More on the Iridium-Cosmos collision

Last Monday's Space Review features a good article on the Iridium-Cosmos collision - Billiards in space, by Brian Weeden. Mr. Weeden, an ex-USAF officer who worked in orbital analysis, provides insight into the state of orbital conjunction assessment and, in the subject case, the lack thereof.

Recycled Big Daddy + junk build

This rocket was built with the remains of my Big Daddy that core sampled last year:

• The base of the nose broke off so I added a Luan bulkhead and a small eyebolt.
• The body tube is a wrapping paper tube that fits the nose perfectly.
• The body was a bit flimsy so I reinforced the inside with the telescoping tube from a 3" mailing tube. This was sectioned to fit.
• More of that tubing was used to make the 6 tube fins. The size of this tubing conveniently left a small gap between each pair. I say conveniently since this provided a home for the recycled Big Daddy fins (3 of the 4).
• One more inside layer of tubing allowed three 29mm mounts to fit nicely. These were cut from the end of another yet unused motor mount assembly. The gaps were filled with tissue soaked in Elmer's.
• It has buttons and a 1/4" lug.
• Still need to reinforce the fin/tube fin joints and wait for better weather to prime.
• It also needs a name.
  

Make: 17

I didn't detect anything rocketry related in this issue so I'll merely ape what Make had to say about the issue:

Volume 17 goes really old school with the Lost Knowledge issue, featuring projects and articles covering the steampunk scene, makers creating their own alternative Victorian world through modified computers, phones, cars, costumes, and other fantastic creations.

Yawn.

Attention non-Blogger readers

Blogger now supports the Google Friend Connect and here is what they have to say:

Friend Connect encourages readers to use one account (whether it's a Google account, a Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account) to follow any site - a Blogger blog, a WordPress blog, or any other site that has incorporated Friend Connect. Each site that a follower joins will show up on their Friend Connect profile. Now your blog will benefit from increased exposure as your readers interact with other sites around the web - and their friends see your blog listed as one they've chosen to follow.

I don't know how many sources other than Google/Blogger uses Friend Connect. It would be nice if some of my WordPress readers could follow my blog (hint, hint). From my end I can already follow any RSS/Atom source via Google Reader.

Noscript alert

If you use Noscript with Firefox, there will be a glitch with the 'following' feature in Blogger. Blogger has fiddled with the way that following is handled by integrating it with Google Friend Connect. Noscript is barfing on a cross-site XSS script to that service. Unfortunately, there is no way way to accept a site for XSS. I have to either manually accept the script on each access, turn off XSS screening, or describe the friendconnect link using regular expressions. The latter would be the best option IF I could figure out how to describe the general format for the mile long link.

"Giant rockets are fun to ponder" - Clark Lindsey

Yeah, I have to agree, so I thought I'd pass along Next Big Future's In Praise of Large Payloads for Space by Joseph Friedlander Part 1. I was aware of the Aldebaran and Sea Dragon, but had never heard of the Liberty Ship (aka Nuclear Lightbulb) or the Super Orion. The latter is an extrapolation of the 4,000-ton Orion nuclear pulse rocket to a whopping 8 million tons! Here is the figure used in the article:

Well, I can barely get my mind around the regular version and tend to think the super-sized version is just too far out there to warrant any serious thought. YMMV.

(via Clark's RLV and Space Transport blog, of course)

Mystery at Salt Flat

Clark Lindsey provides the link to the Mystery at Salt Flat, which explores a facility near Jeff Bezos's test area for Blue Origin in West Texas.

High power 10 years ago

As Feb. 2009 is slipping by, I found the Feb. 1999 issue of High Power Rocketry. So, what was going on in high power 10 years ago? Well, besides me getting into it.

• Impulse Aerospace started a new branch, Rocket Vision, to sell their new line of mid-low power 'Rugged Rockets' and pads. Alas, Rocket Vision is gone. I wish I had another Mach Buster and that they had survived to release their Rotary Rocket.
• Giant Leap was going full bore with flexible phenolic tubing, custom ring and fins, and lots of other good stuff.
• Apogee's RockSim was at V4 and they still were selling Retro Rocket Work's 'RocketWood' kits.
• System Solaire was advertising their SS67B-2 liquid fuel kit.
• The October Sky movie was out and the magazine had an interview with Homer Hickam.
• Ky 'The Rocketman' Michaelson had an article showing how he made the aluminum tail cone for the Miss Riley rocket that was featured in the movie. He later offered it on his Rocket Boy kit. I wonder if you can still buy one?
• Launch coverage was provided for Sooner Boomer 14 and the East Coast's Roar on the Shore (RATS) VIII.
• There was an awesome build article on Tripoli Oklahoma's V2 project. It was ~22" in diameter with the body molded from a Westwind airplane's wing tank. The motor was big for the day, an AeroTech M1939.
• Vaughn Brothers still existed.
• There was, last but not least, a detailed article on building a large club controller.
  

Updated Mothership

I angled the upper stabilizers a bit more, added the lower stabilizers, and included a cockpit. next up will be under wing 'engines'.

Cold power returns with a Sharpie rocket

Office Supplies Rocket - video powered by Metacafe

See the instructable for the entire how-to.

4-stage rack rocket static test (update)

Here's a high speed video of the static test of a 4-stage, 18mm rack rocket. Cool. (by Tom Desmarais)



You can find lots more info about rack rockets in this post.

Video games tied to geeky palm disorder

Must...resist...urge...to...make...the...obvious...joke...

Here's the report.

NASA JSC helps law enforcement

The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA JSC's Image Science and Analysis Laboratory helped the FBI and local law enforcement analyze security camera video in the case of a local woman's abduction. The Lab, which was established after the Challenger disaster, has assisted in around 50 criminal investigations.

Astronaut Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger?

Reportedly, Richard Branson has offered Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger a job at twice the salary of other Virgin pilots. This job offer comes with another option - becoming an astronaut with Virgin Galactic. Branson says, “The man can write his own ticket with me.” Sullenberger says he'll consider all offers. (via Parabolic Arc)

The V-2 Bumper WAC has a diamond anniversary (update)

On February 24th, 1949, a two stage V-2 'Bumper WAC' launched from White Sands, New Mexico became the first documented rocket to reach space. It attained an altitude of 244 miles, well above the currently accepted definition of space - 62 miles. Read more on Wired.

(Wikipedia notes that a German V-2 had reached 117 miles at some time in 1944. I don't know how reliable this figure is. The same article says the Bumper WAC's altitude was 248 miles.)

Update: Based on other discussions, I am convinced that this was not the first V2 to break 62 miles. Oh well.

Stupid rocket trick #8

Leave the lid to your Elmer's wood filler loose, especially during idle periods.

"Want to say you have flown a rocket at NASA?"

NARHAMS sponsors regular rocket launches at the GSFC Visitor center on Sundays. 'The Prez' points out that the April 5th launch is being billed as a part of GSFC's 100 Hours of Astronomy.

Laminate plywood

Tired of filling and sanding? Try some plastic or phenolic clad Baltic birch plywood and let me know what you think. (via Toolmonger)

PS - This material may not be that advanced, but this seemed like the best tag.

Steve Eves' Saturn V launch date

I just saw the article on Rocketry Planet regarding Steve Eves' 1:10 scale Saturn V and suddenly it struck me that I've been remiss in announcing the launch date has been set. The big Saturn V will go up on April 25, 2009 at the Higg's Farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

You can find more about the project via my Saturn V tag, the official page on the MDRA website, or on RP. I also have some of my own photos of the rocket on my Red Glare V gallery.

Launch Magazine - Christmas in February edition

Not surprisingly, there has been a lot discussion about LAUNCH Magazine's announcement that they are facing financial difficulties and will be taking a time out. They subsequently posted .pdf files of select article from the December edition, which had been a no-show. Well, last week reports began popping up from people who had received that edition. I thought my subscription had expired but I must have mis-counted my magazines. I received my copy yesterday.

As usual, this issue is packed with space history and prognostications. I especially liked the piece on NASA's historic art program. Although this is a book review, it includes around ten images from NASA's art program.

In the area of sport rocketry, there are two articles. One was on a project that I had not heard about until now. 'Project Saturn' commemorated the 40th anniversary of Apollo 7 and specifically Walt Cunningham. 26 modelers from around the country built 30 Saturn 1B's for the event. I even know a couple of the builders. The next article was on the 17th FAI World Spacemodeling Championships. Not my cup of tea, plus I'd already seen a report.

I guess I'll explain my snarky post title. The magazine included a Merry Christmas message, an interview with the director of the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still (long gone from the theaters), and a calendar which has mostly expired. I really shouldn't be too snarky as the content is good and, in the grand scheme, the majority of the material is not dated.

Unreasonably good results

Paul Breed reports good results in his quest for the perfect H2O2 catalyst. He had some good test runs using a solid catalyst in an old motor (as opposed to the new motor that he's currently fabricating). I found it interesting that he got pointers from Anthony Cesaroni of CTI fame. That guy gets around. With a comment on the quality of the videos he posts, Paul responds with two YouTube videos. Yes Paul, these videos are pretty boring. Ya' can't see anything! No flame. No smoke. Oh yeah, that's what's supposed to happen...and...the audio is schweet! Good job! Here's one of them in case you don't want to navigate elsewhere:

Build session post-mortem

I spent my day building, talking rockets, eating, and drinking coffee and beer. Warthog was as usual a great host - thanks bro!

The following photo shows most of what I accomplished. I have now have a mostly built Estes Big Daddy. I replaced the 24mm mount with a 29mm one, added a steel fishing leader through the top ring, and a bolt through the rear ring for motor retention. This is intended to fly on the new Quest F12 motors that are due out in the Spring (hopefully, but not holding my breath). I also have a 3x29mm rocket started, also for the F12s. I used Warthog's mitre saw to cut a set of tube fins for the cluster rockets (these are hidden in the box). Finally, I cut four Lexan fins for the rebuild of my 58mm JATO bullet rocket. I found out that you need to make sure the saw is up to speed before you cut small parts that can't be easily abutted to the saw's guide. I actually cut 5 fins but one got slung into the wall. It didn't break but was cracked where the cut was started.



There were a bunch of other cool project underway by others. I'll only mention Warthog's beautiful Big Bertha upscale featuring vinyl decals from StickerShock23 and his 5.38" Quark upscale. Warthog made more sawdust than the rest of us combined :)

Wanna own your own town?

I see Albert, TX is up for sale again. A couple of years ago it was going for around $2.2M on Ebay, today the price is a mere $883K.

How about your own rocket ranch? Naw, not big enough and too many trees.

A 2.6x upscale of a C6 motor

George Katz referred me to this interesting post from Oz. Normally, I'd think a 2.6x upscale of a 'C' motor should be a small 'E'. But Krusty had another idea :) (photo via Sascha Grant's Flickr stream)

Interesting rocket photos - resurrected

You may remember Ray Dunakin's rocket photography. I had always looked forward to his photos. With most rocket photography, you get similar views of the world - sod farms and dry lake beds lined with rows of cars. With Ray, you usually got remote desert sites with interesting rock formations and abandoned facilities. He just resurfaced on Rocketry Planet after a short absence and has with a new site. No new rocketry content, but you can poke around and see what's there. Hopefully, he'll be burning some APCP soon.

The MotherShip

Started because of this post, inspired by the WhiteKnight II. I was just too lazy to try to make a scale version. I may fiddle with the design a bit more. (Click to see more detail.)

Remote sensing may be able to predict the zombie apocalypse

Well maybe. It seems NASA GSFC and UMBC scientists successfully predicted the 2006 outbreak of a deadly virus in Africa, giving local health officials a 6-week warning.

Really bizarre, humongous plane (update)

(via leenks.com)

Tagged as an ekranoplan, but that's not what it is. Left it tagged that way anyway.

I should have known this would be featured on Dark Roasted Blend - Monstrous Aviation: World's Biggest Airplanes. From that post, I find this is the Russian Ka-7 dating from the 1930's.

More Constellation photos

This link from boston.com via leenks.com (?) isn't nearly as comprehensive as the previous link I provided (nor is it intended to be). However, it's nice to be able just to scroll through a set of high-res photos without navigating around.

A Visual History of NASA's Project Constellation

A TRF member found this comprehensive website - A Visual History of NASA's Project Constellation. Well worth a look-see!

TU-123 video

Here's a video that features the Tu-123 drone:

Revised TU-123 RockSim model (updated)

(scratch_tu123.rkt) click for bigger images



I only simmed it on one motor. Note that, as usual, I didn't sweat the details of the design. If I was building it I'd have to iterate the design to determine the actula weight, stability margin, etc.

Max data values:
Maximum acceleration:Vertical (y): 298.742 Ft./s/sHorizontal (x): 0.358 Ft./s/sMagnitude: 298.742 Ft./s/s
Maximum velocity:Vertical (y): 258.5378 ft/s, Horizontal (x): 1.5564 ft/s, Magnitude: 258.5554 ft/s
Maximum range from launch site: 37.49989 Ft.
Maximum altitude: 1069.76629 Ft.

Engine ejection charge data:
Using a delay time of : 8.000 Seconds
Velocity: 31.2246 ft/s
Altitude: 1053.95133 Ft.

The end of rocketry as we know it - NOT

--Photo removed at the request of the owner. The source had it mis-attributed--

Every time someone does a stunt involving rockets, some sport rocketeers express concern about how the stunt will affect the general public's view of the hobby. The same has evidently happened with news of the V2 failure reenactment by Discovery Channel's Time Warp show. The reports went out that this was part of the Tripoli ROC launch, but this deserves a clarification.

This was completely separate from the launch and was not conducted by the launch host or TRA.

I personally think that this type stunt is good for the hobby, under the premise that any publicity is good publicity. The circumstances of the reenactment will be clear enough and there's nothing like a big fireball to get viewer's attention. Once you have their attention, a few might be curious to learn about this rocketry stuff. In any event, the people who like such shows probably are unlikely to view any of it negatively.

You can read more details and opinions here.

When rockets fall over

--Photo removed at the request of the owner. The source had it mis-attributed--

Steve Jurvetson has a smokin' hot report from the Valentine's Day ROC Launch. Besides the eye-candy, he reports that the Discovery Channel was shooting a special “When Rockets Go Wrong” show. The fireball came from an 18' aluminum V2 that was rigged to act like many of the original test units. (Photo by Wedge Oldham, ROC President)

Big news from Performance Hobbies

More heat from the email:

Hey Gang,

I've put this off long enough. I'm manufacturing carbonfiber and G-10 wrapped phenolic and cardboard airframes. We're using two wraps of 6 ounce cloth and they're sanded to a smooth ready to prime and paint finish. Orders are filled in two weeks. They'll fit standard nosecones available from Giant Leap, LOC, PML, Performance Rocketry and Performance Hobbies.

Here's the pricing.

Fiberglass wrapped cardboard
4" x 48" $ 65.00 each
5.5" x 48" $ 90.00 each
7.5" x 48" $110.00 each
9.25" x 48" $120.00 each

Carbonfiber wrapped cardboard
4" x 48" $105.00 each
5.5" x 48" $120.00 each
7.5" x 48" $140.00 each
9.25" x 48" $160.00 each

Fiberglass wrapped papercraft phenolic
4" x 48" $ 80.00 each
6.125" x 48" $100.00 each
7.5" x 48" $120.00 each
11.67" x 48" $150.00 each

Carbonfiber wrapped papercraft phenolic
4" x 48" $115.00 each
6.125" x 48" $135.00 each
7.5" x 48" $150.00 each
11.67" x 48" $200.00 each

We are also making custom transitions and boattails too. Allow four weeks turnaround on these.

We currently have a few cardboard fiberglass wrapped tubes in 4", 5.5" and 7.5" sizes. Shipping is Fedex Ground, the most reasonable at this time.

Call or email to order. These are not on the website yet.

Thanks,

Ken
Performance Hobbies
(202)723-8257

Finally, some movement in our lawsuit against the BATFE

Hot off the email:

On February 17, 2009 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the motion that we filed on October 1, 2008 for a hearing on our long-standing lawsuit against BATFE. We requested this hearing to provide an opportunity for Judge Walton to clarify with all parties whatever facts may have been impeding his delivering a decision on this case. The hearing has been scheduled for 1:30 PM on Monday, March 23 in the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC. We will probably not know more until after this hearing, but will keep our members informed as soon as it is held.

Trip Barber
President, National Association of Rocketry

Ken Good
President, Tripoli Rocketry Association

More potential fall out from the satellite collision (oops, pun alert)

ParabolicArc reports on another possible impact from the collision of the Iridium and Cosmos satellites - the Hubble Space Telescope. The Chinese satellite shoot-down of 2007 raised the HST's risk of a catastrophic impact to 1-in-185, which exceeds the agency's normal risk threshold. NASA will monitor the collision's debris cloud and may have to cancel the coming servicing mission. This is really bad.

('Fall-out'...'impact'...what is it with this story anyway?)

A timely video

Stand-off Tupolev Tu-123 RockSim9

Here is a stand-off scale design inspired by the Tupolev Tu-123. While you're standing-off, you might want to take a few more steps back! I really like the way pods let components blend together. I wish I could get 'em to do that in the real world.

(scratch_tu123.rkt)

A Pogo-like UAV

I have always thought tail-sitting aircraft are cool, especially the Convair XFY-1 "Pogo". I just ran across some info on the Skytote UAV:

AeroVironment INC of Monrovia, California, manufacturer of solar-powered endurance UAVs described in a later chapter, is also developing a pogo UAV named the "SkyTote" under an Air Force contract. It is described as a demonstrator for a vehicle intended for the precision delivery and pickup of "cargoes", a description that covers an extremely wide range of actual applications. Details are unclear, but illustrations of the SkyTote show it to be another pogo-type tailsitter, with a surprising resemblance to the pogo fighters of the 1950s. It is powered by a Wankel rotary engine.

Woohoo, it's build session time

This next weekend I'm going to go to a build-session at a buddy's house. It's the third he's held this year but the first I've been able to make. Besides good company and food, there will be power tools. I've got Lexan, motor tubes and tube fins to cut. I better start planning what else I'll need if I'm going to actually assemble anything! Unfortunately, for me winter isn't flying OR building season. Maybe I need a UV lamp to bask under?

NAR and TRA high power convergence

NAR Prez Trip Barber reports that the NAR has revised their high power certification requirements. He says:

There are now very few differences between the technical requirements of our procedures for Level 1 through Level 3 high power certification and those of Tripoli Rocketry Association. Both associations made changes to reach this common point: for example, TRA added a dual-altimeter requirement for L3 cert flights and we removed the "6-switch" or "shunt" requirement for how to disarm pyrotechnics for L3 cert flights.

Removed the 'blog reactions' buttons

After having only one 'blog reaction' in the last two weeks, I figured they were pretty much useless.

More on linking to me EMRR reviews

Earlier, I noted if you follow a link to one of my EMRR reviews and it doesn't work, you can go to the list of my reviews and look for the one that you wanted. I missed one important point...that that link resides in the 'About the Dungeon' section at the top of my sidebar. Like you'd be able to find my previous post. Oops.

Rockets Magazine V3 I6 Feb 2009 - including FAA analysis

I found this to be one of the better issues of Rockets. It features two solid tech articles - one on chain-stitching 'chute lines and one on molding fiberglass parts. I doubt if I'll use either, but that doesn't mean I'm not interested.

The editorial discusses the recent FAA rule changes and there is an article on the same by Pat Gordzelik. This article was quite informative and will be made available on both Rocketry Planet and ROL shortly. It confirms what I thought - that, although we mid-power folks made out like a bandit, the results were not as good for high power. For those flying over 'O' power (the new 'Class 3') there will be much larger hoops, which exceed those imposed by the Level-3 certification process. First, you will need clearance of a minimum of a quarter of the expected altitude (1500' feet min.) from roads and any buildings other than those owned by the launch host. This is 0.37 miles for an AGL of 50K'. You will also need wind data through your expected altitude, even though the launch is at least 45 days out. Pat provides some ideas about how to get this info. Next, you'll need 6 Degrees Of Freedom 'splash-pattern' analysis. The only source Pat knows of (and he's one of the 'big dogs' of sport HPR) is RockSim Pro, which costs about a $G. Pat ends with a positive attitude noting the paperwork may prove to be easier than expected and that there are no longer burn-time limits. Finally, if you had a waiver approved under the old rules prior to Feb 2, then you will not have to re-file. I'll end by making one observation. The original NPRM set a higher impulse limit for Class-3 but it was reduced to 'O' impulse after comments from one person. The basis for that comment was TRA's HPR safety code. I hate to say it but that actually sounds like a logical, if not technically sound, basis. Whew, I probably should have made that a separate post.

There are several photo sections from Tripoli Wisconsin, the Sept. ARLISS launch, XPRS and MDRA. The best shot was the background on the inside cover which showed a full-sized Christmas tree flipping on end. Not exactly a poster child for safety, but cool anyway!

Finally there was coverage of Tripoli Central VA's Battle of the rockets, a big German launch, and Steve Eves' 1/10 scale Saturn V. I haven't read the latter yet. I wonder if they got their waiver before Feb. 2nd? :eek:

DoD weighs in on the satellite collision

PJ Blount and Res Communis seems to be in the Dungeon's cross-hairs of late. PJ found and posted comments by U.S. Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In short: the debris field, which will be in orbit for around a year, may require "little bit of dodgeball." The exact impact won't be understood until the debris field stabilizes. On the general crowding of near space, he noted that the congestion is requiring that satellites be stabilized in their orbits within seconds and minutes vs. days or weeks.

My (really) small experience has been with satellites that required a fairly long period of on-orbit test prior to being inserted into their operational orbit. I assume he meant that this scenario is becoming untenable and they would need to be directly inserted into their final orbit. That is all well and good but I doubt if they could have been moved to their final orbit in 'seconds or minutes.'

Thursday Blogger weirdness - NOT

Some time this evening, something happened to Blogger. Using Firefox, the blog reactions selections have a line break in the middle of the list and there is a big gap at the bottom of each post. Next, the 'subscribe-to' links, well, aren't links. And finally, the followers icons are each on their own line instead of being side-by-side. Seems to work it IE.

Well, I fiddled with this for a half hour but after my initial post, things are back to normal, at least for now. :embarrassed:

Concept Ships (update)

Check out the ConceptShips - An online animates spaceship and experimental aircraft art magazine. There is also a companion forum. I was going to swipe a sample image, but I couldn't decide on which one. (via the Essence of EMRR)

Update: I made my way back to August of last year and am suffering from an OD of spaceship coolness! I'll continue when I recover!

A mistake in the physics of the satellite collision

Earlier today I posted the results of Phil Plait's analysis of the collision between Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251. Well, he made a mistake in the physics of the orbits and has posted an update. The bottom line is that the collision speed approached to orbital velocity of ~8 km/s, which means the energy was 3 x 10¹⁷ ergs - closer to 7 tons of TNT (gotta read the comments to his post). "Kablam!"

By the way, Iridium is in the process of deploying an on-orbit spare satellite to fill the gap. With their mesh of 66 operational birds, the loss of one has not significantly impacted their service. I've seen discussions about the potential impact (no pun intended) to the ISS from the resulting debris. However, I wonder what danger the debris may pose to the rest of their constellation (?).

Sexy observatories

IO9 has posted a gallery of The Coolest Looking Observatories on Earth. And I borrowed one of the coolest shots - of the ESO Telescope in Chile. See the source for a big version.

New Mexico to limit Spaceport America's liability

PJ Blont posts about New Mexico's Space Flight Liability and Immunity Act. I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV either but it seems clear such legislation is absolutely necessary to the success of a commercial spaceport.

New FAA/AST documents

PJ Blount has compiled a list of recent documents issued by the FAA/AST.

Announcement regarding links to my EMRR reviews

I won't bore you with whining, but it appears updating the EMRR addys in my blog will be a royal pain in the butt. After updating the links in a in a few label categories, I have decided I will not be trying to clean these up across the board. There just is not enough blog traffic to these posts to worry about them. I will make updates if I happen across them but in general, if an EMRR link doesn't work please go to my reviews page and scroll to the desired entry.

Rampant broken link alert

Maybe.

This morning, EMRR announced that he will be renaming the directories that hold both reviews and RockSim files. I have made ample use of these in the Dungeon, so unless I fix them, there will be a lot of unresolved links, especially in the 'My Projects' category. Since I have no way of processing multiple posts, I will be wading through them, fixing as I go. But I'm not sure if I'll be done by March 1st. I'm also contemplating changing direct links to site searches. This will require an additional click, but may be more immune to future changes.

More on the satellite collision

Astronomer Phil Plait crunched some rough numbers and found the Iridium and Cosmos 2251 satellites, which met unexpectedly yesterday, had a differential velocity of about 1.5 km/sec. Slow relative to their orbital speed but still "pretty dang fast." With each weighing in at around 700 kg, the energy released was in the order of 1K ton of TNT. Boom.

BARCLONE on YORF

There is a new BARCLONE section over on YORF. Although there are several sections, the backbone of the section is the Designer's Studio, which at the time of writing presents 595 rocket designs. Actually, I'm not sure all 595 are in there. If they are not, then they can be found by referencing the Catalog. The attached image is one of my favorites from the recent entries - the Penetrator Mk II by Craig McGraw).

When satellites collide

They break into lots of little pieces. FlightGlobal reports that an Iridium communications satellite collided with a Russian Cosmos 2251 communications satellite over the South Pole at 1155h Washington DC time on Tuesday. The article title implies the Iridium satellite is owned by NASA, but it's not.

More on Spaceflight Now.

Rocket Girls #62

First I'll point to the February issue of Verna and Randy's Fire and Smoke. Verna and Randy are fans of the RG series and this month they feature their own tribute to women fliers. This sub-feature is buried in a bunch of other interesting stuff so I recommend you read the page from the top. Verna, you should move that material to a dedicated section of your site ;)

While searching for material, I ran across several examples of women being used as bottle rocket launchers:

images removed by moderator

Well, actually the images were never posted. I'm not really above occasional nudity if I ran across an on-topic photo, but these were just too sleazy for this ol' blog. BTW, I did post a very tame version of one of these in one of my early posts. Tame because it showed skin but not any more than you'll now see on prime-time TV. Finding it is left to the reader if you are so interested.





OK, I do have one photo for you. Think this may be more of a mortar round than a rocket, but close enough.

Wordle

I just found Wordle, a word-cloud generator. I, of course, have seen the tag-clouds that are common in the blogaverse. Wordle, on the other hand, will make a word cloud out of any entered text, web link, Atom/RSS feed, or del.ico.us user name (although I'm not sure why you'd do the latter). From there you can change orientations, fonts, colors, and more. The main thing I thought of is that you could use Wordle to see if you are using words too much or too little. I didn't save the resulting images from my experiments. They were pretty and colorful but weren't all that useful. Still, it might be worth a few minutes of your time.

December LAUNCH Mag - full articles

Via Mario Perdue on YORF, several full length articles from the MIA December edition are now on-line for ALL to read.

From Mark and Deb...

"As we prepare to bring the print version of LAUNCH Magazine out of hiatus, we wanted to thank you for your patience by uploading more content from our December issue, which featured the 40th anniversary of Apollo 8 on the cover. We hope you’ll enjoy these features online. And we look forward to bringing back the full print version as soon as possible."

So, while you're waiting for your printed copy of the December issue you can now read a selection of articles from it. Click on the images in the slide show to view the full article.

LAUNCH Magazine

Mario

iPowerRocket - the Swiss Army Knife of Rocketry Software

iPowerRocket is an application for your iPhone or iPod touch that puts everything you‘ll ever need on the range in your pocket. It includes tools for barrowman CP computation, flight simulation, calculating ejection charges and parachutes and a flight log, all in one app.

The Torus to SpaceStationOne

(Well, the only evidence of The Torus is shown above...I was supposed to rename the file as I saved it. Oh well, no big loss)

(for my reference: torus.rkt)

The Torus

The other day I was looking through The Spaceship Handbook and began wondering about how to model a toroidal structure in RockSim (v9 not required). So here is an experiment...and it was a pain in the butt. I used multiple thin tube fins of varying diameter and thickness. I uses a thickness of 0.1" which still makes for a rough contour. Now I wish I'd made a space station. I'm not up for recreating another torus, but maybe I'll try using what I have.

CrayShipOne converted to RockSim9

It's so cool to really be able to sim this type rocket! (yes, this sim runs)

Zombies and rocketry, or rocketry zombies

I lifted this image from...well you can guess. Lately, I've posted a lot about the hackers who have been posting zombie warnings on mobile road signs. This image made me think that I could probably be considered a rocket zombie. Motors...motors...

Now, THAT'S a shotgun!

As seen on Rocket Jones, here's a cool video of the XM1028 canister tank cartridge.

The DC Pod Racer, upgraded to RockSim 9

I took some liberties with the colors, and the leading edge of the two tube fins aren't angled, but other than that the model is pretty close to the real thing (at least how it was before its last flight). And the sim even runs.

Zombies are here too...yawn

Here in Maryland, the hacked messages included a zombie warning and one that said "I love Tony." Zombie messages were interesting, add raptors and I thought "meh", but adding sappy personal messages spoils the whole gag.

Remember the Thunder Snitch

Now, THAT'S a saucer! The Thunder Snitch was featured in High Power Magazine, Vol. 15, No. 3, dated (but not delivered) June 2000. This was a class project at the James Bowie HS in Far Eastern Texas. I didn't note the scale, diameter, or weight, but they expected between 350' and 500' on an M1315. Lesson learned: Use a prep checklist and "flip the switch."

Thunder Snitch credits: Article by Mark Hale, photos by Dennis Waters, prefect/supervisor was Tom Owens.

Other articles in this issue included: a build article on a Big Purple rocket, a chronicle of the Magnum-Goraj launches that were held in Ohio during the early '90's, a tale of the relation between Roman war chariots and the Shuttle SRBs (time for Google and Snopes?), using surplus WWII rockets for EX rocketry at the Reaction Research Institute, and installment 7 in a series of 'rocket art' articles by Ed Miller.

(Yay, back to on-topic posts!)

The zombie plague is now world-wide!

George Katz reports that the zombie plague has moved to Oz. I'll report more after I get a snack...of brains!

The zombie plague is spreading!

From Austin, TX to Collinsville, Illinois there are "DAILY LANE CLOSURES DUE TO ZOMBIES." But, if you are from Indiana's Hamilton County, you are lucky. All you have to worry about are raptors. (via MSNBC)

Ours was bigger than yours... (update)

Continuing in the off-topic theme, I was reminded that, in 1966, El Paso's 828 foot ASARCO smoke stack was the worlds tallest. Wow.

Update: Because this story is of little interest to most (all?) readers, I'll just add the update here. Today's El Paso Times reports that ASARCO has decided not to re-open the plant, which has been 'in dry dock' for a decade. There is also a poll to see what El Pasoans think should replace the facility. I voted for a city park AND a Chico's Tacos :) The linked article has some history, a photo gallery and a short video.

It's never to late for Texas and zombies

Rocket buddy brianc reminded me of last week's reports that hackers had displayed public warnings of the coming zombie war. I guess zombie hacks and photos of dope smoking Olympians will keep local law enforcement busy.

Turn-on or creep-fest?

This appears to be off-topic day...

When I saw IO9 ask, "Half-naked brain-electrocution: turn-on or creep-fest?"....


....I began thinking how this appears to be the new in-thing for prime time sci-fi TV. Last night, Fringe continued to get Olivia Dunham into her tank. However, now that her mind-meld with her dead boyfriend/partner has faded, the writers will have to become more creative...or more creepy.

More classic rock via YouTube

YouTube continues to yield classic rock memories. Here are a couple of classics by the fabulous Climax Blues Band. The first is on the quiet side, but is still worth three minutes of your life. I wonder if I can find my copy of FM Live...on cassette?!?

More video how-to's from Apogee

This is the newest. Tim now has four video tutorials.



(dang, I had another typo in a title)

Please, don't pester your FAA contacts with unnecessary paperwork

On February 2nd, the FAA's new rocketry regulations took effect. So, you no longer need to file FAA notifications for Class 1 rockets, as defined below:

Uses no more than 125 grams (4.4 ounces) of propellant, ses a slow-burning propellant, is made of paper, wood, or breakable plastic, contains no substantial metal parts, weighs no more than 1,500 grams (53 ounces) including propellant

I've heard several folks say that they were going to continue to file paperwork 'just in case'. Well, the FAA's goal was to reduce their workload, so I don't think they will be happy getting piles of unneeded and obsolete forms. If your' flying bigger stuff, yes, a waiver request is required. If you think someone will bring out an HPR bird, by all means plan ahead. However, for those fields that only support mid-power, paperwork is not needed.

Oh, yes, this limit will allow small 'H' flights also ;)

Rocket Girls #61

NASA and Google: exploring Mars and bringing on the Singularity

Yesterday, Google announced a new addition to Google Earth - adding the ability to explore Mars in 3-D. The Mars 3D mode is a collaboration between Google and NASA and is one more step in making all of NASA's space imagery and data available to the general public.

Today, NASA Watch reports on the establishment of the Singularity University. Funded by NASA and Google and run by Dr. Peter Diamandis (Mr. X-Prize), S. Pete Worden (director of NASA Ames), and Ray Kurzweil (Mr. Singularity), the Singularity University's mission is to go where no university has gone before. The SU will explore "humanity’s grandest challenges" by hosting the world’s top graduate and postgraduate students in disciplines such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, medicine and law among many others. It will be physically located at Ames, close to the Google campus.

LAUNCH mag - doomed to failure (?)

Today's Space Review features an article on Launch Magazine's reported 'hiatus' - Launch abort by Dwayne A. Day. The author points out how magazines with good photo and print quality are doomed and takes a detour by explaining how catering to space tourists is partially to blame for the magazine's woes. I was interested to know that LAUNCH's target audience included “future space tourists” as well as the obvious space and sport rocketry geeks. But, that's of little matter. He is right about the basic fact that the target audiences, whether the number is 2 or 3, are small in numbers and each group has other magazines that cover their interests. And I'm sure production quality affects production costs and eats into profit margins.

Everyone who's comment on the magazine's recent hiatus seems to agree on one thing - that we wish them well and hope they figure a way to return.

P.S. LAUNCH caters(ed) to 'sport' or 'hobby' rocketry not 'amateur' rocketry. But only a rocketeer would notice this minor issue.

P.P.S. I bet there are more sport rocketeers who are interested in space and new-space than space-cowboys who are interested in model rocketry. And 1/4 - 1/2 of their contest was sport rocketry related. Also, Dwayne's comments about the Web do make sense.

Houston eye candy (just landmarks)

The screen shot to the right is the first entry in the virtual tour of Rice University. You can pan around the images to get a 360 degree view.

That shot is of Rice's Lovett Hall which was voted Houston's 2nd favorite building, behind the Astrodome. See all the entrants here.