Minutes of February Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met at Earl’s Rib Palace in Moore on February 13, 2016. Attending were Steve, Karen and Brian Swift, Kay Ferrell, Syd Henderson, Claire and Clifford McMurray, Tim Scott, Dave Sheely, Rosemary Swift, Jerry, Kaitlyn, Rachelle and Stephanie Thibodeau, Dennis Wigley, and two attendees, Jared and Gary, whose last names I didn’t catch.
The New Shepard suborbital spacecraft flew again, marking the first commercial reusable booster to be used on two space flights. We watched a video of the launch.
Steve elaborated on his article in the February Update about a “phase shift” in space with many new things happening at once. What the commercial space industry is doing now is amazing. We need to take advantage of Congressman Bridenstine’s interest in space. Bridenstine has long had an interest in space and is a former director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium.
NASA has awarded cargo transport contracts to Orbital Sciences, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX. We watched a video of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser cargo system. Kip McMurray mentioned that the maximum force on re-entry of the latter is only two G.
SpaceX’s last Falcon 9 version 1.1 launched the Jason 3 spacecraft; however, the attempted landing of a Falcon 9 booster on a floating target was only partially successful, with the booster hitting the target then falling over.
We looked at a Moon Day article by Ken Murphy of the North Texas NSS Chapter.
Steve showed us a survey of the floor of the Indian Ocean that was created using NASA technology.
We watched a video of an astronaut who uses water-repellant ping-pong paddles to show how water behaves in microgravity.
We watched a video on mining asteroids from TEDx at Harvard University.
Steve and Karen Swift and Rosemary Swift attended Aviation and Aerospace Day at the State Capitol. Karen took pictures.
SpaceX has test-fired a recovered Falcon-9 booster. We watched a video.
Russia is building a large methane-powered engine.
Among the phase-shift technologies:
The Falcon-9 Dragon capsule will be carrying astronauts to space, returning that capability to the United States. Its launches are cheaper and will be much more common than those of the shuttle.
Elon Musk unveiled the “Iron Man” technology allowing us to view and rotate 3D images. We watched a video.
Upcoming satellite technology includes electric propulsion, denser electronics, improved imagery, inflatable space modules, and the Cygnus and Dragon capsules [as well as Blue Origin]. Countries with varying level of launch capacities include the United States, North and South Korea, Ukraine, France, Russia, Japan, Israel, China, India, and Iran, not to mention the European Union.
Oklahoma Space Alliance Business:
The annual report is ready to send in to NSS.
Can two people have access to our space account?
Can two people have access to our web site. [Yes, I just have to give them the username and password, which are not confidential with the secretary.]
Claire wants someone to send personal messages every time someone joins meetup.
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray.
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
Copyright ©2016 by Oklahoma Space Alliance.