It's been a quiet week in Space Launch News thanks to the ongoing investigation into the Falcon 9 anomaly and a major hurricane closing down the launch ranges in Florida. But it seems like this weekend is going to more than make up for it. Sunday in particular could be quite busy. SpaceX is planning on launching the Europa Clipper and it's still gearing up for a possible Starship Test #5 launch and Blue Origin have rescheduled their NS-27 mission from Texas on that date as well. I see a weekend watching live streams in our future Alice. Oh always. Now I've got a good space joke for you Maria, it's been a few weeks. It has, it has. I'm embracing myself. What do you call a failed space explorer? Failed space explorer. An astronaut. Oh yeah, there he comes. An astro isn't. I love it. An astro isn't, yes. See that's why I'm bad at dad jokes. Like astro isn't? No, that's not funny. It's not funny Maria. Today is October 11th, 2024. I'm Maria Farmazes. I'm Alice Carruth and this is T-minus. VAST shares the design for their commercial space station Haven 1. While the space emerges from stealth, China launches a high orbit Palms satellite. And in the second part of the show we'll be hearing from our friends at nasaspaceflight.com for the weekly space traffic report, rounding up the launches from across the globe from the week that's been and taking a look ahead at what we've got to look forward to in the week to come. Hello Friday everybody. Let's kick off with the difficult job of describing an image, in this case also a video, for an audio only podcast because VAST has shared their design for their commercial space station, the Haven 1. The simulation is straight out of a very high budget sci-fi movie. Picture airline business class meets minimalist hotel with clean lines and lots of white surfaces, complete with fire resistant maple wood veneer slats. The company says that the Haven 1 design combines the functionality of state-of-the-art facilities for scientific research, technological advancement and global collaboration in low-earth orbit with remarkable dedication to sophisticated and human-centric design. There's even a big 1.1 meter domed viewing window because we are going to miss the cupola, aren't we? Definitely take a peek at the video and if something about it seems a bit...apply, you're on the right track because Haven 1 was designed by Peter Russell Clark, who was an industrial design advisor at Apple for 20 years and played a big part in designing Apple products, the Apple headquarters, as well as the retail stores. VAST says the design creates an environment that's both highly efficient and naturally comforting. The Haven 1 is planned for launch in 2025 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 with crew planning to dock via a SpaceX Dragon capsule and there's even Wi-Fi connectivity thanks to SpaceX's Starlink. Coming out of stealth mode in the ever-evolving space industry is no easy task, especially if you want to leave your mark. Vold to Space has certainly got everyone whipped into a spin, see what I did there, with their business proposition of developing a network of satellites around the Moon to provide power to spacecraft on the lunar surface. The company headquartered in Montreal, Canada with offices in the US, plans to collect power and transmit it via lasers to spacecraft on the lunar surface. It's a plan that has many excited about the prospect of helping vehicles survive the two-week lunar night or operate in permanently shadowed craters in the lunar poles. The company spun out of a class from the International Space University to power satellites as a service. Volta is working on a series A round and says it will need an additional series B round to deploy that initial network of lunar satellites projected for 2028. They're currently preparing to test the technology in Earth orbit on a satellite mission in 2026. Over to China now and yesterday a Long March 3B carrier rocket transported a new high-orbit Internet services satellite into space. The vehicle launched from Xinjiang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. It is the third member of a high-orbit Internet delivery satellite group. Yesterday, Maria talked about the new United Arab Emirates Supreme Space Council and already the group under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed has formalized the partnership with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the launch of the Emirates mission to the asteroid belt aboard the H3 launch vehicle. The mission is scheduled for launch in 2028. Some contract news to round up today's briefing for you now, starting with Metis technology solutions who have been selected by NASA to provide engineering services as well as develop and maintain software and hardware used to conduct simulations for aerospace research and development across the agency. The aerospace research technology and simulations contract is a hybrid cost-plus fixed fee and firm fixed price contract with an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity component and has a maximum potential value of $177 million. The performance period begins Sunday, December 1st, 2024 with a one-year base period and options to extend performance through November 2029. PERI Labs has been awarded a direct-to-phase-to-small-business innovation research contract by the US Space Force. The award is part of the Space Force's Digital Space Port of the Future Challenge, which seeks to modernize space port operations through innovative digital solutions. PERI Labs is one of 12 companies selected for this contract. The contract issued through SpaceWorks, the innovation arm of the US Space Force, aims to establish uniform, secure and automated data environments across US spaceports, ensuring consistent operations regardless of location. And that's it for our short but sweet briefing for today. Heads up the selected reading section of our show notes to see that video of the Haven 1 design that I talked about earlier, along with more on all of the stories that we've mentioned. And there's an additional link to a story from SpaceCentre Houston, which has received a lunar orbit HAB designed by Northrop Grumman that will be going on public display. Hey T-miners crew, tune in tomorrow for T-miners Deep Space. Our show for extended interviews, special editions and deep dives are some of the most influential professionals in the space industry. Tomorrow we have Maria's chat with Carson Kitchen talking about her experience as the youngest woman to travel to space. Check it out while you're taking your daughter to a 9am volleyball game, driving your son to his first slumber party, or catching up on a month's worth of cleaning. Oh no, that's just my weekend. Maria please tell me you've got something better planned. Praying for no clouds so I can catch that aurora everyone but me saw last night. Oh bless you. Anyway, you don't want to miss Saturday's Deep Space. And before we head into our break, I wanted to share a quick programming note with you all. Our team will not be publishing on Monday, October 14th in observance of the US Holiday Indigenous Peoples Day. We will be sharing an episode of our radio show, The Overview, featuring engineering space structures stories. We'll be back to our usual programming on Tuesday. [Music] It's Friday and time for our weekly roundup of space launch news courtesy of our friends at nasaspaceflight.com. I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and this is your weekly space traffic report for T-Minus Space. Starting off the week on October 7th, we had the launch of the European Space Agency's HERA mission. The launch vehicle for this mission was a Falcon 9, and it was the first Falcon 9 mission since the anomaly with crew 9's second stage re-entry. The investigation into this anomaly is still ongoing, and most Falcon 9 missions have been on hold until that investigation is completed. So why was this mission allowed to fly? Well, HERA was launched into a heliocentric orbit, and that mission profile means that Falcon 9's second stage didn't re-enter Earth's atmosphere. With no re-entry in the mission plan, the FAA concluded that the risk was sufficiently mitigated and authorized the mission. The high amount of energy required for this mission also meant that the booster for this flight had to be expended, and thus, B-1061 ended its career of 23 flights. Among those missions were Crew 1, Crew 2, CRS-23, and 10 Starlink missions. With HERA on board, the booster lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape for one final time. The spacecraft is now on its way to asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos. And if those names sound familiar, that's because the two were also the destination of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART. That mission changed Dimorphos' orbit by colliding with the moon in September of 2022. HERA is said to arrive at the system in late 2026. Once there, it will study the asteroids in more detail and investigate the impact made by the previous visitor. Later in the week on October 10th, we had a Changjiang 3B launch from China. The launch was conducted from the Shichang Satellite Launch Center, with lift-off occurring at 1350 UTC. The rocket delivered its payload into a geostationary transfer orbit, but not much is known about the payload. We do know that this is the third in a series of satellites, with a name that translates to "Satellite Internet High Orbit". Going into next week, we'll have the return of Crew 8. The Crew of 4 was supposed to return from the ISS last week, but their departure from the station was delayed due to Hurricane Milton. The Crew of 4 is currently set to depart the station on October 13th at 705 UTC. However, that schedule might change again, depending on the weather conditions in the splashdown zone off the coast of Florida. That same day, we're also expecting the fifth flight of Starship and Super Heavy. The big shiny rocket is currently scheduled to lift off from the launch pad in Texas during a one-hour and ten-minute window, starting at 12 o'clock UTC. This mission will be very similar to Flight 4, but with one big difference. SpaceX will be attempting to catch the Super Heavy booster for the very first time. This means that Booster 12 will return to the launch site and attempt to touch down on the catch tower's chopsticks. So, expect sonic booms and spectacular views. Meanwhile, Ship 30 is expected to re-enter and perform a landing burn for a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This is similar to last flight, but this time the ship will be outfitted with an upgraded heat shield, so if all goes well, it should get through re-entry with less damage than its predecessor. However, all this is still awaiting regulatory approval. While it seems like the FAA is now working towards licensing the flight sooner than expected before, SpaceX has not yet been granted the license at the time of recording. But it's still possible that the FAA might give the go-ahead in time, so get ready for an exciting flight. And to make that day even more exciting, SpaceX is also planning to launch Europa Clipper. NASA's long-awaited mission to Jupiter's moon Europa is set to launch atop a fully expendable Falcon Heavy on October 13th at 1612 UTC from Launch Complex 39A in Florida. Like Hera, this mission is also not affected by the investigation into the second-stage anomaly. Not only does Clipper's second stage not re-enter, it's also a NASA-licensed mission, which means that SpaceX won't need FAA approval to fly. But the company does need approval for its next mission. If SpaceX gets it, we'll have a Starlink mission on October 14th. This mission is set to lift off from the Cape during a four-hour window opening at 548 Universal Time. Another Starlink mission is also scheduled for the next day, October 15th. This flight is set to launch from California with lift-off scheduled during a four-hour window starting at 803 UTC. But like the previous Starlink flight, this is all pending regulatory approval. Just a few hours later, we'll have a launch from China. A Changjiang 6A is set to lift off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 1125 UTC. The payload for this mission is currently unknown. And wrapping up the week, China is expected to launch another unknown payload roughly 12 hours later. This time, a Changjiang 4C is set to launch from the Jotuan Satellite Launch Center at 2345 UTC. I'm Alicia Segal for NSF, and that's your weekly Space Traffic Report. Now back to T-Minus Space. We'll be right back. [whoosh] Welcome back. Everybody's got a favorite planet. Aside from Earth, obviously we all should have our home planet as number one. I know Saturn's rings tend to get all the glory, but I'm standing up for all of us on Team Jupiter. The Stripes, the Moons, the Great Red Spot. And the Great Red Spot has gotten some close-up attention lately from Hubble's OPAL, or Outer Planet Atmosphere's Legacy Program. Over a 90-day period, the OPAL team watched the GRS, and that's Great Red Spot for y'all, do something a bit unexpected. Grow and shrink and grow and shrink, leading to some interesting but great headlines out there, like Jupiter's GRS is jiggling. But to be extremely pedantic, because that's what I do, squeezing in and out, that sounds a bit more like pulsating or breathing almost, or perhaps being treated like a stress ball. OPAL program lead Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard wrote up the findings in the Planetary Science Journal and said, "This is really the first time we've had the proper imaging cadence of the GRS. With Hubble's high resolution, we can say that the GRS is definitively squeezing in and out at the same time as it moves faster and slower. That was very unexpected, and at present there are no hydrodynamic explanations." So the GRS is really feeling the squeeze. But why does it seem to mostly stay put? For that answer, we turn to sandwiches. The fellow investigator Mike Wong of the University of California at Berkeley has an interesting way of thinking of the Great Red Spot and its size, fluctuations, and sandwiches. As it accelerates and decelerates, the GRS is pushing against the windy jet streams to the north and south of it. It's similar to a sandwich, where the slices of bread are forced to bulge out where there's too much filling in the middle. Unlike sandwiches, the dark spot on Neptune tends to bounce all over the place aimlessly, like a Neptunian Roomba. Aside from the cool factor of studying this massive Jovian storm, because it gets squeezed, who knew? It ends up that studying storm behavior like this helps us better understand weather patterns on other worlds and, of course, on our own. And now I could really go for a sandwich. Oh, me too. That's it for Team Minus for October 11th, 2024, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.com. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like our show and we really do hope you do, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes or send us an email to space@n2k.com. We're privileged that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector, from the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. N2K makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment, your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your teams smarter. Learn how at N2K.com. This episode was produced by Alice Carruth. Our associate producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Iben. Our executive editor is Brandon Karp. Simone Petrella is our president. Peter Kilpie is our publisher. And I'm your host, Maria Varmasus. Thanks for listening. We will see you next week. [Music] Team, I live. [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
