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SpaceX drops plans to convert oil rigs into launch platforms
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Report recommends allowing “learning period” for commercial human spaceflight safety regulations to expire
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A Rocket-Powered Spaceplane Completes a Successful Test Flight
https://www.universetoday.com/160915/a- … st-flight/
China's 3D printed afterburning liquid rocket engine tested during recent mission
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/The_ … w_999.html
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-04-12 17:33:02)
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Space Forge enables reusable satellites with new way of returning from space to Earth
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Dream Chaser moves a step closer to first launch
https://spacenews.com/dream-chaser-move … st-launch/
Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser took a step closer to its long-awaited first flight by powering up its systems in a key test.
The company announced May 31 that it had powered up the spaceplane in its assembly facility for the first time, feeding electrical power into the vehicle that, in space, would be generated by its solar panels and turning on flight computers and other components.
“This is a milestone that points to the future and is a key moment in a long journey for Dream Chaser,” said Tom Vice, chief executive of Sierra Space, in a statement about the test.
The test comes as the company prepares to ship the first Dream Chaser, called Tenacity, to NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio, the former Plum Brook Station. There, the spacecraft will go through thermal vacuum tests before shipping to Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations.
Sierra Space did not disclose a schedule for those milestones in the announcement of the powering up test. Speaking during a panel at the 38th Space Symposium in April, Janet Kavandi, president of Sierra Space, said Dream Chaser would ship to the test facility “in the July timeframe.”
She said the vehicle would be tested there for a few months before shipping to Florida. “We should be ready to go by the end of this year,” she said of launch plans for Dream Chaser.
That schedule will depend not just on the readiness of Dream Chaser but also the manifest of missions going to the International Space Station as well as the status of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. Dream Chaser is slated to launch on the second Vulcan mission, after a launch of an Astrobotic lunar lander that has slipped to later this summer because of launch vehicle testing issues.
In preparation for that launch, NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa recently trained on Dream Chaser systems, including how to transfer cargo between the spacecraft and the ISS. Moghbeli and Furukawa are assigned to the Crew-7 mission, scheduled to launch to the station as soon as mid-August, remaining there through February 2024.
Dream Chaser will initially be used to transport cargo to and from the ISS through a Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. Sierra Space, though, is planning other applications for the vehicle, including a crewed version. That DC-200 variant will be a little bit larger and have a slightly different outer mold line, Kavanadi said at the conference.
In preparation for those future crewed flights, Sierra Space is planning to select its own professional astronaut corps. “We will do that upon the first successful landing of Dream Chaser,” she said, with an initial group of 12 to 15 people.
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CSPACE is testing their first very low earth orbit satellite QianKun-1 at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for the upcoming launch. It weighs ~200kg, equipped with electric thrusters and will run in ~300km LEO
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Galactic Energy have been busy. Here's a recent hop test with Firebird-1, a jet engine-powered article for testing vertical landing. Firebird-6 will be a rocket powered test next year. Tests are part of development of Pallas-1 kerolox reusable launcher.
https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1683686202178949120#m
Chinese private rocket startup Galactic Energy accomplishes six consecutive space launches
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202307/1294861.shtml
Rocket Lab’s new HASTE launch vehicle, derived from the Electron rocket, will provide high-cadence suborbital flight test opportunities to advance hypersonic system technology development
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ … st-Flights
'4 Ways To Advance Sustainability In Space'
Space Elevators, Greener Fuels, Solar Sails, In-Situ Resource Utilization
https://www.newsweek.com/4-ways-advance … ce-1761798
10 years ago
'Kickstarter a Lunar Space Elevator' perhaps easier done than build one from Earth
https://www.popsci.com/technology/artic … -elevator/
vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9XVHhkWxpI
Space-Tugs, mini-Shuttle or Un-manned Station?
'esa's reusable space vehicle got a thumbs up to move into phase'
https://twitter.com/ESA_transport/statu … 5720551424
Space Rider is an uncrewed robotic laboratory about the size of two minivans that can stay in orbit for two months.
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Sp … drop_tests
It comes in two parts, the orbital module that supplies everything the spacecraft needs to fly around our planet and a reentry module that allows Space Rider and its experiments to return to Earth.
It looks like a mix between the cancelled Hermes spacecraft maybe a Soyuz satellite or a mix between a plane and an Apollo command service module.
2018
https://parabolicarc.com/2018/04/12/ann … ace-rider/
the Vega rocket is only for payloads of around 1,500 kg or 3307 lbs.
the updated Vega-C an evolution on the original Vega launcher
Upon atmospheric entry, the lifting body shape will decelerate the spacecraft to subsonic speed (below Mach 0.8), when one or two drogue parachute will be deployed at about 15–12 km altitude to slow it further (to Mach 0.18 - 0.22) Then, a controllable gliding parachute called parafoil will be deployed to begin the controlled descent phase for a nearly horizontal touchdown (≈35 m/s) using no wheels. The landing concept is similar to the NASA X-38 landing system
https://web.archive.org/web/20230707162 … 17-624.pdf
The Space Rider overall objective is to develop an affordable reusable European space transportation system to be
launched by VEGA-C and to perform experimentation and demonstration of multiple space application missions in
low Earth orbit.
landings could be performed at the Portuguese Santa Maria Island in the Azores archipelago.
Last edited by Mars_B4_Moon (2023-08-09 09:30:03)
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CASC's new 2-stage orbital launch vehicle: 150t, 180km LEO orbit w/ horizontal takeoff. 1st stage powered by DRBCC, 2nd stage by LOX/methane. Stages separate at 35km altitude.
https://twitter.com/CNSAWatcher/status/ … 5283044436
Another view from iSpace
https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1720029385711849621
Introducing Zhuque-3
Keywords: reusable, methane, stainless steel, 20t expended, >16.5t landing on ship, >11t landing on land
https://twitter.com/CNSAWatcher/status/ … 5283044436
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