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 254: XL to The Moon Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Gateway Logistics Services Program awarded to SpaceX (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Dragon XL (youtube.com) (twitter.com/Caspar_Stanley)

— OIG is investigating NASA’s acquisition strategy (twitter.com/NASAOIG)

— Crew Dragon Mk 3 Parachute Test (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— NASA files a request for new engines. (spacenews.com)

— Astra suffers damage in pre-launch test. (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Artemis-1 flight profile details

This week in SF history

— April 3, 1926: The birth of Gus Grissom (en.wikipedia.org)

— Tough and Competent speech (garrett.co.uk)

— Next week in 1962: sail and wheel

Episode 253: Lackluster Mar 24, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Artemis-1 Orion tests complete (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com)

— Ships to KSC March 23 (twitter.com/NASAKennedy)

— Cubesat ridealongs (en.wikipedia.org)

Short & Sweet

— L3Harris wins NASA contract for LISA observatory. (nasa.gov) (Our interview on the LISA Pathfinder: theorbitalmechanics.com)

— Long March 7A is unsuccessful. (spaceflightnow.com)

— SpaceX launches Darksat, with lackluster results. (spacenews.com) (arxiv.org) (PDF: arxiv.org)

Questions, comments, corrections

— ICPS, not IUS (twitter.com/Jeff_Snively)

— From the intro: OneWeb considers bankruptcy (bloomberg.com)

This week in SF history

— March 24, 2006: HiRISE takes first test images of Mars (mars.nasa.gov) (mars.nasa.gov)

— Detector Chip Assemblies (DCAs) (PDF: asprs.org)

— Uses push-broom method (hirise.seti.org)

— Next week in 1926: Listen in for an audio clue

Episode 252: Non-Critical Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— RS-25 Testing (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Gateway officially non-critical for Artemis landing (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— SpaceLogistics teams with DARPA on satellite servicing vehicle. (c4isrnet.com)

— ExoMars gets delayed. (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Law Loving via email on Musk and Bezos

— Thanks to Emory Stagmer for the outro music! (twitter.com/VAXHeadroom)

This week in SF history

— March 18, 1965: The launch of Voskhod-2 (wikipedia.org) (airspacemag.com)

— Next week in 2008: McEwen’s baby

Episode 251: 61 Corrective Actions Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Starliner update (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)

Short & Sweet

— Last minute scrub costs Astra the DARPA Challenge (spaceflightnow.com)

— DSCOVR resumes operations. (spaceflightnow.com)

— SLS scheduling update (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Winning entry for the Mars 2020 naming contest (mars.nasa.gov)

— Destin’s ULA tour (youtube.com) (youtube.com)

This week in SF history

— 14 March, 1934. Birth of Eugene Cernan (wikipedia.org)

— Next week in 1965: No vacuum in a vacuum.

Episode 250: This Is Not the Plan Mar 04, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— SpaceX plans a mobile service tower (twitter.com/Falcon9Block5) (space.com)

— Starship SN-1 suffered pressure failure (twitter.com/JohnRand0061) (youtube.com)

— Artemis changes? (arstechnica.com)

— “This is not the plan.” says Bridenstine re Moon 2024 Mission Manifest (twitter.com/JimBridenstine)

Short & Sweet

— NASA's safety advisory panel finds Boeing didn't perform end-to-end software check prior to Starliner demo mission. (orlandosentinel.com) (twitter.com/ChabeliH) (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF)

— OmegA’s second stage has been test fired. (spacenews.com)

— MEV-1 performs first ever docking between commercial spacecraft. (c4isrnet.com) (twitter.com/northropgrumman)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Paul via email: Lousma pronounced like “lousy.”

— Jason Friesen via email: Skylab rescue was a totally different mission from Skylab-4! (en.wikipedia.org)

This week in SF history

— March 10, 2006: MRO enters Mars orbit (wikipedia.org)

— Next week in 1934: Puppetteer

Episode 249: DOWNLINK--Laura Forczyk on her new book Rise of the Space Age Millennials Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— InSight’s HP3 to get a lil push (www.dlr.de) (twitter.com/NASAInSight) (mars.nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— JAXA going forward with sample return mission to Phobos. (spaceflightnow.com)

— SpaceX has a date for a polar launch from the Cape. (teslarati.com)

— CSLI, selects the next round of 18 smallsats to fly on ELaNa missions (nasa.gov)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Andrew Z via email: Interesting read about Space Shuttle software development (aviationweek.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)

Interview -- Laura Forczyk, space careers counselor and author

— Read more about and purchase Rise of the Space Age Millennials

— astralytical.com/rise-of-the-space-age-millennials

— barnesandnoble.com

— amazon.com

— twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceMillennials

— Find out more about Laura

— astralytical.com

— twitter.com/LauraForczyk

— twitter.com/astralytical

— linkedin.com/in/lauraforczyk

This week in SF history

— February 29, 1936, birth of Jack Lousma (wikipedia.org)

— STS-3 landing (youtube.com)

— Next week in 2006: Car crashes apply dV in 300-400 ms. What about five months?

Episode 248: Four Discoverers Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Discovery Program selects four finalists (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— DAVINCI+ (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (wikipedia.org)

— IVO (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (wikipedia.org)

— Trident (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (wikipedia.org) (HT Sam in the chat: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)

— VERITAS (PDF: dlr.de) (wikipedia.org)

— Abstracts for the other proposals (HT sam in the chat: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)

Short & Sweet

— JAXA selects partner for country’s first debris removal project (spacenews.com)

— Spaceway-1 has been safely decommissioned. (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Ben Hallert on AS-103/Pegasus (twitter.com/chairboy)

— Also, Iranian space suit (twitter.com/fab_hinz) (apnews.com)

— Espen via email: Starship and Starliner presser

— Interesting article we forgot to mention! (forrestheller.com)

— Correct pressure numbers (twitter.com/elonmusk)

— Lovarro quote (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF)

— Andrew via email: thoughts on Starliner

This week in SF history

— February 19, 1932: birth of Joe Kerwin (wikipedia.org)

— A13 quotes mentioned (hq.nasa.gov)

— Next week in 1936: white hot stick

Episode 247: DOWNLINK--Jason Batt Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— ASAP report on CST-100 Starliner (arstechnica.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)

— Astra Space emerges from stealth mode (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (astra.com) (bloomberg.com)

Short & Sweet

— SpaceX likely to spinoff Starlink business. (bloomberg.com).

— Cape Canaveral is getting a name change. (spaceflightnow.com)

Interview -- Jason Batt, Editorial and Creative Director, 100 Year Starship

— 100yss.org

— One Sky project (space.com) (nationalgeographic.com)

— Onliest, J Daniel Batt (amazon.com)

This week in SF history

— 16 February 1965, launch of Pegasus 1 (wikipedia.org) (astronautix.com)

— Next week in 1932: Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a…

Episode 246: Cupola Virus Feb 05, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Near-miss of IRAS and GGSE-4 (c4isrnet.com) (spacenews.com) (kiro7.com) (space.com)

— Image of post-conjunction trails (twitter.com/juliancd38)

— NASA selects first commercial-destination module for ISS (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Voyager 2 malfunction (voyager.jpl.nasa.gov)

— JWST’s launch date will likely slip again. (arstechnica.com)

— CHEOPS takes big step towards coming online and taking data (sci.esa.int)

Questions, comments, corrections

— From the intro: Hi-Rise returns better imagery of the Schiaparelli crash (uahirise.org)

— Nick via email: skydiving parachutes have risers for reefing

This week in SF history

— February 5, 1947: the birth of Mary Cleave (wikipedia.org) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov)

— Next week in 1965: Sitting behind a boilerplate.

Episode 245: More 'Splosions Jan 29, 2020

Show notes

Spaceflight news

— Spaceway-1 batteries (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Firefly suffers an anomaly on the test stand. (spacenews.com) (space.com)

— Solar Orbiter mission’s launch slips several days (spaceflightnow.com) (twitter.com/torybruno)

— Tethers Unlimited’s Terminator Tape is showing promise. (spacenews.com)

Questions, comments, corrections

— Andrew via email: Phantom Express (spacenews.com)

— Scott Manley covered this as well, with more info on the AR-22, which is actually a refurbished/retooled SSME! (youtube.com)

— Espen via email: second stage might have exploded above the water??? (youtube.com)

This week in SF history

— January 29, 2003: Launch of XSS-10 (space.skyrocket.de)

— Next week in 1947: A woman’s place is preparing meals, cleaning windows and toilets…. on the Shuttle.

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