Author Topic: The New Space Age -- Thank You  (Read 3758 times)

Offline RedLineTrain

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The New Space Age -- Thank You
« on: 12/14/2021 02:20 pm »
The year 2021 is on track to have the highest number of successful launches since the dawn of spaceflight.  We currently are at 124 successful launches for the year, with the highest number being 126 successful launches in 1983 and 1984.

China's and SpaceX's contributions this year have been especially remarkable.

http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/logyear.html

My life up to this point has seen a constant erosion of our ambitions in space.  But it seems that we have seen a strong inflection point.

Cheers to all of those involved in the hard work of spaceflight and I look forward to the years to come.
« Last Edit: 12/14/2021 02:35 pm by RedLineTrain »

Offline jebbo

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Re: The New Space Age -- Thank You
« Reply #1 on: 12/14/2021 02:30 pm »
Looks like we'll exceed the 139 orbital launch attempts number as well ... 132 right now, enough non-China launches with solid dates to get us to 140, and several Chinese launches likely.

--- Tony

Offline Vahe231991

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Re: The New Space Age -- Thank You
« Reply #2 on: 12/15/2021 04:10 pm »
If SpaceX's launch frequency holds next year, or Cuba, South Africa, or another developing country launches a satellite into orbit, then 2022 could see more than 150 space launches. The new space age in my opinion is also the first time that the US military and NASA will be lofting spacecraft into orbit aboard SLVs that do not bear the names of Cold War ballistic missiles. The UK will go back to launching satellites with its own rockets for the first time since the 1970s, and Russia might revive the Buran program by having the nearly complete Burya space shuttle finished and used to launch space debris retrieving spacecraft into orbit to help deorbit derelict 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s military satellites.

The new space age might also see suborbital passenger flights whereby Mach 3 to Mach 5 spaceplanes fly to 200,000 feet with a combo of auxiliary rocket-assisted take-off boosters (jettisoned at 20,000 feet) and turbo-scramjets that are fueled by a combo of methane and biofuels, traveling between metropolitan cities for one hour and 15 minutes, because Virgin Galactic has proposed a Mach 3 airliner and signed a MoU with Rolls-Royce to work on development of this project.

Offline dchenevert

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Re: The New Space Age -- Thank You
« Reply #3 on: 12/15/2021 04:31 pm »
My life up to this point has seen a constant erosion of our ambitions in space.  But it seems that we have seen a strong inflection point.

For about the last ten years, I have been referring to "back during the space age". :( :(

Now I would say "back during the first space age", and of course "during the [new|second] space age"

Offline Vahe231991

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Re: The New Space Age -- Thank You
« Reply #4 on: 12/15/2021 04:40 pm »
My life up to this point has seen a constant erosion of our ambitions in space.  But it seems that we have seen a strong inflection point.

For about the last ten years, I have been referring to "back during the space age". :( :(

Now I would say "back during the first space age", and of course "during the [new|second] space age"
The first Space Age was originally conceived in the crucible of the Cold War, given that the launch of Sputnik 1 stunned the US and prompted the creation of NASA as well as the launch of the Explorer 1 satellite, but also because the US was in a race with the USSR to get the first people on the moon. However, Japan and China launched their first satellites in 1970, so the early 1970s didn't just herald the winding down of the Cold War space race between the US and USSR but also a new space race between China and Japan.

The new space age you are referring too may be best called the age of private spaceflight and the end of the operational careers of American SLVs, bearing the names of Cold War ballistic missiles, given that the Vulcan rocket is an all-new design despite borrowing some elements from the Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy.

Offline dchenevert

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Re: The New Space Age -- Thank You
« Reply #5 on: 12/15/2021 05:06 pm »
The first Space Age was originally conceived in the crucible of the Cold War, given that the launch of Sputnik 1 stunned the US and prompted the creation of NASA as well as the launch of the Explorer 1 satellite, but also because the US was in a race with the USSR to get the first people on the moon. However, Japan and China launched their first satellites in 1970, so the early 1970s didn't just herald the winding down of the Cold War space race between the US and USSR but also a new space race between China and Japan.

The new space age you are referring too may be best called the age of private spaceflight and the end of the operational careers of American SLVs, bearing the names of Cold War ballistic missiles, given that the Vulcan rocket is an all-new design despite borrowing some elements from the Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy.

For me, the new age is defined by more than that. There are like a dozen things going on that would have been Big Space News 15 years ago. I would even lump in "China joins the club", but yes most of the other changes are entrepreneurial. I have Vulcan squeaking in because an old-space rocket company shopped around and bought (err, will buy) its engines from an entrepreneurial company.

Definition notwithstanding...things are changing fast and it's great.

Offline high road

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Re: The New Space Age -- Thank You
« Reply #6 on: 12/17/2021 05:35 am »
'Even adding China joining the club' is pretty funny given that they're resposible for over 90% of the increase in orbital launches over last year

 

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