SpaceX's Dragon Cargo Ship Returns

"SpaceX Dragon Capsule Splashes Down in Pacific, Ending Historic Test Flight"
Clara Moskowitz, Space.com (May 31, 2012)


(SpaceX/Michael Altenhofen, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

"The world's first commercial space cargo ship dove through Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean early Thursday (May 31), ending an historic test flight to the International Space Station.

"The SpaceX Dragon capsule made a water landing off the coast of Baja California, Mexico at 11:42 a.m. EDT (1542 GMT). Recovery ships have spotted the capsule and are en route to collect the vehicle to tow to Los Angeles...."

This may have been a "test flight," but the Dragon was also hauling cargo on this run.

"...While the cargo-delivery spacecraft built by Russia, Japan and Europe are designed to burn up during re-entry, Dragon is equipped with a heat shield and parachutes to survive the fiery plunge.

"Dragon is packed with 1,367 pounds (620 kg) of crew items, used hardware and completed science experiments for its return trip. On the way up, the spacecraft delivered student-designed experiments and food, clothing and other supplies for the station's astronauts...."
(Space.com)

I can see why some folks decided to concentrate on building one-way cargo carriers. The Dragon's heat shield and other re-entry equipment adds weight - and complexity - to the SpaceX vehicle. It's arguably faster and easier to make a one-way disposable ship.

On the other hand, how long would a commercial carrier like FedEx Express stay in business, if they flew each of their Airbuses once, and then threw it away? I think we'll be seeing more reusable spaceships, as space transport moves away from government programs, and into the hands of folks who know how to run a business.

Coming - Fairly Soon

"Splashdown for SpaceX Dragon spacecraft"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (May 31, 2012)

"...The agency hopes the contracting out of freight duties will save it money that can then be re-invested in more daring activities beyond the station, at destinations such as asteroids and Mars.

"The commercial cargo approach will be followed later this decade by crew transport services.

"SpaceX wants this business as well, and is developing the safety and life-support equipment that would allow Dragon to double up as an astronaut taxi...."

SpaceX's Dragon will probably make a pretty good 'taxi' to Earth orbit: but the Lemming suspects that its 'parachute drop' landing technology will make it one of the less attractive alternatives.

There aren't any 'fly back' spaceships available today, now that the Space Shuttle has been retired. Not too many years from now, that could change.

Reaction Engines Limited's Skylon spaceplane is designed to use commercial airports for landing - and takeoff. It may not be long before a single vehicle will be a 'hypersonic transport' carrying taking cargo and passengers across the Pacific on one run, and fly to an orbital facility on the next.


(from Blue Origin, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

Other companies, like Blue Origin, are developing spaceships that take off and make powered vertical landings. The Lemming thinks that research and development may pay off in a few decades - or a few generations - when commercial service to the Moon and other places without a thick atmosphere comes into demand.

The Lemming is pretty sure that it's when commercial service to the Moon and beyond: not if.

The question is when, and who will be taking part. Like the Lemming said, "when it's time to build spaceships, people will build spaceships." (October 4, 2009)

People are building spaceships.

Related posts:

• "The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings"
  (May 25, 2012)
• "Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service"
  (December 8, 2010)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)

ISS Storage Room, a Video, and Hair

"Space Station Gets a Zero Gravity Storage Room"
Denise Chow, Space.com (March 1, 2011 )

"The astronaut crew of space shuttle Discovery made a special delivery at the International Space Station today (March 1) by installing a new, and much-needed, extra storage room on the orbiting lab.

"The astronauts used a robotic arm to attach the zero gravity closet, called the Permanent Multipurpose Module, to the bottom of the space station on an Earth-facing port of NASA's Unity node. The module's installation also marked another historic moment for the mission – it is the last NASA room to be attached to the multinational laboratory.

"The module was successfully attached to the station at 10:05 a.m. EST (1505 GMT).

" 'Leonardo is looking very happy to be in his or her new home,' station astronaut Cady Coleman said...."

"...The Leonardo module was one of three cargo-carrying Multipurpose Logistics Modules built for NASA by the Italian Space Agency. It's about the size of a small bus and weighs about 28,353 pounds (12,860 kilograms) when loaded with cargo.

"Leonardo was delivered to NASA in 1998 and made its first spaceflight in 2001. This mission is its eighth and last trip to space. [Infographic: A New Closet for the Space Station]

"By coincidence, flight controllers here at the station's Mission Control here at NASA's Johnson Space Center radioed the crew with a timely announcement: The space outpost was flying over Turin, Italy as the Italian-built module was bolted into place...."

The psychological and cultural implications of that phrase, "Leonardo is looking very happy to be in his or her new home," deserve a little attention. There's anthropomorphism: assigning human traits to something that's not human. Then there's the careful "his or her" phrase: the Lemming remembers when folks in America had to start being crazy-careful about personal pronouns. Looks like we're still in that sociopolitical bog.

On the other hand, this video shows how much things have changed since the '50s. Which the Lemming doesn't miss, by the way. On the other hand, homo sapiens sapiens hasn't changed all that much in the last 50 years. Or 500, or 5,000 for that matter. Which is another topic.

One of the Lemming's daughters, seeing the video, remarked on the futility of all that money spent on hair conditioners: when someone's hair gets world-class body just by living on the ISS. Which is yet another topic.

The PMM - the Lemming thinks "closet" is a pretty good term, too - is another example of the modular design. It's a smart approach, in the Lemming's opinion, since a 'modular' ISS could be used as soon as a habitat, power source, and docking points were in place. Or is it in orbit?

Which brings up the matter of how new things like the ISS, Web, and iPod are named - which is yet again another topic.


Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Related posts:

• "Four Ships Docked at the ISS"
  (February 28, 2011)
• "International Space Station: Not Many Amenities, But What a View!"
  (January 26, 2011)
• "Looking Down on the Auroras"
  (June 21, 2010)
• "Postcards From the Frontier"
  (April 3, 2010)
• "ISS Space Station Walkthrough, Looking Ahead"
  (October 28, 2009)

Related NASA video:

• "Waking up, working, and going to sleep in Zero G"
  NASAtelevision, YouTube (January 18, 2011)
  video, 17:10
  • Expedition 26 NASA Flight Engineer Cady Coleman discusses what daily life is like aboard an orbiting space laboratory on CBS' news program "The Talk" on January 18, 2011.

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Four Ships Docked at the ISS

"A Space First: Spaceships From 4 Different Fleets Linked Together"
Denise Chow, Space.com (February 26, 2011)

"When NASA's shuttle Discovery arrived at the International Space Station Saturday (Feb. 26), it made some space history: It marked the first time ever that spaceships from four different space agencies were docked together at the same time.

"The historic moment occurred at 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 GMT), when Discovery arrived at a docking port on NASA's Harmony module, a multi-port hub on the space station. The shuttle joined two Russian Soyuz space capsules and three robotic space freighters (from Europe, Japan and Russia) that were also docked to the orbiting lab.

" 'That that's about as many different visiting vehicles as you can imagine,' Discovery astronaut Alvin Drew radioed Mission Control in Houston before the docking...."


(NASA TV, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
"NASA's space shuttle Discovery is shown docked to the International Space Station shortly after arriving on Feb. 26, 2011. The gold spacecraft at the bottom of this view is Japan's HTV-2 spacecraft. CREDIT: NASA TV"

HTV-2 is a robot, by the way. This is definitely not the Lemming's 'good old days,' when robots in 'the future' were generally imagined as looking a bit like Star Wars' C3PO - and many assumed that space flight needed the human touch for all but the simplest missions.

Today, we've got over a half-dozen spaceports here in America, many more around the world, and at least one commercial outfit getting ready to offer rental property in orbit. And quite a number of next-generation freighters either in service or on the drawing boards.

Speaking of C3PO, there's the humanoid (well, half-humanoid) robot that Discovery delivered on this run. Not as bright as the Star Wars character, and that's another topic.

Related posts:

• "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service"
  (December 8, 2010)
• "Last Flights of the First Space Freighters, New Construction at Spaceports"
  (September 23, 2010)
• "Boeing CST-100 Spaceship: Passenger Service to ISS, Commercial Space Stations"
  (July 21, 2010)
• "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "A Freighter Unloads its Cargo: What's the Big Deal?"
  (September 20, 2009)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

International Space Station: Not Many Amenities, But What a View!

"International Space Station Could Get Private Inflatable Room"
Leonard David, Space.com (January 26, 2011)

"The International Space Station could get a new inflatable module supplied by the private American company Bigelow Aerospace, sources say.

"NASA is apparently in discussions with Bigelow to acquire a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, called BEAM for short, to enhance use of the International Space Station (ISS).

"Since 1999, the North Las Vegas, Nev., company has been working to create affordable inflatable space habitats for national space agencies and corporate clients...."

"...In 2006 and 2007, the firm launched orbiting prototypes Genesis I and Genesis II.

"Using the firm's patented expandable habitats, NASA hoped to greatly exceed the usable space of the International Space Station at a fraction of the usual cost. Lately, the company has focused on ever-larger expandable modules, notably the Sundancer and BA330 modules.

"Bigelow Aerospace sits on a 50-acre plot of land, with an expansion of the company factory now under way that doubles the amount of floor space as the business begins the transition from research and development to module production.

"The BEAM module that could attach to the International Space Station is sized to be a larger version of the already-flown Genesis module...."

If the Lemming was an old-school journalist, this is where you'd start reading a hand-wringing dirge about the death of high-end tourism and the awful plight of wage slaves abandoned by somebody the editor doesn't like.

The Lemming isn't an old-school journalist.

It doesn't seem likely that the tourist industry in places like Aspen, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, or Ushaia is going to dry up as a result of Bigelow Aerospace adding a module to the International Space Station.

Not this year, anyway.

Maybe not ever.

Columbus Didn't Kill Tourism

Think about it: back in good king Edward's day, Devon had innkeepers. One of Devon's public accommodations, the Pilchard Inn, has had its ups and downs - but England and other countries allowing similar establishments to be built on the other side of the Atlantic over the last half-dozen centuries hasn't killed innkeeping in Devon.

As the Lemming said the other day: "...Change can hurt. But change happens: and it's best, in the Lemming's opinion, to deal with it. Not fret...." (January 22, 2011)

ISS: Not the Only Game in Town

The ISS/Bigelow module deal may fall through: the article says nothing's been finalized yet. But one of the four dozen or so space agencies around the world is likely to decide that Bigelow Aerospace has the equipment and services they need.

Or - and this may seem like a radical idea - private companies may decide that their return on investment is higher, if they outsource to Bigelow instead of developing their own modules.

There's more to low Earth orbit living than tourism, of course. It's easier to do experiments with microgravity there; you're above this soupy nitrogen-oxygen mix we breathe, so it's easier to see the stars - and it's hard to beat the view of Earth from orbit.

Quite a few of these non-tourist ventures don't absolutely require the presence of a human being - but the Lemming thinks it's easier to monitor and fix things when you're there, instead of a hundred or so miles away.

"When it's time to build spaceships, people will built spaceships." (October 4, 2009) Looks like it's time.

Related posts:

• "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service"
  (December 8, 2010)
• "Hyperbole, Business, and a Spaceship Factory"
  (November 19, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace, Private Space Station, International Enterprise"
  (October 20, 2010)
• "Space Tourism and Virgin Galactic: Another Step"
  (July 17, 2010)
• "Over Four Dozen Space Agencies (and Growing?)"
  (February 28, 2010)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Discovery Launch: Hydrogen Leak, Cracks, and Canvas Sails

"Latest Launch Delay May Push Shuttle Discovery's Final Flight Into Christmas "
Denise Chow, Space.com (November 24, 2010)

"NASA's latest launch delay for the space shuttle Discovery could push the spacecraft's final mission into the Christmas holiday, or even postpone it completely until February, agency officials said Wednesday.

"Top shuttle program managers met today (Nov. 24) to review recent repairs to Discovery's massive external fuel tank. Based on the discussion, NASA officials decided to forgo any launch attempts until at least Dec. 17, if not into the next launch window in February.

" 'What we've told the agency leadership is that clearly we're not ready for the Dec. 3 to Dec. 7 window that's coming up next week,' John Shannon, NASA's shuttle program manager, said in a news conference this afternoon. 'We'll leave the option open for a launch window for Dec. 17, but a lot of data has to come together to support that.'..."

If Discovery doesn't launch in December, it looks like the launch date will be pushed back to February, 2010.

All of which doesn't leave the folks on the International Space Station (ISS) stranded. They've been getting cargo from robotic freighters; and the last the Lemming heard, Russia had spacecraft that could ferry people to and from the space station.

The hydrogen leak's been patched, and cracked metal ribs in Discovery's external tank are now reinforced. Part of what's keeping Discovery on the ground, is that program managers don't think they've got a clear enough idea of why the ribs cracked in the first place.

The Lemming thinks that waiting is prudent in this case. It certainly makes more sense than the Qantas 'there was no explosion' approach to vehicle maintenance. (November 4, 2010)

That crack in the exterior tank's insulation? Not related to the cracked ribs, and that's patched, too.

The Lemming hopes to watch Discovery's last mission on television. It'll be a time for a little nostalgia. It's the end of the first line of surface-to-orbit freighters.

There's also a great deal of 'firsts' happening. Bigelow Aerospace is well on its way to having rental property in Earth orbit. (October 20, 2010) We've been assured that Russia will have the "first" commercial space station - probably true, depending on how "first" and "space station" are defined. (September 29, 2010) There's even not-entirely-crazy talk about commercial flights to Mars in maybe 15 years. (September 1, 2010)

Sure, the Lemming will miss the Space Shuttles. A little like someone might miss the days when wooden hulls and canvas sails carried people between continents. But it's exciting, living in an era where people are traveling to orbit and back - and it doesn't necessarily make the headlines any more.

The folks working at getting Discovery launch-ready? They're getting Thursday and Friday off. It's Thanksgiving weekend, you know.

Related posts:

• "Last Space Shuttle Discovery Launch This Afternoon: Maybe"
  (November 5, 2010)
• "Last Discovery Launch Called On Account of Rain"
  (November 4, 2010)
• "Space Shuttle: Last Discovery Launch Thursday, So Far"
  (November 2, 2010)
  • Includes inforgraphic
• "Last Flights of the First Space Freighters, New Construction at Spaceports"
  (September 23, 2010)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

International Space Station Cooling System Fix: Partly Completed

"Next Spacewalk No Earlier Than Wednesday"
Latest News, NASA (August 8, 2010)

"The next spacewalk to complete the removal of a failed ammonia pump module and installation and activation of a new pump module on the International Space Station's S1 Truss will take place no earlier than Wednesday.

"Expedition 24 Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson completed the first spacewalk to remove and replace the pump module at 3:22 p.m. EDT Saturday. As the result of an ammonia leak in the final line that needed to be disconnected from the failed pump module, the day's tasks were only partially completed. The decision was made to reconnect the line on the pump module and install a spool positioning device to maintain proper pressure internal to the ammonia line.

"Teams on the ground are evaluating the impact of the leak on plans to replace the failed pump, as well as possible fixes for the leak. The completion of the process will most likely require at least two additional spacewalks.

"Saturday's excursion lasted 8 hours, 3 minutes, making it the longest expedition crew spacewalk in history and the sixth longest in human spaceflight history...."


(from NASA TV, via NASA, used w/o permission)
"...Expedition 24 Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock (left) and Tracy Caldwell Dyson work to remove a failed ammonia pump module on the International Space Station's S1 Truss. Credit: NASA TV"

NASA's YouTube channel has a video report on what's been happening with the cooling system repair:

"Astronauts Make Progress on Spacewalk"

NASAtelevision, YouTube (August 7, 2010)
video, 10:05

"Expedition 24 astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson conducted the first of two planned spacewalks needed to replace a failed ammonia pump module that helps cool the International Space Station on Aug. 7. They will conduct a second spacewalk no earlier than Aug. 11, and possibly a third to continue the pump replacement effort."

The good news is that the ISS crew is okay, thanks to redundant design and some quick work when one of the systems went down.

The bad news is that the folks on the ISS are busy fixing the cooling system now, instead of doing their scheduled work.

Which includes a sort of plug-and-play unit being developed by an outfit in Kentucky:

"Shannon Walker to install NanoRacks on ISS"
Kentucky Space (July 12, 2010)

"NASA astronaut Shannon Walker, who will go to the ISS on Expedition 24, has trained on - and will soon permanently install - the two NanoRacks Platforms that arrived by shuttle in April and May. They will be located it the Japanese module on the ISS.

"Kentucky Space is currently working with customers needing to do low cost, repeatable microgravity research using small plug-and-play labs called "CubeLabs." Each NanoRacks Platform can host up to 16 individual labs...."

But that's another topic.

Repair Job on the International Space Station

"NASA Plans Emergency Spacewalks to Fix Space Station "
Space.com (August 2, 2010)

"NASA is planning a pair of emergency spacewalks to repair the International Space Station after half of its cooling system shut down unexpectedly Saturday, forcing astronauts to power down several systems.

"The two repair spacewalks will be performed by American astronauts Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson and could begin Thursday to replace a pump module in one of the space station's two cooling system loops. Engineers are assessing the spacewalk plans before making a final decision.

" 'They already have procedures for this,' NASA spokesperson Kelly Humphries told SPACE.com. 'This is a significant item and one that there has been a lot of work to prepare for. They're just working on the final details.'..."

The people equipment inside the International Space Station (ISS) generate quite a lot of heat. Since a vacuum is a pretty good insulator, that heat just builds up if something isn't done - hence the cooling systems. Or, right now, cooling system.

This has been an awkward weekend for the ISS crew:

"...The space station's cooling system troubles began late Saturday when a circuit breaker tripped and shut down the Loop A cooling system pump module, which is used to move super-cold liquid ammonia through the station to remove excess heat from its systems and laboratories...."

The good news? They're in no particular danger. There's still one cooling system that works.

The bad news? Since they had to shut down some of their equipment, they're not getting a lot done. And, that balky pump needs attention.

Which is the sort of maintenance that needs to be done, now and again, when you've got a large structure with lots of machinery in it: on the ground or in orbit. What makes this job different from fixing the air handling system in some office building is how many different countries are involved - and that the building is in orbit.

A few decades from now, that may not be so unusual. And that's another topic.

Related posts:

• "ISS Space Station Walkthrough, Looking Ahead"
  (October 28, 2009)
• "ISS Sabatoge: The Big Questions is, Why?"
  (July 26, 2007)

---

More, in this blog:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Boeing CST-100 Spaceship: Passenger Service to ISS, Commercial Space Stations

"New Spaceship Could Fly People to Private Space Stations"
Space.com (July 19, 2010)

"Aerospace heavyweight Boeing is advancing plans for its new capsule-based spaceship, designed to ferry people to and from the International Space Station and future private space stations. The capsule design is part of an effort to fill the void that will be left by the 2011 retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet.

"The new Crew Space Transportation-100 spacecraft (CST-100) is part of the company's $18 million award from NASA under the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Space Act Agreement. The award aims to advance the concepts and technology required to build a commercial crew space transportation system.

"Boeing's capsule design is one of several efforts by different U.S. companies to develop the first private spaceship capable of flying humans to space. The push fits in with President Barack Obama's new plan for NASA, which calls for commercial spacecraft to take over the role vacated by the space shuttles of transporting astronauts to the space station...."

The Space.com article says that Boeing hopes to sell its CST-100 (Crew Space Transportation 100 kilometers up) to Bigelow Aerospace, as a ferry to the Bigelow Aerospace Orbital Space Complex. Bigelow's target date for opening its commercial space station is 2014.

Riding Boeing's CST-100 obviously won't be quite the same sort of experience as being a passenger in the company's new Dreamliner. The Boeing capsule is a much more utilitarian transport: but a few decades from now, when other companies have been following Bigelow's lead, I think we may see something a little closer to at least the airliners we have today, in terms of passenger experience.

'The Future isn't What it Used to Be' - Just as Well

When I was growing up, decades back, I enjoyed stories of "the future." It's rather nice to see companies like Boeing, Blue Origin, and others building spaceships.

They don't all look like the comic-book spaceliners I remember, but that's okay. It'd be unrealistic to expect science fiction of the fifties and sixties to have been all that accurate. Besides, I wouldn't look all that good in a silver lamé jumpsuit.

Related posts:

• "Space Tourism and Virgin Galactic: Another Step"
  (July 17, 2010)
• "Free Fall for the Fourth of July"
  (July 2, 2010)
• "Last Space Shuttle Launch: More of a Beginning, Than an End"
  (May 14, 2010)
• "Hypersonic Transports: Not Yet, But They're Coming"
  (March 30, 2010)
  • A few modifications, and these could 'fly' to orbit and back
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace: Space to Rent or Lease, in Orbit"
  (January 20, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "Alan Stern and Space Tourism"
  (July 18, 2009)
• "Coming Soon to a Spaceport Near You"
  (March 26, 2008)

More, in this blog:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

More, elsewhere:

• "Boeing CST-100 Spacecraft to Provide Commercial Crew Transportation Services"
  Boeing press release (July 19, 2010)

Looking Down on the Auroras

"Aurora Australis Observed from the International Space Station"
Image of the Day, Earth Observatory, NASA (June 21, 2010)

"Among the views of Earth afforded astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), surely one of the most spectacular is of the aurora. These ever-shifting displays of colored ribbons, curtains, rays, and spots are most visible near the North (aurora borealis) and South (aurora australis) Poles as charged particles (ions) streaming from the Sun (the solar wind) interact with Earth's magnetic field.

"While aurora are generally only visible close to the poles, severe magnetic storms impacting the Earth's magnetic field can shift them towards the equator...."

The ISS was over the Southern Indian Ocean, 220 miles / 350 kilometers up, when an astronaut took this photo.


(from ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA, used w/o permission)

There's a much larger image on the NASA website, with finer detail. And a few stars.


(from NASA, used w/o permission)

Also a short description of auroras.

It's an impressive photo: one of many taken from the ISS.

Related posts:

• "Tomorrow's Job Opportunities? Look Up - Literally"
  (April 8, 2010)
• "More Postcards From the Frontier"
  (April 7, 2010)
• "Postcards From the Frontier"
  (April 3, 2010)
• "'Perfect Solar Storm' 150 Years Ago Today: Good News; Bad News"
  (September 2, 2009)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades

A few months ago, I put together a link list of posts about developments in spaceflight. Not so much the esoteric search for knowledge of the cosmos, as crew-optional cargo ships for the Earth-orbit run; orbiting commercial facilities; Tourism beyond Earth's atmosphere, and spaceports.

That was "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture" (January 29, 2010). "Big Picture" included a very quick look at space agencies around the world, and a video tour of the International Space Station.

Power Stations in Space, Lunar Mining: It's Real

I'll be adding links to posts about space-related technology, transportation, military and business developments:

• "Asteroid Miners"
  (January 25, 2013)
• "'One Small Hop for a Grasshopper...' SpaceX's Reusable Rocket"
  (December 28, 2012)
• "SpaceX's Dragon Cargo Ship Returns"
  (June 1, 2012)
• "The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings"
  (May 25, 2012)
• "Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "There's Nickle in Them There Asteroids"
  (April 23, 2012)
• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Era Ends: 'It's On to the Next Adventure' "
  (July 21, 2011)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and looking from Silbervogel to the Stars"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Atlantis: 'Inspirational,' the Last of Its Kind (and what's next)"
  (July 8, 2011)
• "British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June"
  (May 6, 2011)
• "April 12, 1961, and Yuri Gagarin: the Lemming's Take"
  (April 12, 2011)
• "High-Tech Steam Gun to Mars: No Kidding"
  (April 8, 2011)
• "Space Junk, Lasers, and Diplomacy"
  (March 21, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Discovery: 27 Years, Last Flight Done"
  (March 9, 2011)
• "ISS Storage Room, a Video, and Hair"
  (March 2, 2011)
• "Four Ships Docked at the ISS"
  (February 28, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Infographic: From Steering Thrusters to Rudder/Speed Brake"
  (January 31, 2011)
• "International Space Station: Not Many Amenities, But What a View!"
  (January 26, 2011)
• "NanoSail-D: Maybe It's Working, Maybe Not"
  (December 12, 2010)
• "X-37B Back on Earth: Photos, Facts, and the Lemming"
  (December 3, 2010)
• " 'Today the Sun, Tomorrow the Stars?' Weird-But-True Legal Claim"
  (November 27, 2010)
• "Discovery Launch: Hydrogen Leak, Cracks, and Canvas Sails"
  (November 24, 2010)
• "Hyperbole, Business, and a Spaceship Factory"
  (November 19, 2010)
• "3-D Printer in Space: Seems to Make Sense"
  (November 11, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace, Private Space Station, International Enterprise"
  (October 20, 2010)
• "SpaceShipTwo's Quarter-Hour Glide"
  (October 11, 2010)
• "Teachers in Space! Almost. Sort of."
  (October 8, 2010)
• "Russia Will Have First* Commercial Space Station"
  (September 29, 2010)
• "Last Flights of the First Space Freighters, New Construction at Spaceports"
  (September 23, 2010)
• "Spaceships Launched on Rails: Not-So-New Idea Proposed"
  (September 15, 2010)
• "Commercial Flight to Mars: Maybe, in 15 Years or So"
  (September 1, 2010)
• "Asteroid Mission 'Plymouth Rock:' Catchy Name, Practical Technology"
  (August 31, 2010)
• "NASA's Six-Legged Roving Lunar Base"
  (August 19, 2010)
• "Repair Job on the International Space Station"
  (August 2, 2010)
• "Farms: On the Moon? Quite Likely"
  (July 29, 2010)
• "European Space Agency Inheriting Huge Satellite, and Trouble to Match"
  (July 27, 2010)
• "60 Years Plus One Day at the Cape"
  (July 25, 2010)
• "Boeing CST-100 Spaceship: Passenger Service to ISS, Commercial Space Stations"
  (July 21, 2010)
• "Proposed Commission for Planetary Defense: H.R. 5587 Makes Sense"
  (July 20, 2010)
• "Space Tourism and Virgin Galactic: Another Step"
  (July 17, 2010)
• "Free Fall for the Fourth of July"
  (July 2, 2010)
• "JAXA's Ikaros Sets Sail for Venus"
  (June 19, 2010)
• "X-51A Waverider: It's Just the Beginning"
  (June 18, 2010)
• "Taxi to the Stars, No: To Earth Orbit, Soon"
  (June 5, 2010)
• "X-51 Scramjet Test: Over Three Minutes of Hypersonic Flight"
  (May 28, 2010)
• "Secret X-37B Space Plane and Amateur Astronomers"
  (May 23, 2010)
• "Falcon Test Flight Next Week: Or, Not"
  (May 21, 2010)
• "Last Space Shuttle Launch: More of a Beginning, Than an End"
  (May 14, 2010)
• "Asteroids and Earth: Time for the Space Patrol?"
  (May 2, 2010)
• "X-37B Test Flight Scheduled For Tomorrow: Robots, Spaceships, and Feeling Safe"
  (April 21, 2010)
• "Space Marines: Really"
  (April 18, 2010)
• "X-37B / Orbital Test Vehicle Robot Spaceplane Now an Air Force Project"
  (April 5, 2010)
• "Hypersonic Transports: Not Yet, But They're Coming"
  (March 30, 2010)
  • A few modifications, and these could 'fly' to orbit and back
• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Sailing on Sunlight"
  (November 11, 2009)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)
• "Goodbye Shuttle, Hello Falcon"
  (February 20, 2010)
• "Photovoltaic Nanotech: Solar Power, Cheap(er)"
  (February 18, 2010)
• "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Spaceport America: More Progress"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Bullet Trains in America: United States Transportation Enters the 20th Century (It's About Time)"
  (January 28, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace: Space to Rent or Lease, in Orbit"
  (January 20, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "Crew-Optional Dragon Cargo Ship Ready for Testing Soon"
  (December 16, 2009)
• "ISS Space Station Walkthrough, Looking Ahead"
  (October 28, 2009)
• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)
• "New Rocket Fuel: Aluminum and - - - Water?!"
  (October 21, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "A Freighter Unloads its Cargo: What's the Big Deal?"
  (September 20, 2009)
• "Alan Stern and Space Tourism"
  (July 18, 2009)
• "Power Stations in Space: California Caught On"
  (April 20, 2009)
• "Spaceport America: It's Real, and Open for Business"
  (October 26, 2008)
• "Spaceship to the Moon: This One's from India"
  (October 22, 2008)
• "Bigelow Aerospace Space Habitat Prototype Passes Milestone"
  (May 12, 2008)
• "Coming Soon to a Spaceport Near You"
  (March 26, 2008)

Posts about what's a bit further over the horizon:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Centuries "

More Postcards From the Frontier

"Dazzling Photo: Space Station Flies Through Big Space Storm"
Space.com (April 6, 2010)

"An astronaut has captured the rare view of the International Space Station zooming through a dazzling display of Earth's aurora as the strongest geomagnetic storm of the year hit the planet.

"In the stunning space aurora photo, the International Space Station is seen flying 220 miles (354 km) over an Earth lit up by eerie green auroras peppered by red hues. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft is backlit by the cosmic light show in the image.

"Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi took the stunning photo and posted it Monday on Twitter, where he has been chronicling his six-month mission to the space station under the name Astro_Soichi..."

That's Astro_Soichi, on Twitter. A recent Tweet read "おはようございます。たった今北海道通過！札幌はくもりでしたが、旭川は良く見えました。この次の周回軌道で島根，広島、愛媛、高知と通過します" - but there's hope for folks whose Japanese isn't as good as it could be. The one before that read "http://twitpic.com/1do9r9 - Aurora, Moon, and my home away from home." - and linked to a remarkable photo. I'm not sure, but I think the first Tweet was mostly for folks in Hokkaido and points south and west.

Related post:

• "Postcards From the Frontier"
  (April 3, 2010)
• "ISS Space Station Walkthrough, Looking Ahead"
  (October 28, 2009)
• "Spaceship to the Moon: This One's from India"
  (October 22, 2008)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Postcards From the Frontier

"Shutterbug Astronauts Smash Space Photography Record"
Space.com (April 2, 2010)

"Astronauts - like many people - just can't get enough photos of Earth from space. But one dedicated space station crew has taken space photography to next level after shattering the all-time record for the most pictures taken during a single spaceflight.

"The recent Expedition 22 crew of the International Space Station snapped 100,000 images of space and the Earth from above over a roughly six-month period. The mission ended earlier this month with a snowy landing in Kazakhstan, with a new crew blasting off today for the orbiting laboratory.

"Expedition 22 commander Jeff Williams of NASA, along with flight engineers Max Suraev and Oleg Kotov of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Timothy (T.J.) Creamer of NASA, and Soichi Noguchi of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, made up the mission crew.

"The photo-happy spaceflyers have brought the total number of pictures taken from the space station to a grand sum of almost 639,000 images...."

That's a whole lot of photos.

Expedition 22 broke Jeffrey William's old record for number of photos taken while he was working on the International Space Station. The Space.com article quotes a Twitter entry dated 1:18 AM Mar 13th (2010): "This week we broke my old Exp 13 record for number of Earth photos. Later, after landing and recovery, I will post some of best." On Twitter, Jeff Williams is astro_jeff.

I don't know if these are some of the "best" that Mr. Williams mentioned: but they're pretty good.


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
That's the Houston area, seen at night from orbit.


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
'Kids, don't try this at home.' Unless home is in free fall. The way we're going, another few generations, and some folks may be living in low Earth orbit. My guess is that they'll spin their habitat, though: we're just not designed to operate without gravity or a reasonable facsimile thereof.

That's Jeff Williams, by the way, surrounded by cameras and equipment.


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
Soichi Noguchi, Japan, in the International Space Station's new cupola.


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
Sunrise at the space station. This sort of thing was a dream when I was growing up. It's nice to see postcards from the frontier.


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
It may look cramped - but that cupola is a huge step up from the sort of porthole arrangement we've had on spacecraft up until now. With the exception of the Shuttle, now that I think of it.


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
'Having a great time, wish you were here?' These folks had their picture taken on February 18, 2010. Their feet are in the new cupola.

Related posts:

• "Goodbye Shuttle, Hello Falcon"
  (February 20, 2010)
• "Humanity in Space: Looking at the Big Picture"
  (January 29, 2010)
• "Bigelow Aerospace: Space to Rent or Lease, in Orbit"
  (January 20, 2010)
• "America's Seventh Spaceport"
  (January 19, 2010)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "A Freighter Unloads its Cargo: What's the Big Deal?"
  (September 20, 2009)
• "ISS Space Station Walkthrough, Looking Ahead"
  (October 28, 2009)
• "Spaceship to the Moon: This One's from India"
  (October 22, 2008)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Crew-Optional Dragon Cargo Ship Ready for Testing Soon

"SpaceX Aims to Launch New Space Station Cargo Ship in 2010 "
Space.com (December 14, 2009)

"The commercial spaceflight company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) said this month that it expects to launch its cargo-carrying Dragon spacecraft on a maiden flight to the International Space Station (ISS) sometime between May and November 2010.

"The Hawthorne, Calif.-based company said it conducted the first Dragon operations training session with NASA astronauts in October to bring them up to speed on how the station crew will interface with the capsule while it is approaching and berthed to the station.

" 'Three of the participating astronauts - Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock — will be on board the ISS when Dragon makes its first visit under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program,- SpaceX officials said in a recent statement...."

SpaceX's Dragon is a reusable spacecraft, that will, if all goes well, be "used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members...." (DRAGON OVERVIEW, SpaceX)

Looks like there won't be that much of a gap in cargo runs to the ISS, after all.

Heavy-lift reusable vehicles are another matter, but I suspect someone will work out a commercially-feasible design.

There's a Dragon launch planned for early 2010: but that vehicle won't go near the ISS.

Exciting times, these that we live in.

Related posts:

• "The Future: Just Like Today, Only Different"
  (last updated December 2, 2009)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "A Freighter Unloads its Cargo: What's the Big Deal?"
  (September 20, 2009)
• "Groundbreaking at Spaceport America: World's First Purpose-Built Commercial Spaceport"
  (June 20, 2009)
  • The spaceport has been in operation for some time
  • The groundbreaking involved the passenger terminal
• "Spaceport America: Still Open for Business"
  (November 6, 2008)
• "Dubai Architecture: A Photo Gallery"
  (October 25, 2008)
  • Review of a post by someone who wasn't aware that a commercial spaceport was already in operation.

More:

• SpaceX.com
• Spaceport American

ISS Space Station Walkthrough, Looking Ahead

"International Space Station Tour (Part I)"

NASAtelevision, YouTube (January 21, 2009)
video, 9:44

"Astronaut Mike Fincke takes you on a tour of the International Space Station."

This isn't the most intrinsically exciting video you'll ever see. The camera work and narration is about what you'd expect from a better-than-average video walkthrough of somebody's worksite.

What makes it special is that this particular worksite is about 220 miles above Earth. I've been following the space program for over 50 years, and was fascinated by this look inside the International Space Station. Your experience may vary.

There are three more videos in this 'tour' series.

The next video, illustrating the Constellation vehicles and how they could be used, is a bit heavier on production values:

"Constellation Animation November 2008"

NASAtelevision, YouTube (November 26, 2008)
video, 4:55

Enjoy.More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

They Sent Salmonella to the ISS - On Purpose

"Salmonella in Space Get Even Nastier"
Space.com (March 24, 2009)

"Salmonella sent to space have revealed secrets about the disease-causing bacteria that could help treat humans with food poisoning.

"Scientists sent Salmonella bacteria to the International Space Station aboard two space shuttle missions in September 2006 and March 2008. The researchers found that when the bacteria were cultured in the microgravity environment of orbit, they became more virulent than those on Earth...

"...'This research opens up new areas for investigations that may improve food treatment, develop new therapies and vaccines to combat food poisoning in humans here on Earth, and protect astronauts on orbit from infectious disease,' said Julie Robinson, program scientist for the International Space Station at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston...."

Looks like those wonderfully-awful low-budget fifties science fiction movies were on the right track: Bugs get badder in space. Sure, the salmonella microbes didn't grow into ten-ton tentacled terrors: but that's a detail.

Seriously, this article gives a pretty good overview of what's been learned from one experiment on the International Space Station, or ISS. Mainly, it seems, researchers have learned that there's a whole lot they don't know about how salmonella lives and infects.

But, now they've got a better idea of what it is that they don't know.

The article is a trifle technical in spots: "...'To our knowledge, no one had previously looked at a mechanical force like fluid shear on the disease-causing properties of a microorganism during the infection process,'..." for example. But a detailed knowledge of hydrodynamics and biology isn't necessary to get the gist of what's being said.

---

Edited August 26, 2009

Frontier Justice in the 21st Century: New Law for the International Space Station

Don't worry. "Europe Lays Down the Law for New Space Lab" is not a jingoistic complaint, or another tiff involving European nations and those 13 wayward British colonies.

It's about rules that help people work together on the International Space Station.

The International Space Station's crew is composed entirely of human beings. Nobody expects a shootout in the Zvezda module over who ate the last snack, but where you've got humans, you've got trouble: sooner or later.

And, a new module is getting connected the the ISS, adding new functions, and new legal issues.

So, a European group put their heads together and drew up "Humans in Outer Space – Interdisciplinary Odysseys" to cover the new situation.

I was very impressed with the ISS approach to civil liability. It's very different from the current American judicial approach to lawsuits, where:

• A pickle attacks a woman, so she and her husband sue McDonald's for $125,000 (this is serious stuff - physical and mental injuries)
• Another woman spills hot coffee, so she sues the fast-food place that served it
• A police officer almost saves a 1-year-old from drowning and hurt her knee - she's suing the parents because the floor was wet. (The kid has permanent brain damage, but these things happen.)

(I still don't understand how any conscious person, not in restraints, could manage to get a permanent scar from a pickle.)

As the International Institute of Air and Space Law at the University of Leiden's Frans von der Dunk puts it:

"We are all there together, we all have the same purpose to make the ISS into a big success and we don't want that attitude, that mentality, to be disturbed by the threat of one party suing the other."

That sort of approach to law and society sounds a lot like common sense. If the high frontier wasn't still so sincerely a frontier, I might consider moving there.

ISS Sabatoge: The Big Questions is, Why?

Somebody cut wires in a data relay box: a computer component headed for the International Space Station (ISS) via the Endeavour launch next month. Space.com's NASA: Sabotaged Wires Won't Delay Space Shuttle Launch doesn't have many details about who was responsible: an investigation is still in progress. The article also tells about other launches in preparation.