Kryten

With current planning that's a bet you'll lose. After Krunichev's general incompetence with MLM, future modules are using Energia's new NEM design.

Also there's a Chinese launch planned 'before the end of the month', probably on the 31st. CZ-3C with the first phase 2 Beidou sat, and new YZ-1 upper stage. No, unfortunately.

That lorry isn't government. Looks like a prop being escorted due to blocking both lanes-there have to be plenty of tourist places that would use one in that part of Nevada.

Pulsejets are air-breathing engines irrelevent to rocketry, and rocket flight predated the tests of Reichenberg considerably-the first crewed flight was by Fritz Stamer in 1928. Reitsch wasn't even the first person to fly a powered Reichenberg. The control test version of the story is a myth. The flights with Reitsch were actually of the Reichenberg variant, a crewed suicide weapon.

It got a bit darker, but nothing you couldn't have seen with thicker clouds. Here's hoping for better conditions in 2090...

It was intended for Delta II-it might not be Atlas V, but it's not exactly ORS. If all they wanted was responsive launch of small recon sats, they could've cloned Kuaizhou for a lot less money.

Not here you wouldn't. 100% overcast.

Can we move this into the science labs? At least there it might attract people who know what 'organics' means and doesn't mean.

Organics at the surface means very little... Mars is constantly bombarded by meteorites and space dust, and late portions of either will be composed of organics.

Mass in known from orbit around Jupiter and knowledge of Jupiter's mass, volume is known from apparent diameter. Density is easily calculated given those.

The folding wing is to make it LV-agnostic; having a bare payload like that would require reprogramming the control system at least, and there are quite possibly LVs for which there exposed vehicle configuration would be impossible to fly.

There's an extra end effector at the back of Jupiter.

There appears to be an extra end effector at the back of Jupiter, so it should be able to hold one in place while handling another. With the IVF upgrade, Centaur lifetime should be multiple days.

Never say never- aurorae have been visible as far south as Cuba before. Of course we'll have bigger things to worry about if that happens again...

Anything too big for the Kibo experiment airlock would have to be brought out via EVA, and they are to be avoided if possible. Also cargo items may not be rated to enter the pressurised volume (e.g. anything with hydrazine thrusters) or may be too bulky.

The boxes on the outside are unpressurised cargo. Without something like that service module, SNC are unable to compete for the unpressurised portion of the contract.

That's the thing, you don't need much build up to destroy a rocket engine. It's a very sensitive system.

With the kind of temperatures you get in a rocket engine, various components in standard gasoline will polymerise together. Polymerise partially blocks fuel channels used for cooling, blockage leads to further heating, heating leads to further polymerisation-the end result is destruction of the engine. Hydrocarbon rockets make use of highly refined fuel blends, with compounds that promote polymerisation removed.

Centaur handles deorbit. As far as I can tell it's dependent on IVF centaur being available for increased lifespan. SNC are doing a press conference on it today, we should get everything then. Nothing from SpaceX yet.

The idea in this case is to use the Centaur avionics and RCS systems to facilitate docking, and use an arm to insert it into the structure rather than a proper docking system. Also HTV. This is a proposal for the CRS-2 program, which would replace the CRS-1 vehicles (cargo dragon and cygnus). So far we know of at least five competitors; LM Jupiter, SNC Dreamchaser cargo, Boeing CST-100 cargo, Cygnus, and the SpaceX proposal. BLue Origin have also refused to confirm or deny if they're pursuing the contract.

Would still be considerably more than a normal tank-just the tank-in-tank design in general would add significant structural mass. Booster LOX tanks have little or no insulation. Boiloff before launch is replaced, boiloff after is not significant.

All this involves adding a lot of dry mass-for a first stage at least, it would probably be much worse for performance than just insulating the bulkhead between tanks.

Turkmensat, NET 21st.

Nope, crew will increase to seven only. The limits are in the life support systems, not transport.

I expected this to happen, but not anything like this soon-they hadn't even formally selected a rocket. It's probably a good thing for the program that there are now people in place willing to make these tough decisions-Koptev in particular.