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Vulcan is not “partly reusable” – It was and is fully expended.
Later versions of Vulcan may include SMART to recover the engine module (with its 2 BE-4 engines), but that could be years away.
[…] know that USSF-51 is likely not a spy satellite. ULA has launched both Orion signal intelligence spacecraftand KENNAN high-resolution imaging missions in the past, but these launches are typically given […]
ULA's Atlas V rocket completed its final mission for the United States Space Force with a launch at dawn. AmericaSpace presents details on the launch and photos from our remote cameras.
The post Atlas V Completes its Final Space Force Mission first appeared on AmericaSpace.
Am i missing something important here? How is it possible that nasa made it to the moon without 19 rocket launches of fuel? This seems like good evidence for Nasa being deceitful freemason satan worshippers
[…] days ago, the spaceflight world was shocked when a Falcon 9 unexpectedly failed during the Starlink 9-3 mission. The second stage of the rocket was unable to place its Starlink satellites into a stable orbit […]
[…] days ago, the spaceflight world was shocked when a Falcon 9 unexpectedly failed during the Starlink 9-3 mission. The second stage of the rocket was unable to place its Starlink satellites into a stable orbit […]
SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket returned to operational service today with a successful launch from Florida. A mishap investigation resulted in the removal of a vulnerable liquid oxygen pressure sensor.
The post Falcon 9 Rapidly Returns to Flight first appeared on AmericaSpace.
[…] orange scenario has been ready for quite some time now. Previously reported by AmericaSpace's Alex Longo, NASA put the core stage hardware and software through a series of integrated functional tests last […]
[…] orange stage has been ready for quite some time. As reported previously by AmericaSpace’s Alex Longo, NASA put the core stage hardware and software through a series of Integrated Functional Tests last […]
[…] orange stage has been ready for quite some time. As reported previously by AmericaSpace’s Alex Longo, NASA put the core stage hardware and software through a series of Integrated Functional Tests last […]
The enormous 212 ft-tall Space Launch System (SLS) core stage for Artemis-2 has arrived at Kennedy Space Center, following a 900-mile trip on a barge from Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it was made and assembled. It’s a major milestone in the processing flow for Artemis-2, which will fly the first humans back […]
The post Artemis-2 Core Stage Arrives at Kennedy Space Center first appeared on AmericaSpace.
[…] which could not be satisfied with preexisting solutions. Along with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and ULA’s Atlas V, the SLS is one of the only American rockets with sufficient reliability to be human-rated. At […]
[…] which could not be satisfied with preexisting solutions. Along with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and ULA’s Atlas V, the SLS is one of the only American rockets with sufficient reliability to be human-rated. At […]
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[…] the intervening eight years, SpaceX’s workhorse launch vehicle enjoyed a remarkable run of 325 consecutive successful launches. In addition, SpaceX launched ten Falcon Heavies, which are derived from the Falcon 9, during […]
In reply to Alex Longo.
Hi Alex, Yes – very difficult to test when every test takes 2 years and costs $4B.
Since NASA’s models of Avcoat did not predict the spallation, it’s hard to see how they can predict the effect of a change in reentry trajectory. They may come up with a theory of Avcoat spallation but it will be hard to validate their revised model.
A relatively cheap test would be to ask SpaceX to use a Falcon Heavy to send a Dragon capsule on a trajectory for a high speed reentry (like the original test of Orion done with a Delta IV Heavy) – so we can see how PICA-X stands up to lunar return conditions. Perhaps replace half the Dragon heatshield with Avcoat blocks to get a fair comparison.
From what little NASA and GAO have revealed, it looks like Orion’s Avcoat is unpredictable and likely unsafe.
Orion itself is very poor value – perhaps this is the time to shelve it and plan to send early Artemis crew up on Dragon (or Atlas V) to transfer to Starship with extra ECLSS capacity to cover LEO to lunar as well. But NASA will plough on with Orion & SLS because that is what Congress wants & funds.
[…] the intervening eight years, SpaceX’s workhorse launch vehicle enjoyed a remarkable run of 325 consecutive successful launches. In addition, SpaceX launched ten Falcon Heavies, which are derived from the Falcon […]
In reply to Alex Longo.
Thanks Alex. Interesting/surprising that when NASA decided to switch to blocks (to save time or cost) they didn’t switch to a material (PICA) that was known to work as blocks. Since/if this is the only flight test of Avcoat blocks, and it failed, it’s hard to see how they can come up with a flight rational to fly crew in the next Orion with the same heatshield design as this one that spalled so badly.
In reply to Soap.
Yes, it seems like they are getting close to determining the root cause, if they are not at that point already. Once they understand the spallation, the next step is determining flight rationale – in other words, whether they need to modify the reentry trajectory or the heat shield itself in order to fly Artemis 2 safely. The timeline for drawing those conclusions is currently unknown.
Have you heard from NASA that we might not actually hear what those results are publicly until the fall?
The latest NASA statement was that the results of the investigation should be published some time this summer once the IRT established in May completes their review.
Reid Wiseman said about two weeks ago that the investigation team presented their results and reccomendations to Orion program managers at the end of June so the IRT seems like the only the thing left before this is closed out.
[…] Space Coast was treated to a stunning sight on Tuesday As SpaceX's tenth Falcon Heavy lifted off from Launch Complex 39AAboard the rocket was NASA’s GOES-U satellite, which will continue a six-decade legacy of […]
[…] morning’s mission was B1062, which this year alone became the first Falcon 9 booster to reach a 20th launch in April and a 21st last month. She entered service back in November 2020 to lift the fourth Block […]
[…] SpaceX's 68th launch of the year, counting 67 “single-stick” Falcon 9 missions. and last week's unveiling of the three-barreled Falcon Heavy with The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) newest geostationary […]
[…] 4, 1982, Mattingly and Hartsfield were in the process of packing away their research equipment. After seven days in orbit aboard the ColumbiaThe STS-4 mission had been a huge success, the last of four shuttle orbital flight tests (OFTs). […]
[…] Americans have been in space on Independence Day than at any other time since STS-121 in July 2006. And with human-carrying Artemis missions on the horizon, it cannot be too many more years before America’s day of reflection is celebrated from the […]
[…] 4 July 1982, Mattingly and Hartsfield were in the process of packing away their research hardware after seven days in orbit aboard Columbia. STS-4 had been a highly successful mission, the last of four Orbital Flight Tests (OFTs) of the […]
Had this been a Buran type Shuttle-2, it could probably have been turned around faster.
[…] flight marked SpaceX’s 68th launch of the year—counting 67 “single-stick” Falcon 9 missions and last week’s outing of the triple-barreled Falcon Heavy with the latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-U) for the National Oceanic […]
[…] Wednesday’s just-past-dawn mission will be flown by none other than B1073, the selfsame booster which dramatically aborted on the pad at T-0 on 14 June, after previously suffering a pair of back-to-back weather delays. SpaceX teams elected to temporarily stand her down and reassigned another booster in her stead. […]
[…] Wednesday’s just-past-dawn mission will be flown by none other than B1073, the selfsame booster which dramatically aborted on the pad at T-0 on 14 June, after previously suffering a pair of back-to-back weather delays. SpaceX teams elected to temporarily stand her down and reassigned another booster in her stead. […]
@SpaceX & @ULALaunch have announced a pair of missions to kick off and close out July, including the return of Mighty Atlas.
The post SpaceX, ULA Schedule Missions for Start, End of July first appeared on AmericaSpace.
In reply to Rod Price.
Hi Rod,
I didn’t want to openly speculate in the article, but yes, the correlation between the boundaries of the blocks and the areas which lost material is interesting. During reentry, the greatest thermal and mechanical stresses should be found at the boundaries between two different components or types of material. I looked through archival photos of the Apollo Command Modules while doing research for this article. The spallation on the CM heat shields was much more limited than on Orion, but it was present. It was restricted to the edges of the heat shield and the areas surrounding the bolts which connected the CM to the Service Module (SM), which supports your hypothesis.
Avcoat was used for the Apollo heat shield. However, the Apollo heat shield was a monolithic (single-piece) component with a honeycomb-like structure. Each cell in the honeycomb was filled in by hand, which was a time-consuming process. When NASA tried to scale up this design for the EFT-1 Orion test flight in 2014, they learned that the larger Orion heat shield is prone to cracking as the Avcoat, which is injected into honeycomb cells as a viscous putty, cures. That prompted them to switch to the block design.
When NASA was designing Orion, they considered an alternative to Avcoat called PICA, which was used for the Perseverance, Curiosity, and Crew Dragon heat shields. They rejected PICA because it would have required a block design and because there were no proven gap fillers to seal the voids between the blocks. Presumably, they had to develop a gap filler when they switched to blocks of Avcoat, but designing a segmented heat shield is always difficult and they could have encountered unexpected behavior. To know for certain, we will need to wait until NASA releases the results of the heat shield investigation, which should happen this fall.
Best regards,
Alex
The major spallation on the Artemis-1 Orion heatshield always intersects a block boundary. Suggesting that the spallation originates from the block joins.
Have Avocet blocks been used as a heat shield before ?
OTD in 1997, Columbia launched STS-94, marking the only time that the exact same crew flew the exact same mission on two occasions.
The post Earth to Space in 84 Days: Remembering Columbia’s Back-to-Back 1997 Missions first appeared on AmericaSpace.
