AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

IAC2019 Heads of Space Agency – Press Conference

By Leave a Comment

This audio recording captures most of the Q&A that took place on Monday 21st October.

Heads of Space Agency Press Conference.
21 October Washington DC

The agencies represented included

  • S. Somanath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
  • Jim Bridenstine, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), United States
  • Hiroshi Yamakawa, President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan
  • Sergey Krikalev, Executive Director for Piloted Spaceflights, State Space Corporation ROSCOSMOS, Russian Federation
  • Johann-Dietrich Woerner, Director General, European Space Agency (ESA)

The audio quality is poor in a few brief instances.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:37 — 57.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Episode 85 – Russia’s Space programme with Brian Harvey

By Leave a Comment

Brian Harvey

Brian Harvey is a Dublin based writer who has authored more than 14 books on space. His books have covered the space programmes of USSR/Russia, USA, India, Japan and China. He has a deep understanding of the motivations and politics as well as the space technology that has emerged since the space age. In this episode, we speak about Russia/USSR’s space programme what it was at the outset and its status today.

Some of the topics we discuss include

  • Russian rocket engines still the best in the world.
  • The first factory to build rocket engines for spacecraft was established in Leningrad in 1927.
  • Age profile in Russian space programme – not enough younger people. Compared to the programme in China which is largely less than 40.
  • In 1935 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky invited as a guest of honour at the mayday speech “I believe the first person in space is alive today”. This was in 1935 when Yuri Gagarin was one year old.
  • There were several reasons for the failure for the USSR not get a crewed mission to the Moon. The main one was the lack of programme management.
  • With 39 launches in 2018, China was the leader. Until a few years ago Russia was the world leader of launches. Russia’s planned 45 launches in 2019 is not realistic.
  • China, India and Japan were on par about a decade ago but China has now emerged with a “superpower” status. India has made progress in the number of annual launches, science missions and recently announced its plans to initiate a human space program.
    We discussed the movie Salyut 7 the movie. This is the space station that Rakesh Sharma had visited in 1984.
    Russia space programme, minimal new investment, an ageing workforce, reliability and quality control on a decline.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:50 — 35.1MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Episode 84: NASA after the Shuttle. SLS and The Gateway

By Leave a Comment

David Baker

David Baker has been involved with the USA since childhood. First attending a US school in England and then studying in the US under a scholarship program sponsored by Senator Clinton P Anderson. He returned to the USA and worked for NASA on various programs from Gemini to the SpaceShuttle. He was present in mission control in 1970 and witnessed the drama of Apollo 13 first hand.

He joined the British Interplanetary Society in 1965, published his first article in the society’s journal Spaceflight in 1969 and since 2011 has been the editor of that very journal -Spaceflight. To date, he has published a remarkable 110 books by the close of 2018 with a few more in the pipeline for 2019 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 11.

(Note – following questions on the veracity of his Phd, David Baker resigned from the BIS as the editor of Spaceflight on 25th March 2021.)

In this episode, we talk about the current status of the space programme in the US and the changing role of NASA.

  • The USA has not been able to launch US astronauts from the USA since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011. NASA found itself in a similar position between 1975 (Apollo Soyuz Test programme) and the first Space Shuttle in 1981.
  • Why NASA dropped the Ares programme and why its replacement, the Space Launch System (SLS) schedule remains unclear. The first SLS mission, uncrewed – Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) by 2020 and the second crewed mission, Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) by 2023.
  • The successor to the ISS, the “Gateway” is an international project for a space station in lunar orbit. Only about a third of the size of the ISS and it will have fewer international partners.
  • The gateway is seen by Russia as an American lead programme. Will Russia participate with the gateway or consider a joint Russia/China human spaceflight programme?
  • China/USA cooperation in space has been prohibited ny US law. What prospects that this will change?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:55 — 24.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Heads of National Space Agencies plenary session – IAC2018. Bremen, Germany.

By Leave a Comment

Heads of Space Agencies: Plenary Session IAC2018

This is my recording of the Heads of Space Agency plenary session on 1st October – the first day of the IAC2018. It was not recorded with the intention to publish online. However, here it is unedited – for anyone who may benefit from it.

In Attendance:

  • Dmitry Loskutov in place of Dmitry Rogozin – (Roscosmos)
  • Hiroshi Yamakawa – (JAXA)
  • Johann-Dietrich Woerner – (ESA)
  • Maggie Aderin-Pocock (Moderator – BBC)
  • Jim Bridenstine – (NASA)
  • K. Sivan – (ISRO)
  • Sylvain Laporte – Canadian Space Agency
  • ZHANG Kejian China National Space Administration

Some of my notes below – Timeline (mins:Sec)

04:50    Jan Woerner – ESA  
10:28    K Sivan – ISRO
15:16    Zang Kejian – CNSA (speaking via translator)
26 Launches since Jan 2018
Chang-e-4 Lunar rover before end of year (Relay sat already
launched)
5 More GNSS satellites before the end of year
Willing to collaborate internationally
Social, economic, climate change – support Asian – Asia and African
nations
China joint projects – Brazil, France, ESA, (Chang-e4 Sweden,
Germany, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia)
An announcement of opportunity 10kg payload available for
international partners on the Chang’e6 Sample return mission
CSS will be completed by 2022. Also, welcome international
cooperation on the CSS
Welcome international partners in its growing commercial space
market.
Established “Space Day” in China to encourage the younger generation
25:40 Hiroshi Yamakawa (JAXA)
Hayabusa 2 – Rover Minerva landed on Ryugu.  Lander Mascot (built
by DLR/CNES)
MMX Mission to Mars
Asia Specific Forum – 25th anniversary in Singapore
JAXA welcomes international partners.
The combined budget of all space agencies around the world. 42.5
Billion (21.5=NASA).
30:18 Dmitry Loskutov (Roscosmos)
35:05 Sylvain Laporte Canadian Space Agency
44:10 Jim Bridenstine (NASA)
 Hope to get 10k attendance in Washington IAC2019
Lunar gateway – Back to the Moon to stay. Sustainable open architecture open to commercial and international partners. It will also serve as a deep space transport to Mars.

53:10 Q&A

1:18:26 End