The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Spaceflight News— MSR delayed and split in half (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)— Northrup Grumman eyeing its own SLD contract (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/wapodavenport) — NG received six additional CRS-2 missions last month (govconwire.com)Short & Sweet— Crew Dragon production is ending (teslarati.com)— Slingshot Aerospace gets USSF contract (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Andrew Z via email: nautical miles are actually useful!— From the intro: ISS seat swap negotiations (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 4 April, 1984: Launch of Challenger flight STS-41-C (youtube.com VIA nss.org) (nytimes.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (harvard.edu) (planet4589.org) — A good book about Shuttle: The Space Shuttle Program: Technologies And Accomplishments by Davide Sivolella (vdoc.pub) — MMU Users Guide indicates a proportional relationship between nominal “cruise” speed and length of travel (PDF p38: large.stanford.edu)— Next week (4/12 - 4/18) in 1985: Swat that fly

Spaceflight News— Second Artemis Lander (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— NASA opens 50-year-old lunar sample (cnet.com) (PDF: curator.jsc.nasa.gov)— Astra’s successful launch had a not-secret-anymore customer (spacenews.com)— Starship environmental review delayed… Again (spacenews.com)— Arianespace and SPX adjust to missing Soyuz launches (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— April 4, 1968. The launch of Apollo 6 (en.wikipedia.org) (scribd.com) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ibiblio.org) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ibiblio.org) — Further listening: Arin Cross’ Data Relay on combustion instability (theorbitalmechanics.com)— Next week (4/5 - 4/11) in 1984: Pinky and the Brain… that he’s trying to fix.

Spaceflight News— Artemis I Rollout (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com)Short & Sweet— SpaceX sets two new records (spacenews.com)— First all-cosmonaut Soyuz docks with station (spaceflight.com)— China satellite launch includes demonstration third-stage (nasaspaceflight.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: JWST progress (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 25 Mar, 1961: Launch of Korabl-Sputnik 5 (en.wikipedia.org) (theatlantic.com) (nasa.gov) (airandspace.si.edu)— Next week (3/29 - 4/4) in 1968: Less than perfect, but successful, but a failure.

Spaceflight News— Astra LV0008/ELaNA 41 failure analysis (spacenews.com) (astra.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— OSAM-1 completes critical design review (nasa.gov)— China to commercialize Tiangong spacenews.com— Soyuz embargo leaves many satellites grounded (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Gravitational submarines — Matthew Bell (iopscience.iop.org) — Andrew not-Z via email suggests Re-entry Vehicle Dynamics (google.com) — Aaron Sawdey (twitter.com/sawdey) (en.wikipedia.org)Interview – Zachary Tong, creator of Breaking Taps on Youtube— youtube.com/c/BreakingTaps— twitter.com/BreakingTapsThis Week in Spaceflight History— 18 Mar, 2003. The authorization of Project Prometheus (everyspec.com, alt: web.archive.org)— Next week (3/22 - 3/28) in 1961: Ghost beetroot calls home.

Spaceflight news— More Russian fallout — Russia threatens OneWeb launch (spaceflightnow.com) — OneWeb looking to non-Russian rockets (spacenews.com) — eROSITA turned off on Russian Spektr-RG (space.com) — ExoMars likely to be delayed (spacenews.com) — South Korea worried about Russian launches (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Anahuac pleads guilty to selling tainted rocket fuel (justice.gov)— Iranian launch failure (apnews.com) — Post-recording, Iran successfully launched their second orbital payload. (reuters.com)— SpaceX awarded 3 more commercial crew missions (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Andrew Z via email: More sanctions considerations— MMC in the chat: loss of ISS would free up money for the Moon.This Week in Spaceflight History— 13 March, 1985, Launch of Geosat (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: jhuapl.edu) (earth.esa.in)— Next week (3/15 - 3/21) in 2003. Bringing fire to icy worlds.

Spaceflight news— Sanctions on Russia — Roscosmos pulled out of French Guiana (twitter.com/planet4589) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/nextspaceflight) — NASA no longer involved in Venera-D? (spacenews.com) — ISS is unlikely to be used as a pawn (reuters.com) (spacenews.com) — ULA has enough RD-180s (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/torybruno) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/planet4589) (twitter.com/torybruno) (spacenews.com) — Starliner uses Russian power converters (HT Ben Hallert: spacedaily.com) — Post-Crimea sanctions were likely more impactful on the space industry (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Relativity qualifies rocket with structural test (satnews.com)— Dream Chaser looking at landing in Japan (spacenews.com)— China says moon impactor not Chang’e-5 (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 2 Mar, 2004. Launch of Rosetta (books.google.com) (sci-hub.se) (harvard.edu) (esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (3/8 - 3/14) in 2013: Watery potato

Spaceflight News— JWST Alignment (PDF: spacefoundation.org) (HT deathkin: jwst-docs.stsci.edu) — Follow JWST’s alignment progress on Where Is Webb? (jwst.nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— Chandra X-ray Observatory suspends operations (space.com)— China reveals human spaceflight plans and communication with U.S. govt (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 22 Feb, 1996. The launch of Columbia, STS-75 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (space.skyrocket.de) (youtu.be) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)— Next week (3/1 - 3/7) in 2004: 5-7 = 46+21

Spaceflight news— Astra failure (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)Short & Sweet— Mysterious Moon Masher (twitter.com/sciguyspace) (projectpluto.com) (projectpluto.com)— James Webb is making adjustments (spacenews.com)— Starship testing may move to Florida (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— From the intro: (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com)— BreakingTaps made an excellent video and 3D model of JWST’s hexapod actuator! (youtube.com)This Week in Spaceflight History—  17 Feb, 2007. Launch of THEMIS (en.wikipedia.org) (ucla.edu) — Constraints on the moon-bound trajectory were many (PDF: igpp.ucla.edu)— Next week (2/22-2/28) in 1996: This is why we keep the mezuzah rolled up

Spaceflight News— JWST cryocooler — Alternative tube configurations include U-bend and coaxial (PDF p7: trc.nist.gov) — Testing shows the cryocooler is TWICE as efficient as required! (nasa.gov) — JWST’s radiators are coated with BIRB (PDF: indico.cern.ch)Short & Sweet— Curiosity’s wheels take a lickin’ but keep on tickin’ (cnet.com)— InSight weathers a dust storm (spacenews.com) (reddit.com/r/InSightLander)— Astra receives first Part 450 (twitter.com/Astra) (spacepolicyonline.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Uncle_Willy via Discord: four reasons why running Oxy-rich is bad— BreakingTaps on YT made a JWST Hexapod Actuator model!!! More on this next week. (youtube.com)Interview – Tupper Hyde, Chief Engineer at NASA's Goddard Center— twitter.com/TupperHyde— linkedin.com/in/tupperhyde— nasa.gov/goddard— etd.gsfc.nasa.gov— Also discussed: the next generation of space telescopes is LUVOIR (en.wikipedia.org)This week in Spaceflight history—  February 10th 2009, The collision of Iridium 33 and

Spaceflight news— Shijian-21 does some space tuggin’ (spacenews.com) — Last November, a new object, 2021-094C, appeared near SJ-21 (spacenews.com) — USA 271 “buzzed” SJ-20 in August 2020 (breakingdefense.com) — SJ-21 might be trying net or debris lasing tech (PDF: airuniversity.af.edu — 1972 Incidents at Sea Agreement (US + USSR) (state.gov)Short & Sweet— NASA identifies cause of stuck solar panel on Lucy (spacenews.com)— JMS is officially shut down (spacenews.com)— Anomaly pauses Astroscale’s demo mission (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 7 Feb, 2008. Launch of STS-122 with Columbus module (en.wikipedia.org) — ECO sensor system factsheet (PDF: nasa.gov) — Launch damage included a lost LOMS stinger tile (PDF p18: nasa.gov, VIA spaceref.com) — STS-93 is a good example of when the ECO fuel sensors might be a critical safety measure (TWSF: theorbitalmechanics.com)— Next week (2/8 - 2/14) in 2009: 102.2 degrees and 77 protons.

Spaceflight News— Artemis rescheduling (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Gamma ray observatory suffers anomaly in LEO (space.com)— SpaceX wins a new contract (spacenews.com)— Exomars to launch this year (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)Questions, comments, corrections— From the intro: ABL second stage anomaly (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)— From Upcoming Spaceflight Events: JWST Virtual Town Hall (stsci.edu)Interview: Alex Lao, Kepler Communications— linkedin.com— Kepler.space— twitter.com/KeplerComms— CEO Mina Mitry wrote an article about the role of cubesats in space-based communication (spectrum.ieee.org)This Week in Spaceflight History— 25 Jan, 1995. Launch of the SCIFER Sounding Rocket Experiment (PDF: sci-hub.se) (PDF: nasa.gov) (eucom.mil VIA web.archive.org)— Next week (2/1 - 2/7) in 2008: Failing Wet

Spaceflight news— JWST deployment — A detailed timeline is available from Jonathan McDowell (planet4589.org) — Hexapod actuators (PDF: esmats.eu) — A photo of an early actuator development unit (PDF, p2: sci-hubtw.hkvisa.net)Short & Sweet— Chang’e 5 identifies water on the moon (space.com) (science.org)— Perseverance rover prepares to clear blocked sampling tube (nasa.gov)— SLS hoping for March launch (spacenews.com)— Orbit Fab signs deal to provide on-orbit fueling for Astroscale (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Follow up on that moon rock (twitter.com/AJ_FI)This week in Spaceflight history— January 20 1978, Maiden flight of the Progress spacecraft (wiki.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (spaceref.com)— Next week (1/25 - 1/31) in 1995. Get me my briefcase.

Spaceflight news— JWST finishes deployment steps! — Primary and Secondary mirror deployment (esmats.eu) — Aft Deployed Instrument Radiator (PDF HT MMC: ttu-ir.tdl.org) — Cross stitch (reddit.com/r/CrossStitch) — Current estimate is 20 years worth of propellant (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/cbs_spacenews)Short & Sweet— Paragon acquires spacesuit manufacturer (spaceref.com)— KSLV-2 failure is determined (spacenews.com)— China’s robotic arm performs test on orbit (space.com)Questions, comments, corrections— From the intro: an expensive model (shop.blueorigin.com)— Aaron Sawdey: Thermal power vs nuclear power (twitter.com/sawdey)— Bill Boabab via email: JWST Aft Momentum Flap — See also: no deployment cameras (nasa.gov) — The observation strategy actually limits saturation by making observations in opposite attitudes (jwst-docs.stsci.edu) — A not-incredibly related but often-cited paper is available (web.archive.org) — A JWST science advisor gave an if-I-remember-correctly on this very quest

Spaceflight news— JWST launched (blogs.nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) — Realtra’s VIKI cameras looked fantastic! (realtra.space) (theorbitalmechanics.com) — Deployment explorer (webb.nasa.gov) — Port mid-boom deployment was delayed due to cover switches (twitter.com/NASAWebb) — Non-explosive pins were discussed in the pre-launch coverage (youtube.com)  — Sunshade tensioning will be discussed in ep 341, as it was successfully completed the day this episode was published (twitter.com/NASAWebb)Short & Sweet- Tianhe avoids a pair of Starlinks spacenews.com)— Sherpa goes green (spacenews.com)— SLS is delayed by a computer problem (spacenews.com)This week in Spaceflight History— 5 Jan, 1973: Cancellation of the NERVA program (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)— Next week (1/11 - 1/17) in 1965: No towah, moah problems

Spaceflight news— Superheavy (twitter.com/elonmusk) — Raptor 2 will produce 230+ tons of thrust (twitter.com/elonmusk) — McGregor will only perform Raptor 2 testing (twitter.com/elonmusk) — B4/SN20 will be used for the orbital flight test (twitter.com/elonmusk) — A guess about Starship stretching (reddit.com/r/spacex) — Possible tank volumes (HT Birkeland: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— JWST delayed (blogs.nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)— Stoke Space receives funding (spacenews.com) (sbir.nasa.gov)Questions, comments, corrections— From the intro: PSP’s inside the Sun video (planetary.org) (youtube.com) (nasa.gov)— Jon P via email: Apollo CM was a sphere section, not biconic. (en.wikipedia.org)This week in SF history— 24 Dec, 1979. First launch of Ariane 1, first of the Ariane family. (sci-hub.se) (sci-hub.se) (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (1/4 - 1/10) in 1973: Smash the scram button

Short & Sweet— Astra to launch next from Cape Canaveral (spacenews.com)— SpaceX gets FCC approval for Starship launch, starts construction on launchpad (dailymail.co.uk) (spaceflightnow.com)— NASA investigates Ingenuity helicopter’s transmission problem (cnet.com)— SpaceX Crew-5 to fly with cosmonaut (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Rogozin)This week in SF history— 15 Dec, 1976. Launch of Kosmos 881 and Kosmos 882 (en.wikipedia.org) (1lib.us) (google.com/books)— Next week (12/21 - 12/27) in 1979. Some vikings and their kitty cat.

Spaceflight news— Raptor issues (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (spaceexplored.com)— Neutron, a 2050 rocket (youtube.com) (spacenews.com) — Electron thermal protection system is aerogel/graphite composite! (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/Peter_J_Beck)Short & Sweet— ESA tests tanks for its reusable launch vehicle (esa.int)— Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin select future astronauts (spacenews.com)— Northrop Grumman wins SLS booster contract (spacenews.com)— Fatigue, debris, and rumors of debris (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Pangea tests an aerospike! (HT Andrew Z: youtube.com)This week in SF history— 10 Dec, 1974. Launch of Helios A, a West German/NASA collaboration (en.wikipedia.org) (bernd-leitenberger.de)— Next week (12/14-12/20) in 1976: Two tickets, I mean, just one ticket to space, please!

Spaceflight news— JWST bonk (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (esa.int) (youtube.com) — The clamp came off “in a way that it was not designed to come off” (HT deltaV+Deathkin: twitter.com/wapodavenport)Short & Sweet— Japan to recruit astronauts for first time in 13 years (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)— Hubble makes a partial recovery (space.com)— Rocket Lab to manufacture more spacecraft components (smallsatnews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— From the intro: Reusable satellites (smallsatnews.com)This week in SF history— 2 Dec, 1990. Launch of Soyuz TM-11 (sen.com) (spacefacts.de) (nytimes.com) (weathernews.jp)— Next week (12/7-12/13) in 1974: Hitze und Geschwindigkeit.

Spaceflight news— Astraaaaaa! (space.com) (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org) — Astra issued an update after we recorded this episode (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)Short & Sweet— Tyvak wins contract for very low-earth orbit mission (spacenews.com)— European startup tests aerospike engine (spacenews.com)— Satellite maneuvers to avoid near collision around Moon (cnet.com)Questions, comments, corrections— ThrustMe paper (nature.com)— From the intro: ASAT test (spaceflightnow.com) (youtube.com) (HT Andrew Z: airforcemag.com)Interview -- Matthew Kuhns, Head of R&D at Masten Space Systems— Masten in-Flight Alumina Spray Technique (masten.aero)— This study was a 2020 NIAC Phase I selection (nasa.gov) (researchgate.net)— Tests were run on a modified car lift (youtube.com)— The FAST concept is similar to the High Velocity Oxygen Fuel spray coating technique (sciencedirect.com)— Find more about Matthew and Masten: — linkedin.com — matthewkuhns.com — masten.aero

Spaceflight news— SpinLaunch spins (spinlaunch.com) (cnbc.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com) — Nike Sprint is one of several other “instastart” vehicles (HT Andy Z: youtube.com)Short & Sweet— Virgin Orbit to launch from Japan (spaceref.com)— Amazon to launch first Kuiper satellites on ABL rocket (spacenews.com)— South Korea to develop reusable launch vehicle (spacenews.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Ben Hallert via twitter: 53 not 60 Starlinks (twitter.com/chairboy)— ISS tour (HT Andrew Z: youtube.com)This week in SF history— November 16, 1973. The launch of Skylab 4 (bbc.com) (wiki.org) (youtube.com) (spacefacts.de) (nasa.gov) — Episodes 59 and 60 of The Space Above Us focused on SL-4 (thespaceabove.us) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)— Next week (11/23 - 11/29) in 1965: Unmitigated gall in the face of invading Romans