SpaceX and ULA

SpaceX and ULA are fighting.  It started when Elon Musk went before the Senate Appropriations Committee to testify how unethical it was for the Air Force to grant ULA a large contract for EELV missions while SpaceX is in the middle of the registering with the EELV program.

In the process, Musk not only made clear the successes of SpaceX but the fact that all Falcon rockets parts are made in the US while the Atlas engines are made in Russia and are subject to Putin.  Then they hyperbole started.  ULA claimed sixty some odd successful launches in a row.  Well, as a company, ULA is not that old.  In fact ULA (6 years old) is younger than SpaceX (12 years old).  But it's the two companies behind ULA that have the successful launches, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.  In my mind, ULA is just a front man.  ULA is really a ploy to compete with the new space companies.  I question that ULA should even be in the EELV program.  Instead it should be Boeing and Lockheed Martin competing still.  The government should have never allowed a sole company to compete for EELV launches.  That's a monopoly.

Now the fight is still ongoing.  It's becoming a 'he said' and 'she said' thing.  It's really pathetic and sad.  What it should boil down to are the price tag.  SpaceX claims it can launch satellites at at fraction of what ULA charges.  In the end that is what matters.  The government has to save money.  It has to keep national security assets and at the same time lower the cost.  That's for all our sakes.

On commercial principles, Congress has a dilemma.  Clearly the Air Force has disregarded competition and fair trade principles in favor of keeping assets flying to orbit.  Should Congress punish the Air Force?  Or, should the EELV program be overhauled?  Some might say that the word 'evolved' could be taken out if all they are going to launch are old Atlas Vs and old Delta IVs.  Maybe the 'expendable' word could be taken out since SpaceX is about to make the rocket reusable.  In any case the program seems broken and/or mismanaged.

In the meantime, let's sit back and watch the drama unfold.  Maybe the fireworks will come before the 4th.  Perhaps some popcorn and a lounge chair is in order.  At any rate, in the end SpaceX seems to be holding all the cards.  It's just a matter of time.  Really, I guess time is what this feud is all about.  After all, time is money.

I am discontinuing this blog because of personal and medical reasons.

Thank you for your readership and support over the last year.  It has been really fun looking at current planes and spacecraft, and speculating about possible future developments.

EC Holm
Ad Astra.

Ammendment 6/20/2014

I am reconsidering the 'discontinue' of this blog.  I have decided to keep writing, but periodically and not weekly.  I still love aerospace and have comments about it.  Yet it is a slow going industry, and I found it hard to find material that is interesting.

Thank you kindly for your reading.  I see that people still read this blog, and it's much appreciated.

EC Holm

Interview With A Commercial Astronaut

The following is a work of fiction. The characters are fictional.  Any resemblance of characters to real people is a mere coincidence and unintentional.

"Test, test.  Is this thing on?" said Tom checking his microphone.  He tried to look past the blinding lights to see his audio guy.  All he could see was the camera men.

"It's working, Tom," came a voice in his earphone.  He adjusted his suit and got ready for the mission at hand.  Then he looked straight into the nearest camera.

"2030 is the year of more commercial space progress.  The Dragonfly project is going to take off tomorrow around 6 am in the morning.  The project will test an in-line air boost to orbit concept in the hopes of competing with the reusable rocket family from SpaceX.  This is Tom Townsend live from Cape Canaveral.  Here with me is the pilot of the mission, Dan Darger.  Dan, what got you interested in space?" Tom looked starlight at his guest in a silver pressure suit that had several logos of sponsors on it.

"Well, Tom.  That's a good question," Dan said trying to calm himself to say the right thing. "I think it started when I was pretty young.  You see, my Dad got me and himself tickets to ride a Virgin Galactic spaceplane.  I guess it was love at first launch."  Dan felt really good about that answer.

"Was that the SpaceShipTwo class or later classes?  I think were up to SpaceShipFive if I'm not mistaken."

"Uhh. Yeah.  It was a small ship that seated six passengers and took us up to about 100 clicks."  Dan paused a moment with his finger ponting to Tom with a up an down motion. "The thing that struck me was the view of the Earth.  I always thought the rocket ride up would be the coolest, but the Earth....Man!  That was something." Dan's mind went back to that moment, that emotion.

"I heard it's a magnificent site."

"You haven't been up? Oh man! You gotta go, you just gotta.  You don't know what your missing until you go." Dan smiled at Tom feeling a little superior.

"Well, I guess I just might.  But let's talk about your mission tomorrow.  What is the significance of it?" Tom attempted to gain control back after feeling a little put down.

"Well, Tom.  It's a winged craft with scram jets and a orbiter attached to its nose.  I will be riding in the orbiter.  The two crafts will take off from the space runway here at the Cape with the first stage rocket.  Then that will be jettisoned.  It will scream up into the atmosphere gaining acceleration as it goes using the scram jets.  At about 100,000 ft, the orbiter will detach with a small rocket and go into space.  Once in initial orbit, that small rocket is jettisoned, and the orbit is stabilized by the orbiter's main engines."  Dan could feel himself relaxing and getting the hang of this interview.

"OK.  What will happen to the mothership?"

"Oh, right! It will fly back down to the runway."

"I know the project is about the mothership, but tell us a little about the orbiter."  Tom put on the best interested tone he could muster.

"Well, the orbiter has been to space before.  In fact, it's been in orbit more than a hundred times and was retired about 5 years ago.  It was built by SNC and it was the original Dreamchaser.  It's a lifting body style craft that flies well in space and the atmosphere.  It was refurbished and retrofitted for this mission." Dan went through the data in his mind to see if that was enough for the answer.

"So, why are you not piloting the mothership rather than the orbiter?" Tom smiled smugly at the camera then at Dan.

"Well...uh....isn't it obvious?" Dan looked quizzically.

"Not everyone is a rocket scientist, Dan.  The folks out there want to hear your expert viewpoint.  So tell us why your in the orbiter."

"Oh...right!  Well the project is about getting to space cheaply.  So the mothership was designed to fly without a pilot on board.  The actual pilots will be on the ground.  It is also smart so it can fly independently if need be.  I'm in the orbiter to do orbits.  Yeah, for the system to be proven, I have to get the orbiter to orbit and then land back safely on the runway."

"Good.  That sums the mission up pretty good." Tom felt back in control and Dan was all smiles patting himself on the back. "So, Dan, what are you wearing?"

"This is my pressurized flight suit.  It keeps me alive in case of a loss of pressurization."  Dan looked down at his silver suit. "As you can see it has logos of my sponsors."

"Yes, it's very colorful.  And loss of pressurization means when the orbiter looses air Dan won't die because of the suit."  Tom felt a little ticked that Dan didn't elaborate on that detail.

"Yeah, that's it!  On top of this I will be wearing a parachute."

"A parachute?"

"Uh....yeah! In case something bad happens." Dan felt that was enough said.

"Something bad?  Like you blow up?"

"Ah...well....yes, but not exactly.  If the orbiter blows up I blow up with it and the chute is no good.  But if the mothership has a bad failure I can just detach the orbiter and fly it down to safety.  Now if the mothership is badly damaged and the orbiter is damaged as well but in one piece but can't get back to land, then I have the chute to bail out and fly another day."  Dan felt that that was a blunder of an explanation and it was uncomfortable to say.

"Oh I see.  You just want to live no matter what."  Tom stated the obvious but he felt it needed to be said.

"Ah, yeah! Don't you?" Quizzical look again showed up on Dan's face.

"Sure I do.  And we all do." Tom laughed his way through embarrassment.

"Well, good luck on your flight tomorrow.  I hope the Dragonfly project is a success," said Tom concluding the interview.

"Thanks Tom," said Dan with a big smile.

Tom gave a cut sign to the camera men.  The cameras lenses dropped like horses stopping to graze.

"Feel nervous about tomorrow?" asked Tom.

Dan slumped back in his seat with a sigh. "Not as much as I do about this interview."

Tom looked at him quizzically.

Taking A Summer Break

I'm taking a break this summer.  Will be back in the fall.

Mass Logistics To Space Idea

ISS partners keep a flow of small pressurized cargo craft coming to the station for just 6 crew and experiments. Progress, ATV, HTV, Dragon, and soon Cynus make up such a fleet. The ATV is the biggest carrying a max of 16,900 lbs or 7,667 kg. On land, we stack huge metal boxes carrying all kinds of cargo on ships, trains, and trucks.  These are shipped around the land supplying communities with effectively whatever they need. Commonly these are 40ft long cargo containers and can carry a max of 68,008 lbs or 30,848 kg. Imagine if commercial space takes off, and many space stations orbit around Earth, the moon, and deep space are made and manned. Having around 24 people in each station who need food, clothes, equipment sent to them and waste taken from them. How would you supply that amount of cargo? SpaceX's Falcon Heavy can lift to orbit almost the gross weight/mass of two 40 ft cargo boxes. So, I figure it could carry the cargo of one of these cargo boxes in a purpose made reusable stretch cargo capsule.  It would be a vehicle of mass logistics transportation.   What would such a craft look like and what would its operation be like?

Stretch Capsule concept made from Apollo CM pic

Why stretch anything?  The airline industry have stretched the bodies of its planes for many years to expand their payload capacity.  I remember first learning about stretched aircraft  with the DC-9.  It would seem reasonable to assume that commercial space companies sought out a solution for an increased capacity without reinventing the wheel all the way.  SpaceX's Dragon is touted as a reusable capsule.  They also want to make it to be capable of propulsive landings on the ground from orbit.  Thinking about those capabilities, you could stretch the capsule lengthwise (see pic above) to increase cargo capacity per trip.

Falcon Heavy (right) with Falcon family

A stretched capsule could launch from a heavy lifting rocket like the Falcon Heavy housed in a fairing.  Upon arrival, it could dock or be captured and berthed to a station.  The hatch on one end of the capsule would minimize space issues while attached to a station.  I don't imagine that it would be used for crew but only for pressurized cargo.  The station's Astronauts (Cosmonauts, or Taikonauts - if you like) would unload it and load it back up with whatever needs to be taken back down to Earth.  That could include experiments and even waste.  I've been considering the environmental impact of expending waste by burning it in the atmosphere.  Dealing with the waste on the ground might be more beneficial.  The capsule would detach from the station and de-orbit on its own merit.  The long heat sheild and the integrity of the cross sectional shape of the capsule would allow for a similar atmospheric re-entry as the Dragon.  Stretching the capsule longways also allows room for extra parachutes.  Dragon stores its parachutes on the side of the craft in a compartment.  The stretched capsule could have two or more compartments for parachutes.  Then comes the propulsive landing which would have a number of thrusters along the sides of the craft.  Several landing legs would also support this operation.

 The stretch capsule could be an intriguing idea for future engineers and space operations.  I think the alternative is to build newer and bigger capsules mostly from scratch.  It's not just the capsule that has to be designed but the manufacturing process as well.  I think a stretched solution would use the existing manufacturing process with some added parts.  In the end, this is just one idea out of many.

Solar Impulse At St Louis

On one of the nicest evenings in recent memory in St Louis County, Solar Impulse silently eased its way to Lambert Airport from Texas.  It was a cool night without a cloud in the sky.  It was perfect.

I had just purchased a Fujifilm FinePix camera on discount from Amazon.com.  I had some initial practice with it at night from my home.  I took a couple of pictures of stars, clouds, birds, and sunrise.  The landscape was flooded with trees which served as a type of boarder anytime you look at the sky.

It was Monday evening, and I knew the plane was coming.  The local paper website, St Louis Post Dispatch, had an article saying it was on its way.  Unfortunately it would arrive right after tornadic weather hit the airport.  Even with these events in mind, I felt excited.  Pulling up the Solar Impulse website, I could track Bertrand Piccard's progression through the midwestern countryside.  He yet seemed far away.

A skilled pilot, Betrand was a member of a family of explorers.  So much so that Jean Luc Picard character in Star Trek was modeled after the twins Jean and Auguste Piccard.  Bertrand was Auguste's grandson. 

The chat on the site was active and the mood was joyous.  Much was about the ground crew was doing as seen in the live video stream.  I logged in to join the conversation, though my mind was on the things that were about to occur.

I noticed that the map showed Bertrand would fly in a holding pattern right near my home.  My mind raced.  He was still some miles out.  At around Washington he crossed the Missouri River, then followed it.  I realized he was on his way.  I sent an email to the ground crew who passes on messages to Bertrand and saying, "Smile after you cross I-64 and you follow Missouri river a bit.  I will take your picture.  Your will be flying by my home."

I employed my wife to track the craft on the net while I gathered the FinePix, binoculars, and tripod and headed outside.  My wife texted me updates, "Get ready. Plane just shift down south angle over mo river."

I scanned the skies.  There were several things out that night and the visibility was excellent.  Planes, birds, stars; it was all there.  My only worry was the tree line.  Will it allow me to see Solar Impulse at all?

Then, I made out a red light and a green light just coming slowly over the trees.  The lights were quite far apart, then I realized.  That's it.

I nervously tried to take photos of it, but it would not show up on my camera view.  I ended up pointing at it and shooting and hoping for the best.  My wife came out.

She indicated a better spot for me to shoot.  The plane was in an obvious holding pattern going round in circles.  I set up in the new spot and then I heard my wife yell.  Bertrand had put on the lights.  I think he got my email. :-))

Now it was easy to get a picture.

It looked like some kind of slow moving extraterrestrial thing in the night sky.  It was so quiet.

We later went inside and almost 2 hours later Bertrand landed at Lambert.  The news said they had to use an inflatable hangar to house the craft since the designated hangar had been damaged by tornadoes.

On Friday afternoon my wife and I went to see the plane in person.  It was in a large aluminum framed tent and several visitors were there along with the ground crew.

I got over 100 pictures in of the plane and of the posters they had around.  Its massive wingspan was tremendous.  The cockpit was open and there was a stuffed animal mascot in it.  While the basic design of the craft was not new, the materials and technologies that went into it were new.

Solar Impulse as a project was to give awareness of alternative energies.  It was the first solar plane to fly day and night without consuming any fossil fuel.  I'm very glad my wife and I got to see it.

Autogyro: Forgotten Tech Still Shows Signs Of Potential

Autogyros seem to be a forgotten tech thanks to the advent of the very versatile helicopter.  In modern times the autogyro has improved from Cierva's original design.  Two man crafts now feature initial powered rotation of the rotors, aft facing propeller that provides partial vector thrusting with the rudder.  Now the technology is being pushed further.  Let's check out a couple of 'sporty' autogyros on the market that would make James Bond green with envy, and let's look at two future developments in the making.

The autogyro is going the way of the sports car.  Calidus and Arrow Copter are currently on the market and show off their sexy bodies like no other rotary wing craft.  They both are tandem two seaters and feature enclosed cockpit with a bubble canopy.  Calidus has nice rounded curves and sleek lines while Arrow Copter sprawls out its elevator and rear landing gear almost like a bird of prey extends its wings, tail, and talons.  They are quite cool.  The beauty of a sleek and sexy autogyros lie in where they likes to fly.  They like to fly just above the tree tops, and they do very well there.  While planes can fly in that region, they can't maneuver as quickly in tight spaces as autogyros can.  Following the terrain is quite dangerous for planes.  Military planes require sophisticated radar mapping equipment to fly near the ground.  Autogyros can swivel in tight turns, can fly slow, and cost less in maintenance than a helicopter.  They can take off in around 500 ft of runway space though they don't need a runway.  A flat field will do.  They land in a fraction of that distance.  Both of these models have a max. speed of just over 100 mph.  They should do great in hilly or lake ridden landscapes.  I gathered this information by watching many videos of gyroplanes and reading specs on them.  Though it is said that autogyros are safer than helicopters, all aircraft can and do crash.  All safety precautions should be taken.



There are now 2 significant developments.  There is a flying car with the Pal-V, and there is a plane hybrid with Carter Aviation Technologies.  The Pal-V is a roadable autogyro.  That is it is street legal and flies like an autogyro.  It seems to drive more like an enclosed motorcycle than a car since it leans into turns on its 3 wheels.  The conversion from road vehicle to aircraft involves a combination of automatic motions and manual hands-on motions.  You can cross rivers, lakes, mountains (or hills), and valleys by flying over them and then park it at home.  That's pretty neat.

Carter Aviation Technologies have developed and perfected the slowed rotor concept to create a hybrid autogyro and plane.  The result is a craft that can virtually takeoff and land vertically yet have the flight efficiency and range of an airplane.  It's a real vertical takeoff and vertical landing craft (VTVL).  Carter Aviation redesigned the main rotor and added weights on the tips.  This allows for jump vertical takeoffs by pre-rotating the rotors.   The craft converts from autogyro to plane just by tilting the mast.  Then, it flies like a plane and you can get some great mileage or range out of your fuel.  With larger craft, Carter Aviation plans on using twin propellers with variable angle props which would allow the craft to hover like a helicopter.  This is truly a major breakthrough for the autogyro.



Autogyros are developing and have come far since Cierva made his debut flight in 1924.   Some on the market are sporty, sexy, and fun.  New innovations should help the future of this venerable craft.  Perhaps one day we will look at autogyros the way we look at helicopters personal planes.  It can be the safer go anywhere personal craft.  Engineering is awesome.