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 463: The Camera That Could Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

-- Starship Test Flight 4 (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (spacey.space/@spmttracker)

Short & Sweet

-- Vast plans for ESA (spacenews)

-- Chang’e-6 has its moon rocks (spacenews) (spacenews.com)

-- Hubble Hobble (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

-- RIP Bill Anders (apnews.com)

-- Traches: Relativity and Novas (discord.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

-- 11 June, 2008. Launch of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov)

-- Next week (6/18 - 6/24) in 1982: First wolf in space?

Episode 462: Oh, Dear, No Moon Jun 05, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

-- ThinkSubOrbital (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (sbir.gov) (sbir.gov)

Short & Sweet

-- Starliner scrub (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

-- Indian startup Agnikul Notches launches first flight (payloadspace.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

-- From the intro:

-- Chang’e 6 landing (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

-- Dear Moon canceled (spacenews.com)

-- Deathkin via discord.com: Centaur’s not a workhorse

-- Heads up for a recurrent nova! (planetary.org)

This Week in Spaceflight History

-- 8 June in 1959: Regulus Missile Mail (HT SciKyle: postalmuseum.si.edu)

-- Next week (6/11 - 6/17) in 2008: A salty Italian

Episode 461: DOWNLINK--Justin Fiaschetti May 29, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

-- More Starliner Delays (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: twitter.com/jeff_foust) (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: https://arstechnica.com)

Short & Sweet

-- U.S. accuses Russia of launching countersat weapon (spacenews.com) (payloadspace.com)

-- Redwire wins award for European lunar lander’s robot arm (europeanspaceflight.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

-- From the intro: Bepi-Colombo power failure (esa.int)

-- Ryan R: Technology Connections talked about heterodyne radios (youtube.com VIA discord.com)

Interview -- Justin Fiaschetti, CEO and Co-Founder of Inversion

-- twitter.com/InversionSpace

-- inversionspace.com

-- linkedin.com

This Week in Spaceflight History

-- 2 Jun, 2003. Launch of Mars Express (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (universetoday.com)

-- Next week (6/4 - 6/10) in 1959: A short-term version of the above

Episode 460: 90 years, 105 km May 21, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

-- NASA Joins Rosalind Franklin Team (spacenews.com)

-- Unknown Russian sat launched (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (russianspaceweb.com)

Short & Sweet

-- Georgia scraps Spaceport Camden (actionnewsjax.com)

-- Starliner leaks Helium (spacenews)

This Week in Spaceflight History

-- 27 May, 1999: The launch of STS-96 (nasa.gov) (nss.org) (eoportal.org) (nasa.gov) (youtu.be)

-- Next week (5/28 - 6/3) in 2003: The last opportunity that was this good was 60,000 years ago

Episode 459: DOWNLINK--Adam Higginbotham May 15, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Chang’e-6 mission underway (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nature.com) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— Starliner delayed (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)

— Long March 6C makes first flight (cgtn.com) (spacenews.com)

— Neutron debut slips into 2025 (payloadspace.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Zubrin opinion piece on MSR (spacenews.com)

Interview -- Adam Higginbotham

— Preorder Challenger: A True Story of Heroism & Disaster on the Edge of Space (simonandschuster.com)

— adamhigginbotham.com

— twitter.com/HigginbothamA

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 14 May, 2009: Launch of Herschel Space Observatory (en.wikipedia.org) (cosmos.esa.int) (planetary.org)

— Next week (5/21 - 5/27) in 1999: Putting schoolchildren to work

Episode 458: Precise Ballpark May 08, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Artemis I Lessons (spacenews.com) (PDF: oig.nasa.gov VIA oig.nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— Thunder from down under (abc.net.au) (abc.net.au) (southernlaunch.space)

— JAXA’s SLIM survives third lunar night (japantimes.co.jp)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— May 9, 1963: Launch of West Ford 2 (PDF: orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov VIA orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (stuffin.space)

— Next week (5/14 - 5/20) in 2009: The first space telescope

Episode 457: DOWNLINK--Jeff Williams, Exum Instruments May 01, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Voyager is communicative! (blogs.nasa.gov)

— ESA debris removal mission finds a new target (satellitetoday.com)

Short & Sweet

— China releases a lunar landing update (spacenews)

— TESS enters safe mode… again (nasa.gov)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Dennis O: SOFIA clarifications (discord.com) (youtube.com)

— VAXheadroom shot SOFIA some footage in 2012 (youtube.com) (youtube.com)

Interview -- Jeff Williams, CEO/CTO Exum Instruments

— Jeff co-authored a paper that is a good primer on spectroscopy and Massbox (spectroscopyonline.com)

— exuminstruments.com

— linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-williams-372118128

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 9 Apr, 1999: Titan IVB (402) takes DSP-19 (USA 142) to GEO (astronautix.com) (klabs.org)

— 30 Apr, 1999. Titan IVB (401) takes Milstar-3 (USA 143) to GEO (washingtonpost.com) (PDF: direct.mit.edu VIA direct.mit.edu)

— Next week (5/7 - 5/13) in 1963: Not a good day for trypanophobics

Episode 456: Now With Trailer Apr 24, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Lunar buggy selection (spacenews.com) (PDF: sam.gov VIA sam.gov) (twitter.com/DubnHG1) (nikkei.com)

Short & Sweet

— Dragonfly mission officially confirmed (nasa.gov)

— Mars Sample Revamp (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Unc Willy: Cape launch complexes (discord.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 26 Apr, 2007. First flight of SOFIA (en.wikipedia.org) (747sp.com) (HT Colin: youtube.com)

— Next week (4/30 - 5/6) in 1999: Taped too tightly

Episode 455: Cabbage Ditch Apr 17, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Last Delta IV heavy (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: ulalaunch.com) (arstechnica.com)

Short & Sweet

— Relativity Space wins contract (spacenews)

— Japan secures a moon landing (spacenews)

— Max Space Modules (spacenews)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Csaba via Discord: SOIR means "evening" in French, pretty clever pun (discord.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 19 Apr, 1975. Launch of Aryabhata satellite (lowyinstitute.org) (ursc.gov.in) (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next week (4/23 - 4/29) in 2007: Looking at stars through a wall

Episode 454: Expendable Launchpad Apr 10, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Broken records and Starship’s near future (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)

Short & Sweet

— New Shepard Plans Crewed Flight (spacenews.com)

— Lunar Rover Mk 2 (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— April 11, 2006: Arrival of Venus Express at Venus (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci.esa.int VIA sci.esa.int)

— Next week (4/16 - 4/22) in 1975: Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000

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