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Minutes of November 9 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting

        Oklahoma Space Alliance met November 9, 2024, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending in person were Adam Hemphill,, Clifford and Claire McMurray, Mark Deaver (briefly), Dave Sheely, and Syd Henderson. OSA President Adam Hemphill presided over the meeting He and Clifford  did an Update discussing links to material covered in the meeting and this is online at https://osa.nss.org/Update2411.pdf so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.
        The next Starship launch will be in the afternoon and land in the next morning in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX has two launch towers so they can catch both the first stage and the spacecraft itself.
        The Chinese startup Cosmoleap is also going to use “chopsticks” to catch its lander. The fourteen million in funding is clearly preliminary cost.
        We watched the fifth Starship launch and recovery, including the catch.
        For the Chinese version of COTS, Haolong is a cargo shuttle that will launch horizontally. Qingzhou will be a capsule and probably launch vertically.
        We looked at an article on Long March 10A, which will eventually take Chinese astronauts and rovers to the Moon.
        Don’t know why Intelsat 33e broke up. It’s in a relatively high orbit so the pieces won’t be coming down anytime soon.
        AstroForge may be the first to return metals for space (such as platinum for profit?)/ Platinum is currently $987/oz, which is still less than the price of gold.
        Wood satellites would burn up completely on re-entry. Wood also doesn’t block radio transmissions. China used white oak for heat shields on some early rockets.
        Adam thinks ESA may get more competitive in space, possibly beating out India.
        We looked at an article on Axion-Prada spacesuits. They are also testing electrostatic repulsion to get rid of moon dust.
        Voyager 1 is now almost one light-day away from Earth.
        Officer nominations for 2025 are: Clifford McMurray for President, David Sheely for Vice President, Syd Henderson for Secretary, and Tim Scott for Treasurer.
        The Oklahoma Space Alliance Christmas Party and election will be at either the Koszorus or the McMurrays. [Tom Koszoru was injured so the McMurrays will host-Syd].
            

--Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson   

    

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