I've been struggling to find newsworthy space stories on the usual handful of places I look and there just isn't anything that's striking me as interesting enough. In general, the stories are largely about "big picture" things like missions off in the future. For example, NASA contracted with Blue Origin for comm sat systems to relay radio signals from Mars to Earth. Kinda interesting and clearly really for years from now, but then Rocket Lab started disputing something about the contract - basically arguing they should have gotten the contract. OK - kinda interesting but not very.
While poking around on YouTube, I found a video that really hit home with me.
Purdue University gives out an award for superior engineering named for one of their biggest names among their graduates, Neil Armstrong. This year, the award was given to the team that developed the ability for the Falcon 9 to land and be re-used. The idea of reusability has always been there but it was always a "we'll get to that some day" kind of story. Those almost always have implications that it was tried but found to not be as robust and straightforward as the big picture guys thought.
The Falcon 9 Booster Landing Team at SpaceX has been awarded the 2026 Neil Armstrong Space Prize in the Innovation category for proving that rockets could be recovered, refurbished and reused — a feat much of the industry once considered impossible. This video traces how that breakthrough happened, from early NASA and Air Force reusability research to the moment engineers watched a booster descend out of the darkness and land perfectly upright.
Team members, including Jon Edwards, Yoshiaki Kuwata, Lars Blackmore, Shana Diez and Eduardo Valazquez, describe the persistence behind hundreds of engineers' work, and how those lessons carry forward into Starship's booster-catch landings. Purdue University's Dan Dumbacher and Kathleen Howell explain how reusable rockets changed the economics of access to space: Falcon 9 has now flown more than 600 missions on recovered boosters. What made this reusability breakthrough possible? The team points to a culture that rewarded trying and failing, precise engineering under enormous stakes and years of incremental proof, from the first landing to the 600th.
The prize honors innovation in the spirit of Neil Armstrong, a Purdue alum whose legacy still inspires students walking past his statue on campus every day.
As you can see from the lower left hand corner of that screen capture, it's a not quite a ten minute video. I seriously recommend you watch the whole thing because it's a fundamental transformation of the launch industry, dramatically cutting costs and increasing flexibility. I've long thought that SpaceX should get some serious recognition for getting reusability working. It's even better that it's the team of engineers who achieved it getting the recognition not just the corporation.
Or you could watch it here if they continue to allow the embedded version.
Hey, 10 minutes isn't that long. Grab a coffee or some thing and sit back for a watch.
I wonder if Starship could retrieve satellites from parking orbits?
ReplyDeleteAs currently configured, no, but that doesn't mean much. The current design for putting satellites in orbit, called the Pez dispenser, has a rectangular hatch that opens with no arms for retrieving anything. The Starlink satellites are pushed out, and are thin, rectangular packages that then unfold themselves.
DeleteThat doesn't mean they couldn't develop a way to do it, it's just not there now.
Thanks for the link to the video SiG. That was inspiring. I’ve followed developments in space technology since I was a kid in the sixties. All these years later I’m still that kid watching in awe at the achievements of the teams at SpaceX. What a great and unarguable honour for the team. Purdue made a great call there.
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you. The woman, Shana Diez, talked about watching the first successful landing of a Falcon 9 and how the images were practically etched on her brain. That's how I felt. We had watched the launch from the yard and came back inside to watch the coverage online. I can still see it when that landing gets mentioned.
DeleteSuddenly, finally, and unexpectedly, I'm starting to see things I had always hoped to see. Reusable rockets. A goal of being able to fly as often and as reliably as a commercial jet. From a company that didn't exist at Y2K, and a bunch of young engineers who look like all the younger engineers I worked with.
Now my hope is to live long enough to see the Neil Armstrong moment of "footprints and photographs" repeated on Mars.
Excellent video! Of course, the first thing that hit me was the use of Suno to get the background music (nearly identical to some of mine), but it was clear that these people GET IT. It's fantastic that they are getting recognition they so clearly deserve.
ReplyDelete