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ISS Section / Re: Schedule of ISS flight events (part 2) [Updates Only]

« Last post by Yellowstone10 on Today at 11:18 am »

Update from NASA (December 01st, 2023):

COMMENT |       EVENT        |       TIG        | ORB |   DV    |   HA    |   HP    |
COMMENT |                    |       GMT        |     |   M/S   |   KM    |   KM    |
COMMENT |                    |                  |     |  (F/S)  |  (NM)   |  (NM)   |
COMMENT =============================================================================
COMMENT 
COMMENT  SpX-29 Undock         348:22:00:00.000             0.0     421.4     408.3
COMMENT                                                    (0.0)   (227.5)   (220.5)
COMMENT 
COMMENT =============================================================================

That's December 14, for those of us who don't have our Julian dates memorized.

2

Other Launchers (Korean, Brazilian etc.) / Re: December 4, 2023 05:00 UTC South Korean military orbital LV launch

« Last post by Skyrocket on Today at 11:04 am »

Now it would be nice if we could also get the name of the vehicle.

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Russian Launchers - Soyuz, Progress and Uncrewed / Re: Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat - Arktika-M № 2 - Baikonur 31/6 - December 16 2023 - TBD UTC

« Last post by Satori on Today at 10:57 am »

Fuel operations for the Arktika-M n.º 2 have been completed at Baikonur.

The satellite will now be integrated in the launcher.

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SpaceX Starship Program / Re: SpaceX Starship IFT-2 : Starbase TX : 18 Nov 2023 DISCUSSION

« Last post by ugordan on Today at 10:45 am »

Does anyone know why SpaceX did not show any images or videos taken from the Starship during the launch?

I believe I haven’t seen any launch where they didn’t do it since the Falcon 1.

I think it's safe to say that, for one reason or another (experimental Starlink feed?) they didn't get any onboard video, either.

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ESA Launchers - Ariane, Soyuz at CSG, Vega / Re: Ariane 62 VA262 maiden flight - multiple S/C - NET July 15th-31st 2024

« Last post by eeergo on Today at 10:33 am »

Thread title needs updating as per this site's own news articles, which apparently no longer get linked to the relevant forum threads anymore.
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/12/ariane6-2024-launch/

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Chinese Launchers / ? - Xingyun-1 - Hainan CSLS - 2024

« Last post by mikezang on Today at 10:33 am »

可回收火箭有望明年在海南商业航天发射场“首秀”

The recyclable rocket is expected to make its "debut" at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site next year

The development cost of launch vehicles is quite expensive, and if it is recycled and reused, the cost will be greatly reduced. Reporters learned from Hainan International Commercial Space Launch Co., Ltd. on November 29 that the recyclable launch vehicle Nebula-1 (XY-1) developed by Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Co., Ltd. is expected to complete the test arrowhead at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site in 2024. fly.

At present, the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site has entered the critical stage of forming its launch capabilities. It plans to complete hardware construction by the end of this year and achieve regular launches in 2024. The Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site is my country's first commercial space launch site under construction, with a total budget investment of more than 4 billion yuan. After the project is completed, it will mainly undertake domestic and foreign rocket launch business, which will further enhance China's commercial rocket launch capabilities.

Recently, the Deep Blue Aerospace XY-1 model team visited the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site for inspection. Du Pengfei, chief engineer of XY-1, said that Deep Blue Aerospace has solid theoretical foundation and rich engineering experience in the development of liquid launch vehicles, liquid rocket engines, and advanced aerospace vehicles. It also has expertise in pinbolt engine technology, rocket and engine component 3D printing technology, and vertical recycling It has unique advantages in terms of technology and ignition-free separation technology. He hopes to use the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site to continue to verify many achievements in the aerospace field and complete the first flight of the XY-1 rocket.

Liu Hongjian, deputy general manager of Hainan International Commercial Space Launch Co., Ltd., said that a communication mechanism will be established with Jiangsu Deep Blue Space Co., Ltd. to promote the agreement of cooperation intentions and the establishment of a special work class, and ultimately realize the Deep Blue space rocket soaring into the sky at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site.

The recyclable Xingyun-1 (星云一号=Nebula-1=XY-1) will be launched in 2024 from Hainan Commercial Space Luanch Site.

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ESA Launchers - Ariane, Soyuz at CSG, Vega / Re: Vega VV24 - Biomass - Q2 2024

« Last post by eeergo on Today at 10:24 am »

Italian rocket maker Avio has lost two propellant tanks that were to be used for the final Vega flight in 2024. The company is currently exploring its options.
Article:

https://europeanspaceflight.com/the-case-of-the-missing-vega-avum-propellant-tanks/

To lose one propellant tank may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like ….

It's not even just losing:

"
The two propellant tanks that went missing were housed in an Avio production department in Colleferro that had undergone renovation work. At some point following the completion of the renovations, the two tanks were found to be missing.

According to the initial source, the tanks had not been entered into a company-wide asset management system that tracked the location of all vital Avio components. This ensured that the teams tasked with investigating the disappearance had very little to go on when beginning their search for the missing tanks.

Despite the futility of the search, the tanks were eventually found. This was, however, not the good news Avio had hoped for. The tanks are, unfortunately, not in a usable state. They had been crushed and were found alongside metal scraps in a landfill.
"

I just can't.

Probably not straight Avio's fault, given the renovations contractor screwing up by thoroughly smashing the tanks instead of just *asking first* what those funky-looking, pristine metallic spheres were. I mean, even if they weren't/didn't look like flight hardware and didn't show up in inventory, they could well have been a historical artifact or some other ground unit. Unless they did ask and somebody in the company signed them off as fine to scrap, which would be even more damning.

They appear to have been produced in Norway by the way, not in Ukraine (the engine does come from there, and possibly all the propulsion system short of the tanks themselves): https://www.nammo.com/product/aluminium-propellant-tank/ They don't look extremely hard to manufacture, but guess the recertification of the production line may be problematic (or the Norwegian company also scrapped the tooling...)

Seems like using tanks from AVUM+ is being looked at, but they are a different kind so...

"Avio is now looking at modifying the AVUM upper stage for use aboard Vega. This Frankenstein solution, which would use elements of a Vega C AVUM+ stage, would be completely unproven"

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Spaceflight Entertainment and Hobbies / Re: Space Stamps

« Last post by salyut on Today at 10:23 am »

July 23, 1966, Ajman.

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Other Launchers (Korean, Brazilian etc.) / Re: December 4, 2023 05:00 UTC South Korean military orbital LV launch

« Last post by catdlr on Today at 10:11 am »

On board cameras:

Galactic,  Thanks a lot for this. I was searching for myself and had given up. I'm amazed by the amount of information provided in this video.

Best
Tony

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Other Launchers (Korean, Brazilian etc.) / Re: South Korean launch schedule

« Last post by Salo on Today at 10:05 am »

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20231204002651315?section=nk/nk

(LEAD) S. Korea successfully conducts third test flight of solid-fuel space rocket

(ATTN: UPDATES with details in first 5 paras; CHANGES headline)
By Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea successfully conducted a third test flight of a solid-fuel space rocket Monday, the defense ministry said, as part of efforts to build its independent space-based surveillance system against North Korea.

The space launch vehicle was launched from a barge floating in waters about 4 kilometers south of Jeju Island at 2 p.m. and placed a small Earth observation satellite into orbit at an altitude of about 650 km, the ministry said.

The 100-kilogram synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite is made by Hanwha Systems.

....

Apparently the vehicle has its 2nd stage left out (this stage was fired in the March and December 2022 test flights) so it's not in the full configuration, per the South Korean Ministry of Defense press release.

https://twitter.com/kampfwagen_I/status/1731556076771008739