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 433: Dinkinesh and Dinkynesh Nov 08, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Lucy flies past Dinkinesh and also Dinkinesh (nasa.gov) (lucy.swri.edu) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov VIA ntrs.nasa.gov)

— Aerojet Rocketdyne supplied Lucy’s thrusters (l3harris.com) (PDF: amazonaws.com)

Short & Sweet

— Starship aims for mid-November launch (nasaspaceflight.com)

— i-Space hops (spacenews.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 12 Nov, 1995. Launch of STS-74, second Shuttle-Mir docking (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (PDF: spacepresskit.files.wordpress.com) (youtu.be) (nss.org) (wikiarchives.space)

— Next week (11/14 - 11/20) in 1988: The cold wind blew but once.

Episode 432: DOWNLINK--Orbit Fab Nov 01, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— ABL Dusts Itself Off (spacenews.com) (harryohanley.substack.com)

Short & Sweet

— NASA struggles to open asteroid sample container (space.com)

— Rocket Lab to return (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Blue Origin’s latest Blue Moon mockup (spacenews.com)

— Canopée to ferry Ariane 6 (fosstodon.org/@AkaSci)

— You can register to send your name with Europa Clipper (europa.nasa.gov)

— Mike Stewart’s core rope memory reader (finally) debuted on CuriousMarc’s channel (youtube.com)

— Aaron Sawdey: Crew Dragon engine inventory (discord.com):

Interview -- Daniel Faber, CEO and Adam Harris, CCO of Orbit Fab

— Further reading

— Furphy on ISS (issnationallab.org)

— Analysis of a potential Orbit Fab shuttle/depot architecture (researchgate.net)

— orbitfab.com

— linkedin.com/in/adam-harris-363414a6

— linkedin.com/in/danielfaber

— linkedin.com/company/orbitfab

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 4 Nov, 2011: The end of Mars-500 (space.com) (wikipedia.org) (bbc.com)

— Next week (11/7 - 11/13) in 1995: Mission extension… of 4.7 m

Episode 431: Roller Coaster Tycoon Oct 25, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Gaganyaan in-flight abort test (youtube.com) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (HT: Jatan’s Space PDF: gov.in) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/DJSnM)

— Pad abort test (https://www.youtube.com)

— Future human Indian Space ambitions (gov.in) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— PLD Test Launch (spacenews.com)

— Two Vega payloads fail to deploy (europeanspaceflight.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Shuttle astronaut mass allotments (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— October 28, 2009: Launch of the Ares I-X (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (blogs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Next week (10/31 - 11/6) in 2011: Warning: removing this sticker will void your experiment.

Episode 430: Iron Sponge Oct 18, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Psyche launch and mission preview (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (scitechdaily.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (microdevices.jpl.nasa.gov)

Short & Sweet

— Spacewalk canceled due to Nauka leak (space.com)

— QueSST to fly in 2024 (nasa.gov)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 21 Oct, 2007. Soyuz TMA-10’s ballistic reentry (ruspace.blogspot.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (PDF: sma.nasa.gov)

— Next week (10/24 - 10/30) in 2009: Nominal tumble

Episode 429: DOWNLINK--Ben Reed Oct 11, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Tiangong’s expansion (hindustantimes.com) (cnn.com)

— Northrop Grumman joins Starlab team (nasa.gov)

— Orbital Reef may be abandoned (cnbc.com)

Short & Sweet

— Luna-25 failure “analysis” (spacenews.com)

— Stoke Space gets more funding (spacenews)

Interview -- Ben Reed, CTO Quantum Space

— quantumspace.us

— linkedin.com/company/quantumspace-us/

— linkedin.com/in/ben-b-reed/

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 11 Oct, 2000: STS-92, the100th shuttle mission (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org)

— Next week (10/17 - 10/23) in 2007: Face forward

Episode 428: Actual Human Ballast Oct 04, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Electron suffers upper stage failure (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (youtu.be)

Short & Sweet

— Stoke Space hops (spacenews.com)

— Sierra Space does a burst test (spacenews)

— China plans for lunar sample return (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— A big thanks to Unc’willy, Fonji, Chris S in particular for helping Ben track down and fix an issue with our Discord bot

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 29 September, 2004: Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne (en.wikipedia.org) (sma.nasa.gov) (erikmadaus.medium.com) (airbum.com)

— Next week (10/10 - 10/16) in 2000: Four forbidden cough drops

Episode 427: Pre-Dawn Sep 20, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Dawn Aerospace discusses future plans (parabolicarc.com)

Short & Sweet

— Artemis-II gets its engines (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Firefly launches Victus Nox (spacenews.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Stoke Space test fires (twitter.com/stoke_space)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 22 Sep, 1981. Colombia spills NTO before STS-2 (16streets.com) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)

— Next week (9/26 - 10/2) in 2004: Victory roll

Episode 426: Studyin’ The Sun Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Aditya-L1 studyin’ the Sun (space.com) (eoportal.org) (PDF: iiap.res.in)

Short & Sweet

— Starship stands corrected (spacenews.com)

— MaiaSpace tests cryogenic second stage (europeanspaceflight.com)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Apollo LOX tanks (twitter.com/DrPhiltill)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 15 Sept, 2017: End of the Cassini mission (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: lpi.usra.edu) (PDF: engineering.purdue.edu)

— Next week (9/19 - 9/25) in 1981: Big F*@&ing Red Spill

Episode 425: Ding Log Sep 06, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— OSIRIS-REx prep (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)

Short & Sweet

— New Frontiers competition delayed (spacenews.com)

— Ariane 6 hot-fire test delayed (europeanspaceflight.com)

— Otter Pup detumbled! (payloadspace.com) (twitter.com/StarfishSpace)

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 9 Sept, 2006: The launch of STS-115 Atlantis (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (nasaspaceflight.com)

— Next week (9/12 - 9/18) in 2017: Son devoured

Episode 424: DOWNLINK--IEEE Senior Member David Witkowski Aug 30, 2023

Show notes

Spaceflight News

— Chandrayaan-3 landing (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (isro.gov.in) (indianexpress.com VIA 12ft.io)

Questions, Comments, Corrections

— From the intro: Starship Booster 9 static fire (with deluge) (twitter.com/SpaceX)

Interview -- IEEE Senior Member David Witkowski

— Further reading: Public Wifi Blueprint (PDF: pages.nist.gov)

— twitter.com/w6dtw

— okusolutions.com

— linkedin.com/company/okusolutions

This Week in Spaceflight History

— 30 Aug, 1984. Launch of STS-41D (space.nss.org)

— Next week (9/5 - 9/11) in 2006: Icicle and pebble

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