Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.
https://theorbitalmechanics.com/show-notes/
Episode 296: Spectre-2 Incoming
Spaceflight news
— Starship SN9 update (spacenews.com)
— Lots of leftover LOX visible on IR footage (youtube.com)
— SN8’s FAA violation (spacenews.com)
— Firefly wins CLPS contract (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)
— They will be flying the Blue Ghost lander and a number of science payloads (firefly.com)
— Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) (Image at parabolicarc.com)
— Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) (hou.usra.edu)
— Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) (today.ttu.edu)
— Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) (parabolicarc.com)
— Blue Ghost Payload User’s Guide (firefly.com)
— Space Utility Vehicle will be the service module/kick stage to get BG to the moon (firefly.com)
Short & Sweet
— Dragon breaks a record (americaspace.com)
— Nanoracks’ Bishop airlock powers on (houstonchronicle.com)
— OSIRIS-REx to return home (americaspace.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Koenigsmann retiring (HT Colin: cnbc.com)
— Game night!
— Come play Sea of Thieves with Dennis and Ben
— Friday 4pm Eastern 1:00p Pacific
— Meet on Discord (twitter.com/orbitalpodcast)
This week in SF history
— 10 Feb, 2001. Ammonia leak during STS-98 spacewalk (nasa.gov) (esa.int) (spacefacts.de) (science.ksc.nasa.gov)
— The Early External Active Thermal Control was still being used during this mission (sae.org)
— Next week (2/16 - 2/22) in 1990. Potato in the tailpipe