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  • Europa Clipper clippings

    From dumpster4@hotmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jul 24 17:29:02 2021
    SpaceX lands NASA launch contract for mission to Jupiter's moon Europa:

    "Elon Musk's private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a $178 million launch services contract for NASA's first mission focusing on Jupiter's icy moon Europa
    and whether it may host conditions suitable for life, the space agency said on Friday.

    The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a Falcon Heavy
    rocket owned by Musk's company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said in a statement posted online.

    The contract marked NASA's latest vote of confidence in the Hawthorne, California-based company, which has carried several cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in recent years."

    See:

    https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/spacex-lands-nasa-launch-contract-mission-jupiters-moon-europa-2021-07-24/

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  • From Jeff Findley@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 26 06:55:05 2021
    In article <7a9063b4-d1c6-4f3b-a2c4-76d7dbcf1727n@googlegroups.com>, dumpster4@hotmail.com says...

    SpaceX lands NASA launch contract for mission to Jupiter's moon Europa:

    "Elon Musk's private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a $178 million launch services contract for NASA's first mission focusing on Jupiter's icy moon Europa
    and whether it may host conditions suitable for life, the space agency said on
    Friday.

    The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a Falcon Heavy
    rocket owned by Musk's company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said in a statement posted online.

    The contract marked NASA's latest vote of confidence in the Hawthorne, California-based company, which has carried several cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in recent years."

    See:

    https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/spacex-lands-nasa-launch-contract-mission-jupiters-moon-europa-2021-07-24/

    This was a logical decision to make. SLS is going to be very busy with
    Artemis missions and there was some issue with launching it on SLS that
    I can't seem to remember right now (need more coffee).

    Jeff

    --
    All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone.
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  • From Snidely@21:1/5 to All on Mon Jul 26 17:28:38 2021
    Jeff Findley speculated:
    In article <7a9063b4-d1c6-4f3b-a2c4-76d7dbcf1727n@googlegroups.com>, dumpster4@hotmail.com says...

    SpaceX lands NASA launch contract for mission to Jupiter's moon Europa:

    "Elon Musk's private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a $178 million launch >> services contract for NASA's first mission focusing on Jupiter's icy moon
    Europa and whether it may host conditions suitable for life, the space
    agency said on Friday.

    The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a Falcon >> Heavy rocket owned by Musk's company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp, >> from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said in a statement
    posted online.

    The contract marked NASA's latest vote of confidence in the Hawthorne,
    California-based company, which has carried several cargo payloads and
    astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in recent years."

    See:

    https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/spacex-lands-nasa-launch-contract-mission-jupiters-moon-europa-2021-07-24/

    This was a logical decision to make. SLS is going to be very busy with Artemis missions and there was some issue with launching it on SLS that
    I can't seem to remember right now (need more coffee).

    Vibration? I think I saw that in passim when headline scanning, or as
    a one liner in Bergen's /Rocket Report/.

    /dps

    --
    "I am not given to exaggeration, and when I say a thing I mean it"
    _Roughing It_, Mark Twain

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  • From Greg (Strider) Moore@21:1/5 to Snidely on Mon Jul 26 22:56:50 2021
    "Snidely" wrote in message news:mn.d4187e57f4ba9574.127094@snitoo...

    Jeff Findley speculated:
    In article <7a9063b4-d1c6-4f3b-a2c4-76d7dbcf1727n@googlegroups.com>,
    dumpster4@hotmail.com says...
    SpaceX lands NASA launch contract for mission to Jupiter's moon Europa: >>>
    "Elon Musk's private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a $178 million
    launch services contract for NASA's first mission focusing on Jupiter's
    icy moon Europa and whether it may host conditions suitable for life,
    the space agency said on Friday.

    The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a
    Falcon Heavy rocket owned by Musk's company, Space Exploration
    Technologies Corp, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA
    said in a statement posted online.

    The contract marked NASA's latest vote of confidence in the Hawthorne,
    California-based company, which has carried several cargo payloads and
    astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in recent years." >>>
    See:

    https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/spacex-lands-nasa-launch-contract-mission-jupiters-moon-europa-2021-07-24/

    This was a logical decision to make. SLS is going to be very busy with
    Artemis missions and there was some issue with launching it on SLS that I
    can't seem to remember right now (need more coffee).

    Vibration? I think I saw that in passim when headline scanning, or as a
    one liner in Bergen's /Rocket Report/.


    Yeah, further testing showed the vibrations were not the Beach Boys kind of Good good vibrations... they were twice as bad as originally claimed.

    And somehow launching a sensitive probe on something bucking like a bronco doesn't appeal to people.

    Falcon Heavy will take longer (I think 2-2.5 years) but is helluva lot
    cheaper and safer.

    Overall, a good decision.
    (but does help illustrate that FH really lacks a decent high energy upper stage. Be nice if they could mount a Centaur or similar to it).
    /dps


    --
    Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
    CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net
    IT Disaster Response - https://www.amazon.com/Disaster-Response-Lessons-Learned-Field/dp/1484221834/

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  • From JF Mezei@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jul 27 03:14:27 2021
    On 2021-07-26 22:56, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:

    Falcon Heavy will take longer (I think 2-2.5 years) but is helluva lot cheaper and safer.

    What about it would take longer? Can't SpaceX zip-tie 3 Falcon9's
    together in a weekend and mount paylod and launch it on Monday monring? :-)

    I am really susprised that anything would take longer than SLS.

    Surely they have been considering payload adaptors for Falcon 9 for some
    time already? This isin't the first time we hear of he Clipper going up
    on Falcon Heavy.

    Could the delay just be Europa Clipper delay and not directly related to launcher& I would have really expected SpaceX to be able to launch much
    easier than anyone else.

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  • From Snidely@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jul 27 01:02:19 2021
    JF Mezei submitted this idea :
    On 2021-07-26 22:56, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:

    Falcon Heavy will take longer (I think 2-2.5 years) but is helluva lot
    cheaper and safer.

    What about it would take longer?

    Think delta-v.

    /dps

    --
    Yes, I have had a cucumber soda. Why do you ask?

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  • From Jeff Findley@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jul 27 06:43:24 2021
    In article <onOLI.28480$0N5.25544@fx06.iad>,
    jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca says...

    On 2021-07-26 22:56, Greg (Strider) Moore wrote:

    Falcon Heavy will take longer (I think 2-2.5 years) but is helluva lot cheaper and safer.

    What about it would take longer? Can't SpaceX zip-tie 3 Falcon9's
    together in a weekend and mount paylod and launch it on Monday monring? :-)

    I am really susprised that anything would take longer than SLS.

    Surely they have been considering payload adaptors for Falcon 9 for some
    time already? This isin't the first time we hear of he Clipper going up
    on Falcon Heavy.

    Could the delay just be Europa Clipper delay and not directly related to launcher& I would have really expected SpaceX to be able to launch much easier than anyone else.

    It will take a longer flight time due to the need to do a Mars fly by
    and then an Earth fly by.

    SpaceX to launch the Europa Clipper mission for a bargain price
    Decision comes after shaking issue with SLS rocket made it untenable.
    ERIC BERGER - 7/23/2021, 4:45 PM https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/spacex-to-launch-the-europa- clipper-mission-for-a-bargain-price/

    Jeff

    --
    All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone.
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  • From JF Mezei@21:1/5 to Jeff Findley on Tue Jul 27 20:47:38 2021
    On 2021-07-27 06:43, Jeff Findley wrote:

    It will take a longer flight time due to the need to do a Mars fly by
    and then an Earth fly by.


    Thanks. I had read the post as going Falcon Heavy delaying launch. Do
    This is about transit time after launch that will be longer. Correct?

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  • From Jeff Findley@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jul 28 07:18:39 2021
    In article <KO1MI.77126$VU3.70689@fx46.iad>,
    jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca says...

    On 2021-07-27 06:43, Jeff Findley wrote:

    It will take a longer flight time due to the need to do a Mars fly by
    and then an Earth fly by.


    Thanks. I had read the post as going Falcon Heavy delaying launch. Do
    This is about transit time after launch that will be longer. Correct?

    Correct. SLS could have sent Clipper directly to Jupiter.

    The bigger issue here is that SLS might not have been available for
    Clipper when it needed to launch. Falcon Heavy is obviously available.
    So, if Cliper was forced to launch on SLS (by Congress), we really don't
    know when it would have launched.

    Jeff
    --
    All opinions posted by me on Usenet News are mine, and mine alone.
    These posts do not reflect the opinions of my family, friends,
    employer, or any organization that I am a member of.

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