Section: Commercial Space
The Out of the Cradle team wishes Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) the warmest congratulations on their successful attainment of orbit with the Falcon I. May all their launches be this smooth.
Librarian’s Note: This is a reprint of a blog post that I wrote for Selenian Boondocks, where I guest blog. I haven’t really needed to change the text, but I have updated it with some pictures and weblinks.
25 Good Reasons to Go to the Moon
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Howdy everyone! Welcome to this week’s spectacular Carnival of Space!
I’m your host Ken, the Lunar Librarian here at Out of the Cradle.
We don’t have to go far this week to find space. This last weekend in Washington, D.C., the National Space Society held their 27th annual International Space Development Conference. As the largest citizen space conference in the world it is open to all, even internet bloggers. And blog they did, extensively, over the three day period. The conference was even on C-SPAN! I’ve rounded up most of the links for the Lunar Library, which can be found here:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
The Space Cynics want you to be sure to get a dash of cold-water reality in the face, because, well, that’s their job. Several of them were at the conference and they did some recruiting in A Gathering of Cynics, which led to a very interesting discussion and an upcoming radio show on The Space Show.
Everyone’s favorite Babe…in the Universe was there for the Space Investment Summit as well as the main conference. She’s put up a number of blog posts on the event, starting with “ISDC”. Her latest post, Convergence, has her in slightly more traditional garb. As she summarized the event:
Aloha Carnival!
Thursday saw Elon Musk and announcement of the first Space Solar Power demonstration. At Friday’s dinner, a lifetime award was given to Burt Rutan. Saturday an enthusiastic crowd saw a documentary on Apollo and live coverage of Discovery’s launch to ISS. We end at the Air and Space Museum, seeing humanity converge on a future in Space.
Thank you for hosting this week’s Carnival.
Well you’re certainly welcome Ms. Riofrio, we’re always happy to see you here at the Carnival of Space.
One of the bloggers noted in the round-up, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame, and who also happens to be the co-author of the space law book “Outer Space: Problems of Law and Policy”, noted the increasing balance between the genders at these space conferences, something that I’ve noticed myself. In light of that fact, this week’s Carnival of Space is dedicated to:
The Women of Our Space Future
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Spring is in full bloom here in the metroplex, so I had to dig the rollerblades out of the closet. This will be my fifteenth year rollerblading, and I think the main reason that I continue to do so is that it is absolute joy. There’s a small park here in Addison Circle with a nice loop over by the airport that I like to blade around, in part because it reminds me of the ‘roller rink’ in Central Park, NYC.
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or: The quest for answers continues
In our quest to answer the question of whether plants can grow in Lunar regolith, the main obstacle to a definitive answer seems to be that we are limited in our research by the availability of actual Moon dirt to work with. This time around we’re going to look through NASA’s Lunar e-Library to see if we can find anything of interest, and also do a little speculating on what some of the possibilities might be for Lunar agriculture (cynthiculture?).
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or: How are we going to grow plants in sterile rock dust?
One of the key questions for early Lunar selenologists was whether or not the regolith of the Moon could support life. The results were pretty conclusively no, as most of the elements that we consider important for life such as carbon and nitrogen are scarce to be found. This would seem to make the Moon a pretty rotten place to try to grow plants, but there’s a strong likelihood that the Moon could turn out to be a fantastic place to grow the plants of Earth.
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Space Access Society
Space Access 2008
Phoenix, AZ
03/27 - 03/29/2008
Librarian’s Note: Not a fancy website, these are guys who are working on making sure we have frequent and regular access to low-Earth orbit outside of NASA. They’re focused on rockets, not pretty graphics.
Blog Coverage
Henry Cate’s Agenda (I think he covered most every single thing!)
Thursday
Rocket Pilot Session
Friday
Session One: Hobbyspace.com
Session Two: Hobbyspace.com / Space Prizes
Session Three: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings
Session Four: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings / Space Politics
Session Five: Hobbyspace.com / Selenian Boondocks
Saturday
Session One: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings
Session Two: Hobbyspace.com
Session Three: Hobbyspace.com
Session Four: Hobbyspace.com / Transterrestrial Musings
Howdy everyone, and welcome to the Best of the Moon 2007!
Each year we stop and take a look at the best additions to the Lunar Library over the course of the year. 2007 has been an unusual one for the Lunar Library, not least because your friendly Librarian was co-chair of the historic 2007 International Space Development Conference in Dallas over the Memorial Day weekend, and so was able to procure a large number of relevant goodies.
A business trip to China led to a serendipitous slew of finds that created the brand new Asian wing of the Library. A number of independent authors have rediscovered the Moon, leading to some creative fiction to be reviewed.
While the mainstream is focused on continuing to look backwards at Apollo, with several documentaries and a number of books now gracing the shelves of major bookstores, out in the margins, on the creative fringe, there are appearing any number of new and different ways of looking at our Moon, and many of the winners this year reflect the need for forward-looking thinking. So without further ado lets get some of the miscellaneous categories in the Lunar Library out of the way before getting to the main event - the Best of the Moon 2007.
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Howdy Everyone! Welcome back to The Carnival of Space, which stops again here at Out of the Cradle with an all new show, its 31st ever!
[Update: Thanks to Alan Boyle at Cosmic Log for the heads-up on the broken links. They should all work now]
I’m Ken Murphy, the Lunar Librarian here at Out of the Cradle and your guest Ringmaster for this week. We’ve got an exciting show lined up, so let’s get started and blast off to Cislunar Space.
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Over at Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog. Out of the Cradle will be hosting an upcoming Carnival, so stay tuned!
Update: That would be this Thursday, November 29. Be sure to submit your entries early and often to: info@universetoday.com
Image by Clifford Geary from
‘The REAL BOOK about Space Travel’
Attention all readers!
Now that the Lunar Library is one year old, I’ve decided that it needs a logo for its first birthday present.
Since your friendly Lunar Librarian is sorely lacking in the Art arts (but appreciates them greatly), this is not a task I can easily or wisely undertake myself. I therefore call upon the space community at large to show me what you’ve got, and give me a logo that will eventually take the Lunar Library to the Moon! (I think this is what’s called a ‘bleg’)
In return I am willing to offer to the winner of the open competition the following duplicate copies from the Library:
“Moonrush” by Dennis Wingo (Apogee, 2004)
“The Once and Future Moon” by Paul Spudis (Smithsonian, 1996)
“Welcome to Moonbase” by Ben Bova (Random House, 1987)
“The Case for Going to the Moon” by Neil Ruzic (Putnam’s, 1965)
“You Will Go To the Moon” by Mae & Ira Freeman (Beginner Books Bookclub Ed., 1959)
This quintet represents some of the finest titles in the Lunar Library, and they’re for whomever comes up with the best logo that can be used on business cards and marketing materials.
Let’s say October 31st for the deadline. Submissions will be shared with Out of the Cradle readers for feedback. The winner would transfer all rights except for creator rights to the Lunar Library (i.e. you could still use it on your own website and portfolio materials, but couldn’t license or sell its use to anyone else. I could).
Caveats
All books are in fair condition or better. The first three are paperback, the last two are hardcover. Some wear and tear. Some markings from previous owners. Nothing major. I might throw in a poster or extra swag for a particularly pleasing result. No representations or warranties are express or implied in this solicitation. The Lunar Librarian indemnifies himself from all liability for any injury incurred or arising, physical or mental, as a result of this solicitation. If the Winning Logo is created using traditional media and rendered digitally for the competition, the original media will be submitted to the Lunar Library for future use. If there are any squawks about this solicitation being in violation of some statute or regulation then it will be terminated and all agreements shall be considered as rendered void (and I’d want my books back). Seriously, I’m just trying to have some fun with this. Hopefully everyone else will have fun as a result of this as well.
Submissions should be sent to my lunadyne address at gmail.com. I don’t want big honkin’ 10 meg files. It should be of a size where several of them in a blog post could be pulled up relatively quickly (by dial-up), but also look good on a business or post card.
Thanks in advance,and I look forward to the results.
Ken
Image by R.A. Smith from
“The Exploration of the Moon”
Hear ye! Hear ye!
Step right up ladies and gentlemen and prepare to be shocked and amazed at the wonders of the universe that await you here at the Carnival of Space. I’m Ken Murphy, custodian of the Lunar Library here at Out of the Cradle, and I’ll be your Ringmaster for this week. We have a full slate of submissions, so let’s dive right into the action. Our first attraction - Cislunar Space!
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Details are sketchy, but it looks like the explosion centered around nitrous oxide storage tanks, leading to two fatalities and four serious injuries. A Scaled Composites truck was sighted near the blast. Scaled, maker of the first private craft to reach space, SpaceShipOne, is based at Mojave, and currently developing a larger spacecraft system for Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company owned by Richard Branson. Nitrous oxide is the liquid component of the rocket propellants used by SpaceShipOne’s hybrid rocket motor.
Two Killed After Nitrous Oxide Tanks Explode At Mojave Airport - News Story - KNBC | Los Angeles
“The Modern Moon: A Personal View” by Charles A. Wood
Published in 2003 by Sky Publishing Corp, it weighs in at 209 pages all in. No errors noted.
This was a recent acquisition to the Lunar Library, the result of a chance encounter at Half-Price Books. Flipping through it, I was immediately impressed with the variety of the information being displayed, and moved it up to the top of my to-read list. I’m glad I did. Mr. Wood has a long and distinguished background in Lunar science, and has contributed to many notable projects over the last several decades. He is best known now for his interview with Out of the Cradle, and also a little something known as the Lunar Photo of the Day (LPOD). He therefore brings a wealth of knowledge to this work, and what a work it is.
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More from Bigelow. So far, so good:
Bigelow Aerospace Confirms Space Module has Successfully Expanded and Functioning Well
Las Vegas, NV 06/28/07 – Bigelow Aerospace has established contact with its second pathfinder spacecraft, Genesis II. Launched earlier Thursday from Yasny, Russia, Mission Control in North Las Vegas, Nev., made first contact at 2:20 p.m. PDT.
Initial data suggests sufficient voltage powering up Genesis II’s batteries as well as expected air pressure. While the actual confirmation of solar panel deployment and spacecraft expansion are expected later, the data suggests that deployment and expansion have been successful.
Before contact, successful communication was considered a long shot on Genesis II’s first pass over the ground station in Fairfax, Va. Elevation for the pass was considered low for a successful contact.
“We don’t even talk to Genesis I that low,” Program Manager Eric Haakonstad said.
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This just arrived from Bigelow Aerospace. Congratulations, guys!
Genesis II Successfully Launched
Bigelow Aerospace Still Awaits Confirmation of Spacecraft Health and Expansion
Las Vegas, NV 06/28/07 – Genesis II, the second experimental pathfinder spacecraft by Bigelow Aerospace, has been successfully launched and inserted into orbit. The privately-funded space station module was launched atop a Dnepr rocket at 8:02 a.m. PDT from the ISC Kosmotras Yasny Cosmodrome located in the Orenburg region of Russia.
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Apparently by some big players:
Somewhat to his surprise, three major aerospace companies are talking to Armadillo Aerospace about flying sensor systems on Armadillo vehicles, using them as high-altitude platforms, Neil Milburn, program manager for Armadillo Aerospace, said in a June 15 interview: Those flights are expected to begin in 2008. While not identifying the customers, Milburn said one of those companies is not a domestic U.S.company.
“So we have finally crossed over into the realm of providing actual value that people care about,” Carmack added.
For years now, John Carmack and his team have been following the mantra of “build a little, test a little” and it looks like they have learned a lot from it. All this with only relatively modest outlays in terms of money and people’s time, by aerospace standards. Maybe there’s something there that the Big Aerospace crowd could learn from that.
…because there isn’t a shower.
“Sweat doesn’t fall of you. The water just accumulates until it gets too big and agitated and falls off like a sphere of water. It then floats around until it hits something. It takes a lot of water to fall off.” Imagine huge water balls of sweat bouncing and crashing around mid-air.
Um, yuk. Especially when you take into account that the station crews have to spend an appreciable portion of each day exercising to keep healthy in zero-g. I’m sure the mechanics of making a shower work in microgravity are tricky (the toilet is bad enough), but this sure sounds like a human factors problem waiting for a solution. I wonder what floating globs of sweat do to station electronics?
Howdy everyone! I’m almost done convalescing after co-chairing the ISDC, and have done a little scouting around the web to see the news that came out of it. Much of which I only got to see bits and pieces of whilst patrolling the conference making sure that everything was going okay. In no particular order:
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Howdy everyone! Regular visitors to the Lunar Library know that yours truly is one of the co-chairs for the International Space Development Conference coming up over the Memorial Day weekend here in Dallas. This is the largest citizen space conference in the world, and gathers together leaders in industry, academia, research, activism and the general public to learn all of the latest goings on in the space field.
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I’m a little late to the punch here, but the Space Access ‘07 conference is well under way, and it’s worth checking out the sterling job being done by the guys live blogging it:
Here’s the agenda for Saturday:
Saturday March 24th
9 am Bill Boland, Teachers In Space
9:20 Sam Dinkin, SpaceShot
9:40 Masten Space
10:20 break
11 am Ken Davidian, “NASA ESMD’s Approach to NewSpace”
11:40 Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace
12:30 break for lunch
2 pm Leik Myrabo, Lightcraft Progress
2:40 Panel, The New Space Investment Climate - Esther Dyson,
Stephen Fleming, Joe Pistritto
3:30 break
4 pm Panel, How Are We Doing? - Jeff Foust, Jon Goff, Rand Simberg,
Henry Vanderbilt
4:45 Rick Tumlinson, Space Frontier Foundation
5 pm Paul Breed, Unreasonable Rocket
5:15 Dave Ketchledge, The Next Shuttle
5:30 Alex Bruccoleri
late - Hospitality closes - see you next time!
Elon has posted the following statement to the SpaceX website following today’s launch:
The second test launch of Falcon 1 took place today at 6:10 pm California time. The launch was not perfect, but certainly pretty good. Given that the primary objectives were demonstrating responsive launch and gathering test data in advance of our first operational satellite launch later this year, the outcome was great. Operationally responsive (ie fast) launch has become an increasingly important national security objective, so demonstrating rapid loading of propellants and launch in less than an hour, as well as a rapid recycle following the first engine ignition are major accomplishments.
We retired almost all of the significant development risk items, in particular:
- 1st stage ascent past max dynamic pressure
- avionics operation in vacuum and under radiation
- stage separation
- 2nd stage ignition
- fairing separation
- 2nd stage nozzle/chamber at steady state temp in vacuum
Falcon flew far beyond the “edge” of space, typically thought of as around 60 miles. Our altitude was approximately 200 miles, which is just 50 miles below the International Space Station. The second stage didn’t achieve full orbital velocity, due to a roll excitation late in the burn, but that should be a comparatively easy fix once we examine the flight data. Since it is impossible to ground test the second stage under the same conditions it would see in spaceflight, this anomaly was also something that would have been very hard to determine without a test launch.
All in all, this test has flight proven 95+ percent of the Falcon 1 systems, which bodes really well for our upcoming flights of Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, which uses similar hardware. We do not expect any significant delay in the upcoming flights at this point. The Dept of Defense satellite launch is currently scheduled for late Summer and the Malaysian satellite for the Fall.
I’d like to thank DARPA and the Air Force for buying the two test flights and helping us work through a number of challenges over the past year. I’d also like to express my appreciation for the efforts of the Kwajalein Army Range (Reagan Test Site) and we look forward to many more launches in the future.
Finally, thank you to everyone at SpaceX for working so hard to make this a great test. This is a big leap forward for commercial spaceflight!
–Elon–
Additionally, videos of the launch are now available at the SpaceX website’s video gallery.
Congratulations to the SpaceX crew! I hope that the disappointment that this was not a perfect test launch is tempered by the fact that it was in any case a damn good test launch. They will learn from the roll control issue, and go on to great success in their future flights. It’s not possible to overstate the fact that they’ve built a whole new rocket from the ground up, entirely with private money, and on a budget that wouldn’t buy a paper study elsewhere. In the light of that, their success to date is nothing short of spectacular.
Well done, guys! Can’t wait to see the next one fly. Can’t wait for Falcon 9/Dragon. Keep up the good work!
 Well, chances are you’ve heard by now that yesterday’s launch attempt of the Falcon-I Demoflight-2 was aborted with just minutes left in the count. Here’s the news, direct from Elon, about what happened yesterday:
The abort that occurred a few minutes before T-0 was triggered by our ground control software. It commanded a switchover of range telemetry from landline to radio, which took place correctly, however, because of the hardware involved, this transition takes a few hundred milliseconds. Before it had time to complete, our system verification software examined state and aborted.
Our simulations done beforehand all passed, because the simulator did not account for a hardware driven delay in the transition. We considered putting the vehicle into a safe state yesterday and updating the ground control software to make the very minor fix needed, but the safer course of action was to stand down.
Yesterday afternoon and evening (Kwaj time), our launch team updated the software to address the timing issue and verified that there were no similar problems elsewhere. We ran the software through several simulated countdowns and then once again with the rocket and range in the loop.
All systems are now go for launch with T-0 at 4pm California time today (Tues).
–Elon–
As he says, the launch has been reset for today, and as I type this is about one and a half hours out. You can watch it live from T-60 minutes at SpaceX’s webcast site, and I’ll be live blogging from here as well.
Natural progression and “lessons learned” are leading the way in the second stage of Bigelow Aerospace’s orbital habitat development. An update at their website chronicles the process.
A very interesting read.
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