Nonsense. The Moon's antipode (the approximate point at which you want to perform TLI) moves from 28.5° south to 28.5° north and back to 28.5° south every 28 days.
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 08/08/2019 06:08 amNonsense. The Moon's antipode (the approximate point at which you want to perform TLI) moves from 28.5° south to 28.5° north and back to 28.5° south every 28 days.They are starting from GTO. If it's after the plane change, i.e. just a circularisation burn away from GEO, which might make sense for a ride-share, then they are in equatorial orbit. Then their description sounds correct.
GTO is generally at an inclination slightly less than the latitude of the lunch site. A large plane change is best done as high as possible, where the orbital velocity is less, although the cosine rule means that you can get a small inclination change essentially for free with each previous burn.It is, however, true that the argument of perigee of a GTO will be either 0° or 180°, as this also reduces the orbital velocity at the higher-altitude node crossing. So, while the orbit is not equatorial, the apogee will be over the equator.
Deep Space Systems has filed an appeal with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over NASA’s decision to award Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contracts to three rival companies.
CLPS On-Ramp Industry Day Pre-proposal Conference Presentation has been posted today:https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=de8a03288287abbb01b3707c425b338a
In May, Altemus said the Nova-C lander is fully funded to complete development for its first mission. Martin reiterated that in an interview Wednesday.About 121 pounds (55 kilograms) of the lander’s 220-pound payload allotment is filled for the first mission.“We’re actively pursuing other customers to fill up that remainder,” Martin said.“For this first mission, the business case closes, but we prefer not to launch with empty space,” he said.
Comes in a roundabout manner but a Sept. 26 GAO protest denial included a NASA statement that SpaceX is now advertising Falcon 9's base price as $52M, down from $62M. Musk has already floated "$50M" but NASA's acknowledgment is a strong sign that it really is the new base price.The protest in question came from Deep Space Systems (DSS), one of several companies that competed for NASA's first round of commercial lunar lander payload (CLPS) contracts.
The contracting officer, acting as the source selection authority (SSA), reviewed the evaluation team’s results and performed an independent comparative assessment of proposals against the solicitation’s evaluation criteria. The SSA concluded that IM, Astrobotic, Offeror A, and Offeror B offered “considerable qualitative advantage(s)” over the other proposals. Narrowing his consideration to these most highly-rated proposals, the SSA found that while Offeror B’s price was nearly double that of the other highly-rated proposals, its proposal did not provide “commensurate value to NASA that would justify” the payment of such a substantial price premium. As a result, the SSA found that the proposals of IM, Astrobotic, and Offeror A represented the best value.
From the protest decision just above, we also get a glimpse of a previously non-public task order selection table.Orbit Beyond is Offeror A. Offeror B could be Lockheed.Edit: Added some context from the protest denial document.QuoteThe contracting officer, acting as the source selection authority (SSA), reviewed the evaluation team’s results and performed an independent comparative assessment of proposals against the solicitation’s evaluation criteria. The SSA concluded that IM, Astrobotic, Offeror A, and Offeror B offered “considerable qualitative advantage(s)” over the other proposals. Narrowing his consideration to these most highly-rated proposals, the SSA found that while Offeror B’s price was nearly double that of the other highly-rated proposals, its proposal did not provide “commensurate value to NASA that would justify” the payment of such a substantial price premium. As a result, the SSA found that the proposals of IM, Astrobotic, and Offeror A represented the best value.
