-
#60
by
robertross
on 14 Apr, 2012 12:22
-
Armadillo Aerospace, Ben Brockert
Flight did not go well, but got (literal) data compression for free... Engine was actually intact, will fly again!
Sad and funny all in one.
Such is the art of flight.
Glad they salvaged the engine
-
#61
by
Chris Bergin
on 14 Apr, 2012 12:58
-
Top work by Simon with the coverage. Much appreciated.
-
#62
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 17:05
-
FAA AST, Mike Kelly, Chief Engineer
Had one licensed launch in last year (Sea Launch), gave license to launch to Antares, reentry license to Dragon. Brought on Pam Melroy, former Shuttle pilot. FAA aviation regulations written in blood.
Aviation regulations based around protecting the occupants, rocket regulations based around range safety, and that was the responsibility of the range/USAF. Commercial spaceflight will have FAA responsible for both. Challenging to combine two different cultures.
Flight Termination System not absolutely required, Sea Launch has a thrust termination system. Sea Launch is Russian-owned now, but still incorporated in Delaware, so regulated by FAA.
Reentry license only needed for vehicles that land substantially intact.
-
#63
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 17:29
-
Rand Simberg on a Space Property Rights initiative
Property is basic to civil rights. Anniversary of Pacific Railroad Act and Homesteading Act. Outer Space Act was meant as a means to restrict NASA's budget. Moon Treaty was a socialist effort, not signed by any space-faring nation.
The US government could recognize a claim on the Moon, in exchange for requirement to develop and a fee. Little cost to government initially, if you don't have to defend the claim. It will become impractical for "state-sponsors" to regulate purely commercial, international spaceflight.
-
#64
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 17:40
-
Tethers Unlimited, Gerry Nordley
Working a variety of stuff, including electrostatic propulsion and deorbit tether tape. Eventually want to do momentum exchange tethers for LEO-to-Escape. Over a million dollars in active contracts.
-
#65
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 18:12
-
Speedup, Robert Steinke
Video of Laramie Rose, IMU-controlled attitude, manual positioning. Indoor tether testing inside silo (in winter). Just had first free flight last week. Need a good position sensor, thinking of using a Kintect.
Water injection does not increase thrust in a H2O2 rocket, all the energy goes into heating the water. Speedup CO2-actuated value for replacing pyro valves, now on sale for $500. Working on a solenoid-actuated version.
-
#66
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 18:45
-
Frontier Astronautics, Timothy Bendel
Have old Atlas silo base. Working with Stone Aerospace on Europa submersible, and other submersibles. Tested submersible in Antarctica. Huge flame trench, designed for Atlas E. Testing for Luna City, CU Boulder. Hosting XL Space Systems H2O2 production.
Exclusive distributor for Darma engine, descendant of KSLV-1 CH4 engine. Looking for $1 million from US investors, will be matched $5 million from Korea. Eligible for KSLV-2 vehicle second stage, would be $250 million contract.
Wyoming is very business-friendly, will help write SBIR grant.
-
#67
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 18:58
-
Osa Fitch, "The Rocket Test Company: 2012 Update"
Combination of Frontier, Luna City, Speedup, and Design Jug. Tested three different nozzle designs for Laramie Rose. Were able to increase thrust somewhat through different geometry.
-
#68
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 19:25
-
Percy Luney, VP Space Florida, "An Informal Discussion Of Possible NanoSat Launch Challenge Parameters"
NanoSat Launch Challenge rules go up next week. Put a nanosat into orbit, then put a second nanosat in orbit less than 7 days later. Separate prize rules for air and ground launches. Not being restrictive about where you launch. NASA only supplies prize money. Registration fee of $10,000, and separate launch attempt fee. Final version in May. Can be commercial payloads.
http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/early_stage_innovation/centennial_challenges/nano_satellite/index.html
-
#69
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 21:21
-
Michael Clive, "The Mojave Makers Hackerspace"
General overview of maker/hackerspaces. Organized as a non-profit, under aeigis of SSI. Working on a variety of aerospace and non-aerospace projects. Have their own building at Mojave Airport.
-
#70
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 21:43
-
Unreasonable Rocket, Paul Breed
Small printed rocket testing. Working on smaller IMU, testing in solid rocket. Epoxy for tanks does not meet mfg specs, so working on carbon fiber tank with liner. Talking with HPR (high performance rocket) people about recovery. Goal is fly with IMU in next year.
-
#71
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 22:07
-
Tim Pickens, Rocket City Space Pioneers GLXP Project
Lots of "big space" sponsors; Dynetics, Draper, TBE, PWR, etc. Buy a Falcon 9 and sell extra room, dropping off some of the other payloads in GTO, and the rest after TLI. Orion -> Dynetics build both the cold-gas and warm-gas (Peroxide) MSFC lander testbeds. Lander about 5.5 ft tall, using RP-1/H2O2. Built full mockup as part of outreach. Marketing through free iPad app. Quoted several customers for rides, but no contracts.
-
#72
by
LegendCJS
on 14 Apr, 2012 22:09
-
Armadillo Aerospace, Ben Brockert
Flight did not go well, but got (literal) data compression for free... Engine was actually intact, will fly again!
Sad and funny all in one.
Such is the art of flight.
Glad they salvaged the engine
Ages ago I remember reading a big chunk of the Armadillo updates, and I recall a solemn vow not to reuse any components form crashed vehicles. They had a lot of bad experiences trying to reuse crashed IMUs (iirc) or the like and even though ground testing checked out, they caused the downfall of subsequent flights when this was done.
-
#73
by
Robotbeat
on 14 Apr, 2012 22:20
-
IMUs are relatively fragile intrinsically mechanical devices. It may well be a different story with the engine.
-
#74
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 22:40
-
Yeah, the vehicle landed nose-first at high subsonic speed, and the payload and electronics absorbed the impact, while the engine was thrown free.
Incidentally, the terminal velocity if the nosecone didn't detach was Mach 1.1, so they knew it must have detached because they could just hear it coming...
-
#75
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 23:04
-
Space Frontier Foundation, Ryan McLinko
3 step plan; developing product and demand, supply lines to space profits, settling in space. NewSpace Conference in July in Mountain View, CA.
-
#76
by
simonbp
on 14 Apr, 2012 23:55
-
Jim Muncy, PoliSpace
The lobbyist for New Space. PoliSpace is space politics consulting company. CCCP using Space Act agreements up to and including first human test flight. Budget cuts are coming, 7-8% for NASA, roughly equal to all of Space Technology and Commerical Crew combined. Extended FAA regulation exemption by three years (as long as they could). Jay Rockefeller is not a fan of third-party indemnification for all commercial spaceflight (including Atlas, Sea Launch, etc). Needs to be a better way to transition from FAA exemption without a hard shift to heavy regulation. Have FAA share safety information, but also have industry grow up and cooperate on safety. Got to find ways to share information and propose regulations, or FAA will do it in a vacuum and scare away the investors. Talk of a new Commercial Space Bill this year or next.
Some people will notice that in 2 years a vehicle that looks like Orion will fly on an Atlas V. And that a vehicle that shall remain name-SLS is very behind schedule. And then certain programs may be canceled.
There is a market for several commercial crew providers. Just because we only 6 seats per year now (limited by production rate of Soyuz), doesn't mean that we will if the seats were much cheaper. Could have lots of short-term scientists visiting ISS. Two to three teams competing to ensure safety.
About as many things went wrong with the rollout of the Obama space policy as could have. Commercial crew was simultaneous with canceling CxP, but not the cause (was Mike Griffin's idea originally).
Have to reframe commercial space as expanding America's economic sphere into space.
-
#77
by
simonbp
on 15 Apr, 2012 00:56
-
Tim Pickens with panel (Masten, Brockert, Breed, Goff, and Clive) "DIY Space Access: Modern Communications, the 'Maker' network, and the Space Community"
Pickens showing off his "rocket man cave". Asks panel what's changed since his amateur days.
Masten: Wasted a lot of time doing chemical engineering rather than rocket engineering. Linux kernel is the exception to the rule, most open source projects fail. 45th space wing has been frustrating to the point of idiocy, despite not actually using any of their services. They want more safety people than Masten employs.
Brockert: The difference between a company and amateur group is project management, forcing people to do the not-so-fun things. But, amateur groups can be much more creative. Amateur groups can also ask for help much, much easier.
Breed: Believes a group smaller than 10, maybe smaller than 5, can launch something into orbit. Hybrid professional-amateur groups usually don't work, especially if amateurs in critical path.
Goff: If you think a launch license cost is a driving force, you're going to have problems. Bringing adequate resources to the problem is crucial. Trial and error is expensive, so it's worth it to have the experience. Naiveté is a good thing, as it gets you to learn a lot.
Clive: There is a lot of duplication of effort, and amateur groups cannot afford this.
Breed: Armadillo was able to make the transition because it had a single funding source.
Clive: We now have a floor to stand on from suborbital rockets.
Masten: Engineering papers are really bad about producing reproducible results/plans. Print something physically and get an ISBN number to get around ITAR.
Clive: Makerspace are just space to do stuff, not a team or project.
Masten: Linus Torvolds figured out how to herd cats, most people can't do that.
-
#78
by
simonbp
on 15 Apr, 2012 01:12
-
Panel: Policy Issues For The Coming Year - Phil Chapman, Jim Muncy, Rand Simberg, Henry Vanderbilt
Chapman: Discussing intercepting ICBMs with Niven and Pournelle led to SDI, which helped to collapse the Soviet Union.
Simberg: Need a not-one-size-fits-all safety policy.
Muncy: We had got to fix ITAR. Needs to be on policy platform of both candidates. Rockets are dual-use, but spacecraft are not.
Vanderbilt: NASA need to take and accept much more risks.
-
#79
by
simonbp
on 15 Apr, 2012 01:20
-
And that's it, great conference!