The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

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Natural Sciences
**The Orbital Mechanics Podcast**

Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 373: DOWNLINK--Chris Carella and Mahadevan Krishnan Aug 24, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Artemis III landing site candidates released (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)

— Artemis I rolled out August 16 (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Russian spacewalk cut short (nasaspaceflight.com) (cnet.com)

Short & Sweet

— Northrop Grumman to start astronaut training program (northropgrumman.com)

— Starship gets commercial satellite customer (spacenews.com)

— Spaceplane buddies (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Correction Burns

— Masten bankruptcy bids… whole or piecemeal? (spacenews.com)

— Espen Urkedal via email: SLS FTS batteries?

Interview - Chris Carella, Benchmark Space Systems and Mahadevan Krishnan, AASC

— benchmarkspacesystems.com

— aasc.space

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 29th August 2001, Maiden launch of H-IIA (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: mhi.com)

— Two payloads were onboard: VEP-2 and LRE (space.skyrocket.de) (astronautix.com)

— Next week (8/30 - 9/5) in 2002. That’s no moon. That’s some of Huntington Beach’s finest work.

Episode 372: Failure of a Logic Aug 17, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Artemis I lookahead (planetary.org) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Starlink hits bad weather (spacenews.com)

— Antares gets a domestic upgrade (spacenews.com) (space.com)

— SSLV falls short (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— From the intro: a bid for Masten Space’s assets (parabolicarc.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 21 Aug, 1993. Communication with Mars Observer lost (en.wikipedia.org) (web.archive.org) (msss.com) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF: spacese.spacegrant.org)

— Next week (8/23 - 8/29) in 2001: When east meets west, it’s a good thing.

Episode 371: NIMBY Aug 09, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Rocket 3 is dead, long live Rocket 4 (astra.com) (spacenews.com) (astra.com)

Short & Sweet

— Russian Satellite might be Snooping In Orbit (space.com)

— Russia remains on Station (spacenews.com)

— Possible Secret Chinese spaceplane (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Real Engineering visited Spin Launch (HT Espen: youtube.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— Aug 14, 1959. Explorer 6 takes first image from Earth orbit (twitter.com/NASAhistory) (nasa.gov) (youtube.com)

— Next week (8/16 - 8/22) in 1993: Missing top

Episode 370: OneViaEutelTelesat Aug 03, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Helicopters join Mars Sample Return (cnet.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— Eutelsat/OneWeb merger (spacenews.com)

— Masten Space Files for Bankruptcy (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/jeff_foust)

— OSIRIS-REx shows asteroids surfaces age quickly (nasaspaceflight.com)

— SLS for Artemis, SLS for commercial launches (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: a pair of reentries

— CZ-5B (twitter.com/W0lverineupdate) (vxtwitter.com/KadekDwiArista) (twitter.com/Drizzle78878087)

— Dragon (twitter.com/MarcusHouse)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— August 2, 1993: Titan IV loss of vehicle on ascent (en.wikipedia.org) (thespacereview.com) (spaceline.org)

— Pratt and Whitney had a list of known problems with grain restrictor (PDF: gobluechase.files.wordpress.com)

— Next week (8/9 - 8/15) in 1959. Partial power picture.

Episode 369: DOWNLINK--R. Matt Villarreal, Infinite Composites Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Wentian launched (nasaspaceflight.com)

— An array of new research facilities is onboard (twitter.com/CNSpaceflight)

— CZ-5B may experience an uncontrolled reentry (twitter.com/TheSpaceGal)

Short & Sweet

— Impulse and Relativity announce joint mission to Mars (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Nancy Grace has a ride to space (spacenews.com)

— First private company to launch from French Guiana (isaraerospace.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Gopal via Discord: BE-4 reuse plans (discordapp.com) (twitter.com)

— Unc' Willy via Discord: Titan II bwooop (discordapp.com) (youtu.be)

Interview – R. Matt Villarreal, Founder and CEO of Infinite Composites

— infinitecomposites.com

— twitter.com/infinite_c_t

— twitter.com/mattvillarreal

— linkedin.com/company/infinite-composites

— linkedin.com/in/rmattvillarreal

— instagram.com/infinitecomposites

— facebook.com/infinitecomposites

This Week in Spaceflight History

— July 28 1961: NASA invitation to bids for Apollo prime contract (astronautix.com) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ia800308.us.archive.org VIA archive.org)

— Ep 220 featured the LEM contract (thanks The Greek!) (theorbitalmechanics.com)

— Next week (8/2 - 8/8) in 1993: Space is dangerous, and another word for space is gap.

Episode 368: We're JWST getting started Jul 19, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— ABL static fire (spacenews.com)

— Rocket Factory Augsburg static fire (rfa.space)

— Superheavy FOOMPF (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com)

— Post-fire images/video show apparent sheet metal blow-outs (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight)

— New, possibly replacement, engines arrived at the pad (twitter.com/NicAnsuini)

— Going forward, SPX won’t be doing simultaneous spin-starts (twitter.com/elonmusk)

— Ariane 6 ground support equipment (esa.int) (spacedaily.com)

Short & Sweet

— New robotic arm for ISS (spacenews.com)

— Rogozin moves on (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (meduza.io)

— CAPSTONE completes second TCM (advancedspace.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Dennis: Parmitano’s leak was caused by tap water (youtube.com)

— From the intro: JWST beauty shots (flickr.com) (PDF HT MMC: stsci.edu) (HT MMC: youtube.com/jwstobserver)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 24 July, 1992. Launch of the Geotail spacecraft (PDF: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com VIA wiley.com) (jaxa.jp) (eoportal.org)

— The unusual HEO orbit used is viewable on SatelliteXplorer (HT SciKyle: geoxc-apps.bd.esri.com)

— Next week (7/26 - 8/1) in 1961: Twelve Prime

Episode 367: Going Ballistic Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— CAPSTONE’s gone. And now it’s back! (space.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (satellitetoday.com)

— AS published a Ballistic Lunar Transfer cheat-sheet (PDF: amazonaws.com VIA advancedspace.com)

— TCM-1C may not be necessary (nasa.gov) (advancedspace.com)

Short & Sweet

— Minotaur II explodes (thehill.com) (noozhawk.com)

— X-37B beats own record on orbit (space.com)

— Starship 24 readies for flight (interestingengineering.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/SpaceX) (twitter.com/SpaceX)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 16th July, 2013: Luca Parmitano’s leaky suit on EVA-23 (PDF: nasa.gov) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)

— The water separator drum holes were blocked with mineral deposits (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)

— Airlock Cooling Loop Recovery ion beds were implicated (PDF: ttu-ir.tdl.org)

— EMU was developed with on-orbit rescue in mind. (PDF: nescacademy.nasa.gov)

— Next week (7/19 - 7/25) in 1992: Electro-coccyx.

Episode 366: From CAPSTONE to Skipping Stone Jul 05, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— CAPSTONE (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (advancedspace.com)

— Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) (advancedspace.com) (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (PDF: mstl.atl.calpoly.edu)

Short & Sweet

— Aerospace firm to build launch complex in Maine (bangordailynews.com)

— Perseverance wind sensor damaged (space.com)

— Two out of two xEVAS ain’t bad! (spacenews.com) (PDF: sam.gov)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 5 Jul, 1966. Launch of AS-203 (en.wikipedia.org) (drewexmachina.com) (youtube.com) (hq.nasa.gov)

— Next week (7/12 - 7/18) in 2013: No alarms and no surprises, except the one

Episode 365: 3.4 Leak Units Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— SLS WDR FIFI (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF)

— SRB Hydraulic Power Unit hot fire test was completed successfully (PDF p107: klabs.org) (twitter.com/cbs_spacenews)

Short & Sweet

— Psyche launch delayed to 2023 (spacenews.com)

— Atoms for Space (space.com)

— Starlink interference from 5G (engadget.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Bill Baobab via email: Occultation techniques

— 90 Antiope was “richly” imaged using a multiple observer technique (PDF HT Bill: hal.archives-ouvertes.fr VIA hal.archives-ouvertes.fr)

— Lucy targets - occultation maps (swri.edu)

— 2022-03-27 Polymele occultation (swri.edu)

— From the intro: Cygnus reboosts (blogs.nasa.gov)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 28 June, 1979. Progress 7 brings first deployable telescope, KRT-10, to Salyut 6 (stackexchange.com) (ru.wikipedia.org) (astronautix.com) (spacefacts.de)

— Next week (7/5 - 7/11) in 1966: If a rocket explodes, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Episode 364: Tissue Paper Pineapple Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Lucy in the news with updates (space.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)

Short & Sweet

— Starliner gets its first crew (spacenews.com)

— ISS performs debris avoidance maneuver (nasa.gov)

— Markusic steps down as CEO of Firefly (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Perseverance sees something shiny (planetary.org)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— June 27, 1982: Launch of Columbia, STS-4 (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de)

— This was one of the Scotchguard flights (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (twitter.com/DrPhiltill)

— Ejection seats were installed (and enabled) for only a handful of early Shuttle flights (PDF: nasa.gov)

— Neither SRB was recovered (core.ac.uk) (aero-news.net)

— Science payload included MLR (ntrs.nasa.gov)

— Next week (6/28 - 7/4) in 1979: Really big eye-in-the-sky.

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