Kentucky Space

Masten wins $1 million lander challenge

Masten Space Systems and Armadillo Aerospace have claimed the first and second place prizes, respectively, in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X PRIZE Challenge. The qualifying flight that ultimately lead to the the Level Two first place award can be seen here:

Awarded as part of NASA's Centennial Challenge, the prizes are designed to reward "citizen inventors" in the space technologies.

Wayne

Video: Ares 1-X takes flight

Video of yesterday's Ares x-1 flight. If all goes according to plan, this is the ship that will return astronauts to the moon and, later, Mars.

Wayne

Falcon 9 engines test fired; integration, first flight await

The Falcon 9 main engines were successfully tested in earlier this month in Texas, and passed structural and propulsion tests. The first stage will now go to Florida for integration with the rest of the rocket in anticipation of a launch this winter. A SpaceX press release provides information about just what kind of thrust is generated, putting it "on par with the Saturn V F-1 engine."

Like Falcon 1 (video), the craft is among the first commercial vehicles built to reach Earth orbit.

The rocket will make its maiden flight later this year, "anywhere from one to three months after Falcon 9 is integrated at the Cape in November," according to SpaceX. A Dragon qualification unit will also be lofted to gain insight into performance characteristics of the two vehicles. Dragon will be used for cargo resupply, and, potentially, to carry crew to the ISS.

Wayne

Masten "rocketcam" video from Xombie

Masten Space Systems recorded yesterday's Northrop-Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge attempt from its on-board "rocketcam". Check it out.

Alan Boyle at Cosmic Log also has a nice write-up.

Wayne

Kentucky Space to present at CubeSat Developer's Workshop

At the CubeSat Developer's Workshop this weekend, Kentucky Space students Anthony Karam and Samir Rawashdeh will be present on SOCEM (sub orbital cubesat experimental mission), which will soon fly from Wallops, and an orbital environment simulator, respectively. The simulator was developed by Samir at the University of Kentucky. 

The image on the right was taken during a recent SOCEM fit check.

Daniel Erb will also presenting an update about the Kentucky Space program as a whole.

Good luck guys!

Wayne

An update on Kentucky Space: Suborbital preparations, CubeSat workshop and KySat-1

We have been really busy around here! We just got back a trip to NASA Wallops Flight Facility for tours and meetings which included an initial integration of the Poly CubeSat Launcher with the rocket deck (see pictures) that will be used for SOCEM (Sub Orbital CubeSat Experimental Mission), which includes ADAMASat, recently mentioned in the Carnival of Space hosted by Kentucky Space.

We are also working on a software program that amateur radio users can run which will decode the telemetry packets from ADAMASat. More information will follow but it will be transmitting on the standard North American APRS frequency 144.39 MHz and will be visible to a majority of the eastern half of the United States.

We are also preparing for a trip to Utah for the SmallSat Conference which includes the CubeSat Summer Workshop. Anthony Karam and Samir Rawashdeh will be present on SOCEM and an orbital environment simulator, respectively. The simulator was developed in-house by Samir. See this video of what KySat-1 will look like as it passes over Kentucky and tumbles over the poles!!!

I will be presenting at the SmallSat conference about the Kentucky Space program as a whole.

Work is continuing on KySat-1. After a long struggle, the Electrical Power System (EPS) subsystem now plays nicely with the rest of the satellite. It required us to remake one of our circuit boards but the actual change was not that big. Unfortunately the circuit boards that were ordered had some manufacturing flaws in them but we were still able to verify that everything worked. We are waiting for replacement boards from the manufacturer. But this still brings us a heck of a lot closer to being able finish integrating the flight model and be ready for launch.

More updates to follow. Thanks for reading,

Daniel Erb - Graduate Student, Kentucky Space

ESA CubeSat, Vega Launch

While announcing a second CubeSat Workshop - Noordwijk, The Netherlands on 20-22 January 2009 - ESA has provided some added information on the launch of nine cubes already selected for orbit. I didn't know this:

Since the first workshop, [ESA] has selected nine CubeSats (plus two backups) from European universities for launch on the maiden flight of the Vega launcher, now scheduled for November 2009. The nine CubeSats will be deployed from three different deployment systems mounted on the support structure of the main payload, LARES (LAser RElativity Satellite), into an orbit of 350 km by 1450 km at an inclination of 71 degrees.

Quoting from Space Daily, the second ESA workshop will:

• report upon on the development status of the CubeSats selected for the Vega maiden flight;
• outline ESA's long-term strategy for supporting CubeSats, including plans for cooperation/coordination and the prospects of future flight opportunities, for instance on the first and subsequent VERTA flights of the Vega launcher;
• to facilitate information and data exchange between CubeSat teams, ESA and commercial suppliers on lessons learned, best practices, mission applications, technologies and instrumentation, cooperative space/ground networks, and future mission plans/concepts. Workshop Programme

Wayne

Image courtesy of ESA

Von Braun Sketches to be Released

A collection of sketches from German scientist Werner Von Braun, who was instrumental in the development of the United States space program, and in particular the Apollo program, are set to be sold at acution according to the Washington Post.

The collection includes sketches of a wall of computer mainframes, detailed schematics of what a working space rocket and space station might look like, as well as the drawing of a capsule with a handwritten notation that said 'for trip around the moon.' One of the designs up for sale is described by von Braun as a 'baby satellite.'

'Von Braun saw these articles as very serious events, and he wanted to make sure the illustrations were based on real science,' said Catherine Williamson, director for books and manuscripts for Bonhams. 'These drawings are famous in their own right, and are well-known by collectors interested in space.'

Wayne

Image: Saturn I rocket profiles SA-1 through SA-10, originally from NASA and located here on the Wikipedia commons.

Carnival of Space published

The very latest Carnival of Space is out and features a post from the IdeaFestival - cross posted on the Kentucky Space blog here - on Astrophysicist's J. Richard Gott's "Space Colonization Imperative." From asteroids, to astronomy, to Falcon, to physics, to pioneering robotic explorers - all your favorite space-related subjects are there. Go check them out!

Wayne

Falcon-1 reaches orbit!

Watch the first privately developed rocket, Falcon-1, reach orbit yesterday.

Wayne