Miscellaneous Launches and Payloads (updates)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

It is nice to see them experiment with the 4th stage restarts.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Cool deal. Too bad they didn't have a cam. Would have been neat to see all those sats separate.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

That would have been awesome....SpaceX style injection cam....we may see that in the future.

 

Overall, ISRO is making progress, great to see.   

[DocM]

 

[Unobscured Vision]

Mir-2?

[DocM]

Not MIR-2. 

 

They're propsing a large module that would start out attached to ISS, then detach to be the core of a commercial ISS replacement. Most likely a Bigelow BA-330 since they've already proposed this same idea as a follow-on to BEAM.

[Unobscured Vision]

Now that's a smart idea.  

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Hubble has been extended to 2021.  

 

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NASA is contractually extending science operations for its Hubble Space Telescope an additional five years. The agency awarded a sole source contract extension Thursday to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for continued Hubble science operations support at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

 

This action will extend the period of performance from July 1 through June 30, 2021. The contract value will increase by approximately $196.3 million for a total contract value of $2.03 billion.

 

This contract extension covers the work necessary to continue the science program of the Hubble mission by the Space Telescope Science Institute. The support includes the products and services required to execute science system engineering, science ground system development, science operations, science research, grants management and public outreach support for Hubble and data archive support for missions in the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. 

 

After the final space shuttle servicing mission to the telescope in 2009, Hubble is better than ever. Hubble is expected to continue to provide valuable data into the 2020’s, securing its place in history as an outstanding general purpose observatory in areas ranging from our solar system to the distant universe.

 

In 2018, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be launched into space as the premier observatory of the next decade, serving astronomers worldwide to build on Hubble’s legacy of discoveries and help unlock some of the biggest mysteries of the universe.

NASA

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Navy satellite sails to orbit atop Atlas 5 rocket for communications grid

 

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CAPE CANAVERAL — And then there were five.

 

The constellation-building Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance successfully deployed the fifth communications spacecraft for the Navy’s Mobile User Objective System today to form a new rugged smartphone network for the U.S. military.

 

“MUOS is a revolutionary system in its infancy,” said Navy Commander Peter Sheehy, principal assistant program manager of MUOS.

 

“Five years from now, we’ll be wondering how we ever operated without it.”

 

The Atlas 5 heaved the massive payload into the proper orbit to complete the launch series, flying straight and true just like the four previous MUOS missions since 2012.

 

MUOS No. 5 left the pad atop the 206-foot-tall rocket when the launch window opened at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT), powering skyward on two-and-a-half million pounds of thrust from the kerosene-fed main engine and five side-mounted solid motors.

 

Within five minutes, the launcher had climbed above the atmosphere, shed the solids, nose cone and first stage, leaving the cryogenic Centaur upper stage to perform three burns spread over three hours to loft the 15,000-pound satellite into a high-perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit.

 

The first stage performed normally, a little “hot” even, with no signs of repeating the mixture ratio valve hiccup suffered on the last flight in March.

more at the link...

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/24/navy-satellite-sails-to-orbit-atop-atlas-5-rocket-for-communications-grid/

 

indepth analysis...

http://spaceflight101.com/muos-5-launch-atop-atlas-v/

 

Launch of MUOS-5 on Largest Atlas V551 Rocket Available

video is 6:51 min.

 

 

 

 

Atlas V MUOS-5 Rocket Cam

video is 2:45 min., very good video...well done!

 

 

 

--------------------------

 

Next Launch...

 

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June 25 Long March 7 • Maiden Flight
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Wenchang, China
A Chinese Long March 7 rocket will launch on its first flight with a re-entry capsule to demonstrate technologies for China’s next-generation human-rated spacecraft. The launch will also mark the first mission from China’s new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island. Moved forward from June 26. [June 22]

http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/

 

Debut Launch of Long March 7 to mark Grand Opening of China’s new Spaceport

 

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China will debut the next in its new line of rockets as early as Saturday, also marking the grand-opening of a new civilian launch base on the Island of Hainan.

 

The Long March 7 rocket – China’s new medium-lift workhorse – is set for its first launch attempt at 12:00 UTC on its maiden voyage to demonstrate new rocket technology set to become China’s ride into space for the next several decades.

 

Whether Saturday’s launch attempt will actually take place is not yet certain due to a bad weather outlook at the new launch site and a general lack of information on launch processing milestones. The official launch period extends through Wednesday, meaning that liftoff may not necessarily be aimed for the weekend.

 

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The introduction of China’s new line of rockets marks a major shift in technology and design philosophy – switching from rockets consuming an expensive and toxic hypergolic propellant mixtures to a more environmentally-friendly Kerosene-Oxygen combination that also provides an increase in performance. Also, the new rockets bet on simplification by commonality – sharing a number of components including engines across the new launcher fleet to streamline the manufacturing process and rapidly build flight heritage.

 

China’s first new launch vehicle debuted last year when the light-lift Long March 6 took flight – providing a first demonstration of the structural systems and engines employed by the larger vehicles that will ultimately replace China’s current vehicle fleet at some point in the 2020s.

 

The Long March 7 variant is expected to become China’s new workhorse launcher, tasked with lifting future space station resupply vehicles into orbit and carrying satellites to Geostationary Transfer Orbit. When its reliability has been fully established, CZ-7 will take over crewed missions employing China’s next generation spacecraft.

more at the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/long-march-7-set-for-debut-launch/

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Get ready for Juno arriving to Jupiter on 4 July...less than two weeks away.

 

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Secrets lie deep within Jupiter, shrouded in the solar system's strongest magnetic field and most lethal radiation belts. On July 4, 2016, NASA's Juno spacecraft will plunge into uncharted territory, entering orbit around the gas giant and passing closer than any spacecraft before. Juno will see Jupiter for what it really is, but first it must pass the trial of orbit insertion. For more information: http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu

also...

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Today (6/24), at exactly 9:57 and 48 seconds a.m. PDT, NASA's Juno spacecraft was 5.5 million miles (8.9 million kilometers) from its July 4th appointment with Jupiter. Over the past two weeks, several milestones occurred that were key to a successful 35-minute burn of its rocket motor, which will place the robotic explorer into a polar orbit around the gas giant.

"We have over five years of spaceflight experience and only 10 days to Jupiter orbit insertion," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "It is a great feeling to put all the interplanetary space in the rearview mirror and have the biggest planet in the solar system in our windshield."  

On June 11, Juno began transmitting to and receiving data from Earth around the clock. This constant contact will keep the mission team informed on any developments with their spacecraft within tens of minutes of it occurring. On June 20, the protective cover that shields Juno's main engine from micrometeorites and interstellar dust was opened, and the software program that will command the spacecraft through the all-important rocket burn was uplinked. 

One of the important near-term events remaining on Juno's pre-burn itinerary is the pressurization of its propulsion system on June 28. The following day, all instrumentation not geared toward the successful insertion of Juno into orbit around Jupiter on July 4 will be turned off. 

"If it doesn't help us get into orbit, it is shut down," said Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "That is how critical this rocket burn is. And while we will not be getting images as we make our final approach to the planet, we have some interesting pictures of what Jupiter and its moons look like from five-plus million miles away."

 

More at Mission Juno

 

 

[Unobscured Vision]

Forum Subscription settings are not notifying properly, so nobody's seeing anything they should be. Case in point, the Juno Mission Thread I created just over a week ago. 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

China’s new Long March 7 rocket successful on first flight

 

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The new kerosene-fueled Long March 7 rocket rocket, developed to become a workhorse for a planned Chinese space station and the country’s clandestine military space program, flew into orbit Saturday on its inaugural flight from a launch base on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

 

Burning a combination of rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen, six YF-100 engines on the Long March 7’s core stage and boosters lit with a flash of orange light and climbed away from a new launch pad at 1200 GMT (8 a.m. EDT; 8 p.m. Beijing time) Saturday, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., or CASC, the Chinese space program’s state-owned prime contractor.

 

Thousands of space enthusiasts crowded around the Wenchang launch base on Hainan Island off China’s southern coastline to get a view of the nighttime blastoff. In a rare move for China’s still-secretive space program, authorities established eight viewing sites around Wenchang to host the public.

 

Climbing atop more than 1.6 million pounds of thrust, the 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket soared southeast from Wenchang, releasing its four liquid-fueled strap-on boosters and twin-engine first stage to fall into the South China Sea.

 

Four smaller YF-115 engines, burning the same kerosene/liquid oxygen mixture, ignited on the Long March 7’s second stage to continue the journey into space.

 

The Long March 7 is the most powerful rocket ever built in China, with capacity to place nearly 30,000 pounds — about 13.5 metric tons — into low Earth orbit. That figure will soon be bested by the heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket, will haul up to 55,000 pounds — 25 metric tons — into low Earth orbit after it debuts later this year from a nearby launch pad at Wenchang.

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/25/chinas-new-long-march-7-rocket-successful-on-first-flight/

 

China debuts Long March 7 Rocket from new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center

http://spaceflight101.com/china-debuts-long-march-7-rocket-from-new-wenchang-satellite-launch-center/

 

Exclusive: China successfully launches new generation carrier rocket

video is 0:44 min.

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Generation Orbit Completes GOLauncher 1 Preliminary Design Review

 

GO1 (Credit: GO)

 

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ATLANTA, June 22, 2016 (GO PR) – Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. (GO) is pleased to announce the successful completion of Preliminary Design Review for the GO1 hypersonic and suborbital testbed. The milestone marks the completion of two design cycles for the system over the course of six months, as well as the transition to detailed design and prototyping activities. These activities include a full-scale engineering development unit for integration, ground testing and validation, along with an inert test article for aircraft integration and flight testing.

 

“We’re very happy with where our metrics for the vehicle stand as we press forward with design, hardware procurement, software development, and integration” commented A.J. Piplica, Chief Operating Officer at GO. “Progress on the engineering development unit and inert test article in the coming months will allow us to evaluate GO1 against our customers’ needs and demonstrate the functionality of the integrated vehicle.”

Development of GO1 remains on schedule to provide a unique flight test capability to the hypersonic and suborbital research communities. The system will enable long-duration, affordable access to high Mach number, endoatmospheric flight conditions necessary for maturing technologies, components, and subsystems relevant to high speed system architectures for both government and commercial applications.

About Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc.

 

Atlanta-based Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc. (GO) focuses on providing fast, flexible, and dedicated space transportation services for small payloads. The unique air launch approach developed by GO and its partners offers flexible launch capabilities, poised to reduce fixed infrastructure needs, launch costs, and the time from contract signature to launch. Air launch system experience at GO dates back over 10 years, providing a distinct advantage throughout the design and analysis process. As a systems integrator, GO compiles multiple aspects of the launch architecture to provide a streamlined service to scientists, researchers, and industry customers alike.

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2016/06/22/generation-orbit-completes-golauncher-1-preliminary-design-review/

 

Here is their website, image gallery as well...

http://generationorbit.com/

 

[DocM]

More on Long March 7

 

They're moving into a more active phase, leading up to the assembly of a MIR size station. ESA is signing on to use it. Lunar missions next.

 

Today's launch flew a test article of their next gen crew vehicle,

 

Long March 7 specs

 

Height    : 53.10 m
Diameter    : 3.35 m 
Mass: 594,000 kg

LEO:    13,500 kg (200x400 km @42°)
SSO:  5,500 kg (700 km)

S1: 2,400 kN, kerolox
Boosters: 4 - 2.25 m solids, 1,200 kN
S2: 706 kN, kerolox
Kick (opt): Yuanzheng-1A (NTO/UMDH)
Kick specs:     6.5 kN, 2 burns/6.5 hrs) 

 

Next Generation Crew Spaceship

 

Masses
LEO: 14t
Cislunar: 20t (+ props, consumables)
LAS: solids in the service module.

 

See something familiar?

 

 

Tianzhou cargo vehicle
Mass: 13t 
Payload: 6t 

 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2016 by DocM

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

A selection of telescopes operating at wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum

 

 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Not a launch ... but NASA will be broadcasting a SLS booster test tomorrow (Tuesday) starting at 930AM ET (test is at 1005).  

 

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The booster for the world's most powerful rocket, NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), which will power the agency’s astronauts on the journey to Mars, will fire up for a major ground test at 10:05 a.m. EDT (8:05 a.m. MDT) Tuesday, June 28, at Orbital ATK Propulsion Systems’ test facilities in Promontory, Utah.

 

This is the last time the booster will be fired in a test environment before the first test flight of SLS with NASA's Orion spacecraft, known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), in late 2018.

 

NASA Television will air a NASA Social event that provides the latest updates and background on SLS and Exploration Mission-1 at 3:30 p.m. Monday, June 27, and will air live coverage of the booster test June 28 beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Source

 

 

[DocM]

Changes;

 

reduced chlorate emmissions, added a 5th segment, new avionics, replaced the asbestos insulation, and adjusted the shape of the solid propellant burn tube to give the proper thrust curve for SLS.

 

After the first few flights they may replace the cases with the Dark Knight Advanced Booster (composite cased etc.)

 

SRB burn tube shapes vs thrust curve

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Prototype for new Chinese human-rated spacecraft lands in desert

 

The sub-scale re-entry capsule for China’s next-generation human-rated spacecraft landed in the Inner Mongolia region at 0741 GMT (3:41 a.m. EDT; 3:41 p.m. Beijing time) Sunday. Credit: Xinhua

 

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A sub-scale landing craft for China’s next-generation crew capsule parachuted back to Earth on Sunday, one day after rocketing into orbit aboard the country’s new Long March 7 launcher.

 

The demonstrator craft spent nearly 20 hours in space before landing in northwest China’s Inner Mongolia region at 0741 GMT (3:41 a.m. EDT; 3:41 p.m. Beijing time) Sunday, the China Manned Space Engineering Office said in a statement.

 

The capsule was one of several experimental payloads launched Saturday on the maiden flight of the new Long March 7 rocket, which deployed the spacecraft in an orbit as high as 235 miles (about 380 kilometers) above Earth.

 

It is about half the size of a future spacecraft still on China’s drawing board to replace the Shenzhou spaceship currently used to ferry Chinese crews to orbit and back.

 

Pictures of the landed capsule released Sunday by Chinese state media showed the capsule on the barren Badain Jaran Desert surrounded by a recovery team clad in orange suits. A Chinese helicopter was shown landed nearby.

 

The capsule’s main parachute apparently dragged the craft some distance across the desert floor, but teams recovered the vehicle in good condition, officials said.

 

The sub-scale model flown this weekend has a height of about 7.5 feet (2.3 meters), a base diameter of 8.5 feet (2.6 meters), and a mass of about 5,730 pounds (2.6 metric tons), according to CASC, the architect and prime contractor for the Chinese space program.

 

Flying for the first time, the testbed capsule “was designed to collect aerodynamic and heat data for a re-entry capsule, to verify key technologies such as detachable thermal protection structure and lightweight metal materials manufacturing, and to carry out blackout telecommunication tests,” the China Manned Space Engineering Office said.

 

The re-entry module landed Sunday measures about 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) tall, 8.5 feet (2.6 meters) in diameter, and weighs about 5,730 pounds (2,600 kilograms). It is about half the size of China’s planned replacement for the Shenzhou crew capsule. Credit: Xinhua

 

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While the Shenzhou spacecraft can accommodate three astronauts, the new spacecraft could carry larger crews. Chinese officials have not said when the new crew carrier could be ready to fly with astronauts.

 

The re-entry probe carried sensors to measure pressures, temperatures and heat flow data, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., or CASC, the chief architect and prime contractor for the Chinese space program.

 

“According to officials from the China Manned Space Agency, the successful recovery of the scale model laid a solid foundation for the design and development of the next-generation manned spacecraft,” the China Manned Space Engineering Office said. “It also indicates that all the preset goals for the Long March 7’s maiden mission have been achieved.”

 

A statement released by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a subsidiary of CASC, said an experimental upper stage named Yuanzheng 1A was also successfully tested on the Long March 7 launch. Described by state media as a “shuttle bus” between different orbits, the re-ignitable stage can operate in orbit for up to 48 hours and fire its engine many times.

more at the link...

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/06/26/prototype-for-new-chinese-human-rated-spacecraft-lands-in-desert/

 

China lands Prototype Crew Spacecraft after inaugural Long March 7 Launch

http://spaceflight101.com/china-lands-prototype-crew-spacecraft-after-inaugural-long-march-7-launch/

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

The booster test has been rescheduled for 11:05 EDT. 

 

Edit:  Replay of the booster test below.

 

 

[Jim K Global Moderator]

I have to say ... that is an impressive stache 

 

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Massive Solid Rocket Booster fired for final Ground Test before Flight on NASA’s SLS

 

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A crowd of 10,000 gathered to watch the motor come to life followed six seconds later by the arrival of the shockwaves and the rumble of raw rocket power.

 

Qualification Motor 2 built on four prior tests of the Orbital ATK-built SLS Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) – three horizontal test firings as part of the development program in 2009, 10 and 11 and QM-1 in 2015 that marked the first of the two Qualification Tests.

 

The test program aimed to validate the thermal and structural dynamics of the five-segment Solid Rocket Booster that –although using Shuttle heritage – had to go through a full testing program due to the addition of a booster segment that increases the total impulse delivered by the SRB by 25% – a necessity when looking at the missions to be performed by SLS.

 

The Development Tests as well as the Qualification Tests demonstrated the operation of the boosters at their upper and lower temperature limits of 4 and 32 degrees Celsius, requiring the large rockets to be conditioned for several weeks prior to the test firings. QM-2 had been in a 4°C environment since early May to ensure the desired Propellant Mean Bulk Temperature would be achieved on test day.

 

The protective housing that provided refrigeration to the booster for six weeks – Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

 

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Measuring 53.95 meters in length and 3.71 meters in diameter with a total mass of around 725 metric tons, the five-segment SRBs are the largest solid rocket boosters ever built for use aboard a space launch vehicle.

 

They use the same rubber-textured propellant formulation as the Space Shuttle that relied on its twin four-segment boosters for the first two minutes of flight, delivering the majority of thrust needed to lift the vehicle off the ground.

 

Teams at Orbital ATK’s T-97 test stand at the Promontory facility began final preparations for the test at 11:05p.m. local time, setting up for an early morning ignition – keeping temperature considerations in mind when selecting the test time.

 

Six hours ahead of the expected ignition, teams completed the rollback of the protective housing that provided the thermal environment for the booster by using multiple air conditioners for the last six weeks to chill the booster. While sitting in the open, the booster’s joints were continuously cooled to be kept at the low operating temperature up until ignition.

 

A delay of one hour had to be called when a computer sequencer controlling the test showed a problem, requiring hardware to be replaced and re-tested to ensure all support systems were ready for the test.

 

The sequencer recycle showed good results and teams proceeded into the formal one-hour countdown to power up the last measurement systems and initiate data recorders – all controlled from a command bunker near the test stand.

 

Smoke and fire erupted from the booster at 15:05 UTC as it thundered to a total thrust of 14.7 Meganewtons (1,500 metric-ton force) – generating about 8% less thrust than QM-1 last year that was fired at the upper temperature limit.

 

The twin mid span supports preventing sag on the booster are featured in this nighttime view of QM-2. Note the mirror in front of the business end of the booster to deliver a view of ignition to a high-speed camera. – Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls

 

Photo: NASA TV

 

more at the link...

http://spaceflight101.com/sls-qm-2-test-fire/

 

All this hype for extremely expensive throw aways......

[Jim K Global Moderator]

yea...it is a shame ... nothing on that rocket is reusable ... except I think the Orion (well the crew module part anyway) ... which is chump change compared to the rest of it.  Thought I read somewhere that a manned flight might not take place until 2023.  Ridiculous ...not blaming NASA ... but the politics behind it.

[DocM]

It's also unlikely Orion will fly past cislunar space, contrary to the PR hype.

 

Atfter Orion's last test flight the heat shield was very cooked. They had to switch from a honecomb filled with AvCoat to tiles. Even with that, it isn't up to more than 12.5 kps. The NASA Mars DRM says Mars->Earth reentry will be 12-14 km/s. Pretty thin. Odds are they'll have to leave it at the cislunar space station as the taxi for the return trip to Earth.

 

 

[Unobscured Vision]

And the little "stunt" they're pulling with refrigerating that booster before the test? That's so they can overstate the power output. It's a trick. Let those boosters cook in the Florida sun for a couple of days and they WON'T put out the same amount of thrust.

 

Ugh ... 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I'm not sure of how long the prior test booster was subjected to 32C , but the low end was 8% less according to the article. The amount of money put into this booster development, for an extra segment, is plain nuts, rumor has it at 3 billion and is probably not far off.

 

What would one have if newspace had this funding for development all along....I would hazard to guess that the first landings on Mars would have been done with insitu prototypes up and running....