Short Takes – 10-14-24 – Space Geek Edition

NASA “really looking forward” to next Starship test flight. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “NASA’s interest in Starship is linked to its use as a lunar lander for the agency’s Human Landing System (HLS) program, with the lander planned for use on the Artemis 3 mission. “There’s no doubt that the Human Landing System is the critical path for Artemis 3,” she [Lori Glaze, acting deputy associate administrator in NASA’s exploration directorate] said.”

SpaceX launches fifth Starship, catches Super Heavy booster. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The license does allow SpaceX to conduct at least one more launch, called Flight 6, using the same profile without obtaining another authorization from the FAA. “The SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Flight 5 license authorization also includes FAA approval of the Flight 6 mission profile,” the agency stated. “The FAA determined the changes requested by SpaceX for Flight 6 are within the scope of what has been previously analyzed.” The agency didn’t state what those changes were.”

SpaceX Advances Starship Program With a Launch and a Catch. NYTimes.com article (free). Pull quote: “The air pressure [from sonic booms], the F.A.A. said in a report made public Saturday, would be nearly strong enough to potentially cause minor damage to older plaster on homes not far from the launch site.”

Secretive X-37B Spaceplane To Use Aerobraking Maneuvers To Rapidly Change Orbit.TWZ.com article. Pull quote: “It “can do an orbit that looks like an egg and, when it’s close to the Earth, it’s close enough to the atmosphere to turn where it is,” then-Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said at the annual Aspen Security Forum in 2019. “Which means our adversaries don’t know – and that happens on the far side of the Earth from our adversaries – where it’s going to come up next. And we know that that drives them nuts. And I’m really glad about that.””

Electric Propulsion Pioneer Morpheus Space Unveils Enhanced ‘JOURNEY’ Satellite Tracking Analytics Platform. TheDebrief.com article. Pull quote: “Specifically, JOURNEY will provide its customers with unprecedented information about the satellite throughout its mission lifetime. These enhancements include more data to improve ground station connection and target collection windows, reduce satellite-to-ground station communication gaps, and better analytics on satellite-to-ground station data transfer rates. Offering improvements in these areas will allow current and future customers to refine mission strategies with a significant upgrade in mission-specific information, all in the hopes of reducing costs and increasing the value of each mission.”

Space: Traffic Control In Orbital Space. StategyPage.com article. Pull quote: “More mobile satellites with robotic arms are a welcome new development because they can be used to inspect satellites in trouble and help diagnose the problem and perhaps fix it. Chinese and Russian satellites similar to SJ-21 have already been spotted getting close to satellites belonging to other nations and, in some cases, apparently practicing disabling them. That was not unexpected. While these movement and inspection satellites have a wartime use to disable enemy satellites, the more immediate problem is managing and eventually eliminating a lot of the man-made debris in orbit. The only way to destroy this stuff is to use another satellite to push it close enough to earth for low density atmospheric friction to drag it lower for increasingly higher density atmospheric friction to burn it up. This does not work with the majority of space debris, which is too small to track from earth and too numerous to collect and send into the atmosphere.”

Is life possible on a Jupiter moon? NASA goes to investigate. Phys.org article. Pull quote: “If our solar system turns out to be home to two habitable worlds (Europa and Earth), "think of what that means when you extend that result to the billions and billions of other solar systems in this galaxy," said Niebur, the Europa Clipper program scientist.”