The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 383: Begging for Rides and Ropes Nov 02, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— VirtualAGC posts their final moonshot LM software package (github.com/virtualagc) (ibiblio.org) (github.com/thewonderidiot) (youtube.com)

— Play with a virtual rope module (apolloguidance.computer)

— If you own a rope module, or know someone who does, please get in touch! The vAGC group is happy to keep donors anonymous. Contact Ron Burkey: info@sandroid.org

— Project Kuiper looking for a ride (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— NASA launch slips (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— Polaris Dawn slips again (spacenews.com)

— Centaur causes a slip (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— LeonRunningMan (discord.com)

— Victus Nox contract was awarded two days before the launch.

— More info on eSR19 (defenseindustrydaily.com)

— Andrew Z via email: EMU 2.0, or an EVA pod?

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 2 Nov, 2000. Docking of Expedition 1, beginning our continuous human presence in space. (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (Space.com VIA web.archive.org)

— Next week (11/8 - 11/14) in 2013: Like Icarus, but in reverse

Episode 382: DOWNLINK--Joel C. Sercel PhD, CEO of TransAstra Oct 26, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— ISS EVAs resumed (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)

— Back in March, Matthias Maurer had a leak in his suit (spacenews.com) (phys.org) (blogs.nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— Geotail in Jeopardy (space.com)

— ESA turns to SpaceX (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)

— Tiangong nears completion (spacenews.com)

— Polaris Dawn mission scheduled for March 2023 (space.com)

— NASA orders three more Orion spacecraft (lockheedmartin.com)

Interview – Joel C. Sercel PhD, CEO of TransAstra

— TransAstra recently formed a partnership with Celestron (spacenews.com)

— transastra.com

— linkedin.com/in/joelsercel/

— twitter.com/JoelSercel

This Week in Spaceflight History

— Oct 28, 2014: the failure of Cygnus Orb-3 (en.wikipedia.org) (everydayastronaut.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (youtube.com)

— Kunetsov saved 80 NK-33s (HT Csaba: youtu.be)

— Next week (11/1 - 11/7) in 2000: Making a new home, then pulling Dennis away from it.

Episode 381: Spin-stabilized PR Oct 19, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Epsilon failure (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (youtu.be) (PDF: jaxa.jp)

— Skyrora failure (skyrora.com) (youtube.com)

— The Firefly Paradox (spacenews.com) (firefly.com) (twitter.com/seradata)

— Rockets showing up at places (bbc.com) (techcrunch.com)

Short & Sweet

— Lucy flyby (NSF via web.archive.org) (lucy.swri.edu) (twitter.com/LucyMission)

— TESS mission goes into safe mode (cnet.com)

— China launched ASO-S solar observatory (nasaspaceflight.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 2008, Launch of Chandrayaan-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (eoportal.org) (pds.nasa.gov)

— NASA contributed the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar experiment (nasa.gov)

— Next week (10/25 - 10/31) in 2014: Swan song.

Episode 380: DOWNLINK--Alex Doknjas and Biarki Weeks Oct 12, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Test Fest III

— Ariane 6 test fires upper stage engines (esa.int)

— Aerojet-Rocketdyne tests new solid motor (rocket.com) (PAYWALL: aviationweek.com)

— BE-4 full-duration firing (Video: twitter.com/torybruno)

— Stoke Space ring firing (ifiberone.com) (twitter.com/stoke_space) (MP4: uploads-ssl.webflow.com VIA stokespace.com/vision) (twitter.com/jenakuns) (arstechnica.com)

Short & Sweet

— Ireland’s first satellite readies for launch (bbc.com) (eirsat1.ie)

— Crew-5 launches to Station (americaspace.com)

— Engineers regain control of CAPSTONE (spacenews.com)

Interview – UVic ORCASat team: Alex Doknjas, Project Manager and Biarki Weeks, Undergrad Technical Lead

— The team published a wonderful assembly timelapse (youtube.com)

— Orcasat.ca

— uvsd.ca

— youtube.com

— twitter.com/AlexDoknjas

— linkedin.com/in/alexander-doknjas-5b30b310b

— twitter.com/biarkiweeks

— linkedin.com/in/biarki-weeks-463a9579

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 11 October 1968: The launch of Apollo 7 (en.wikipedia.org) (collectspace.com)

— Next week (10/18 - 10/24) in 2008: Let’s start with a weather satellite

Episode 379: Ramming Speed! Oct 05, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— DART (spacenews.com) (planetary.org) (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/nasa) (twitter.com/LICIACube) (twitter.com/SenBillNelson) (researchgate.net)

— Transformational Solar Array experiment (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— Testing begins for first ViaSat-3 (spacenews.com)

— Hubble may get a roboost (spacenews.com)

— Firefly reaches orbit (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— Oct 6, 1990. Launch of Ulysses spacecraft (esa.int) (PDF: adsabs.harvard.edu) (en.wikipedia.org)

— The Nutation Damper System was well described in a paper (nasa.gov)

— Next week (10/11 - 10/17) in 1968: Phoenix Rising

Episode 378: Next Gen Turkey Sep 28, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Rocket Lab updates (satellitetoday.com)

— There was a presentation for investors September 21 (youtube.com) (PDF: rocketlabusa.com)

— The Archimedes Test Complex will be built at Stennis (businesswire.com)

— JWST instrument suffers anomaly (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— USSF to leave GEO (aviationweek.com) (spacenews.com)

— Superheavy fires seven engines (cnet.com)

— Spinlaunch raises $71M (spacenews.com)

— ESA seeks money to stay in space race (thespacereview.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Descent module from Soyuz T-10a reused in T-15 (youtube.com VIA twitter.com/gopalsapparapu)

— See also Ep 300: DOWNLINK--Nikolas Trawny, Ph.D. (theorbitalmechanics.com)

— How did N2 get into the turbopump?

This Week in Spaceflight History

— September 29, 2011: Launch of Tiangong-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: english.cssar.cas.cn) (spaceflightnow.com) (spaceflight101.com)

— X37-B was possibly tasked to observe the station on orbit (bbc.com)

— Docking hardware was purchased from Russia (russianspaceweb.com)

— Next week (10/4 - 10/10) in 1990. It’s already a long enough trip without adding four years.

Episode 377: DOWNLINK--Araz Feyzi, Kayhan Space Sep 20, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— CAPSTONE safe mode update (advancedspace.com) (advancedspace.com) (spaceflightnow.com)

Short & Sweet

— SLD lander RFP (spacenews.com)

— NASA requests private missions (spacenews.com)

— ArianeGroup reveals reusable crewed vehicle for Ariane 6 (twitter.com/EuropeSpace360) (HT ArcadeEngineer: twitter.com/Melissandre_L)

— Morpheus Space raises funds (spacenews.com)

Interview – Araz Feyzi, Kayhan Space Co-Founder and CTO

— twitter.com/kayhanspace

This Week in Spaceflight History

— Sept 26, 1983: Pad Abort of Soyuz T-10A (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (americaspace.com) (PDF: starsem.com)

— Next week (9/27 - 10/3) in 2011: Wait two months for a robot, seven months for a human

Episode 376: Masten? Suits us! Sep 14, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Artemis I update (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Axiom selected for Artemis 3 space suits (space.com) (spacenews.com)

— Astrobotic wins bid for Masten assets (HT deltaV: clickorlando.com) (HT deltaV: parabolicarc.com)

— CAPSTONE enters safe mode (HT deltaV: twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections Burns

— From the intro: Curiosity Curiosities

— Curiosity picks up rock in wheel (mars.nasa.gov VIA twitter.com/kevinmgill VIA cnet.com)

— Flower shaped rock (mars.nasa.gov)

— Geoff via email: Is JWST able to see the DART impact on September 26?

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 13 September 2007: Announcement of the Google Lunar X Prize (en.wikipedia.org) (smithsonianmag.com) (xprize.org) (ispace-inc.com) (astrobotic.com)

— Next week (9/20 - 9/26) in 1983: Second birthday

Episode 375: DOWNLINK--Jason Armstrong, Chris Craddock, Addie Dove Sep 06, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Artemis I

— First attempt (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com)

— Second attempt (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— Future attempts (blogs.nasa.gov) (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight)

— Just for fun: AR Orion model (americaspace.com)

Short & Sweet

— ThrustMe and Astra make propulsion sales (spacenews.com) (smallsatnews.com) (spacenews.com)

— China proposes orbital nuclear reactor (space.com) (spacenews.com)

— South Korea seeks funding for ambitious lunar project (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Correction Burns

— Project TOMTOM: The Orbital Mechanics Think Of Missions

— Check Discord#snoopy to join in on the fun! (discord.com)

Interview -- Jason Armstrong, Director of Launch and Integration Services for TriSept; Chris Craddock, RocketStar CEO; Addie Dove, UCF Physics Professor and Walkabout the Galaxy co-host

— Trisept.com

— twitter.com/rocketstarspace

— facebook.com/RocketStarSpace/

— instagram.com/RocketStarSpace/

— linkedin.com/company/rocketstar-llc

— RocketStar’s Youtube channel (youtube.com)

— Walkabout the Galaxy (sciences.ucf.edu)

— The Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education (ucf.edu)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 9 Sept, 1982. First and only successful launch of Conestoga (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)

— Next week (9/13 - 9/19) in 2007: Sponsored in part by ad revenue.

Episode 374: Something Launches Soon Aug 31, 2022