Stellar Jurisdiction

Star Laws
There is an interesting article over at SpaceNews today regarding the peculiar and sudden imaging restriction imposed by NOAA on SpaceX in the middle of their Falcon 9 launch last Friday. While conflicting reports had been surfacing, including from NOAA themselves, it seems that the truth of the matter has finally begun to surface, and in so doing may be handily managed by the fleet of lawyers.

It boils down to restrictions on images of Earth taken from orbit, and a number of bureaucratic hoops one must jump through in order to proceed with that sort of event. What really gets my goat however, is the notion that one government (apparently our own) can claim to exercise rights over imaging of the entire Earth from points in orbit which would only briefly even be over top of the US.

It raises in my mind the much larger and more important question of: who “owns” the moon and other planets? Or at least, who claims to? I like to think that Elon and co. can simply get to Mars, set up whatever they like, and then suggest that if someone doesn’t like it they can come there and ask him to stop. The idea that the US (or any nation) would claim to have jurisdiction over the moon or Mars – when so abjectly failing to get us there themselves – is frustrating to say the least. I’m looking forward to seeing that all play out, sooner than we ever expected!

References:

Falcon 9 Launch, Monday 4/2/2018

Dragon capsule docking with space station

SpaceX has committed to a very aggressive launch schedule for the remainder of 2018, and this back-to-back demonstration of master level rocketry is a direct result! We just finished cheering and celebrating the successful launch on Friday (albeit with shortened video thanks to NOAA involvement) and now we look ahead to the scheduled 4:30pm EDT Monday afternoon launch of a Space Station resupply mission.

This will be the 14th mission (code named CRS-14) for SpaceX under the ‘Commercial Resupply Services Contract’ from NASA, and will include about 5,800 pounds of equipment. This is a repeat attempt of a launch which was delayed from February 9th and again from March 13th. Unfortunately the current plan is not to attempt a landing and recovery of this booster, which has flown before and is being reused for this flight – a key feature of Elon Musk’s strategy for reducing the costs of commercial space flight. The rocket will be pushed to the edge of some trajectory limits in order to capture useful mission data, and will be expended upon reentry. Since SpaceX is gearing up to release their new Block 5 version of the Falcon 9, recent (and likely upcoming) missions are cycling out the old Falcon boosters to make way for the new and improved 2018 model. Won’t that be great – when we are versioning rockets as commonly as we do with automobiles?

(Florida Today)

SpaceX Falcon 9 “Block 5” First Flight April 24th

Falcon Block 5
Never content to sit idly by and allow would-be competitors to play catch-up, SpaceX has been hard at work on a new Falcon model code named the ‘Block 5’. Improvements include:

  • 7-8% more thrust from the engines
  • an improved flight control system for an optimized angle of attack on the descent
  • a reusable heat shield protecting the engines and plumbing at the base of the rocket
  • a set of black retractable landing legs for rapid recovery and shipping

…and plenty more features guaranteed to make this another superstar of a rocket.

After months of careful testing, a launch date for the first Block 5 flight has been announced of April 24th. Many things can cause such a window to be adjusted, but that one will go on the calendar and hopefully demo to us all that new and improved platform!

References:
(Falcon 9 Full Thrust – Wikipedia)
(Teslarati)

SpaceX Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships – OCISLY – Part 1

SpaceX Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships - OCISLY

Are you interested to learn more about the robot boats (officially ‘Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships’ or ASDS) that are part of the SpaceX fleet, whose primary mission is to facilitate the recovery of rocket first-stages at sea? Of course you are! So am I! The scope and breadth of what it means for a company to pursue a single minded goal, and to invent from whole-cloth anything they may require to get there is evident in so many aspects of the SpaceX operation. One small corner of that process – which could easily masquerade as an entire industry on its own – are the autonomous drone ships. Delightfully named after craft in the Iain M. Banks Culture series of novels, these ships contain their share of tech which should make other industries blush at the audacity of no-holds-barred, forward thinking innovation.

This will be the first of a multi-part series that dives into the known technology behind the drone ships, and today we will start with the engines.

Each of the football-field-sized ships (“Just Read the Instructions” stationed at the Port of LA, “Of Course I Still Love You” and the under construction “A Shortfall of Gravitas” based out of Port Canaveral) are driven by four diesel powered azimuth thrusters made by Thrustmaster. These marine propellers are designed to be rotated to any angle, allowing for high precision steering and the elimination of the rudder.

While it isn’t clear yet which model is being used on the ASDS, a likely candidate is the Bottom Mounted L-Drive Azimuthing Thruster, which specializes in absolute positioning capability for offshore supply vessels.

Bottom Mounted L-Drive Azimuthing Thruster

Their largest model of this line is the TH10000ML with an 8000 kW motor. Operating at a peak of 720 RPM, this drive is capable of generating 1337 kN of thrust and weighs in at a remarkable 194,006lbs. I like to imagine that there are 4 of these beasts under each recovery platform, and there are suggestions that these main engines are further assisted by additional smaller drive systems, all computer synchronized and coordinated with a proprietary GPS system.

The design specification of the SpaceX vessels, which are based on Marmac barge hulls, is that they must be capable of precision positioning within 3 meters even under storm conditions at sea. Imagine, keeping this floating platform stable enough to vertically land a rocket, then keep it steady enough to not simply tip over before it is secured through a combination of robotic and human assistants (the subject of a future article).

Notes:
propclubjax.com – Captain’s Corner: SPACEX – The World’s First Rocket Recovery Vessel

Fox Trot Alpha – SpaceX’s Landing Drone Ship Is Just As Complicated As The Rocket

True South Marine – The SpaceX Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship

Big Falcon Rocket Made in LA

BFR Liftoff
Take note, SpaceX fans, that the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners has just approved a plan by SpaceX to lease an 18-acre site at the Port and a 200,000 square-foot space to be used for manufacturing. I think we have our BFR production facility, and things could hardly be more exciting! This space is right next to where everyone’s favorite drone ship, the Of Course I Still Love You, is docked and ready to be mustered into action. Looks like a brand new space-coast is emerging!
(Business Insider)

Spacesuits and Dragon Crew


Elon Musk wants us all to be able to wake up in the morning and have something grand to look forward to. Well, he is single-handedly making that happen for many of us with his constant output of exciting work. This bright Monday morning we can have a look at a sizzle reel featuring crewed transport on their Dragon launch system, and more about their snazzy spacesuits. I especially like the very last scene!

Stephen Hawking and his Wish for Mankind

Stephen Hawking

Defying nearly all odds for a human with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Stephen Hawking lived an amazing and productive life for 55 years after the initial diagnosis wherein he was given only a handful of years to survive. He became a household name for both lofty intellectuals and folks with even a passing interest in science, and shared his insights and passion with us fortunate souls as the world sped up around him.

In recent years one of his most vocal positions was that humanity absolutely must become a multi-planetary species, or face certain extinction from any one of a number of possible events: nuclear war, violent climate change, unexpected asteroids, or a sudden willful descent into the plot of Idiocracy. Not keeping all of the eggs in one basket is a good, pragmatic approach to nearly any endeavor, and the preservation of the human race should be paramount among them. Over the years, as we crested the milestone of the year 2000, and now find ourselves well into that century, he became increasingly frustrated at the lack of apparent interest or progress in returning humanity to the stars.

As we report on Mars Gazette with great fervor, the recent Falcon Heavy launch by SpaceX is, without doubt, the most purposeful, solidly executed and clearly stated step yet taken by mankind to honestly pursue and achieve that goal of human settlement offworld. I, as many others, mourn Dr. Hawking’s passing, though wonder if it may have been somewhat eased by this amazing scientific and social achievement. After so many decades of pain, tenacity and the stiffest of all British upper-lips, he managed to live long enough to see that step taken. He knew that he had fought long enough to see humanity finally achieve that next phase of our collective evolution, sometimes in spite of ourselves, and that the cause he had championed as one of his main projects in his twilight years would now be carried to completion. He could finally rest, knowing that humanity would carry on.

Why the Roadster? (Spoiler – best idea ever)

Starman

Another new article for your consideration, with expanded interview coverage of Elon Musk’s discussion at SXSW last weekend. In it he expands further on his goal for sending the Tesla roadster into space, and it’s every ounce as wonderful and selfless as I expected. I am still astonished at the ability for naysayers, especially those in the scientific community, to continue to devise areas of complaint about any aspect of his work. I can attribute it only to the most tragic of sour grapes, exposing a great degree of hypocrisy and infighting in the scientific community. It is fortunate that once in a generation a visionary may emerge, and be able to secure the resources needed to drive towards a great goal with singleness of purpose.

“Life cannot just be about solving one sad problem after another…There need to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity. That is why we did it. We did for you.”

(Business Insider)

Falcon Heavy Launch Short Film

The Westworld team, and everyone’s favorite savior of mankind Elon Musk have released a beautiful short video commemorating the incredible and wildly successful Falcon Heavy launch on February 6th 2018. It is most definitely worth a watch, and there is even a short clip of the center booster missing the OCISLU drone ship, which is transparency we can all appreciate. No matter how often I replay the events of that launch in my head, it remains amazing and so very important.