Come on guys. You see it don’t you? The new Valor looks like the HK-T form Terminator 2 (1991) — right down to the v-shaped tail. Is Bell just copying Cameron?
Bell Textron V-280 Valor
Skynet HK-T Aerial Transport
Very early on the morning of November 16th, I stood with my camera waiting once again for this rocket to go. This was my second trip to Florida to see this launch. Back in August the first expedition was thwarted by the tiny hydrogen molecule and its unwillingness to behave under unbelievable cryogenic conditions.…
Read the rest “Artemis I Launch”
NASA announced that they are going to leave SLS on the launchpad to stand up to Nicole this week. After the storm passes they will inspect the behemoth and decide whether to start the countdown to return to the barn. There are two windows next week, both offering 2-hours to get the candle lit in the wee hours of Wednesday and Saturday.…
Read the rest “Artemis After the Rain”
I love one new feature on my phone: “Report and Delete Junk”. I do not know if it is a feature of the OS alone or something from my carrier.
Especially on election day where my phone is beeping every hour with yet another political spam message coming from a phone number (not a short code).…
Read the rest “Report and Delete”
NASA is monitoring Nicole, yet another storm that could mess with launch plans. At this point they are in a wait-and-see mode while keeping employee safe.
Update: Launch pushed back to Wednesday morning.
Artemis I is on the move again, heading out to the pad for next week’s launch attempt.
Artemis I, back on the pad
Just over two weeks to go until the next Artemis I launch attempt. The next critical checkpoint will be the rollout to the pad this Friday morning just after midnight Eastern Time.
I got bit again by the “attwifi – Passpoint” policy/bug/feature again. I was sitting in the airport terminal trying to use my phone but was not able to get any Internet connection. I know AT&T coverage can be spotty in places where there are people but this was no data at all even though I had a few bars.…
Read the rest “AT&T WiFi Passpoint”
NASA has announced that they will roll Artemis I back out to the pad about November 4th for another attempt to launch just after midnight on the 14th. After the last scrub they did some additional tests to get the hydrogen fillers to stop leaking.…
Read the rest “November Moon”
This week Newsweek reported that Scientist in Japan are putting “googly-looking eyes” on self-driving cars as a way to communicate with pedestrians that they have been seen. This is either really creepy or brilliant, or both. It also makes me think that Pixar’s Cars is a prediction of a post-human word.
NASA has positioned the crawler (Crawler Transporter CT-2) at the gates of Pad 39B like the Grim Reaper just waiting for the plans for the next launch to die. The final decision will be made tomorrow. That’ll give NASA enough time to evacuate and safe the launch pad.
SpaceFlightNow is reporting that NASA will decide tomorrow whether to roll back to VAB or try for Tuesday launch. Hurricane Fiona is now well to the east and heading away. At issue is the little Tropical Depression (Nine) in the Atlantic which at a minimum will make for a rainy week.…
Read the rest “Waiting on Fiona”
The Cryogenic Leak test has been completed. All objectives were completed. Now we wait to see what the NASA engineers decide for the next launch attempt. This is also pending Space Force’s approval of the range safety system batteries. The first opportunity would be next Tuesday.
