US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News

Some NASA/US related news...

http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/42172former-nasa-deputy-administrator-to-join-faa-commercial-space-office

http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/42152raytheon-delivers-10th-ballistic-missile-radar-to-us-missile-defense

http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/42166us-air-force-targets-2016-for-launch-of-final-dmsp-satellite

http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/42167utc-wins-support-contract-for-ors-1-as-satellite-nears-end-of-life

http://www.spacenews.com/article/financial-report/42176globalstar-stock-shorter%E2%80%99s-condemnations-provoke-feisty-rebuttal

SpaceX!

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/launch-spacex-crs-5-slips-earlier-dec-5/

http://news.investors.com/technology/101314-721489-why-spacex-may-be-a-bargain-for-nasa.htm

The Space Review is back at it once again...

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2618/1

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2614/1

I'd love to see Russia and China collaborate on a new station, could be a backup to OPSEK. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2615/1

http://en.itar-tass.com/non-political/754582

Of course the Soviets can't throw stones... they saved a fortune adopting the shape of the Space shuttle, and saved another fortune making it different enough to be much much cheaper to use because it was fundamentally a different design.

(ie the space shuttle was an aircraft that had an enormous fuel tank under it that required two RATO bottles to get it moving. the Buran was a glider that sat on an energiya rocket... the advantage of the Soviet version was that without having to recover anything except the glider and without the hugely expensive solid fuel rockets it was much cheaper to launch and much more flexible... if you had an outsized payload to deliver you could remove the Buran and put a 120 ton payload on the back of the rocket... the current ISS could have been launched in 4 missions...)

kvs wrote:

Mike E wrote:Russian expert says US company copied design of its mini-shuttle from Soviet probe

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. Soviet space probe Bor-4 gave the US company SierraNevada ideas for the design of a mini-shuttle, which it put up for a NASA contest for a manned spaceship of the future, Dmitry Paison, the director of Research and Analysis Center of the United Rocket and Space Corporation (ORKK) told TASS on Wednesday.
Sierra Nevada was among the participants of a contest to select a contractor for organizing commercial delivery of astronauts for the International Space Station. It presented its R&D product at the 65th international astronautical congress, held in Toronto from September 29 through to October 3.
Boeing and SpaceX projects in the sphere of manned space flights evoked an especially big interest at the Toronto display, Dmitry Paison said. He mentioned the Dream Chaser space aircraft, the design of which incorporated some structural ideas first used by Soviet designers.
Boeing and SpaceX won the competition. NASA will allocate $4.2 billion and $2.6 billion to them respectively to create a new spaceship. It is believe that the ship will start off to the ISS on its maiden mission in 2017.
In the meantime, SierraNevada said at the end of September it would petition against the results of the contest. Its executives claimed they could spend $900 million less on its spaceship than the competitors.
At this moment, Russian Soyuz ships are the only vehicles capable of bringing the crews to the ISS and taking them back to Earth. US media reports suggest that NASA pays the Russian space agency Roscosmos about $70 million per seat aboard a Soyuz.
Bor-4 unmanned orbital rocket aircraft was used in the Buran project.

It is an outright copy.

Yep, but nothing will happen because it didn't win a contract.

Support for the US RD-180 replacement engine.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42231heinrich-reiterates-support-for-funding-rd-180-replacement

Antares' new engine!

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42223orbital-says-it-has-selected-future-antares-engine-but-offers-no

Ariane 5 redefining reliable.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/42219ariane-5%E2%80%99s-62nd-straight-success-puts-argentina-in-satcom-driver%E2%80%99s

Mike E wrote:Support for the US RD-180 replacement engine.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42231heinrich-reiterates-support-for-funding-rd-180-replacement

Antares' new engine!

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42223orbital-says-it-has-selected-future-antares-engine-but-offers-no

Ariane 5 redefining reliable.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/42219ariane-5%E2%80%99s-62nd-straight-success-puts-argentina-in-satcom-driver%E2%80%99s

A politically motivated replacement, which is unfortunate because NASA doesn't want to break ties with Russia...only the imbecile anti-science Obama administration wants to (who btw is one of the most hated presidents in the history of the United States according to recent polls).

magnumcromagnon wrote:

Mike E wrote:Support for the US RD-180 replacement engine.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42231heinrich-reiterates-support-for-funding-rd-180-replacement

Antares' new engine!

http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42223orbital-says-it-has-selected-future-antares-engine-but-offers-no

Ariane 5 redefining reliable.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/satellite-telecom/42219ariane-5%E2%80%99s-62nd-straight-success-puts-argentina-in-satcom-driver%E2%80%99s

A politically motivated replacement, which is unfortunate because NASA doesn't want to break ties with Russia...only the imbecile anti-science Obama administration wants to (who btw is one of the most hated presidents in the history of the United States according to recent polls).

Very true and unfortunate as well... However, it has always been NASA's "dream" to ween off of Russian engines, more so the RD-180. This project isn't new, and it now simply being sped up thanks to the current crisis. I'd love to see more space cooperation between the two countries and all in general, as space programs should never be compromised.

Boeing's CST-100 reaches another milestone in its development. 

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/commercial/boeing-reaches-final-commercial-crew-design-milestone/

History in the making with Rosetta!

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/esa/rosettas-philae-lander-given-green-light-upcoming-landing/

SpaceX already assisting NASA in landing tech on Mars.

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/space-exploration-technologies/nasa-eyes-spacex-soft-landing-technology-future-mars-missions/

SNC finally gets some good news. 

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/sierra-nevada/sierra-nevada-corporation-wins-contract-develop-u-s-dod-satellite/

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/commercial/sierra-nevada-corporation-issues-another-lawsuit-ongoing-commercial-crew/

New Horizons!

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/thanks-hubble-new-horizons-now-target-kbos-beyond-pluto/

The Los Alamos National Labortory appears to be furthering researching on ALICE-like fuels. For those of you that don't know what ALICE is, to put it simply..... ALICE is a gel/slush based propellant that uses Ai suspended in an ice to use as a fuel. It should be safer and more efficient than other options, though it hasn't been tested long enough for that to be properly confirmed. Here is a terrible article on it.... http://phys.org/news/2014-10-rocket-propellant-motor-high-safety.html

Apollo influencing the mission to Mars; 
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2625/1

Reusable launchers; 
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2628/1

Antares rocket with U.S. cargo spacecraft Cygnus explodes on launch

WASHINGTON, October 29. /TASS/. The Antares rocket with the American cargo spacecraft Cygnus exploded during blastoff from NASA launch facility on the Wallops Island near the Virginia coast on Tuesday.
The NASA website was transmitting a live broadcast of the rocket launch. The explosion occurred immediately after the liftoff at 18:23 pm, local time (01:23 am, Moscow time, October 29).
There were no immediate reports about casualties or damage to the spaceport facilities. NASA said a special commission comprising representatives of NASA and Orbital Sciences will be formed to investigate the catastrophe.
Cygnus was to loiter in orbit until Nov. 2, then fly itself to the station so astronauts can use a robotic crane to snare the capsule and attach it to a berthing port. The ISS, a $100 billion research laboratory owned and operated by 15 nations, flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth.
In addition to food, supplies and equipment, the Cygnus spacecraft was loaded with more than 1,600 pounds (725 kg) of science experiments, including an investigation to chemically analyze meteors as they burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
 
- Sucks for Orbital and the Antares project... They won't get out of this one for a long time!

Here are some more articles on the Antares crash and aftermath...

NASA probing Antares rocket crash during lift-off in Virginia

Antares rocket explosion to hamper scientific research — NASA

Ukrainian aerospace company launches own investigation of Antares rocket explosion

No invitation to US rocket disaster probe for Russian experts

Here is a video of the launch from a small plane. Friggin' HUGE explosion!

Miscellaneous news...

SpaceX Closing in on Certification for Military Launches

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Mars 2020 Contracts Worth a Combined $14.5M

SpaceX to land its next Falcon 9 rocket on a huge ocean platform

SpaceX Dragon Departs Space Station after Delivering Slew of Science and Returns with Ocean Splashdown

SpaceShipTwo explodes seconds after separation from mothership - media

Not a good week for the US space industry, is it?

Mike E wrote:Here is a video of the launch from a small plane. Friggin' HUGE explosion!

A lot of blooming in the imaging sensor makes the explosion look larger.

By the way, standard blooming, thermal blooming, and other similar phenomena provide for some of the mechanisms used to jam various imaging sensors, including thermal imagers.

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:

Mike E wrote:Here is a video of the launch from a small plane. Friggin' HUGE explosion!

A lot of blooming in the imaging sensor makes the explosion look larger.

By the way, standard blooming, thermal blooming, and other similar phenomena provide for some of the mechanisms used to jam various imaging sensors, including thermal imagers.

For sure... Other closer videos should the explosion a lot better, but this one was still worth posting.

Mike E wrote:

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:

Mike E wrote:Here is a video of the launch from a small plane. Friggin' HUGE explosion!

A lot of blooming in the imaging sensor makes the explosion look larger.

By the way, standard blooming, thermal blooming, and other similar phenomena provide for some of the mechanisms used to jam various imaging sensors, including thermal imagers.

For sure... Other closer videos should the explosion a lot better, but this one was still worth posting.

Definitely. Thanks for posting.

At first it is interresting to remember this article :
http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_15/US-to-purchase-Russian-rocket-engines-after-2016-9165/

in fact, the rocket Antares has exploded because US and Ukrainians failed to copy russian engines-you must notice that China is not the only one to copy russian technology, many of US hardwares was a mere copy of soviet technology during the dark decades of 90's.-. -I will find more about this issue. Sorry, the website that I got my informations about this subject is not accessible right now.-
It confirms again, and again, Russia is still the leader in the world regarding jets engines,  Rocket engines, strategic, tactical  balistic missiles. Leaving Russia, the only world leader in this strategic area and will last in the comming years.

NASA: Giant Underground Ocean on Jupiter Moon Raises Prospects for Life

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/science/20150313/1019430886.html#ixzz3UEWKan00

US Launches Atlas Rocket With NASA’s Speacecraft for Magnetic Field Studies

Atlas V carrier rocket has lifted off from Cape Canaveral with NASA's speacecraft that will study magnetic fields around the Earth.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United Launch Alliance Atlas V carrier rocket has lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 with NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale Speacecraft (MMS) that will study magnetic fields around the Earth.

"The rocket's two solid rocket boosters exhausted their fuel and separated from the Atlas V. Booster engines are performing well as the first-stage burn continues," NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) said in its live MMS blog late on Thursday.

According to NASA, the lift-off was completed on-time, at 10:44 p.m. on Thursday (02:00 GMT on Friday).

The MMS mission consists of four identical spacecraft, carrying 25 sensors each. NASA explains on its website that the sensors will be used to gather three-dimensional measurements of a phenomena called magnetic reconnection, which occurs when magnetic field lines realign at high speeds, causing gigantic explosions on the Sun, such as solar flares, and leading to aurora on Earth.

MMS sensors are able to function and gather data at very high speeds, which is crucial to the success of the mission as it will fly though magnetic regions near the Earth in under a second, according to NASA.

MMS is the fourth NASA Solar Terrestrial Probes Program mission.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/science/20150313/1019431513.html#ixzz3UEXEYvjE