product:falcon

Mysterious X-37B Military Space Plane Nears 1 Year in Orbit
▻http://www.leonarddavid.com/military-space-plane-wings-toward-year-in-earth-orbit
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-7VNf7DCY8

The U.S. Air Force’s X-37B miniature space plane has winged past 340 days in orbit performing secretive duties during the program’s fifth flight.

The robotic craft’s latest mission, known as Orbital Test Vehicle-5 (OTV-5), kicked off on Sept. 7, 2017, with a launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.

As usual, Air Force officials have revealed few details about OTV-5. But we do know that one payload flying aboard the X-37B this time around is the Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader, or ASETS-11. Developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, this cargo is testing experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipes for long durations in the space environment.
[…]
Ground tracks
Ted Molczan, a Toronto-based satellite analyst, told Inside Outer Space that OTV-5’s initial orbit was about 220 miles (355 kilometers) high, inclined 54.5 degrees to the equator. “Its ground track nearly repeated every two days, after 31 revolutions,” he said.

On April 19, the space drone lowered its orbit by 24 miles (39 km), which caused its ground track to exactly repeat every five days, after 78 revolutions, Molczan said — a first for an OTV mission.

“Repeating ground tracks are very common,” Molczan added, “especially for spacecraft that observe the Earth. That said, I do not know why OTV has repeating ground tracks.”

Space Force ties?
Does the X-37B program fit into the Trump administration’s call for a Space Force?

“Ironically, the X-37B is exactly the type of program — toward giving the U.S. flexibility of operations in space — that seems to be prompting the current push for a Space Force, yet are already underway,” said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor in the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Secretive #X-37B Space Plane Discovered in Orbit after Staying Hidden for 218 Days – X-37B – OTV-5 | Spaceflight101
▻http://spaceflight101.com/x-37b-otv-5/x-37b-otv-5-identified-in-orbit

http://spaceflight101.com/x-37b-otv-5/wp-content/uploads/sites/182/2018/04/6938477_orig1.jpg

It circled the Earth in obscurity for more than half a year, now the semi-secret X-37B OTV 5 space plane has been conclusively identified by amateur satellite observers in a circular orbit around 355 Kilometers in altitude. The orbit’s inclination at 54.5 degrees is much different from previous OTV missions and in part responsible for the craft remaining undiscovered for so long.

X-37B, conducting its fifth orbital flight, lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on September 7, 2017. In the typical secrecy surrounding the Air Force’s X-37B program, the launch was shown until separation of the protective payload fairing and confirmation of successful orbital insertion was provided a short time later but operational aspects of the mission like the craft’s operating orbit, intended mission duration and specifics on the payloads it carries were not disclosed.

Given the hush-hush nature of its missions, X-37B is a target of intense observation by the amateur satellite community and the orbital dynamics of all four prior OTV missions were closely watched. Typically, the spacecraft was spotted in orbit within a few days after launch; however, there were several cases where observers lost track of the spacecraft due to unexpected orbital maneuvers.

X-37B OTV 5 proved to be a tougher nut to crack as it was clear from the outset that the spacecraft would operate from a different orbit than its predecessors: “The fifth OTV mission will be launched into, and landed from, a higher inclination orbit than prior missions to further expand the X-37B’s orbital envelope,” the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office said in a statement before the craft blasted off atop Falcon 9.
[…]
What the spacecraft might be up to in this type of Low Earth Orbit, some 50 Kilometers lower than the International Space Station, is pretty much unknown. As with the previous X-37B flights, only very few details on the OTV 5 mission are being shared with the public and most of what resides in the vehicle’s 2.1 by 1.2-meter payload bay will remain secret.

One payload on the OTV 5 mission that was publicly acknowledged is the Air Force Research Laboratory Advanced Structurally Embedded Thermal Spreader that will test experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipe technologies over a long-duration space flight. Three oscillating heat pipes are part of the package to evaluate the technology for future applications in space as it could offer lighter and less expensive thermal control solutions for satellite missions. The goal of the OTV-5-mounted experiment will be to evaluate the technology’s initial thermal performance and monitor it over an extended period to assess long-term degradation.

The Air Force also said the OTV 5 mission hosts small satellite ride shares to demonstrate greater opportunities for rapid space access; however, no additional objects have been cataloged under the OTV 5 mission’s international designator 2017-052 up to this point.

#SpaceX va envoyer un super-ordinateur dans l’espace
▻http://www.latribune.fr/technos-medias/spacex-va-envoyer-un-super-ordinateur-dans-l-espace-747010.html

La société américaine SpaceX a prévu d’envoyer lundi 14 août sur la Station spatiale internationale (ISS) une cargaison comprenant un super-ordinateur, afin de tester sa capacité à fonctionner dans l’espace pendant un an, dans des conditions extrêmes.

Le décollage du lanceur #Falcon_9, transportant la capsule Dragon, est prévu à 12h31 (16h31 GMT) depuis la base de Cap Canaveral, en Floride et les conditions météorologiques sont favorables 70%. La capsule Dragon transporte 2,9 tonnes de marchandises, dont un supercalculateur conçu par la société informatique américaine Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

Le but de cette mission est de voir si l’ordinateur peut fonctionner dans des conditions extrêmes dans l’espace pendant un an, la durée qu’il faudrait à des astronautes pour atteindre Mars.

Plus les astronautes parcourent de longues distances, plus le délai de transmission des communications devient important. Il faudrait au moins 20 minutes pour que des messages envoyés depuis Mars atteignent la Terre et autant de temps dans l’autre sens.

« Un tel délai de communication rendrait toute exploration sur le terrain compliquée et potentiellement dangereuse si les astronautes sont confrontés à des scénarios de mission cruciaux qu’ils ne seraient pas en mesure de résoudre par eux-mêmes », explique le vice-président de HPE, Alain Andreoli, dans un communiqué.

SpaceX demonstrates rocket reusability with SES-10 launch and booster landing
▻http://spacenews.com/spacex-demonstrates-rocket-reusability-with-ses-10-launch-and-booster-lan

#SpaceX has completed the first reusable orbital launch since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle, delivering the SES-10 telecommunications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit with a rocket that first flew last April for NASA.

[...] SpaceX spent four months evaluating, testing and refurbishing the rocket, which previously launched with a Dragon spacecraft carrying supplies to the International Space Station on April 8, 2016, before clearing the rocket for this mission. Shotwell said the goal is to reduce that time from four months down to the same day.

Shotwell said SpaceX is working on a final iteration of the Falcon 9 that will debut later this year that can re-launch multiple times.

“The final vehicle design spin that we are doing on Falcon 9 — that we will be flying later this year — that should be capable of up to 10 or even more [launches],” she said.

[...] Musk declined to give an exact price reduction for flight proven Falcon 9s, but said he is “highly confident that is it possible to achieve a 100-fold reduction in the cost of space transport.”

#espace

SpaceX Launches Satellites, Narrowly Misses Rocket Landing at Sea
#rapid_unscheduled_disassembly

▻http://www.space.com/33172-spacex-misses-rocket-landing-after-satellite-launch.html

SpaceX successfully launched two satellites to orbit today (June 15) but couldn’t quite pull off its fourth consecutive rocket landing at sea in the process.

The first stage of the California-based company’s Falcon 9 rocket Falcon 9 rocket managed to hit its target — a robotic “droneship” stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, a few hundred miles off the Florida coast — but wasn’t able to stick the landing.

“Ascent phase & satellites look good, but booster rocket had a RUD on droneship,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via Twitter during the liftoff. ("RUD" is #Muskspeak for “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”)

SpaceX takes another crack at launching, landing today [Updated] | Ars Technica
▻http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/05/watch-live-spacex-takes-another-crack-at-launching-landing-today

http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/landedrocket1-640x400.jpg

SpaceX did it, successfully delivering its payload and landing the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket for the third time in a row on an autonomous drone ship. It’s safe to say the future has arrived.

On passe doucement à la routine…

5月19日のツイート
▻http://twilog.org/ChikuwaQ/date-160519

Top story : Chinese fighter jets intercept US spy plane ’unsafely’ over South Ch… www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may…, see more tweetedtimes.com/ChikuwaQ ?s=tnp posted at 11:19:24

Papier is out ! paper.li/ChikuwaQ/13277… Stories via @samvega_pasada @diegocallazans @cofnairs posted at 09:13:39

Top story : How I Accidentally Captured the SpaceX Falcon 9 Landing petapixel.com/2016/05/18/cap…, see more tweetedtimes.com/ChikuwaQ ?s=tnp posted at 08:19:36

Top story : Ryoko Sekiguchi : une philosophie du goût www.actualitte.com/article/livres…, see more tweetedtimes.com/ChikuwaQ ?s=tnp posted at 05:01:08

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Falcon 9 succeeds in middle-of-the-night launch and landing – Spaceflight Now
▻http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/06/falcon-9-succeeds-in-middle-of-the-night-launch

http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/26751237322_22dc7de0f4_k.jpg

A Japanese communications rode a Falcon 9 rocket into space from Cape Canaveral early Friday, reaching an on-target orbit as the launcher’s first stage booster nailed a high-speed landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean, logging another achievement for SpaceX’s cost-cutting reuse initiative.

The successful satellite deployment marks the Falcon 9’s fifth consecutive flawless flight in less than five months, and the rocket’s 24th mission overall.

The rocket achieved its primary and secondary objective on Friday’s launch, placing the JCSAT 14 communications satellite into orbit, and returning its booster stage to a purely experimental landing on a specially-outfitted ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

Space X Oddity
▻http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXmHqzdKUI

#espace via @PauloCunhaMartins

U.S. Nears $10bn Arms Deal With Israel, Saudi Arabia, UAE

The United States is finalizing a complex $10 billion arms deal that would strengthen two key Arab allies while maintaining Israel’s military edge, defense officials said on Friday ahead of a trip to the Middle East by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

The deal, more than a year in the making through a series of coordinated bilateral negotiations, would result in the sale of V-22 Osprey aircraft, advanced refueling tankers and anti-air defense missiles to Israel and 25 F-16 Desert Falcon jets worth nearly $5 billion to the United Arab Emirates.[...]

Sources familiar with the arms sales plans said Israel had asked to buy five or six V-22 Ospreys, built by Boeing Co and Textron Inc’s Bell Helicopter unit, at an estimated price of about $70 million apiece.

The UAE also is interested in purchasing the tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a plane, the sources said. But that sale is likely to be included in a separate deal.

The United States sold Saudi Arabia 84 F-15 jets for $29 billion in 2010, planes that are now beginning to roll off the assembly line and undergo testing, officials said.

GBN
▻http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/04/u-s-nears-10bn-arms-deal-with-israel-saudi-arabia-uae

Gay porn firms forced man to inject stars’ penises « MasterAdrian’s Weblog
►http://masteradrian.com/2012/10/26/gay-porn-firms-forced-man-to-inject-stars-penises

Gay porn firms forced man to inject stars’ penises
Former adult entertainment employee sues US porn companies after being put at risk of HIV and other diseases during job
16 October 2012 | By Matthew Jenkin
US porn star Matthew Rush was one of the biggest stars for Falcon Studios who are being sued by a man forced to inject models’ penises with TriMix drug

Gay porn companies in the US forced a man to inject stars’ penises with an erection drug then sacked him for pushing the syringe into his thumb, a court heard.

Ronald Baker claims that while working as a grip for porn firms, including the Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network and Falcon Studios, he was required to inject models’ penises with the erectile dysfunction drug TriMix.

In his complaint to the San Francisco Superior Court, Baker states that employees were given no training on how to use the hypodermic needle on the subjects, which could then maintain an erection for ‘multiple hours’ during a shoot.

He adds that the company had no screening procedures for HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, reported Courthouse News.

‘After months of refusing directions and pressure by his employer to inject models with TriMix, plaintiff followed the directions of his employer and injected TriMix into a model’s penis, ‘ the complaint reads.

‘While replacing the cap on the syringe, the tip of the syringe pierced the cap and plaintiff’s thumb.’

Baker claims the company could not confirm the HIV status of the actor and ‘had no idea how to respond to plaintiff’s apparent exposure’.

He discovered that the drug was acquired without prescriptions and consequently refused to administer it.

When the companies stopped paying his wages and health benefits he hired a lawyer.

Baker says he suffered emotional distress and, despite initial checks giving him the all clear for HIV, will have to be rechecked.

The complaint calls the companies’ behavior ‘startling’ given the sexual nature of the models’ work.

Baker seeks punitive damages for wrongful termination, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the business and professions code and the Labor Code.