And here’s the megafeed of everything I’ve been doing.
Our political system is increasingly incapable of supporting a thriving national space program. Congress battling the executive branch tooth and nail for Orion/SLS and the Europa mission is only the tip of the iceberg. Factor in the massive amounts of pork and governmental overhead…it runs away from you quickly.
The Space, Science, And Competitiveness subcommittee has scheduled a hearing next Wednesday, titled “NASA at a Crossroads: Reasserting American Leadership in Space Exploration.” Seems like a hearing that will be filled with desperate pleas to the future president to avoid another cancellation.
Going from stationary landers to rovers was game-changing for planetary exploration. The next era of quadcopters and gliders is going to be even more so.
Jalopnik posted a gearhead-focused feature on the Roush Fenway Racing-built internal combustion engine that will be used on ULA’s upcoming ACES upper stage.
OneWeb says their satellite constellation project is on time. But things still seem a bit murky to me.
Xinhua News Agency reports a successful in-orbit refueling test.
SpaceX printed a public notice in Florida Today on July 3rd outlining plans for LZ-1 expansion. Sierra Nevada Corporation and the United Nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding future use of Dream Chaser by UN member countries. China solidified partnerships with The Netherlands and Poland, continuing the growth of the China-ESA relationship.
Anatoly Zak, writing for Popular Mechanics, outlines the Soyuz-MS upgrade.
A public notice was printed in Florida Today on July 3rd outlining SpaceX’s plans for LZ-1.
We’re witnessing an incredible moment of change in all aspects of spaceflight—from the way payloads are launched, to the way exploration and settlement in space are planned. It’s going to be quite a ride.
This week I talked to Logan Kamperschroer, a Graduate Research Assistant at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. Logan’s research focuses on hypergolic rocket fuels—specifically the push to move away from the toxic storable propellants (hydrazine and its derivatives) to “greener” alternatives. We talked about the current state of storable propellants, and where things are going in the near future.
The ExoMars 2020 rover received a funding boost and a reassessed schedule, the 2016 orbiter/lander set its sights on Mars, NASA and ESA coordinated a practice communication session, and China opens up to the international space community.
The Big Cartel app has brand new, easy-to-use navigation, and is optimized for iPad and iPhone, making it an even better tool to sell in person and manage your store on the go.
Masten Space Systems released a video of test flights of their two latest vehicles. Blue Origin was awarded a NASA Flight Opportunities contract, is planning the 4th flight of New Shepard, and began clearing land for their factory just outside Kennedy Space Center.
Some interesting tidbits emerged from interviews with [Jeff Bezos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guVxubbQQKE) and [Elon Musk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsixsRI-Sz4) at Code Conference. And a hard look at the economics of [United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan](http://www.ulalaunch.com/Products_Vulcan.aspx).
Orbital ATK [shared some more details](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/27/details-of-orbital-atks-proposed-heavy-launcher-revealed) about their next-generation launch vehicle, SpaceX is working out their [certification process](http://spacenews.com/spacex-to-brief-underwriters-on-the-road-to-falcon-9-reusability/) for [reflown stages](http://www.spacenewsmag.com/feature/first-stage-the-air-force-looks-at-reusability/), and how these events affect the industry and other competitors in the near future.
Orbital ATK and Lockheed Martin unveiled proposals for space stations around the [Moon by 2020](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/05/orbital-atk-cislunar-habitat-missions-sls-orion), and [Mars by 2028](http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/lockheed-martin-organizations/lockheed-martin-outlines-plan-to-send-humans-to-mars-orbit-by-2028/). ExoMars 2016 completed a [functionality analysis test](https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press-release/thales-alenia-space-built-exomars-spacecraft-completes-functionality) ahead of its October arrival at Mars. China revealed plans for [its third space station](http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/human-spaceflight/china-reveals-design-planned-tiangong-3-space-station/), and is set to [launch a new rocket](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/18/china-to-debut-new-rocket-and-spaceport-next-month), with a new spacecraft, from a new launch site in June.
Boeing announced [a 6 month delay](http://spacenews.com/boeing-delays-first-crewed-cst-100-flight-to-2018/) in the schedule for their CST-100 crew vehicle. SpaceX’s Dragon 2 is in the lead to be the first Commercial Crew vehicle to fly. The most recently-returned Falcon 9 took [a ton of damage on its way back to the drone ship](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/731984739012251648) and won’t fly again, but will provide a ton of data for SpaceX to use to make improvements to future Falcon 9 stages.
SpaceX [landed another Falcon 9 first stage](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/05/falcon-9-jcsat-14-launch/) on their drone ship—this time on a GTO launch, which is a major milestone on their way to full reusability and [Falcon Heavy flights](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/03/spacex-undecided-on-payload-for-first-falcon-heavy-flight/). Orbital ATK’s Antares launch vehicle is set for [an early July return to flight](http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/09/key-return-to-flight-milestone-looms-for-antares-rocket/), and they’re in the planning stages of [a new heavy-launch vehicle](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/orbital-atk-eye-vab-mlp-potential-eelv-rocket/).
SpaceX officially announced their [first Red Dragon mission to Mars](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/spacex-debut-red-dragon-2018-mars-mission/), which will pave the way for future missions. They also posted [new performance metrics](http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities) for Falcon 9 and Heavy, which position the launch vehicles very differently in the market. And a brief discussion of the [potential political fallout](http://spacenews.com/the-rd-180-amendment-was-one-of-two-launch-related-provisions-that-made-it-into-the-national-defense-authorization-act-of-2017-by-the-time-the-committee-voted-60-to-2-to-send-the-bill-to-the-full/) over the [OA-6 launch anomaly](https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016/04/oa-6-atlas-v-booster-mrcv-anomoly/).