NASA has announced 19 non-reimbursable Space Act Agreements (SAAs) with 13 U.S. companies, including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Aerogel Technologies of Boston, and others. No money will be exchanged, but NASA employees will offer their knowledge and expertise for a variety of projects.
SpaceX's SAAs concern landing Starship on the Moon and refueling Starship in-orbit:
SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, will work with NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to advance their technology to vertically land large rockets on the Moon. This includes advancing models to assess engine plume interaction with lunar regolith.
[...] SpaceX will work with Glenn and Marshall to advance technology needed to transfer propellant in orbit, an important step in the development of the company's Starship space vehicle.
Following its 20-meter hop test, SpaceX's Starhopper is scheduled to conduct a 200-meter hop no earlier than August 12, with backup dates on the 13th and 14th.
Blue Origin will work on a navigation system and technologies for the company's planned lunar lander:
Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, will collaborate with NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and Goddard to mature a navigation and guidance system for safe and precise landing at a range of locations on the Moon.
[...] Blue Origin will partner with Glenn and Johnson to mature a fuel cell power system for the company's Blue Moon lander. The system could provide uninterrupted power during the lunar night, which lasts for about two weeks in most locations.
[...] Blue Origin, Marshall and Langley will evaluate and mature high-temperature materials for liquid rocket engine nozzles that could be used on lunar landers.
Other technologies being collaborated on include a CubeSat radio transponder for the Space Network, flexible aerogels for rocket soundproofing, and Hall-effect thrusters with extended operating range.
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SpaceX's Starhopper nails first untethered flight as CEO Elon Musk teases next test
Starhopper has completed its first untethered flight ever, simultaneously a small step for the awkward prototype and a giant leap for SpaceX's Starship/Super Heavy program as the next-gen launch vehicle is carried into a new phase: flight testing.
Despite the spectacular and reportedly successful hover and divert test, Starhopper's powerful Raptor engine appears to have started a significant fire, placing SpaceX's Starhopper pad in a precarious position per the fire's apparent adjacency to full liquid oxygen tanks. Ironically, despite Starhopper's seeming predilection as of late towards catching itself on fire, the large rocket testbed appears to be entirely unscorched as a brush fire burns around a few hundred feet distant.
[...] According to Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO will present an update on the company's progress designing, building, and testing Starship and Super Heavy soon after Starhopper's first successful flight, meaning it could potentially happen within the next week or two. Additionally, Musk deemed Starhopper's July 25th flight a success and indicated that SpaceX would attempt to put Starhopper through a more ambitious 200m (650 ft) hop in a week or two, continuing what is expected to be an increasingly arduous serious of tests for the prototype.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 01 2019, @04:16PM (1 child)
What is the possibility fuel cells could be off the shelf parts?
What if navigation software could be open source?
Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday August 01 2019, @10:15PM
openstreetmap is open software. Does it matter for the quality of the maps?
(point: software is less of a problem. Reliable data is)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 01 2019, @05:51PM (1 child)
You need to control where the fuel is in the tank in order to pump it out.
Gravity and thrust are options, but in short supply in space.
That leaves radial force from rotation.
You could rotate the whole ship about the long or short axis, but it might be simpler if one could gently rotate the fuel inside the tanks?
Might be as simple as directional transfer ports around the rim of the tanks.
(Kind of like the vanes in a turbine.)
With the ships aligned end to end, then maybe the reaction torque on the vehicle at the goes-out'a cancels that at the comes-in'a.
(Always fun to dream when unconstrained by having to make it work;-)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 01 2019, @06:24PM
I was under the impression that SpaceX wanted to use thrust to transfer fuel from a tanker-version Starship to cargo/crewed version. Apparently, all Starships will be capable of transferring fuel, not just the tanker:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_(spacecraft) [wikipedia.org]
Still looking for a source on using thrust.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]