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 453: Bleached? Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Orbital Reef Rundown (nature.com) (PDF: star.spaceops.org VIA star.spaceops.org) (genesisesi.com)

— Artemis 3 now has 3 experiments (nasa.gov) (hou.usra.edu)

Short & Sweet

— A Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine flies for first time (HT Andrew Z: autoevolution.com)

— A Nascent Solution For Voyager 1 (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 6 Apr, 1965: Launch of Intelsat I, the first commercial satellite in GEO (en.wikipedia.org) (boeing.com) (space.skyrocket.de) (astronautix.com VIA web.archive.org)

— Next week (4/9 - 4/15) in 2006: The mission that went to hell in 5 months

Episode 452: Sticky PEZ Mar 27, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Starship IFT-3 (spacenews.com) (twitter.com) (youtu.be)

Short & Sweet

— Euclid spacecraft addresses ice-buildup on optics (asdnews.com)

— Ariane 6 coming together (esa.int)

— Soyuz aborts at the pad (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: launch escape slide (youtube.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 17 Mar, 2002. Launch of GRACE spacecraft (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (esa.int) (skyrocket.de) (nasa.gov)

— Next week (4/2 - 4/8) in 1965: Catching GEO worms

Episode 451: DOWNLINK--Prof. Dante Lauretta Mar 20, 2024

Show notes

Interview — Professor Dante Lauretta

— The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System (hachettebookgroup.com)

— facebook.com/AZAstrobiology

— threads.net/@azastrobiology

— instagram.com/azastrobiology

— Thanks to Grand Central Publishing (twitter.com/GrandCentralPub) (instagram.com/grandcentralpub)

Episode 450: Propane Rocket Accessories Mar 13, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Stoke Space focusing on first stage (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtu.be)

Short & Sweet

— Tianhe’s solar arrays patched (space.com)

— Stratolaunch tests Talon (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)

— Starship Flight 3 on its way (spacenews.com) (space.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 16 Mar, 1966. Recovery of Veterok and Ugolyok, who to this day hold the record for longest canine spaceflight (Kosmos 110) (en.wikipedia.org) (ru.wikipedia.org) (veterok-ugolyok.gmik.ru) (astronaut.ru)

— Next week (3/19 - 3/25) in 2017: Dry, wet, and lumpy

Episode 449: All Jacked Up Mar 06, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Last big IM-1 update (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/jeff_foust)

Short & Sweet

— Orion has hatch problems (spacenews.com)

— ISRO plans for Mars helicopter (indiatoday.in)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Varda landing footage (youtube.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 8 Mar, 2001. Launch of STS-102 (nss.org) (aiaa.org)

— Next week (3/12 - 3/18) in 1966: A 154 day mission, but only for the passengers

Episode 448: Remove Before Flight Feb 28, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— IM-1 landing follow-up (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)

Short & Sweet

— ISRO completes human-rating of engine (isro.gov.in)

— Software error responsible for Firefly’s off-nominal payload delivery (fireflyspace.com) (space.com)

— Varda’s capsule returns (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— Espen via email: IM-1’s fuel loading

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 2 March 1965: Atlas Centaur AC-5 explosion (en.wikipedia.org) (science.nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)

— Next week (3/5 - 3/11) in 2001: The first ten-person spaceflight

Episode 447: Meta Moon Feb 21, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— IM-1 launch (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: intuitivemachines.com)

Short & Sweet

— H3 completes first successful launch (spacenews.com)

— Voyager 1 still struggles to communicate (space.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— February 21 2008, Interception and destruction of USA-193 (thespacereview.com) (PDF: unoosa.org) (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next week (2/27 - 3/4) in 1965: Technically, that was highly elliptical

Episode 446: No Dana Only Zoozve Feb 14, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Dream Chaser readies for first flight (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)

Short & Sweet

— Viasat-3 pushes forward (spacenews.com)

— Lessons from Artemis 1 (spacenews.com)

— X-37B’s orbit speculation (arstechnica.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— 2002 VE68 was officially named Zoozve! (alex-foster.com) (radiolab.org) (radiolab.org)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 15 February, 1996: Failed launch of Intelsat 708 (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (thespacereview.com) (thespacereview.com) (smithsonianmag.com) (HT Dennis O: web.archive.org)

— Next week (2/20 - 2/26) in 2008: And it’s picked off at the 380,000 yard line!

Episode 445: E-CLPS Feb 07, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— CLPS’ second try (spacenews.com)

— Collins completes Crew Capability Assessment (prnewswire.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (youtube.com)

Short & Sweet

— Queqiao-2 readies for launch (cgtn.com)

— First metal 3D printer in space reaches ISS (europeanspaceflight.com)

— Orbit raising raising questions (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 9 Feb, 2000. First launch of a Fregat upper stage (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next week (2/13 - 2/19) in 1996: First failure

Episode 444: The Little Helo That Could Jan 31, 2024

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Ingenuity Down (HT deltaV: twitter.com/AndySaunders_1) (spacenews.com) (mars.nasa.gov)

— Slim Upside-Down (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)(global.jaxa.jp)

Short & Sweet

— Redwire to provide elements of Blue Origin’s space tug (spacenews.com)

— Two companies test reusable booster prototypes (space.com) (HT: Sam twitter.com/CNSpaceflight)

— ESA astronaut operates Earth-bound robots while on orbit (europeanspaceflight.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Shuttle’s hatch lock (HT: deltaV, arstechnica.com) (spaceref.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— Feb 3, 1994: First launch of the H-II rocket (en.wikipedia.org)

— Next week (2/6 - 2/12) in 2000: First kleptoparasite in space

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