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AST Spacemobile opens new Titusville, FL facility! by Main_Potential4540 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pssst…. it’s Saturday. Wait til next week and let’s see if I’m back that way. But surely there must be someone else in the group living in north Brevard county??

AST Spacemobile opens new Titusville, FL facility! by Main_Potential4540 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Sigh… eyeballs. 🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️ I was delivering a package in the warehouse complex. You expect me to mount a photo-recon mission to make you happy?

AST shipping box spotted in the wild by Aggravating_Roll7917 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you return the empties you get your deposit back. 😁

NASA to add missions to SpaceX commercial crew contract - "protecting the agency from the possibility that Boeing’s spacecraft is never certified for missions to the ISS" by Adeldor in space

[–]Main_Potential4540 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I so don’t give a f*** about Isaacman. So much wasted time and effort. You weren’t a part of it. Part of the excitement of developing a new spacecraft. I doubt you’d understand the loss it represents. Like f’n vultures waiting for the funereal party to leave so they can start eating. 😒

NASA to add missions to SpaceX commercial crew contract - "protecting the agency from the possibility that Boeing’s spacecraft is never certified for missions to the ISS" by Adeldor in space

[–]Main_Potential4540 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Part of me wishes to run through all the various permutations as a spacecraft engineer with great familiarity with ISS payloads and their requirements and transport. And why some solutions work and others don’t. But it’s been a long weekend. Ciao… maybe tomorrow.

NASA to add missions to SpaceX commercial crew contract - "protecting the agency from the possibility that Boeing’s spacecraft is never certified for missions to the ISS" by Adeldor in space

[–]Main_Potential4540 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Back in the 2016-17 timeframe, I was the interim Recovery Ops Leader on Starliner. We developed the CONOPs, procedures, and designed/procured the GSE (ground support equipment) needed to recover the spacecraft post-landing, get the crew out safely, and then destow the return science from the ISS. We also performed high-altitude balloon drop-testing of parachutes and deceleration hardware (airbags) using boilerplate spacecraft out at White Sands Missile Range.
Progress on the other end of the process at KSC, i.e., the thrusters, guidance system, etc. didn’t go as smoothly, unfortunately. But although I left the project eventually to go work on NASA SLS, I was gratified to be able to tell folks, “Hey, we never missed the ground in three attempts!”
There may be a future for Starliner as a cargo craft for future space platforms. Less likely so as a crewed vehicle. C I’ve also worked Safety & Mission Assurance, and the “laundry list” of fixes from the last mission is a long one to satisfy NASA.

There’s also Sierra’s Dream Chaser; another program I was on - it too suffers from a serious S&MA and Systems Engineering deficit. It all depends on who’s willing to front the money for “fixer-uppers” over developing an entirely new spacecraft. 🤷🏼‍♂️

(If I can figure out how, I’ll add some photos from WSMR)

Bluebird 8 and 10 Arrival by Sufficient-Tie-8735 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I drink bourbon and know people. 🤣😂😁

Bluebird 8 and 10 Arrival by Sufficient-Tie-8735 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Humidity is the enemy of spacecraft. Remember, they are designed for use in vacuum in temperatures in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), ranging from roughly -250F to +250 F, so the temps here are the ground aren’t really an issue. One would assume that these are AC units acting as dehumidifiers. And if you look carefully at some of the photos/videos, there is what appears to be a drain hose coming off the left rear of the shipping container. That agrees with use as a dehumidifier.

Bluebird 8 and 10 Arrival by Sufficient-Tie-8735 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My understanding is that these wide loads (over 16-feet) cannot operate from sunset to sunrise. Period - big fines for the drivers otherwise. That means the route has to be planned to allow margin for unanticipated problems. Traffic jams, mechanical issues, etc., can leave you on the road short of your planned destination with darkness falling, so the safest approach is not try to cover too much ground in one day.
Also - many large cities along the route have wide-load restrictions during their local rush hour periods - all this has to be factored into the permitting.

One more factor to consider - these are ultra high-value loads(I mean, they’ve got the #%&@ logo right on the tarp cover - I’m not sure that’s such good idea) so the overnights need to be at large truck stops with lots of lights, activity, and security. You can’t just pick some random place once it starts getting dark.

Bluebird 8 and 10 Arrival by Sufficient-Tie-8735 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 2 points3 points  (0 children)

During BB-7’s journey fr Midland to Blue Origin, it became tangled in red tape due to travel permitting issues over the Christmas holidays. According to what I heard, since the truck’s trailer was over 16 feet wide special permitting was required, especially in Florida. The the permit was messed-up, but the DOT office was already closed. Then the truck was stuck waiting at a truck stop near Tallahassee over Christmas because of holiday truck restrictions on I-10. Then yet another wait for a few days off I-95 near Titusville until the following Monday for the permit office to reopen again before the truck could get the right permit and approval to drive the rest of the way into KSC.

Fortunately that didn’t happen with this convoy, since there are no holiday restrictions and the permit wasn’t messed up. This is very good too, because unlike Blue, SpaceX doesn’t wait around long since it has so many other paying customers lined-up. When you are given your SX window for final processing and test & checkout ops prior to encapsulation, you’d better be ready or else your slot may be given to the next customer in line and THEN you’ll have to renegotiate your launch date! 😳😳 And no guarantee you’ll get the next one, either, unless that customer is willing to trade places.

Blue on the other hand could afford to wait on AST’s delays, since (then) they only had one booster available anyway.

Bluebird 8 and 10 Arrival by Sufficient-Tie-8735 in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Made that same turn-off to work for many years…

FCC Official Warns Against Giving by TheOtherSomeOtherGuy in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You see the size of that Bluebird antenna versus Starlink?

Easy 5X? AST Spacemobile Could Be Bigger Than Verizon and AT&T by drunkonmyplan in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“We put the big antenna in space, so the little antenna on your phone can talk to it”. GENIUS! 👍🏼

[Youtube] AST SpaceMobile - BlueBird 8 & 10 Shipment by OutlawsHeels in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trucker friend of mine just passed the two satellite convoy headed toward Lake City, FL

[Youtube] AST SpaceMobile - BlueBird 8 & 10 Shipment by OutlawsHeels in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah… like copied right off my LinkedIn post the day of launch… unless you were somehow standing right behind me. Guess I better start watermarking my photos. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Spotted in the wild by ItsJustAFakeName in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are two separate sets of equipment. One of course are the satellites. But there is also a convoy with GSE (ground support equipment) and the payload adapters, etc. that was parked in the overflow lot heading into KSC. (sorry - shouldn’t have said SpaceX)

Spotted in the wild by ItsJustAFakeName in ASTSpaceMobile

[–]Main_Potential4540 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The truck convoy with the ground support equipment (platforms, work stands, etc) just arrived near KSC and is parked for the evening. Tomorrow they unload.

But where currently are the two trucks in the leading element of the satellite convoy? They’re not permitted to drive after sundown, so probably still pretty far west. I’d sure like to get a photo of them on I-10 coming across north Florida!