Minutes of August 9 Oklahoma Space Alliance Meeting
Oklahoma Space Alliance met August 9, 2025, at the Cyber Hall and Gaming Lounge at Norman Computers in Norman, Oklahoma. Attending in person were Clifford McMurray, David Sheely, Tim Scott, and Syd Henderson. OSA President Clifford McMurray presided over the meeting. Clifford did an Update discussing links to material covered in the meeting and this is online at https://osa.nss.org/Update2508.pdf, so I’ll cover the details that aren’t covered there.
The 1971 launch from Australia was actually a British spacecraft and was a successful launch. The July 29 launch of Eris-1 would have been the first spacecraft built in and launched by Australia. This would have been the first hybrid propulsion system. Next attempt will be in eight months and will hopefully fly for more than fourteen seconds.
NASA’s workforce is down 21%. We’re worrying about loss of institutional knowledge. Director of the Aviation Center is one of those being dropped. The director of JPL also left.
The 76 million radio astronomy images being interfered with by satellites come from the Square Kilometer Interferometry Array. Some of the satellites were emitting signals in regions of the spectrum reserved for radio astronomy.
Many of Vulcan’s backlog of launches are national security so get priority over Dream Chaser tests (which is why Dream Chaser may not take place until next year).
With Jim Lovell’s death, Buzz Aldrin is now the senior of the surviving Apollo astronauts. Schmitt, Scott and Haise are still around. Duke is the youngest.
We did a retrospective of Lovell’s career.
Crew 11 may stay on the ISS for eight months. The Dragon capsule is certified for seven months but this has been waived before.
We watched Lockheed’s plans for Golden Dome. Lockheed is investigating both kinetic interception and laser destruction of hypersonic aircraft.
Curiosity had moved an average of 27 feet per day.
NASA is dialing back the idea of continuous occupation of space. VAST can use the Crew Dragon. This gives the commercial space station a chance to be operational by 2030 when the ISS is scheduled to be decommissioned.
The coronagraph abord the James Webb Space Telescope has apparently discovered a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri A.
We watched a video on tests of the Chinese lunar lander Lanyue.
We watched a video on Dream Chaser certification. The spacecraft has been in development for 21 years. It was originally under development by SpaceDev, which was bought out by Sierra Nevada. Twenty-six security launches are now stuck in ULA’s backlog. SpaceX launch of Vulcan can cost $67 million, and if Dream Chaser is delayed, it may snarf up some contracts.
We now have $831.78 in checking account and $267 in cash.
Kip brought a bunch of Ad Astras along for distribution.
--Minutes By OSA Secretary Syd Henderson
Contact person for Oklahoma Space Alliance is Claire McMurray.
PO Box 1003
Norman, OK 73070
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