next March to begin a return journey that will bring its collected samples back to Earth on September 24, 2023.

P.S. Since I wrote this post Osiris-REX has successfully carried out its first touch down and NASA’s scientists are now trying to evaluate how much material was gathered.

Space News for July 2020.

There are a number of small items to discuss this month so let’s get started.

First of all, things continue to go smoothly for Space X’s first manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley have been on the ISS for more than a month now, assisting the regular crew in their maintenance and repair work. Bob Behnken even got to perform an EVA with his fellow American astronaut Chris Cassidy in order to replace a number of the station’s external batteries.

The Space X Dragon capsule attached to the ISS as photographed by astronaut Bob Behnken during his EVA. (Credit: Teslarati.com)

Although NASA has yet to announce exactly when Behnken and Hurley will return to Earth in their Dragon capsule they are probably about halfway through their mission. Before they leave however NASA plans on conducting some kind of emergency station test using the Space X Dragon capsule as a part of the test.

The idea is to pretend that a disaster to the ISS forces all five members of the crew, the three Americans plus two Russian cosmonauts, to use the Space X Dragon capsule as a lifeboat. Now the capsule will not actually undock from the ISS. It will however be quickly woken up and brought back to operational status. All five crewmembers will climb aboard the capsule and remain there for several hours, simulating a real emergency.

The current five member crew of the ISS will participate in an emergency drill using the Dragon capsule as a potential lifeboat. (Credit: Positively Osceola)

Continuing with manned spaceflight NASA has announced the results of their analysis of the problems that occurred during the unmanned Orbital Test Flight (OFT) of Boeing’s Starliner capsule back in December 2020. During that flight a software problem occurred that caused the spacecraft to carry out the wrong maneuver, using up so much fuel that it was unable to rendezvous with the ISS. The capsule was able to return safely to Earth but an initial review of the mission revealed several other serious software issues that went unnoticed during the actual test flight.

The launch and landing of the Boeing Starliner capsule went perfectly on its unmanned test flight. The problems all occurred in between! (Credit: Space.com)

Based upon their review NASA engineers have made a total of 80 recommendations to Boeing that the aerospace firm must address before a second, unmanned OFT can be conducted. Boeing hopes to implement the necessary changes quickly, in fact the engineering effort is already well underway, with an eye towards a launch date late this year for the second OFT.

That would allow Boeing to conduct their first manned flight with Starliner early next year. Once that flight has taken place the US will for the first time ever have two operational space systems for getting astronauts into orbit, both owned and operated by commercial corporations.

In just a couple of years NASA hopes to have three capsules taking their astronauts into space. Here are Orion, Dragon and Starliner (CST-100) compared to the Apollo command module. (Credit: Quora)

NASA also hopes that next year will see the first, unmanned test launch of the long awaited Space Launch System and Orion capsule, a launch vehicle that will not only take astronauts into Earth orbit but beyond. The SLS is in fact the foundation of NASA’s Artemis program with its ambitious goal of returning Americans to the Moon by the year 2024. Pieces of the first SLS rocket are finally, many years behind schedule starting to arrive at Cape Kennedy for assembly with an intention of the initial test launch of the whole rocket sometime in 2021.

If SLS block 1 is ever completed, it’s already five years behind schedule, this is what it will look like on the launch pad. (Credit: NASA)

The Artemis goal of putting Americans back on the Moon is more than just ambitious; it’s expensive. So when on July 7th the US House of Representatives Appropriations Committee released its funding bill for NASA it could only be considered disappointing. As announced the funding for NASA in 2021 will remain at exactly the same level as in the current fiscal year, $22.63 billion dollars. In other words there is no new money of any kind for Artemis.

The House Appropriations Committee in action. With all of the money being directed to fight the Covid-19 pandemic there’s little desire to increase NASA’s budget. (Credit: LegBranch)

That figure of $22.63 billion is about $3 billion less than NASA requested and the worst part is that the monetary shortfall comes from the budget earmarked for the design and development of a new lunar lander, the major piece of hardware currently not yet under construction. Now the budget bill has not yet been passed by congress, more money could be added before it is passed. And even if the budget isn’t increased NASA could undoubtedly divert money from other projects in an effort to keep making progress on the lander.

Nevertheless the Artemis schedule was very tight to begin with and without some real support in congress it is likely that a return to the Moon could, like all of NASA’s manned deep space proposals over the last 30 years, be underfunded and delayed until it just dies.

My final item for today deals not with NASA’s manned space efforts, but rather with its more successful robotic exploration probes. Back on the 6th of January in 2017 I posted an article about a couple of new NASA missions intended to explore several of the asteroids orbiting the Sun in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. One of these missions is called Psyche after the metal rich asteroid that is its target.

Just this month the engineering team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory designing Psyche completed their work and the final design has been approved. This means that work on the spacecraft’s hardware can begin with full assembly and testing to begin in February of 2021.

The design phase of the Psyche space probe is completed but the spacecraft must be built quickly if it is to launch in 2022. (Credit: MarketWatch)

The schedule for Psyche is tight. The spacecraft must be launched in August of 2022 if it is to use a gravity assist from Mars in order to reach its target. Arrival at Psyche will then be in early 2026.

Space news for May 2020.

The big event in space this month will undoubtedly be the launch of the first manned mission for Space X’s Dragon capsule. This launch, to take place from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will not only represent the first ever manned space mission to be conducted by a commercial company but will also mark the return of manned space operations to American soil. Ever since the last flight of the space shuttle Atlantis launched on 8 July 2011 American astronauts have been dependent on purchased tickets aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in order to get to the International Space Station (ISS) at a cost of as much as $80 million per seat.

Landing of shuttle Atlantis marking the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle program in July of 2011. Since this mission American astronauts have been dependent on the Russian’s to get into space. (Credit: NASA)

That dependence is scheduled to end on May the 27th with lift off at 4:32 PM EDT, although weather or technical problems could certainly lead to a delay. The two-man crew for this first manned mission, officially referred to as Demo-2, consists of veteran space shuttle astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. Once in orbit Hurley and Behnken will pilot their Dragon capsule toward a docking with the ISS approximately 24hrs after launch.

NASA Astronauts Doug Hurley (foreground) and Bob Behnken (background) in training on a Space X Dragon Capsule simulator. (Credit: Geekwire)

How long Hurley and Behnken will remain at the ISS has yet to be decided. The original mission plan was for a stay of only a week but NASA is anxious to phase out using the Russian Soyuz to man the ISS so Hurley and Behnken’s mission has now been extended to at least a month and could last as long as 110 days. NASA intends to decide just how long the mission will last once the crew is aboard the ISS.

The goal of Space X’s mission, and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) (Credit: Wikipedia)

Presently the American section of the ISS is being manned solely by NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy so there is plenty of standard maintenance and upkeep work to keep Behnken and Hurley occupied. There’s one job in particular that Chris Cassidy cannot do alone because it requires a spacewalk and NASA insists for safety’s sake that all spacewalks be conduced by at least two astronauts. The job consists of swapping out the station’s batteries. Of the two Space X crewmen Bob Behnken is the one with EVA experience so he has spend the last few months getting in some extra training, learning his way around the outside of the station.

Like any home the ISS requires occasional outdoor maintenance. However an EVA requires a bit more planning and skill than mowing your lawn. (Credit: Spaceflight101)

 This first mission in NASA’s commercial crew program has been a long time in coming. Space X and its competitor Boeing were initially funded back in 2014 with a goal of a first mission in 2017 but numerous difficulties and testing setbacks have led to several years of delay.

In fact Boeing’s Starliner capsule is still not ready for its first manned launch. The spacecraft underwent what was hoped to be its final unmanned test flight back in December of 2019 but a series of software problems occurred during the mission, the capsule was unable to reach the ISS and had to be brought back to Earth early. Boeing is still in the midst of debugging the Starliner’s software and hopes to conduct a second unmanned mission later this fall. If that test flight is successful the Starliner’s first manned flight could take place early next year.

The launch of Boeing’s Starliner capsule on its unmanned orbital test flight in December 2019. Although the capsule’s hardware all worked as required there were a number of problems with the spacecraft’s software. (Credit: Business Insider)

Of course everything that happens these days takes place in the shadow of Covid-19 and the launch of Space X’s Dragon capsule is no exception. NASA personnel at Cape Kennedy have worked very hard to keep all activities dealing with the ISS active and fully staffed. That means that the May27 launch has been given high priority and the space agency is determined to carry out the Dragon mission as soon as the equipment and weather are ready.

Some NASA programs, like the James Webb Space Telescope shown here, have been delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However NASA is marshaling all its resources to lauch the Space X Dragon capsule on schedule. (Credit: Spacenews)

However, unlike every American manned space mission since Alan Shepard in 1961 the Space X launch will take place without a crowd of visitors and VIPs to watch. In order to prevent the spread of the virus only a few reporters will be permitted to attend the takeoff. Of course crowds may gather along the nearby public beaches but personally I’ll be quite happy just watching the show on my computer.

Former President Lyndon Johnson watches the launch of Apollo 11. There will be no such crowd gathered to watch the launch of Space X’s first manned mission. (Credit: National Geographic)

Surprisingly enough there is some other space news happening and part of it concerns the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and Covid-19. Because of the spread of the disease in Russia that country’s space agency Roscosmos has temporarily discontinued production of the Soyuz launch vehicles. Not to worry however as there are currently 52 Soyuz rockets in storage ready for use so there’s little chance in the near future of a mission being delayed or cancelled because of the lack of a launch vehicle.

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak Russia has temporarily halted manufacture of it’s Soyuz launch system. (Credit: Russia Space Web)

Finally, even while we here on Earth are struggling with Covid-19 our robotic space probes throughout the Solar system are still busy exploring distant worlds. That includes the OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu. OSIRIS-REx has been orbiting the asteroid since 2018 and is scheduled to swoop down to the asteroid’s surface in order to grab a sample of Bennu in August. On April 14th the spacecraft conducted a practice run, coming within 75 meters of the asteroid before returning to its normal orbital distance of 1 kilometer.

NASA is conducting the final practice runs of the OSIRIS-REx spaceprobe’s attemp to gather samples of the asteroid Bennu. (Credit: SpaceNews Magazine)

Once OSIRIS-REx has completed is sample acquisition procedure it will begin its 2.5 year journey back to Earth in March2021. That means that by September of 2023 NASA will have samples of yet another body in our Solar system.

Progress, even as we deal with a pandemic.

Space News for April 2020.

Like everything else nowadays even developments in space exploration are being impacted by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. With the disease spreading like wildfire even NASA hasn’t been spared with personnel at both Cape Kennedy and the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston having been tested as positive for the virus. In fact the need for ‘Social Distancing’ by the space agency’s personnel has seriously affected, if not actually brought to a halt the work on nearly every NASA program.

This includes the final tests and preparations for the James Webb space telescope, which was due to be launched just a year from now in March of 2021. The space telescope itself is currently in California where it had been undergoing its final assembly and testing. However California’s governor has ordered that all ‘non-essential’ workers remain at home so the entire effort on NASA’s largest unmanned program has come to a complete halt. How much of a delay this will add to the already behind schedule launch of the Webb telescope is impossible to say at present.

Shortly after this last unfolding test of the main mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope all work was halted due to the threat of Covid-19. (Credit: Space News)

However there are other programs that simply cannot be put on hold for one reason or another. The new Mars rover, recently given the name ‘Perseverance’ is perhaps the best example of this. You see the spacecraft’s launch window, the period of time when Mars is in the right position relative to Earth in the Solar system for a spacecraft to reach it, is only open during July and August of this year. If Perseverance doesn’t launch during that time frame then the mission will have to be delayed for a full 26 months until the next window opens in late 2022.

Technicians in Florida working on the Perseverance Mars rover can’t stop work. The rover has to launch in July or August! (Credit: CNN.com)

Because of that hard deadline NASA personnel are working around the clock on the final preparations for the spacecraft’s launch. Fortunately Perseverance has already been delivered to Cape Kennedy and is now undergoing prelaunch assembly but there’s still a considerable amount of work remaining. And even with the threat of a covid-19 shutdown looming over their work the technicians at Kennedy still have to do a meticulous, almost perfect job, anything less could compromise the success of the entire mission.

Part of the preparations for Perseverance’s launch included the last test here on Earth of the little drone helicopter that will accompany Perseverance down to the Martian surface. Before being packed into the rover vehicle for its long trip the helicopter’s two rotor blades were spun at 50 RPM on a test stand, the last time they will spin before they do so in the thin Martian atmosphere. While the helicopter is not considered an integral part of the Perseverance mission, officially it is referred to as a technology demonstration, if successful the little drone will take the first flight of any manmade object on another planet.

Final test of the little Helicopter that will travel to Mars aboard the Perseverance Rover. It’s now got to be packed up and made ready to go! (Credit: NASA JPL)

Another mission that could be delayed because of Covid-19 is Space X’s long anticipated first manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was only a few weeks ago that Space X announced that this long awaited first manned mission of their Dragon capsule would take place the second week of May. That time frame however could very well put the mission right at the peak of the pandemic in Florida! Since this first mission of NASA’s commercial crew program is already more than two years behind schedule perhaps the wisest course at present would be to just delay the mission until well after the pandemic has run its course, until September or even later.

An unmanned Space X crew Dragon docking at the ISS. The first manned mission is scheduled for May but will Covid-19 cause a delay? (Credit: Space News)

Speaking of the ISS, what happens to the astronauts who are aboard the station if Cape Kennedy has to be shut down because of the pandemic?  While the astronauts themselves may be safe from Covid-19 their supply chain is definitely threatened by the situation here on Earth. All of the countries that are capable of resupplying the ISS are dealing with severe coronavirus outbreaks that may limit their ability to launch unmanned supply ships.

The Crew aboard the ISS may be safe from any viruses but what about their supply link with Earth? (Credit: NASA)

No doubt if the supply situation on the ISS should become critical then either the US or Russia would certainly, and ‘carefully’ assemble a resupply mission, but what if that launch should fail? In any case there is certainly a great risk that the normal operations of the ISS will be curtailed because of the virus.

The expedition 63 crew to the ISS was just launched from Russia after a prolonged quarantine period to make certain they weren’t infected with Covid-19 (Credit: NASA)

All of this is just another sign of how much the coronavirus outbreak is now dominating almost every aspect of human life, and not just here on Earth.

Space News for March 2020.

Last month’s Space News was all about the race between Space x and Boeing to see which of these two aerospace corporations would be the first to launch a privately owned spacecraft carrying live astronauts. That is the stated goal of NASA’s ‘Commercial Crew Program’, a program that is now two years behind schedule. See my post of 25Jan2020. There’s been a bit more news about Space X and Boeing since then so I think I’ll begin with an update.

The bad news comes from Boeing. You may recall that back on the 20th of December Boeing launched its Starliner capsule on an unmanned final test flight to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch itself went well but while the spacecraft was adjusting its orbit a software glitch caused the maneuvering rockets to fire for so long that the spacecraft no longer had enough fuel to reach the ISS and complete the mission. The capsule was brought down from orbit and successfully recovered with what appeared to be only that single, software problem.

Launch of the Boeing Starliner Capsule on its Orbital Test Flight. Turns out the spacecraft had several software related problems during the test. (Credit: CNN.Com)

Not so fast. Turns out that there was another, potentially much more dangerous software problem that was caught just a few hours before it could have badly damaged the spacecraft. Just before re-entry the crew capsule has to discard its service module in order to expose the heatshield that will project it from the heat generated by fiction in the atmosphere. Once detached the service module then uses its maneuvering rockets to get out the capsule’s way so it can begin re-entry.

Before Re-entry of the Starliner the Crew Module must separate from the Service Module which then needs to get out of the Crew Module’s way! (Credit: Yahoo Movies UK)

That’s where the second software glitch comes in because the service module’s rockets were being told to fire in exactly the wrong direction. This could have resulted in a collision of the two modules, potentially damaging the capsule’ heatshield and making re-entry impossible.

There may even be more issues that haven’t been identified yet; the NASA investigation isn’t completed. Regardless, this second issue will almost certainly require Boeing to carry out another, more successful unmanned test flight of Starliner before NASA will allow a manned flight.

Boeing’s troubles with its Starliner capsule come on top of the company’s continuing troubles with its 737 Max 800 Jet! (Credit: New York Post)

Which makes it a safe bet that Space X will be the first private company to launch human beings into space. Having aced their final In-Flight-Abort test in January all that remains before astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken climb aboard Space X’s Dragon capsule for a trip to the ISS is paperwork, a lot of paperwork. Informed sources have stated that both NASA and Space X are working toward a target launch date of May 7th but realistically the mission could take place anytime between late April or early June. And just to make certain that the tees are crossed and the eyes dotted on all of that paperwork Space X has announced that they have hired former NASA Associate Director for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier to oversee the final details. With his background in NASA’s shuttle and ISS programs Gerstenmaier will see to it that when Dragon does launch it will be as ready to go as humanly possible.

Space X’s Dragon Capsule has completed all of its tests and its first manned mission could come as early as April! (Credit: Space X)
William Gerstenmaier is a long time manager of NASA manned missions. His expertise will be of great value to Space X. (Credit: Space News)

One question still to be resolved is just how long Hurley and Behnken will stay at the ISS. The original plan was for the Dragon capsule to only remain docked to the station for a week but at the moment Chris Cassidy is the only American aboard the ISS. To increase their presence on the ISS NASA is considering extending Hurley and Behnken’s mission to as much as three months. If that option is chosen then Hurley and Behnken may need to undergo some additional ISS training. Whichever option is chosen the countdown has begun, in just a matter of months the U.S. will be back in the business of human space flight.

Space X Astronauts Doug Hurley (r) and Bob Behnken are ready, even anxious to go! (Credit: Space X)

Now of course NASA is also in the unmanned space exploration business as well, and there’s news from the furthest parts of our Solar system and beyond.

NASA is still downloading data from its New Horizons spacecraft that the probe gathered during its flyby of the Kuiper belt object Arrokoth, formerly Ultima Thule, back on New Year’s Day in 2019. Even from the first images that were sent back of the peanut shaped object however planetary scientists became convinced that Arrokoth was actually two objects that were fully formed before they joined softly together. See image below.

The data sent back by New Horizons clearly shows that Arrokoth is two distinct objects that gently came together. (Credit: NASA)

Now the New Horizons team thinks that their models of how Arrokoth formed may have a profound effect on theories of how our entire Solar system came into being. Current ideas about planet formation are rather violent, with orbiting boulders smashing into each other while proto-planets were bombarded by a constant rain of meteoroids.

Was the formation of the Earth this violent? The data from Arrokoth seems to say no! (Credit: Quora)

The data from New Horizons suggests that the early Solar system may not have been quite so violent however. Perhaps the pieces that made up the planets came together more gently and as the proto-planet grew the force of gravity just squeezed everything together into the familiar ball shape that the planets have today. How much influence the work of the New Horizons scientists will have on our theories of the early solar system remains to be seen, after all other scientists still get their chance to examine and criticize it. Also it’s worth remembering that things are a lot colder and quieter in the outer Solar system anyway, after all Pluto’s velocity around the Sun is just about one tenth that of Mercury’s. With that in mind you would expect events in the outer Solar System to happen less violently.

I’d like to conclude this briefing by discussing the problem that NASA recently successfully fixed on the Voyager 2 space probe. First launched over forty years ago Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to have visited four planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The Voyager 2 spacecraft has had a rather distinguished career! (Credit: JPL-NASA)

Voyage 2 is still working; it’s left the Solar System now, joining its sister Voyager 1 in interstellar space. With only a tiny amount of energy still being provided by its Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) NASA has shut off all of the probe’s instruments except its magnetometer and cosmic ray detector to save power.

Then on January 25 Voyager 2 failed to perform a routine calibration of its magnetometer. Telemetry from the spacecraft indicated that a fault protection circuit had been activated to prevent a power overload. Since Voyager 2 is now so far away from Earth, 18.5 billion kilometers, it takes 17 hours for an instruction to reach the probe, and another 17 for the spacecraft’s response to reach Earth, even trying to understand the problem took a considerable amount of time. In fact it took a full three days of back and forth messages to sort out the power budget.

Still they did it; they managed to fix a 42-year-old spacecraft that’s now speeding through the space between the stars. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Labouratory are confident that both Voyager probes could continue their missions for as much as another 10 years. Imagine that, fifty years of exploring both the Solar System as well as interstellar space.   

Space News for January 2020: Space X clinches the final test of its Crew Dragon capsule before manned launches can begin.

The big news this month is of course the successful completion of the In Flight Abort (IFA) test by Space X’s Crew Dragon capsule. The test, which was conducted with an unmanned capsule, was designed to simulate a major failure of the Falcon 9 booster rocket in order to demonstrate that the Dragon capsule is capable of separating itself from its boosters in flight and returning its crew safely back to the ground. The simulated failure was scheduled to occur about one and a half minutes into the fight, the moment at which both the spacecraft and its launch system are exposed to the maximum aerodynamic pressure, making it the most hazardous time of the launch. If you’d like to watch the actual flight, it takes about six minutes, click on the link below to be taken to a YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkd5PNyRLng

Liftoff of the Space X Crew Dragon capsule on its In Flight Abort Test . (Credit: WTOP.com)

To complete the test the Dragon capsule had to separate from its boosters and deploy parachutes in order to safely splashdown in the Atlantic. Separation was accomplished by firing solid rocket engines aboard the Dragon capsule, pulling it away from the launch vehicle seconds before the first two stages were intentionally destroyed.

Firing of the Dragon capsule’s solid fuel abort engines, at top. (Credit: True Median)

The IFA test is a critical part of the checkout of the final safety system of any manned spacecraft. The importance of the in-flight abort system was demonstrated back in October of 2018 when a Soyuz rocket carrying the American astronaut Nick Hague along with Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin failed just after launch and the Soyuz capsule’s in-flight abort system saved the lives of the two space travelers.

Failure of a Soyuz rocket back in October 2018. The crew was saved by the capsule’s abort system. (Credit: NPR)

The Space X IFA test had been originally scheduled to take place at 8AM Eastern Standard Time on the 18th of January but was delayed until the 19th because of high winds at the launch area along with choppy seas in the recovery zone. Even on the 19th the launch had to be delayed until 10:30 AM to allow clouds to disperse.

Despite the less than optimal weather the test flight itself went perfectly with the Falcon 9 rocket lifting off smoothly from launch pad 39A at Cape Kennedy. This was the fourth launch for the first stage of the Falcon 9, an example of Space X’s commitment to reducing the cost of space travel by reusing every part of the launch system that it possibly can.

For the next minute and a half minute everything appeared just like a normal launch until exactly on schedule the Dragon Capsule was yanked away from its boosters by the solid fuel rockets. Seconds later the Falcon 9 booster was detonated on command while the capsule began dropping back to Earth.

Destruction of the Space X Falcon 9 booster rocket during the IFA test. The capsule got safely away. (Credit: Space News)

As the capsule entered the denser part of the atmosphere drogue parachutes were deployed in order to stabilize the capsule’s orientation. About a minute later the four main ‘chutes deployed slowing the capsule’s descent until it landed softly in the ocean.

Seen from inside the Dragon capsule the four main parachutes are a beautiful sight. (Credit: CNBC.com)

Immediately small recovery boats headed toward the capsule, a practice run for how they would rescue the crew of any aborted manned mission. A large recovery vessel later rendezvoused with and lifted the capsule out of the ocean. Less than twelve hours after it had lifted off the Dragon capsule would be returned to Cape Kennedy, mission accomplished.

The Dragon capsule returning to the Cape less than twelve hours after completing its IFA test. (Credit: Spaceflight Now)

Now the finer details of the test still have to be reviewed by NASA and Space X engineers, but nevertheless the Dragon capsule’s IFA test was clearly a success. If the test had been a real launch failure of a manned mission the astronauts on board would have survived the failure without any serious injury.

With the IFA test accomplished Space X can now prepare for their first actual manned launch, which company CEO Elon Musk has stated will take place sometime within a April to June time frame. So the next time a Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon capsule lifts off from the Cape it will be the first time in nine years, since the end of NASA’s shuttle program, that American astronauts will fly into space aboard an American rocket from American soil.

The first astronauts to ride a Dragon capsule into space will be Bob Behknen (r) and Doug Hurley (l). (Credit: Electrek)

A Quick Update on an Earlier Post:

Just a week ago, on the 18th of January I posted an article about the observation that the red giant star Betelgeuse has been rapidly dimming in brightness and could be in the early stages of exploding as a Type 2 Supernova (SN2). Since that time the massive star has continued to dim, its brightness is now less than at any time since astronomers first began taking accurate measurements of its luminosity back in the 1920s. See graph below.

Betelgeuse is a variable star but recently its brightness has dimmed more than ever seen before. (Credit: AAVSO)

Our theories about SN2 tell us that Betelgeuse will go nova sometime in the next 100,000 years or so, but is that time now? Astronomers think that’s unlikely but you can bet that they will be keeping a close eye on Betelgeuse in the near future.

Space News for November 2019.

Some good news coming this month from space, successes with both manned and unmanned programs along with an interesting new concept for a future space probe. Let’s get started.

First up I’d like to talk about Japan’s Hayabusa 2 space probe that has been studying the asteroid Ryugu, see my posts of 6 January 2018, 30 June 2018, 20 April 2019 and 3 June 2019. Since arriving at the asteroid back in mid 2018 Hayabusa has photographed the asteroid, send down two landers to its surface and even fired a bullet and cannonball at it in order to blast holes that would reveal the asteroid’s internal material. Hayabusa then touched down briefly on Ryugu in order to collect some material from one of the blasted holes.

The asteroid Ryugu that was visited by Japan’s Hayabusa2 space probe. The arrow marks the spot at which Hayabusa fired its projectile. (Credit: Universe Today)
Artists impression of Hayabusa2 collecting samples of Ryugu from the crater its projectile made. (Credit: Universe Today)

Now Hayabusa has left Ryugu and is on its way back to Earth. In late 2020 the spacecraft will release a canister containing the samples collected from Ryugu that will hopefully enter the atmosphere and touch down in the outback of Australia. Once recovered the material from the asteroid will be studied to reveal some of the secrets of how our Solar System was born.

As for the Hayabusa 2 probe itself, well it will pass by our planet and make an escape maneuver that will send it back out into the Solar System where it may continue to send back data for years to come. Let’s all wish it well.

Another recent event was the successful completion of a pad abort test by Space X’s crewed version of their Dragon capsule. This test is designed to verify the capsule’s ability to quickly yank the astronauts away from the launch pad in the event of a potentially deadly problem with the booster rocket.

The Space X crew Dragon capsule undergoing its pad abort test. (Credit: CollectSpace)

You may recall that back in April a Dragon capsule spectacularly failed this very test, the solid fuel rockets intended to pull the capsule safely away instead triggering a massive fire. This failure led to months of investigation as to the cause of the ‘anomaly’ along with a major redesign of the capsule’s abort system.

The April failure of the crew Dragon in its pad abort test. (Credit: AmericaSpace)

That redesign must have done the trick because this time the abort test went off without any problems. That leaves Space X with only the in-flight abort test to pass before a manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) can be scheduled, hopefully early next year. The competition between Space X and their rival, Boeing’s Starliner capsule is coming down to the wire, which will be the first commercial company to launch astronauts into space? I’ll let you know.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule undergoing its pad abort test. (Credit: NASA)

Meanwhile NASA is continuing its ongoing effort to design new space probes for the continued exploration of our Solar System. One place the planetary scientists are very anxious to study is Saturn’s moon Titan. Titan is the only moon in the Solar System to possess a thick atmosphere and although its surface is extremely cold it still has bodies of liquid, liquid methane that is.

In fact Titan has so many different terrains and environments that a single robotic lander of the kind that have been so successful on the Moon or Mars would only be able study one particular type of the environments of Titan. On the other hand sending multiple probes to do a comprehensive study would be far too expensive, so what can the space agency do? Be innovative!

Engineers from NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program have teamed with both Stanford and Cornell Universities in an effort to develop a ‘shape shifting’ robot that can alter its configuration that will allow it to walk on land, or float on liquid methane or even fly through the air. The current design rolls along the ground like a drum but when required the upper half can separate itself and fly on internal propellers. See image below.

Breadboard model of a shape shifting robot space probe being evaluated by NASA (Credit: JPL-NASA)

Now the engineers do have one big advantage, Titan itself. You see the atmosphere on Titan is thicker than Earth’s even though the gravity on Titan is less than a third that on our planet. These two conditions will actually make flying easier on Titan.

On the other hand floating on a sea of oily liquid may be a little more difficult. Nevertheless the engineers are hard at work on the problem. The final design will be a modular concept, see image below, with each of its various sections being capable of independent action.

Artists impression of the completed shape shifting space probe. (Credit: JPL-NASA)

The current schedule calls for a Titan probe to be launched in 2026 with its arrival in 2034 so the engineers at NIAC still have some time to work on their designs. The concept of a shape-shifting robot is only one of the advanced ideas NASA is considering for the space probes of the future, each one more amazing than the last.

One last little item before I go. You should recall that back in January the New Horizons space craft, which had already made the first ever flyby of Pluto in July 2015, successfully made another flyby of the furthest ever object visited by a man made probe. See my posts of 3 January 2019 and 30 January 2019.

The Kuiper belt object 2014 MU69 visited by the New Horizons space probe. (Credit: NASA)

Officially known as 2014 MU69 NASA had given the Kuiper belt object the nickname of Ultima Thule, an ancient Latin name for a mythical far northern land. Now however 2014 MU69 has had that nickname taken away from it for reasons that have nothing to do with science or astronomy.

You see Ultima Thule is also the name that the Nazi gave to their fictitious homeland for the Aryan ‘Master Race’. Just to make things worse, even today there are racist, white supremacists who continue to use that name to support their hate filled rhetoric.

The new name chosen by NASA is Arrokoth, which means sky in the Native American Powhatan language. Arrokoth is certainly a good name, perfect for an object in our Solar System and if it had been the first name chosen for 2014 MU69 I would have applauded the choice. But Ultima Thule is also a good name, a name with an ancient, honourable history. To my mind this is another example of how a small group of horrible people have succeeded in perverting something wonderful into something dark and ugly.  

Space News for October 2019.

This month I’m going to use my monthly space news post for an update on NASA’s commercial crew program. You’ll recall that this is the space agency’s plan to hire private companies to launch America’s astronauts into Low Earth Orbit (LOE). NASA has been anxiously waiting for Space X and its competitor Boeing to begin taking America’s astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) so that it no longer has to pay the Russians $80 million dollars for a seat on their Soyuz spacecraft. The first manned missions of the Space X Dragon and Boeing Starliner capsules were supposed to have begun in early 2018 so the whole program is already more than a year behind schedule and there is still no firm date for an actual manned mission. 

The Space X Crew Dragon made an unmanned flight to the ISS in March. (Credit: The Verge)
Boeing’s Starliner capsule has yet to reach orbit but it has completed its in flight abort test. (Credit: Space News)

You may recall that back in March of this year Space X successfully launched an unmanned Dragon capsule that was able to dock at the International Space Station (ISS). This was a planned Orbital Flight Test or OFT. (See my post of 6March 2019) At the time there was hope that the Hawthorn California company would soon become the first private entity to perform a manned space mission, possibly as early as August. After all the Dragon Capsule had only one more test to complete in order for NASA to completely certify it as ready for crewed flight.

That test was a launch pad abort test where the capsule’s solid fuel rockets would be fired. Those are the rockets designed to yank the capsule away from its booster rocket in the event of any problem that could endanger the crew. Well on April 20th something went wrong with the solid fuel rockets and the capsule was nearly destroyed. (See my post of 3August 2019) Needless to say the planned manned mission was postponed and still has not been rescheduled.

The Space X dragon capsule before and after the ‘anomaly’. (Credit: America Space)

Of course Space X immediately began an investigation into the ‘anomaly’ that quickly led to a faulty valve as being the cause. Since then there have been six months of engineering effort on the Dragon capsule so that this week a redesigned Dragon capsule has arrived at Cape Canaveral ready to conduct the in flight abort testing. That test is now being scheduled for sometime after the 23rd of November.

The redesigned Space X Dragon capsule being readied for its in flight abort test. (Credit: The New York Times)

So perhaps Space X is back on track to begin launching astronauts into orbit. Meanwhile Boeing has successfully completed its in flight abort testing and is preparing for an unmanned flight of its Starliner capsule after which it will be certified to begin manned missions.

For a time it appeared as if Boeing had little chance of beating Space X in their commercial space race but the recent problems of the Dragon capsule have given the Starliner the opportunity to catch up. With the completion of its in flight abort test Boeing is now ready to attempt its remaining to tests, the pad abort and OFT which have been given tentative dates of the 2nd of November and the 17th of December. Assuming Starliner passes both these tests a manned mission to the ISS could come in early 2020.

It is hoped that Boeing’s Starliner will make its first, unmanned test launch before the end of the year. (Credit: YouTube)

So it seems as if the race between Space X and Boeing to launch the first commercial space manned space flight could go down to the wire. And both those two companies might be hearing footsteps behind them because there’s a third company preparing to begin commercial space launches as well. Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser isn’t an updated space capsule like the Dragon and Starliner; instead it’s an updated version of the space shuttle.

A mock up of the completed Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser space plane. (Credit: Geekwire)

The main body of the Dream Chaser, which was manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation, has arrived at Sierra Nevada’s main plant for completion. Officials at Sierra Nevada are confident that the Dream Chaser will make it maiden, unmanned resupply mission to the ISS sometime in 2021.

The Dream Chaser main body has been delivered to Sierra Nevada Corp for integration into the completed spacecraft. (Credit: Parabolic Arc)

The main body that was delivered measures some 10 meters long by 5 wide and 2 high and can carry 6,000 kilos of supplies. The main body is composed of the most advanced high-temperature composite material. Once the first Dream Chaser is ready a Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch it on its maiden flight. Despite many delays and frustrations the time is now approaching when American astronauts will once again launch into space from American soil. It can’t come soon enough for me.