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:

Black Lives Matter Jun 07, 2020

Show notes

Some black voices and hashtags to amplify and listen to

— twitter.com/astrotoya

— twitter.com/astronaia

— twitter.com/astro_eustice

— twitter.com/_xPrecious

— twitter.com/itsafronomics

— #BlackAndStem

— #BlackBirdersWeek

Find local black-owned businesses

— officialblackwallstreet.com/directory

Learn about the problem

— mappingpoliceviolence.org

Episode 263: Flat Screen Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Demo-2 mission: Endeavor docks with ISS (spacenews)(twitter.com/lorengrush)

— A bell in Unity is rung twice to announce the arrival and departure of vehicles (twitter.com/planet4589)

— A fantastic CollectSpace thread with lots of suit zipper images (collectspace.com)

— Note that the A7L Apollo suit had the pressure zipper on the outside. The inside zipper was just to close the garment

— Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 believed to have lower risk factor than Shuttle (spacenews.com)

— Mark 3 parachutes (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Virgin Orbit’s first launch attempt fails. (spacenews.com)

— Launch vehicle for China’s Mars mission arrives at space center. (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— 8 June, 1966: Saturn 500F moved from the pad to the VAB as Hurricane Alma approached (drewexmachina.com) (wikipedia.org)

— The famous tennis shoe test (youtube.com)

— Next week in 1977: Bombs away!

Episode 262: No Loverro Lost May 26, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Loverro quit! (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (arstechnica.com) (washingtonpost.com)

— Crew Dragon launch prep (HT Andrew Z: nasaspaceflight.com) (planetary.org) (americaspace.com)

— Commercial crew is an amazing deal. (planetary.org)

— NASA & SpaceX: Journey to the Future to air May 25 at 9 p.m. PT/ET on Science and at 10 p.m. PT/ET May 26 on Discovery (deadline.com)

Short & Sweet

— WFIRST renamed after pioneering astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman (spacenews.com)

— Skyrora completes first full static firing in the UK in half a century (skyrora.com)

— Northrop Grumman gets a Space Force contract (spacenews.com)

— Relativity hires SpaceX executive to lead launch vehicle production (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Ben Hallert on Artemis orbit limitations (twitter.com/chairboy)

— Also quoted in an article on the cult of Elon Musk (theatlantic.com)

This week in SF history

— 1971 May 30: launch of Mariner 9 (sci-hub.tw) (en.wikipedia.org) (space.skyrocket.de)

— Next week in 1966: “Not just any port in a storm.”

Episode 261: Pessimism Sandwich May 19, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Three-part NASA Lunar News

— Plans for Gateway and Artemis undergo refinement (spacenews.com)

— NASA advisory committee skeptical of 2024 landing goal (spacenews.com)

— Artemis Accords (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— 3D printing had a good week. (cnbc.com) (upi.com)

— First real task for Space Force is… on the ground. (spacenews.com)

— SkySat to hitch a ride with Starlink. (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— 19 May 2000: The launch of STS-101, the first Shuttle mission with a glass cockpit (wikipedia.org) (PDF: spaceflight.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (nbcnews.com)

— Next week in 1971: 9 ate 6 and 7

Episode 260: DOWNLINK--Dan Hegel May 12, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— China’s big Long March 5B (Chang Zheng 5B) flight

— — The flight (spaceflightnow.com)

— — The capsule landing (spaceflightnow.com)

— — Flexible Inflatable Cargo Re-entry Vehicle (spaceflightnow.com)

— — The unguided first-stage reentry (spaceflightnow.com)

Short & Sweet

— Next big step completed for Martian rover. (spaceflightnow.com)

— SN4 takes a step towards flight (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Email conversations about Artemis HLS with Andrew and Espen

Interview--Dan Hegel, Director of Advanced Development, Blue Canyon Technologies

— List of BCT’s Small Business Innovation Research contracts (sbir.gov)

— bluecanyontech.com

— instagram.com/bluecanyontech

— twitter.com/bluecanyontech

This week in SF history

— 15 May 1987. The failed launch of Polyus-Skif. (airspacemag.com) (astronautix.com) (youtube.com)

— Next week in 2000: No stones thrown

Episode 259: Human Moon Landers May 05, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— NASA selects companies to develop Human Landing System (HLS) for Artemis (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace)

— Source Selection Statement (PDF: beta.sam.gov)

— Scott Manley’s summary (youtube.com)

— Excellent scaled image of all HLS’s, and Apollo’s LEM (reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge)

— Superheavy update (twitter.com/Kristennetten)

— Prepping for Crew Dragon (spacenews.com)

— Flag to be captured: (reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge)

Short & Sweet

— UAE Mars mission arrives at launch site (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Starlink sun visor testing to begin. (spacenews.com)

— OmegA is ready to go into production. (spacenews.com)

— Rocket Lab tests at Wallops (spacenews.com)

This week in SF history

— May 8 1962: The First launch of Atlas-Centaur ends in an explosion (twitter.com/RocketRundown) (youtube.com) (wikipedia.org)

— Next week in 1987: Pew-pew boom

Episode 258: Firefly Payday Apr 28, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Firefly signs Launch Services Agreement with Spaceflight, Inc. (spacenews.com) (spaceflight.com)

— Originally autogenously pressurized tanks (space.stackexchange.com)

— Fire in Jan due to misconfigured software (youtube.com/watch)

— Spaceflight Industries In process of being bought by Mitsui and Yamasa (techcrunch.com)

Short & Sweet

— Starliner requires more than a reflight to be fit for crew (HT Sam in the chat twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)

— Dream Chaser gets its wings. (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Design narrowed for future Mars Ascent Vehicle. (spaceflightnow.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Stygarfield via Discord: Possible Starlink configuration (reddit.com/r/Starlink)

This week in SF history

— 1954 April 29: Launch of Nike Nike Deacon (space.skyrocket.de) (astronautix.com)

— More info on Deacon (astronautix.com)

— Next week in 1962: Don’t take your jacket off too early!

Episode 257: Ocean of Storms Apr 22, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Intuitive Machines selects lunar landing site (spacenews.com)

— Nova-C’s publicity page (intuitivemachines.com)

— Maps of Vallus Schröterie in Oceanus Procellarum (cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net)

— SpaceX and Gateway Logistics Services (spacenews.com) (PDF: beta.sam.gov/)

— Fan cross-section speculations (nasaspaceflight.com)

Short & Sweet

— MEV-1 completes Intelsat-901 relocation. (spacenews.com)

— SpaceX has a Demo-2 launch date. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace)

— LauncherOne captive carry. (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Amy Parent: Rocket Lab will use a ballute (twitter.com/amyinorbit)

This week in SF history

— April 23, 1971, Soyuz-10 fails to dock with Salyut-1 (wikipedia.org)

— Next week in 1954: Puma Puma Priest

Episode 256: Grappling Hook Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Rocket Lab completes successful demonstration of mid-air capture. (rocketlabusa.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)

— Tim Dodd published a great interview with Peter Beck (youtu.be)

Short & Sweet

— Mars helicopter has been attached to NASA rover. (nasa.gov)

— Starliner gets a second flight test. (spacenews.com)

— Long March Fails to loft Nusantara Dua (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)

— Masten Space Systems wins lunar lander award from NASA. (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Chris Hofmann: It’s not LOX vents that have flares, it’s Methane.

— Ben Hallert and Chris Hofmann: Grasshopper didn’t explode, that was F9R dev (twitter.com/chairboy/)

— Ben Hallert: “Starpopper” was the same thing as SN1. (twitter.com/chairboy)

— Eric Blood via email: worm logo (PDF: nasa.gov)

— Apollo 13: Home Safe viewing party

— April 14, Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern

— Join us on Discord and Watch2Gether! (discordapp.com) (watch2gether.com)

This week in SF history

— 16 April 1965: first five-engine test stand firing of S-IC at MSFC (nasa.gov) (heroicrelics.org) (wikipedia.org)

— Next week in 1971: Like Jar-Jar and an off-cast 620C

Episode 255: DOWNLINK--Jordan Noone Apr 07, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Starship SN3 Collapse (space.com) (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)

— RIP Starship Mk1 (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight)

— RIP Starship SN1 (twitter.com/WyattJGeorge/)

— Starship SN2’s thrust puck (https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/41761/what-is-a-thrust-puck-on-starship)

— Jamestown Base considered for real (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)

— Laura Forczyk poll: “What’s a reasonable new goal [for Artemis 3]?” (twitter.com/LauraForczyk)

Short & Sweet

— Virgin Orbit selects site in Japan for horizontal launches. (spacenews.com)

— NASA selects SunRISE. (nasaspaceflight.com)

Interview: Jordan Noone, Cofounder/CTO, Relativity Space

— USC rocket propulsion lab (uscrpl.com)

— twitter.com/theJordanNoone

— twitter.com/Relativityspace

— relativityspace.com

This week in SF history

— March 7 1962: launch of OSO-1 (nasa.gov) (wikipedia.org) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)

— Next week in 1965: Five alive

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