An Educator’s Perspective: Take Me Out to the Black? Why Not?

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 17, 2015
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If someone offered you a free ride into space, would you go?

by Chris Tobias

Like a lot of people who enthusiastically support manned spaceflight, I was a bit dismayed by the results of a recent survey conducted by Monmouth University, in which 1,000 adults were asked at random in a telephone interview whether or not they’d take a free ride into space if it were offered to them.  I was shocked to read that just 28% of Americans surveyed (roughly 1 in 4) said they’d want to take that free ride on a rocket ship.

As a high school teacher who teaches Advanced Placement German courses to juniors and seniors, I’m always looking for thought-provoking essay topics to assign for students’ journals, and this seemed to me like a good opportunity to assign an essay that would challenge my students to develop and express their own opinions (in German) about this very timely and interesting topic, while at the same time conducting my own little survey to gauge their interest in going into the black.

So, I asked my 20 Advanced Placement German students, 11 high school seniors and nine high school juniors, all ages 16-18, the following question (translated from German):  “If someone gave you the chance to travel into space on a rocket free of charge, would you go? Why or why not?” Though it was not part of the prompt for the essay, I explained to the students that this would not be a one-way trip like Mars One, but rather an opportunity to visit space and return to tell the tale, provided that everything about the trip remained nominal from launch to recovery.  Students were required to explain their position on the topic in an essay of two pages or more, which they wrote in their essay journals.  Once again, I would be surprised by the results, though this time for a very different reason. Continue Reading

SpaceX Takes a Little Heat for Stopping the Signal

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 4, 2015
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by Chris Tobias

If you’ve watched SpaceX’s recent launches online, you’ve no doubt read some of the comments on social media by those who are annoyed that SpaceX ends their live online broadcasts before the completion of the mission.

It has been pretty standard procedure for SpaceX to sign off before the deployment of the payloads during their satellite launches, and while we admit that can sometimes be irksome, we think they should also get credit where credit is due for providing us with some pretty shiny Vine videos, like the recent one that showed the “interesting” first attempt at a landing of the Falcon 9 first stage booster rocket on the drone barge in the Atlantic Ocean.

The newest post-launch Vine was released by the company this week, showing the deployment of the EUTELSAT 115 West B, the second of two satellites that were carried into the black by the Falcon 9 this past Sunday.

For now, we think videos like these, coupled with what has now become a trademark of SpaceX’s live launch coverage– the in-engine camera that shows a really shiny shot of the Falcon 9’s liquid propellant as it goes weightless– are more than enough to make up for the broadcasts that go LOS on us before the mission is complete.  Besides, we’re pretty sure that when SpaceX launches their first manned Dragon V2 into the black, they’ll make sure we see every minute of that historic flight!

And of course, we hope that ship that we’re all tuning in to see will be a ship named Serenity.  If you share that hope, there’s no better time than now to write a letter or two to SpaceX to let them know.  And while you’re at it, be sure to sign our online petition calling for a Dragon V2 named after our favorite Firefly-class transport ship, then tell as many like-minded folk as you can to do the same.

Until next time– peace, love and rockets…

SpaceX Executes Flawless Launch of Communications Satellites

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 2, 2015
Posted in: Launches. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment
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Photo: SpaceX

by Jeff Cunningham

No holds.  No scrubs.  Just a spectacular streak of flame across the Florida sky as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 broke atmo last night.  It was a gorgeous sight as the Falcon 9 lit up the night, one that made me very jealous of those that were able to watch in person.

SpaceX’s mission to launch the ABS 3A and EUTELSAT 115 West B satellites went off without a hitch.  The Falcon 9 needed two second-stage burns in order to get the satellites to their desired orbits, so there was not enough propellant available for the first stage to attempt an historic recovery on SpaceX’s drone barge.  That doesn’t diminish the success of this mission one bit though.

Last night marked the sixteenth launch of a Falcon 9, and a successful dual launch that demonstrated SpaceX’s ability to piggyback two satellites on a single booster, representing a cost savings to their clients that makes them a very competitive option for those looking to launch their shiny gadgets into the black.  SpaceX’s ability to pull off missions like this not only means the likelihood of more business for Elon Musk and company, but it could also mean a significant increase in private launches on American soil as more companies look to get their hardware into orbit efficiently at the most affordable price.

SpaceX’s next launch is scheduled to happen in three weeks, but at present there’s no plan to attempt a booster recovery for that one either.  That means we’ll have to wait a little while longer to see SpaceX take that next historic step towards rocket reusability, which they currently have planned for two launches from now.

“Remember…”

Posted by Chris Tobias on March 1, 2015
Posted in: Articles, Tributes. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
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Leonard Nimoy (center, as if you needed to be told) with Gene Roddenberry and the rest of the cast of Star Trek at the unveiling of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. (NASA photo)

by Chris Tobias

If you’re a fan of science-fiction, or one who passionately believes that mankind should continue striving to boldly go into the black, then I’m sure that like me, you’re saddened by the passing of Leonard Nimoy this weekend.  Unlike so many in his profession, Nimoy never became a parody of himself.  He remained relevant throughout his long career– from his early days of guest appearances on shows like The Twilight Zone to his final portrayal of the character that made him a pop culture legend.

The first time I ever walked the floor of a science-fiction and comics convention in costume (at the old Pittsburgh Comicon back in sixth grade), it was as Mr. Spock.  As a kid I loved watching Star Trek re-runs, and I identified with Spock more than any other character.  Sure, as the Science Officer he got to play with all the cool gadgets, and the ears were kind of neat, but I think it was because every young kid can relate to feeling like they’re different from all the other people around them and having to struggle to fit in, much like Spock did as a half-Vulcan living and working among humans.  I don’t think any member of Enterprise’s crew was as complex as Spock, and in Leonard Nimoy, Gene Roddenberry found the perfect actor to show us that.

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Dual Satellite Launch This Weekend

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 28, 2015
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by Jeff Cunningham

Late Sunday evening, a Falcon 9 will take off from Cape Canaveral to deploy two communications satellites into a geosynchronous orbit.  This one won’t be any more of a show than your typical launch of a rocket that puts out millions of pounds of thrust in a column of flame, as there will be no practice landing of the expended first stage as part of SpaceX’s quest to make their rockets reusable and get us all one step closer to a future where anyone can take a ship out to the black and find a crappy town where they’re a hero.  Meanwhile, the company will work to upgrade the landing barge for that next attempt.  The launch will occur within 45 minutes after 10:49 PM Sunday evening, and can be viewed online at SpaceX.com.

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Falcon 9 and DISCOVR Break Atmo

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 11, 2015
Posted in: Launches. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

by Jeff Cunningham

Less than an hour ago, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 enjoyed a picture-perfect liftoff from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida–so perfect, in fact, that NASA’s own commentator on the live press feed couldn’t help but remark at how quiet everything was in the absense of problems or glitches to chatter about in SpaceX’s launch control room.

I pulled off of the highway in Orlando to watch the show, and was not disappointed. I don’t know if it’s anything to do with the design or their chosen propellant (experts are free to chime in in the comments below, don’t be a stranger), but the Falcon 9 burns a lot whiter than I remember the shuttle doing. Now that I think about it, it was something kind of like the color of its namesake’s engine wash:

Pictured: Early SpaceX concept render.

We’re still waiting for word on whether the first stage’s landing was as successful. Last we heard, SpaceX reported that weather over the oceans off the coast of Jacksonville isn’t as clear as it was at the landing site, so they may have to simply “soft land” it in the ocean. Prior to the launch, Musk tweeted that the barge is due for some upgrades to allow it to withstand stormy seas better:

While we wait for word (and, Buddha willing, video footage) of the landing, now’s a good time to take five minutes to write a letter to Elon to tell him that it’d be friggin’ awesome if he were to name the first manned Dragon spacecraft Serenity. We also have a petition you can write, or, failing all that, his Twitter feed is right there. Tag us if you do at @TakeBacktheSky.

Wind Delays SpaceX Launch, Dragon Coming Home

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 10, 2015
Posted in: Launches, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment
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photo: NOAA

by Chris Tobias

Today we saw yet another scrub of the scheduled SpaceX launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the DSCOVR satellite.  This time it was because of upper altitude winds that were deemed too strong to launch safely.  The next launch attempt has been scheduled for tomorrow, February 11, at 6:03pm EST.

It wasn’t a total “no go” for SpaceX today though.  The unmanned Dragon capsule that had been docked with the International Space Station was un-berthed and released at 2:10pm EST.  Dragon is currently on her way back to Earth and will splash down in the Pacific in just a few hours’ time, where she’ll be recovered by SpaceX engineers who will unpack the cargo and experiments that she’s bringing home with her.

So while it might have been a wind “fail” for the Falcon 9 today, there will still be a windfall of valuable research coming home with Dragon.

And we’ll be ready to look skyward again tomorrow, with coverage of tomorrow’s launch available online at nasa.gov and spacex.com.

Until then, peace, love and rockets…

Now It’s Two for Tuesday: Welcome Back Dragon, Godspeed Falcon 9 and DSCOVR

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 9, 2015
Posted in: Launches, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
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photo: nasa.gov

by Chris Tobias

Today’s postponement of the SpaceX launch of the DSCOVR satellite until Tuesday, February 10 (weather concerns necessitated a scrub of this evening’s attempt), means tomorrow will be twice as shiny for fans of SpaceX and the work they do out in the black!

That’s because the crew of Expedition 42 on board the International Space Station closed the hatch on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft earlier today after packing away all the essential gear, experiments and data that will be sent back to Earth in her belly.  Dragon will be detached from the ISS’ Harmony module before being released by Canadarm2 on Tuesday afternoon, and she’ll splash down off the Pacific coast of Baja, California for recovery by SpaceX engineers a few hours before sunset.  You can watch the NASA TV coverage of the undocking of Dragon beginning at 1:45 pm EST tomorrow.

And then, if all goes according to plan, the nightcap will be the launch of the Falcon 9 carrying DSCOVR into orbit, with the potentially historic recovery of the booster rocket on board SpaceX’s drone-barge in the Atlantic.  At present the launch is targeted for 6:05pm EST tomorrow, with coverage of the launch live online at spacex.com.  (If there is yet another delay, the back-up launch window would be Wednesday, February 11 at 6:03pm EST.)

Welcome back, Dragon! Godspeed Falcon 9 and DSCOVR!

Historic SpaceX Launch Postponed Until February 9

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 8, 2015
Posted in: Launches, Updates. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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by Jeff Cunningham

With just four minutes until the Falcon 9 was supposed to launch the DSCOVR satellite into orbit this evening, SpaceX had two issues that still needed to be resolved, and if the launch wasn’t a GO by T-minus two minutes, the attempt would have to be scrubbed.

If this were an episode of Firefly, surely Kaylee Frye would’ve found a way to get Serenity off the ground, but in the real world breaking atmo is a mite trickier, and in the end it wasn’t the Falcon 9’s own telemetry issue that ultimately forced the scrub of today’s launch, but rather a problem with the Air Force’s down range tracking radar.

That means the launch, and SpaceX’s attempt at an historic recovery of the Falcon 9 booster on a robotic barge in the Atlantic Ocean, will now have to wait until at least tomorrow evening, February 9 at 6:07pm EST.  Although the preliminary decision was to set tomorrow as the new launch date (Elon Musk himself indicated via Twitter that the launch was postponed until then), if necessary SpaceX could launch on Tuesday or Wednesday as well.  If for some reason the launch does not occur by Wednesday, February 11, the next available launch window would be Friday, February 20.

SpaceX to Attempt Historic Launch on Sunday

Posted by Chris Tobias on February 7, 2015
Posted in: Launches. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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by Jeff Cunningham

Tomorrow evening, Sunday, February 8, SpaceX will once again attempt the historic recovery of a Falcon 9 booster rocket on a drone-piloted barge in the Atlantic Ocean shortly after they launch the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite into orbit.

It’s appropriate that SpaceX is aiming high for this launch, because their customer for the DSCOVR mission is the United States Air Force, in conjunction with NOAA and NASA. The probe will station itself at the Lagrange-1 Point, or L-1, a point in space about 1 million miles from Earth where the gravitational pull of our planet and the sun balance each other enough for DSOCVR to remain there indefinitely. Its mission will be to observe solar weather patterns (such as sunspots and solar storms) and how they can affect life on Earth, not to mention your wi-fi reception.

The launch window will open at approximately 6:10pm EST on Sunday, February 8, 2015, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.  If all goes as planned, the DSCOVR satellite will be deployed to a 1,241,000 x 187 km orbit at 37 degrees approximately 35 minutes after liftoff, and that’s when the real fun will begin! Because that’s when, using GPS tracking, the Falcon 9 will guide its way back to the drone ship waiting for it in the Atlantic.  If all goes as planned, it’ll touch down like a downy feather on the deck of the ship, which SpaceX, in their typically cheeky style we’ve come to know and love, has christened “Just Read the Instructions.”

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Courtesy space.com and engineering humor.

If you remember, the last time SpaceX attempted this (after launching an unmanned Dragon to the International Space Station last month), the landing was, as Serenity’s Hoban Washburne would say, “interesting”…

Those who want to watch tomorrow’s potentially historic launch can log on to online coverage beginning at 5:50pm EST tomorrow at livestream.com.

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