General Space News.

ngatimozart

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The USAF is looking at using the Space X Starship for surface to surface logistics hops. It would be sub orbital flights and since Starship has a ~ 150 - 200 ton payload it is a feasible and quick option. Can't see them moving M1A1 tanks that way :D, but as long as the payload will be able to withstand the flight through space, it could work.
 

ngatimozart

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More space news

NASA lunar commercial program.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
A very fascinating technology. It is even more fascinating that Autophage engines, where the rocket effectively consumes itself, were first proposed and patented in 1938. It looks like some kind of ultra-rapid-burning candle.

Here some more information.





Now something else, during this launch we see a lot of launch debris blasting away!
 
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Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
I have noticed a lot of debris falling away from Chinese launches. I wonder if its ice on the rocket skin formed by the cold propellants.
Those are definitely not pieces of ice, which look like white flakes/this plates and fall normally vertically downward from the external rocketskin.

The debris flying around in the video are black coloured rectangular plates, thrown away for close to 100 meters directly from the beginning of the launch. It can be parts from the launchpad or the ship.




India plans to spend about $3 billion on space-related contract awards over the next few years to reduce its dependence on foreign satellites.

But it is also to bolster its counter-space capabilities, it specially needs to close the gap with china.
 
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OldTex

Well-Known Member
One has to like he is putting a lot of his money on the line as well.;)
No, he is more than happy to spend other people's money on his ego massaging projects.If you throw enough money and resources at a problem you will find a solution that works.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
In less than two hours from now, two NASA astronauts will launch from Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft as one of the final steps on the road to certification. Launch of the ULA (United Launch Alliance) Atlas V rocket and Starliner spacecraft is targeted for 10:52 a.m. EDT Wednesday, (1452 UTC) from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA’s Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test Launch – June 5, 2024 (Official NASA Broadcast) (youtube.com)

Update 2024-06-06 15:59 UTC
The launch of the third attempt in a week was successful.
Originally scheduled for 2021, repeated delays due to technical problems have pushed back the launch date until yesterday.

The Boeing Starliner (or CST-100) is a class of partially reusable spacecraft designed to transport crew to the International Space Station (ISS) and other low-Earth-orbit destinations. It is manufactured by Boeing, with the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) of NASA as the lead customer. The Starliner Space Capsule is a direct concurrent of the Space X Crew Dragon. The spacecraft consists of a crew capsule that can be reused on up to ten missions and an expendable service module.

Boeing Crew Flight Test (Boe-CFT) is the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner and the third orbital flight test of the Starliner overall after the two uncrewed orbital flight tests, Boe-OFT and Boe-OFT 2 in 2019 and 2022. For this Boe-CFT mission, the Starliner Calypso space module will stay in orbit for around a week.
 
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Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Thrusters have a problem because of seals. Why did Boeing reinvent seals, bean counter idea to reduce cost? Starliner has now been stranded for 50 days! Boeing investment paper should be on A-W rollers.

The USAF and USN should ban them from 6th Gen fighters!

My goodness, i expected that the two astronauts were already back on Earth, but it is now already more than 54 days!
Hopefully NASA doesn't easily accept this and demand more testflights before letting the Starliner become fully operational.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
My goodness, i expected that the two astronauts were already back on Earth, but it is now already more than 54 days!
Hopefully NASA doesn't easily accept this and demand more testflights before letting the Starliner become fully operational.
Elon must be laughing his a$$ off at Boeing. Also a reminder to LM that their Orion CM needs to be right prior to leaving for the moon.
 
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Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
The latest update on the Starliner fiasco. The best line in the article is Boeing’s stance the craft is save to return. Given Boeing’s performance of late, waiting for SpaceX seems to be a better option.

What a hopeless company. After an (uncrewed) return of the Starliner, Boeing expects that NASA is willing to accept their product, only because of "sufficient data gathering".

After waiting for two months, the two astronauts still have to wait until next year.... well in case of emergency they still can return with the Soyuz spacecraft...
 

kato

The Bunker Group
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ESA's JUICE jupiter mission is doing a special swing-by maneuver today and tomorrow in which the probe will be swinging by the moon down below 750 km distance tonight and by Earth down to 6800 km distance tomorrow.


It's the first time a space probe uses both Earth and Moon for a "double swingby" for acceleration.

During the lunar flyby JUICE will be testing its instruments meant for the exploration of Ganymede and Europa by using its laser altimeter with a resolution of 30 measurements/second for an altitude profile as well as taking (mid-res) pictures using its two monitoring cameras and using its (highres) JANUS optical instrument for scientific images of the moon.

There's a 30-minute livestream on youtube during the flyby from ESA control center ESOC at 23:30 CEST (2130 UTC) tonight. The images from the monitoring cameras are planned to be shown there as they come in.

On its Earth flyby tomorrow the space probe will apparently be visible with "good binoculars or a telescope" from South Asia and the Pacific.
 

Ananda

The Bunker Group

Musk to the rescue, that will be increase his ego. However so far Space X earned that over Boeing. Honestly this just in my opinion close to killing blow to Boeing Space division.

Wondering what happened in US space Industry, not only if Space X successfully conduct the rescue, but also if Trump also winning. Perhaps Nasa then being outsource to Space X ;)
 
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