tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15929922094023005492024-03-18T23:24:36.308-04:00The Silicon GraybeardIn the World of the High Tech Redneck, the Graybeard is the old guy who earned his gray by making all the mistakes, and tries to keep the young 'uns from repeating them. Silicon Graybeard is my term for an old hardware engineer; a circuit designer. The focus of this blog is on doing things, from radio to home machine shops and making all kinds of things, along with comments from a retired radio engineer, that run from tech, science or space news to economics; from firearms to world events.
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comBlogger4848125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-20254205986957665322024-03-18T22:04:00.000-04:002024-03-18T22:04:39.999-04:00The US Fed.gov Wants to Grow a Lunar Economy<p>
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/the-us-government-seems-serious-about-developing-a-lunar-economy/" target="_blank">Ars Technica is reporting today</a>
that more than just NASA is interested in making the moon more available to
industry.
</p>
<p>
It appears to have started at NASA, which is using part of its work on Artemis
<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/m2m-objectives-exec-summary.pdf" target="_blank">to seek a lunar economy</a>
(pdf warning) that they're not the only customers for. That makes sense,
because the more infrastructure that gets developed, the lower the costs can
be for everyone that wants to use it. It's as close to an "iron law" as
it gets in manufacturing and production: the more you make, the lower the cost
per item. Typically, as quantity doubles, the price decreases by 25 to
35%.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
A whole host of conditions must be met for a lunar economy to thrive. There
must be something there that can be sold, be it resources, a unique
environment for scientific research, low-gravity manufacturing, tourism, or
another source of value. Reliable transportation to the Moon must be
available. And there needs to be a host of services, such as power and
communications for machines and people on the lunar surface. So yeah, it's a
lot. <br />
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Enter DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA has a
long track record of backing and funding new technologies going back decades -
they even paid for the the first Falcon 1 launch. Last year, they announced a
new study, called
<a href="https://www.darpa.mil/program/ten-year-lunar-architecture-luna-10-capability-study">LunA-10</a>, to understand how best to facilitate a thriving lunar economy by 2035. The
program manager for the study is Major Michael "Orbit" Nayak. You've got to be
serious when your nickname is Orbit.<br />
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
In December, DARPA announced that it was working with 14 different companies
under LunA-10, including major space players such as Northrop Grumman and
SpaceX, as well as non-space firms such as Nokia. These companies are
assessing how services such as power and communications could be established
on the Moon, and they're due to provide a final report by June.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
While the final report is due by June, Major Navak issued a preliminary report
earlier this month
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
"Based on technical work and development conducted under the LunA-10 study,
I have identified six hypotheses where, if revolutionary improvements in
technology can be made, I assess that a direct acceleration to the fielding
of a lunar economy is likely to occur,"
<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.05959">Nayak said in the paper</a>.<br />
<br />
Last Thursday, based on the ideas elucidated in Nayak's paper, DARPA issued
a "Request for Information" for technological capabilities that could scale
up lunar exploration and commerce. This federal solicitation makes for
interesting reading and suggests that Nayak and DARPA have thought things
through.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
A Request For Information or RFI is the very preliminary first step in the
government procurement process. The RFI is published where any
interested contractor can read it and respond with an equally preliminary summary
of how they think they can provide the solutions the RFI is asking
about. Neither the Fed.gov or the respondents are committing to
anything. They aren't paying the companies for the response and aren't
committing to actually paying anyone for anything. The companies aren't
committing to produce whatever they respond about nor committing to a
price. <br />
</p>
<p>The six areas are: </p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>
<b>Centralized heating and cooling</b><b>:</b> The moon has a day/night
cycle that lasts 28 days which alternates between extremely hot and
extremely cold. Could there be a centralized thermal system that provides
cooling during the day and heating during the night? Perhaps one that
new industries could pay for like our electrical utilities?
</li>
<li>
<b>Lunar prospecting</b><b>:</b> What minerals are there on the moon
that are close enough to the surface to be collected and what could be done
with them?
</li>
<li>
<b>Silicon wafer manufacturing</b><b>: </b>Remember Blue Origin's talk about
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2023/02/blue-origin-quietly-announces-major.html" target="_blank">manufacturing solar cells on the moon</a>? The cells they showed were small, perhaps 75mm (~3 inches) in
diameter. The emphasis here is >400 mm wafers (~15.75"). "Silicon
crystal growth occurs at 1425 deg Celsius, which is approximately the
temperature at which multiple ISRU pilot plants intend to operate, e.g., for
carbothermal reduction of oxygen from regolith," the solicitation states.
</li>
<li>
<b>Microbial biomanufacturing</b><b>:</b> Microorganisms are involved
in many critical processes here on Earth (besides making wine and
cheese). The goal is to combine local materials, such as lunar
regolith, with biotechnology to create structures, industrial fuels, or
lubricants.
</li>
<li>
<b>Low-gravity resource extraction: </b>There appears to be a lot of valuable
minerals on the moon, but they seem to be in low concentrations. DARPA
seeks proposals on how to deal with that.
</li>
<li>
<b>A lunar GPS system</b>. A real lunar GPS constellation is probably out of the question,
but with a handful of settlements clustered in areas of high resource
availability, some way of distributing time signals other than getting them
from the Earth seems to be useful. <br />
</li>
</ul>
<p>
While it's early to jump to conclusions, DARPA has the reputation, the
"chops", to attract serious interest. Another thing to bear in mind
is that while DARPA's budget for 2023 was $4.1 Billion; NASA's budget was more than six
times that, $25.3 Billion. Perhaps DARPA could fund some things that are
harder to justify for NASA, but they're not going to make a major contribution
to NASA's budget.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTAFLUfE8wMvMeMtLoZUP6Z6hedBd9Mf8CxIiN4_dW3ffw-Ty3c4mKDv_Tu3IYJ1R_8Naws8T4t0VSxtUe1S6Lk-lHPyrrLxSkFGdAaV5GltE7kIMd_vZTOZ727bac8QB4ZsMHqvgMDxOEuOEDkQfqLgQ6qMit79bafg7p-sKRfHf6H0W6kSxRLIsNFz8/s970/MalapertArea.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="970" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTAFLUfE8wMvMeMtLoZUP6Z6hedBd9Mf8CxIiN4_dW3ffw-Ty3c4mKDv_Tu3IYJ1R_8Naws8T4t0VSxtUe1S6Lk-lHPyrrLxSkFGdAaV5GltE7kIMd_vZTOZ727bac8QB4ZsMHqvgMDxOEuOEDkQfqLgQ6qMit79bafg7p-sKRfHf6H0W6kSxRLIsNFz8/w640-h334/MalapertArea.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
A map of the area near the south pole where the IM-1 lander was headed, coded
for elevations: blue are lowest through greens and reds to the highest in
brown and then gray at Mons Mouton, bottom left. Areas like this with
craters in perma-shadows are of interest for the resources they might harbor.
Image credit, Intuitive Machines.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-76833378350910522842024-03-17T21:51:00.001-04:002024-03-17T21:51:23.833-04:00Got Away From Me Again<p>
It has been a hard day to concentrate and get things done for reasons I'll get
to some other time. So some attempts to lighten the mood and
miscellaneous stuff.
</p>
<p>
I don't have anything big enough to cook that. Or prepare it. Or even lift it onto that table to prepare it. <br />
</p>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL9yi_SnANQELYUchapKUzdd0SIa4HKJHc6VIWbjax-5UB4jolqWJaKqZ9H7yBt693Kx83ryCA65TXjDGm0FIzDG6D5_c9QB7Ql_-yITTDqbXh3AnP9jzekNxF1Beq_nciqYDkeSpRTz3sAQ0iP3Bx3k7XLLvl7Bkhwje0jJijIsMTYwEBZU1-GG_w1yEi/s800/not%20vegan%20funny.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="793" data-original-width="800" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL9yi_SnANQELYUchapKUzdd0SIa4HKJHc6VIWbjax-5UB4jolqWJaKqZ9H7yBt693Kx83ryCA65TXjDGm0FIzDG6D5_c9QB7Ql_-yITTDqbXh3AnP9jzekNxF1Beq_nciqYDkeSpRTz3sAQ0iP3Bx3k7XLLvl7Bkhwje0jJijIsMTYwEBZU1-GG_w1yEi/w640-h634/not%20vegan%20funny.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>An unusual way to think about inflation...</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK5onzQllLs1DQiq6PGqAvv3GLL7gr9lLCjNPyHmJ5SPBQwB5eT-cWjV8t3x6rC56KzggsSHsl-OqUlchsgrxJiGzVJmdQYdGCNIAiEpidweThKWsTp13RD-o1tJ37C9kj9Wf0svwcDA3E61RPoAFKiMxWS5KIYRtVrurYBekKOIdN50nXCt-Lo9BGpHx-/s800/GoodwynCartoons_03-13-24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="571" data-original-width="800" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK5onzQllLs1DQiq6PGqAvv3GLL7gr9lLCjNPyHmJ5SPBQwB5eT-cWjV8t3x6rC56KzggsSHsl-OqUlchsgrxJiGzVJmdQYdGCNIAiEpidweThKWsTp13RD-o1tJ37C9kj9Wf0svwcDA3E61RPoAFKiMxWS5KIYRtVrurYBekKOIdN50nXCt-Lo9BGpHx-/w640-h457/GoodwynCartoons_03-13-24.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<br />
<p>
Much like The Face on Mars, there's clearly intelligence on at least one side of the image. It's just on the side interpreting what they see, not the side that created the image.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQgX9NhOZ5SbGdTyCBhH2aysAf-T-SWLISrXuxRLcCvPArmNSaVKM_D2aHKp4OQWAz2WlchF1fEH1-UEmxdq0YR5zK6awM3KsdLumu_HaMCKMxXpkZymXQ0LGeZEWhu46qEBYy0VrAjrH-3Yx7Mh0pgwHNIfZa5hq7HVGneQR6pRwUlDLcM76YkcEqVZ6q/s800/Jupiter%20high%20on%20caffeine.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="800" height="494" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQgX9NhOZ5SbGdTyCBhH2aysAf-T-SWLISrXuxRLcCvPArmNSaVKM_D2aHKp4OQWAz2WlchF1fEH1-UEmxdq0YR5zK6awM3KsdLumu_HaMCKMxXpkZymXQ0LGeZEWhu46qEBYy0VrAjrH-3Yx7Mh0pgwHNIfZa5hq7HVGneQR6pRwUlDLcM76YkcEqVZ6q/w640-h494/Jupiter%20high%20on%20caffeine.png" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<br />
<p>Since it's St. Patrick's Day:</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcOh_iVMPMXBvMPNIGNgUB6bjinedZjMAil5vfuT3orrBraPFqXG0iVIQUaJFcExsuUWR0tb70XKLEcaKrCmtzsAqFtLENCUzx21R3WrNUrYEwKhPzWspaUeOQ6gK2woChnXeYtor7lwwATzgkWLJEOua7mnC-vhfQsTl3WTW-k7ehxETcQ-ks_Qot4PI/s595/Ireland_Africa.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="568" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvcOh_iVMPMXBvMPNIGNgUB6bjinedZjMAil5vfuT3orrBraPFqXG0iVIQUaJFcExsuUWR0tb70XKLEcaKrCmtzsAqFtLENCUzx21R3WrNUrYEwKhPzWspaUeOQ6gK2woChnXeYtor7lwwATzgkWLJEOua7mnC-vhfQsTl3WTW-k7ehxETcQ-ks_Qot4PI/w610-h640/Ireland_Africa.JPG" width="610" /></a>
</div>
<br />
<p>and some Irish wisdom...</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLHiBau32c9USuallet17dnYFLOK-n4-baoEyt-PglJ0HscMWOqx9Zwqo-4s1xlnHSAzoKo6f0GFqAPY-igbvBo_JPmCmcA36-djXXN_4226c4X629rpJthERTL9lfrlWRjCfv2bfyFEgN16zsXLfU-YN3hSJdbXeffPNc34o7SzpVoenC6VnSo7oEtE1/s500/IrishWisdom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLHiBau32c9USuallet17dnYFLOK-n4-baoEyt-PglJ0HscMWOqx9Zwqo-4s1xlnHSAzoKo6f0GFqAPY-igbvBo_JPmCmcA36-djXXN_4226c4X629rpJthERTL9lfrlWRjCfv2bfyFEgN16zsXLfU-YN3hSJdbXeffPNc34o7SzpVoenC6VnSo7oEtE1/s16000/IrishWisdom.jpg" /></a>
</div>
<br />
<p>
As for the miscellaneous, I hope nobody is trying to replicate the ham shack
mod I've posted about a few times. I've gone back to the drawing board
for a way to get around the LNA problem I mentioned
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/03/catch-as-catch-can-on-slow-news-sunday.html" target="_blank">last week</a>. I can see a way around the troubles with something older and lower tech, but
for the moment I've replaced it with a $5 amplifier module I lucked into finding at the
Orlando Hamcation last month. It's just that the chances someone else will
find one aren't very good.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-2161274574943097412024-03-16T21:12:00.000-04:002024-03-16T21:12:24.587-04:00SpaceX Releases Some Flight Data<p>
<a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-3" target="_blank">The post to their Launches web site is date-tagged Thursday</a>, so probably well after the test flight, and while not complete, it does
cover some things we've been talking about. Just a couple of points out
of the eight they covered.
</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>
Super Heavy successfully lit several engines for its first ever landing burn
before the vehicle experienced a RUD (that’s SpaceX-speak for “rapid
unscheduled disassembly”). The booster’s flight concluded at approximately
462 meters in altitude and just under seven minutes into the mission.
</li>
<li>
While coasting, Starship accomplished several of the flight test’s
additional objectives, including the opening and closing of its payload door
(aka the pez dispenser,) and initiating a propellant transfer demonstration.
Starship did not attempt its planned on-orbit relight of a single Raptor
engine due to vehicle roll rates during coast. Results from these
demonstrations will come after postflight data review is complete.
</li>
<li>
The flight test’s conclusion came during entry, with the last telemetry
signals received via Starlink from Starship at approximately 49 minutes into
the mission.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
These confirm that both the booster and Starship itself were victims of a RUD,
and the middle one confirms Starship had improper roll rates, which could have led to the heat shield tiles not facing in the right direction. That said,
they achieved more and got farther than the first two test flights. A rumor I
heard was that the booster didn't have enough fuel left to land. That would
probably be a simple error that should be easy to find and fix. <br />
</p>
<p>
Eric Berger at Ars Technica does a "big picture" summary of the test, saying,
“<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/thursdays-starship-flight-provided-a-glimpse-into-a-future-of-abundant-access-to-space/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">After Thursday’s flight, Starship is already the most revolutionary rocket
ever built</a>.” It's full of good stuff and worth your time to read. In approach, it
reminds me of the things that first got me to link to Casey Handmer's
blog. Those were his October '19 post that
<a href="https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2019/10/29/the-spacex-starship-is-a-very-big-deal/" target="_blank">the SpaceX Starship is a Very Big Deal</a>
and his October '21 piece called
<a href="https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2021/10/28/starship-is-still-not-understood/" target="_blank">Starship is Still Not Understood</a>. <br />
</p>
<p>
Berger talks about watching the mission Thursday and rhetorically asks, "was
that sci-fi?"
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
The moment of true amazement came about 45 minutes into the flight, as
Starship descended an altitude of 100 km and began entering a thicker
atmosphere. For a couple of minutes, we were treated to unprecedented views
of atmospheric heating acting on a spacecraft. It's one thing to know about
the perils of plasma and compression as a spacecraft falls back to Earth at
27,000 km/hour into thickening air. It's another thing to
<i>see</i> it.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
He then goes on to talk about just what was involved in getting those
incredible images to us.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
To accomplish this, SpaceX had to build a reusable rocket, the Falcon 9,
which is capable of reflying many times. This enabled the company to launch
more than 5,500 Starlink satellites and create a global network. (SpaceX
operates, by a factor of 10, more satellites than any other company or
country in the world). Because of this, it was able to produce unprecedented
data and video of Starship's turbulent reentry.
</p>
<p>
The journey to reach this capability has produced many of those dazzling
moments. There was that first land-based landing of the Falcon 9 rocket days
before Christmas in 2015. It was followed a few months later by the first
landing of a booster on a drone ship. (For me,
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYmQQn_ZSys">this CRS-8 booster landing</a>
on a boat felt like the first actual sci-fi thing I'd ever seen in my life).
There was Starman in orbit and the dual booster landing with the first
Falcon Heavy launch. And so on.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Eric spends the last handful of paragraphs presenting some truly mind-blowing
details about the base-level economics of Starship. To butcher them a little
too much:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Because of a relentless focus on costs and cheap building materials, such as
stainless steel, SpaceX can likely build and launch a fully expendable
version of Starship for about $100 million. Most of that money is in the
booster, with its 33 engines. So you can probably cut manufacturing costs
down to about $30 million per launch – for a mere 3 launches. <br />
<br />
This means that, within a year or so, SpaceX will have a rocket that costs
about $30 million and lifts 100 to 150 metric tons to low-Earth orbit.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Last night we watched another Falcon 9 do its 19th flight. Divide that $100
million by 19 instead of three.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Bluntly, this is absurd.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Then he goes on to compare costs of Starship vs. other systems avialable now.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
NASA's Space Launch System, for example, can lift up to 95 tons to low-Earth
orbit, nearly as much cargo. But
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/nasa-inspector-general-says-sls-costs-are-unsustainable/">it costs $2.2 billion per launch</a>, plus additional ground systems fees. So it's almost a factor of 100 times
more expensive for less throw weight. And it can fly once per year at most.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The European Space Agency's Vega costs about the same as Starship, but carries
1.5 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. About 1/100 the payload of Starship for
the same cost.
</p>
<p>
The goal for Starship is to be rapidly reusable, and there has been the talk
about flying air travelers between continents - meaning it will be reusable a
few times per day. Right now there's very likely a Starship and booster
that are in line to fly next. Probably three or four.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc0ujWaE9hKmknP3LOEVlcWDHUrVZ9rAh7yHViSUlq7k9Ly9b6mCbMm2NybLSsxVN7V36mkeDpE58UxzlecX5EDtzUDZJVfnrbWGQn1MAtRBT_oRoCLnIC0JMGOhgD29kDoB27J9C7Rfq48O5yG6vSfrjhXK89mZRz115ncEV7rvOjERR6M-yLE1lRX6n4/s1086/IFT-3-T+17.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="1086" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc0ujWaE9hKmknP3LOEVlcWDHUrVZ9rAh7yHViSUlq7k9Ly9b6mCbMm2NybLSsxVN7V36mkeDpE58UxzlecX5EDtzUDZJVfnrbWGQn1MAtRBT_oRoCLnIC0JMGOhgD29kDoB27J9C7Rfq48O5yG6vSfrjhXK89mZRz115ncEV7rvOjERR6M-yLE1lRX6n4/w640-h362/IFT-3-T+17.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>Screen capture from the SpaceX coverage. Image credit: SpaceX </p>
<p>Final thoughts to Eric Berger. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
We have already seen SpaceX's proficiency with the Falcon 9 rocket. Does
anyone doubt we'll see double-digit Starship launches in 2025 and many
dozens per year during the second half of this decade? Access to space used
to be a rare commodity. What happens to our species and its commerce in
space when access is not rare or expensive?
<br />
<br />
This is the future into which we got a glimpse this week.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-30803627515548839232024-03-15T20:55:00.000-04:002024-03-15T20:55:47.910-04:00Voyager 1 Finally Returns a Clue to How to Restore It<p>
It was back in early December when
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2023/12/voyager-1-is-acting-like-it-had-stroke.html" target="_blank">NASA/JPL released some grim news</a>
on the status of Voyager 1, now well beyond the solar system and in interstellar
space. The
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/voyager-1-is-still-not-well.html" target="_blank">last update I saw was in mid-February</a>
and the condition was still grim. Susan Dodd, Voyager Project Manager
had said, "it would be the biggest miracle if we get it back. We
certainly haven't given up. There are other things we can try. But this is, by
far, the most serious since I’ve been project manager."
</p>
<p>
Finally,
<a href="https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2024/03/13/nasa-engineers-make-progress-toward-understanding-voyager-1-issue/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">on March 3rd, the JPL ground team received a downlink from Voyager</a>
that was different from every communication since November when the problem
first surfaced.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
On March 3, the Voyager mission team saw activity from one section of the
FDS that differed from the rest of the computer’s unreadable data stream.
The new signal was still not in the format used by Voyager 1 when the FDS is
working properly, so the team wasn’t initially sure what to make of it. But
an engineer with the agency’s Deep Space Network, which operates the radio
antennas that communicate with both Voyagers and other spacecraft traveling
to the Moon and beyond, was able to decode the new signal and found that it
contains a readout of the entire FDS memory.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The team has suspected that a piece of corrupted memory inside the Flight Data
Subsystem (FDS), one of three main computers on the spacecraft, is the most
likely culprit for the interruption in normal communication. They suspect the
FDS because the overall communications system seems to be working. It's
transmitting to Earth, pointing this way and essentially doing what it's
supposed to, it's just that there's no usable information - no actual Flight
Data - being sent back.
</p>
<p>On March 1st, controllers sent a new command to Voyager. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Called a “poke” by the team, the command is meant to gently prompt the FDS
to try different sequences in its software package in case the issue could
be resolved by going around a corrupted section.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
With the one way radio travel time to Voyager 1 takes over 22-1/2 hours, the
reply was received on March 3rd.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
On March 7, engineers began working to decode the data, and on March 10,
they determined that it contains a memory readout.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The team is working through the memory bit by bit, comparing it to a similar
download sent when things were working properly. They hope this will allow
them to find the root of the problem. But going through "bit by bit" and being
sure of how to fix the problem could well take weeks or months before the
Voyager team can make the next step or next test. The adage that I've heard
called the first law of medicine applies here, too: "first, do no harm."
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKA49i8fQh1yFbie_eNApkcQ9zkqnunPAUfeO1hXNWWeQAd3UT28U1TnqHhEQJ9TSparpEUzSHSGPKQgy0IILLziebLnkgPfg7Hi4EiotjBq3XEB3CY719Ysq73an9P8OZJdZ7oO00hUOsD40KxNdo8nqgknQkz5W1LV6TrPX3alJHH6AVI4Z8MwEV5AE/s1024/Voyager-1024x576.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKA49i8fQh1yFbie_eNApkcQ9zkqnunPAUfeO1hXNWWeQAd3UT28U1TnqHhEQJ9TSparpEUzSHSGPKQgy0IILLziebLnkgPfg7Hi4EiotjBq3XEB3CY719Ysq73an9P8OZJdZ7oO00hUOsD40KxNdo8nqgknQkz5W1LV6TrPX3alJHH6AVI4Z8MwEV5AE/w640-h360/Voyager-1024x576.png" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
Artist’s illustration of one of the Voyager spacecraft. Credit:
Caltech/NASA-JPL
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-14152947412465647642024-03-14T22:06:00.000-04:002024-03-14T22:06:19.914-04:00Grading IFT-3 <p>
Not perfect. Not an "A plus plus." Maybe an A minus or a B plus.
Merely my opinion. As everyone knows,
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/after-its-third-test-flight-spacexs-starship-could-soon-carry-satellites/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Starship 28 and SuperHeavy booster 10 were launched on Integrated Flight
Test 3 this morning</a>.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
SpaceX's third towering Starship rocket, standing some 397 feet (121 meters)
tall and wider than the fuselage of a 747 jumbo jet, lifted off at 8:25 am
CDT (13:25 UTC) Thursday from SpaceX's Starbase launch facility on the Texas
Gulf Coast east of Brownsville. SpaceX delayed the liftoff time by nearly an
hour and a half to wait for boats to clear out of restricted waters near the
launch base.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Much better than IFT-2 in November, Ship 28 achieved orbital altitudes and
traveled across the Indian Ocean toward the western shores of Australia,
exactly as planned. The booster didn't RUD after MECO and stage
separation. S28 didn't vent oxygen onto hot engines and RUD. S28 tested
transfer of liquid oxygen in zero G, tested the gross operation of the "Pez
dispenser" they plan to use to deploy Starlink satellites Really Soon Now (and
sooner than it seemed to be yesterday), and more, but somewhere along the way, they decided
not to reignite one or more of S28's Raptor engines in orbit to reduce velocity.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjNIqbJaCCv3jwbERTSuxwkzcfJ6Njc7qpico2CxXu3cRap62UK4Z1etDBtbJybp4cnw8Os_6C3FbRIKNSzfUBve4ZiqUpQ6XN1_Od_nGy3awOAa9C0g5P_dPkO4gRdf371EC21E-A3Q3qX5XuE4ztPv7gayaAr8XpPDbYGaRiTi3STUbTxrbJIyxyYVu/s825/IFT-3-liftoff-scaled.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="464" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjNIqbJaCCv3jwbERTSuxwkzcfJ6Njc7qpico2CxXu3cRap62UK4Z1etDBtbJybp4cnw8Os_6C3FbRIKNSzfUBve4ZiqUpQ6XN1_Od_nGy3awOAa9C0g5P_dPkO4gRdf371EC21E-A3Q3qX5XuE4ztPv7gayaAr8XpPDbYGaRiTi3STUbTxrbJIyxyYVu/w360-h640/IFT-3-liftoff-scaled.jpeg" width="360" /></a>
</div>
<p>
Starship and its Super Heavy booster climb off the launch pad at Starbase,
Texas. Part of the Orbital Launch Mount visible at the left. That massive Mach
diamond gets repeated once the booster is far enough up. Image Credit:
SpaceX.
</p>
<p> The bad point is that they lost both halves - like both flight tests before
this one. They just achieved much more. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>
"<span class="css-1qaijid r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0 r-poiln3">Starship reached orbital velocity!" wrote Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and
CEO, on his social media platform X. "Congratulations SpaceX </span>team!!"
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
While the Starship and booster platforms are intended to be rapidly reusable,
Booster 10 made it closer to splashdown than the previous two missions, it
plunged into the Gulf of Mexico uncontrolled. It was supposed to have
reignited some number of engines and softly dropped into the Gulf of Mexico. I
was captivated watching the video of the grid fins gyrating and didn't look at
the lower left of the video screen until after it was said the booster was
lost. At that point, one of the 33 engines showed as being on by their
telemetry. I don't know if more engines were ever on, if they were on at
the right times and so on.
</p>
<p>
My suspicion is that booster landing and recovery are going to take a while to
perfect. After all, they're the only company in the world doing it
consistently and perfecting it. To every other entity in the world, a booster
is garbage once it's dropped. It can be forgiven if they throw a few away
getting it to work; I mean, they lost a bunch of Falcon 9s and now they're at
something like 280 consecutive successful landings.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Beginning around 46 minutes after launch, Starship beamed down what might
have been the most spectacular imagery from the flight. At this point in the
mission, the 165-foot-long (50-meter) ship was speeding across the Indian
Ocean and rapidly falling as Earth's gravity pulled it back into the
atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.
</p>
<p>
Starship's flaps, there to provide aerodynamic control during the final
phase of descent, folded up against the ship's main body. Then, black
ceramic tiles attached to the ship started glowing orange as a sheath of
plasma enveloped the vehicle. Temperatures outside Starship climbed higher
than 2,500° Fahrenheit, and the ship appeared to be under control during the
first moments of reentry.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
This was absolutely riveting to watch. I'm not going to say nobody alive
has ever seen the plasma forming on surfaces during re-entry, but I bet the
number people that have seen it went up a million-fold today.
</p>
<blockquote><p>Beginning around 46 minutes after launch, Starship beamed down what
might have been the most spectacular imagery from the flight. At this
point in the mission, the 165-foot-long (50-meter) ship was speeding
across the Indian Ocean and rapidly falling as Earth's gravity pulled it
back into the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.</p>
<p>Starship's flaps, there to provide aerodynamic control during the
final phase of descent, folded up against the ship's main body. Then,
black ceramic tiles attached to the ship started glowing orange as a
sheath of plasma enveloped the vehicle. Temperatures outside Starship
climbed higher than 2,500° Fahrenheit, and the ship appeared to be under
control during the first moments of reentry.</p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuz-3V9HF9RiXPlk9U2dyRHgeTw6lNfVOdPO7fHeCyLqx5WC-3lJckp_OKJRDZI0fBG0O4pAf0FB8rRfElQFsYVG4eMF6jg6MmbHzUOxuHZkOVwYwcBUMCN8RcG2cby1y5zExmLg-pjc9qQWLLQIkNQWhIQU6cg7Q8-GpXItxDMPEWliBRm_jQ6FfRkaW0/s800/ift3-entry1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="729" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuz-3V9HF9RiXPlk9U2dyRHgeTw6lNfVOdPO7fHeCyLqx5WC-3lJckp_OKJRDZI0fBG0O4pAf0FB8rRfElQFsYVG4eMF6jg6MmbHzUOxuHZkOVwYwcBUMCN8RcG2cby1y5zExmLg-pjc9qQWLLQIkNQWhIQU6cg7Q8-GpXItxDMPEWliBRm_jQ6FfRkaW0/w583-h640/ift3-entry1.jpg" width="583" /></a></div><p>This rear-facing camera, mounted inside one of the forward flaps on Starship, shows plasma building up around the underside and rear flaps during reentry over the Indian Ocean. Image credit: SpaceX </p><p>Not too long after pictures like this started getting interrupted and interfered with, the Starship went into a radio blackout. Not a surprise, re-entry is known for that. The excellent downlink of video they got was because of using their own Starlink system and antennas on the cooler side of S28. At some point, that video went away and the onscreen telemetry stopped updating. Around five minutes later, they announced that they had lost all telemetry from the ship; both Starlink and NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) at the same time. They had to conclude they had lost the ship. <br /></p><p>What's next? I don't think they're ready to start flying Starlink satellites in Starships or any other operational things; more test flights are definitely in the offering. They most likely will focus on the things like the cryogenic fueling experiments, although a transfer between Starships can't happen until there's a second Starship launch pad, whether there in Boca Chica or here at the Kennedy Space Center. </p><p>Bear in mind that Musk set the target for six Starship flights by the end of this year in a post to X.<br /></p><p>I don't know how long this will be there, but if you didn't watch the flight and want to, SpaceX still has the video of this morning's launch <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-3" target="_blank">here on their Launches website</a>. It's the full 1 hour 43 minute video stream. The lift off isn't until about 34 minutes on the timer. The booster separation about 3 minutes later and booster loss about T+7 minutes. Starship engine cutoff at T+8:25 and 8:35. The really dramatic re-entry video starts around T+45 minutes. <br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-61150769704522421582024-03-13T21:40:00.000-04:002024-03-13T21:40:46.567-04:00It's Official. Thursday Morning is Show Time! <p>This afternoon, <a href="https://explore.dot.gov/t/FAA/views/CommercialSpaceTransportation/LaunchLicenses?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SpaceX was granted their launch license by the FAA</a>. The 110-minute test window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT, 8:00 AM ET, 5:00 AM Pacific. The only questionable aspect as of about 5PM EDT is weather. The Weather Underground forecast is calling for high amounts of cloud cover, in the 70 to 90% range, but more problematic is potential for wind shear. Unlike launches from the Cape, we apparently don't have a site that tells us the chances of acceptable weather. <br /></p><p><a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-3" target="_blank">SpaceX says</a>:</p><blockquote><p>A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX" target="_">on X @SpaceX.</a>
As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic
and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our X account for
updates.</p></blockquote><p>You have your choice of lots of ways to watch it. </p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/RrxCYzixV3s?si=DRxNeclAK90GhEqf" target="_blank">NASA Spaceflight is starting their coverage at 11PM Central time</a>. I find it hard to imagine what they have to say about the mission in that much time. I suppose the other way of thinking about that is they could talk about pretty much everything in the world in eight hours. <br /></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/KbNL6cf1Rww?si=mFRrRlwOrJQrNSQU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lab Padre is starting their coverage at 6:30 AM Eastern</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/Dr8ZaMAa5jw?si=9CxPAYIntBrbZTto" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Space.com - or Video from Space - starts at 7:30AM Eastern</a> </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/dIM6O6MhD5E?si=ymn7WeFpAs_vmSao" target="_blank">The Launch Pad is live now</a> and apparently will stay that way.</li></ul><p>When I went to <a href="https://explore.dot.gov/t/FAA/views/CommercialSpaceTransportation/LaunchLicenses?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the FAA site</a>, I saw something interesting about the notice the license had been issued. Take a look at this, especially the expiration date on the right. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsDm4qm_FLA0EpSS_-zZ_TDzCckGOOhE6i1_Ys0prO-lUCdQc3KJ4bZPVJTtaFLul71xOMUa813wBrDN9Tvwyf1WK8RqRzpJxlrQQ2DN9OnuIkUUcgcXoM3INDZKHx05QVL8e74z2muHTnpLpD9StYMKYXfuPYfD634YSe8KxvLgoCn9gYK8p3xDc-9Z_1/s1200/IFT3-License-Notes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="1200" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsDm4qm_FLA0EpSS_-zZ_TDzCckGOOhE6i1_Ys0prO-lUCdQc3KJ4bZPVJTtaFLul71xOMUa813wBrDN9Tvwyf1WK8RqRzpJxlrQQ2DN9OnuIkUUcgcXoM3INDZKHx05QVL8e74z2muHTnpLpD9StYMKYXfuPYfD634YSe8KxvLgoCn9gYK8p3xDc-9Z_1/w640-h346/IFT3-License-Notes.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Today's launch license expires in 2028? Does that mean SpaceX can launch more than once on this license, like the hoped for <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/spacex-seeks-to-launch-starship-at-least-nine-times-this-year/" target="_blank">nine launches this year</a>? <br /></p><p>Over on the left hand edge, right of the big buttons, note the text that says, "<a href="https://www.faa.gov/media/69476" target="_blank">VOL 23-129 (Rev 1)</a>." When you hover your mouse over it, you'll see it's a download, so I downloaded that to read it. Short answer: no, not yet. Longer answer, at the bottom of page 3, top of page 4, there are some "Authorizations" listed. I'll just quote them:</p><blockquote><p>4. Authorization: In accordance with the representations in the Space Exploration Technologies, Corp. application as of the date of this license, and any amendments to the license application or waivers approved by the FAA, in writing, Space Exploration Technologies, Corp. is authorized to conduct: <br /> <span> </span>a. Pre flight ground operations <br /><span> </span><span> </span>i. Using the Starship Super Heavy vehicle.<br /><span> </span><span> </span>ii. At SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Complex, Boca Chica, Texas.<br /><span> </span>b. Flights: <br /><span> </span><span> </span>i. Using the Starship Super Heavy vehicle.<br /><span> </span><span> </span>ii. From SpaceX Boca Chica Launch Complex, Boca Chica, Texas.<br /><span> </span><span> </span>iii. To Gulf of Mexico and Indian Ocean locations specified in its application, <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span> excluding Starship entry contingency landing locations .<br /><span> </span><span> <span style="color: #2b00fe;"> </span></span><span style="color: #2b00fe;">iv. For the Flight 3 mission only, unless this license is modified to remove this term.<br /></span></p></blockquote><p>Note the line in blue. That says that only one mission is covered, unless they remove that line. </p><p>A 110 minute launch window is 10 minutes short of two hours. With the projected launch time of 8:00 AM ET, that stretches to almost 10:00 AM. I'll be glued to this computer. <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-49780082309350866732024-03-12T21:37:00.000-04:002024-03-12T21:37:18.488-04:00European Eutelsat 36D Flown to Florida for a SpaceX Ride<p><a href="https://spacenews.com/third-satellite-carrying-transatlantic-beluga-flight-lands-in-florida/" target="_blank">Monday, March 11, the Airbus-built Eutelsat 36<b>D</b> Geostationary Communications Satellite</a> arrived in Sanford, Florida after flying from Toulouse, France aboard an Airbus BelugaST transport aircraft. The 5000 kg satellite was then driven by truck from Sanford (just north of Orlando) to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for a launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 by the end of the month.<br /></p><blockquote><p>Eutelsat 36D had set off Saturday on an Airbus BelugaST (Super
Transporter) from France where the satellite maker is based. It is the
third time the manufacturer’s alternative to Ukrainian Antonov aircraft
has flown a large satellite across the Atlantic since Airbus started
offering an outsized freight transportation service two years ago.</p></blockquote><p>This is a routine replacement for a satellite currently in service called Eutelsat 36<b>B</b>, stationed at 36 degrees East longitude, where it has been providing TV broadcast and government services across Africa, Russia, and Europe for more than 14 years. It's expected to run out of repositioning fuel in 2026. Eutelsat <a href="https://spacenews.com/eutelsat-orders-replacement-geo-satellite-eutelsat-36d-from-airbus/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ordered the replacement</a> in 2021. </p><blockquote><p>Eutelsat 36D has 70 Ku-band transponders and is based on the Airbus
Eurostar Neo platform with all-electric propulsion, meaning it would
take five to six months post-launch to reach its orbital slot and enter
service. </p></blockquote><p>While not specified in the source article, chances are the satellite is going to <a href="https://spacenews.com/airbus-takes-over-space-coast-constellation-factory/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Airbus' recently purchased satellite construction facility</a> on the Cape for checkout before being handed off to SpaceX. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3hi9n7-yyDayB2bKRA7zmHmFq_XVTP-P_yXJSRq1AWpwDaUPZrsa6OKdZo3Rq4eL2V5_rzU6WMNJneXJ3lAaXWZyZ4bNX089lqEFd8s75KGCr86sts7ElWtMhU2EH32Fkeyb-VJ3mDiofIS0BnHZoRi8vkSjoGq1DZhgdoq-YqKyi1GvQjF3CHQds7yjD/s1200/beluga-st-no2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1200" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3hi9n7-yyDayB2bKRA7zmHmFq_XVTP-P_yXJSRq1AWpwDaUPZrsa6OKdZo3Rq4eL2V5_rzU6WMNJneXJ3lAaXWZyZ4bNX089lqEFd8s75KGCr86sts7ElWtMhU2EH32Fkeyb-VJ3mDiofIS0BnHZoRi8vkSjoGq1DZhgdoq-YqKyi1GvQjF3CHQds7yjD/w640-h406/beluga-st-no2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><span>SpaceNews simply captioned this as "A Beluga aircraft departures from Toulouse, France" without specifying if it was carrying this satellite. And, yes, leaving that "s" on departures. <span class="image-credit"><span class="credit-label-wrapper">Image Credit:</span> Airbus</span></span></p><p><span><span class="image-credit">Also not specified in the source article, but I'm pretty confident saying this, is that it's coming to Florida for a SpaceX ride due to the European Space Agency's Ariane 6 being several years late. The last date I saw was that it would fly this year, after being originally scheduled for 2020 and repeatedly delayed. I would assume they have a backlog but a mission like this one, replacement for a satellite running out of fuel, is not as flexible in schedule as the ESA might want. <br /></span></span></p><p><span><span class="image-credit"> </span></span></p><p><br /></p>SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-29736209070022692722024-03-11T21:50:00.000-04:002024-03-11T21:50:54.840-04:00An Essential For Deep Space Manned Missions<p>
An essential need to for deep space missions, like Mars or long term habitats
on the moon, is protection from the radiation environment. For travel, a
possible alternative is a much faster way to get there, a different essential
need. For habitats there's more freedom - perhaps burying the colony
could be an alternative if the planet doesn't have a good magnetic
field.
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/shields-up-new-ideas-might-make-active-shielding-viable/" target="_blank">Ars Technica has a long, deep article on the radiation issue</a>, far too involved for me to get into here, so I really want to recommend
anyone interested read or at least skim the piece.
</p>
<p>
The radiation problems start with the sun, and with the current tendency to
blame everything from the AT&T update issue a couple of weeks ago to an unexpected pimple on solar flares, I think everyone's aware that can be
a problem. Ars author Jacek Krywko starts off with some interesting
background.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
On October 19, 1989, at 12:29 UT, a monstrous X13 class solar flare
triggered a geomagnetic storm so strong that auroras lit up the skies in
Japan, America, Australia, and even Germany the following day. Had you been
flying around the Moon at that time, you would have absorbed well over 6
Sieverts of radiation—a dose that would most likely kill you within a month
or so. <br />
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
X13 is not the biggest flare observed since satellites started monitoring the
sun, and is still considerably weaker than the Carrington event of the 1850s.
Back in November of 2003, toward the end of cycle 23, there was a super
flare that was genuinely scary and the kind of flare to worry about.
<a href="http://www.esa.int/export/esaSC/SEMNFTWLDMD_index_0.html">It was classed as X28</a>
afterwards - only because it saturated the X-ray detectors on the satellites
and they couldn't measure it properly.
</p>
<p>
This is why the Orion spacecraft, which will be in space for longer times than
the Apollo missions, has a built in, heavily shielded, storm shelter for the
crew. Something important to remember about radiation doses is that
they're cumulative. The Orion shielded retreat is cramped and
uncomfortable if they need to use it, and only rated for 30 days. <br />
</p>
<p>
Radiation problems start with the sun, but don't end there by far. Deep
space is also the domain of cosmic radiation from faraway sources. The
majority of solar particle events flux is between 30 Million electron Volts to
100 MeV which is what the Orion shelter is designed for. Cosmic rays and
energetic particles from other star systems are relatively rare but some are
coming at you all the time from all directions. They also can have higher
energies, starting at 200 MeV and going to several Billion electron Volts
(they use Giga here; GeV), which makes them extremely penetrating. The
most extreme cosmic rays have an energy measured in exa-electron volt (EeV),
or 1 billion billion (10<sup>18</sup>) electron volts of energy, which
is around a million times more energetic than the fastest particles from
human-made particle accelerators. They are rare, but energetic. The
most energetic particle ever detected had an energy of 320 EeV and traveled at more
than 99.9% the speed of light.
</p>
<p>
On Earth, we're protected by the earth's magnetic field, which is weak but
huge so it operates over long distances.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Anything that makes it through the magnetic field runs into the atmosphere,
which, when it comes to shielding, is the equivalent of an aluminum wall
that's 3 meters thick. Finally, there is the planet itself, which
essentially cuts the radiation in half since you always have 6.5 billion
trillion tons of rock shielding you from the bottom.
</p>
<p>
To put that in perspective, the Apollo crew module had on average 5 grams of
mass per square centimeter standing between the crew and radiation. A
typical ISS module has twice that, about 10 g/cm2. The Orion shelter has
35–45 g/cm2, depending on where you sit exactly, and it weighs 36 tons. On
Earth, the atmosphere alone gives you 810 g/cm2—roughly 20 times more than
our best shielded spaceships.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
How can a craft be shielded better? These are charged particles and that
points to three possible implementations of electromagnetic
protection:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
In the 1960s, NASA funded multiple studies looking into three active
shielding concepts:
<a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19670029898/downloads/19670029898.pdf">plasma shields</a>
(PDF), electrostatic shields, and
<a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19660030401/downloads/19660030401.pdf">magnetic shields</a>
(PDF). In 1967, Richard H. Levy and Francis W. French delivered a report
saying that plasma and electrostatic shields were promising, but they both
needed 60 million volts to work—even by today’s standards, that number is
ridiculous.
</p>
<p>
Magnetic shields looked more enticing. The 1950s brought the discovery of
type II superconductors—materials that had virtually no electrical
resistance at very low temperatures and could be used to build extremely
strong magnetic coils. In 1966, P.F. McDonald and T.J. Buntyn of Research
Laboratories Brown Engineering Company reported that there were no magnets
strong enough to shield a spacecraft, but “rapid advances in superconducting
magnets technology indicate that it will soon be possible to produce
necessary high fields with very modest power consumption.”
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
And that's where I'll refer you to the long article on
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/shields-up-new-ideas-might-make-active-shielding-viable/" target="_blank">Ars Technica</a>. As is the usual routine in the 21st century, I've told people
interested in exploring deep space that you have a problem and now I leave it
to you to solve your problem.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3ZyTdYmNB15MlQjCd3rdPLERCiPipuzMOiUujOS_QXJXZkfSBJzRexdSQM3v38QFj6zAhZHoQrVkr_tgwhkQMCK8z-FRRHzp6yIDIMStylqZhHK5G2aveU7tJSc5MMeCEgxs7G-M6jFmGQ9NH4tbyf3FKBHRa8BUm5oe8H1DGy6TjKf934146s8NRJVp/s1422/active-radiation-shielding.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1422" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3ZyTdYmNB15MlQjCd3rdPLERCiPipuzMOiUujOS_QXJXZkfSBJzRexdSQM3v38QFj6zAhZHoQrVkr_tgwhkQMCK8z-FRRHzp6yIDIMStylqZhHK5G2aveU7tJSc5MMeCEgxs7G-M6jFmGQ9NH4tbyf3FKBHRa8BUm5oe8H1DGy6TjKf934146s8NRJVp/w640-h360/active-radiation-shielding.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
Artist's conceptual drawing of NASA's CREW HaT. CREW HaT stands for
Cosmic Radiation Extended Warding Halbach Torus, a way of creating a toroidal
magnetic shield around a vehicle to protect it without wrapping it in miles of
wire (a solenoid). Image credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images |
NASA
</p>
<p>Final words to Ars Author Jacek Krywko:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
ESA’s career radiation dose limit for astronauts is 1,000 mSv [milliSieverts
- SiG]. Reference Mars mission scenarios estimate a total dose at a bit
below 1,200 mSv. That’s not that much of a difference—nothing you couldn’t
fix by throwing a little more mass here and there in your spaceship. NASA
had career limits dependent on sex and age, but you could probably get away
with just picking old men for the job.
</p>
<p>
But then, on January 5, 2022, NASA revised Section 4.8.2 of the Spaceflight
Human-System Standard and set the astronauts’ career radiation dose limit to
a flat 600 mSv. Active shields offer a roughly 50 percent dose reduction at
a cost of huge mass penalty and development efforts. They have always ended
up shelved because they were overkill. We just didn’t need that much
protection. With NASA’s new standards, we ultimately might.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p> </p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-81457327195660033462024-03-10T22:03:00.000-04:002024-03-10T22:03:11.757-04:00Catch as Catch Can on a Slow News Sunday<p>
While we had a SpaceX Starlink launch this evening at 7:05 PM (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/aO8-J474UVc?si=04QzSsVmu792FVWZ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">long video</a>
- but you can scroll around in it if you want), it has been a "slow news day"
at all the sources I go to most often to see what's going on. There have
been a couple of stories I've tried to get actual details on, beyond
headlines, but haven't found out if there's anything real to the YouTube
headlines yet. One example is that apparently the rest of the world is starting to find out about <a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/voyager-1-is-still-not-well.html" target="_blank">Voyager 1's problems</a> and is spreading the news.<br /></p>
<p>
YouTube headlines are too often like the one I got in my "chosen for you" selections during the week. I
really should have saved a screen capture. The title was something about
NASA reveals something they found on Mars, and the picture to tease the video
was a background that could well have been Mars, but plopped into the photo
somehow was a very obvious car, truck or maybe even large boat engine that I
swear I'd seen before. Think of something like a straight six cylinder
engine, only not painted, just looking like unfinished metal. I
guarantee that's click bait and NASA found nothing of the sort on Mars. <br />
</p>
<p>
The various sources are all still reporting Starship IFT-3 this Thursday, but
<a href="https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7363" target="_blank">NextSpacelight shows the time NET 8:00 AM ET</a> which is 7:00 AM CDT. I maintain my expectation that they're not going
to launch that far before sunrise, which ought to be around 7:40 AM out
there. There have been major changes to this flight as if they're expecting to make their suborbital flight and want to test several things while they're in the microgravity. The biggest change seems to be instead of going almost once around the world and splashing Starship near Hawaii, this one is going to end in the Indian Ocean. Maybe they'll find that MH370. </p>
<p>
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/03/upgrade-to-ham-station-is-much-closer.html" target="_blank">My big ham project</a>
has proceeded and while progress has been made, I'm still not done.
I've found some things that I'm looking at changing already. The
SDRConsole software is running fine, it's allowing me to monitor more than I
comfortably can with the station transceiver itself. The next big step
I'm working toward is having the digital sub-bands I've defined drive the
software used to demodulate those signals, so if (when) I see things in those
bands I can turn on the demodulation software tell if I want to change over to a different sub-band. The
rest is getting used to the whole setup and finding optimum settings for
everything, which has a large element of personal preference to
it.
</p>
<p>This is the hardware block diagram as it's put together. </p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55uW651BxirSnhVbc7oXhsWIOhwfyGU0bbk4Ss4ykg3GhZbnVWahHUXdg64Ci59F4Fih8jwffdkZ4eok0TXH884QUikg_h0vHkJRja2dTRJV_GMcZpj1k4UETyJfiC-SsL3ypIE8r2bUvmct_3zwjvWdQRWKm7-TDGM7kTO0VfsQlIEtm4Wl8WabROJqu/s1383/SDR_Switch_plan-v2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1383" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55uW651BxirSnhVbc7oXhsWIOhwfyGU0bbk4Ss4ykg3GhZbnVWahHUXdg64Ci59F4Fih8jwffdkZ4eok0TXH884QUikg_h0vHkJRja2dTRJV_GMcZpj1k4UETyJfiC-SsL3ypIE8r2bUvmct_3zwjvWdQRWKm7-TDGM7kTO0VfsQlIEtm4Wl8WabROJqu/w640-h324/SDR_Switch_plan-v2.png" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
In the handful of boxes on the middle of the right side, there's a little box
with LNA written on it (Low Noise Amplifier) that's there to set
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-ham-radio-series-42-whats-all-this.html" target="_blank">the system's noise figure</a>
so that it isn't ruined after going through the Splitter just below it.
I've discovered that the LNA kit I chose and built is fine in the band it's
designed for (50-54 MHz or six meters), but seems to actually have substantial
loss in the HF ham bands. By jumpering the LNA out (just connecting the
IN and OUT cables) signals improved substantially on the low bands - I mean
like maybe 20 to 30 dB better.<br />
</p>
<p>
Since the company made no claims about the LNA's performance down at lower
frequencies, I wrote them to see what I should expect. If it's just not going
to work well, I could replace it with something different or find a way to
maybe just switch it out. <br />
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-51722394160112802162024-03-09T19:53:00.000-05:002024-03-09T19:53:06.682-05:00The Department of Redundancy Department <p>
Stop me if you've heard all this before - and you have. It's Redundancy
Weekend - two old stories.
</p>
<p>
Only one is remotely like news. At the last minute,
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-poised-pass-spending-package-averting-government-shutdown-2024-03-08/" target="_blank">the congress approved some spending bills to avoid a government shutdown</a>. Coverage by Reuters.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
By a bipartisan vote of 75-22, the Senate approved a $467.5 billion spending
package that will fund agriculture, transportation, housing, energy,
veterans and other programs through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Let me use a cartoon I've been using since the blog was old enough to
walk. First use I can find easily was 2015 although the cartoon itself
is dated 2011. The website in the bottom left corner is long gone.
(Tonight something tried to load but it was acting strange and I didn't have
the nerve to let it continue. It didn't say www.virtual... it said
w01.virtual...)
</p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmN8Eqmt8l4n7tl_kLZMVkLfT-GiCv7uWCDVNAqrDAebZPBjpZYEOFG5iAQvLwaV9jyduYuZOPLVSYt9-NlFn3d1-xctsgmg1WkYX8fZAG2MmPtxJFpisktqaJIGiHqePsXQJN65Qen3gyFsvtfyTXEPdPeqT9AOfjLiRAHT0kiShdKCmfdk1Sbfxc-qf/s800/debt_ceiling-24.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="800" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmN8Eqmt8l4n7tl_kLZMVkLfT-GiCv7uWCDVNAqrDAebZPBjpZYEOFG5iAQvLwaV9jyduYuZOPLVSYt9-NlFn3d1-xctsgmg1WkYX8fZAG2MmPtxJFpisktqaJIGiHqePsXQJN65Qen3gyFsvtfyTXEPdPeqT9AOfjLiRAHT0kiShdKCmfdk1Sbfxc-qf/w640-h334/debt_ceiling-24.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<br />The key is the last line in the bottom right. "Yes yes R2.
We'll raise it. Just leave him helpless a little longer and then raise it at the
last second so we look like heroes." Paraphrasing to fit the situation
"Just sit on the spending bill a bit longer so we look like heroes."
<p></p>
<p>
Let's be honest about this. The other way of saying "government
shutdown" is "paid vacation" for the lucky Fed.gov 's nonessential
workers.
<a href="https://largest.org/misc/us-government-shutdowns/" target="_blank">The longest government shutdown ever was 35 days</a>
between December of '18 and January of '19, under President Trump. True,
the essential workers had to work without pay until the deal was made before
their pay could be issued and that could have been tough. The
nonessential workers were free to get a replacement job to get some additional
income but had to wait for the shutdown to be over to get their back pay,
too.
</p>
<p>
There's no such thing as a debt ceiling because the ceiling has been raised Every
Time It Was Ever Hit. That's not a ceiling. It's as much a publicity
stunt as "sit on the spending bill a bit longer so we look like
heroes."
</p>
<p>
The story has been going around that
<a href="https://schiffgold.com/commentaries/1-trillion-per-100-days-is-this-the-year-the-debt-bubble-explodes/" target="_blank">the national debt is going up another $1 Trillion every 100 days</a>. Play with that on your calculator. That's $416.67 Million per
hour, or $115,741 per second. That's not government
<i>spending</i> that's just the <i>deficit</i>. <br />
</p>
<p>
That which can't go on forever won't. <br /></p>
<p>
The other great redundancy story is that it's the weekend when the collective
decides everybody gets up an hour earlier and goes to bed an hour earlier
until the first Sunday in November. So that we can go to work an hour
earlier, and come home an hour earlier, so that we have more sunlight after
work even though we still go to bed earlier. They call it Daylight
Saving Time, but that's an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. We can't
affect the length of the day any more than we can affect how long the tides
run. All we can do is change what we call the hours.
</p>
<p>
The thing is, we're supposed to be done with this in Florida. In
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2018/03/floridas-other-weird-law.html">March of 2018</a>, the Florida legislature passed a law halting the twice-yearly shifting of
the clocks. Unlike some other states that have plotted an exit strategy
from Daylight Saving Time, Florida was going to stay on DST all year
round. Why not stay on standard time? Apparently the tourist
industry thought that shifting the time to put sunrises and sunsets later on
the clocks would sell better to people coming down here in mid-Winter.
Staying on DST was opposed by PTA groups who are concerned about it putting
kids en route to school during dark winter mornings. Still, the law was
passed and signed by governor Rick Scott (at the time, now one of our
Senators).
</p>
<p>
I've read stories that say around the country some states want to stay on DST
all year long, and some want to stay on Standard time all year long. The
Fed.gov will only allow states to stay on Standard time. Which implies
staying on DST is somehow wrong.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjqnmpmqgmpEFBy9YaLvhzwPVGlTSaDAGVbLZDwIlZjmQuenjEiBqDPS_tx4ML-Vo9ERJpCJG9icAnI-tgM6vdAXRnlLWm4xoDXAMrkd1x7ksacAaATCgorbSb9VaL6YHBLHe_2RcZHgKyiyO9_mcYmtKq745Vj6gTEMv9NIZx5TGUr8IbWOcIBYONBhsE/s893/LockTheClock-24.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="893" height="570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjqnmpmqgmpEFBy9YaLvhzwPVGlTSaDAGVbLZDwIlZjmQuenjEiBqDPS_tx4ML-Vo9ERJpCJG9icAnI-tgM6vdAXRnlLWm4xoDXAMrkd1x7ksacAaATCgorbSb9VaL6YHBLHe_2RcZHgKyiyO9_mcYmtKq745Vj6gTEMv9NIZx5TGUr8IbWOcIBYONBhsE/w640-h570/LockTheClock-24.png" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
It seems a bit melodramatic to say the clocks are killing people, but there are
some well-documented side effects of the time shift and the kind of "jet lag" some people
get: more car accidents, more accidents at work, higher rates of heart attacks
and strokes, and other stuff.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-7029054835102192402024-03-08T21:49:00.000-05:002024-03-08T21:49:30.969-05:00SpaceX Expansion at Boca Chica Just Got More Likely<p>
<a
href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/03/04/texas-spacex-boca-chica-park-land-swap/"
rel="nofollow"
target="_blank"
>The Texas Tribune reports</a
>
that at Monday's meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission they voted
unanimously to pursue an exchange that would give 43 acres of Boca Chica State
Park in Cameron County, Texas, to SpaceX. In exchange, the state park
land would be swapped for 477 acres adjacent to
<a href="https://www.fws.gov/refuge/laguna-atascosa"
>Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge</a
>, an area the agency has been interested in for many years because it’s “one
of the most biologically diverse regions in North America” and provides
habitat for endangered species and migratory birds. It's also reportedly an
excellent area for fishing, kayaking, hiking, camping, and birding.
</p>
<p>
SpaceX appears to be swapping the 477-acre plot through an affiliate company.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
SpaceX hasn't said how it will use the 43 acres it will receive in the deal,
but the land is located near existing launch and rocket manufacturing
infrastructure at Starbase. TPWD will now begin negotiations with SpaceX for
the land swap, including environmental assessments that could take up to 18
months.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
It shouldn't be a surprise that the people who oppose any sort of development
would be out in protest about this. According to the Texas Tribune
story, people want to swim at that beach in Boca Chica without interruption or
having to share the area in any way, so the opposition to this move has been
big despite the gain of 11 acres at Atascosa for every acre given up at Boca
Chica.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
At Monday’s TPWD meeting in Austin — the last opportunity for people to give
feedback on the land swap — almost all chairs were occupied and people stood
in the back. During nearly four hours of public testimony, most speakers
opposed the exchange, including some who drove more than 300 miles to Austin
from Brownsville in
<a href="https://x.com/AnotherGulf_/status/1764684234080334105?s=20"
>three minivans</a
>.
</p>
<p>
“Boca Chica Beach is the first place that my little brother went to a beach.
I went there the day my sister was born and most recently I spread my
uncle’s ashes there. Please do not give SpaceX an inch because they will
take a mile,” said Emma Guevara, who grew up in Brownsville and is now a
member of South Texas Environmental Justice Network and a field organizer in
Brownsville for the Sierra Club.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
TPWD spokesperson Stephanie Garcia said that public access to the public beach
through the park or along State Highway 4 would remain as it is now, only
interrupted for tests or launches that might endanger travelers along the
road. She went on to say the 477 acres the state would receive is located
along the Lower Laguna Madre — the shallow bay between the coast and South
Padre Island — and would increase public water access.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Kathy Lueders, SpaceX's general manager at Starbase, spoke at Monday's
meeting. "Those launches are exciting the young minds that are watching
them … children become what they see," Lueders said as people booed behind
her, according to the Texas Tribune. "Today it is not an aspiration to be a
rocket scientist and work in the Rio Grande Valley. It is a reality. And one
day we hope those kids that are following the launches are seeing themselves
and a future spacecraft launching."
</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJemsewGtxibe5HHgk3zpU7iqFgnODvrJ_WTjuStkacpxaOBm4dJrY5ssYdmygw5HYNiUdmK24bkLKt6OMas56rZHTbsjXGIgYObuF7X1SBZyFOai8dm2CZDYrn65-SbF__saqxlMLHRTuA0Jt5caEwnV0p4x39rAnLifS2TaTUzhyxgq9BIuUFu6fPBx/s829/LandSwap.png"
imageanchor="1"
style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"
><img
border="0"
data-original-height="829"
data-original-width="757"
height="640"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJemsewGtxibe5HHgk3zpU7iqFgnODvrJ_WTjuStkacpxaOBm4dJrY5ssYdmygw5HYNiUdmK24bkLKt6OMas56rZHTbsjXGIgYObuF7X1SBZyFOai8dm2CZDYrn65-SbF__saqxlMLHRTuA0Jt5caEwnV0p4x39rAnLifS2TaTUzhyxgq9BIuUFu6fPBx/w584-h640/LandSwap.png"
width="584"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
I was interested in the size and placement of the Laguna Atascosa NWR,
so I asked Bing maps to show me and then did a screen capture. The NWR
is getting is the white outlined area at the top and the little ellipse in the
lower right is the entire area of SpaceX Starbase, Boca Chica Village and
everything else. The white outlined area is the entire NWR, not just the
477 acres they're trading, and the oval is far more than just the 23
acres. Just to see where they are on a satellite picture.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-16987443179140610762024-03-07T21:55:00.000-05:002024-03-07T21:55:54.147-05:00Astra Goes Private - Off the Stock Markets<p>In <a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/03/small-space-news-story-roundup-30.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">last Saturday's (Mar. 2) post</a> we talked about Astra's founders offering to buy up all shares of the company's stock, at a price below the current market price. On <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/after-astra-loses-99-percent-of-its-value-founders-take-rocket-firm-private/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Thursday (today, as I write)</a>, they announced the deal was complete. </p><blockquote><p>"Astra Space, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive
merger agreement pursuant to which the acquiring entity has agreed,
subject to customary closing conditions, to acquire all shares of Astra
common stock not already owned by it for $0.50 per share in cash," <a href="https://astra.com/news/astra-space-private/">the company stated</a>. The acquiring entity consists of Kemp, London, and other long-term investors.</p></blockquote><p>Kemp and London are the co-founders of Astra. </p><p>Does Astra have a future or is it over? It's hard to say for sure but it doesn't look very bright. Recall that back in August of '22,
they announced they were dropping everything they'd done and starting development of a new rocket capable of putting bigger payloads in
orbit, Rocket 4.0. Before that announcement they had seven launches of
their much smaller payload-rated Rocket 3.0 through 3.3 and only two were successful. </p><p>It's almost a dead certainty that Rocket 4 isn't going to launch this year, and '25 isn't looking like a sure thing, either. On top of that, they're facing fierce competition from companies well in front of them, like Rocket Lab (working on their own bigger launch vehicle, Neutron), smaller companies like Firefly along with new entrants like ABL Space and Stoke Space. All of them are facing tough competition from SpaceX, of course, with their Transporter missions that put up dozens of small satellites on the workhorse Falcon 9. The last cost numbers I saw for a ride on a Transporter mission (<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2023/10/small-space-news-story-roundup-23.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">October '23</a>) were $5500 per kilogram or $2500/lb. The <a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2022/02/why-spacexs-new-contract-to-launch-3.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">only number I had for Rocket 3</a> was
$70,000 per kilogram. </p><p>Then there's Starship, which will carry an unprecedented amount of payload to Low Earth Orbit. It's an old estimate (2019) but Casey Handmer had <a href="https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2019/10/29/the-spacex-starship-is-a-very-big-deal/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">calculated the cost to orbit for Starship/Super Heavy</a> to be $35 per kilogram. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeG3a2yeDQw62QEZbl4xZDJMh76-hV9KUWUV3w_9DJx5nq-aCC1YqxvSSr-E9y6ilhFvzofqh3ULMaufvMAbw8IdIePjW93d1JWP3bso6CRqfcdhl6P9LrkzFBaa4UNe6jcfM1v0OGn3mUT3Ko5Xetxce8iz4cmc-wYHG2VoS2t-w3uEI8HKo4XmW77ujK/s1200/Astra-Rocket3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeG3a2yeDQw62QEZbl4xZDJMh76-hV9KUWUV3w_9DJx5nq-aCC1YqxvSSr-E9y6ilhFvzofqh3ULMaufvMAbw8IdIePjW93d1JWP3bso6CRqfcdhl6P9LrkzFBaa4UNe6jcfM1v0OGn3mUT3Ko5Xetxce8iz4cmc-wYHG2VoS2t-w3uEI8HKo4XmW77ujK/w640-h426/Astra-Rocket3.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Astra's Rocket 3 launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image credit Astra. I'm unable to find a date for this launch or coverage here, so I'm guessing it failed.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-85180371827710903742024-03-06T21:49:00.001-05:002024-03-06T21:49:38.816-05:00We Have an Announced Date for Starship IFT-3<p>
I expect most of you will have heard this by now, since it has been headline
news in space media, as well as other places.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
<a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1765037578343121372">In a post on the social media site X</a>, the company posted a link to watch "Starship's third flight test" at 7:30
am ET (11:30 UTC) on March 14. Published on Tuesday morning, the social
media post was 'hidden,' but somehow discovered late Tuesday night.
</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmN3-UoweZowPTb-CXU51WqZpTZ80ZeIqTYvunk-iqpFIwcOdUDovUXto9_oMXnLibA4IGy7qvBKgr2eSE1KUCHNDoL799ze-jR6DXDzaaaMZ-vYhyphenhyphenj8-zBN5SKzWSosthtphd_hqs1R-3PVYd6jgEZu8apttbq89bNcd2asjHDyTjMlxRBN5_oO4lobK/s693/IFT3_NET_date.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="693" data-original-width="596" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEmN3-UoweZowPTb-CXU51WqZpTZ80ZeIqTYvunk-iqpFIwcOdUDovUXto9_oMXnLibA4IGy7qvBKgr2eSE1KUCHNDoL799ze-jR6DXDzaaaMZ-vYhyphenhyphenj8-zBN5SKzWSosthtphd_hqs1R-3PVYd6jgEZu8apttbq89bNcd2asjHDyTjMlxRBN5_oO4lobK/w550-h640/IFT3_NET_date.jpg" width="550" /></a>
</div>
<p>
This opening is from
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/the-next-starship-mission-has-a-tentative-launch-date-march-14/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ars Technica's coverage</a>
and saying "7:30 am ET (11:30 UTC) on March 14" is a surprise. First off, I would
think SpaceX Boca Chica would give the time in Central Time, but the oddity here is this Sunday is the
start of Daylight Saving Time (7:30 AM is 12:30 UTC this week, so saying 11:30 is right). In turn, DST means sunrise is an hour later next week. It will be 7:30 EDT here in Florida next Thursday - so it will be close to 7:30 AM CDT there. Coverage is starting at 6:30 AM CDT - an hour before sunrise. <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-3" target="_blank">SpaceX's Launches website</a>
says coverage starts 30 minutes before launch, which is still a half hour before sunrise. </p><p>Does it matter if the sun is up with today's cameras, and what you're photographing is as bright as 33 Raptor engines? Depends on what you're trying to see. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that time is revised later or if they launch closer to or after their sunrise. <br /></p>
<p>
The obvious warning here is the FAA has not yet granted the launch license,
although there are claims it's close to doing that. There's still a
small but dedicated group of haters that don't want SpaceX to launch from Boca
Chica making noises and trying to come up with new ways to interfere. The
<a href="https://www.cameroncountytx.gov/spacex/" target="_blank">County's Road Closures Website</a>
has nothing for next Thursday at the moment, but looks to be busy through next Wednesday.<br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPnQm0K_e2EjJljt4PtItKW8oGTZvJRHR5riqY-MbL0nR331K4FFp90RgUuyH4EmyoC9uIh0mUTqGoRSUFmbjJpKkEsIp1oL-orsslwqnoK_TVxe7PwPHgRkyAM8HayaeFEr5wTQxaEA9tBLJq-gD-leKHT1NYfjGjFfKgkdGT6mGvNsNY_zqf1jtrbmqn/s800/RoadClosures-0324.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="800" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPnQm0K_e2EjJljt4PtItKW8oGTZvJRHR5riqY-MbL0nR331K4FFp90RgUuyH4EmyoC9uIh0mUTqGoRSUFmbjJpKkEsIp1oL-orsslwqnoK_TVxe7PwPHgRkyAM8HayaeFEr5wTQxaEA9tBLJq-gD-leKHT1NYfjGjFfKgkdGT6mGvNsNY_zqf1jtrbmqn/w640-h346/RoadClosures-0324.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>Screen capture from the Cameron County website</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Based upon learnings from these first two flights, this next mission, with
upgraded hardware and flight software, likely has a reasonable chance of
success. Among the milestones SpaceX will seek to complete during this test
flight are:
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Nominal first-stage performance, followed by a controlled descent of the
Super Heavy booster into the Gulf of Mexico
</li>
<li>
Starship separation from the first stage using "hot staging," meaning
engine ignition while the first stage is still firing its engines
</li>
<li>Starship reaching an orbital velocity and engine shutdown</li>
<li>
Early-stage testing of in-space refueling technology inside the propellant
tanks of Starship
</li>
<li>
Controlled splashdown of Starship
<a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-3">in the Indian Ocean</a>.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
SpaceX is seeking to demonstrate the basic flight capabilities of Starship
so that it can move into a more operational phase with the big rocket. The
company wants to begin deploying larger Starlink satellites from the vehicle
this year, which will enable direct-to-cell phone Internet connectivity.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Moving to a higher cadence is necessary for SpaceX to start working more on
in-space refueling - as mentioned. Without in-space storage of propellants and
fueling on orbit, Artemis isn't happening, and neither are other deep-space
missions in the planning stages.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-50300731079018956662024-03-05T21:44:00.004-05:002024-03-05T21:44:27.546-05:00The Part of Sunday Through Monday I Didn't Mention<p>
Yesterday, I said, (Sunday) "night, while the company's efforts appeared to be
focused on the
<a href="https://youtu.be/gVrJMVodpr0?si=qIMdJIbny-TXDqT5" target="_blank">Crew 8 launch</a>
to the ISS,
<a href="https://www.space.com/spacex-fuels-starship-megarocket-ahead--of-3rd-test-launch" target="_blank">Starbase was focused on achieving a full wet dress rehearsal</a>
on the stack of Booster 10 and Ship 28." The thing I didn't mention was
that it was followed up with two Falcon 9 launches Monday evening: one from
Vandenberg SFB in California and one from Cape Canaveral SFS here in
Florida.
</p>
<p> That means between Sunday night at nearly 11 PM (eastern) when Crew 8 launched
and Monday night there were three Falcon 9 launches and the Wet Dress
Rehearsal of Starship. These missions were at Cape Canaveral,
Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral again and Starbase Boca Chica in order. You
want to know how much SpaceX dominates the US launch industry? You just
read of three SpaceX launches in 24 hours. In 2023, the entire year, ULA
launched three times. </p><p>Author Stephen Clark at Ars Technica says "<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/12/spacex-launches-two-rockets-three-hours-apart-to-close-out-a-record-year/">We've reported on this before</a>, but it's worth reinforcing that no launch provider, commercial or government, has ever operated at this cadence." </p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic00b_X8RQhIBiWyn07UjnPYa5xK8wWvZPWGdQifGc3L2L9AhHGMwZbI3lMXUEamVi41xeuyBvfBFlPnBBKsy16BH-p8q0mlsvtgkvoY-V1cnX0_lJ1dAMT_HmjKj2RPk99Jq8MQo1A7njgx_8SB_1p1Czu16dT1ue4ooLCrUToqAfmPN5Mku2aVzNp-Y2/s1237/Crew8_launch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1237" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic00b_X8RQhIBiWyn07UjnPYa5xK8wWvZPWGdQifGc3L2L9AhHGMwZbI3lMXUEamVi41xeuyBvfBFlPnBBKsy16BH-p8q0mlsvtgkvoY-V1cnX0_lJ1dAMT_HmjKj2RPk99Jq8MQo1A7njgx_8SB_1p1Czu16dT1ue4ooLCrUToqAfmPN5Mku2aVzNp-Y2/w640-h426/Crew8_launch.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
Sunday night's Crew 8 launch, time exposure through booster separation, second
stage ignition and the booster's boostback burn to the Cape for landing.
I'm not 100% sure, but it appears to be from Titusville, on the west side of the Indian River Lagoon. Image credit: Joshua Conti/US Space Force
</p>
<blockquote><p>On Sunday night at the Starbase facility in South Texas, teams loaded
more than 10 million pounds of methane and liquid oxygen propellants
into the nearly 400-foot-tall (121-meter) Starship rocket slated to lift
off as soon as this month on the third full-scale test flight of
SpaceX's next-generation launcher.</p>
<p>This was likely the final major test before SpaceX launches the third
Starship test flight. The countdown rehearsal of the fully stacked
rocket ended as planned at T-minus 10 seconds, just before the booster's
Raptor engines were ignited; SpaceX then drained the vehicle of
propellant. SpaceX previously test-fired the Super Heavy booster and
Starship upper stage separately.</p></blockquote><p>Last week there was a test of ship 28, what they refer to as a Spin Prime test. They've static fired 28 before and did some work on 28 that preceded the spin prime and then restacking. My belief is that there will probably be one more major test before launch; a static fire test of the stacked Booster 10/Ship 28 combination. It'll be soon, but otherwise, as he reports, they're close to being ready to launch. </p><blockquote><p>The Falcon 9 <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/the-worlds-most-traveled-crew-transport-spacecraft-will-launch-again-tonight/">launch of NASA's Crew-8 mission</a>
Sunday night was the first of three Falcon 9 launches over the next 20
hours. Next in line was a launch at 5:05 pm EST (2205 UTC) Monday from
Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 53 small payloads on
SpaceX's 10th Transporter rideshare mission. The customer payloads on
this Falcon 9 launch <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/google-environmental-defense-fund-will-track-methane-emissions-from-space/">included MethaneSAT</a>,
an $88 million satellite funded primarily by philanthropic donations to
monitor methane greenhouse gas missions around the world.</p>
<p>Then, less than two hours later, at 6:56 pm EST (2356 UTC), a Falcon 9
rocket took off from SpaceX's most active launch pad at Cape Canaveral
Space Force Station in Florida. This mission delivered 23 more Starlink
broadband satellites into orbit for SpaceX's commercial Internet
network. At 1 hour and 51 minutes, this was the shortest time separation
to date between two SpaceX launches.</p></blockquote><p>So far this year, SpaceX has launched once every 3 days on average. They're aiming for around 140 launches for '24, and this will require them be a bit faster than that, more like launches once every 2.6 days. Most long time space watchers are surprised to learn that the issue slowing them down is generally launch pad availability - including turnaround time between missions. <br /></p><blockquote><p>"Could you imagine if I had walked up to you five years ago and said our
constraint to launch is launch pad availability?" said Matthew
Dominick, the NASA commander of the Crew-8 mission. "You would have
thought I was crazy, but we’re at a cool spot in spaceflight right now.
We’ve got rockets competing for launch pads, so you’re not waiting on
payloads. You’re not waiting on rockets. You’re waiting on launch pads
now." <br /></p></blockquote><p>We've mentioned before that they were modifying Cape Canaveral's busiest
launch pad, SLC-40, to handle Crew and Cargo Dragon capsules, which can
currently only be launched from Pad 39A. The hardware modifications to SLC-40 are complete and it looks like the pad will be ready for the launch of SpaceX's next Cargo Dragon resupply
mission to the space station later this month. Once verified, it could be used for SpaceX's next
commercial crew mission this summer. I've also read that the Polaris Dawn mission - the first privately funded and run spacewalk - could fly by this summer as well. </p><p>Remember the mention of <a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/starship-flight-test-3-moves-one-step.html" target="_blank">"at least nine" Starship flights this year</a>? A second Starship launch pad is in process at Boca Chica, a third pad is already in Florida at Pad-39A, and a second Florida Starship launch pad is <a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/spacex-moving-to-take-over-another-cape.html" target="_blank">being talked about now</a>, too. </p><p>Remember when Elon Musk said an indicator of success would be if <a href="https://www.usafa.af.mil/News/News-Display/Article/2995588/elon-musk-urges-cadet-researchers-to-keep-innovating-make-rocket-launches-boring/" target="_blank">SpaceX makes launches boring</a>? Do they make news where you are? I find I forget more launches these days - I forgot last night's Starlink launch from SLC-40 until we heard the rumble. That sound gets here so long after the launch that by the time you hear the sound you don't see anything. <br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-11982747061706777702024-03-04T21:31:00.002-05:002024-03-04T21:31:36.186-05:00SpaceX Preps Starship for Flight Test 3 <p>
It can be hard to keep up with exactly what's going on at Starbase Boca Chica
- and that's even though they're much more open about what they're doing than
any other launch service provider. Last night, while the company's
efforts appeared to be focused on the <a href="https://youtu.be/gVrJMVodpr0?si=qIMdJIbny-TXDqT5" target="_blank">Crew 8 launch</a> to the ISS,
<a href="https://www.space.com/spacex-fuels-starship-megarocket-ahead--of-3rd-test-launch" target="_blank">Starbase was focused on achieving a full wet dress rehearsal</a>
on the stack of Booster 10 and Ship 28. This is the stack that's going
to be used for the next Integrated Flight Test, IFT-3.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzK6qlVSVsrO4AyqKkjDX5BimrlgGV7neAECPc91kSTUShRvBJLH-HpjQ3ih8KhE5DTEtgAkPgPOIOwIEWD1UVfs2-Al0V29qWgsT0jpg2dkRBUtkKIdJJL1uKPpKdLP4rsY_kO2dq9kfNHMSNTIrNHt28JVM5z9wasdex_eFBVUB6yAPM8P_dASo6X_Z/s1466/IFT3-WDR0303.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="1466" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvzK6qlVSVsrO4AyqKkjDX5BimrlgGV7neAECPc91kSTUShRvBJLH-HpjQ3ih8KhE5DTEtgAkPgPOIOwIEWD1UVfs2-Al0V29qWgsT0jpg2dkRBUtkKIdJJL1uKPpKdLP4rsY_kO2dq9kfNHMSNTIrNHt28JVM5z9wasdex_eFBVUB6yAPM8P_dASo6X_Z/w640-h360/IFT3-WDR0303.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
Overnight WDRs produce some dramatic imagery.
<a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1764697392128156144" target="_blank">Image from SpaceX on X</a>. The photo posted on X loses its time tag in the process so I can't
tell exactly when it was taken. Elon Musk tweeted the same four pictures
a few minutes later. <br />
</p>
<p>
Many will remember from last
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/starship-flight-test-3-moves-one-step.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Monday (Feb. 26)</a>
that
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/faa-closes-starship-inquiry-and-spacex-details-causes-of-november-accidents/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the FAA closed its investigation of November's IFT-2</a> and I guessed that IFT-3 could launch in the second
half of March, between the 17th and 31st (coincidentally: St. Patrick's Day and Easter).
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
"SpaceX identified, and the FAA accepts, the root causes and 17 corrective
actions documented in SpaceX’s mishap report," the federal agency said in a
statement issued Monday. "Prior to the next launch, SpaceX must implement
all corrective actions and receive a license modification from the FAA that
addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory
requirements."
</p>
<p>
SpaceX must still submit additional information to the FAA, which is
responsible for the safety of people and property on the ground, before the
agency completes its review of an application to launch Starship for a third
time. The administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal
Aviation Administration, Kelvin Coleman,
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/spacex-seeks-to-launch-starship-at-least-nine-times-this-year/">said last week</a>
that early to mid-March is a reasonable timeline for the regulatory process
to conclude.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
I heard or read somewhere that the last flight was three weeks after the
equivalent approval for that one, so we can figure two weeks later for this
one. Which is how the two week window I mentioned at the top was derived.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
"<a href="https://www.space.com/spacex-fuels-starship-megarocket-ahead--of-3rd-test-launch" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SpaceX has implemented hardware changes</a> on upcoming Starship vehicles to improve leak reduction, fire protection, and refined operations associated with the propellant vent to increase reliability," SpaceX wrote in its statement. "The previously planned move from a hydraulic steering system for the vehicle's Raptor engines to an entirely electric system also removes potential sources of flammability."
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'd really like to see the launch as soon as they're ready, but I'm not really optimistic we'll see IFT-3 before the end of the month. They're still waiting on the FAA to grant a launch license. Nothing will enhance the chances of getting the next launch license quicker than successfully completing the test flight. </p><p>Musk is known for saying, "the best part is no part and the best manufacturing process is not to manufacture". I'm completely onboard with those statements. It's just that spending another week of preparation on the ground wouldn't be bad, IFF (math speak for If and Only If) that gets the test flight to complete successfully. Because that means no time spent in things like the investigation that just sucked up three months. Spending time to increase the chance of success would be a positive use of time. It's just not really possible to know until after the test, pass or fail. <br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-73755677753015200572024-03-03T21:39:00.000-05:002024-03-03T21:39:42.560-05:00Upgrade to the Ham Station is Much Closer to Done<p>
As you can probably tell by that lead-in, the rest of that phrase is "but not fully
Done done."
</p>
<p>
I'm down to getting the software running that will allow me to monitor several
places across any ham band simultaneously. The software, called
<a href="https://www.sdr-radio.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SDR Console</a>, is a very full featured application that has to connect to various pieces
of hardware and software in your computer; "down to the metal" as they say (or used to
say). There's about 10<sup>9</sup> things I need to mess with. My last update to
this project was two weeks ago,
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/my-ham-radio-upgrade-is-close-to-ready.html" target="_blank">Sunday Feb. 24th</a>
and I hadn't even installed the software until I finished getting all the
hardware in place. That was this Friday, March 1.
</p>
<p>
In that article, and the one I started out with in December, I showed a screen
capture of SDR Console running seven receivers across the 6 meter ham
band. After watching
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CETeI5twMU" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">an hour long video</a>
and going over parts of it a few more times, this is mine. I
deliberately settled for six. I was going to start with three and look
at how much it loaded my computer, but decided to go with six and measure
that.
</p>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXlLHspHEY7Tz8RTgBGgI3hyphenhyphen1_M8RoEeuE4QQbxyk1plH_7Yf00b5qw0xmIKdCQ8ZPcI3Wpxa0Gw2ryADtmKVCoJmnDV2GQjQsIECLbn7SU3k_aECnZ5r94kGlIA79eiuOMlBUay3CUUO-nnGSS1mdU1GSccnHjVVL2x-oOXXY10yYeAYg4qAb5XElM3dt/s1400/SDRC_Screenshot-2024-03-03.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1400" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXlLHspHEY7Tz8RTgBGgI3hyphenhyphen1_M8RoEeuE4QQbxyk1plH_7Yf00b5qw0xmIKdCQ8ZPcI3Wpxa0Gw2ryADtmKVCoJmnDV2GQjQsIECLbn7SU3k_aECnZ5r94kGlIA79eiuOMlBUay3CUUO-nnGSS1mdU1GSccnHjVVL2x-oOXXY10yYeAYg4qAb5XElM3dt/w640-h384/SDRC_Screenshot-2024-03-03.png" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
The problem I'm having is that while all the receivers seem to be working - I
can see the noise fluctuating in each receiver and I can listen to that noise -
I never see any signals on the computer. I've experimented by removing
everything else from the SDR and connecting it directly to my outdoor antenna.
Parts of the HF spectrum with a ton of signals easily audible on my station
transceiver show nothing on the SDRPlay.
</p>
<p>
The experimenting will continue. Next is to pull the SDR out here, where
I tested it when I first bought it, and assuming the radio works, it's a software
configuration thing.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-42123088910032221292024-03-02T21:45:00.000-05:002024-03-02T21:45:20.537-05:00Small Space News Story Roundup 30<h4 style="text-align: left;">Astra on the Verge of Bankruptcy </h4>
<p>
Frankly, I'm a bit surprised it has taken this long. In August of '22,
they announced a change to a new rocket capable of putting bigger payloads in
orbit, Rocket 4.0. Before that announcement they had seven launches of
their much smaller payload-rated Rocket 3.0 through 3.3 and only two of seven
were successful - 29%.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
In a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday, Astra released
a letter sent three days earlier to a special committee of the company’s
board of directors from Chris Kemp and Adam London, the chief executive and
chief technology officer, slashing by two-thirds their offer to buy
outstanding shares of the publicly traded company.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The Tuesday referred to here is last Tuesday, Feb. 27.
<a href="https://spacenews.com/astra-founders-reduce-offer-to-take-company-private/" target="_blank">In November, Kemp and London proposed to buy Astra shares at $1.50</a>. On Tuesday they dropped that offer to $0.50. For comparison,
the market price for their shares on Monday the 26th was $1.76/share.
Typically (and in November) an attempt to buy shares like this to take over
the company is done at a premium over the open market price, not less than 30%
of it.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Astra has disclosed few details about its financial status since the
original offer. The company canceled plans for a quarterly earnings call
immediately after the publication of the offer,
<a href="https://spacenews.com/investors-grant-astra-extension-on-loan/">but reported a net loss of $29.7 million in the third quarter</a>. The company has since reported
<a href="https://spacenews.com/astra-secures-2-7-million-in-additional-financing/">a few minor funding deals</a>, including
<a href="https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.html?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1814329/000119312524015565/d696820d8k.htm">a Jan. 19 agreement that generated net proceeds of $5.85 million</a>.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Now, I'll forever remember Astra as the company that had
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-most-interesting-rocket-flight-abort.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the most interesting launch abort ever</a>.
</p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Firefly expanding rapidly in Central Texas</b>
</h4>
<p>
In contrast, Firefly more than doubled its production space, hosting a
celebration of opening it Wednesday, Feb. 28, in Briggs, Texas.
<a href="https://payloadspace.com/firefly-doubles-its-footprint-and-charts-a-course-for-launch-land-orbit/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">According to the Payload newsletter</a>:<br />
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
<b></b>In the heart of Texas ranch country, Firefly Aerospace is embracing
the pioneering and do-it-all spirit of the frontier.
</p>
<p>
The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday celebrating the
expansion of its rocket production facility from 92,000 to 207,000 sq ft to
support its “launch, land, orbit” initiatives. Firefly—which is best known
for its Alpha rocket—plans to introduce three next-gen vehicles over the
next 24 months to cover the three facets of space travel.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Switching sources to
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/rocket-report-astra-warns-of-imminent-bankruptcy-falcon-heavy-launch-delay/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ars Technica's Rocket Report</a>:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Of most interest to a newsletter about rockets is the new rocket. The Medium
Launch Vehicle will incorporate a new first stage built by Firefly, with
seven Miranda engines. It will be capable of lifting 16 metric tons to
low-Earth orbit. And reuse is in the cards—eventually. "Anyone who comes
into this market that doesn’t have reusability on their roadmap is a doomed
program," said Adam Oakes, Firefly’s VP of launch vehicles. A debut launch
is possible as early as 2025.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
They have more going on than the MLV. They're building the Antares 330
under contact to Northrop Grumman - to carry their Cygnus cargo vehicles to
the ISS - which will use the MLV as its first stage. Plus, they're a
NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract recipient, contracted
to deliver two Blue Ghost lunar landers. The first should fly later this
year.
</p>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>NASA, SpaceX Have Begun Testing Starship Docking System</b>
</h4>
<p>
Put this under the "they slipped this by me" category, but it's good to
hear. An important part of the first Artemis missions to the Moon is that
SpaceX's Starship rocket will need to dock with NASA's Orion spacecraft in
lunar orbit.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
The space agency
<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-spacex-test-starship-lunar-lander-docking-system/">said this week</a>
that NASA and SpaceX recently performed qualification testing for the
docking system that will help make that possible. The docking system tests
for Starship were conducted at the Johnson Space Center over 10 days using a
system that simulates contact dynamics between two spacecraft in orbit.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-spacex-test-starship-lunar-lander-docking-system/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The testing included more than 200 docking scenarios</a>, with various approach angles and speeds. These real-world results using
full-scale hardware will validate computer models of the Moon lander’s docking
system. Based on SpaceX’s flight-proven Dragon 2 docking system used on
missions to the ISS, the Starship docking system can be configured to connect
the lander to Orion or Gateway.
</p>
<p>NASA's article went on to say:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Since being selected as the lander to return humans to the surface of the
Moon for the first time since Apollo, SpaceX has completed more than 30 HLS
specific milestones by defining and testing hardware needed for power
generation, communications, guidance and navigation, propulsion, life
support, and space environments protection.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
I would have liked to know of that "more than 30 HLS specific milestones"
completed, how many is that out of? Is it 30 out of around 50 or more like around 500?
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYfVMjEGxUkJLVBXvxLGm2rxHwnG5EAs8Xeyw05d62ybuaknplnzmO_wxR4U3b38X0sO1eRMf3C1n5SIDM7qf2GT-LxddbPz490rqPS1_j9JnyZOXlKOaKVuqshMEKnBUtT9PF2H6Tnb-byL8VfdJ4UR5htEWRxzIa2C2hKq8V05MffHY6n4A94ehRs9nl/s825/jsc2023_Testing_hardware.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="549" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYfVMjEGxUkJLVBXvxLGm2rxHwnG5EAs8Xeyw05d62ybuaknplnzmO_wxR4U3b38X0sO1eRMf3C1n5SIDM7qf2GT-LxddbPz490rqPS1_j9JnyZOXlKOaKVuqshMEKnBUtT9PF2H6Tnb-byL8VfdJ4UR5htEWRxzIa2C2hKq8V05MffHY6n4A94ehRs9nl/w426-h640/jsc2023_Testing_hardware.jpg" width="426" /></a>
</div>
<p>
The test stand used for the docking simulations. SpaceX Photo
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-6807145711507776042024-03-01T21:45:00.000-05:002024-03-01T21:45:23.680-05:00This Time Space Force Says the Quiet Part Our Loud<p>
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2023/12/jeff-bezos-says-quiet-part-out-loud.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Back in mid-December</a>, I mused that Jeff Bezos had said the quiet part out loud when word got
around that he was saying, "Blue Origin needs to be much faster, and it's one
of the reasons that I left my role as the CEO of Amazon a couple of years
ago," he said. "<b>I wanted to come in, and Blue Origin needs me right now. Adding some
energy, some sense of urgency. We need to move much faster. And we're going
to.</b>" [bold added - SiG]<br />
</p>
<p>
This week, it's the US Space Force's turn to say those quiet parts out
loud.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Frank Calvelli, the assistant secretary of the Air Force in charge of Space
Force acquisitions, said a top concern for his office this year is the
launch tempo of United Launch Alliance.
</p>
<p>
“I think it’s going to be really important for us to watch two amazing
companies: ULA and Blue Origin,” Calvelli said Feb. 27. “They need to
scale.”
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
This is from a talk Calvelli delivered at National Security Space
Association’s Defense and Intelligence Space Conference. It started with
Calvelli applauding the successful first mission of ULA's Vulcan Centaur in
<a href="https://spacenews.com/vulcan-centaur-launches-peregrine-lunar-lander-on-inaugural-mission/" target="_blank">January which launched the Peregrine lander toward the moon</a>, and he emphasized the need for the company to adapt swiftly to a
faster-paced launch schedule.
</p>
<p>
While Blue Origin and ULA are still separate companies, both desperately need
changes in their methods. ULA has talked about getting up to one launch per
month this year and two per month in 2025. That's a major change to a company
that on average has flown every other month - six rockets a year - for the
past five years. Bear in mind that a mission every other month is still
infinitely faster than Blue Origin because any number divided by zero...<br />
</p>
<p>
Calvelli's only mention of Blue was saying they need to watch and make sure
that Blue can deliver the BE-4 engines for Vulcan. That's primarily
because ULA is a launch contractor for Space Force while Blue isn't; they're a
subcontractor to ULA. Blue still hasn't made orbit, so they're unable to
compete for USSF Launches and there's little pressure on them. Remember
that ULA originally won a 60% - 40% split with SpaceX to launch National
Security payloads back in 2020. Due to delays in Vulcan’s development,
Vulcan still hasn't flown their two certification missions, so Space Force
<i><b>can't</b></i> (legally) launch those payloads with them. USSF had
to reassign some missions so ULA will end up with 54% and SpaceX with 46% of
Phase 2 launches. <br />
</p>
<p>
A search for when Vulcan's Cert-2 mission will fly just shows a tentative date
No Earlier Than June. <br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibRu8_GI3zTfnIBfWpbdr8bicneEmYc3c-bQZIR3RcYLYCGJafF-wVXdWxXJQL9ptvG9pevAZVKG0oXcBOgbV1tgVyrSzA81rEnI7jeUKEc-NXKEBATHkKirOO6PNeziryAmWwGIB3aGpjuN9uYZ6ah0BAcO_coucwObjRfCU0VNLtA05_y-NPzxP7OTbW/s1066/Frank_Calvelli_Space_Conference_Talk.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1066" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibRu8_GI3zTfnIBfWpbdr8bicneEmYc3c-bQZIR3RcYLYCGJafF-wVXdWxXJQL9ptvG9pevAZVKG0oXcBOgbV1tgVyrSzA81rEnI7jeUKEc-NXKEBATHkKirOO6PNeziryAmWwGIB3aGpjuN9uYZ6ah0BAcO_coucwObjRfCU0VNLtA05_y-NPzxP7OTbW/w640-h480/Frank_Calvelli_Space_Conference_Talk.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
Frank Calvelli speaks at the National Security Space Association’s Defense and
Intelligence Space Conference Feb. 27, 2024. Credit: SpaceNews
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<hr />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">and now for something completely different</h4>
<p>
<a href="https://every-blade-of-grass.blogspot.com/2024/03/bob-heil-k9eid-sk.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dr. Jim mentions that Bob Heil, K9EID</a>
passed away this morning from cancer at age 83 and the news has been wrapping around the
amateur radio world. Bob was the founder of a couple of companies devoted to
audio, both professional and studio audio with
<a href="https://heilsound.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Heil Sound</a>, as well as ham radio microphones, speakers and headsets with
<a href="https://heilhamradio.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Heil Ham Radio</a>. </p><p>One of the inventions Bob is best known for is the Heil Talk Box
(or just Talk Box) he invented in 1973. The talk box gave a distinctive sound that showed up in a lot of 1970s music - it used direct audio feedback of the guitar's amplified sound into the player's mouth delivered by a plastic tube, sound that they then modulated with their mouth. An easy example that really shows the way it's used is <a href="https://youtu.be/o6xGqi5itxs?si=3XzXkQtrKLFjWQiu" target="_blank">a 1975 recording of Peter Frampton's "Show Me the Way"</a>, but this is far from the only popular music that used it. Joe Walsh's early '70s hit "Rocky Mountain Way" used one for the distinctive sound, but a video showing it is harder to find. <a href="https://youtu.be/4Fz-mHGXgzs?si=1n6TfG8Tmfe6HeiY&t=188" target="_blank">This link</a> doesn't show any live action but starts when the Talk Box is used the most. <br /></p>
<p>Personally, I've never used a single one of Bob's designs, whether microphones or headsets for the ham station, a talk box or anything else. I just have the utmost respect for him and his work. Rest well, Bob. </p>
<p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-86041439607945775202024-02-29T21:22:00.000-05:002024-02-29T21:22:26.170-05:00Goodnight Odie - Hope to Hear From You Again<p> I should have known that if I use a title like yesterday's, "Odysseus
Freezing? Fuggedaboutit!" that I was guaranteeing it was going to shut
down. I meant freezing specifically on Tuesday as they said on Monday,
not freezing in general, but the Universe does not take such hubris
lightly. </p>
<p>
Just kidding. Odie didn't freeze and the universe didn't do
anything. Instead,
<a href="https://www.space.com/intuitive-machines-odysseus-moon-lander-shuts-down" target="_blank">Intuitive Machines shut down the lander today</a>
as the inevitable lunar sunset approaches. In the final episode of the
<a href="https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">IM-1 website</a>
updates (probably...), the company put it this way:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Before its power was depleted, Odysseus completed a fitting farewell
transmission. Received today, this image from February 22nd showcases the
lunar vista with the crescent Earth in the backdrop, a subtle reminder of
humanity’s presence in the universe.<br />
<br />
Goodnight, Odie. We hope to hear from you again.
</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimheN7v_N0SytEL19eLI-GFl0PZXvRENWgzY2QDhpA6l1LmMT2e_JXJXzTmSvmAFEM0Te-UEcgKSwp5_xYt7YvOSluCBAel7VyIuUCwluftbe5df8pLOgDr8hFw7eA-rw3HSzj_6dhlMhTSbyCrnwpO0IsNPdBPks2je-d9MkFSMNBWr8jUUYSVeemDjEF/s825/Odie's_Selfie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="618" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimheN7v_N0SytEL19eLI-GFl0PZXvRENWgzY2QDhpA6l1LmMT2e_JXJXzTmSvmAFEM0Te-UEcgKSwp5_xYt7YvOSluCBAel7VyIuUCwluftbe5df8pLOgDr8hFw7eA-rw3HSzj_6dhlMhTSbyCrnwpO0IsNPdBPks2je-d9MkFSMNBWr8jUUYSVeemDjEF/w480-h640/Odie's_Selfie.jpg" width="480" /></a>
</div>
<p>
Image credit to Intuitive Machines, of course.
<a href="https://twitter.com/Int_Machines/status/1763336637432385813" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Downloaded from their post on X</a>
(Twitter).
</p>
<p>
Did you notice the date of the photograph in IM's message: February 22.
Exactly one week ago. That means Odie hit its longevity mark:
Intuitive Machines had previously estimated Odysseus' surface mission would
last a week or so. Considering what it went through along the way, that's remarkable.<br />
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
"I think what we're going to do is kind of tuck Odie in for the cold night
of the moon and see if we can't wake him up here when we get a solar noon
here in about three weeks," Intuitive Machines co-founder and CEO Steve
Altemus said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon (Feb. 28).
<br />...
<br />
Despite [the previously discussed] issues, Intuitive Machines and NASA both regard Odysseus'
moon landing as a success, one that bodes well for the future of lunar
exploration. The space agency, for example, got data down from all five of
its active instruments on Odie. (The sixth is a laser retroreflector array,
a passive instrument designed to help other lunar spacecraft navigate.)<br />
<br />
"The bottom line is that every payload has met some level of their
objective, and we're very excited about that," Sue Lederer, CLPS project
scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said during Wednesday's
press briefing.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While nobody is willing to bet that Odie's batteries will survive the extreme cold of lunar night, nobody wants to count it out, either, especially since JAXA's SLIM woke up after its long, cold night. Last words to Sue Lederer of NASA:</p><blockquote><p>"He's a scrappy little dude," she said. "So, I have confidence in Odie at this point. It's been incredible."</p></blockquote>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-70393701234216413832024-02-28T22:22:00.000-05:002024-02-28T22:22:43.767-05:00Odysseus Freezing? Fuggedaboutit!<p>
The situation with Intuitive Machines IM-1 lander Odysseus - Odie - continues
to change at a rapid rate.
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/02/interesting-developments-from-moon.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Just two days ago</a>, Monday evening as I type, there was talk that if something didn't change
within hours, Odie's batteries would be depleted and the lander would freeze
to death in the cold lunar night, just eight days away. Today that dire
future is completely reversed. Not only is Odie expected to operate
until night fall, they're planning to see if it wakes up in two weeks (and a
couple of days) like JAXA's SLIM did.
</p>
<p>
The story of getting from there to here is a tribute to determination, hard
work, and refusing to give up from the crew of a young company flying its
first space mission.
</p>
<p>
An important backup story is from yesterday in Ars Technica, a long but a
fascinating read. Titled, "<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/it-turns-out-that-odysseus-landed-on-the-moon-without-any-altimetry-data/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">It turns out that Odysseus landed on the Moon without any altimetry data</a>" it talks about the many issues the probe went through from launch to its
first couple of days on the moon. The missing altimetry data goes back
to the story posted about on Friday, explaining how they realized someone
hadn't removed a safety on their laser altimeters just before they were to activate them for landing, and used
a NASA payload for that information. That wasn't completely
seamless.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
While this software patch mostly worked, Altemus said Tuesday that the
flight computer onboard <i>Odysseus</i> was unable to process data from the
NASA payload in real time. Therefore, the last accurate altitude reading the
lander received came when it was 15 kilometers above the lunar surface—and
still more than 12 minutes from touchdown.
</p>
<p>
That left the spacecraft, which was flying autonomously, to rely on its
optical navigation cameras. By comparing imagery data frame by frame, the
flight computer could determine how fast it was moving relative to the lunar
surface. Knowing its initial velocity and altitude prior to initiating
powered descent and using data from the inertial measurement unit (IMU) on
board <i>Odysseus</i>, it could get a rough idea of altitude. But that only
went so far.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
That meant that as the lander approached the surface, the landing system
"thought" it was 100 meters higher above the surface than it actually was.
Because of that, instead of touching down with a vertical velocity of just 1
meter per second and no lateral movement, Odie was coming down at 3m/sec with
a lateral speed of 2 m/sec. That led to breaking one of the lander's
legs.
</p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zcwHYD7o5vDsgphpJlZVMqxk5u4YeKc2dXW8rBAu_NCCQ6gU1Q_TJ0kmMwEt9o6eKcsFOjj74LaJY0_AfXmFh0KmCLPCsC-AC1eVDe2WkIdyAr1MKEH-sqdo42BRGBOg3Pi7zYJOcGVeAPlcTGVfdQ09IikywwKwXofpUp_-eg35nH3uwJpNIBHwqSQY/s1197/IM-1_Touched_Down_Engine_On.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="1197" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5zcwHYD7o5vDsgphpJlZVMqxk5u4YeKc2dXW8rBAu_NCCQ6gU1Q_TJ0kmMwEt9o6eKcsFOjj74LaJY0_AfXmFh0KmCLPCsC-AC1eVDe2WkIdyAr1MKEH-sqdo42BRGBOg3Pi7zYJOcGVeAPlcTGVfdQ09IikywwKwXofpUp_-eg35nH3uwJpNIBHwqSQY/w640-h408/IM-1_Touched_Down_Engine_On.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
In this screen capture from
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9AFaGT0H-4" target="_blank">this video</a>, you can see the leg on the left is broken and doesn't look like the one on
the right. In this photo, the engine is still firing and keeping Odie
vertical. Moments after the engine was cut, it tipped over, taking about
two seconds to come to rest.
</p>
<p>Eric Berger noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
<i>Odysseus</i> is a beastly machine, and the team flying it isn't shabby,
either. They have certainly busted their asses. The offices in south Houston
were littered with the remains of junk food, coffee, and other elixirs of
long nights and wracked brains. It's all been a whirlwind, no doubt. Next to
a bag of tortilla chips, there was a bottle of Ibuprofen.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Among the problems they've found ways around was that when the lander tipped
over, the gain antenna that had been planned to send data back to Earth wasn't
pointed at Earth. When they tried to transmit, some of the signal hit
the moon's surface reflected back up and created an interfering signal - multipath.
They figured out a way to add a signal that helped them separate the desired
from interfering signals. That left them with a weak signal and the only
thing that can help that is a really big receiving antenna. They were
able to get access to NASA's Deep Space Network in Australia, to get a good
angle on the lunar south pole. Intuitive Machines has opted to run
customers' payloads and download their data as much as possible. They
also downloaded this picture of Odie itself. <br />
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiu285KBUX98HunMBa_TD0K56NHVEJqBPuIPxnA1jRPaQYyktB6CHrwWXvuKCuYnF3H1Io2lnvFpaTBddrmtTfJ198YimIxjIVikp4hZB5jAOh1hvtVY_HI4Uxi3RVXToZHlXgWjMWVNczfxmE9Zyu1ob19V12tW5TtK3r7Ep5AdF9MYqAWCOJNmkwPwxH/s800/IM_pic2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiu285KBUX98HunMBa_TD0K56NHVEJqBPuIPxnA1jRPaQYyktB6CHrwWXvuKCuYnF3H1Io2lnvFpaTBddrmtTfJ198YimIxjIVikp4hZB5jAOh1hvtVY_HI4Uxi3RVXToZHlXgWjMWVNczfxmE9Zyu1ob19V12tW5TtK3r7Ep5AdF9MYqAWCOJNmkwPwxH/w480-h640/IM_pic2.jpg" width="480" /></a>
</div>
<blockquote>
<p>
The lander fell on its side, with a helium tank or radio shelf contacting
the Moon. This protrusion, combined with the 12-degree slope of the terrain,
means that <i>Odysseus</i> is now gently leaning on the lunar surface at
about a 30-degree angle. Image credit: Intuitive Machines. The dark stripe around the 1/3 point vertically in the picture, and just below the copper colored shape, is a nearby crater in shadow. <br />
</p>
</blockquote><p>
NASA and IM teamed up for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa2n2-_hLPM" target="_blank">another press conference today that runs just over 90 minutes</a>. Lots of good information in there. This is where I heard the IM people talking about seeing if Odie wakes up perhaps a day or two after lunar sunrise. Ars Technica ran another article today, "<a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/that-moment-when-you-land-on-the-moon-break-a-leg-and-are-about-to-topple-over/" target="_blank">That moment when you land on the Moon, break a leg, and are about to topple over</a>." </p><p>Intuitive Machines says they've downloaded about 50 megabytes of data, and that every paying customer's payload has worked. Five of the six NASA payloads are working. Only the one intended to take data on the interaction of Odie's engine exhaust and the lunar landscape appears to have been damaged. Despite coming to rest at that 30 degree angle they're calling it an absolute success, and are talking of working on their next missions. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-85042313278268615092024-02-27T21:57:00.000-05:002024-02-27T21:57:59.154-05:00Starship Flight Test 3 Moves One Step Closer<p>
SpaceX's Starship/Super Heavy Flight Test 3 moved closer in concept on Monday
as
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/faa-closes-starship-inquiry-and-spacex-details-causes-of-november-accidents/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the FAA closed its investigation of November's IFT-2</a>. A first date estimate would be in the second half of March, between the 17th and 31st (Easter).
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
"SpaceX identified, and the FAA accepts, the root causes and 17 corrective
actions documented in SpaceX’s mishap report," the federal agency said in a
statement issued Monday. "Prior to the next launch, SpaceX must implement
all corrective actions and receive a license modification from the FAA that
addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory
requirements."
</p>
<p>
SpaceX must still submit additional information to the FAA, which is
responsible for the safety of people and property on the ground, before the
agency completes its review of an application to launch Starship for a third
time. The administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal
Aviation Administration, Kelvin Coleman,
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/spacex-seeks-to-launch-starship-at-least-nine-times-this-year/">said last week</a>
that early to mid-March is a reasonable timeline for the regulatory process
to conclude.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
I heard or read somewhere that the last flight was three weeks after the
equivalent approval for that one, so we can figure two weeks later for this one. Which is
how the two week window I mentioned at the top was derived. <br />
</p>
<p>
SpaceX posted a summary of the technical findings they sent to the FAA on
their
<a href="https://www.spacex.com/updates" target="_blank">Updates web page</a>. In big-picture overview, both the Super Heavy first stage and the
Starship upper stage performed well except for a couple of problems that led
to the loss of both parts of the vehicle.
</p>
<p>
In the Super Heavy's case, the launch and flight through stage separation was
flawless. SpaceX describes it this way:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Following stage separation, Super Heavy initiated its boostback burn, which
sends commands to 13 of the vehicle’s 33 Raptor engines to propel the rocket
toward its intended landing location. During this burn, several engines
began shutting down before one engine failed energetically, quickly
cascading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly (RUD) of the booster.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
"Failed energetically?" Cascading to a RUD?" Love it! You guys have been in Texas long enough to say, "It Done Blowed Up" or just "it blowed up." The problem was linked to a problem with the liquid oxygen flow in the
booster.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
The most likely root cause for the booster RUD was determined to be filter
blockage where liquid oxygen is supplied to the engines, leading to a loss
of inlet pressure in engine oxidizer turbopumps that eventually resulted in
one engine failing in a way that resulted in loss of the vehicle. SpaceX has
since implemented hardware changes inside future booster oxidizer tanks to
improve propellant filtration capabilities and refined operations to
increase reliability.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The six engines on Starship had ignited and burned completely nominally until
what appears to have been an operational mistake over the Caribbean. In
an effort to simulate the extra fuel load required for some missions, they
overfilled Starship with liquid oxygen, and decided they'd dump that extra LOX
out there.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
A leak in the aft section of the spacecraft that developed when the liquid
oxygen vent was initiated resulted in a combustion event and subsequent
fires that led to a loss of communication between the spacecraft’s flight
computers. This resulted in a commanded shut down of all six engines prior
to completion of the ascent burn, followed by the Autonomous Flight Safety
System detecting a mission rule violation and activating the flight
termination system, leading to vehicle breakup. The flight test’s conclusion
came when the spacecraft was as at an altitude of ~150 km and a velocity of
~24,000 km/h, becoming the first Starship to reach outer space.<br />
<br />
SpaceX has implemented hardware changes on upcoming Starship vehicles to
improve leak reduction, fire protection, and refined operations associated
with the propellant vent to increase reliability. The previously planned
move from a hydraulic steering system for the vehicle’s Raptor engines to an
entirely electric system also removes potential sources of flammability.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The LOX didn't need to be released over the Caribbean, it just had to be dumped before the planned
splashdown north of Hawaii. They could have released it later. Or, maybe,
instead of LOX they could have put an equivalent weight of steel on the
Starship?
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFnmQaeknxr19qPFZdO6kKbo8qYB841P3MGYtb89Dj_mUgbUz5XcEajZ-JhJNhOEMjlEG-pPGEhkLw657cmpm8uV9KCBbv1HqXQro7Y-evbfbm4RrzDuQ8YgJCKxbLCEdg55kTYh_kW0mQqrlum6L3g9lK9VqaE2Arj_L0jO71LZoqHB13CxKap0vWKcp/s825/IFT-2-liftoff-scaled-twice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="550" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFnmQaeknxr19qPFZdO6kKbo8qYB841P3MGYtb89Dj_mUgbUz5XcEajZ-JhJNhOEMjlEG-pPGEhkLw657cmpm8uV9KCBbv1HqXQro7Y-evbfbm4RrzDuQ8YgJCKxbLCEdg55kTYh_kW0mQqrlum6L3g9lK9VqaE2Arj_L0jO71LZoqHB13CxKap0vWKcp/w427-h640/IFT-2-liftoff-scaled-twice.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><p> Starship launches on its second flight on November 18, 2023. Image credit: SpaceX</p><p>There was a story last week that SpaceX was asking for a way to "launch Starship at least <a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/spacex-seeks-to-launch-starship-at-least-nine-times-this-year/" target="_blank">nine times this year.</a>" That would require a more streamlined response process from the FAA and everyone concerned, but we'd love to see it. March 18th will be four months since IFT-2. Things would have to be moving much faster than we see for that to happen. <br /></p><p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-35341800839311706422024-02-26T20:09:00.000-05:002024-02-26T20:09:16.567-05:00Interesting Developments from the Moon<p>
A pair of interesting developments made news today from the two lunar landers
currently near the south pole. JAXA's SLIM woke up while Intuitive
Machines Odysseus (Odie) appears to be in its last moments.
</p>
<p>
Good news first, and kudos to YouTuber
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@TheAngryAstronaut" target="_blank">The Angry Astronaut</a>
for catching this story and bringing it to us.
</p>
<p>
For the first time since the mid-60s, a lunar lander without a nuclear-based
way to keep batteries from freezing has survived the night and woken up.
Check out this short video.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="355" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dVVK0zgxqHU" width="640" youtube-src-id="dVVK0zgxqHU"></iframe>
</div>
<blockquote>
<p>
"<a href="https://www.space.com/japan-slim-moon-lander-wakeup-lunar-night" target="_blank">Last night, a command was sent to #SLIM</a>
and a response received, confirming that the spacecraft has made it through
the lunar night and maintained communication capabilities," wrote officials
with the
<a class="hawk-link-parsed" data-analytics-id="inline-link" data-before-rewrite-localise="https://www.space.com/22672-japan-aerospace-exploration-agency.html" data-component-tracked="1" href="https://www.space.com/22672-japan-aerospace-exploration-agency.html">Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency</a>
(JAXA) in English [<a href="https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/1761981979237732355" target="_blank">posted to X</a>
- SiG]. The electronics were operational despite surface temperatures being
at 212 Fahrenheit (100 Celsius), the team wrote in Japanese in
<a class="hawk-link-parsed" data-analytics-id="inline-link" data-component-tracked="1" data-url="https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/1761975915746340891" href="https://twitter.com/SLIM_JAXA/status/1761975915746340891" target="_blank">another post</a>
machine-translated by Google.<br />
<br />
"If we continue to communicate, things will get even hotter, so yesterday I
decided to communicate for a while and then take a break again," JAXA's post
continued, appearing to be playfully impersonating the lander.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
The lander is not just awake, but returning photos taken with its navigational
camera of areas it didn't photograph before. In an abundance of caution,
JAXA is taking it easy with lunar temperatures of 100C and commanding a low
duty cycle of operation. Most of you will recognized that mil-spec
(883B) and space-rated electronic components are typically certified to operate at
125C and special certifications at higher temperatures can be bought, but not
for every part type. I'm not going to predict what the temperatures of
semiconductors inside the packages on the moon might be, but many of us have
tested buttloads of things at 125C and more of you readers have operated
systems that were at those sorts of temperatures.
</p>
<p>
Unfortunately, the news of Odysseus (which IM affectionately calls 'Odie')
isn't as good.
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/nasa-found-the-private-lander-on-the-moon-but-its-lifetime-is-running-short/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Time may be running out for the little lander</a>.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
In <a href="https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1">an update</a> posted on
Monday morning, the company that built the spacecraft, Intuitive Machines,
said, "[W]e believe flight controllers will continue to communicate with
<i>Odysseus</i> until Tuesday morning." This is because the lander, which is
tipped over on its side, will only be able to collect solar energy for a
limited period of time.
</p>
<p>
Originally, the company had hoped to operate its privately developed lunar
lander on the surface for a week or longer. But now, that will no longer be
possible due to the limited ability of <i>Odysseus</i> to gather solar
energy and remain powered on. As the Sun dips closer to the horizon, and
with the two-week-long lunar night coming, the spacecraft will, effectively,
freeze to death.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
I don't know if their assessment was made with knowledge of what JAXA revealed
about SLIM, or if it's based on hard numbers they're collecting, but I suspect
it's based on their numbers.
</p>
<p>
Earlier in the day, I stumbled across a different
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lJ6PXJp9cc" target="_blank">video from Space.com</a>
headlining the first pic from Odie, as well as <i><b>of</b></i> Odie.
The pictures of the lander were from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
taken over the weekend. Personally I get almost nothing out of the
picture. All I can tell you is it has some vertical lines in this pic
that don't look like a natural formation, but I have no doubt those intimately
familiar with the lander will get more out of than I could.
</p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJl_dqpHZDT1Sw1DRSEpmDN5CPzwm-pLkKEQ6iwYPtvu6udbQmDsz4dSOu4JieV1pXpuXqE5-3b4UeGxx_m5F3gObx6AokrjNd98SRXqL5rL8l9tb26ma5XUYaUWCUqWpKZPZe4il_WS3998bmZesOX8bAK02FAbQ86ZDxG6jtzETIt5q-53IZAjPdTMvl/s1198/LRO_Views_Odie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="767" data-original-width="1198" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJl_dqpHZDT1Sw1DRSEpmDN5CPzwm-pLkKEQ6iwYPtvu6udbQmDsz4dSOu4JieV1pXpuXqE5-3b4UeGxx_m5F3gObx6AokrjNd98SRXqL5rL8l9tb26ma5XUYaUWCUqWpKZPZe4il_WS3998bmZesOX8bAK02FAbQ86ZDxG6jtzETIt5q-53IZAjPdTMvl/w640-h410/LRO_Views_Odie.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>Screen capture out of that video. </p>
<p>
The
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/CyKB6C9XnfI?si=Bl-VXUct8gH32Ecr" target="_blank">press conference on Friday</a>
was much more optimistic than today's story, talking about it having about
nine days left (six from Monday), or the rest of the lunar day it landed
on. Today's story about lasting until some time Tuesday is a big
departure from that.
</p>
<p>
It's possible they'll be able to complete some of the things they talked about
in that press conference that will add to the mission's accomplishments.
If not, it will be a qualified success, limited to what we've seen
already.
</p>
<blockquote>
The mission has achieved some notable firsts. No privately developed
spacecraft has ever made a soft landing on the Moon before, and it is
important that Intuitive Machines has been able to maintain contact with the
lander for several days. And at 80 degrees south, no spacecraft has ever made
a soft landing so close to a lunar pole.
</blockquote>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-77700748131318638972024-02-25T21:39:00.000-05:002024-02-25T21:39:28.431-05:00On The Big X-class Solar Flares & the AT&T Blackout<p>
Last week saw the strongest solar flares of solar cycle 25 and the strongest
since the great solar storms of Sept. 2017. The X6.3 solar flare
<a href="https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=22&month=02&year=2024" target="_blank">erupted from sunspot AR3590 on Feb. 22 @ 2234 UT or 5:34 PM EST</a>. What was unique about this strong flare was that there was no Coronal
Mass Ejection (CME) with it, and the charged particles from a CME are most
likely to cause a geomagnetic storm when they reach Earth. No such storm
has occurred. The flare itself produced some ionization in the upper
reaches of the ionosphere and caused some brief radio propagation
issues. SpaceWeather.com included this plot of signal strengths at 20
MHz,
<a href="https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=25&month=02&year=2024" target="_blank">submitted by Jim Tegerdine from Roseburg, Oregon</a>:
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJsQOsgK859Lx7_O88mZGRizN_-cBn8zmHkSIVsKLbrINqC_aHq69ofPvOBCyEpovQvfJaE4YvZpQlOLJY8WT155u7PkphN62nZ1vHWS1xiVWSaUsHhDXCYu9LDfXVqdQtcgpfz2jBSOA933YD7rUXAkFMGo_dXcv2ELjw3UIx75CAOmmMjguwXtdrw52/s730/Jim-Tegerdine-2.22.24-X6-FLARE-ABSORBTION-20-MHz-2230-UTC.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="730" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJsQOsgK859Lx7_O88mZGRizN_-cBn8zmHkSIVsKLbrINqC_aHq69ofPvOBCyEpovQvfJaE4YvZpQlOLJY8WT155u7PkphN62nZ1vHWS1xiVWSaUsHhDXCYu9LDfXVqdQtcgpfz2jBSOA933YD7rUXAkFMGo_dXcv2ELjw3UIx75CAOmmMjguwXtdrw52/w640-h260/Jim-Tegerdine-2.22.24-X6-FLARE-ABSORBTION-20-MHz-2230-UTC.png" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>Image credit to Jim Tegerdine.</p>
<blockquote>
"I was monitoring radio transmissions at 20 MHz when all the signals started
to fade," says Tegerdine. "At the peak of the flare (2234 UT), the signal
strength was near zero."<br />
<br />
Tegerdine's chart recorder plot shows that the fading began about 10 minutes
before the flare's peak, giving him an early warning of what was about to
happen. After reaching the nadir of signal strength, the blackout persisted as
a "deep fade" for more than 20 minutes. In total, there was loss of signal for
about a half an hour.
</blockquote>
<p>
The rule of thumb with disturbances like this is that lower HF frequencies suffer more attenuation for longer periods than frequencies like 20 MHz. I'd be completely unsurprised to hear that the 3.5 or 7.0 MHz were blacked out for longer than a half hour.<br /></p><p>Sunspot AR3590 is close to the center of the sun's Earth-facing side, while
moderately high in latitude and among the first, if not THE first, naked-eye
sunspot of cycle 25. It's wider than 10 Earth diameters and relatively
easy to see, although I feel obligated to say not to look at the sun without
something like Eclipse glasses - dark enough film to reduce the brightness
down to safe levels. If you have a welding helmet, you're there.
In previous sunspot cycles I would catch a glimpse of big spots on the way
into work this time of year, when the rising sun might be behind clouds dense
enough to make looking at the sun painless.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPlLE745VcoYY5k5NDOr5wb_OI-5gg5bif_9WiIGjKcr5rnZWoc2V6b0c5c__5S-wU2iA1XNvPZMqqFFIGqK4IkiW7EehjSTlmbWuICaCjdtbkXhS7NMo9eGaldhulO2CEkDXVLnyA_EOkNEEJlHEnzCy8fx0phT4SnUDULdwMC3D7QuGPpSgX-gKhGCX/s988/Bum-Suk-Yeom-giant_sunspot_ar3590.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="988" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxPlLE745VcoYY5k5NDOr5wb_OI-5gg5bif_9WiIGjKcr5rnZWoc2V6b0c5c__5S-wU2iA1XNvPZMqqFFIGqK4IkiW7EehjSTlmbWuICaCjdtbkXhS7NMo9eGaldhulO2CEkDXVLnyA_EOkNEEJlHEnzCy8fx0phT4SnUDULdwMC3D7QuGPpSgX-gKhGCX/w640-h318/Bum-Suk-Yeom-giant_sunspot_ar3590.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>Image credits as shown in the image.</p>
<p>
AR3509 has the magnetic configuration that makes more flares possible as it
goes through its second week of rotation with the sun. No one can predict the
strength of potential flares, at least with much accuracy, but NOAA is putting
the chances of at least an X1 flare at 30% through the next 48 hours. I
view that as just a bit more trustworthy than the local fortune teller.
(You know - the gypsy with the gold-capped tooth.)<br />
</p>
<p>
There was a lot of speculation that the blackout some cellular providers
experienced on the 22nd, particularly AT&T, was caused by that X6.3
flare. People who study these things were quick to point out that
without a CME to bring charged particles to Earth, that was pretty
unlikely. By the next day,
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/02/atts-botched-network-update-caused-yesterdays-major-wireless-outage/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">AT&T was saying, "sorry - our bad" and taking responsibility for the
whole mess</a>. "Anonymous sources" said it was a software update that went wrong. Today, I've gotten an email and text messages from AT&T (they're my phone
service provider) saying they're giving everyone a credit on our bills to
compensate for no service while it was down. <br />
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
"Based on our initial review, we believe that today's outage was
caused by the application and execution of an incorrect process used as we
were expanding our network, not a cyber attack,"
<a href="https://about.att.com/pages/network-update">AT&T said on its website</a>
last night. "We are continuing our assessment of today's outage to ensure we
keep delivering the service that our customers deserve."
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
I've seen some messages that say other providers had issues, but with the way
all those networks are interconnected I can't say they couldn't have affected
other providers.
</p>
<p>
To err is human but to really screw things up requires software.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-13962418272148007172024-02-24T22:29:00.001-05:002024-02-25T08:58:35.872-05:00My Ham Radio Upgrade Is Close to Ready to Implement<p>
<a href="https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2023/12/im-partying-like-its-2019.html" target="_blank">Back in December</a> I
started the story of upgrading my ham station to allow it do much more than
just what the radio allows, by upgrading the computer and putting a Software
Defined Radio (SDR) in line. Yes, relying on a relatively cheap SDR (an
Airspy R2) instead of the much more valuable HF to 6m radio that's the heart
of my station. The Airspy SDR and the software that guys are using gives
a tremendous advantage. It allows you to monitor (in this case) seven
different frequencies across the ham band you're tuned to, while the receiver
itself only allows you to listen to two frequencies.
</p>
<p>
Consider this display:
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcQke4t9rvpSMy8QP1955EOSwwXxibFQhIYQhqz1gaDW8frLlYYWVX8poBKBjozfPaKV_ZgG70WC28_yqzxQqF8-h7_Ns6MLupnhAc0iRuHHr702bvR6i98NDgIuiPO9q1UqaE4cbRM0hxtNs3jIzPrFz7eERLaXJtvhIQy4eaMDge71NhGh0P_KY-o5Eq/s1102/SDR_Console.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1102" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcQke4t9rvpSMy8QP1955EOSwwXxibFQhIYQhqz1gaDW8frLlYYWVX8poBKBjozfPaKV_ZgG70WC28_yqzxQqF8-h7_Ns6MLupnhAc0iRuHHr702bvR6i98NDgIuiPO9q1UqaE4cbRM0hxtNs3jIzPrFz7eERLaXJtvhIQy4eaMDge71NhGh0P_KY-o5Eq/w640-h348/SDR_Console.jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
The SDR is running on seven different frequencies. Some of them are
conventional Single Sideband (SSB) voice (50.125 and 50.140 MHz); most of them
are the modern digital modes (50.313, 50.260, 50.275, 50.318, and 50.323
MHz). As the operator, we can listen to SSB voice audio, or CW (Morse
code - CW is for Continuous Wave - none of these are tuned to frequencies
where CW is more commonly used) and run several instances of the software
used for the digital modes. An important thing to know is that I still have only one transmitter so it's impossible to have more than one contact going at a time; the advantage of this is that
it replaces listening all day to one frequency and not hearing the guys 100
kHz away in the same band.
</p>
<p>
The hardware that I've needed to acquire to implement this is depicted in this
drawing, which I've revised about a billion and six times and am now just
about ready to put it in place.
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8ix3Xu8y7RNKw26mPhyphenhyphen60Vs_GfS_7wtcESACRq-Mk4bEk4WcAsrzJFvuhAFx9iaI6Ok517z-rZ-w6Y0dgVuYBJNZEfJwX5eG23GBwPhoGnpwX_mi0wT6LfkgvblcQvHxhS9Y1c_UZyywvKWeB3KY0N3xylQcvsmtgnJhjOvjHEZxUfDF9D0rKFGZwxfx/s1383/SDR_Switch_plan-v2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1383" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8ix3Xu8y7RNKw26mPhyphenhyphen60Vs_GfS_7wtcESACRq-Mk4bEk4WcAsrzJFvuhAFx9iaI6Ok517z-rZ-w6Y0dgVuYBJNZEfJwX5eG23GBwPhoGnpwX_mi0wT6LfkgvblcQvHxhS9Y1c_UZyywvKWeB3KY0N3xylQcvsmtgnJhjOvjHEZxUfDF9D0rKFGZwxfx/w640-h324/SDR_Switch_plan-v2.png" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p>
This started out as a way to determine how many and which kind of cables I
needed to get and then became more involved. The key piece of hardware
is an SDR Switch from <a href="https://sdrswitch.com/">SDRSwitch.com</a>; the
specific one pictured here is his
<a href="https://sdrswitch.com/products/sdr-switch-0-70-rxin-rxout" target="_blank">0 -70 MHz RXin RXout Switch</a>. The box on the top left is what I call the back panel, which is all
low frequency control signals in and out using
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RCA_connector" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RCA connectors, also called phono plug connectors</a>. The biggest box on the top right is all BNC female connectors.
My various notes there are reminders to myself about what cables I have, the
four BNC male to BNC male cables I needed to buy or build (and did), the adapters I
need in various places and so on.
In a few places I note the existing
cable used.</p>
<p> The obviously professional radio drawing at the left is from the user manual
for my main rig, an Icom IC-7610. </p>
<p>
The last piece I needed to get for this was the LNA - in the square box
between the Front Panel and the Splitter at top right. I bought
<a href="https://www.downeastmicrowave.com/product-p/l50lnack.htm" target="_blank">a kit from Down East Microwave</a>, a relatively well-known VHF to microwave accessory seller. It was all
surface mount components, but they weren't the tiniest of the standard
packages and I thought it was relatively easy to build. I wouldn't
recommend it if you've never done surface mount soldering.
</p>
<p>
This is close to ready to integrate into the station now, except for two
little things. The 12V DC wire to the switch; Anderson Power Poles to
RCA Plug, and put a phono plug on the power wires on the LNA.
</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><b>EDIT 2-25-24 at 0900 EST:</b> The first link in the post wasn't working and I didn't test it before hitting the Post button. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-80799495204888267842024-02-23T17:14:00.000-05:002024-02-23T17:14:42.034-05:00The IM-1 Story You Haven't Heard <p>
Everyone has heard that Intuitive Machines Odysseus lunar lander and IM-1
mission has successfully landed on the moon. Unless you've been digging,
you probably haven't heard that the mission went through a phase of being
doomed, then a MacGyver-like last minute fix that restored the mission and
achieved the landing.
<a
href="https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/02/a-little-us-company-makes-history-by-landing-on-the-moon-but-questions-remain/"
target="_blank"
>Eric Berger at Ars Technica has the story</a
>, and as I've often done, I'll pull a couple of paragraphs and recommend you
Read The Whole Thing.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
There was high drama and plenty of intrigue on Thursday evening as Intuitive
Machines attempted to land its Odysseus spacecraft in a small crater not all
that far from the south pole of the Moon. About 20 minutes after touchdown,
NASA declared success, but some questions remained about the health of the
lander and its orientation. Why? Because while Odysseus was phoning home,
its signal was weak.
</p>
<p>
But after what the spacecraft and its developer, Houston-based Intuitive
Machines, went through earlier on Thursday, it was a miracle that Odysseus
made it at all.
</p>
<p>
The landing attempt was delayed by about two hours after mission controllers
had to send a hastily cobbled together, last-minute software patch up to the
lander while it was still in orbit around the Moon. Patching your
spacecraft's software shortly before it makes its most critical move is just
about the last thing a vehicle operator wants to do. But Intuitive Machines
was desperate.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
Desperate and with no alternatives designed for just this sort of
situation.<br />
</p>
<p>
Earlier on Thursday, the company realized that its navigation lasers and
cameras were not operational. As an autonomous probe, Odysseus was
designed by Intuitive Machines to use cameras onboard for two purposes.
First, to compare terrain images to a stored database, to help the lander
decide where it is and second to look for smaller things like boulders or
unknown things to avoid when it came time to land. The lasers were used
as altimeters. The combination provided what IM refers to as
terrain-relative and hazard-relative navigation.
</p>
<p>
Without those sensors, Odysseus was blind. Not just blind, but
hopelessly blind without a seeing eye dog or cane.<br />
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Without these rangefinders, Odysseus was going to faceplant into the Moon.
Fortunately, this mission carried a bunch of science payloads. As part of
its commercial lunar program, NASA is paying about $118 million for the
delivery of six scientific payloads to the lunar surface.
</p>
<p>
One of these payloads just happened to be the Navigation Doppler Lidar
experiment, a 15-kg package that contains three small cameras. With this NDL
payload, NASA sought to test out technologies that might be used to improve
navigation systems in future landing attempts on the Moon.
</p>
<p>
The only chance Odysseus had was if it could somehow tap into two of the NDL
experiment's three cameras and use one for terrain-relative navigation and
the other for hazard-relative navigation. So, some software was hastily
written and shipped up to the lander. This was some true MacGyver stuff. But
would it work?
</p>
</blockquote>
<p>
You know the answer to that big question now, but watching the landing was a
bit different. Earlier in the day, I'd watched some videos from IM and
knew that they expected the software to take 15 seconds to radio back that it
had landed, and Tim Crain - mission director and co-founder of the company -
had said, "those are the longest 15 seconds of your life." It was more
like 15 minutes. Alright, 10 minutes that felt like 15 when Crain
said the lander was sending a faint signal back to Earth, adding, “we’re
not dead yet.”
</p>
<p>
This morning, IM updated
<a href="https://www.intuitivemachines.com/im-1" target="_blank"
>the mission webpage</a
>
at 8:18 CST, saying:
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>
Odysseus is alive and well. Flight controllers are communicating and
commanding the vehicle to download science data. The lander has good
telemetry and solar charging. We continue to learn more about the vehicle’s
specific information (Lat/Lon), overall health, and attitude (orientation).
</p>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlh-zzCkacbr06VzIu3bzlRAVqM-h55qy-RjaGP1yebety66WQ-g_Shj3z-d74dAmyMwjW_sx4LbAHzKnFNeM9j_Z9PSb6CgXjVeftTxevtF0yqqxQSwmQgRrEmP67YRjjPtzD7uXekBBnW1zTkj7UmIf7Fg5tpjtECjaPmD3sPrKSJ0045ZgV6YPuLCy/s1099/Odyssues_selfie.png"
style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"
><img
border="0"
data-original-height="825"
data-original-width="1099"
height="480"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZlh-zzCkacbr06VzIu3bzlRAVqM-h55qy-RjaGP1yebety66WQ-g_Shj3z-d74dAmyMwjW_sx4LbAHzKnFNeM9j_Z9PSb6CgXjVeftTxevtF0yqqxQSwmQgRrEmP67YRjjPtzD7uXekBBnW1zTkj7UmIf7Fg5tpjtECjaPmD3sPrKSJ0045ZgV6YPuLCy/w640-h480/Odyssues_selfie.png"
width="640"
/></a>
</div>
<p>
Odysseus took this selfie while passing over the near side of the Moon, after
lunar orbit insertion on February 21. Image credit: Intuitive
Machines
</p>
<p>
In this morning's update to the mission web page, they also added, “Intuitive
Machines CEO Steve Altemus will participate in a press conference later today
to discuss this historic moment.” So far, that page hasn't been updated but I
expect there will be a press conference as described. Note that it said NASA
paid $118 million to send six experiments to the moon as part of its CLPS
program (Commercial Lunar Payload Services). NASA also paid Astrobotics
for a ride to the moon on their Peregrine lander that didn't make it also as a
part of CLPS. <br />
</p>
<p>Final words to Eric Berger:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So why is NASA supporting such risky ventures?</p>
<p>
The space agency believes that private companies will eventually get the
hang of flying vehicles to the Moon. And once the service becomes more
routine, it will cost NASA a fraction of the price it would pay for
traditionally developed lunar services. In essence, then, NASA is taking
some short-term risks for some long-term gains. It looks like one of those
risks paid off Thursday.
</p>
</blockquote>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.com4