Minutes of September 9 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met September 9, 2023, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending were Clifford McMurray, Adam Hemphill, Kevin Sampson, Tim Scott, Dave Sheely, and Syd Henderson. 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/Update2309.pdf so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.
SpaceX’s Starship is all ready to go subject to FAA approval.
Luna 25, the failed Russian return to the Moon, is actually part of the Chinese Lunar Program which Russia has signed onto. The Russian Space Program is seriously underfunded and has an entirely new generation from their old Lunar program. It’s been 46 – 47 years since their last Lunar mission. We watched a video of what should have been.
We watched a video of landing sites on the Moon.
We watched a video of China’s upcoming mission.
We saw pictures of the Luna 25 crash site.
We watched a video of Chandrayaan Mission Control watching the Chandrayaan 3 Moon landing.
The Indian space mission used Earth as a substitute exoplanet to see what one would look like to their instruments.
We watched a video of India’s Pragyan rover on the Lunar surface.
We watched the launch of India’s Aditya L-1. It took a selfie with the Earth and Moon. This probe is headed toward the L-1 Lagrangian Point to study the corona heating problem. (That is: why is the Sun’s corona so much hotter than its surface?)
We watched a video of China’s Yuti 2 (Jade Rabbit 2) which is still operational as is Chang’e 4. [These are on the far side of the Moon.]
Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket will be capable of launching 13,000 kg to low Earth orbit.
The rocket adaptor that was the targe of Cleanspace-1 was hit by a meteor rather than an artificial object. We watched a video about Cleanspace, and a video about collisions in low Earth orbit.
We watched a video of the (night) launch of the Crew-7 launch to the ISS.
The Land_Now program was launched on Ingenuity mission 53 after the communication failure with Perseverance.
We watched a video of ISS astronauts’ playing “space darts.” They’re actually using ping pong balls and aiming at rings.
The same security hiring restrictions that SpaceX is being sued over also apply to Boeing, Rocket Lab, Blue Dragon, etc., when they handle classified payloads.
New Horizons is taking up $3 million of NASA’s budget and they are planning to cut it?
Business: We have $853.71 in the checking account and the perpetual $267 in cash for a total of $1120.71.
--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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