Stacking and Speaking Starship

 

A screen image of the Starship stacking operation in Texas live streamed by NASASpaceFlight.com

Just over one week ago SpaceX successfully stacked their massive Starship system at their operations base in Texas, for the first time using their new “chopsticks” methodology – grabbing a prototype of the Starship crew vehicle and raising it to the top of a huge Super Heavy booster. By contrast, NASA continues to perform hoisting within their gigantic Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, as they have recently done with what will be the first Artemis assembly of the Space Launch System/Orion spacecraft. In a few months Artemis will undertake an unmanned mission to the moon before crew operations get underway within a year.

 

As for Starship? The ultimate goal is a large crew bound for Mars. But last week speculation ran rampant about exactly what visions SpaceX head Elon Musk might reveal at a scheduled media gathering and worldwide streaming event in the immediate wake of the Starship stacking. The thought was that if Elon said anything hard to believe, we may be the ones that need to rethink that belief. After all, the amount of progress SpaceX has made has been stunning. Ten years ago, I toured what was the humble SpaceX facilities at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral. To see the visions presented back then come to fruition has been beyond impressive. And there are plenty of near-future developments in store. For example, those Starship chopsticks aren’t just for lifting – the plan is to use them to snatch a returning booster out of the sky. Impossible? We’ll see about that…

 

The fully-stacked Starship system prototype, beautifully captured by photographer John Kraus ( @johnkrausphotos ) the morning after the stacking operation. The operation had begun the night before as the clock neared midnight, taking place in darkness. 

In the aftermath of Musk’s actual remarks at his showy evening Starship status gathering, some observers have expressed disappointment. There was no bold announcement of imminent breakthroughs, just a report on concrete progress. But the very fact that a Starship prototype loomed in the skies above a place now known as Starbase, Texas… Well, that was a statement in itself.

The Missing Link(s)

 

While investigating a potential re-platforming of the Aerospace Perceptions content repository, an extraction process inadvertently removed several dozen posts from the middle years of AP’s existence since its inception in 2011. The content and images are not lost (I worked in IT far too long to let that happen) but they are not in the accessible content hierarchy here. At some point I’ll initiate the effort to reposition it all back into the date-sorted format on this site; for now, though, let’s move on with AP posts into the future.

Bottom line: mind the gap!

Increments in Stealth

Originally published: August 2017

This weekend, I had the opportunity to witness several passes over Delaware's Dover Air Force Base made by a B-2 Spirit, more commonly known as the Stealth Bomber. The aircraft's presence was certainly a highlight of the Thunder Over Dover airshow.

The Northrop Grumman B-2 "Spirit of California" over Delaware, August 26, 2017.

I have always been fascinated by the realm of secret aircraft development, to the extent of climbing Nevada's Tikaboo Peak so I could see the notorious Area 51 with my own eyes – while creating a promotional video for my band at the time, Third Stone Invasion. I've also read a number of books about the famed Lockheed Skunk Works, where revolutionary planes like the SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 Nighthawk were developed in need-to-know secrecy.

Commemorative artwork depicting the top-secret glories of the Skunk Works' past.

The problem with those books is that they all tend to feature the radical angles of the F-117 on their covers. Understandable, as the F-117 stealth attack aircraft is one of the wildest-looking planes to ever fly. But state of the art? Consider that the F-117 has been retired from service for almost a decade.

As the ominous B-2 flew over my head the other day, I couldn't help but wonder, “What's next?” After all, this specific aircraft was the Spirit of California, the second B-2 to enter into service. That happened almost 25 years ago.

It had been some time since I'd looked into developments in this realm, so spurred on by my B-2 encounter I wanted to find out if there was speculation about military aviation being on the verge of wild, radically intimidating new designs.

Screen grab from a 2014 promotional video created by Lockheed to call attention to Skunk Works activities.

What I found was evidence of highly-advanced but incremental progress. The emergence of the F-117 after growing familiar with the planes of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s was startling. But a similar aesthetic shock does not seem to be in store. Lockheed, now publicly promoting its Skunk Works with its very own website - Click here to visit Skunk Works website - presents a video in which the concept of “collaborative systems” is stressed, combining manned and unmanned aircraft. Several of the concepts seen in the video call to mind the spooky shape of the B-2.

Artist conception of the B-21 Raider, with the "21" reflecting the 21st Century.

As for the B-2 itself, its successor is to be the B-21 Raider, both aircraft built by Northrop Grumman. The B-21 is expected to enter into service in 2025, while B-2s will continue to be flown well beyond that date.

Surely there are amazing technologies lurking beneath the skin of the B-21, but what's most interesting on the surface is how much it looks like the B-2. It seems that in this case, they got it right the first time.

The (so far) Endless Journey

Originally published: August 2017

Voyager 2 begins its first mile of billions to follow, August 20, 1977.

At a time when American society seems to be seriously fractured, it can't hurt to look back at a period of time when there was far greater national unity – and a greater thirst for knowledge.

On August 20 – this Sunday – NASA and the scientific community will be celebrating the launch of Voyager 2, the research vehicle that has now left our solar system and has covered over 11 billion miles. Voyager 1 launched three weeks after Voyager 2, but due to its trajectory it has wracked up an astonishing 13 billion miles.

Five years ago, on August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-built vehicle to enter a region previously thought to be unreachable: interstellar space. Voyager 2 is also now nearing the boundary of interstellar space. Amazingly, 40 years later the instruments on both of these explorers continue to function.

Voyager 1 looks toward home in this artist depiction showing planetary orbits.

The written word fails when it comes to the achievements of these spacecraft, so take some time to absorb their greatness on Wednesday, August 23 when PBS broadcasts a special program titled, “The Farthest – Voyager in Space,” airing at 9 p.m. EDT.

Of course, expect to learn about the creation of the famous “Golden Records” - albums intended to charm alien ears with music ranging from Mozart to Chuck Berry, should interstellar travelers come upon a Voyager.

So much focus is being showered upon Monday's total eclipse, which truly is a monumental event. But this PBS tribute to Voyager will celebrate our ability to take active steps to find new discoveries, rather than sitting back and simply observing natural phenomenon.

Let's all hope that soon our nation will regain some sanity and return to using science in the realization of achievements driven by curiosity – the urgent sense of purpose we once had.

2011 in 2025?

In the 1970s American TV viewers were captivated by a program titled Marcus Welby, M.D. In the near future, the space community may be equally enthralled by a small asteroid known as “2011 MD.”

2011 MD in all its infrared glory, as seen by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Launched in 2003, the SST was the last of NASA’s Great Observatories and the only one of the four not carried to space by Space Shuttle. Instead, a Delta rocket carried the SST aloft. 

The 20-foot rocky celestial inhabitant – estimated to be either a collection of smaller rocks or a single rock – is being studied as a candidate for retrieval and subsequent investigation. It’s path through the solar system has brought it as close as 7500 miles from our planet.

The study is all part of an ambitious plan that will hopefully be ready to get off the ground in just over a decade. The first step: use a robotic spacecraft to capture a small asteroid – like 2011 MD – and bring it to a new home, in orbit around the moon.

NASA conceptual planning image of a robotic asteroid capture mission underway.

Once there, astronauts could journey to the newly arrived visitor for detailed analysis of its origins and composition, shedding light on some of the fundamental questions about our solar system. Of course, getting humans to the moon calls for realization of the Orion vehicle and Space Launch System rocket programs.

This type of mission is one of the benefits of the rise of commercial space endeavors, providing NASA with the freedom to focus on exploration.

For more, visit NASA’s Asteroid Initiative site:   NASA A.I.

A New Spatial Reality

In the late-1990s film Gattaca, employment by the space agency named in the film’s title is a highly-prized future profession. The film’s plot is based on obtaining a coveted crew slot on a mission to Titan, one of the moons orbiting Saturn. The film’s launch images convey the beauty of liftoff, but also a sense that here in the future, the sight of rockets arcing into the skies above population centers is a symbol of progress attained.

Off to a Saturn moon in Gattaca.

For many years significant spaceflight missions originating from United States soil began their climbs “uphill” from launch pads in either Florida or California. But now, reflective of the Gattaca imagery, the launch site palette of 2013 is expanding.

Proof of this was easy to spot the night of September 6, when the night skies of the 11 o’clock hour were brightened by a Minotaur V rocket accelerating to a velocity approaching two thousand miles per hour, passing through an area of maximum dynamic pressure 38 seconds after leaving the launch pad.

The rocket's red glare over Manhattan, September 6, 2013.

The Minotaur – bearing the eight-foot-tall Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) lunar studies vehicle – began its sojourn over the Atlantic Ocean not from venerable Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral, but from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in coastal Virginia. Though Wallops has been the site of origin for several significant launches in recent years, the tremendous visibility of LADEE’s journey to the moon – easily seen by millions in the densely-populated Mid-Atlantic region – has brought a new focus on Virginia’s spaceflight activities.

Virgin Galactic test flight over California's Mojave Desert, September 4, 2013.

Further to the west, operations are intensifying at Spaceport America, located in a New Mexico desert basin. This will be the operational inception point of Virgin Galactic’s suborbital passenger venture. Earlier last week, Virgin Galactic took another big step toward launching six-passenger crews into space with another successful test flight, this one taking place over the Mojave Desert. Spaceport Abu Dhabi is in the planning stages, although in truth the simplified launch methodology being employed by Richard Branson’s firm could be supported by myriad sites.

With increasing launch frequency on the board – including Orbital Science’s first attempt at an International Space Station resupply mission scheduled for a Wallops liftoff on September 17 – perhaps the future depicted in films like Gattaca is finally dawning.

Failure is not an option...

 

Last night’s explosive crash of a Russian Proton rocket attempting to launch three satellites into orbit dramatically pointed out a fundamental difference between the U.S. and Russian space programs: Russian rockets do not contain Flight Termination Systems.

Uncontrolled destruction: last night's chaotic Proton launch.

 

For the United States programs, keeping launches within their specified safe flight launch corridors is a primary concern. Depending on population density, two methods of terminating a launch can be used.

One method, utilized in cases where the potential for harm on the ground is deemed to be low, essentially involves cutting off the fuel to the propulsion system and letting the vehicle fall.

The other involves the utilization of explosives to destroy the vehicle in flight. The goal, of course, is to prevent a massive rocket from wandering off on its own trajectory – as the Proton did last night – but also to ensure that as much as possible of the rocket’s fuel is destroyed or consumed in the atmosphere.

Controlled destruction: a Titan IVA is safely brought down in the wake of catastrophic guidance problems.

 

One of the more spectacular examples of a termination system in action occurred on August 12, 1998, when a huge Titan IVA rocket was detonated off the Florida coast 41 seconds into flight. It was later determined that an electrical short caused by faulty insulation on a wire began to cause problems as normal launch vibrations shook the Titan. The guidance computer went offline, came back on, and attempted pitch and yaw maneuvers that exceeded the structural capacity of the Titan. Within moments, with the rocket at an altitude of 20,000 feet, explosive charges ignited which brought the flight to a safe – but expensive – conclusion.

Logo for the group charged with ensuring a rocket doesn't land in your backyard.

           

Range safety and flight termination standards are a shared concern for all U.S. launch operations. Indeed, the Range Commanders Council has compiled a near-500-page Flight Termination Systems Commonality Standard that addresses these issues. You can explore the topic in detail right here:   Flight Termination Systems Commonality Standard PDF 

At no time does the job description of the Range Safety Officer become more difficult than when the flight is manned. It’s a topic no one liked to think about, but having witnessed shuttle launches from as close as media were allowed, I can attest to the fact that an out of control shuttle stack would have been be an entity of nearly unfathomable force. Which is why both the external tank and solid rocket boosters of the assembly carried termination systems – though the orbiter itself did not. This aspect of the system only came into play once: in the moments after the tragic destruction of Challenger, the Range Safety Office bore the responsibility of destroying the two solid rocket boosters that had continued to fly on after the initial explosion.

Knowing that the Russian rockets do not carry such termination systems would likely have me thinking twice about attending a Proton launch – especially since this is the fifth failure of this launch system in two-and-a-half years. A 19-story rocket that weighs over 1.5 million pounds with a mind of its own? That is a scary thought…