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 323: Per Latus Ad Astra Sep 01, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Rocket3.3 Exits Stage Right (astra.com) (space.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)

— Follows an abort on Friday called by the guidance system near T-0 (space.com)

— Jonathan McDowell guessed a “fatal problem” in the air (twitter.com/planet4589)

Short & Sweet

— 7GB of paperwork for HLS (twitter.com/joroulette) (spacenews.com) (businessinsider.com) (spacenews.com)

— Starlinks get lasers (spacenews.com)

— First test of Astroscale satellite capture technology (spacenews.com) (astroscale.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— From the intro: A Shortfall of Gravitas struts its stuff (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)

This week in SF history

— 4 Sep 1968: Von Braun tests a suit in the NBS (facebook.com/SpaceWalkOfFame) (twitter.com/nasahistory) (books.google.com)

— Further reading: a collection of Von Braun’s daily notes (collectspace.com)

— Next week (9/7 - 9/13) in 2004: The end of the beginning and the beginning of the salvaging.

Episode 322: DOWNLINK--John E Ward Aug 25, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Blue Origin lawsuit, and exodus

— Lawsuit filed against NASA on Aug 19 (theverge.com) (spacenews.com)

— > 11 key employees left Blue (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)

— Lauren Lyons went to Firefly (https://spacenews.com)

— 10k bonus handed out at end of July (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)

Short & Sweet

— Japan tests new engine type (futurism.com) (PDF: nagoya-u.ac.jp)

— JAXA announces Phobos sample-return mission (apnews.com)

— Starlink satellites responsible for most close encounters in LEO (space.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Watch party! The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill. Friday Aug 27 3pm PT / 6pm ET (thehighfrontiermovie.com) (calendar.google.com)

— VAXHeadroom via Discord: Cygnus spacecraft is a Northrop Grumman vehicle.

Interview -- John E Ward, Senior Systems Engineer, Réaltra Space Systems Engineering

— VIKI (Independent VIdeo KIt) datasheet (PDF: realtra.space)

— twitter.com/astro_ward

— twitter.com/RealtraSpace

— realtra.space

— linkedin.com/in/johnennisward

This week in SF history

— August 27, 1962: Launch of Mariner 2 to Venus (en.wikipedia.org) (space.com) (space.skyrocket.de)

— Next week (8/31 - 9/6) in 1968: It’s like being in space, but wetter und mit Braunschweiger

Episode 321: Liftoff Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— 2018 Soyuz leak turns into a whodunnit (arstechnica.com) (HT DeltaV: arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/KathyLueders)

— Starliner Destacked (twitter.com/BoeingSpace) (twitter.com/EmreKelly) (twitter.com/BoeingSpace) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Shuttle payload readied for restoration (space.com)

— xEVA falls behind schedule (spacenews.com)

— GSLV fails to reach orbit (https://spacenews.com/indian-gslv-launch-fails/)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Andrew Z. via email: Super Heavy landing nubs.

— Ireland’s Place in Space (podcasts.apple.com)

— From the intro: Tethers Unlimited (spacenews.com)

— Watch party! The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill. Friday Aug 27 3pm PT / 6pm ET (calendar.google.com)

This week in SF history

— 18 Aug, 1993: first flight of the DC-X delta clipper (nasa.gov) (youtube.com)

— Next week (8/24 - 8/30) in 1962: Hello, I live next door. Sorry I didn’t come and say hello sooner.

Episode 320: DOWNLINK--Danny Gleeson Aug 11, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Astra readies for next orbital launch (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Astra) (spacenews.com)

— Super Heavy Starship stacked! (twitter.com/StarshipGazer) (twitter.com/ErcXspace) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/RGVaerialphotos) (youtube.com)

— Perseverance’s first sampling attempt (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (twitter.com/PaulHammond51)

Short & Sweet

— China hops (spacenews.com)

— OFT-2 slipping from August? (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— Blue Origin developing reusable second stage (arstechnica.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Another Eric Berger interview on MECO (HT AZ: podcastaddict.com)

Dragonfly interview (HT AZ: forbes.com)

— Watch party! The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill. Friday Aug 27 6pm ET (calendar.google.com)

Interview -- Danny Gleeson, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Réaltra Space Systems Engineering

— realtra.space

— twitter.com/realtraspace

— linkedin.com/in/dannyjgleeson

This week in SF history

— 10 Aug, 1966. Launch of Lunar Orbiter 1, first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Moon (en.wikipedia.org) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (history.nasa.gov)

— Next week (8/17 - 8/23) in 1993. Move that parking cone over there.

Episode 319: Nauka Goes For a Spin Aug 04, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Nauka Arrives (spaceflightnow.com) (space.com)

— Investigation of the issue (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)

— Amazing footage of the issue (youtube.com) (HT Andy Z: twitter.com/liamkennedy) (HT Andy Z: twitter.com/fs_jeronimo)

Short & Sweet

— Rocket Lab successfully launches U.S. military payload (spaceflightnow.com)

— Inmarsat announces plans to add multi-orbit satellite constellation (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— August 9 1976: The Launch of Luna 24 (lroc.sese.asu.edu) (theverge.com) (russianspaceweb.com)

— Next week (8/10 - 8/16) in 1966: When I get hot, I get dizzy and lose my bearings.

Episode 318: Pure Guts Poker Jul 28, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Nauka Launched (spacenews.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)

— Three sets of engines on Nauka (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)

— Initial reports of issues (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)

— A summary was written on Wikipedia quite early (en.wikipedia.org)

— “Nothing irreparable” (twitter.com/katlinegrey)

— An initial RCS burn was made to get to a safe orbit (twitter.com/katlinegrey)

— First DKS firing reported by Anatoly Zak on July 23 (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)

— Kurs was declared operational on the 25th (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb) (twitter.com/katlinegrey)

— We found this amateur imagery of the module delightful (twitter.com/ralfvandebergh)

— Next Generation Arecibo Telescope (space.com) (arxiv.org)

Short & Sweet

— Falcon Heavy gets a new customer (spacenews.com)

— China tests fairing recovery (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Rocket Lab concluded its launch failure investigation (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— 29 July, 1985. Launch and abort of STS 51-F (wiki) (PDF: jsc.nasa.gov) (americaspace.com)

— Next week (7/2 - 8/2) in 1975: Luckily, crisis was not avoided

Episode 317: Youngest, Oldest, Richest Jul 21, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Hubble back online (PDF: asd.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF: ses.gsfc.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (nasa.gov) (sciencemag.org)

Short & Sweet

— Astranis produces new batch of very small GEO satellites (spacenews.com)

— Funding secured for Beresheet 2 mission (ap.org)

— Raptor engine development ramping up (spaceflightinsider.com)

— ESA announces new kick stage for Ariane 6 rocket (esa.int)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Andrew Z via email: China commercial space infographic (twitter.com/rhZhao)

This week in SF history

— 22 Jul, 1962. Failed launch of Mariner 1 due to software typo (wiki) (vice.com)

— Next week (7/27 - 8/2) in 1985. Spain’s beautiful this time of year, but we ain’t going there today.

Episode 316: DOWNLINK--Bill Britton, CCI Jul 14, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Northrop Grumman signs HALO contract (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)

— A docking adapter is planned for HLS (PDF: nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— SKA endangered by megaconstellations (spacenews.com)

— Chinese Spacewalk (spacenews.com)

— JWST One Step Closer (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— From the intro: Blue not-so-subtly sub-tweets VG (twitter.com/blueorigin)

Interview -- Bill Britton, Director of the California Cybersecurity Institute at Cal Poly, SLO

— cci.calpoly.edu

— linkedin.com/in/wbritton

This week in SF history

— 15 Jul, 2009: The launch of Kibo (希望) exposed facility on STS-127 (space.skyrocket.de) (en.wikipedia.org) (Archive of kibo.jaxa.jp: web.archive.org)

— Kibo used to feature the Inter-orbit Communication System (directory.eoportal.org) (iss.jaxa.jp)

— Next week (7/20 - 7/26) in 1962: Where do pirates go to drink? An arr-bar.

Episode 315: Dovin McCallister Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Transporter-2 payloads (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (geekwire.com) (PDF: fcc.report)

Short & Sweet

— IROSAs installed (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Starship Booster prototype nears completion (teslarati.com)

— ULA has an engine nozzle issue (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— 3 July, 1998. Launch of the Nozomi mission. (springeropen.com) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next time (7/13 - 7/19) in 2009: Hope floats

Episode 314: Wet Trash Odor Jun 23, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Rocket Lab wins Mars mission (space.com) (hou.usra.edu)

— Characteristic energy, declination, right ascension of the departure asymptote vector (C3/DLA/RLA) were discussed in our interview with Mark Wallace. (theorbitalmechanics.com)

Short & Sweet

— Chinese crew reaches Tianhe space station module (spacenews.com)

— Faulty memory system halts Hubble operations (spacenews.com)

— NEO Surveyor moves forward (spacenews.com)

— Launcher announces development of orbital transfer vehicle (spacenews.com/)

Questions, comments, corrections

— From the intro: Bill Nelson agrees a second HLS contractor would be nice. (spacenews.com)

— An interstellar… big thing… is headed towards the solar system. (twitter.com/Astro_Wright) (twitter.com/TM_Eubanks)

— ROSA deployment videos were published this week. (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) (twitter.com/BoeingSpace)

This week in SF history

— 25 Jun, 1992: Launch of STS-50, the first Extended Duration Orbiter (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci-hub.do)

— Next week (6/29 - 7/5) in 1998: Not all hope is lost, it’ll return twice.