Short Takes – 5-15-24 – Space Geek Edition

Commercial Space Stations Approach Launch Phase – Blue  Origin’s Orbital Reef aces milestones while Europe and China aim high. Spectrum.IEEE.org article. Pull quote: “Orbital Reef will be relying on some technologies developed for and spun off from the ISS project, which was completed in 2011 at a cost of US $100 billion. The new station will be operating on fractions of such budgets, with Blue Origin awarded $130 million of a total $415.6 million given to three companies in 2021.”

Intuitive Machines making upgrades to second lunar lander. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “With a gap in CLPS missions after IM-3, Altemus said that the company is planning to fly a fully commercial mission after IM-3. “We have signed contracts with multiple payloads that we have been aggregating and holding,” he said, with enough in place to allow the company to proceed with a commercial mission as it continues to sign up additional customers for it.”

World-first aerospike rocket flight test ends in disaster. NewAtlas.com article. Pull quote: “In lab tests, the aerospike engine design can get around this [bell/altitude efficiency] issue. Effectively, aerospike designs use the ambient atmospheric pressure around the rocket as the external wall of their nozzles. The changing pressure at different altitudes combines with aerodynamic effects to change the size and shape of the envelope of air pressure around the engine, pushing the fiery goodness of the expanding gases back against the cross section of the half-bell to create more pressure, speed up the exhaust and focus the thrust.”

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Eyes Next Launch Opportunity. Blogs.NASA.gov blog post. Pull quote: “NASA and Boeing are developing spacecraft testing and operational solutions to address the issue. As a part of the testing, Boeing will bring the propulsion system up to flight pressurization just as it does prior to launch, and then allow the helium system to vent naturally to validate existing data and strengthen flight rationale. Mission teams also completed a thorough review of the data from the May 6 launch attempt and are not tracking any other issues.”

NASA’s Artemis Astronauts Will Help Grow Crops on the Moon—And Much More. ScientificAmerican.com article. Pull quote: “After considering myriad proposals, NASA has now announced three gadgets chosen to accompany the Artemis III crew members on their voyage: The Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS) package is a remarkably precise seismometer that is designed to listen out for moonquakes and survey the lunar geological underworld. The Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora (LEAF) instrument will attempt to grow three crops on the moon and study how they respond to the mercurial, extreme environment. And the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer (LDA) will use the flow of electric currents through the lunar soil to detect the presence of volatiles, most notably water ice.”