While my trip to Kennedy Space Center didn’t end with getting to watch the TESS launch in person, I did get up close with the Falcon 9, the TESS hardware, and one of the lead scientists on the project. So I was happy to see that TESS is not only up there, but apparently performing well. This week, as TESS prepares to get a nudge from the Moon that will bring it closer to its final orbit, TESS turned on one of its four cameras for just a two second exposure.
That image gives a sense of the amazing task ahead for TESS. With all four cameras collecting very detailed images, it will record light from across the sky, and in particular the 200,000 nearest stars. It’s ultimate orbit will be a highly elongated oval, which will sling it back near Earth every 14 days where it will drop off the high-density information before heading back out into the void to collect more. The “first light” image from all four TESS cameras is expected some time in June. By comparing the tiny fluctuations in brightness from one image to the next, scientists will search for the changes that result from transiting exoplanets. Because detecting those planets means looking at the differences from images over time, don’t expect an immediate flood of new discoveries — but do expect a flood.
Come on in. Let’s see what else is going on up there.
Orbital ATK
An Orbital ATK Antares launch vehicle is currently on the pad, ready to loft one of Orbital’s Cygnus cargo carriers to the International Space Station. But the Antares isn’t waiting at Kennedy Space Center. Instead, it’s intended to launch on Monday from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island. Launch is targeted for 4:39AM, so get up early if you want to see Antares on its way. This is Obital ATK’s ninth launch to the ISS. In addition to the Cygnus craft for NASA, the Antares will also loft a small squadron of cubesats — including one that tests a new generation of mini-radar for cubesats, and Bulgaria's first cubesat the EnduroSat One.
OneSpace
While “entrepreneurial space start up” may seem to imply the word “American,” the Chinese company OneSpace last week launched its first demonstration vehicle. The Chongqing Liangjiang Star OS-X rocket uses solid fuel engines derived from Chinese ICBMs. While the announcement lists the test flight as “suborbital,” the launcher is supposedly capable of taking small payloads — less than 100 kilograms — to orbit. This is just the first in a series of vehicles in the plans for what is being called “China’s SpaceX.”
CNSA
China will launch a Chang Zheng-4C rocket on Monday, carrying three moon-bound craft. The CE 4 Relay is the largest of the three. It’s a radio-relay satellite that will provide a way to contact the Change 4 Lunar Rover which China intends to send to the far side of the Moon later this year. Also along for the ride are two small satellites that will perform radio astronomy. With the cancellation of NASA’s new Prospector rover, China’s rover may have the moon to itself for some time — and certainly will have dibs on the far side.
SpaceX
Now that SpaceX has successfully launched and recovered one of it’s new Block 5 Falcon 9’s — with first reports saying the launcher is in “pristine condition,” they’re moving back to the West Coast for another launch of Iridium satellites. The full-to-the brim payload fairing will carry not just five next generation Iridium communications satellites, but a pair of climate-related satellites as part of a joint effort between NASA and the German Centre for Geosciences. Don’t tell Trump. This is not a Block 5 Falcon 9, but is instead a previously flown older booster. SpaceX will not attempt to recover this veteran booster. It’s scheduled to launch on Tuesday afternoon from Vanderberg Air Force Base. Another older Falcon 9 is slated to go a week later from Florida, which should clear SpaceX’s roster of pre-Block 5 launchers.
But the big news from SpaceX this week is that NASA has apparently decided that, despite the concerns some reviewers voiced over the load-and-go fueling method SpaceX uses to pack the Falcon 9 with super-cooled fuel, the technique is safe enough for manned flights.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel previously flagged the proposed SpaceX method in a report released in January 2017, saying it was concerned the potential risks were not "adequately understood."
But SpaceX executives have said they believe this quicker fuel-loading process is safer than traditional methods because it minimizes the time that crew are exposed in a fuel-loaded rocket. It also has tested a capsule emergency abort system that is designed to rocket astronauts away to safety if there's an explosion.
This goes a long way toward putting SpaceX on track to manned launches with Falcon 9 and Dragon Crew which might — might — still happen this year, despite an earlier GAO report warning that both SpaceX and Boeing were in danger of missing their deadlines.
In still more SpaceX news, the Air Force has awarded the company a contract for a trio of GPS launches in 2019.
United Launch Alliance
Work had been slowed at ULA when the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace workers went on strike earlier in the month. The biggest factor — ULA frequently pulling people away from home for extended periods with little notice. After negotiations, a new contract is up for a vote on Saturday.
SpaceX wasn’t the only one coming home with contracts this week, as ULA got a contract to launch a pair of military satellites using Atlas 5 boosters in 2020.
ULA updated it’s plans to replace the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets with the upcoming Vulcan. ULA continues to make announcements about the configurations of the new launcher, which after starting life as a more traditional expendable rocket, will eventually include not a completely recoverable booster ala SpaceX, but recoverable engines, with the rest of the stage designed to be single-use. ULA insists that the engines are the bulk of the cost, and building the rocket so that engines are saved and the less valuable components are discarded hits the sweet spot for cost effectiveness. ULA claims that by recovering just the engines, they will maintain more of the rocket’s potential performance than SpaceX does with Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy.
NASA
The rock drill on the Curiosity rover has been malfunctioning for some time, limiting the probe’s ability to sample the Martian environment. On Saturday, NASA intends to attempt a software fix to a hardware problem.
This new technique is called Feed Extended Drilling, or FED. It lets Curiosity drill more like the way a person would at home, using the force of its robotic arm to push its drill bit forward as it spins. The new version of FED adds a hammering force to the drill bit.
It should be known almost immediately if the attempted fix is successful.