The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Spaceflight news— Landing Super Heavy (twitter.com/elonmusk) (reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge) — Scott Manley covered this technique (youtube.com) — Possible claw-on-cables steadying mechanism (youtube.com)— Small SN9 update (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— Long March 8 successfully debuts (spaceflightnow.com)— Protection of lunar heritage sites signed into law. (spacepolicyonline.com)This week in SF history— 7 Jan, 1985: launch of Sakigake (isas.jaxa.jp) (solarsystem.nasa.gov)— Next week (1/12 through 1/18) in 1997, Rip, or R.I.P.

Spaceflight news— Astra makes it to space! (twitter.com/lorengrush) (spacenews.com) (space.com) — Orbital parameters (HT Mike Stewart twitter.com/planet4589)— Chang’e-5 sample recovery (spacenews.com) — Now headed to L1 (with DSCOVR) (HT Sam in the chat: twitter.com/AJ_FI)Short & Sweet— Project Kuiper reaches a milestone (parabolicarc.com)— CSA is sending two astronauts to the Moon (asc-csa.gc.ca) (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Call for help reconstructing Apollo 10 software (github.com/virtualagc) — Quick software setup guide and code structure/syntax overview (youtube.com)This week in SF history— 25 Dec, 2003. Beagle 2 lands on Mars (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci.esa.int)— Next week (1/5 - 1/11)  in 1985: Headed for a first close to home.

Spaceflight news— SN8 high-altitude flight (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) — SNM analysis/discussion (youtube.com) — Accomplished all four main goals (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk) — Reduced goal altitude due to high atmosphere winds (HT Mike Stewart: nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— Artemis astronauts announced! (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)— Two smallsats selected for 2025 NASA mission. (americaspace.com)— Space RIDER’s construction contracts awarded. (spacenews.com)This week in SF history— 21 Dec, 2004. Maiden flight of Delta IV Heavy (spacedaily.com) (spaceref.com) (PDF: ulalaunch.com) (space.com) — Launch footage (youtube.com)— Next week (12/22 - 12/28) in 2003: 11 years and 5 kilometers.

Spaceflight news— Chang’e-5 lunar sampling (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (theverge.com) (spaceflight101.com) — Sample transfer happened shortly after docking (HT Sam in the chat: youtube.com) (twitter.com/050644zf)— Hayabusa2 sample returns (spacenews.com) (hayabusa2.jaxa.jp) (twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa) — Extended mission (smh.com.au) (hayabusa2.jaxa.jp) Short & Sweet— A new plane-launched rocket appears. (spacenews.com) (youtu.be) (thedrive.com) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)— ESA signs the world’s first contract for space debris removal. (spacenews.com)— First real-time link between high- and low-Earth orbits. (smallsatnews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Espen via email: Speculation on Electron interstage TPSThis week in SF history— 9 Dec, 1978. Pioneer Venus Multiprobe enters atmosphere. (adsabs.harvard.edu) (adsabs.harvard.edu) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (hughesscgheritage.com)— Next week (12/15 through 12/21) in 2004, I get gas when you push me too hard.

Spaceflight news— Rocket Lab recovery (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF) — A list of direct quotes from the press conference (twitter.com/Erdayastronaut)Short & Sweet— Phobos rover begins landing tests. (space.com)— The first H3 launches face delays. (spacenews.com)— Starship prepares to hop (twitter.com/elonmusk)— Carbice and Relativity raise millions in investment. (spacenews.com) (news.satnews.com) (theorbitalmechanics.com/show-notes/baratunde-cola) (theorbitalmechanics.com/show-notes/jordan-noone)Questions, comments, corrections— Ben Hallert: SN8 burst disc (twitter.com/chairboy)This week in SF history— 2 Dec, 1988. Launch of STS-27, the mission we almost lost Atlantis (youtube.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (PDF: spaceflight.nasa.gov) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)— Next week (12/8-12/14) in 1978 - zero seconds, zero seconds, two seconds, 4,057 seconds, and N/A.

Spaceflight news— SN8 follow-up (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (youtube.com) — Martyte is a ceramic-filled epoxy, used to coat the flame trench (ntrs.nasa.gov)— Vega launch failure linked to human error (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Russian spacewalk completed to prepare for science module. (space.com)— Loverro exit illuminated (washingtonpost.com)— Skyrora test fires third-stage engine (satnews.com)— Rocket Lab successfully recovers booster. (spaceflightnow.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Andy Z.: Moose, F9 delay for recovery zone weather by NASA or DOD, and Crew Dragon capacity (astronautix.com)— Ben Hallert: VIF at Vandenberg? (twitter.com/chairboy) (spacenews.com)— Don’t forget! 2800-2900 UTC, Dec 5, is the Hayabusa2 capsule reentry (smh.com.au) (hayabusa2.jaxa.jp) This week in SF history— 26 Nov, 1965. Launch of Astérix, the first French satellite (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (12/1 through 12/7) in 1988: A quarter degree to spill the tea

Spaceflight news— Starship SN8 fires a second (and third) time. (space.com) (youtube.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)— Crew-1 certified (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (two parter: americaspace.com / americaspace.com)Short & Sweet— Upgraded version of Sherpa tug to fly in mid-2021. (spacenews.com) (satnews.com)— Bridenstein expected to turn down a continued position. (spacenews.com) (aviationweek.com)— Mars Sample Return may be delayed. (spacenews.com)— First Falcon Heavy Extended Fairing sold. (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Ben Hallert: Gnome Chompski is 15 cm, not 15 mm (twitter.com/chairboy)— From the intro: Congress does not authorize SOFIA sunset (spacenews.com)This week in SF history— 21 November 2000: Launch of EO-1, Earth Observing 1 (phys.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (earthobservatory.nasa.gov) (space.skyrocket.de)— Lots of thanks to Emory Stagmer for presenting this week’s topic! (twitter.com/vaxheadroom)— Next week (11/24 - 11/30) in 1965: Medaille de Bronze

Spaceflight news— Rocket lab aims to recover booster (spacenews.com) (aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org) (rocketlabusa.com)Short & Sweet— Spacebit doesn’t hate wheels, but does love sharing data. (spacenews.com)— Galactic Energy reaches orbit. (spacenews.com)— Virgin Galactic enters final testing phase before operations. (spacenews.com)— The Curse of Scrubtober Ends. (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)Interview--Mark Lester, President & CEO, Alaska Aerospace Corporation— akaerospace.com— witter.com/alaskaaerospace— linkedin.com/in/mark-d-lesterThis week in SF history— 11 Nov, 1982. STS-5, the first operational Shuttle mission, and the first to deploy satellites. (newspapers.com) (wikipedia.org) (PDF: spacepresskit.files.wordpress.com)— Next week in 2000: Hyper carbon-carbon plasma

Spaceflight news— Direct lunar water observation (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nature.com)— OSIRIS-REx stores sample (spacenews.com) (asteroidmission.org) (asteroidmission.org)Short & Sweet— Launchspace to install debris collection payload on ISS. (spacenews.com)— Ariane 6 needs additional funding. (spacenews.com)— Falcon 9 launch abort conclusion. (spacenews.com) (cbsnews.com)— NASA faces tough choice due to SLS’s slow progress. (space.com)This week in SF history— 9 Nov, 1967. Launch of Apollo 4 (wikipedia.org) (drewexmachina.com) (space.skyrocket.de) — Ejectable film canisters were fairly complex machines (nasa.gov) — Apollo 8 press kit (PDF: nasa.gov) — Apollo 4 press kit (cdm16608.contentdm.oclc.org)— Next week (11/10 - 11/17) in 1982. It was a lovely trip, but we were stuck indoors the whole time.

Spaceflight news— OSIRIS-REx completes TAG (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (asteroidmission.org) — Descent video and description by Dante Lauretta (asteroidmission.org) (twitter.com/NASA) — TAGSAM details (link.springer.com) (youtu.be) — We spoke with Richard Witherspoon, mission operations systems engineer at Lockheed Martin in Ep 186 (theorbitalmechanics.com)Short & Sweet— Falcon 9 core sets record with Starlink launch. (americaspace.com)— China reveals plans for a number of space projects. (spacenews.com)— GHGSat detects smallest methane emission ever from orbit. (smallsatnews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Chris Hofmann via DM and Ben Hallert (twitter.com/chairboy): Firefly launches out of Vandenberg, not WallopsThis week in SF history— 30 Oct, 1985. Launch of the eight-person shuttle crew, STS 61-A. Largest crew to date (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de) — Interview with Ernst Messerschmid, Payload Specialist (esa.int)— Next week (11/3-11/9) in 1

Spaceflight news— NASA and ESA Lunar Gateway contracts awarded (space.com) (spacenews.com) — Airbus and Thales Alenia were also contracted to develop a lunar lander (spacewatch.global) (esa.int)Short & Sweet— Prototype rover tested in Mojave desert. (cnet.com)— Fire at Firefly’s Wallops Launch Complex. (twitter.com/Firefly_Space) (twitter.com/DavidNagySFgang)— Zvezda atmosphere success… and failure. (sciencealert.com) (tass.com)Questions, comments, corrections— OSIRIS-Rex Touch-and-Go maneuver (americaspace.com) (nasa.gov)This week in SF history— 26 Oct, 2006. Launch of the STEREO mission (stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov) — SECCHI - Sun-Earth Connections Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (secchi.lmsal.com) — IMPACT - In situ Measurements of Particles And CME Transients (sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu) — PLASTIC - Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (link.springer.com)— Next week (10/27 - 11/2) in 1985: Room for one more?

Spaceflight news— SpaceX Crew-1 mission delayed (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) — Tom Mueller explained the gas generator cycle, and the Merlin engine in particular (youtube.com) — GPS III SV04 launch scrubbed earlier this month due to “unexpected pressure rise in the turbomachinery gas generator” (twitter.com/elonmusk)Short & Sweet— Chinese taikonauts selected for country’s space station (spacenews.com)— The Autophage engine receives funding (space.com) (patents.google.com)— SpaceX is deorbiting its original Starlink satellites (spacenews.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Emory Stagmer: The LCROSS Flight Director's Blog (nasa.gov)Interview -- Ella Atkins, Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, and IEEE Senior Member.— We previously spoke with Ella on Episode 223 (theorbitalmechanics.com)— Autonomous done with a nailgun (youtube.com)— Ella’s professional profile and CV (aero.engin.umich.edu)— U of M’s robotics department (r

Spaceflight news— Tianwen-1 selfie (twitter.com/AJ_FI) — No country’s first Mars mission has ever been an orbiter/lander pair before (eoportal.org) — Orbiter instrumentation (nssc.cas.cn) — Lander/rover instrumentation (spacerobotics.eu)Short & Sweet— U.S. to monitor spacecraft around cis-lunar space (breakingdefense.com)— ThrustMe secures ESA funding (satellite-evolution.com)— Starlink could serve as a GPS alternative (technologyreview.com)— China announces work on lunar-capable crewed launch vehicle (space.com)— SpaceX continues Boca Chica takeover (vice.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Ben Hallert: NRHO, but not Gateway, are required for Artemis 3 landing (twitter.com/chairboy)— From the intro: Dragon DEMO-2 named Resilience (spacenews.com)This week in SF history— October 9, 2009. LCROSS impact of the lunar south pole (wikipedia.org) — The in flight anomaly (spaceflightnow.com) — Crater investigation (arxiv.org) — Estimating the circumference of an ellipse (youtube.com)— Next wee

Spaceflight news— NASA science mission delays (spacenews.com) — JWST deployment tests are done! (nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— Blue Origin pursues space station development. (spacenews.com)— Price tag for on-orbit publicity photos. (spacenews.com)— ISS leak narrowed down to two modules. (businessinsider.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Andrew Z: Bishop grapple fixture placement (youtube.com) (PDF: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)— Andrew Z: HLS size comparison (twitter.com/brickmack)Interview -- Dr. Panagiotis Tsiotras, IEEE Fellow and Professor and David and Andrew Lewis Chair, Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology— Dr. Tsiotras helped design the ASTROS (Autonomous Spacecraft Testing of Robotic Operations in Space) lab at Georgia Tech (dcsl.gatech.edu)— Dr. Tsiotras is the director of the Dynamics and Control Systems Laboratory at Georgia Tech’s School of Aerospace Engineering (dcsl.gatech.edu)— (LinkedIn)— IEEE Transmitter is a multimedia platform (transmitter.ieee.org)

Spaceflight news— Nanoracks ISS airlock is nearly complete (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)— Dynetics HLS mockup arrives at JSC (twitter.com/Dynetics) (techcrunch.com) — On-orbit refueling is required to get Dynetics HLS to the moon (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Russia announces solo mission to Venus (dailymail.co.uk) (nplus1.ru) (twitter.com/katlinegrey)— China preps for Chang’e 5 launch (spacenews.com)— Artemis III’s landing site (spacepolicyonline.com) (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Ben Hallert: FH has launched three times, not two (twitter.com/chairboy)— Ben Hallert: Any Vulcan can have up to 6 SRMs, it’s Centaur that gets heavy (twitter.com/chairboy)— Andrew Z: Interesting Boeing read (aviationweek.com)This week in SF history— 23 Sept, 1999. Mars Climate Orbiter failure (wikipedia.org) (spectrum.ieee.org) (PDF: sunnyday.mit.edu)— Next week in 2003: a bureaucratic Voltron

Spaceflight news— Cause of ULA’s recent hot-fire abort has been identified. (americaspace.com) (twitter.com/torybruno) — A “routine, ongoing trade study” has resulted in the possibility of a three-core Vulcan Super Heavy (twitter.com/torybruno)— Astra’s Rocket 3.1 flight terminated during its first stage. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Astra)Short & Sweet— Juno eyes extended mission goals. (spacenews.com)— Boeing to be investigated by independent ethics probe. (foxbusiness.com)— NASA offers to buy commercially-obtained lunar samples. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/mastenspace)— China’s mystery spacecraft returns to Earth. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek)— Northrop Grumman cancels OmegA. (spacenews.com)Interview--Baratunde Cola, Founder and CEO of Carbice Corporation— A SBIR award was instrumental to getting the company up on their feet. (sbir.gov)— Thermal camera footage of Carbice Carbon (youtube.com)— Promo video (youtube.com)— Carbice.comSocials — linkedin.com — instagram.com/carbicem

Spaceflight news— Rocket Lab secretly launches Photon spacecraft (techcrunch.com) (spacenews.com) (space.com)Short & Sweet— SpaceX sets a new record. (americaspace.com)— China launches a reusable spacecraft. (spacenews.com)— We have a Starship hop! (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)This week in SF history— 7 Sept, 1995. Launch of STS-69 (wikipedia.org) (sciencedirect.com) — Also had an alternate patch: Dog Crew II (spacepatches.nl) — Mach waves were visible during launch (youtube.com)

Spaceflight news— Funding secured for NanoFEEP manufacturer Morpheus Space (spacenews.com) (HT Andrew Zdanowicz: defenseone.com) — Liquid eyeliner demonstrates an effect similar to the Taylor Cones utilized in electrospray engines (HT Colin: hackaday.com)Short & Sweet— SLS takes a brief break. (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)— Starliner's schedule falls further behind Crew Dragon’s. (investors.com) (spacenews.com)— Russian space station module arrives at Baikonur. (spaceflightnow.com)Questions, comments, corrections— From the intro: InSight drills below the surface (twitter.com/NASAInSight)Interview--Peter Beck, Founder and CEO of Rocket Lab— twitter.com/rocketlab— twitter.com/peter_j_beck— rocketlabusa.comThis week in SF history— 5 Sept, 1977. Launch of Voyager 1, and the final Titan IIIE launch (voyager.jpl.nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week in 1995: Centenarian

Spaceflight news— Europa Clipper might not fly on SLS (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Ball Aerospace successfully completes green-fueled smallsat mission. (smallsatnews.com)— Blue Origin delivers its lunar lander mockup. (spacenews.com)— SpaceX sets a reuse record. (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Brian Kostka via email: there was an "iron lung" on Skylab!This week in SF history— 25 Aug, 2003. Launch of Spitzer Space Telescope (wikipedia.org) (irsa.ipac.caltech.edu)— Next week in 1977: Top-heavy but retired.

Spaceflight news— Lucy on track for 2021 launch (americaspace.com)— Rocket Lab increases performance (spacenews.com) (PDF: rocketlabusa.com)— NASA to coordinate smallsat rideshares (spacenews.com)— Heat management becomes a new bottleneck in the smallsat era (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Dragon’s first commercial crew mission (spacenews.com)— A new industry seeks standardization (spacenews.com)— Ingenuity recharges its batteries on its trip to Mars (phys.org)Questions, comments, corrections— “Fun paper Friday” (HT Andrew Z: frontiersin.org) — ROSCOSMOS’ Chibis suit (blogs.nasa.gov)— Csaba via email: reactors vs. RTGs, the highest flying bird, and 1976 splashdown vs 1975.Interview -- Caty Pilachowski, Professor of Astronomy at Indiana University— WIYN Telescope (wikipedia.org)— IU Faculty profile (astro.indiana.edu)— twitter.com/iuastroThis week in SF history— 11 August 1962: Launch of Vostok 3 (russianspaceweb.com)— Next week in 2003: A flame-retardant spacecraft.