AckSed

It was originally a Kickstarter project, so that's why it's a little, er, 'quirky'.

Someone needs to check the quality control on those SRBs. The nozzle should not fall off after you light it.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/10/ulas-second-vulcan-launch-will-pave-the-way-for-military-certification/ tl;dr ACES or something like it is still of interest to Tory Bruno. They are still developing it and Integrated Vehicular Fluids (the plan for autogenous pressurisation, RCS propellant and power for pumps from recirculated gasses via a small piston combustion engine) though there's no real money behind it (I think). If they do extend the on-orbit lifespan, that extends the variety of missions. Perhaps even propellant depots (maybe for that nuclear-thermal rocket DARPA's touting). Of relevance to the flight is they're looking to try some things out with the Centaur upper stage to reduce boil-off and extend its lifetime in orbit.

Two pieces of news in one, here: first, ESA is building a lunar simulation facility in Germany; second, the lunar gravity simulator is essentially springs on strings, but upgraded to the "Puppeteer" system for greater accuracy and possibly simulating Mars or other gravities: https://payloadspace.com/esa-astronauts-get-new-tech-for-moonwalking-practice/ Call me mad, but this sounds like damn good fun, especially as they plan on a rig not just for people, but for vehicles too.

Most of these companies do operate small to medium-sized constellations (a lot of cubesats are for EI; Planet has 300, with 150 active), but how do you compete (they ask) with a company that has demonstrated the ability to both build at least 6000+ satellites in a few short years, and operate more than 4000, and launch more often, with more mass, than the next largest country? Indeed, quite a few of them have taken advantage of their Transporter missions to get up there. It's a bit like hearing that, oh, I don't know, Greyhound buses will start shipping their own robotic workers to the premises of the business that you work in. Since they own the transport company, they can charge ticket prices to themselves at cost, the business saves money and you're left competing with workers that do not get tired, need breaks or complain about working conditions. In desperation, you quit, then sign on with another company that designs and builds their own robots, but they've lost the first-mover advantage, the robot-worker market has already begun to race to the bottom and Greyhound worker-robots are frickdamned everywhere. Analogy ran away from me there. Point is, I'd be nervous too, and, like some of these other companies, hoping I could latch on to the coattails of Starshield.

Earth-imaging companies worried Starshield (which, among other things, could also do earth-imaging) might start eating into the money they receive from the government: https://spacenews.com/earth-observation-companies-wary-of-starshield/

Hydrosat, the infra-red imaging company mentioned in the film, that sells its services to farmers to increase their yields, has broadened its reach: https://spacenews.com/hydrosat-extends-reach-in-latin-america/

MAXAR's SEP unit bus is ready to be attached to the Gateway PPE module, and is now in propulsion testing at NASA Glenn: https://payloadspace.com/an-electric-solar-powered-future-maxar-space-systems-ppe-to-propel-nasas-artemis-gateway/

Radian progressing to flight-testing of a model: https://spacenews.com/radian-aerospace-begins-tests-of-spaceplane-prototype/

One key technology is molten oxide electrolysis, where it doesn't care if it's Lunar regolith or marginal Earth basalt, it can extract iron, silicon and aluminium just the same, with oxygen as a byproduct.

Not only that; Phil Eklund is an ex-aerospace engineer who has been refining High Frontier (with the help of others in Ion Game Design) for decades. To give an idea of how grounded this is in speculative space science, there are citations in the game manual, every faction is real or based on a real organisation, and every piece of technology is listed in an appendix, each with a citation to the design or concept it originally came from. It's a time-capsule of 2020 astrofuturism. I love it. Edit: if you're willing to put up with the clunkiness of VASSAL, there is a free HF4All module. The downloadable rules are available on Ion Games' website and it has a solo mode.

I highly appreciate him showing what his initial thoughts were and how his process evolved. That's good stuff.

Looks good, looks really quite good.

Cool and amusing way to calibrate the spacecraft before it goes off to image Jupiter's moons: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Juice_confirms_that_Earth_is_habitable

This is exactly how the Appendix in the boardgame High Frontier describes its (inhabited) space-mining operations: the robots are on the surface of the benighted spacerock while the workers are orbiting in an artificial-gravity habitat and telepresencing in.

Totally. ...the beat of that thruster firing was unexpectedly good. With the violin recital, I think we can call this the most musical flight of Dragon so far. :-)

The 'trunk' also being a berthing mechanism/docking port may also be a bit of future-proofing. Say Orbital Reef becomes a thing and they decide an expanded ring is more optimal. Redesign the trunk, a solid rocket booster extra and away you go.

Heeere am I/Rolling in a tin can: https://europeanspaceflight.com/nasa-greenlights-next-phase-of-italian-lunar-habitat-project/ Thales Alenia given the go-ahead to make the... modest mobile moonbase.

Is this a case of, "Anything Bezos can do, I can do better"?

Oh yeah, thanks to that documentary, I now know what the 'can' on the end of the robot arm is for - it's a launch mechanism for smallsats. I was a bit confused when they called it an air-lock, but that is how it works: dock 'can' to docking port, equalise pressure, open airlock; load smallsats, close hatch, vent, attach robot arm, undock and use arm to point firing mechanism away from station.

Very Iron Man. "OK, cut the power."

This is a film, currently on Amazon Prime, that is a series of interviews talking to newspace (and a few traditional space) companies, legislators, non-profits and science communicators about the present and future of the space economy. So why should you watch it? It's light on the details (I would pay everything in my bank account to look through his B-reels), it's not that well-edited and it has a 'personality' hosting it. However. What it does do quite well is draw a picture of the growing market beyond SpaceX and Blue Origin, the diversity of the people all over the world and the warming attitude to space as a new, unique opportunity. For now, and for a future generation. If nothing else, you get names and faces to put to important, non-US companies like Planet or Exolaunch, who've been overshadowed by the billionaire behemoths but are profitable. The actions by non-profits are enlightening too: a parabolic flight of people with physical disabilities (blindness, missing limbs) to see how they performed in zero-G; or 'citizen astronauts' being paid to go to space on suborbital flights, with the understanding that they then go on to promote and talk about space. There are now space agencies being set up in over 40 countries, a specific UN body for inter-country co-operation on space, and hundreds of startups working on this or that aspect of space (he makes the point that most of them will fail, which is realistic).

ESA does 3D metal printing on ISS: https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/06/esa_metal_3d_printing/ It's just a few metal dumbells, but hey - first steps. What made me prick my ears up was this section (emphasis mine): A new film about commercial space? Give. Turns out it's on Amazon Prime.

Dream Chaser cargo module blasted with sound to simulate stresses of launch: https://www.sierraspace.com/press-releases/sierra-space-shooting-star-cargo-module-completes-acoustic-testing-at-nasas-kennedy-space-center/

Breakdown of Polaris Dawn's accomplishments, including a few of the tests performed on the fourth day: Interesting factoid: the violin performance was recorded, then downloaded via StarLink before the 'actual' performance.