OrbitalHub

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When NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) powers into the sky, it must contend with some of the most extreme and complex aerodynamic conditions ever attempted. The ascent phase—especially during transonic and supersonic transitions and through maximum aerodynamic stress—is a crucible for design and engineering. Rather than rely solely on wind tunnels, NASA has increasingly turned to supercomputer-based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to model the flows around the twin solid rocket boosters, the core stage, and plume interactions. These simulations feed into aerodynamic databases used across vehicle design, structural loads, control algorithms, and safety margins.

The challenge in modeling the flow around SLS boosters is immense. As the vehicle accelerates, shock waves form, flow separation regions emerge, boundary layers evolve, and the rocket plumes themselves strongly interact with the surrounding airstream. Moreover, during events like booster separation, multiple plumes fire simultaneously—up to 22 different exhaust sources in some analyses, combining output from the core engines, boosters, and separation motors. Resolving those off-body interactions, transient flow features, and the coupling between vehicle aerodynamics and plume dynamics demands very high fidelity simulations. The NASA team has used solvers such as OVERFLOW, FUN3D, and Cart3D to explore a wide envelope of flight conditions.

Running these simulations requires massive computational resources. Each case can consume thousands to tens of thousands of core-hours, depending on flow complexity, grid resolution, and the number of interacting plumes. To build a full aerodynamic database that spans multiple Mach numbers, angles of attack, mass fractions, and thrust conditions, NASA runs hundreds to thousands of individual cases. The supercomputers at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility, including Pleiades, Electra, and others, serve as the backbone of these efforts. Through careful meshing strategies, solver optimizations, and parallel computing techniques, engineers map out pressure distributions, shear stresses, and load profiles for every relevant component of the booster-core assembly.

These simulation results are not academic exercises—they directly inform the safety and performance of SLS missions. The aerodynamics databases are used by structural engineers to assess bending loads, by guidance and control teams to refine trajectory models, and by separation system designers to ensure that boosters detach cleanly without risking collision with the core. When flight data come in, the models themselves can be validated and refined, closing the loop between simulation and real world performance. As SLS evolves—especially with future variants and heavier payloads—the simulation infrastructure will scale accordingly, enabling continuous improvements in confidence, margin, and mission success.

Video credit: NASA/NAS/Gerrit-Daniel Stich, Michael Barad, Timothy Sandstrom, Derek Dalle

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Early on the morning of September 24, 2025, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered off Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center, carrying into space a powerful trio: NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and NOAA’s SWFO-L1 (Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1). The launch marked a bold new chapter in humanity’s efforts to monitor and understand the Sun’s influence across the solar system. The weather was nearly perfect—a 90 percent favorable forecast—and the three spacecraft were stacked together in a “cosmic carpool” bound for a vantage point some 1.6 million kilometers from Earth, at the L1 Lagrange point between the Sun and Earth.

IMAP is the centerpiece of the mission package. Designed to probe the boundary of the heliosphere—the region where the solar wind collides with the interstellar medium—it will sample energetic particles streaming outward from the Sun and inward from beyond, charting the invisible frontier that shields our solar system from cosmic rays. Its array of ten instruments includes devices to detect solar wind electrons, energetic ions, interstellar dust, and magnetic fields, among others. IMAP will also provide near–real-time data useful for space weather prediction, offering up to thirty minutes of advance warning for harmful solar radiation events.

Accompanying IMAP is the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, a smaller NASA payload dedicated to observing the Earth’s exosphere—the tenuous outermost layer of our atmosphere. From its L1 vantage point, Carruthers will use ultraviolet imaging to monitor the geocorona’s glow, revealing how it responds to solar storms and seasonal changes. The mission is named in honor of George Carruthers, a pioneering space physicist and ultraviolet astronomer.

Meanwhile, NOAA’s SWFO-L1 is the operational arm of this venture, designed for continuous, real-time space weather monitoring. With instruments including a solar wind plasma sensor, magnetometer, and coronagraph, SWFO-L1 will keep watch on solar emissions and storms that could affect Earth’s satellites, communications networks, power grids, and crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit.

Following liftoff, the mission deployment sequence unfolded about 83 minutes later, with IMAP separating first, followed by Carruthers and SWFO-L1 in carefully timed intervals. Engineers expected to receive IMAP’s first signal roughly ten minutes after deployment, while Carruthers’ communications would follow about half an hour later. All spacecraft are destined for halo orbits around L1, providing unobstructed views of solar activity and the heliosphere’s edge.

This launch is more than a technological feat—it’s a leap toward safeguarding life and infrastructure on Earth, as well as deepening our knowledge of how the Sun, Earth, and the galaxy interact. In the coming months and years, IMAP, Carruthers, and SWFO-L1 will collectively map invisible space weather dynamics, chart the Sun’s magnetic bubble, monitor the Earth’s exosphere, and provide vital data for future human missions venturing beyond our planet.

Video credit: NASA/SpaceX

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On August 26, 2025, SpaceX finally pushed its Starship system through a full, ambitious test flight that many in the space-community had long awaited. After a series of earlier mishaps and scrapped attempts, the tenth integrated flight test marked a turning point: the vehicle performed a full-duration ascent burn, reached its planned velocity, deployed test payloads, and survived a fiery reentry before splashing down as intended.

The flight began from Starbase, Texas, with the Super Heavy booster igniting all 33 Raptor engines for launch. After climbing to altitude, Starship’s upper stage (Ship 37) separated and ignited its six engines, continuing on a suborbital trajectory.

During its coast phase, it deployed eight Starlink simulator payloads—marking the first time Starship successfully released a mock satellite mass during a test flight.

The upper stage also accomplished a Raptor engine relight in space, a key demonstration for future deorbit or orbit-raising maneuvers.

As the vehicle reentered Earth’s atmosphere, Starship faced some stress and damage—particularly in the aft skirt and in sections of its heat-shield and flaps.

Despite these challenges, the spacecraft managed a controlled “flip” maneuver, guiding itself nose-first toward the splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, the booster executed a series of burns to reverse course, though it intentionally disabled one of its center engines during the landing burn as part of testing engine-out capability. It hovered briefly over the water before cutting engines and splashing in the Gulf of Mexico, where it broke up on impact.

While not perfect, Flight 10 delivered on many of its critical test objectives. The mission pushed Starship closer to full reusability, validated maneuvers needed for future missions, and restored confidence in the system after earlier failures.

The success of payload deployment and engine relighting in space stand out as especially important steps for upcoming missions to orbit and beyond. Challenges remain—especially refining heat-shield durability, improving structural margins during reentry, and achieving consistent booster recoveries. But the trajectory is now clearer: if the lessons from Flight 10 are applied well, Starship may well be on its way to realizing SpaceX’s goals for lunar, Martian, and deep-space missions.

Video credit: SpaceX

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When Firefly Aerospace and Northrop Grumman joined forces, they sparked the creation of Eclipse—a medium-lift rocket that stands at the cutting edge of launch innovation. Announced in 2022 under the working name “Beta” or “MLV,” Eclipse was envisioned not just as a successor to Northrop’s Antares and Firefly’s Alpha rockets, but as a leap forward in reusability, performance, and production efficiency.

From its inception, Eclipse has been designed to bring a powerful payload capacity to low Earth orbit—an impressive 16,300 kilograms—as well as the ability to loft 3,200 kilograms to geosynchronous transfer orbits and 2,300 kilograms on lunar trajectories. The rocket’s 59-meter-tall frame, built from lightweight carbon-fiber composites, carries a sprawling 5.4-meter-diameter fairing—giving it both muscle and versatility.

The magic inside Eclipse lies in its propulsion system. The first stage supports seven Miranda engines—descendants of Firefly’s Alpha-series Reaver and Lightning family—each running on RP‑1 and liquid oxygen through a refined tap-off combustion cycle. Together, they push out over 7,160 kN of thrust with a vacuum specific impulse of 305 seconds.

Beyond raw power, Eclipse is engineered for reusability. Its first stage is built to return to the launch site after deployment—a configuration that aligns Eclipse with the reusable strategies pioneered by rockets like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Blue Origin’s New Glenn . Testing is already well underway, with more than sixty hot-fire tests of Miranda engines and a full 206-second mission duty cycle burn completed, matching projected flight conditions.

The blend of technologies aboard Eclipse is a deliberate fusion of legacy and innovation. The avionics system draws directly from Northrop’s flight-proven Antares platform, while the carbon-composite airframe and tap-off engine cycle are honed from Firefly’s work on Alpha. This synergy has already attracted a major vote of confidence in the form of a $50 million investment from Northrop Grumman, aimed at accelerating hardware production and qualification campaigns.

Eclipse’s versatility extends beyond the engineering lab to the launchpad. Wallops Island, Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (LP‑0A) has been designated as its primary launch site, with alternate configurations ready at Vandenberg’s SLC‑2W and Cape Canaveral’s SLC‑20. What makes Eclipse particularly compelling is the market niche it fills. With a payload capacity of some 16 metric tons to LEO, it strikes a balance between heft and cost that suits emerging satellite constellations, space station supply missions, national security payloads, and science platforms alike.

For U.S. national security, the timing is right: Eclipse is lined up for consideration under the Space Force’s NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1, which prioritizes newer medium-class rockets. Behind the scenes, the factories in central Texas are humming. Firefly has doubled its production space in Briggs, Texas, to support both Antares 330 and Eclipse vehicle assembly. Mirrored in Wallops and Vandenberg, these facilities are designed for speed and scalability, with testing, machining, and composite fabrications all co-located.

Video credit: Northrop Grumman

NASA dicit:

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, recently completed a test fire campaign of a 14-inch hybrid rocket motor. The rocket motor ignites using both solid fuel and a stream of gaseous oxygen to create a powerful stream of rocket exhaust. Data from the test campaign will help teams prepare for future flight conditions when commercial human landing systems, provided by SpaceX and Blue Origin, touch down on the Moon for crewed Artemis missions.

The hybrid motor was test fired 30 times to ensure it will reliably ignite in preparation for testing later this year at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. This video shows the 28th test, conducted in February, during which the 3D-printed motor fired for six seconds.

Video credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

NASA dicit:

​Technicians use massive cranes inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy’s Space Center in Florida to lift the fully assembled SLS (Space Launch System) core stage vertically 225-feet above the ground from High Bay 2 to a horizontal position in the facility’s transfer aisle. In the transfer aisle, technicians conducted final preparations of the core stage before it was integrated with the completed twin solid rocket booster segments. NASA is implementing a more efficient stacking process to support future missions to the Moon beginning with the Artemis II test flight.

Video credit: NASA