The Space Roundup - May 23rd, 2021
Hello, my dear space lovers!
Yet another week full of space awesomeness!
A couple of comments before we start: a warm welcome to all new subscribers this week. Feel free to give feedback or say hi in the comments below.
If you haven’t subscribed yet, don’t miss an issue by subscribing on the input below
And if you or your organization want to sponsor this newsletter, we are now open to sponsorships. Just drop a line by email.
Now, are you ready? 5,4,3,2,1...lift-off!
Martian updates
This week we’ve received the first images and videos of the Chinese rover on Mars, now on the surface and not in the lander, getting ready to start its scientific research that has all the geologists excited: there are so many interesting features around its landing location, including ancient mud volcanoes, impact craters, subsurface ice, and sand dunes! Not bad! :)
Not far away from its location, NASA’s Perseverance rover has started its own scientific experiments this week using its robotic arm to study the floor of the ancient crater that once held a lake. The goal is to create a timeline of when the lake formed, when it dried, and then date rocks that might preserve a record of ancient microbes. And this is happening while the Ingenuity helicopter is planing its sixth flight to take place very soon and keep exploring the nearby area.
Down in a southern Martian region, the Curiosity rover has provided valuable data to scientists studying local salt as a key piece of the Martian organic puzzle. The key discovery here is that a NASA team has found that organic salts are likely to be present on Mars: “like shards of ancient pottery, these salts are the chemical remnants of organic compounds”.
ULA successful launch (and a slip)!
United Launch Alliance successfully launched SBIRS GEO Flight 5 mission earlier this week with its impressive Atlas V rocket (see the pic of the week below). It’s important to acknowledge its impressive track record: ULA has launched 144 times with 100 percent mission success.
What’s not that good is that same week they’ve announced that the maiden flight for their Vulcan heavy-lift rocket will be postponed to 2023… sad news! :(
Firefly (and SpaceX) to the moon!
Firefly has announced they are going to choose SpaceX as a carrier to launch its lunar lander on board a Falcon 9 rocket in 2023. With this contract, SpaceX is now launching five of the six CLPS missions awarded by NASA to date. It is very interesting how SpaceX is owning this commercial program because of its low prices, availability, and reliability. Now it’s time to deliver starting very soon with their first CLPS mission later this year.
Space tourism, one step closer
Yesterday, Virgin Galactic successfully flew its VSS Unity space plane in a test after two years of development. Reaching 90km of altitude (*this* close to the Karman line, which defines where “space” begins - at 100kms). Successfully piloted by two astronauts? Pilots? this was the first of three test flights that are needed to start commercial operations. The owner, Sir Richard Brandson will fly on the third test flight, dates yet to be defined. Look at this beauty!
What about ESA?
This week we have three very interesting updates from the European Space Agency.
In order not to fall behind the other big players, Europe keeps making progress on a LEO satellite constellation as China, OneWeb and Starlink keep racing. Also not to become an obsolete player, Ariane Group is developing their first reusable engine and a light upper stage. They better hurry up!
And finally, something is very cool: ESA has awarded startup Space Applications a contract to start generating oxygen from lunar soil on the moon in 2025. You can read more about this super exciting ISRU project here.
The Indian space race
This same week two Indian aerospace startups (Skyroot and Agnikul) both have raised $11 million funding round each: what a strange coincidence?!
Skyroot will use the money to develop its solid-propellant Vikram I rocket while Agnikul will continue developing the Agnibaan rocket with its 3D printed single-piece liquid fuel engine.
Do you enjoy reading my Sunday email? I want you to join my team of supporters!
My
Patreon
supporters help me maintain this project for as little as 3€...and it would mean THE WORLD if you could support this humble independent content creator :)
>>
Become a patron now!
<<
Picture of the week
The picture of the week was shared on Twitter by the incredible photographer John Kraus (@johnkrausphotos - go follow him!) - showing the amazing ULA Atlas V rocket during the SBIRS GEO-5 mission. Beautiful!
Upcoming launches & events
Let’s see what we have in the week ahead!
Wednesday, May 26th: Falcon 9 | Starlink-28
Thursday, May 27th: Soyuz | OneWeb 7 mission
Saturday, May 29th: Long March 7 | Tianzhou 2 resupply mission
Sunday, May 30th: Long March 3B | Fengyun 4B geostationary weather satellite
And that’s it for this week! :)
If you enjoy my Space Roundup, PLEASE SHARE IT by clicking the SHARE button below, consider supporting me on Patreon (or buy me a coffee!) to help me share our excitement about human space flight with the world:
Cheers from sunny Spain!
Juan, the Curious Astronaut