Oklahoma Space Alliance November 2015 Page 1 of 24

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Table of Contents

Quote of the Month .......................................................................................................... .......................... 1

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. ........... 2

NASA Sets New Date for Commercial Cargo Award, Drops Boeing ................................................................ 4

Orbital/ATK Plans Cygnus ISS Resupply in December .................................................................................... 5

SpaceX Prepares for Falcon 9 Launch ........................................................................................................... 6

David Sheely Presents Space Fence ........................................................................................... ................... 7

Launch Tower Moves to KSC 39B ................................................................................................................. 8

SpaceX Tests Rollout of Falcon Heavy Strongback ............................................................................. ........... 9

SpaceX Dragon 2 Tests at McGreggor, TX Site ............................................................................................. 10

XCOR Mission Update ......................................................................................................... ....................... 11

SpaceShipTwo Bounces Back to Rubber Fuel .................................................................................... .......... 12

Virgin Galactic Recruits New Test Pilot ....................................................................................................... 13

Blue Origin Expects Flights in 2016 ......................................................................................... .................... 14

Astronauts Prepare for Commercial Crew Spacecraft ................................................................................. 15

OSA Member Dennis Wigley Posts New Astrophotos .............................................................................. ... 16

Space News ............................................................................................................................. .................. 18

Metatron Global Joins DSI ................................................................................................................................

18

Global Launch Summary 2015 ..........................................................................................................................

18

Russia Launches Turksat 4B ..............................................................................................................................

18

ULA Launches GPS IIF-11 ..................................................................................................................................

19

China Launch Drops Debris .............................................................................................................................. 19

Arianespace Launches Arabsat-6B ................................................................................................................... 19

If You Could See All the Asteroids .................................................................................................................... 19

Jeff Greason Talks About Basic Space Economics ........................................................................................ 20

That’s All Folks ............................................................................................................ .............................. 21

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Oklahoma Space Alliance

What’s Happening

November 2015 Copyright © 2015 Oklahoma Space

Alliance Editor Stephen Swift

sswift42@aol.com 405-496-3616

The Oklahoma Space Alliance What’s Happening is a presentation in each monthly meeting of the Oklahoma Space Alliance. Oklahoma Space Alliance is a chapter of the National Space Society, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The address of OSA is 102 W. Linn, #1, Norman, OK 73071. Unless otherwise noted, all contents of articles herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone but the editor or the originating source. Reprint rights are granted to chapters of NSS and to any non-profit organization for education or information purposes only provided credit is given.

.OSA 2015 http://chapters.nss.org/ok/osanss.html

President Stephen Swift Update Editor

sswift42@aol.com 405-496-3616

Vice President David Sheely

sheely@sbcglobal.net 405-821-9077

Secretary & Syd Henderson Outreach Editor

sydh@ou.edu 405-321-4027(H) 405-365-8983(C)

Treasurer Tim Scott

ctsscott@mac.com 405-740-7549(H)

NSS Chapters Claire McMurray

cliffclaire@hotmail.com 405-329-4326(H) 405-863-

9173(C)

NSS Headquarters 15th Street NW, Suite 500

Washington DC 20005 Exec Director TBD

Oklahoma Space Alliance November 2015 Page 5 of 24

NASA Sets New Date for

Commercial Cargo Award, Drops

Boeing

NASA delays Commercial Cargo phase 2 until the end of January 2016. This delay allows SpaceX and Orbital to resume resupply flights before the

contract award. SpaceX, Orbital Science and

Sierra Nevada are still in consideration.

See article at http://spacenews.com/nasa-delays

award-of-commercial-cargo-contracts-again

drops-boeing/.

Cygnus Spacecraft

nsshq@nss.org 202-429-1600

Oklahoma Space Alliance November 2015 Page 6 of 24

Dragon 2 Cargo Spacecraft

Dreamchaser Cargo

System

Orbital/ATK Plans Cygnus ISS Resupply in December

Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft in Test Facility Credit: Orbital/ATK

Orbital/ATK shipped its new and larger Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the Kennedy

Space Center. Orbital plans to launch a Cygnus resupply mission to the

Oklahoma Space Alliance November 2015 Page 7 of 24

International Space Center on December 3, 2015. Orbital contracted with United

Launch Alliance to launch the spacecraft aboard ULA’s Atlas V rocket system.

See articles at http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/10/13/cygnus-service-moduleshipped-ksc-december-launch/, and https://spaceflightnow.com/2015/11/11/stacking-starts-for-atlas-5-cargo-runto-space-station/.

SpaceX Prepares for Falcon 9 Launch SpaceX plans to launch an eleven satellite payload for Orbcomm in December

2015. This will be the first Falcon 9 launch since the launch failure in June 2015.

Resupply flights to the International Space Station will resume in January 2016.

Orbcomm’s 11 second-generation OG2 satellites are pictured inside Sierra

Nevada’s factory. Credit: Sierra Nevada Corp.

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Orbcomm’s coverage (which changes due to satellite movement) after its Orbcomm

Generation 2 (OG2) satellites are all in place. Credit: Orbcomm

David Sheely Presents Space Fence

Oklahoma Space Alliance Vice President David Sheely presents Space Fence

concepts at the November 2015 OSA meeting.

“The geographic separation and the higher wave frequency of the new Space Fence radars will allow for the detection of much smaller microsatellites and debris than current systems”

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Image from David Sheely Presentation. Credit: Lockheed Martin / USAF

Launch Tower Moves to KSC 39B

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crawler-transporter. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

In anticipation of launching the Space Launch System later this decade, engineers

wanted to check the mobile launcher, or ML, in a number of categories ranging

from how it would behave moving atop a crawler-transporter to how well its

systems mesh with the infrastructure at Pad B, which has undergone extensive

renovations during the past year.

See article at

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/MLmoves.htm l .

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In preparation for a 2016 Falcon Heavy Launch SpaceX has conducted a test rollout

of its giant Transporter/Erector strongback system at the Kennedy Space Center’s

historic Launch Pad 39A.

See article at http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/11/spacex-conducts-rollout39a-te/.

SpaceX Tests Rollout of Falcon Heavy Strongback

Pad 39A Test

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SpaceX Dragon 2 Tests at McGreggor, TX Site

Screen Shot of SuperDraco Test. Credit: SpaceX

The propulsion system SpaceX would use to power its Crew Dragon out of danger

has been test-fired 27 times as the company refines the design for the demands of

operational missions carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. SpaceX evaluated the system utilizing various

thrust cycles on a test stand at its McGregor, Texas, rocket development facility.

See NASA Blog at https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2015/11/10/crewdragon-propulsion-system-completes-development-testing/.

XCOR Mission Update

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Screenshot from Promo Video. Credit: XCOR / Sinomax

XCOR Mission Update is an online newsletter. Their flyer this month includes a

promotional video highlighting a partnership with Sinomax.

See flyer and video at http://us2.campaignarchive1.com/?u=a657b10b01706d419a5fb65ac&id=124dcd2a47&e=f83f242e13.

See September 2015 Lynx Report at http://www.spccuracao.com/2015/11/12/xcors-lynx-report-spetember-2015/.

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SpaceShipTwo Bounces Back to Rubber Fuel

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo during an April 2013 powered test flight. Credit:

Virgin Galactic

After experimenting with nylon based fuel, VG switches back to a rubber base for

its hybrid fuel/oxy system. See article at http://spacenews.com/virgin-

galacticswitching-back-to-rubber-fuel-for-spaceshiptwo/.

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Second SpaceShipTwo Credit: Virgin Galactic Kelly Latimer

MOJAVE, Calif., November 9, 2015 (Virgin Galactic PR) – Virgin

Galactic, the privately funded space company owned by Sir Richard

Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments PJS, is

pleased to announce the appointment of its newest pilot, Lieutenant

Colonel Kelly Latimer, US Air Force, Ret. A former combat veteran

and retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Latimer joins Virgin

Galactic with extensive experience with heavy aircraft and as an

experimental test pilot for NASA, Boeing, and the US Air Force.

See article at http://www.parabolicarc.com/2015/11/09/virgin-galactic-hirespilot-3/.

Virgin Galactic Recruits New Test Pilot

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Blue Origin Test Flight in April 2015 Credit: Blue Origin

Erika Wagner, Blue Origin business

development manager. Credit:

LinkedIn

Erika Wagner, business development

manager for Blue Origin, said the company

was making plans for another test flight of

its New Shepard vehicle by the end of this

year which, if successful, would keep the

company on track for commercial flights of

payloads, but not people, in 2016.

See article at http://spacenews.com/blueorigin-plans-to-begin-commercialsuborbital-research-flights-in-2016/.

Blue Origin Expects Flights in 2016

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Astronauts Prepare for Commercial Crew Spacecraft

The 6.5-hour EVA began with EV-1 Scott Kelly, wearing the suit with the red stripes,

exiting the Quest airlock first, followed by EV-2 Kjell Lindgren, wearing the plain

white suit. For both astronauts, it was their first spacewalk.

One task for this EVA was the routing and pre-positioning of cables in order to

support future commercial cargo vehicle dockings at the ISS. NASA wish to have

two docking ports on the ISS able to support future crew vehicles, in order for one

port to serve as a primary port, and the other as a back-up port.

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OSA Member Dennis Wigley Posts New Astrophotos

NGC 253 Credit: Dennis Wigley

Through the AT6RC with my K5IIs.

54 x 5 min = 4.5 hr total @ 1600 ISO. 100% processed in PixInsight.

The Sculptor Galaxy, also known as the Silver Coin or Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC

253, is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor

Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently undergoing a period of

intense star formation. Source: Wiki Through the AT6RC with my K5IIs.

54 x 5 min = 4.5 hr total @ 1600 ISO. 100% processed in PixInsight.

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M78 – 5 Credit: Dennis Wigley

This is 33 x 10 minutes @80 ISO for a 5.5 hrs total with an unmodified K5IIs

through the AT6RC. All processing done in PixInsight.

M78 is the brightest diffuse reflection nebula of a group of nebulae that include

NGC 2064, NGC 2067 and NGC 2071. This group belongs to the Orion Molecular

Cloud Complex and is about 1,600 light years distant from Earth. Source: Wiki.

Oklahoma Space Alliance

A Chapter of The

Oklahoma Space Alliance November 2015 Page 20 of 24

National Space Society

Space News

Metatron Global Joins DSI

Metatron Global makes significant

investment in Deep Space Industries.

See article at

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/metatronglobal-join-deep-space-160543790.html.

Global Launch Summary 2015

Skyrocket.de displays graphic image of global satellite launches in 2015. Note:

Russia is credited with all Soyuz launches, even though some were launched by

ESA. See graphic at http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_chr/lau201

5.htm. Atlas V MUOS-4 Launch: ULA

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Russia Launches Turksat 4B

October 16, a Proton M launched Turksat

4B into orbit.

See article at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwO W0Wo_KzY.

Screenshot Video Credit: ROSCOSMOS

ULA Launches GPS IIF-11

October 31, an Atlas V launched a GPS

satellite for USAF.

See launch video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPcR ziWDigQ.

Screenshot Credit: ULA

China Launch Drops Debris

October 15, debris falls after Long March 3

launch of APSTAR-9 satellite.

See video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vem4 64KUPi4.

Screenshot Source: YouTube

Arianespace Launches Arabsat-6B

November 10, an Ariane 5 launched

Arabsat-6B and GSAT-15 into Orbit.

See launch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgob

7BddNfA.

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Screenshot Credit: Arianespace

If You Could See All the Asteroids

See the NEOShield Team 2 video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huC3 s9lsf4k.

Screenshot Credit: NEOShield

Jeff Greason Talks About Basic Space Economics

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Jeff Greason Chief Technologist XCOR, Screenshot Source: iDeaCity

Jeff Greason discusses XCOR and how basic economics of supply and demand

applies to space flight. See video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHuiNeoA1RQ.

That’s All Folks

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