[ad_1]
Welcome to Rocket Report 2.12! This week's report could just as easily be presented to you by United Launch Alliance – but do not be afraid, dear readers, nobody influences the report – because a lot of things happen with the Colorado-based company. . This week, ULA piloted its latest Delta IV single-arm rocket and the company is moving to its new Vulcan-Centaur thruster.
As always, we appreciate the contributions of readers. If you do not want to miss a problem, please register using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-compatible site versions). Each report will contain information on small, medium and large lift rockets, as well as a quick overview of the next three launches of the schedule.
Air Force seeks bids for small, medium payloads. US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center launch company solicits offers from industry for Orbital Services Program 4, to launch payloads of 180 kg or more in orbit. The Air Force will recruit about 20 missions over the next nine years, reports SpaceNews. The offers are due on August 29th.
Looking for a more responsive launch … In the last program of this type, only SpaceX and Orbital Sciences (now Northrop Grumman) were able to provide payloads. However, with the proliferation of new launchers under development, there will likely be many more bidders. As part of this program, the Air Force is seeking to increase its launch capability on demand. Contracts must be flexible and responsive, "said Colonel Rob Bongiovi. The program combines technology, mission risk and timing, while relying on ever-changing market forces to create a resilient and affordable launch capability that meets the needs of the US government. "
China's Smart Dragon 1 reaches orbit. The semi-private company China Long March Rocket Corporation successfully launched its Smart Dragon-1 amplifier on Saturday for the first time. The four-stage solid fuel launcher, with a length of 19.5 meters, can launch a payload of up to 200 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit. According to the company, Smart Dragon-1 has already signed six launch contracts, with its second flight planned for the end of 2019.
So many competitors … As we have said, many Chinese companies are flooding the small satellite launchers market with new rockets. NASASpaceFlight.com notes that Smart Dragon-1 is the fourth new Chinese smallsat launcher to debut in the last 10 months. ZhuQue-1 from LandSpace and OS-M1 from OneSpace both failed on their first flights, but Hyperbola-1 from iSpace was successful in July. The four launchers use three or four stages of solid propellant engines and can reach several hundred kilograms in low Earth orbit. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
India invites private companies to build PSLVs. As part of the country's "Make in India" initiative, the Indian space agency ISRO has invited companies to bid for a contract for the production of up to five cores of its launcher Polar Satellite. Indian space officials said they believed the country's private aerospace industry was up to the task, reports the Times of India.
Upcoming auctions … A consortium of companies should bid for contracts, no company should be able to build one of the small satellite launchers. Tenders must be sent in early September. It is interesting to see how different countries around the world are looking to take advantage of the rise of their aerospace industries. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Vulcan, Falcon 9 in a new race towards the Moon. This week, Astrobotic announced that its LG Moon would be one of the payloads of the inaugural flight of the Vulcan rocket, currently scheduled for launch in 2021. This mission was part of the payload services program. lunar commercial NASA, which was intended to carry small scientific payloads on the surface of the moon.
Racing races … Do not be outdone, the Japanese company ispace announced Thursday that it has adjusted the timeline of its first lunar lander, Mission 1, to fly in 2021. The landing craft will fly smoothly as a carpool payload on a Falcon 9 rocket. ispace also announced its intention to partner with the American company Draper, which is also in the running for the future contracts of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Thus, there is not only a race towards the moon among commercial companies, but also between the two major American rocket companies. (submitted by platykurtic)
The Japanese rocket industry adopts a new approach to competition. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the leading launch company in Japan, is developing the H3 rocket to make it more cost competitive than SpaceX and other suppliers around the world. Nikkei Asian Review announced that the Japanese conglomerate intends to diversify its interests through the provision of weather data services.
Some questionable hypotheses The company's "Weather Prediction Service" will use rocket satellite data to predict weather over periods ranging from two weeks to two months, according to the report. The company plans to start selling its forecasts to large US grain dealers. Other potential customers include electricity utilities and shipping companies. The only problem we can see with this plan is that satellite data is not a weather forecast (you need a good model), and weather forecasts are reliable only about 10 days because of the chaos theory. (submitted by BH)
Russia performs a fully automated Soyuz mission. With a robot rather than a cosmonaut instead of the commander, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft came into orbit from Kazakhstan on Wednesday night en route to the International Space Station, reports Spaceflight Now. It was the first Soyuz crewed vehicle to fly without cosmonauts in 33 years.
Why nobody? … The automated test flight was designed to test the compatibility of the Soyuz space shuttle with the upgraded Soyuz-2.1a upgrade, a modernized variant of the venerable family of Russian rockets that is expected to begin launching crews. next March. A Progress supply ship launched on this improved booster in April 2015 experienced an uncontrolled upswing after separating from the third stage of Soyuz, prompting Russian authorities to use the first Soyuz capsule on board. a Soyuz-2.1a rocket. (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Final takeoff of Delta IV single arm rockets. On Thursday morning, a mid-size Delta IV rocket took off from Florida with a GPS III mission for the US Air Force. (This was amazing). The mission also marked the latest flight of the GEM-60 webbing rocket engines built by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, noted Spaceflight Now. Northrop Grumman derived the GEM-60 booster from the smaller GEM-40 and GEM-46 engines that flew on the Delta 2 and Delta 3 rockets.
A bit too expensive … The Delta IV-Medium rocket family has recorded 29 missions in its career, starting in 2002. The 29 missions of Delta IV-Medium have been successful, giving the rocket a spotless record. But at the cost, the rocket is just too expensive to fly. According to the US Government Accountability Office, the Delta IV-Medium costs $ 164 million per flight, nearly three times more than a comparable reminder of the Falcon 9.
The VAB gets its first commercial tenant. Northrop Grumman will assemble and test its new Omega rocket inside the High Bay 2 of the Vertical Assembly Building, one of four bays located in the Kennedy Space Center building. The company is also modifying NASA's mobile-3 launcher platform to serve as the launcher's assembly and launching platform. Northrop Grumman has signed an agreement with NASA regarding the use of these facilities with NASA, the agency said.
Pay me a rent … President Trump said that he loved seeing private companies use NASA's facilities and "pay the rent" to the government. In this case, we do not know how much of this money comes from Northrop compared to the government because the Omega launcher is developed with funds largely from the US Air Force. We also do not know if this partnership will last if the Air Force does not choose Omega as one of its two prime vehicles for launching national security contracts from 2022 to 2026 (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Clipper advance, but he has not yet rocket. NASA gave the green light to its ambitious mission Europa Clipper to proceed with the final design and then the construction of the space shuttle, reports Ars. The multi-billion dollar mission is still in the pipeline for launch in 2023 or 2025, but it still does not have a launcher, which is quite important for a spacecraft destined for Jupiter.
A necessary answer … Congress insisted that the Clipper mission fly on the Space Launch System rocket, which would allow a shorter trip in a few years. However, the White House said that Clipper should fly on a commercial rocket as this would cost hundreds of millions of dollars less and that there is no guarantee that the Space Launch System rocket will be available for a flight in 2023 or even 2025. This decision largely political The problem will not be solved by NASA, but the planners of the Clipper mission must know their launcher as soon as possible to finalize its design. (submitted by Tfargo04)
Atlas Plant and Delta begin transition to Vulcan. An additional prototype for the first stage of the Vulcan Centaur rocket will be released from a fabulous United Launch Alliance factory in early September, then will make the short drive between the parking lot and the test facilities. , reports SpaceNews. The test results, which are expected to continue next year, will help validate the integrity of the design.
Forward in the future … Five major components of Vulcan are now in various stages of assembly and will be completed over the next 12 months, said Mark Peller, vice president of major developments at ULA. "We have just completed the structural recall test article, we have two Centaur top floor test items, as well as a booster floor and upper floor for the first one. flight, "said Peller. "Early next year we will start building the second article and we will transition from the Decatur factory to the recurrent production of the Vulcan rocket." (submitted by Ken the Bin)
Sierra Nevada Designs Space for Launchers. On Wednesday, Sierra Nevada Corporation unveiled for the first time its habitat in the proposed space, reports Ars. The inflatable habitat is primarily vast. It is over 8 meters long and, with a diameter of 8 meters, has an internal volume of 300 cubic meters, about one third of the size of the International Space Station.
Any fairing that you like … The selling point of the Sierra Nevada habitat is its size, which is possible because the multilayer fabric can be compressed for launching, and then expanded and landscaped as a habitat once in the year. space. It can be integrated into a standard payload fairing used for launchers such as SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, United Launch Alliance's Vulcan booster, or NASA's Space Launch system. It's light enough for any of these rockets to launch on the moon.
Three upcoming launches
August 29: Rokot | GEO-IK Satellite 2 | Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia | To be determined
September 8th: H-2B | Eighth mission to supply HTV virus to the ISS | Tanegashima Space Center, Japan | 21:33 UTC
September 25: Soyuz | Soyuz MS-15 Team | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | 13h57 UTC
[ad_2]
Source link