Thank You Shuttle SE&I

Thanksgiving comes a day early this year with this highlight reel from Space Shuttle Systems Engineering & Integration. It's all the best shots from the launch of STS-129, and I don't mean just the stuff straight from the NASA TV feed, this footage is pooled from all the cameras and is artfully edited together.

Something Novel

Here's something from New Zealand; a private company there is getting ready to launch it's first rocket. What's interesting about this is that, as far as I can tell, this is something that the government of that country has never tried, or at least isn't pursuing at the moment. Private industry is giving it a shot, and even though it's only a sounding rocket it's an approach that I think few other countries have tried. The model of the US and Russia with the government fronting tons of money and research to figure out the basics and then the commercial groups give it a try, seems to be the most common. It'll be interesting to see how this goes for both the company, Rocket Lab, and for the country. Even though it's just a small sounding rocket, it could lead to much more, and I for one hope it does.

The Future, If You Will

I have a lot of mixed emotions about today’s launch of the ARES-1X. I’m surely excited to see a new, and one of a kind, vehicle fly, but I’m also apprehensive. It’s not clear to me that the current Constellation Program is going to be robust enough to support a broad exploration regime, not to mention that currently it won’t be able to lift humans until we’ve retired the only place that they’d be able to go.

The state of affairs for the Human Spaceflight (HSF) program is dismal right now. All we know is that things are ending, that we as a nation are surrendering capabilities, leadership and access to space. We’re told that the “gap” between the Shuttle and Orion will be short, but public opinion isn’t really behind the program right now and so it seems like that gap could grow, which is unacceptable to space advocates.

Just the same, the team of NASA engineers, technicians, contractors and scientists did a fantastic job and despite the weather delays (the one thing NASA can’t control – yet) the launch was beautiful. They have done great work despite heavy criticism about the program.

It’s too soon to say what this launch means for viability of ARES-1, there’s tons of dertailed data to pour through, but I think we can feel confident that NASA has “proof of concept”. If they decide that it worked right and that this is the way we’re going to go, what we’ll need then is leadership. We’ll need someone forcefully saying where the program is going, why it’s important that we do this, and then make sure the money is there to make it happen.

Mr. President, I’m talking to you.

A Glorious Mash-up

I know that this video is making the rounds on the web, and so readers may have seen it before, but I still think it’s worthwhile to post here. My research has led to several potential authors for the video and song, but I think the real artist behind it is someone named Colorpulse who used something called autotune to turn Carl Sagan’s spoken word into an only slightly robotic sounding singing voice. The result, once you get past the awkward start, is a hauntingly beautiful song that contains a reminder from beyond the grave to look up and wonder.

Sagan lived through some amazing times, and saw our understanding of the universe expand a thousand-fold. We need his voice now more than ever because we are indeed standing on that shore of space, but in our time are poised to turn our backs on it.

Lyrics:

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch

You must first invent the universe

Space is filled with a network of wormholes

You might emerge somewhere else in space

Some when-else in time

The sky calls to us

If we do not destroy ourselves

We will one day venture to the stars

A still more glorious dawn awaits

Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise

A morning filled with 400 billion suns

The rising of the milky way

The Cosmos is full beyond measure of elegant truths

Of exquisite interrelationships

Of the awesome machinery of nature

I believe our future depends powerfully

On how well we understand this cosmos

In which we float like a mote of dust

In the morning sky

But the brain does much more than just recollect

It inter-compares, it synthesizes, it analyzes

it generates abstractions

The simplest thought like the concept of the number one

Has an elaborate logical underpinning

The brain has it’s own language

For testing the structure and consistency of the world

[Hawking]

For thousands of years

People have wondered about the universe

Did it stretch out forever

Or was there a limit

From the big bang to black holes

From dark matter to a possible big crunch

Our image of the universe today

Is full of strange sounding ideas

How lucky we are to live in this time

The first moment in human history

When we are in fact visiting other worlds

The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean

Recently we’ve waded a little way out

And the water seems inviting

Big Day For Space

There's a lot going on right now, Discovery waved off two landings today, the Augustine Report Summary came our yesterday, and there was a (potentially) important rocket test, and a (definitely) important rocket launch in Japan today.

First, to Japan where the first launch of an H-IIB rocket took place. The launch was a great success, and sort of cavalier because the payload is the H-II Transfer vehicle (HTV). This will be third form of delivering cargo to the ISS once the Shuttle stops flying next year (?) after the Russian Progress Vehicle and the European ATV. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rendezvous and docking goes, which should be in the next few days.

The launch test was in Utah at the ATK test facility and consisted of a horizontal firing of the new 5-segment STS Solid Rocket Booster (SRB). It's always interesting to see a test of magnitude, but I have to admit that I don't really know what to make of this one. It proves that at least part of Ares 1 will work (the part that we all knew would work anyway - it remains to be seen if vibrations or drift will still be a problem). But on the other hand, Ares 1 might get cancelled in a few months, and really, the US human spaceflight program stands on the head of a pin right now, so it's hard to get excited about anything short of a successful Shuttle launch and landing.

An Open Letter to My State Representatives and The President

Greetings Senator/Congressman/Mr. President,

 

I was very moved by the President's speech yesterday to the children of this nation; I found his message of hard work, self-reliance, and education as part of national pride to be welcome and inspiring. 

 

I also believe in the value of education and feel that there was an opportunity missed in yesterday's speech that could still be capitalized on.  The President and Congress have the unique position of giving the youth of America a goal to their educations, the goal of reaching to the stars. 

 

It was once that we the USA led the world in science and technology, that the best engineers in the world came from this country, now it seems that the best engineers in the world come to this country to learn at places like MIT and then go back to their country of origin.  I believe that part of the reason for this is that we are no longer making bold steps in human spaceflight.  The President surely has an inspiring story, and I do believe that much of our youth look up to him, but we have the responsibility to give these kids a goal befitting the drive that this inspiration gives them.  It doesn't help children if they do all this work to get an education and a college degree if they can't then use that degree. 

 

The space program is one goal that these kids can strive for, and for an investment that is small when compared to other large programs that the nations money is spent on.  I've always believed that funding for NASA should be seen as funding education, because we need smart people to work

there.

 

The Augustine Commission released a summary of their findings today, I have read it and agree that this country needs a direction in space, and that with that direction comes the inspiration and the will to make great things happen.  I ask that you also review this document and then push the President to forge a bold direction in space exploration; and to also push your colleagues to increase the funding to NASA.  The Commission outlines several paths forward, and I encourage you to discount any that recommend staying the course.  We need a big goal: the Moon, Mars, Near Earth Asteroids.  Let businesses handle getting astronauts to the International Space Station, it makes sense on many levels, and keeps us from having to pay the Russians for that service, a humbling prospect at best. 

 

I thank you for your service and your time in reading this. 

 

Let's go, boldly.

 

Sincerely, [Deep Beam}

Massachusetts

 

Space Bat

I just can't seem to get enough of the space-related posts. I swear I'll get back to architecture at some point. And maybe beer too, I have a nice ale in the carboy now.

Another Exciting Thing

This actually happened before the Draco thruster firing that I posted about earlier, but is in some ways cooler.  It's full mission duration firing of the cluster of 9 Merlin engines that are soon going to lift the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster from the shores of Florida to low earth orbit.  It's exciting for a lot of the same reasons as the Draco firing; it's a fully private endeavor that will be able to put a whole lot of equipment, cargo, or even crew into space, and is likely to be able to do it before NASA will.  

What's also cool about this particular test is that it was done in the dead of night in rural Texas, and boy did it wake the neighbors!  SpaceX followed the law and notified who they were supposed to, but people in nearby towns didn't get the message and were woken up by the thunderous tumult.  I'm sure it was disturbing, but I still would've loved it.