Category Archives: Space

Business, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Tomorrow’s Test Flight

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What NASA wants to see.

[Saturday-morning update]

From my X feed:

Successes today: 1) Successful hot-stage separation 2) Got second stage close to planned suborbital trajectory 3) (And really important for next flight) water-deluge system seems to have protected the pad, so nothing preventing next attempt except fixing whatever caused failures

OK, a fourth success today: There seemed to be no engine failures on either stage right up until both were lost, so they’ve gotten over that hump, especially with the 33 Raptors on the booster. Huge success in terms of data gathered for further improvements in hardware/ops.

Question: Why would an FTS be triggered at that altitude/range? What’s the hazard to the ground? This is in fact the first I’d heard that the second stage even had an FTS.4551

Maybe because it was designed to enter intact, and they were concerned it would be an uncontrolled entry and hit someone downrange. I sure hope they’ll take that FTS off for operational flights with valuable cargo (including humans). Aircraft don’t have one.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

Europe’s Rocket Woes

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They’re self inflicted.

European rocket politics are complicated by the “geographic return rule,” which states that each member nation must receive a proportional amount of contracts to the amount of funding it contributes to the space agency. “With the dawn of New Space and the delays in Ariane 6 launcher development, an ongoing debate has emerged about whether geo-return is consistent with the competition and competitiveness that is needed in Europe’s space industry,” Aschbacher wrote in March.

#ProTip: It never was.