Short Takes – 1-12-24

McConnell stands in way of Brown, Vance victory on Rail Safety Act. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““The hold-up is floor time,” he said. “We have seven Republicans publicly…. We need two more but Vance says there are Republicans who will vote for it who are not public.”” ‘Floor time’; the perennial problem for relatively ‘minor’ legislation in the Senate.

'Self-eating' rocket could help UK take a big bite of space industry. Phys.org article. Pull quote: “The engine works by using waste heat from combustion to sequentially melt its own plastic fuselage as it fires. The molten plastic is fed into the engine's combustion chamber as additional fuel to burn alongside its regular liquid propellants.”

SpaceX targets February for third Starship test flight. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “She [Jessica Jensen, vice president of customer operations] added that SpaceX was “working towards” a demonstration of propellant transfer capabilities on that flight through NASA’s Tipping Point technology program. In that test, SpaceX would transfer cryogenic propellant from a “header” tank within Starship to its main tank. That is designed to be a precursor to later tests of transferring propellant from one Starship to another in orbit.”

Private Peregrine moon lander powers up lunar payloads despite propulsion anomaly. Space.com article. Pull quote: “It's unclear if any of those payloads will be able to complete the missions for which they were designed, but Astrobotic's update is relatively optimistic. "These payloads have now been able to prove operational capability in space, and payload teams are analyzing the impact of this development now. We are proud of the mission team for achieving this incredible feat under such challenging circumstances."”