Good news:
In a First, Caltech’s Space Solar Power Demonstrator Wirelessly Transmits Power in Space
This is *many* orders of magnitude away from a practical solar power satellite… but ya gotta start somewhere.
And on the other hand, bad news:
Boeing finds two serious problems with Starliner just weeks before launch
Problem one: bits of the parachute system aren’t as strong as they should be. Bad, but readily solvable.
Problem two: the wiring is flammable. This… is monumentally stupid, a problem that has been well understood since the Apollo 1 fire. this may well require that the capsule be largely disassembled so that *miles* of wiring can be replaced.
Good luck with *that.*
And while Boeing continues to struggle to get a capsule not fundamentally different from Apollo flying SpaceX continues to send crews to the ISS in Dragons.
19 years later… pic.twitter.com/2xead0zqaA
— Rare North American Space Koala (@culpable_mink) June 1, 2023
4 responses to “Space: good news/bad news”
As long as they keep raising the debt limit, Boeing will keep getting contract money for parts and graft.
Starliner is Gemini-8, Soyuz-1 and Apollo-1
in one Spacecraft !
Respect Boeing
you build space version of 737MAX…
Nothing has been right at Boeing since it let MDD buy Boeing with Boeing’s own money.
Jokes aside, the corporate culture came to resemble MDD and this is what you get. “Old Boeing”, as ruthless as it could sometime be, would not have made these mistakes.
To be fair, the problem is not the wiring itself, but the P-213 glass cloth tape overwrap on some of the harnesses. So it’s likely not “miles” of of the stuff. Still going to be a pain in the ass to pull the harnesses and rewrap them.
I did a quick search online, and couldn’t find any immediate information on the flammability of the stuff, but it seems to be fairly common in outer space and vacuum applications.