Rocket launches LIVE.

Well not too long now for Spacex's First Flight of Crew Dragon.... With-out the 'Crew' bit. No Humans this time :/ ....
March 2 is the set date but as everyone knows this can change... Especially if the is another 'Shutdown'.... Looking nice and shiny in 'SpacexWhite'... :koala:

Wish My shed looked nice and neat like that...

Spacex also test fired their new Raptor Engine, First test fire was at 60% and second test at 100% which will power this... Can't wait any longer Elon...


And the Virgin 'Crew' got their Spaceflight Wings the other day from N.A.S.A... The 'Crew' are now classed as Astronauts... :clap:

LW.....

It is a shame that the Gov shutdown and other outside influences keep pushing the launch of DM1 back. I guess it will happen soonish.

There have not been many launches recently but some interesting developments behind the scenes. Richard Branson is saying he will go to space in July.
Opportunity, the mars rover has been declared dead. A little sad but it lasted way beyond mission expectations and gave NASA some great science. RIP Oppy.

Spacex is pushing ahead with the "hopper" construction in Texas despite a couple of setbacks with the nose cone being destroyed and some wild weather. The launch pad is being built and the boring stuff such as cables, fuel lines are being installed.

The big news is the firing of the first Raptor engine which will launch thee hopper. Last I read a few days ago it had been fired 6 times for up to 11 seconds. It has a higher chamber pressure than any rocket engine ever built and this is all before the design is tweaked. Remember that the Merlin engine achieves over double the power that it originally produced. The Raptor beat a record for highest chamber pressure that is over 20 years old and was held by the RD180 engine.



This video explains in layman's terms the plumbing of the Raptor.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/GLG71K8sm_4[/video]

A good article on the Raptor engine. https://hackaday.com/2019/02/13/the...OAL0sTTBtsWt7xL6KsyDgs9M7wwSU8dqmJgNdMN4pd4Pg

NASA is so slow but I hope to see some of their goals achieved in my lifetime.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/XcPtQYalkcs[/video]

Ramjet said:

NASA is so slow but I hope to see some of their goals achieved in my lifetime.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/XcPtQYalkcs[/video]

Click to expand...

NASA uses government money so will always be slow, wasteful and inefficient, a shame but it is the nature of the beast.

A good article on the Starship's latest developments.

https://www.sciencealert.com/elon-m...pSvVdxxbVgDY6VuaL44zyg7nfQLXtLVjSYR82s_GfbVdQ

Yes a very good read there Ramjet. good find... Elon can't say too much as there is a Space Race on after all.... And we are talking about million $$ payloads and Passengers...

LW.....

Maybe there is a race to occupy the rock because of it's strategic position in case of war. Now there are 3 countries that have been there so it's getting interesting.

Jaros said:

Maybe there is a race to occupy the rock because of it's strategic position in case of war. Now there are 3 countries that have been there so it's getting interesting.

Click to expand...

The main reason for most will be to make $$$. Mining the moon will be a big thing in the not too distant future.

Helium-3 will be one of the first targets. To quote one article, " helium-3 is a light, non-radioactive isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. Although its relatively rare on Earth, its abundant on the moons surface, where it is deposited by solar winds. Its also a potent energy source. Researchers estimate that 25 tons of helium-3 could power the United States for an entire year."

Non radioactive cold fusion. H3 gets destroyed when it enters our heavy atmosphere but is literally laying on the moons surface.

Thanks for that. Never heard of H3. Seems like they have to sort out how to use safely.

A modern day Moon rush... So that's what the Indians are after, and all under the cover of 'the dark side'...

LW...

So finally we have another Falcon 9 launch tomorrow, Friday at 12.45 pm NSW time. SPACEX | NUSANTARA SATU (PSN VI),

Interesting facts about this mission. The F9 booster will be making it's 3rd launch and the cargo is 3 spacecraft. The first is an Indonesian telecomms satellite and the 2nd is an experimental satellite. The final and most interesting payload is an Israeli moon lander. The first time Isreal has launched to the moon and it will be the first spacecraft to land on the moon that is launched from a private company. Mr Steven has also come over from the west coast to make another attampt at catching a fairing.

SpaceX will be launching the Nusantara Satu telecommunications satellite, aka PSN IV, for Indonesian telecommunications company PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara. The Space System Loral built satellite will ride to a geostationary transfer orbit atop a Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket. Nusantara Satu is equipped with 26 C-Band, 12 Extended C-Band and 8 Ku-Band spot beam transponders. The satellite will be located at an orbital position of 146 east and provide broadband voice, data and video service to the Indonesia archipelago.
Two additional payloads will be riding to space as part of the GTO-1 rideshare mission, organized by Spaceflight, Inc. The first payload is the experimental S5 satellite built by L3 Applied Defense Solutions on a Blue Canyon Technologies microsat bus for the US Air Force Research Lab. It will test the feasibility of using microsat constellation for space situational awareness and updates to the GEO space catalog.

The final payload is the Beresheet Moon lander built by SpaceIL. SpaceIL is an Israeli team that was competing in the $30 million dollar Google Lunar X Prize. The contest came to an end on January 23, 2018 when it was determined that none of the teams would be able to launch by the March 30, 2018 extended deadline.

Ater its deployed from the second stage of the Falcon 9, Beresheet will slowly raise its orbit over the course of 40 days until its captured by the Moons gravity. It will then begin to orbit the moon and slowly lower its orbit over a 6 day period until it reaches a 15 km perilune over its landing site at Mare Serenitatis. If all goes according to plan, the lander will touchdown on the surface of the moon at 15:30 UTC on April 11th.

Following stage separation, SpaceX will be attempting to recover the first stage booster of the Falcon 9 by landing it on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY). Additionally, they will be attempting to catch a fairing. SpaceXs fairing catching ship, Mr Steven, recently transitioned from the west coast to the east coast. This will be the first attempt to catch a fairing for a launch from Florida.

Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut, will be livestreaming this launch starting at T minus 30 minutes. So come ask questions and join the conversation live! If you want the best way to know when a launch is coming, Id suggest downloading the SpaceXNow OR Launch Alarm apps to stay in the know!

Does anyone know if the Chinese have published any pictures from the "Dark Side of the Moon " ? They seem to be very quiet about it all just some initial grainy pictures.

Probably forgot the flash!!

Fingers crossed for the Israeli moonshot!

Formed as part of the failed Google Lunar X Prize competition, SpaceIL is the closest of the original 20 registered contenders to actually achieving a result:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Lunar_X_Prize

Here you go Wishful...

Sorry :lol: , but if I didn't do it Someone else will...

It has been awhile since our last Launch and We are getting into some New Technology this year... Some Very interesting reading there Ramjet, I do hope Mr Steven will come home with a capture this time, They were very close last time... :koala:

LW...

NASA has a Serious situation looming with the prospect of No Americans on the Space Station for 6 months or more soon... That's very serious... They have 3 options..
1, is to buy 2 extra seats on 'Future' Soyuz Rockets at a cost of $70mil+ each seat... but Russia has stated that that cant happen as the Russians want to put an Israeli on the ISS so no seats available...

2, is to extend the Missions of the Expedition 59/60? Astronauts from 6 months to 9 months +.. That alone has Medical Implications to the Astronauts...

The Next lot(EXP 59/60)of Astronauts (2) going up along with a Cosmonaut are the two who had that Failure on the Rocket Booster that refused to break away after launch a few months ago and had to abort with what they call a Ballistic Re-entry (3+ times as fast as normal). Plus a Canadian I think(ramjet?).. Now THAT ride alone would have been worth every cent of the $70MIL I say... arty:
But NASA's 'contract' with the Russians states 'an arrival at the ISS AND a Return back to Earth' and they never really got there so they are arguing over that as well...

Wont be much longer before all these Agreements fall apart.... Russia is also blaming the NASA Astronauts for the Hole in the Soyuz space craft, even tho it was made in Russia... Accusing them of Sabotage...
During their Christmas Message from the ISS last year, I thought it was strange that the Russian wasn't there sending His 'best wishes' as well... First time that has ever happened as the Full Crew on ISS has always done it together......

Last option and I like this one the Best as NASA needs to stop relying on the Russians for travel is...

3, Rush Elon's Crew Ship into Operation NOW... but cant see that happening too soon as full testing isn't completed till June or later when Spacex's Crew Dragon is planned for its first Crewed flight... They need to do an abort test flight as well before a Manned Flight can happen to the ISS....

Interesting times are looming for all concerned on Earth and Above.
Hope I got this correct Ramjet....

LW.....

Good info LW. I thought NASA was buying more rides on there Soyuz.

A good video by Scott Manley covering the Beresheet Moon lander and other Xprize entrants. There is also a Soyuz launch today and the Hyabusa 2 probe will take a sample of asteroid Ryugu and store it for a return to earth. I will try find the link to the live stream.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/0PUjA6sekB4[/video]

Cool, didn't see the Soyuz launch scheduled for today. Hiding behind Spacex launch, 2 in 1 Day Cool... Yes NASA Wants 2 seats but Russia is not playing fair and making excuses...
NASA needs to return to US Launched Space travel ASAP and put the Millions$$ back into their own development of all things Space.. (Trumps Space Force Pffft)

I made a small mistake in my previous post... It is a UAE 'astronaut' NOT an Israeli going to the ISS.... Could you imagine the Tension with an Israeli up there... {)

All this Lunar stuff is interesting too... At least im old enough to Understand it Now...

LW.....

I think we missed the Soyuz launch. I'll post s replay when it pops up.