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 493: Two Satellites Enter! Five Satellites Leave! Jan 15, 2025

Show notes

Thanks to Dennis O for naming this week’s episode!

Spaceflight News

— Mars Sample Return redesign (spaceflightnow.com) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— China tests mission extension tech on-orbit (spacenews.com)

— X-37B’s latest mission passes one-year in space (space.com)

— Pale Blue Propulsion (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Eaton/Pallisades fire relief for JPL workers (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (securelb.imodules.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— Jan. 17, 2005: US-China Orbital Debris Event (space.com) (PPT: celestrak.org) (spaceref.com) (PDF: orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov)

— Next week (1/21 - 1/27) in 1997: A tap on the shoulder

Episode 492: Lotta Scoopin' Jan 08, 2025

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Starship TF-7 (spacenews.com) (ringwatchers.com) (spacex.com) (twitter.com)

Short & Sweet

— India launches space docking demo mission (nasaspaceflight.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (isro.gov.in)

— Launches gaining frequency (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 10 Jan, 1968: Surveyor 7 lands on the moon (nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov)

— Next week (1/14 - 1/20) in 2005: Was that the Aurora Australis?

Episode 491: Everest Space Jan 01, 2025

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— K2 Space wins contract (spaceinsider.tech) (spacenews.com) (addtheegg.com)

Short & Sweet

— Contracts awarded for NASA’s Near Space Network (spacenews.com)

— Record breaking spacewalk set by Shenzhou-19 crew (spacenews.com)

— Crew-10 delayed (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 2 Jan, 1959. Launch of Luna 1, first spacecraft to reach the Moon (en.wikipedia.org) (smithsonianmag.com) (mentallandscape.com) (smithsonianmag.com)

— Next week (1/7 - 1/13) in 1968: Highlander - there can be only one (of seven)

Episode 490: PhageX Dec 18, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Orion’s heat shield (americaspace.com) (nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— Tests of Russian Orbital Station core module announced (interfax.com)

— Ingenuity’s Crash Investigation (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Joel Rogers via email: Young and Crippen didn’t fly on Enterprise.

This Week in Spaceflight History

— December 17, 2012: Grasshopper makes its first real hop (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next week (1/1 - 1/6) in 1959: To the moon! Uh... to the Sun!

Episode 489: Swirl Domination Dec 11, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Swirl-dominated chambers (payloadspace.com) (https://www.sierraspace.com) (Pic, from researchgate.net) (PDF: nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— So long Sutherland Spaceport (satellitetoday.com)

Further delays to Artemis program announced (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 12 Dec, 1970. Launch of Uhuru (nasa.gov ) (PDF: jhuapl.edu )

— Next week (12/17 - 12/23) in 2012: Ride ‘em, cowboy

Episode 488: Chonky Copter Dec 04, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Epsilon can’t stop exploding (space.com) (youtu.be) (PDF: jaxa.jp)

— A Dragonfly on a Falcon Heavy (satellitetoday.com)

Short & Sweet

— Old spaceport, newish rocket (europeanspaceflight.com)

— New rocket, new spaceport (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: New Glenn on the pad (space.com) (blueorigin.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 3 Dec, 2003: Shuttle Training Aircraft loses part of an engine (iasa.com.au VIA web.archive.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (simpleflying.com)

— Next week (12/10 - 12/16) in 1970: Equatorial eyes

Episode 487: What's that smell? Nov 27, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Global grasshoppers

— Russia’s hopper (arstechnica.com)

— EU’s hopper (europeanspaceflight.com)

Short & Sweet

— Omani spaceport looks to launch next month (www.thenationalnews.com)

— China tests inflatable spacecraft on orbit (news.cgtn.com) (space.com) (spacenews.com)

— Starship Test Flight Six (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Progress contamination (russianspaceweb.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— November 28, 1983: Launch of STS-9, Columbia (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (americaspace.com)

— Next week (12/3 - 12/9) in 2003: You’ve heard of the space banana, but what about the Banana River dunk?

Episode 486: 300mm of Mercury Nov 20, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Zvezda leak disagreement (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)

Short & Sweet

— NGR is in the building! (spacenews.com)

— Bye bye ABL (from launch anyway) (arstechnica.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 24 Nov, 1970. Launch of Kosmos 379 (astronautix.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com)

— Next week (11/26 - 12/2) in 1983: And then there were six

Episode 485: Shuttle Sandwich Nov 13, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— CRS-2 extended (spacenews.com) (sam.gov)

Short & Sweet

— Gilmour ups and Bowen downs (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— LignoSat to be deployed from ISS (popsci.com) (nanosats.eu)

— Long March 9: Starship (arstechnica)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: LEO safety study (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 12 Nov, 1981: The launch of STS-2 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov)

— Next week (11/19 - 11/25) in 1970: LELO: Low-Earth “Lunar” Orbit

Episode 484: Runaway Ramp Nov 06, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Shenzhou-19 reaches Tiangong (spaceflightnow.com)

— Mirror platform for Tiangong (news.cgtn.com) (youtube.com)

— Low-cost Tiangong cargo S/C (spacenews.com)

— “Kinetica-2 [selected] as top launcher choice” (twitter.com/cas_space)

— Crewed moon rover (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/YuqiiQian)

Short & Sweet

— Artemis heat shield chunks (spacenews.com)

— Liquid water on Mars (nature.com VIA nasaspaceflight.com) (news.berkeley.edu)

— California startup develops ABEP system (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— November 8, 2004: First launch of a Soyuz 2 carrier rocket (en.wikipedia.org) (v2rockethistory.com)

— Next week (11/12 - 11/18) in 1981: 40% of the mission, 90% of the objectives.

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