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 313: Third Take on Venus Jun 16, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— ESA spacecraft to join Venusian fleet (space.com) (esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org) (arxiv.org)

— Jean-Luc Margot et al recently made rough measurements of Venus’ moment of inertia (youtube.com) (arxiv.org)

— Planetary Society did a writeup on DAVINCI+ and VERITAS (planetary.org)

Short & Sweet

— First commercial deep-space antenna begins official operations in UK (twitter.com/esaoperations)

— Relativity goes reusable (spacenews.com)

— Two HLS contracts are one step closer (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— Launch of Endeavor, STS-57 on June 21 1993 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (directory.eoportal.org)

— FARE (Fluid Acquisition and Resupply Experiment) looked like a sci-fi special effect (youtu.be)

— Next week (7/22 - 7/28) in 1992: It’s good to be home. Glad I packed an extra lunch!

Episode 312: Hot Take on Venus Jun 09, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Discovery 15 and 16 selected - we’re heading for Venus! (space.com) (spacenews.com)

— NASA Presidential Budget Request (planetary.org)

— House bill wants to designate space as critical infrastructure (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— South Korean rocket prepares for October test (theregister.com)

— Axiom, SpaceX reach agreement to send three more private crews to ISS (cnet.com) (spacenews.com)

— JWST launch update (spacenews.com)

Interview -- Dr. Alessandro Patruno, Quaternion Books

— Support this work by buying a copy of The Human Computer: Katherine Johnson’s Story (kickstarter.com)

— More info about the book is on the publisher’s website (quaternionbooks.com)

— facebook.com/quaternionbooks

— twitter.com/Quaternionbooks

This week in SF history

— 10 June, 1969. Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program cancelled (PDF: nro.gov) (PDF: nro.gov) (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next week (6/15 - 6/21) in 1993: It was the longest day. Ten minutes later, it was the shortest.

Thanks to Colin-in-the-chat for naming this week’s episode!

Episode 311: SALSO Dancing Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Megaconstellations in the news

— Viasat asking for halt to building out Starlink (spacenews.com)

— Chinese Guowang constellation (spacenews.com)

— SATCON2 is coming up on July 12-16 (aas.org)

— New Frontiers 5 will be delayed (spacenews.com) (wiki)

Short & Sweet

— Mars helicopter lands safely despite computer glitch (space.com)

— Multiple new Lunar Rovers planned for coming years (space.com) (techcrunch.com) (spacenews.com)

— Tianzhou-2 docks with Chinese space station (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Etienne via email: book recommendation on corrosion (thriftbooks.com)

— Kickstarter for a book on Katherine Johnson (kickstarter.com)

— From the intro:

— ISS debris strike (cnet.com)

— On-orbit conjunction live data stream (astriacss.tacc.utexas.edu)

This week in SF history

— 4 Jun, 2012. NASA announces NRO’s donation of two Hubble-class space telescopes to the agency (wiki) (spaceflightnow.com) (PDF: science.nasa.gov)

— WFIRST DRM1 and 2 (PDF: roman.gsfc.nasa.gov) (roman.gsfc.nasa.gov)

— WFIRST-AFTA (PDF: roman.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF: iopscience.iop.org)

— SALSO produced multiple proposals for the second satellite via an RFI (exoplanets.nasa.gov) (thespacereview.com)

— Next week (6/8 - 6-14) in 1969. Shut it down. (But keep some of the camera parts.)

Episode 310: Zhurong Roves May 26, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Zhurong rover dismounts from lander (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Rocket Lab failure analysis (spacenews.com) (rocketlabusa.com)

— Crew-3 Finalized (americaspace.com)

— SpaceShipTwo returns to the skies! (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Not catching is different than not recovering! (twitter.com/chairboy)

— From the intro: Blue Ghost to fly on Falcon 9 (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— 30 May, 1975: Founding of ESA (PDF: esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next week (6/1 - 6/7) in 2012: Binoculars to ploughshares

Episode 309: Positive Thinking May 19, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Rocket Lab Recovery (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (rocketlabusa.com)

— Scott Manley demonstrated the TVC angle on 2nd stage ignition (twitter.com/DJSnM)

— SpaceX files for Starship orbital launch radio license (spacenews.com)

— SPX may have competition for HLS (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— China successfully lands rover on Mars (spacenews.com)

— Ariane 5 fairing issue may delay JWST(spacenews.com)

— Russia announces two actors, Japanese billionaire, to fly to space station (reuters.com) (spaceflightnow.com)

This week in SF history

— 19 May, 1996 - Launch of STS-77 (nasa.gov) (doi.org) (HT Colin: youtube.com) (HT Colin: eoportal.org)

— The Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) had residual air that caused premature inflation (space.stackexchange.com)

— Next week (5/25 - 5/31) in 1975: Last week we deflated something, this week we inflated something, next week let’s unite something.

Episode 308: Lunar Twins May 12, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Awards, awards, awards

— Eta Space - In-orbit cryogenic refueling (spaceref.com)

— JPL - Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (cnet.com) (jpl.nasa.gov)

— Loft Orbital - Edge computing on spacecraft (spacenews.com)

— Northrop - Navigation payloads on Blackjack sats (spacenews.com)

— Raytheon - Update NASA’s EO IT system (govconwire.com) (earthdata.nasa.gov)

— Hughes and OneWeb - LEO-based Arctic internet (spacenews.com)

— Isar Aerospace - Won ESA’s Boost! Award (spacenews.com)

— SN15 lands successfully (spacenews.com) (teslarati.com) (youtu.be) (nasaspaceflight.com)

— There were some unknown vehicle updates (twitter.com/elonmusk)

— It was a safe landing, but the crush core in the legs did activate. (twitter.com/starshipgazer)

— SN15 MAY get reflown! (twitter.com/elonmusk)

Short & Sweet

— Starliner nears its second test flight (spacenews.com)

— European Space Agency to launch orbital debris-tracking telescope (space.com)

— Firefly has a successful funding round (spacenews.com)

— Geyer steps down as Johnson Director (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Colin in the chat: Ingenuity audio (mars.nasa.gov)

This week in SF history

— 11 May, 1963. Collapse of Atlas Agena D due to a depressurized tank while still on the launchpad (thespacereview.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (HT Colin: youtube.com) (youtube.com)

— Next week (5/18 - 5/24) in 1996: This week we deflated something. Next week, let’s inflate something instead.

Episode 307: Fire Carried May 05, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Long March 5B set for uncontrolled re-entry (spacenews.com)

— The module raised and is maintaining orbit (HT Colin: heavens-above.com)

— The booster is slowly deorbiting (HT Mike: heavens-above.com)

— Amateur video shows the booster in a 2.4 hz tumble (twitter.com/dfuji1)

— BIG Ingenuity Update!

— Flight 3 was a success (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)

— Flight 4 was a delayed success (space.com) (spacenews.com)

— Ingenuity’s mission was extended (twitter.com/jeff_foust) (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Virgin Orbit to launch out of Brazil (smallsatnews.com)

— Blue Origin and Dynetics protest HLS award (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— Nelson confirmed as NASA Administrator (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Ben Hallert: ACES details (twitter.com/chairboy)

— ACES had on-orbit refueling (arstechnica.com)

— Centaur V has a hydrolox RCS… Peroxide was a typo! (twitter.com/torybruno)

This week in SF history

— 5 May, 1999: The failed second flight of Delta III (spacelaunchreport.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (astronautix.com)

— Investigation concluded the combustion chamber was breached (spaceflightnow.com) (PDF HT Mike: orbireport.com)

— Next week (5/11 - 5/17) in 1963: *balloon squeak*

Episode 306: What About IV? Apr 28, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Renewable Space Updates (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— ACES scrapped, but lives on in Centaur V (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/torybruno)

— Centaur III features the optional Aft Bulkhead Carrier (PDF: ulalaunch.com)

Short & Sweet

— MOXIE operates for the first time on Mars (space.com)

— Ingenuity flight 2 (mars.nasa.gov) (mars.nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (HT Colin in the chat: youtube.com)

— OneWeb and Starlink cross paths (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— 1 May, 1999. Failure of the ABRIXAS X-ray telescope (adsabs.harvard.edu) (nature.com) (skyrocket.de) (sci-hub.se)

— Next week (5/4 - 5/10) in 1999: In hindsight it didn’t seem like it would work.

Episode 305: Moon, Dear Apr 21, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— HLS downselection - Starship chosen (PDF: nasa.gov) (twitter.com/jeff_foust)

— HLS Base Period Source Selection occurred last year. (PDF: beta.sam.gov)

— Berger/Davenport were assumed to be wrong by some. (twitter.com/lavie154)

— NASA internally apologized for the leak. (twitter.com/joroulette)

— The US Senate wasn’t happy this selection occurred before a new Administrator could be confirmed. (twitter.com/wapodavenport)

— Dynetics was planning on using on-orbit propellant transfer, not just bolting on tanks. (HT Ben Hallert: spacenews.com) (HT Ben Hallert: spectrum.ieee.org)

— Subsequent acquisitions are expected, so don’t count anyone out just yet. (spacepolicyonline.com)

Short & Sweet

— Pam Melroy nominated as Deputy Administrator (twitter.com/Astro_Pam) (nasa.gov)

— NASA’s InSight to hibernate for the winter (thehill.com)

— New Shepard flies again (nasaspaceflight.com)

This week in SF history

— 4 Apr, 1997. STS-83 had to be aborted on-orbit due to a fuel cell anomaly (science.ksc.nasa.gov) (astronautix.com)

— Droplet Combustion Experiment (DCE) managed to return data before the abort. (princeton.edu)

— STS-83 was reflown as STS-94, the next available consecutive number on July 1st 1997 (en.wikipedia.org)

— After some digging, Mike Stewart suggests the fuel cell problem was never identified (HT Mike: scribd.com) (HT Mike: cbsnews.com)

— Next week (4/27 - 5/3) in 1999. If a spacecraft takes data but can’t transmit it back to Earth, does it make a science?

Episode 304: WRT Raining, Pouring Apr 14, 2021

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— ISS’s crew of ten (spacepolicyonline.com) (spacenews.com)

— Rocket Lab to test booster recovery from space this May (rocketlabusa.com)

— Two new Chinese spaceports planned (spacenews.com)

— End-to-end testing of Lunar Gateway SEP system completed (americaspace.com)

Short & Sweet

— Space startup Phase Four wins government contract (spacenews.com)

— Biden administration asks for 6.3% increase to NASA’s budget (spacepolicyonline.com)

— JWST packs its sunshield in preparation for October launch (satnews.com)

— Ingenuity Flight 1 delayed (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Ben Hallert via Discord: Spacelab isn’t Skylab.

— From the intro: no more fairing catching (twitter.com/Erdayastronaut) (spacexfleet.com)

This week in SF history

— April 15, 2005: DART Collides with MUBLCOM (nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org)

— DART stands for Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology

— MUBLCOM stands for Multiple Paths, Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications

— Next week (4/20 - 4/26) in 1997: Reduce, reuse, recycle.

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