Category Archives: Aerospace

Congratulations to India on Successful Moon Landing. Condolences to Russia on the Loss of Luna-25.

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Congratulations are in order to India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), on their successful moon landing with Chandrayaan-3. This is a great achievement for any organization and India well deserves their feeling of pride in the accomplishment.

A soft touchdown on the moon is a challenging task every time it is done and requires that a great many systems in a lengthy sequence of events perform perfectly. Presently, the rover has deployed properly and is in motion.

Source: ISRO.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is comprised of a propulsion module, a lander and a rover. Each is equipped with scientific instrumentation.

Lander

  • Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) will measure the thermal conductivity and temperature of the lunar surface.
  • Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) will measure the seismicity around the landing site.
  • Langmuir Probe (LP) will estimate the near-surface plasma density over time.

Rover

  • Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will derive the chemical composition and infer the mineralogical composition of the lunar surface.
  • Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) will determine the elemental composition (Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Fe) of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.

Propulsion module

  • Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) will study spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit in the near-infrared (NIR) wavelength range (1–1.7 μm [3.9×10−5–6.7×10−5 in]).

Russia’s Roscosmos Space Agency suffered a setback in its moon landing ambitions with the loss of its Luna-25 lander. Launched August 10 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in southeastern Russia, contact with the craft was lost after a command was sent for it to lower its orbit around the moon. By August 20 Roscosmos had to conclude that the vehicle had impacted the moon. This was the first Russian attempt to land a probe on the moon since Luna-24 in 1976. The goal was to land at the 100-kilometre-wide Boguslawsky crater.

Source: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

The science payload aboard Luna-25 was substantial-

  • ADRON-LR, active neutron and gamma-ray analysis of regolith
  • ARIES-L, measurement of plasma in the exosphere
  • LASMA-LR, laser mass-spectrometer
  • LIS-TV-RPM, infrared spectrometry of minerals and imaging
  • PmL, measurement of dust and micro-meteorites
  • THERMO-L, measurement of the thermal properties of regolith
  • STS-L, panoramic and local imaging
  • Laser retroreflector, Moon libration and ranging experiments
Source: Luna-25 Lander.

MIRV Talk

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Some vocabulary from bad old days of the Cold War has come back to haunt us. Russia has announced that it has deployed its RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in Belarus. The 112 ft long, 211 ton missile is said to carry 15 Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs). As new and scary as this sounds, the US first conceived of the MIRV in the early 1960’s and deployed its first MIRV’d ICBM (Minuteman III) in 1970 and the first MIRV’d SLBM (Poseiden Sea Launched Ballistic Missile) in 1971. The USSR followed suit in 1975 and 1978, respectively.

In the early 1960’s it was believed in the US that it was behind the USSR in what was called the “Missile Gap”. It turns out this was incorrect and that, in fact, the US had a large advantage in the number of ICBM strategic delivery vehicles. For a long while we in NATO thought the Soviets were 10 feet tall and that turned out to be an exaggeration. From their performance in conventional battle, they have diminished in stature just a bit. However, their nuclear triad is to be respected.

3-MIRVs. Source: https://blenderartists.org/t/mirv-hard-surface-modeling/1198468

The initial purpose of the MIRV concept was to compensate for inaccurate delivery. It has evolved to include decoys and multiple target delivery. There is a good deal of non-classified information on MIRV systems on the interwebs.

Putin’s threat of a new MIRV’d missile is just more nuclear bluster to frighten NATO citizens. For the present time his nuclear weapons are more valuable in storage as they have been all along with the Mutual Assured Destruction policy. That said, they have a policy of using nukes if the security of the state itself is under threat. I would guess that Putin sees himself as the state.

I wonder if it has dawned on the Russians that nobody in their right mind would actually make a preemptive attack on Russia or its former Soviet satellites. Who actually wants the place? What benefit is there in trying to subdue 140 million angry Russians and their huge frozen taiga? That’s nuts.

There Are Benefits to Sending Light, Short Women to Mars

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A paper is out comparing the resources needed to send women vs men on a trip to Mars. The paper, appearing in Nature publication Scientific Reports is: Scott, J.P.R., Green, D.A., Weerts, G. et al. Effects of body size and countermeasure exercise on estimates of life support resources during all-female crewed exploration missions. Sci Rep 13, 5950 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-31713-6.

The paper is worth a look, but I’ve cut and pasted the conclusions below-

When compared at the 50th percentile for stature for US females and males, these differences increased to − 11% to − 41% and translated to larger reductions in TEE, O2 and water requirements, and less CO2 and Hprod during 1080-day missions using CM exercise. Differences between female and male theoretical astronauts result from lower resting and exercising O2 requirements (based on available astronaut data) of female astronauts, who are lighter than male astronauts at equivalent statures and have lower relative VO2max values. These data, combined with the current move towards smaller diameter space habitat modules, point to a number of potential advantages of all-female crews during future human space exploration missions.

A female crew would require less energy and less weight in provisions than men just from the benefits of smaller scale metabolism alone. Looks like hurtling women to Mars is an all-around winning idea.

The NOTAM Issue

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Recently, the FAA had a fiasco with its NOTAM service. Departures were halted system-wide and there was general fear and loathing in the air transport industry. According to Flying magazine, in a preliminary statement the FAA is claiming the cause of the shutdown was related to a damaged database file. The purpose of the NOTAM is to provide important and current information to pilots. There have been facile comparisons to the previous fiasco with Southwest Airlines. Easy does it there folks.

NOTAM used to stand for Notice To Airmen. It was changed to Notice To Air Missions. I guess this is now gender neutral.

Meg Godlewski at Flying magazine writes-

NOTAMs provide essential information to pilots about the abnormal status of a component of the national airspace system, such as ground-based navigational system failures at airports, GPS outages, and facility closures. Pilots are required to check for NOTAMs pertinent to for their departure airport, route, and destination as part of preflight planning.

The content of a NOTAM is written in a highly abbreviated manner. This continues from the days of the teletype machine where brevity was important due to the limitations of communication technology. An example of a NOTAM from an FAA website is shown below-

e. Changes to usable runway length and declared distances

EXAMPLES-

…RWY 19 THR DISPLACED 300FT MARKING NOT STD. DECLARED DIST: TORA 6827FT TODA 6827FT ASDA 6827FT LDA 6527FT. ….
…RWY 01 DECLARED DIST: TORA 6827FT TODA 6827FT ASDA 6527FT LDA 6527FT. …

NOTE-

Runway 19 threshold is displaced 300 feet, therefore the Runway 19 landing LDA is shortened by 300 feet. The LDA and ASDA for Runway 1 are also shortened by 300 feet.

EXAMPLE-

…RWY 05/23 NE 500FT CLSD. DECLARED DIST: RWY 05 TORA 7002FT TODA 7002FT ASDA 7002FT LDA 7002FT. RWY 23 TORA 7002FT TODA 7002FT ASDA 7002FT LDA 7002FT. …

NOTE-

Construction on Runway 05 requires 500 feet to be closed to protect a construction area thus changing declared distances to Runways 05 and 23.

EXAMPLE-

…RWY 08/26 CHANGED TO 10000FT X 150FT. DECLARED DIST: RWY 08 TORA 9000FT TODA 9500FT ADSA 9000FT LDA 9000FT. RWY 26 TORA 9000FT TODA 9000FT ASDA 9400FT LDA 10000FT….

Notice that each example has a “translation” in plain English. It seems like there is no longer a technology-related need for this kind of abbreviated and cryptic text.

In government there is a general hesitancy to fund upgrades to infrastructure, unless maybe it relates to defense. An upgrade of the NOTAM system isn’t like executing a moon landing or splitting the atom. It is plainly needed IT work and when the congress gets through parading their indignity in front of the cameras, they should be able to get started on funding and mandating a fix in the system.

Top Gun: Maverick

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History. I’m preparing myself for the upcoming May 27th release of Top Gun: Maverick. To be blunt, I’m still disappointed by the first movie which was released in 1986, so I’m bracing to be disappointed again. Make no mistake, I am an aviation enthusiast and I did really enjoy the flying action scenes with the F-14’s in the first movie. The flying shots were well thought out and captured on film. So, what’s not to like? Well … the rest of the story. The content that is left over when you take out the aircraft and the flying. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said it best, “”Movies like Top Gun are hard to review because the good parts are so good and the bad parts are so relentless.”

Current. On to the recent release, Top Gun: Maverick. As before the flying sequences were quite good. But again it was against the backdrop of, well, a dumb story. As before the story is written to feature studly macho bravado against the lone-wolf instinct on the part of Maverick. The strenuously independent behavior of Maverick flies in the face of military discipline and is where I part company with the story.

The old timer, Maverick, is finally brought in to lead a group of Top Gun fighter jocks to bomb a highly defended hard target in what looks like a deep crater with impossibly steep walls. Among the best of the best, Maverick is regarded by old timers to be the very best despite his undisciplined ways. Of course, the new generation of fighter pilots are skeptical.

A lot happens … yada, yada, … love interest … yada, yada … guilt trip …. etc, etc … steal a fighter from the enemy … resolve to overcome adversity one more time … zip, zing, zowie … triumph!!

A movie is entertainment that requires you to set aside disbelief. Very often I can do it. But this time I couldn’t.

A bit of aerospace

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On a recent vacation trip to the Puget Sound area I managed to take a public tour of the Boeing manufacturing facility in Everett, WA. They don’t give away the tour- it costs $25 for adults and lasts about 90 minutes. For cash you get a movie highlighting the history of Boeing and a trip to a few mezzanines overlooking the 787 Dreamliner and 747 manufacturing areas. And just like Disney, you exit the attraction tour through the gift shop.

The first thing you notice is that security is very stringent. No phones, bags or purses, etc., once the tour begins. They are an important military contractor after all. As technically savvy as they may be though, the communication level of the tour guide was roughly 6-7th grade. The reason might be the wide range of visitor ages and nationalities. One Asian visitor on our bus wore a blue track suit bearing the name “Mongolia”.

It is easy to forget just how brilliant the US is and has long been in the broader aerospace world. Of course, other countries have developed advanced aerospace platforms, and produced their share of talent too, notably France, England, Germany and Russia. But one must admit that considerable advancement has happened here for some reason. A broad industrial base with access to raw materials and capital is certainly a big part of it. Perhaps our remote location between two great oceans and historical absence of the distraction of carpet bombing by foreign adversaries has a little to do with it as well.

Balloon on a hazy day.

For many of us, aerospace brings out excitement and optimism by its very nature. It embodies much of the best in people. The pillars of aerospace are many and rely strongly on ingenuity and engineering disciplines. By discipline I mean rigorous design-then-test cycles. A human-rated flying machine is a difficult and expensive build if the goal is for people and equipment to return intact.  Unlike SpaceX who has launched much cargo, and among other things, a cheese wheel and a car, NASA has been launching people for a long time. Not to diminish the fine work of SpaceX or the other commercial efforts, it’s just that NASA takes a lot of heat for their deliberate pace.

Erie Airport, Colorado, from a hot air balloon at ca 2000′.

The last week has been a period of many modes of transportation. It’s been planes, trains, automobiles, ferry boats, and a hot air balloon. The nightmare of Seattle traffic is best forgotten. If you can avoid driving in Seattle during rush hours, do so.

If you can swing a hot air balloon ride, do it. Dig up some of that cash you have buried in the back yard and spend it. I found the ride to be absent any nerve wracking moments and to be quite a serene experience. There is no wind aloft and it is dead silent when the burners aren’t going. Do bring a hat, however. The burners are bloody hot.

Getting ready for a 4-balloon launch.

Like all pilots, balloonists enjoy low level flight.

The burners emit tremendous radiant heat. A wise passenger wears a hat for this reason.

 

 

 

Pesty Sides

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I get to enjoy a commute through farm country every work day. It is my habit to pull over and watch the crop dusters when they’re out. I’m secretly jealous of them as they zoom  with their wheels just above the crop in a powerful turboprop aircraft. In the fall of 2017 I caught this fellow spraying what I estimate is an antifungal onto a corn crop near the end of the growing season. The negative image seemed more interesting than the positive.

 

Duster in Negative Space

Helicopters show up now and again. These folks can do a 180 turn at the end of a pass faster and in a tighter space than can a fixed wing aircraft. Also they can pause to think about things whereas a fixed wing aircraft cannot.

 

Crop Dusting Chopper

Think what you will about spraying. If they’re out there, I’m going out to watch, but not so close as to smell the spray.

 

 

Curiosity on Mars

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Photo of Curiosity during descent phase, taken from orbit. This shot is amazing all by itself.

Curiosity in descent phase. Photo taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona.

Curiosity is powered by a Pu-238 oxide thermoelectric generator. The Multi-Mission Radiosiotope Thermoelectric Generator, MMRTG, has an output of 2000 watts thermal and 100-120 watts electric. The MMRTG unit sits in the aft end of the rover enclosed by a finned heat exchanger.