tagged w/ Spacevidcast
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SpaceX founder, CEO and CTO Elon Musk sat down with us for about 20 minutes to talk about space and SpaceX. This is the 10 minute SpacePod edition which has a little under 1/2 the interview available. For the full interview you'll need to sign up for Spacevidcast epic access.SpaceX founder, CEO and CTO Elon Musk sat down with us for about 20 minutes to talk... more
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We sure do like pretty pictures here at Spacevidcast. The latest stunning imagery comes from our friends over at ESA. The Rosetta spacecraft flew only 3,162 kilometers or just under 2,000 miles from the Lutetia asteroid on July 10th, 2010. This asteroid is about 130 kilometers in diameter and is the largest asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft.
Check out a few of the images that Rosetta took. Notice the heavily cratered surface much like our moon. That would come from billions of years of impacts with other objects. To put the size of this asteroid in to perspective, it is about 1/13th the size of our own moon at 130 kilometers as opposed to 1,737 kilometers for good ol’ Luna.
Lutetia is not the final destination for Rosetta, just a little stop along the way. In 2014 the spacecraft should rendezvous with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko where it will not only orbit the comet, but also place a lander on its surface!
Like many spacecraft these days, the Rosetta craft has not been without its issues, and the mission isn’t even done yet! Originally the craft was to be launched in January 2003 with a rendezvous target of 46P/Wirtanen in 2011. However this plan had to be abandoned after an Ariane 5 rocket failed to launch on time. A new plan was formed to launch in February 2004 with the new target of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. After 2 more launch scrubs, which we all know and love, the Rosetta spacecraft finally took flight on March 2nd, 2004.
However, this late launch date was not without consequence. On February 25, 2007 the spacecraft had to perform a low-altitude bypass of Mars to correct trajectory due to the later launch date. How low? About 250 kilometers or 155 miles! During this time the solar panels could not be used as they would be in the shadow of Mars for 15 minutes, which forced engineers to put the craft in to standby mode and hope the batteries would last. Of course the batteries were not designed for this and it would cause a very dangerous shortage of power. This created the nickname “The billion dollar gamble” for this particular maneuver. Of course Rocket scientists really know how to gamble and the flyby was a smashing success!
Here’s hoping Rosetta has a continued safe journey and we get even more stunning imagery and science from the craft for years to come!
Space geeks, our show doesn’t end here! Remember to subscribe to us in iTunes and help make Spacevidcast the #1 space related podcast in the iTunes Podcast directory! Leave your comments and let us know what you think. And don’t forget to check out our Live show this Friday at 0200 hours coordinated universal time where we’ll have guest Dennis Wingo the author of “Moonrush” joining us. We’ll be talking about the moon and how it can be utilized to better life here on Earth. Ever have a friend ask why we should go back to the Moon and on to Mars? Dennis has the answers! For those in the US that would be Thursday night at 7:00pm pacific daylight time, 8:00pm mountain daylight time, 9:00pm central daylight time or 10:00pm eastern daylight time. You can watch on your computer, iPhone, iPad or Roku box live, and we’ll see you there!We sure do like pretty pictures here at Spacevidcast. The latest stunning imagery... more
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Beautiful images, beautiful launches and awesome new features on your SpacePod for June 30th, 2010
Lets take a look at some stunning images, shall we? We start or journey with an amazing picture taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter or LRO. With the Wide Angle Camera pointed at Earth, the LRO team took this awesome view of our home planet. The top right of the picture at around 2:00 is the North Pole. You can also see Japan and Australia from here. I think I see a desktop wallpaper being generated out of this. Oh wait, we already did that. Head over to the Wallpapers, Ringtones and Downloads section of Spacevidcast to grab that one.
Here is an amazing shot of an F-15 in the sky. What makes this space related? If you look at the bottom of the picture you can make out both Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Launch Pads, 39A and B. These images were taken by John Peltier and look just... WAIT... IS THAT A SHUTTLE LAUNCHING? Yes, if I'm not mistaken that's Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-132. If you look veeeery closely you can see the Spacevidcast media tent. OK, maybe not. These photos are just too good for desktop wallpapers, these are for framing. And if you want to get your own print copy you can do that at the URL on your screen. Prices start at around $8.00 US and I think this would make a great addition to your space gallery.
We've all seen the Falcon 9 launch video before, but most sites, including our own only had low quality SD from the launch itself that buffered and buffered and buffered. Fortunately SpaceX has released this epic video in HD of the launch itself.
Speaking of SpaceX, Falcon 9 flight 2 is coming along nicely. On June 27th, 2010 in McGregor Texas SpaceX performed a 40 second static firing test of the next 9 Merlin engines to be used on the first stage of Falcon 9 Flight 2. Say that three times fast!
I don't know about you, but I was just waiting for the entire structure to just rip from the ground and launch to space. Falcon 9 Flight 2 is currently scheduled to lift of in the future... some time. Maybe Quarter 3 of this year?
And finally, some awesome news for you Roku owners out there. Spacevidcast now has our own channel! Thanks in no small part, and by no small part I mean entirely to Todd the Moon... er... Pete Riesett. Now if you want to watch Spacevidcast on your HDTV at home, you can with ease. Just pick up this $99 box and hook it up to your broadband Internet connection and HDTV. Install the FREE Spacevidcast channel and you can watch our live channel, NASA TV live, our all new live feed from the International Space Station, Space Pods and Archived live shows right from the comfort of your living room. This thing is beyond awesome. Nearly 3,500 space tweeps have already installed the Spacevidcast channel in the first week! If you don't already have a Roku box, go pick one up using the link on the screen. Not only can you get your Spacevidcast fix, but you can also get Netflix streaming, Amazon On-Demand and a slew of other awesome channels. Please don't forget to rate our channel while you're at it. We're currently only accepting a 5 star rating though :) Oh, for you Roku standard definition owners, fret not we're working on a way for you to get our channel too. Right now we're HD only.
More Spacevidcast upgrades are on the way soon. Subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know, or better yet, grab a copy of Spacevidcast epic to get all the juicy behind the scenes type stuff!Beautiful images, beautiful launches and awesome new features on your SpacePod for... more
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CAPE CANAVERAL – When vacationers visiting the Central Florida area search out fun, interactive shows to take the kids to the first locations to come to mind are probably Disney World or Universal Studios. Now there is a third option – Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (KSCVC). The roving KSC reporter had scheduled a visit to KSCVC to film a segment on the Astronaut Encounter and Shuttle Launch Experience attractions (stay tuned for those segments) – when it was decided to include a third, awesome segment regarding one of the complex’s newest editions – Star Trek Live.
Tied heavily into the recent Star Trek film by Paramount Pictures the Star Trek Live interactive show allows audience members to interact with the characters that are part of the program. Everyone in the audience is a “cadet” during Starfleet Academy’s first year. A day that should begin with classes in quantum mechanics and particle physics quickly spirals out of control as a renegade time-traveling Romulan threatens one of mankind’s greatest accomplishments with annihilation.
However the cadets will not have to face this threat alone. A single temporal agent has been sent back in time to save us. In so doing, along with the cadet’s commander’s help, he educates guests into very important parts of current space exploration technology and how they relate to the tech of the Star Trek universe.
More importantly the show is simply fun. The personalities tap into key archetypes within the Star Trek mythos – with their own personal, hilarious spin. The best way to see what I am talking about – is to schedule a trip for yourself. If the cryptic comments aren’t enough to tempt you into stopping by, then stay tuned for upcoming segments about the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Until then? Live long – and prosper.CAPE CANAVERAL – When vacationers visiting the Central Florida area search out... more
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There are a few launches that we have not yet covered from this last week... So lets take a look. First up we have the Chinese Shijian 12 research satellite that was launched aboard a Long March 2d. There is not a whole log of footage from this launch, but here's what we could find.
Not a lot is known about the Shijian or "Practice" 12 satellite other than it is a research bird. The launch took place at 1:31 UTC from the ;Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 14th, 2010.
Next up we have Prisma and Picard launched aboard a Dnepr, which is a decommissioned ICBM.
The Primsa demonstration mission is a Swedish payload that will test new inexpensive technologies for rendezvous in space. The Picard payload is a French satellite that will be studying the Sun. THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS! See what I did there? Little Star Trek reference? Nevermind. This launch took place on June 15th at 14:42 UTC from Russia.
Who could forget the Human Space Flight that also happend on June 15th at 21:35 UTC with Expedition 24/25 aboard a Soyuz Rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome?
And why is it that Russia can have a camera INSIDE of the spacecraft but NASA can't? The crew has already docked with the ISS and for those who like to know about the firsts, this will be the first time Station has seen two women on a long duration mission, although not the first time two women on station.There are a few launches that we have not yet covered from this last week... So lets... more
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Frederick I. Ordway III sat down with us at the 2010 International Space Development Conference to talk about his book, "The Rocket Team". Fred was highly passionate about the past and after asking only 1 question he was able to tell the story of The Rocket Team.
The entire interview is 20 minutes long and has been cut in to 3 parts. This is the final of the thee part series.Frederick I. Ordway III sat down with us at the 2010 International Space Development... more
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Frederick I. Ordway III sat down with us at the 2010 International Space Development Conference to talk about his book, "The Rocket Team". Fred was highly passionate about the past and after asking only 1 question he was able to tell the story of The Rocket Team.
The entire interview is 20 minutes long and has been cut in to 3 parts. This is the second of the thee part series.Frederick I. Ordway III sat down with us at the 2010 International Space Development... more
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Frederick I. Ordway III sat down with us at the 2010 International Space Development Conference to talk about his book, "The Rocket Team". Fred was highly passionate about the past and after asking only 1 question he was able to tell the story of The Rocket Team.
The entire interview is 20 minutes long and has been cut in to 3 parts. This is the first of the thee part series.Frederick I. Ordway III sat down with us at the 2010 International Space Development... more
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At the 2010 International Space Development Conference we had a chance to catch up with Dr. Robert Zubrin and chat about Mars for a bit. His never-waning passion for putting human explorers on Mars is a bit infectious. ;
With the recent success of the SpaceX Falcon 9 maiden launch and hopefully soon a Falcon 9 Heavy launch, maybe Dr. Zubrin's dreams of going to Mars within, well, some day are actually possible? It's not the technology we lack, but rather the will to go. So lets get excited about moving past Low Earth Orbit and set our sites on a destination. While personally I don't care if it is Mars, Enceladus, the Moon or some crazy asteroid there is something to be said about having a unified voice.
Maybe it's time that we as a space community stood up and said, "Hey World, we're going to Mars!"
njoy the interview, and please, get inspired. Want to do something, how about attend the 2010 Mars Society Convention? Want to learn more about Dr. Zubrin? Check out his books on Amazon.comAt the 2010 International Space Development Conference we had a chance to catch up... more
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CAPE CANAVERAL -- Old hands out at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will tell you that no two launches are alike. However, the launch of Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket was perhaps the singularly most unique rocket launch in recent memory. Many have said that this flight marked a new age of spaceflight, a new way of doing the business of space travel.
With a press site in the midst of renovation, a dropout of video access and a wayward boat – this marked one of the most memorable launch days in history. However, through the weather concerns, tech issues and overly-enthusiastic sightseers the SpaceX team persevered and sent their rocket off on its maiden flight.
There were concerns early on that rough weather that was predicted to hit around 11:30 would cause a slip or scrub – however weather did not pose an issue with launch. Then there was a minor tech issue with telemetry – one which Falcon 9 techs quickly turned into a non-issue. It does seem that every launch has a small bit of “drama” included in the day’s lineup of events – however it rarely involves a wayward boat, helicopters and the U.S. Coast Guard.
Information was very hard to get but it became apparent that an “object” was in the restricted safety zone. We later found out that this “object” was a boat, that had been told to leave the area by a UH-60 Blackhawk and then, once outside the restricted zone, was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard – for a “discussion” regarding the crew’s error.
On the first launch attempt the countdown went all the way to two seconds - and then was aborted. Around the press site, all the old veterans were predicting doom and gloom, “Well that’s that for the day!” They said. They were all wrong. I can include myself in their number – and SpaceX – made us all eat our words. The first attempt was held at 1:30 p.m. EDT. How could they possible recycle in time to launch before their window closed at 3 p.m.? Easy – you work the problem and you try again for a 2:45 p.m. launch.
The announcement was made that the second attempt would be made and a mild state of shock rolled around the press site. These SpaceX guys had nerves of steel. The clock ticked down – and it did not stop. When the clock hit zero – the Falcon 9 lit to the skies like the bird she was named for. There is a funny story there and one that I hope my friends at Space Florida and SpaceX do not mind me relaying to you.
Being a regular at KSC – I prided myself on my knowledge of the area. The folks on the roof of the Orlando Sentinel building with me – had me looking at the Atlas pad. Folks over at the OSB II building – went nuts – you could hear them clear over at the press site. Then Emily Shanklin with SpaceX – lost her mind. I have never seen someone more excited to see a bird take flight. In all honesty I cannot thank her enough for her genuine expression of emotion. It made me realized the power and importance of this moment. As I drove home rolling over the day’s events in my mind I got stuck behind a car and it seemed I was being given a sign as to just how important this day was. The license plate on the car read simply – TO MARS.
Go SpaceXCAPE CANAVERAL -- Old hands out at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will tell you... more
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Last night United Launch Alliance was slated to lift the all new Boeing GPS IIF series satellites in to orbit. The IIF series is the latest in our GPS constellation, which originally started in 1978 with Navstar I. The first GPS satellites were known as Block I units and were in service from 1978 to 1995. Starting in 1989 the Block II satellites started getting added to the constellation and 19 of these block II satellites were used until 2007. Then we moved on to Block IIA then Block IIR followed by Block IIR-M and now we're launching our first new Block IIF series GPS satellite.
Each new series adds improvements to the constellation. According to Boeing, the Block IIF satellites feature two times greater signal accuracy than heritage satellites, New L5 signals for aviation, a new military 'M code' which sounds a bit foreboding, an on-orbit programmable processor and of course a 12 year shelf life.
Well now that we know about the awesome new satellite, lets take a look at that launch, shall we?
Well, that's the life of a space geek. Sometimes is just comes down to the wire. At least I have my new Android 2.2 operating system to play with until that Delta IV is ready to liftoff! Hey, did I mention that Spacevidcast live and on-demand plays great on Android 2.2 with Flash?Last night United Launch Alliance was slated to lift the all new Boeing GPS IIF series... more
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You may have noticed that I have started referring to these short shows as Space Pods rather than Dailies. There appears to be a bit of confusion between our short daily shows that we do 3 to 4 times a week and hour long live show that we do once a week. Both are produced by Spacevidcast, but each is a different show. During this last week's live show Ninja Ken or "New Jersey Ken" if you want to be all proper like, came up with the name 'Space Capsule'. Cariann and I tweaked it a bit to 'Space Pod' to be a play on Podcast and boom, there you go. And today's Space Pod is about STS-132.
Holy Man. When we cut off last week's show to try and prevent jinxing the launch, a bunch of people complained saying that they WANTED the update! Ok, we'll give you the STS-132 update, but if it gets delayed for any reason, that's on you!
At this time NASA is looking to have the final launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis this coming Friday at 18:20 UTC or 2:20pm EDT. While this is slated to be the last launch for Atlantis, it may not be her last mission. For STS-134 Space Shuttle Atlantis will act as the Launch On Need vehicle for a mission we hope we'll never need: STS-335. Should Space Shuttle Endeavour need a rescue mission, Atlantis will be at the ready to fly up and grab the crew. Since the inception of the Launch On Need program after the loss of Columbia, no shuttle has been required to fly on a rescue mission, so chances are quite good STS-132 will be the last time we see Atlantis fly.
STS-132's primary payload is a Russian Mini Payload Module. This module will be used to store cargo but also adds a much needed spaceship docking port. With the Soyuz, ATV and Progress vehicles all coming and going from the ISS a forth docking port is needed. Hey, just because *we're* retiring the space shuttle doesn't mean no one will be flying to the ISS! Now that it's basically complete, there's going to be quite a bit of traffic up there!
The countdown to the final launch of Atlantis begins tomorrow at 20:00 UTC or 4:00pm EDT. Right now it is looking like we are go for the May 14th launch date, but as you shuttle fans know, any minor thing can delay a launch. The current forecast only has a mix of sun and clouds at T-0, so we're looking good thus far. Then again, this is Florida we're talking about here. Sunny one second, hurricanes the next.
Spacevidcast.com is the *only* place you can get High Definition streaming, High Quality streaming and Mobile streaming all in one place. Watch the launch in beautiful HD. If your computer or Internet provider can't take the HD feed, fret not our high-quality feed still looks better than most every other sites out there. On the go? Watch live coverage on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Simply go to spacevidcast.com on your iDevice and click play when you see the video. No software to download, nothing to buy. Unless of course you are watching on your computer and want to get rid of those annoying pop-up ads. In that case, Spacevidcast epic is your friend. Oh, and you get exclusive content with that too, so check it out at spacevidcast.com/epic.
Both Cariann and I will be at the Kennedy Space Center Press Site giving you live coverage starting at 13:00 UTC or 9:00am EDT the day of the launch. We'll have live interviews with awesome guests, cool giveaways and an all around great time. We're excited to see this historic moment with you. If you can't watch it in person, we hope you'll watch it with us on Spacevidcast. And a special thanks to both Ustream for streaming this event in insane awesome quality. No one else has been able to take the quality and load that we offer, and the team over at Ustream.com do an amazing job. We also have a special treat for you. The new countdown and mission data on the screen will be powered by MissionClock. Get your copy of MissionClock before the launch, it is hands down the coolest iPhone and iPad application a space geek can have.You may have noticed that I have started referring to these short shows as Space Pods... more
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Shut down space programs, delayed launches, more delayed launches and all new rockets! That are also delayed. On your Spacevidcast Daily for May 5th, 2010.
Obama has appointed U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to lead a new task force in order to try and find a way to best spend $40 million dollars. Allow me to suggest a small donation of $5 million by Gary and Charles to Spacevidcast if I may. That $40 million was actually promised by President Obama at his April 15th Speech at Kennedy Space Center. While the President is INCREASING NASA's budget, he is still slashing Constellation, assuming his plan is passed by Congress. This slash will unroot many native Floridians who work on NASA's Human Space Flight program. When this year winds down we will no longer have a space shuttle program. Since Constellation is canceled, we won't have a replacement program either. That's going to displace a lot of people. This $40 million dollars is slated to help train the current workforce so they can find jobs outside of their current area of expertise, as well as keep the space based economy in Florida from collapsing. The due date for the task force's homework assignment is August 15th of this year. It will not be graded on a curve.
Remember that Galaxy 15 zombiesat we talked about yesterday? They tried one last hail mary to try and get the satellite to shut down and go dark. Alas, this final attempt failed as well. It is now up to SES World Skies to try and keep the Intelsat run Galaxy 15 from causing a blackout of their own AMC-11. This will be a difficult to impossible task of moving the AMC-11 satellite while still maintaining its proper place in orbit. All the while they will need to ensure that they don't cross the streams!
Lets head back over to Kennedy Space Center where the SpaceX built Falcon 9 rocket sits ready to launch. And by ready I mean completely grounded by the Air Force. While the rocket itself is ready, the Flight Termination System has not yet approved. The FTS is designed to destroy the rocket in case SpaceX loses control and it endangers the range or crew. Falcon 9 has a No Earlier Than launch date of May 16th, 2010 but that doesn't mean it will actually launch then, that just means it can't launch BEFORE then. SpaceX is required to give a date to the space center, and that's what they did. Hopes are that we'll see the Falcon 9 lift off for its maiden voyage mid May, but rumors say that we're out until at least June. Originally we were supposed to see a launch on November 29th, 2009. That got delayed to Feburary 9th, 2010 which was in turn delayed to March 3rd, which was delayed to March 8th which has now been delayed to May 16th. Still slated for 2010 is the launch of the Falcon 9 heavy and Dragon capsule. Of course, the Air Force has to let them FLY first!
US space programs are not the only ones with issues. India has delayed their first commercial launch of 2010 due to a problem with their rocket. During a pre-launch test ISRO scientists saw an unexpected pressure drop in the second stage. The PSLV rocket is cool in that every other stage alternates between solid and liquid fuels. So the first stage is solid, the second stage is liquid, the third stage is solid again and the forth stage is liquid. Kinda neat. While the drop is pressure was minor, they are a bit jumpy as on April 15th an ISRO rocket decided that it wanted to take a quick swim in the sea rather than float around in outer space. Little known fact, space based payloads such as satellites don't like to get wet.
And it seems that Arianespace is meeting a similar fate to that of India. The first flight of the Ariane 5 for 2010 was postponed back in April of this year and now it looks like the shiny new vehicle built for Arianespace will be delayed as well. Known as Vega this new rocket was supposed to enter service in 2010 giving the space program a fleet of three different rocket designs. Vega is designed to take small payloads to orbit. It has no strap on boosters and three solid rocket stages. Oh, and that delayed mission from April we mentioned... Yeah, that still has not launched. No ETA.
In all fairness to all of these companies, yes, it really is rocket science.
Speaking of delays... Should we be talking about the scheduled May 14th launch of STS-132 in this episode or would that just be jinx it? Because STS-132...Shut down space programs, delayed launches, more delayed launches and all new rockets!... more
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The Galaxy 15 satellite has become a zombie and will soon eat the brains of AMC-11 on your Spacevidcast Daily for May 4th, 2010.
On April 5th, 2010 Intelsat lost control of the Orbital Sciences built Galaxy 15 satellite and has been unable to regain it's correct position in orbit. Losing communication with a multi-million dollar satellite is generally not that great of a thing to have happen, but in this case it is even worse. The bird itself is floating around with its transponders still active. Now for the really fun part: the satellite is moving out of its assigned orbital slot and is about to enter in to range of another satellite: AMC-11.
Typically one would be worried of an impact event which then causes tons of space debris, but in this case the problem will be interference. Since both satellites will be broadcasting at the same time in the same orbital slot, the malfunctioning Galaxy 15 could end up knocking out communications of AMC-11 when it gets too close. Right now best estimates put that date at May 23rd. Then we'll have TWO decommissioned satellites.
But the fun doesn't end there! If ground controllers can't regain control of Galaxy 15, and it keeps drifting, eventually it will exit the assigned orbital slot for AMC-11 some time around June 7th, and could then move on to take out the next satellite in its way. And so forth and so on until they can either shut it down or it loses its Earth pointing capability which would then cause the solor arrays to lose lock with the sun, and a couple of hours later the batteries would drain and the unit would shut down on its own.
Yesterday Intelsat was going to try one last hail mary to see if they can't get control of the satellite. Well, less control and more of an emergency shutdown command. This was a powerful command sent for around 30 minutes to try and get Galaxy 15 to turn off its transponders and go dark so it won't wreak havoc on the satellite constellation. No word yet on if this attempt worked or not.
Galaxy 15 has been replaced by Galaxy 12 which was already located at another orbital location and moved in to the proper orbital slot for the old Galaxy 15. Since most of the transponders on Galaxy 15 match that of Galaxy 12, that was a fairly good workaround, although Galaxy 12 is missing L-Band units that were available on the other satellite.
If the satellite is not shut down, then around July 13th it should reach the vicinity of Galaxy 13, on July 30th it will reach Galaxy 14 and in Mid August it will reach Galaxy 18. Eventually it is expected to reach the satellite wasteland at 105 degrees west where satellites go to die. There are two parking lots for satellites, one at 105 degrees west and one at 75 degrees east. Current estimates put more than 160 zombiesats parked at these two locations. This will be the first Orbital Sciences built satellite to get zombified.The Galaxy 15 satellite has become a zombie and will soon eat the brains of AMC-11 on... more
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Launches, dockings and near disasters on your Spacevidcast Daily for May 3rd, 2010
Last Wednesday, April 28th at 17:15 UTC a Russian Soyuz-U carrier rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome en route to the International Space Station.
Aboard the rocket was the Progress 37P spacecraft. And aboard the craft was fresh food and supplies for the Expedition 23 crew aboard the Space Station. The cool thing about the Progress-M spacecraft is that it employs an automated docking mechanism to glide it in and safely have it dock with the International Space Station. This automated system is known as Kurs and has been in use by Russia since the Mir space station days. Of course in an emergency an astronaut or cosmonaut can take manual control over the spacecraft locally or from the International Space Station. And that's just what happened.
During rendezvous operations, when the spacecraft was about a kilometer from the space station, the Kurs system failed. No problem. Cosmonaut Oleg Kotov used the backup TORU system to manually control the Progress vehicle in to a safe and stable dock. Oleg has now set a record for the furthest distance a Progress spacecraft has flown under manual control.
If the TORU or Teleoperated Mode of (spacecraft) Control rings a bell, that's because on June 25th, 1997 it became quite famous. During a test of the Progress 234 docking system with the Mir space station, the Progress vehicle slammed in to the Mir causing a rupture in the Spektr module which in turn began depressurizing the station itself. This also cause the Mir to go into a spin which then caused a power outage. Without power the spin became uncontrolled. Ground control sent a command to Mir to fire the engines trying to help reduce the spin and get the station back under control. Fortunately the Cosmonauts were able to get the systems back online, get Mir in to a stable orbit and no one was hurt. I wonder if Kotov was thinking of the Mir incident when he glided the Progress vehicle in to a smooth docking using the TORU system.Launches, dockings and near disasters on your Spacevidcast Daily for May 3rd, 2010... more
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We're spreading rumors about a old yet new Russian Space Plane on your Spacevidcast for April 28th, 2010.
It seems that unmanned space planes are all the rage these days. The Air Force recently launched their X-37B and last Friday Russia hinted that they may revive one of their long dead space plane programs. The Russian Multipurpose Aerospace System or MAKS is an innovative space plane that had its development frozen in 1991. In response to the US Air Force's recent launch of the X-37B, the Russian aerospace designer Vladimir Skorodelov has said that this could spur Russia to restart their own defunct Space Plane program.
The Russian Shuttle is much like the X-37B, about the same size, same style, it is unmanned and can't get to orbit on its own. Back when it was designed in the 80's the Russian shuttle would launch aboard an An-225 airplane carrier, much like Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnight carrier. Unlike Virgin Galactic the MAKS vehicle will sit atop the airplane, not below it.
The interesting thing about MAKS is that there is both an unmanned and manned configuration of the vehicle. Actually, there are three versions of MAKS on the table: MAKS-OS which is the manned orbital plane. MAKS-T which is designed to inject heavy payloads in to orbit. And finally MAKS-M which is a completely reusable unmanned space plane.
This isn't the first space shuttle that Russia has designed and then cancelled. Back in 1988 the Soviet Union launched the unmanned Buran space shuttle. Buran was about the same size and shape as NASA's current fleet of orbiters, but unlike NASA's orbiters was able to fly completely unmanned. Due to financial difficulties the program never got any additional traction and only the one unmanned flight was made in November of 1988 and in 1992 the program was cancelled.
The development of the MAKS aerospace system started when Buran was still in the creation phase. The major goal of the MAKS project was to reduce the cost of space transportation operations and to increase the efficiency of the launch system itself. The current cost of sending 2.2 pounds of material to space aboard the US Space Shuttle is around $20,000 dollars. That means that 1 gallon of water would cost nearly $100,000 dollars to fly to the International Space station. It was and still is hoped that MAKS will be able to deliver the same weight for an estimated $1,000 to $1,200 dollars. Now, that same gallon of water would cost around $5,500 to bring to the ISS.
Of course it could be that nothing ever comes of this. Vladimir is the chief designer of NOP Molniya which was the company founded for the creation of the Buran shuttle and today works on reusable launch systems. This could just be wishful thinking on his part. Or it really could spur re-investment in to MAKS system for a next generation shuttle. While there are a few reports out there indicating that MAKS has been revived and is being pushed for launch as soon as possible, we have been unable to confirm said rumor and can only speculate at this time. Nevertheless, it sure would be cool if it was!
And don't forget to join us this Friday at 0200 UTC for Spacevidcast Live. This week we will have on guest Bill Suitor who is the author of Rocketbet Pilot's Manual. This is your chance to ask someone who has actually flown a rocketbelt your own questions. For those of you in the US the show will be this Thursday at 7:00pm PDT or 10:00pm EDT. Remember to pick up your copy of the Rocketbelt Pilot's Manual from Apogeebooks.com before the show and we'll see you there!We're spreading rumors about a old yet new Russian Space Plane on your... more
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The delayed Minotaur IV finally launches and its payload plays hide and seek, or... hide and keep hiding on your Spacevidcast for April 27th, 2010.
Last Thursday, April 22nd at 2300 UTC an all new rocket from the US Air Force and Orbial Sciences launched: The Minotaur IV Light. This new rocket uses U.S. Government furnished solid rocket motors from decommissioned peacekeeper ICBM's as well as a commercial solid rocket upper stage. The rest of the vehicle is based on Orbital's past rockets such as the smaller Minotaur I and Pegasus. While this particular launch was sub-orbital, the Minotaur IV is actually designed to be a orbital launch system.
The Minotaur IV has seen some delays. It was discovered that a gas generator in the 3rd stage of the rocket would produce unintended thrust after the motor burned out. Engineers had to go back and design a new diffuser to reduce that unintended thrust, which then delayed the debut of the rocket itself. Projects such as the Space Based Space Surveillance Satellite or SBSS have been delayed since October of last year due to the Minotaur IV issues. This setback has caused a cascading delay for military satellite deployment. Some satellites have been moved to other launch vehicles such as the Delta II while others have had to wait for the Minotaur IV configuration to be fixed. Now that the Air Force and Orbital have been able to successfully launch the Minotaur IV, it is expected that they will be able to catch up on that backlog.
While the launch itself was a success, the payload, not so much. Aboard the Minotaur IV Light was DARPA's Hypersonic test vehicle. The payload was known as the Falcon HTV-2a Glide Vehicle and is designed to re-enter the atmosphere and fly across the Pacific Ocean at speeds of around 13,000 miles per hour, or 20,000 kilometers per hour. The HTV was supposed to test technologies that could eventually be employed by a system capable of prompt global response missions. Well, that was the plan at least.
The vehicle was released from the Minotaur's third stage and it looks like Orbital's rocket did deliver the HTV glide vehicle and separate as planned, but something went wrong. The craft was supposed to try out its aerodynamic control systems, do a bunch of turns to burn off some energy and then glide over the Pacific Ocean at that awesome 13,000 miles per hour before splashing down in the sea near the US Army's Regan Test Site. Unfortunately, Tracking systems lost contact with the Falcon HTV-2a around 9 minutes after liftoff. DARPA has not yet said if any of the HTVs mission objectives were completed before communications with the craft were lost. Hehe, oops.
And finally, 51 years ago today the Mercury 7 Astronauts first reported for duty. Project Mercury was the first Human Space Flight program in the United States running from 1959 to 1963. The goal of Project Mercury was to put a human in orbit around the Earth. The first human flight on Mercury was with Alan Shepard on May 5th, 1961 which was a sub-orbital flight, and on February 20th, 1962 the goal of orbiting the Earth was met with Astronaut John Glenn.
Don't forget to join us this Friday at 0200 UTC for Spacevidcast Live. This week we will have on guest Bill Suitor who is the author of Rocketbet Pilot's Manual. This is your chance to ask someone who has actually flown a rocketbelt your own questions. For those of you in the US the show will be this Thursday at 7:00pm PDT or 10:00pm EDT. Remember to pick up your copy of the Rocketbelt Pilot's Manual from Apogeebooks.com before the show and we'll see you there!The delayed Minotaur IV finally launches and its payload plays hide and seek, or...... more
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Classified space planes, NASA's Space Shuttle and today in space history on this Spacevidcast daily for April 26th, 2010.Classified space planes, NASA's Space Shuttle and today in space history on this... more
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James Webb Telescope, STS-131 and today in space history on your Spacevidcast for March 30th, 2010.
As most of you know, the Hubble Space Telescope has had it's last repair. Which is what much of the new movie Hubble 3D is about. Not to worry though. As Hubble will end it's days sometime around 2020 peacefully, there is a new tele on the block that is just rearing to go! The James Webb Space Telescope. Or JWST for short.
As you can see there is a lot of excitement about this new telescope! Now the JWST will not be a complete successor of Hubble's, because it won't be sensitive to all of the light wavelengths that Hubble is. The main scientific goal is to observe the most distant objects in the universe. Or to steal from some famous words... where no man has seen before.
If you can't wait for the Webb telescope, then fret not... STS-131 is only 6 days away from launch!
Starting late on April 4th and going in to April 5th Spacevidcast will be streaming live coverage of STS-131's launch in High Definition. Not only is Spacevidcast.com the only place on the planet that you can get live high definition streaming of shuttle launches, but you can also ask your questions of astronauts, reporters and crew working down at KSC during the launch. If you can't watch one of the final 4 launches in person, then at least watch it in HD with us!
Today in space history: Rocketdyne was awarded in 1964 a contract for the production of 76 F-1 rocket engines to be used on the first stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle. The F-1 engine was the most powerful single nozzle, liquid fueled rocket engine, ever used in service. These are the engines that were used to first get humans to the moon and were the driving force of the most powerful rocket ever built.
And of course, don't forget to join us this Friday at 2 am Coordinated Universal Time for a live interview with Ed Buckbee. Mr. Buckbee was NASA PAO working with the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts and is also the founder of Space Camp. Grab a copy of his book "The Real Space Cowboys" from Apogee books and join us to ask your questions of Ed live!James Webb Telescope, STS-131 and today in space history on your Spacevidcast for... more
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This was an action packed press conference with programs getting slashed left and right. We show my reaction to some key points in the speech as well as the general reaction of Spacevidcasters around the world.
What do you think of this new proposed path for NASA? Good? Bad? Something else completely? Join us live this Friday at 0200 UTC to chat in person right here on Spacevidcast.com!This was an action packed press conference with programs getting slashed left and... more
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