Category Archives: Spaceflight

SOFIA: Flying High For Astronomy

I am rather excited about SOFIA, the airborne infrared telescope which is now flying its first scientific missions. I am hoping to do a lot of coverage on it in the future.

The program is a collaboration between NASA and the German aerospace agency, DLR. Much cheaper and more flexible than an infrared space telescope, it it hoped that the research flights will continue for 20 years or more.

I recently attended an in-depth press briefing at the Dryden Flight Research Center at U.S. Air Force Plant 42, where the aircraft is now based.

Among those present were NASA’s SOFIA Program Manager Robert R. Meyer, DLR’s Program Manager Alois Himmes, the Director of the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB David D. McBride, Associate Center Director at NASA/Ames Steve Zornetzer, Director of Science at Ames Michael Bicay, SOFIA Project Scientist Pamela Marcum, Cornell University astronomer Terry Herter, Division Head for Submillimeter Technology at the Max-Planck Institut for Radioastronomie Rolf Güssen and Science Mission and Operations Director Erick Young.

Looking at the SOFIA aircraft from within its hangar at the Dryden facility at Air Force Plant 42. The door revealing the infrared telescope is open. Photo: Reinhard Kargl. Click to enlarge.

Telescope Assembly and SI Integration Manager Thomas Keiling probably got a sunburn while patiently explaining his "baby" to everyone wanting to know details. Photo: Reinhard Kargl. Click to enlarge.

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How To Package A Mars Rover

Opportunity has been packed for its journey to the launch site in Florida. Here are the four days of work, compressed into a 1-minute time-lapse video:

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Where Grownups Go To Play

Photo: Reinhard Kargl, 2011. Click to enlarge.

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Goodbye Curiosity

While spending a day at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory last week, I had a chance to say “good-bye” to NASA’s upcoming Mars rover, Curiosity (aka Mars Science Laboratory). Next week, the rover and its descent platform will be crated and driven by truck to a nearby March Air Reserve Base. From there, it will travel by cargo plane to Cape Canaveral in Florida for launch.

In this image, the spacecraft is undergoing final checks. (The rover can be seen on the left. Nearby on the right is its unique “Sky Crane”, a rocket propelled, floating landing platform from which the rover will rappel down to the surface of Mars).

Mars Science Laboratory ("Curiosity") being checked before it leaves for the launch pad. Photo: Reinhard Kargl, 2011

Here is JPL’s control room. From here, communication with all of JPL’s unmanned spacecraft is maintained around the clock.

JPL Operations Control Center. Photo: Reinhard Kargl, 2011. Click to enlarge.

I am very excited about this mission and hope everything goes well. It is very complex for sure. Here is a simulation of how it is supposed to work:


 

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Reporting Live From NASA/JPL

NASA has invited me to spend the entire day of Monday, June 6 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA’s center for unmanned spaceflight).

All day long, I will be visiting the facilities where NASA’s unmanned spacecraft are designed, built and controlled. I will be chatting with engineers and scientists about upcoming missions and advances. Among other spacecraft, I will see the upcoming Mars Rover “Curiosity”, saying final good-byes before it is sent to Cape Canaveral for launch.

Throughout the day, I will be reporting live via Twitter (and other social media). Please follow my feed!

http://twitter.com/TweetReinhard (in English)

or

http://twitter.com/TwitReinhard (in German)

Twitter is a new medium which now has over 200 million users. Twitter messages (called “Tweets”) are brief messages of 140 characters or less. (This means they can be received on cellphones — but also on the worldwide web).

Although they are brief, “Tweets” may contain links to photographs, videos, articles, online posts or other material of interest.

You do not need a Twitter account to read the messages on your computer. But it would be helpful if you have one. (It does not cost anything). Having a Twitter account enables you to selectively and automatically follow updates from individuals, institutes and organizations, and it also allows you to “talk back”.

Hoping to see you in cyberspace!

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Alan Shepard In Space!

50 years ago this month, Alan Shepard became the first American to fly into space.

Although the intensely celebrated accomplishment was technically much less challenging than that of Yuri Gagarin’s earlier flight, it was the event for which America had been waiting. (Gagarin’s flight orbited the Earth, while Shepard’s capsule stayed only on a 15-minute, ballistic trajectory).

Shepard, a U.S. Navy aviator and test pilot, was one of America’s original 7 “Space Heores”. Besides Project Mercury, Shepard also flew on Gemini, and later in 1969, he commanded Apollo 14 and landed on the moon.

Shepard died from leukemia in 1998, in Pebble Beach, California.

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Why the US Can Beat China: The Facts About SpaceX Costs (by Elon Musk)

Please note: The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author, Mr. Musk.  (Cheaper ways to space are the subject of my most recent magazine article) — RK

Whenever someone proposes to do something that has never been done before, there will always be skeptics.

So when I started SpaceX, it was not surprising when people said we wouldn’t succeed.  But now that we’ve successfully proven Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Dragon, there’s been a steady stream of misinformation and doubt expressed about SpaceX’s actual launch costs and prices.

As noted last month by a Chinese government official, SpaceX currently has the best launch prices in the world and they don’t believe they can beat them.  This is a clear case of American innovation trumping lower overseas labor rates.

I recognize that our prices shatter the historical cost models of government-led developments, but these prices are not arbitrary, premised on capturing a dominant share of the market, or “teaser” rates meant to lure in an eager market only to be increased later. These prices are based on known costs and a demonstrated track record, and they exemplify the potential of America’s commercial space industry.

Here are the facts:

Continue reading →

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“Obviously A Major Malfunction”

25 years ago, on January 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed during launch, costing the lives of astronauts Francis “Dick” Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Sharon Christa McAuliffe and Gregory Jarvis. Their brief flight (STS-51-L) was the 25th shuttle launch.

By the time, shuttle flights had become routine and were hardly covered in the news. I was exiting the subway station Karlsplatz in Vienna, Austria when I heard the shocking news on a radio, which a storekeeper had sitting on the counter.

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Today’s Rocket Launch

Today’s launch of a huge Delta IV Heavy lifted an NRO reconnaissance satellite into orbit. (Mission NRO-49). This was probably the largest rocket ever to launch from California so far. Here’s a picture I took from my window:

Plume of Delta IV Heavy as seen from my window. Photo: Reinhard Kargl

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