Space is still the Final Frontier, and while it doesn't get the attention it did during the "Space Race", much is going on regardless. This is a round up of recent space news items, a couple of which are reminders of the past underlying the future. The future isn't what it used to be - yet it keeps happening. The launch of Orion planned for Thursday, December 4 shows that some are still aware of that. The launch is set for 7:05am ET - NASA TV coverage starts at 4:30 here: http://www.nasa.gov/...
UPDATE: The live NASA coverage reports a hold - launch is being delayed while fueling prep continues on the 2nd stage, but also because a boat moved into the area that is supposed to be cleared offshore. Weather is good, there don't seem to be any hardware issues. There's a roughly 2 hour plus launch window this morning; 7:17am is the new T-Zero launch time barring any other issues.
UPDATE: And... the feed from NASA has stopped working. Is it my ISP - or is the server getting crashed? NASA had reported shortly before clearing launch that the Cape was crowded with lots of people there to see the launch. Switching to another NASA channel at the linked website...
UPDATE And another hold, have to break off at this point, so for those of you following the Orion launch, keep checking back at the NASA coverage link above. Looks like it's still a go, depending on wind now...
More below the Orange Omnilepticon.
First, a Golden Oldie. The BBC has a look at a remarkable achievement: the Soyuz Spacecraft has been in use for nearly 50 years! Richard Hollingham reports:
First launched in 1967, the cramped Soyuz capsule is still used to carry trios of astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). In fact, since Nasa retired the space shuttle in 2011, flying in a Russian Soyuz is the only way for astronauts to reach the ISS.
“The very first time I went into the Soyuz training capsule, I saw my American colleague taking painkillers,” says Kuipers. “I asked him why he did that, and he said ‘you’ll find out!’ and indeed I had a lot of problems with my knees – it’s very uncomfortable.”
But if launching in a Soyuz is unpleasant then landing is even worse. “It’s a huge car crash at best, very violent,” says Italian Esa astronautPaolo Nespoli. “You look at some of the hardware in the capsule and think, ‘Wow, we’re back in the ‘50s!’”
Customer feedback might therefore suggest that this relic of the space race is dated, dangerous and due for retirement. But that is not the case at all; even tall Europeans are big fans of this Soviet-era space capsule.
Why is the Soyuz still in use? Persistence despite several fatal mishaps, hardware that might not be the latest and greatest - but is good enough, incremental improvements... It's a proven design - and relatively cheap to operate. That last may be the most persuasive argument. While the American Space Shuttle may have been more advanced and more capable, that came at the cost of complexity, compromises, and high operating costs. That and two spectacular tragedies doomed the Shuttle program in a NASA chronically starved of budget resources.
Since the grounding of the Shuttle, the only way to reach LEO (Low Earth Orbit) has been via the Soyuz capsule - or the Chinese Shenzhou. SpaceX is planning to produce a man-rated version of its Dragon capsule, but the first flight is still 2-3 years in the future. It's one of several companies attempting to put together manned spaceflight systems, ranging from sub-orbital flights to orbital hotels.
December 4 is going to see something a bit different: that's the planned launch date for the first test flight of the Orion space capsule. It's been getting a fair amount of attention, with Scientific American, New Scientist, and more recently the New York Times weighing in with coverage.
Orion is going to be a step back from the ambitious design of the Shuttle to something that resembles the seemingly simpler Apollo capsule used in the Moon program, the three Skylab missions, and the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Orion, however, will be able to do what the Shuttle could not: venture beyond LEO to the Moon and even farther as the spacecraft is developed. The initial unmanned test flight will take Orion into an elliptical orbit that will reach 3,600 miles above Earth - reentry will push temperatures close to those from a returning Lunar mission. It's proposed to develop capabilities for missions to the Moon and beyond. Assuming it is developed, that is.
Orion and the associated Space Launch System has been controversial. From the NY Times article by Kenneth Chang:
Some skeptics have questioned whether Orion, originally part of a program started under President George W. Bush to send astronauts back to the moon, is even necessary, or a waste of billions of dollars.
The Obama administration canceled Orion and the entire moon program as too expensive and too far behind schedule. But many members of Congress disagreed, and NASA revived a stripped-down version of Orion to be used as a lifeboat for the International Space Station, then resumed a design very close to what had been canceled.
NASA also started work on a heavy-lift rocket known as the Space Launch System that will carry Orion on future launchings. Together, the rocket and the capsule are estimated to cost $19 billion to $22 billion.
Some House Republicans have pushed to revive plans to return to the moon, but have not proposed funds to build a lander.
Costs are liable to be the biggest hurdle. Absent a compelling narrative to justify Orion, the current obsession with cutting government to the bone will make it an obvious target. For some perspective, it should be remembered that
some estimates of the Iraq War place
weekly costs at
around $1.8 billion for a total of several trillion and still counting. Currently the
U.S. GDP is improving; it was estimated at around
$17 trillion as of Q3, 2014.
For what it is worth, it should be noted that Europe has an active space program of its own, albeit unmanned. The competition to get payloads into orbit for the commercial market is stronger than ever. The consortium of countries behind the Ariane space launchers have agreed to go ahead with development of the Ariane 6. As per Jonathan Amos of the BBC,
• Next-generation rocket will be modular in design, offering two variants
• Vehicles will lean on their Ariane 5 heritage but cost less to build
• A new upper-stage engine (Vinci), already in development, will be used
• Solid fuel boosters from the Vega rocket will provide additional power
• A62 will tend to launch medium-sized government/science missions
• A64 will launch the big commercial telecoms satellites, two at a time
• They will carry 5 or 11 tonnes into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO)
That kind of heavy lift capability offers all kinds of potential for developing space infrastructure - and while it's been largely forgotten now seemingly, there was once a hope that a
third industrial revolution could transform Earth into a park by moving intensive energy use industry into orbit and exploiting natural resources in space to conserve those of Earth. It's an appealing vision, if easily dismissed as naive and utopian.
To make it happen would take political leadership able to work for long-term goals (aside from those of seizing and holding political/financial power) for the benefit of all. Given that it is increasingly obvious that we are not there yet, it should be remarked that the growing contradictions in our economy and our political systems in collision with ever more frequent disruptions - i.e.: Climate Change - make it seem like we have two choices. We can either dither along into a downward spiral, or we can pursue seemingly unreal idealistic goals because even if we fall short, at least we'll be headed in the right direction.
To that end, as a reminder of what we once saw as potentially within our grasp, here's a short video via a Huffington Post article that couples images of actual places within our solar system with the words of Carl Sagan. The full version by Erik Wernquist can be found at this link: http://vimeo.com/...
I've found a copy reposted to Youtube which I'm embedding here. http://youtu.be/...
7:36 AM PT: Update launch scrubbed by weather, minor tech issues - next attempt in maybe 24 hours...