The Orbital Mechanics Podcast

Spaceflight News— HAKUTO-R failure analysis (HT deltaV: twitter.com/DJSnM) (twitter.com/jeff_foust) (ispace-inc.com) (spacenews.com) — Apollo software modeled terrain to avoid this exact issue (PDF HT Mike: ibiblio.org)Short & Sweet— Virgin Orbit assets sold off (spacenews.com)— ESA folds out a new heat shield (HT Andrew Z: esa.int) (newatlas.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 1 Jun, 1970: Launch of Soyuz 9 (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (chessgames.com) (astronautix.com)— Next week (6/6 - 6/12) in 2007: Chonky boi

Spaceflight News— Blue Origin wins HLS contract (spaceflightnow.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sam.gov VIA nasa.gov)Short & Sweet— CAPSTONE tests its navigation technology (nasa.gov)— End of Lunar Flashlight (spacenews.com)— Core of Roman Space Telescope completed (spaceref.com VIA 12ft.io)This Week in Spaceflight History — 23 May, 2016: Suborbital testflight of ISRO’s Reusable Launch Vehicle (vssc.gov.in) (delhidefencereview.com) (delhidefencereview.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (aerospace-technology.com)— Next week (5/30 - 6/5) in 1970: King to G8

Spaceflight News— China’s spaceplane makes maneuvers (spacenews.com)— Kosmos-2562 makes maneuvers as well (twitter.com/planet4589) (russianspaceweb.com)Short & Sweet— Plutonium Depletion (spacenews.com)— ULA prepares for more tests (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Vast and SpaceX shoot for first commercial space station (HT Andy Z.: techcrunch.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 16 May, 2011. Launch of STS-134 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nasaspaceflight.com) (lidarmag.com)— Next week (5/23 - 5/29) in 2016: Hex, one of five

Spaceflight News— Evolution Space becomes 9th private U.S. company to reach space (twitter.com/evolutionspace_) (parabolicarc.com)— UP Aerospace rocket rapidly RUDs (gizmodo.com) (youtube.com) — Incredible footage of payload separation was captured in 2015 (HT Stygarfield: reddit.com) (nasa.gov)— Swedish rocket lands in Norway (reuters.com)Short & Sweet— Dragonfly faces proposed 20% budget cut (spacenews.com)— New prospects for New Horizons (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Espen via email: Starship engine data loss, AFTS activation time— Andy Z via email: Starship separation flip— Anderson via DM: Sea launch vs pad reconstruction (HT VaxHeadroom: twitter.com/RyanHansenSpace)This Week in Spaceflight History— 13 May, 1998. AsiaSat-3’s lunar flyby (en.wikipedia.org)  (patents.google.com) (carlkop.home.xs4all.nl) (novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru VIA web.archive.org) — The DM-2M failure was caused by a duct failure between the gas generator and pump turbine (ilslaunch.com)— Next week (5/16 -

Spaceflight News— Starship update (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (americaspace.com)— We missed the point of the skydiving pebble story (discord.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)— H3 failure analysis (twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin) (PDF: mext.go.jp)Short & Sweet— Hakuto-R likely in free-fall before loss of signal (HT Sam: twitter.com/ea4gpz) (space.com) (spacenews.com)— China’s space agency sets up lunar base organization (spacenews.com)— Astrobotic books a second Falcon Heavy (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Bob via email: Starship abort capability (youtube.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— Launch of LCS-1 (Lincoln Calibration Sphere) (en.wikipedia.org) (astronautix.com) (ieeexplore.ieee.org) (youtube.com)— Next week (5/9 - 5/15) in 1998: Around the elbow to get to the nose

Spaceflight News— Starship, destroyer of concrete (youtube.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/landru79) (HT Iain from MaxQ: twitter.com/unrocket) (twitter.com/elonmusk) — Launch tower footage (HT Astro: reddit.com/r/space) — Liftoff footage (note debris impacting water) (twitter.com/SpaceX) — High speed footage from Tim Dodd x Consider Cosmos (twitter.com/Erdayastronaut) — Aborted launch attempt at the beginning of the week (spacenews.com) — Listener Sam spotted eight engines out, not six (discord.com) — Leaked (?) final frame before termination (discord.com) — NWS spotted the launch (twitter.com/NWSBrownsville) — “Aspiring” to have no diverter as of 2020 (twitter.com/elonmusk) — NSF forums user speaks about the loss of pad experts (HT Sam: forum.nasaspaceflight.com) — Canaveral Starship infrastructure also lacks flame diverter (twitter.com/Cosmic_Andrew1)Short & Sweet— Swedish astronaut may fly on Axiom mission to ISS (spacenews.com)— Rocket Lab to reuse fl

Spaceflight News— SpaceX cuts costs (spacenews.com)— Starship launch license (spacenews.com)— Relativity pivots away from Terran-1 (spacenews.com) (techcrunch.com) (relativityspace.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: JUICE launch successful (nasaspaceflight.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 20 Apr, 2004: The launch of Gravity Probe-B (en.wikipedia.org) (web.archive.org) (einstein.stanford.edu) (dontpanicgeocast.com)— Next week (4/25 - 5/1) in 1985. Shuttle spelunkin’.

Spaceflight News— Centaur explosion (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace)  (twitter.com/torybruno) — The test stand can be seen in 3D on Google Maps (google.com)Short & Sweet— Artemis II crew announced (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)— Dawn Aerospace completes successful spaceplane test flight (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)— ISRO completes successful spaceplane test flight (isro.gov.in)— Bathwater By Any Other Name... (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— April 16, 2016. Berthing of BEAM to ISS (en.wikipedia.org) (eoportal.org) (nasa.gov) (PDF: ttu-ir.tdl.org)— Next week (4/18 - 4/24) in 2004: Four crystal balls

Spaceflight News— Exploring Mars Together (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— Seized assets in Kazakhstan threatens Soyuz-5 program (nasaspaceflight.com)— Virgin Orbit Layoffs (spacenews.com) (qz.com)— Rosotics announces large-scale 3D printer (spacenews.com) (newatlas.com) (rosotics.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Tiangong has trash too (twitter.com/cnspaceflight)This Week in Spaceflight History— 5 April, 1963: A Pontiac Catalina tows M2-F1 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (dfrc.nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org) (projecthabu.com) (dfrc.nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org)— Next week (4/11 - 4/17) in 2016: Storage on Orbit

Spaceflight News— Relativity’s Terran-1 fails to reach orbit (spaceflightnow.com) (twitter.com/thetimellis) (youtube.com)Short & Sweet— Private South Korean company launches suborbital rocket from Brazil (spacenews.com)— NS-23 anomaly identified (parabolicarc.com)— SWOT, key climate science satellite, instrument back online (space.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Aaron: toroidal aerospikes (discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 31 March, 1993. Launch of Progress M-17 from Baikonur (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: hq.nasa.gov)— Next week (4/4 - 4/10) in 1963: Tub in tow

Spaceflight News— Stoke Space prepares for hopper landing trial (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/stoke_space)  (youtube.com)Short & Sweet— NASA announces $1B deorbit tug for ISS (spacenews.com)— Virgin Orbit’s operational pause (spacenews.com)— Axiom reveals the Artemis EVA suit (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— March 24, 2006: The first launch of Falcon 1 (space.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (3/28 - 4/3) in 1993. Low-power mode.

Spaceflight News— VV22 investigation (HT Sam: esa.int) (spacenews.com) (arianespace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)Short & Sweet— IBEX mission overcomes computer glitch (space.com)— ISS dodges a satellite (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: H3’s first flight results (nasaspaceflight.com)Data Relay: STS-400— STS-400 (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) — Two gap fillers removed during EVA on STS-114 (spaceflightnow.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 14 March 1986: Giotto flies past 1P/Halley. (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) — Thanks to Peter for suggesting this topic (twitter.com/PeterMcMally)— Next week (3/21 - 3/27) in 2006: It’s fine. It’s in what we call a “storage orbit”

Spaceflight News— TROPICS-1 mishap investigation (HT Mike Stewart: astra.com)Short & Sweet— HST impacted by satellite trails (nature.com)— China’s secret spacewalk (spacenews.com)Interview -- D. Geoff Carter, PE— RollAide.com— artemis-space.comThis Week in Spaceflight History— Mar 9, 2008: The launch of the first ATV: Jules Verne (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: esa.int) (PDF: esa.int)— Next week (3/14 - 3/20) in 1986: Slap a renaissance painter.

Spaceflight News— Starship’s near future (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)Short & Sweet— NASA planning for first Gateway logistics mission (spacenews.com)— Beetlesat successfully deploys expandable antenna on orbit (spaceref.com) (beetlesat.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— March 2, 1995, Launch of STS-67, Endeavour (en.wikipedia.org) (spaceline.org) (astronautix.com)— Next week (3/7 - 3/13) in 2008: 20 million leagues above the sea (level)

Spaceflight News— Soyuz MS-22 leak images (HT deltaV: russianspaceweb.com VIA twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)  — Eric Berger posted a comparison to a confirmed MMOD strike (twitter.com/SciGuySpace) — Katya Pavlushchenko posted photos of orange stains on other Progresses (twitter.com/katlinegrey) — Uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 delayed (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/katlinegrey)— LauncherOne failure (virginorbit.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)Short & Sweet— H3 rocket aborts at pad (spacenews.com)— Plans for Starship comes back to shore (spacenews.com)— Blue Origin wins ESCAPADE contract (space.com)— Launcher’s orbital transfer vehicle fails on orbit (spacenews.com)Questions, Comments, Corrections— Nate Perkins via email: RS-25 certification (youtube.com)— Biarki Weeks: ORCASat summary video (youtube.com VIA: discord.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— 24 Feb, 2009. Loss of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (justice.gov) (llis.nasa.gov)— Next week (2/28 - 3/6) in

Spaceflight News— Kosmos-2499 breakup (russianspaceweb.com) (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (space.com)— Superheavy static fire (nasaspaceflight.com) (HT Ryan R: twitter.com/elonmusk) (spacenews.com) (HT Alex: youtube.com)Short & Sweet— Progress MS-21 leak (twitter.com/katlinegrey) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)— Spaceport Camden saga continues (independent.co.uk)— Kuiper gets conditional approval (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— Feb 20, 1986: Launch of DOS-7, the Mir core module (russianspaceweb.com) (youtube.com) (en.wikipedia.org)— Next week (2/21 - 2/27) in 2009: Nothing some Wite-Out/Tipp-Ex can’t fix.

Spaceflight News— SSLV launch failure investigation completed (spacenews.com) (​isro.gov.in) — VTM separation was captured on video, but payload deployment is only seen as a timestamp on a status display. (youtube.com)Short & Sweet— NASA confident in A1 software (nasaspaceflight.com)— Peregrine has a new destination (spacenews.com)— Perseverance completes sample depot on Mars (​​cnet.com) — See also: The Milky Way as seen from Mars (reddit.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— Feb 11, 2015: Launch of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (spaceflight101.com) (PDF: esa.int)— Next week (2/14 - 2/20) in 1986. More computers, more beds

Spaceflight News— NASA Tests a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (nasa.gov) (PDF: mdpi.com) (Scott Manley: youtube.com) (ntrs.nasa.gov) — JAXA tested an RDRE in 2021 (futurism.com) — China tested a CDRE January 2023 (twitter.com/CNSpaceflight)Short & Sweet— Starship WDR (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/SpaceX)— Lucy mission gets new target (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)— JunoCam suffers significant anomaly during flyby (nasa.gov)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: NASA/DARPA NTP Collaboration (nasa.gov)— Chris Hofmann: Ascent communicationsThis Week in Spaceflight History— January 31, 1971. Launch of Apollo 14 (en.wikipedia.org) (hq.nasa.gov)— Next week (2/7 - 2/13) in 2015: Penguin Paratrooper

Spaceflight News— ABL failure analysis (HT Mike Stewart: twitter.com/ablspacesystems)Short & Sweet— NASA scales back ISS scientist program (spacenews.com)— JUICE is ready for Jupiter (spacenews.com)— Lucy’s Loose Limb (spacenews.com) (HT Brown Pau: blogs.nasa.gov)— ClearSpace raises funds for its first mission (spacenews)Questions, Comments, Corrections— From the intro: Vulcan delivered to the Cape (twitter.com/SpaceFlorida)This Week in Spaceflight History— Jan 24, 1985: Launch of STS-51-C (en.wikipedia.org) (satelliteobservation.net)— Next week (1/31 - 2/6) in 1971: I re-read the specs, let’s give it another shot.

Spaceflight News— Soyuz MS-22 rescue (spacenews.com) (russianspaceweb.com)— Virgin Orbit failure (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (virginorbit.com) — Virgin Galactic recently restructured their leadership (spacenews.com) — Virgin Orbit is suffering financial woes (arstechnica.com)— ABL RS1 failure (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (HT Sam: twitter.com/ablspacesystems) (HT Sam: twitter.com/shaggrugg) (twitter.com/Harry__Stranger)Short & Sweet— Soyuz-OneWeb hostage negotiations underway (russianspaceweb.com)— JWST Killing It (spacenews.com) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/jeff_foust)— Starship approaches a launch date? (spacenews.com)This Week in Spaceflight History— January 22, 1968: Launch of Apollo 5 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ibiblio.org) — Destin of Smarter Every Day interviewed a U.S. Space and Rocket Center Docent and Apollo engineer (youtube.com) (youtube.com) — LEM study guides are a great resource for finding answers to systems question