Minutes of April 8 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met April 8, 2023, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending in person were Clifford and Claire McMurray. Mark Deaver, Adam Hemphill, Steve Marino, Tim Scott, Dave Sheely, and Syd Henderson. Robin Scott attended by phone. OSA President Clifford (Kip) McMurray presided over the meeting He did an Update discussing links to material covered in the meeting and this is online at https://osa.nss.org/Update2304.pdf so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.
Artemis 2 will launch no earlier than November 2024. We watched the video of the introduction of the Artemis Crew. [I have the dates for Artemis 3 through 8 in the calendar of events, but these should be taken with an ounce of salt given previous delays and the problems with Starship’s flight test (which will mean a lot of work fixing and revamping the launch pad.]
Adam: The Orion spacecraft has an ISS level of recycling.
Virgin Orbit didn’t get its money from Matthew Brown, so it is having to lay off a good percentage of its workforce.
We watched a video of the Terran 1 launch of its 3D printed rocket. The first stage was completely successful but the second failed to light,
Soyuz MS-22, the one with the coolant leak that meant several astronauts had an unexpected extension of their missions, did bring back the cargo even if it couldn’t bring back the cosmonauts. We watched the landing. The part with the leak was allowed to burn up.
We watched a video presenting the Axion space suits.
NASA has a contract with a company called LunaNet to provide communication, networking, navigation, and science services to and on our Moon base.
A Gamma Ray burst gave off more energy than the Sun will emit in its lifetime.
We examined an article of Lunar Outpost’s MAPP lunar rover and a video on it. This company has partnered with another firm (LunaCrush) to encrypt a fortune in Bitcoin to be unlocked by whoever reaches the rover first.
Tianlong’s fuel is derived from coal. Tianlong-3 is next year. It is capable of launching 50 satellites at once for China’s new constellation.
We examined an article on the eruption of Maat Mons, an active volcano on Venus. We watched a video on the difference between Venus and Earth’s history. Earth’s magnetic field protects it against geomagnetic storms (which can otherwise decompose water vapor, letting hydrogen escape. (I suspect one reason Venus doesn’t have a magnetic field is that it rotates once every 224 days, which may be too slow to create one.)
We have our first detailed map of water near the Moon’s South Pole.
There was no change in our checking account. Syd got the check to pay for the mailbox.
We might be able to livestream our meetings (though we would have to limit access to those who sign up.)
Mark wants outreach for educational events.
Minutes by OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray.
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
Webmaster is Syd Henderson.
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