The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Spaceflight News— Gaganyaan in-flight abort test (youtube.com) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (HT: Jatan’s Space PDF: gov.in) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/DJSnM) — Pad abort test (https://www.youtube.com) — Future human Indian Space ambitions (gov.in) (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— PLD Test Launch (spacenews.com)— Two Vega payloads fail to deploy (europeanspaceflight.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Shuttle astronaut mass allotments (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— October 28, 2009: Launch of the Ares I-X (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (blogs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)— Next week (10/31 - 11/6) in 2011: Warning: removing this sticker will void your experiment.

Spaceflight News— Psyche launch and mission preview (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (scitechdaily.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (microdevices.jpl.nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— Spacewalk canceled due to Nauka leak (space.com)— QueSST to fly in 2024 (nasa.gov)This Week in Spaceflight History— 21 Oct, 2007. Soyuz TMA-10’s ballistic reentry (ruspace.blogspot.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (PDF: sma.nasa.gov)— Next week (10/24 - 10/30) in 2009: Nominal tumble

Spaceflight News— Tiangong’s expansion (hindustantimes.com) (cnn.com)— Northrop Grumman joins Starlab team (nasa.gov)— Orbital Reef may be abandoned (cnbc.com)Short & Sweet— Luna-25 failure “analysis” (spacenews.com)— Stoke Space gets more funding (spacenews)Interview -- Ben Reed, CTO Quantum Space— quantumspace.us — linkedin.com/company/quantumspace-us/ — linkedin.com/in/ben-b-reed/ This Week in Spaceflight History— 11 Oct, 2000: STS-92, the100th shuttle mission (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org)— Next week (10/17 - 10/23) in 2007: Face forward

Spaceflight News— Electron suffers upper stage failure (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (youtu.be)Short & Sweet— Stoke Space hops (spacenews.com)— Sierra Space does a burst test (spacenews)— China plans for lunar sample return (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— A big thanks to Unc’willy, Fonji, Chris S in particular for helping Ben track down and fix an issue with our Discord botThis Week in Spaceflight History—  29 September, 2004: Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne (en.wikipedia.org) (sma.nasa.gov) (erikmadaus.medium.com) (airbum.com)— Next week (10/10 - 10/16) in 2000: Four forbidden cough drops

Spaceflight News— Dawn Aerospace discusses future plans (parabolicarc.com)Short & Sweet— Artemis-II gets its engines (nasaspaceflight.com)— Firefly launches Victus Nox (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Stoke Space test fires (twitter.com/stoke_space)This Week in Spaceflight History— 22 Sep, 1981. Colombia spills NTO before STS-2 (16streets.com) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)— Next week (9/26 - 10/2) in 2004: Victory roll

Spaceflight News— Aditya-L1 studyin’ the Sun (space.com) (eoportal.org) (PDF: iiap.res.in)Short & Sweet— Starship stands corrected (spacenews.com)— MaiaSpace tests cryogenic second stage (europeanspaceflight.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Apollo LOX tanks (twitter.com/DrPhiltill)This Week in Spaceflight History— 15 Sept, 2017: End of the Cassini mission (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: lpi.usra.edu) (PDF: engineering.purdue.edu)— Next week (9/19 - 9/25) in 1981: Big F*@&ing Red Spill

Spaceflight News— OSIRIS-REx prep (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— New Frontiers competition delayed (spacenews.com)— Ariane 6 hot-fire test delayed (europeanspaceflight.com)— Otter Pup detumbled! (payloadspace.com) (twitter.com/StarfishSpace)This Week in Spaceflight History— 9 Sept, 2006: The launch of STS-115 Atlantis (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (nasaspaceflight.com)— Next week (9/12 - 9/18) in 2017: Son devoured

Spaceflight News— Chandrayaan-3 landing (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (isro.gov.in) (indianexpress.com VIA 12ft.io)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Starship Booster 9 static fire (with deluge) (twitter.com/SpaceX)Interview -- IEEE Senior Member David Witkowski— Further reading: Public Wifi Blueprint (PDF: pages.nist.gov)— twitter.com/w6dtw— okusolutions.com — linkedin.com/company/okusolutions This Week in Spaceflight History— 30 Aug, 1984. Launch of STS-41D (space.nss.org)— Next week (9/5 - 9/11) in 2006: Icicle and pebble

Spaceflight News— Luna-25 (HT ArcadeEngineer: twitter.com/katlinegrey) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (Paywall: russianspaceweb.com)Short & Sweet— Starship booster coronation (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/SpaceX)— Intuitive Machines has a launch date (spacenews.com)— Russia explores reusable first-stage (aviationweek.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Benjamin W. via email: Juno’s angular velocity— Luis Mamakos via email: Can you desaturate momentum wheels with the spacecraft?— From the intro: Shuttle hatch (HT Mike Stewart PDF: ibiblio.org)This Week in Spaceflight History— 25 Aug, 2003: Launch of Spitzer Space Telescope (en.wikipedia.org) (spitzer.caltech.edu) (PDF: irsa.ipac.caltech.edu) (PDF: irsa.ipac.caltech.edu) (spaceflightnow.com) — Dr. Lee Bennet’s talked to us about Spitzer (theorbitalmechanics.com)— Next week (8/29 - 9/4) in 1984: Icicle

Spaceflight News— Lunar Flashlight failure (spacenews.com) (PDF: mstl.atl.calpoly.edu VIA web.archive.org) (PDF: ssdl.gatech.edu) (PDF: digitalcommons.usu.edu)Short & Sweet— Boeing aiming for six Starliner flights to ISS (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)— NASA test-fires Mars Ascent Vehicle’s motor (space.com)— To Artemis three or not to three (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 16 August, 1960: Joseph Kittinger made the final Project Excelsior jump (en.wikipedia.org) (nationalmuseum.af.mil) (stratocat.com.ar)— Next week (8/22 - 8/28) in 2003: Telly McTelescopeface

Spaceflight News— Astra Layoffs (spacenews.com) (cnbc.com)Short & Sweet— Starship Activities (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)— Cygnus gets an upgrade (spacenews.com)— Airbus and Voyager announce commercial space station plans (spacenews.com) (europeanspaceflight.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 11 and 12 Aug, 1962: The launches of Vostok 3 and 4 (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com)— Next week (8/15 - 8/21) in 1960: That last step is a doozy

Spaceflight News— 2023 Tipping Point selections (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (PDF: nasaprs.com) — Blue Origin’s Blue Alchemist separates regolith into several important base materials (blueorigin.com) — We talked to Kyla Edison about sintering regolith (theorbitalmechanics.com)Short & Sweet— HALO’s added cost (spacenews.com)— Sierra Space builds a better engine (spacenews.com)— Contact with Voyager 2 lost, thought to be temporary (arstechnica.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 5 Aug, 2011. Launch of Juno (en.wikipedia.org) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: pds-atmospheres.nmsu.edu)— Next week (8/8 - 8/14) in 1962: The Gemini before Gemini

Spaceflight News— A Commercial Space Station Source Selection (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sam.gov) (news.northropgrumman.com) (sierraspace.com) (specialaerospaceservices.com) (vastspace.com)Short & Sweet— Recently arrived GEO satellites in trouble (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (arstechnica.com)— China develops plan to land humans on Moon before decade’s end (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Aaron Sawdey: Centaur tank fix (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 29 July, 2014. Launch of ATV-5 George Lemaitre, the last ATV (danielmarin.naukas.com) (danielmarin.naukas.com) (esa.int) (blogs.esa.int) — LIRIS (Laser InfraRed Imaging Sensors) (esa.int) — Debris avoidance (blogs.esa.int) — The shallow reentry that wasn’t (issfd.org) (blogs.esa.int)— Next week (8/1 - 8/7) in 2011: Dim Sun

Spaceflight NewsVulcan Centaur delays (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spaceflightnow.com)Short & Sweet           — China begins constructing VLEO constellation (spacewatch.global)— LandSpace wins the race (nasaspaceflight.com)— Janus canceled (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— An NSF tour of Astra’s rocket factory (youtube.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 18 Jul, 2011. Launch of Spektr-R radio telescope (russianspaceweb.com) (wiki)— Zenit-3M/Fregat-SB (SB - “сбрасываемые баки” or “drop tanks”) (space.skyrocket.de)Next week (7/25 - 7/31) in 2014: He was born in Belgium, and then again in Italy.

Spaceflight News— Au revoir, Ariane 5 (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (Payload User’s Guide PDF: arianespace.com)— Two solids provide ~90% of Ariane 5’s thrust (esa.int)— ESA plans to lean on SpaceX launches (spacenews.com)— New test facility for Ariane 6 was built in 2019 (esa.int)Short & Sweet— Varda completes pharmaceutical manufacturing test on-orbit (arstechnica.com)— Lockheed Martin completes burst test of expandable habitat (spaceref.com)— Starlink interferes with radio astronomy (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 20 Jul, 2017: Sale of Apollo 11 bag for $1.8m (collectspace.com) (collectspace.com) (kansascity.com) (sothebys.com)— Next week (7/18 - 7/24) in 2011. Radio parasol.

Spaceflight News— Mars oxygen and helicopter sighting (space.com) (HT Stygarfield: nasa.gov) — Vega C delayed after engine test failure (europeanspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Virgin Galactic completes first fully commercial flight (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)— Euclid telescope prepares for launch (spacenews.com)— Dream Chaser prepares for launch (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Unc’ Willy: L2 is closer than the sun, and CMB was discovered in 1964 (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History—  July 7, 2003: The launch of MER-B (Opportunity) aboard the Delta II Heavy (en.wikipedia.org) (mars.nasa.gov) (theorbitalmechanics.com) — ULA has an excellent payload guide for Delta II (ula.bsshost.me)— Next week (7/18 - 7/24) in 2017: Do you ever feel like a sample bag/drifting through the wind, wanting to sue again?

Spaceflight News— Starship hot staging and engine firing  (spacenews.com)  (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/AshleyKillip) — Earlier description of separation flip (teslarati.com)Short & Sweet— Prometheus test fire (nasaspaceflight.com)— Anti-ASAT antipathy (spacenews)— Launcher’s second OTV fails on orbit (spacenews.com) (geekwire.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 30 Jun, 2001. Launch of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) (en.wikipedia.org) (wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov) (wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov)— Next week (7/4 - 7/10) in 2003: The mass hasn’t changed, but now it’s too heavy

Spaceflight News— iROSA campaign complete, looking to next campaign (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— ESA reserve astronaut to fly on Axiom flight (europeanspaceflight.com)— Impulse to supply propulsion for commercial space station (vastspace.com)— Rocket Lab goes suborbital (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History—  26 Jun, 1971: The third N1 test flight (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com)— Next week (6/27 - 7/3) in 2001: [audio clue]

Spaceflight News— Luna-25/Luna-Glob delayed (space.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com)Short & Sweet— Firefly and York both make acquisitions (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)— Egypt to build space-monitoring station (africanews.space)This Week in Spaceflight History— 15th June, 1971: Launch of KH-9 Hexagon (en.wikipedia.org) (aiaa.zoom.us) (space.com)— Next week (6/20 - 6/26) in 1971: Tunguska 2.0

Spaceflight News— Starliner Woes (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) — We tracked down some info on P-213 and P-213LW fiberglass tapes. (PDF: hansford.hk) (PDF: nitto.com) (spacematdb.com)Short & Sweet— UAE gives details on asteroid mission (spacewatch.global)— Commercial deep-space radar (spacenews.com) (satellitetoday.com)— North Korean launch failure (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— VAXHeadroom: Soyuz roll rate (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 8 June, 2007. Launch of STS-117 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (nss.org) (spaceflightnow.com) (spacecraftearth.com)— Next week (6/13 - 6/19) in 1971: A six-sided system