The performance of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) space tug has been good, so now the Europeans are considering man rating the vehicle (Paid Subscription Required) to allow for its use as a manned system.
They are already working on a cargo-download capsule, so man rating the system would be less expensive than starting from scratch.
The House 2009 Defense Authorization Bill has a section that allows for punitive actions to be taken against “a foreign-owned company that is engaged with the People’s Republic of China in the development, manufacture or launch of certain satellites” (Paid Subscription Required).
This is about Thales Alenia Space, which has communications satellites that use no US content, and they are cleaning up by using the dirt cheap Chinese Long March boosters to launch satellites that have no ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) components.
It appears that something got Duncan Hunter’s (R-CA) nose out of joint about this, but given the restrictions on what are commercial technology present in the ITAR regulations, it was inevitable that this would happen.
I wonder if the WTO will end up getting involved in this.
Kind of a follow up to yesterday’s post, also sourced from Aviation Week (Paid Subscription Required)
Basically, these technologies involve unsteady combustion, specifically pulse detonation and wave rotors, which can, in whole or in part, use meticulously controlled combustion to replace a conventional compressor:
As with PDEs and pulse combustors, the wave rotor concept hinges on the idea of increasing the thermodynamic efficiency of the engine by producing a pressure rise during the combustion process. In conventional gas turbines, the pressure reduces as the gas is burned in the combustor, resulting in an entropy gain or a reduction in efficiency. In a wave rotor, combustion takes place via pressure waves in a confined volume within a series of tubes or channels. This means the pressure of the gas rises because combustion occurs inside a limited or constant volume, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the engine.
Although wave rotors and PDEs both rely on detonation shock waves traveling down the length of the tube to transfer energy, the two devices use this energy in slightly different ways. The PDE allows the blast wave to exit from the device as part of the propulsive effect, while the wave rotor merges successive waves to raise the pressure of the gas before it exits to the turbine stage.
The wave rotor consists of a series of tubes or passages arranged around the axis of a cylindrical drum which rotates between two fixed end plates. The plates contain the ports, or manifolds, which control the flow of the gas through the tubes. As the drum rotates, the ends of the channels are intermittently exposed to the ports which are at different pressures. This phase shift sets up the compression and expansion waves within the tubes as the mixture is ignited. The result is an expansion wave that travels into the gas and flows out of the wave rotor combustor into the turbine inlet at a total pressure more than 20% higher than that of the air delivered by the compressor.
As a result of the pressure gain from the wave rotor, more work can theoretically be extracted from the downstream turbine, increasing overall engine thermal efficiency. A key factor is that, as the combustion is contained within the tubes of the wave rotor, the pressure rise of the gas is not accompanied by a major increase in temperature, thereby keeping levels within the limits of the standard turbine materials.
Furthermore, experiments at NASA, as part of its ultra-efficient engine technology (UEET) study, indicate that because of the rapid expansion of the pressure wave, the gas temperature spends only a short time at or near stoichiometric conditions. As these represent ideal burning conditions for the fuel-air mix, they also coincide with the greatest production of nitrogen oxides (NOx), a major pollutant and focus for aviation emissions reduction efforts.
The wave rotor has the advantage that it smooths out the pulses before feeding it into a turbine.
Additionally, NASA is looking at pulsed propulsion for launch systems.
They are looking at a variable cycle engine where at slow speeds the afterburner would be fed by core air, and and at high mach numbers, would be fed off the fan, which is vaguely similar to how the J-58 used on the SR-71 operated.
It has been suggested that a conventional afterburner be replaced with a PDE.
In the Washington Post, of all sources. Basically, they describe the techniques used by Syria to conceal their nuclear site*, and make it clear that various nations are becoming increasingly savvy about satellite reconnaissance, and how to conceal large items from this.
They used techniques such as burying power lines in trenches, embedding cooling towers in walls, etc.
It’s a good read.
*Yep, it appears that I was wrong when I ruled this out.
It appears that India is making a major push into manned space flight. (Paid subscription required)
They are looking at a first flight in the 2015 time frame with some significant collaboration with the Russians.
This to my mind is the least sensible way to spend money of space flight. They are already spending significant amounts on reconnaissance and imaging satellites, which meet actual needs, as opposed to perceived status in the world.
Basically, as opposed to launching one big satellite, like the one that the navy had to shoot down, you launch fractionated satellites, basically a cluster that orbit close to one another, and together provide the capabilities of a single larger satellite.
It means that a launch or satellite failure won’t remove the capability, though it may reduce performance somewhat.
The program is from DARPA, and it’s called “System F6” (future, flexible, fast, fractionated, free-flying spacecraft united by information exchange).
They are wringing their hands because all these people will be retiring over the next few years, and there is no one in the wings to replace them.
It’s because the course of study is hard, the pay is not great, particularly once one gets past the 5 or 10 year mark, and at the slightest whiff of a downturn, you get laid off.
It doesn’t help that what once took 6 months (the P-80 shooting star), now takes 18 years or so (F-22), either.
These folks can do numbers, they know that they will be poorly paid, won’t have a secretary, and half-way through their careers, they may be asking, “Would you like fries with that”.
People don’t go into the field because it is an underpaid unattractive field.
We are now getting skeptical reports from media sources, such as BBC News and Wired that the administrations justifications for shooting down the dead surveillance satellite are a 6 pounds of fertilizer in a 5 pound bag.
The justification is that it carries 400 l of UDMH (unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) fuel for maneuvering is a threat to life and limb.
The fact is that UDMH is about as benign a propellant as is used in rocketry (it’s still nasty), and the effected area would be on the order of two football fields, but that is only for irritant, not life threatening effects.
One explanation is that the, “MDA [Missile Defense Agency] is always looking for ways to pimp their systems”, and another is that this is actually an anti-satellite (ASAT) test in response to the Chinese test last year.
My guess is a combination of both, and that Bush and His Evil Minions&trade intend to create an arms race in this area, so as to further constrain a future administration.
But first, I have to magnetize it.
U.S. Spy Satellite, Power Gone, May Hit Earth – New York Times
Just a second, the Secret Service is knocking at my door.
The Jerusalem Post is reportingIranian “sabotage” delayed the launch of the TecSar Satellite.
Sabotage is the JPost’s term, not mine.
It appears that Iran was using its contacts with India’s Marxist and Muslim parties to apply pressure against the government launching Israel’s satellite.
Israel has its own organic launch capabilities, but they have to do a retrograde launch over the Med to avoid Diplomatic issues.
It appears that the shuttle fleet is grounded until they can resolve the problem with the Hydrogen engine cutoff sensor. (Paid subscription required)
Basically, if there is a problem and the engine runs out of hydrogen before getting shut down
A cutoff is essential before hydrogen depletion to avoid cavitation in the 39,000-rpm. main engine high-pressure fuel pumps that would result in an explosion.
So this is a MAJOR problem.
But wait, there’s more:
The space shuttle fleet is grounded until technicians find and fix a vexing problem with engine cutoff (ECO) sensors—a component that NASA now realizes has likely never worked throughout the 26-year history of the shuttle program.
…..So why do we need an LH2 cutoff system? Simply put, if you need it and the LH2 tank runs dry with the engines at full power with LO2 still coming in, inevitably a catastrophe will occur. LOX-rich shutoffs are ugly in the extreme. This is a crit 1 situation. And it would occur so rapidly that human intervention is not practical.”
What’s going on here is that the shuttle is in the end of life phase, so the pressure to cover-up problems is decreasing, and so we are seeing long term potentially catastrophic loss of vehicle, crew, etc.
The Shuttle has been a pig since day one, and NASA has seen their job as covering up problems so that they can continue to play Captain Kirk.
NASA Ad Astra Ink Second Space Act Agreement in “Vasimr” Engine (subscription required)
NASA is working with Ad Astra Rocket Co. on it’s Vasimr engine. It uses radio waves to heat electrically charged fluids to extremely high temperatures for fuel efficiency, controlling the resulting plasmas for thrust and insulating nearby structures with magnetic fields.
ISP appears to be in the 5K-12K seconds range (PDF), or more than 10 to more than 30x that of chemical rockets.
Unlike Ion, it’s supposed to support higher thrust levels, on the order of 100+ N, compared to the millinewton levels for Ion drives.
Israel already has its own independent launch capability, and as a result of launching targets for its Arrow ABM system, it also has a background in a properly sized air born launcher for quick response (Paid subscription required).
It would be based on the Blue Sparrow and Black Sparrow targets, which are launched from an F-15.
One of the things driving this are the constraints on Israel’s current launcher:The program to field a tactically responsive launcher is shaped by Israel’s unique geographic constraints: The existing Shavit rocket has to be fired west-to-east across the Mediterranean to avoid violating the airspace of Israel’s neighbors. The launch direction also restricts Shavit’s payload potential, which in turn has limited the size of Israeli military communications and surveillance satellites.
Using an aerial launcher will allow launches with earth’s rotation, giving greater payload.
They are working on the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) energy bypass engine.
Basically, it uses MHD to extract energy from the air stream, which can keep the inlet temperatures for a turbojet manageable well beyond the normal limit of about Mach 3. They are claiming Mach 7.
Still, I’d like to see the first A in NASA doing more non-space related work, as this is clearly intended to be used with a booster.
Ummm…I have nothing further to ad about this report.
Sometimes, the headline is all you need.
Though personally, my taste runs to asteroid 68410 (Nichols)
Asteroid renamed for ‘Star Trek’ actor
NEW YORK (AP) — A piece of outer space named for George Takei is in kind of a rough neighborhood for somebody who steers a starship: an asteroid belt.An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in honor of the actor, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original “Star Trek” series and movies.
“I am now a heavenly body,” Takei, 70, said Tuesday, laughing. “I found out about it yesterday. … I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky — just like an asteroid.”
…
The Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta has been launched.
It’s the first mission to renedez vous with more than one body, and an ambitious application of ion drive technology.
For more on the tech, see here
DARPA is looking at ion-drive spy satellites. Truth be told, this is not surprising.
One of the limiting factors on many spy satellites is the amount of propellant available, and if you can use a very high impulse (rocket fuel economy) for station keeping and scheduled moves, you can either make a lighter vehicle, which means more for the same price, or one with much hhigher flexibility and operational life.
Why else would Russia plan to establish a Moonbase?
They have the nuclear warhead experience.
I don’t trust NASA to make a reliable asteroid intercept system, or the sort to intercept Apophis* (It’s due to pass inside the orbits of geostationary satellites in 2029) type asteroids that might strike the earth.
*Am I the only one who thinks that NASA has some fans of the Stargate TV series?