Questions tagged [united-states]
Questions regarding spacecraft, projects, or agencies of or relating to the United States of America.
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Who decided that a <1 in 10,000 probability of contaminating the europan ocean by a viable Earth microorganism was legally and ethically sufficient?
In comments below Is there any demonstrated or even proposed technology that can sterilize a spacecraft with 100% certainty and yet leave it electronically functional? there is a link to Europa Lander ...
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Why does the government still fund SLS while SpaceX is cheaper and has the same capabilities if not better?
Due to SpaceX's recent advancements in now proven rocket tech, why does the government still fund (what some would argue to be bloated) cost-plus contracts with Boeing and Lockheed? Am I missing ...
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Russian "kerosene" versus American "RP-1"
RP-1 rocket fuel is a "highly refined form of kerosene". Most of the literature I have seen refers to Russian rockets using kerosene, versus American rockets using RP-1 (*1).
Is there really such a ...
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How does the US's 2008 debris cloud compare to India's 2019 and China's 2007 contributions?
The NPR News article NASA: Debris From India's Anti-Satellite Test Raised Threat To Space Station discusses last week's antisatellite test by India described further in answers to India just shot down ...
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Does the US Navy guard SpaceX drone ships and make sure bad actors don't abscond with critical technology on the high seas?
SpaceX loses the center core of its Falcon Heavy rocket due to choppy seas
While I thought my question How vulnerable could space launch vehicles be to a “lone gunman”? was just my tangential ...
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What Soviet signals (if any) attempted to scramble communication and sabotage Apollo missions?
The NPR.org news item and audio podcast JoAnn Morgan: The Only Woman In The Firing Room During Apollo 11 features an excellent interview with JoAnn Morgan and other KSC personal.
It's a short but ...
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Does the US government plan to issue "Astronaut Wings" for anyone passing 80 km forever?
Related and potentially helpful here: What kind of badge will tourists who performed a sub-orbital spaceflight receive? but here I'm asking specifically about the US government's future plans.
The BBC'...
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More complete source for Lunar Gateway is “a stupid architecture” comments? (National Space Council Users' Advisory Group)
The Ars Technica article Former NASA administrator says Lunar Gateway is “a stupid architecture” disusses a meeting of the National Space Council Users' Advisory Group. Apparently there was not around-...
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What were the two circa 1965 semi-polar missions launched from Cape Canaveral?
Teslarati's SpaceX sets date for first Florida launch of its kind in more than half a century says
That November 1960 launch thus shut down East Coast polar launches to avoid overflying Cuba and ...
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If the Earth spun clockwise, would Florida have still satisfied the requirements for the US launch center in the 1960's?
In a comment under the question If the Earth spun clockwise, how would that affect Space Exploration? I wrote:
Kennedy Space Center would be a lot closer to JPL; not sure what all happens with the ...
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How will the Gateway-before-boots sequence benefit US business, economic and technological development?
Update: Several people were kind enough to make helpful suggestions about this question. I'm looking strictly for well-reasoned, fact-based answer only. Thanks!
In the question More complete source ...
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Can I make a completely ITAR-free spaceship?
Edit: I need to completely rewrite this question.
Is it possible (either theoretically possible, or realistically possible) for
a suffciently well-funded USA-based organization to make a complete ...
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How close was the U.S. DoD to getting their own space shuttle?
This answer explains that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) had plans for their own space shuttle. The so-called "blue shuttle" would be operated by the U.S. Air Force out of Vandenberg Air Force ...
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How many US states receive large amounts of money due to SLS?
That NASA is spread out over so many locations across the US is history and discussed elsewhere in this site. Briefly, Congress approves funding and the funding ends up in many, many of congress' ...
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Does the U.S. still manufacture technologies for its space program that would otherwise be obsolete?
Are there technologies (materials, components, systems, or software) that continue to be manufactured in the United States for space applications, even though they would otherwise be considered ...
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Can I obtain the audio of president Eisenhowers message coming to me from a satellite circling in outer space?
I remember hearing a recording of this speech some time ago. However searching for it again has been difficult, which led me to believe that I probably heard a recreation from someone else. In this qz....
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Do SpaceX and other US-based launch companies get "ITAR waivers" for live-broadcasting processed telemetry data?
The 17-Feb-2016 answer to Is the Falcon 9 launch/landing telemetry data available for visualisation purposes? explains that access to telemetry data is controlled by ITAR and/or other regulations, but ...
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Why does this "Midas missile early warning satellite" have a tilting cone with such a complex black-and-white checkerboard pattern?
Clicking on images of historic satellites led me to the airvectors.net page Foundations Of Automated Space Technology which includes this image and passage:
A number of Samos satellites were also ...
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Has the National Near Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan seen any action?
This answer to Does NASA have an end-of-the-world policy? mentions the National Near Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan.
Has this plan resulted in any action?
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Can satellites really be launched within hours with RocketLab?
Watching the Rocket Lab - In Focus Launch 10/28/2020 video linked below, there is a section at 12:50:
The ability to deploy new satellites to precise orbits in a ...
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What was the first successful demonstration of a fuel cell in space?
Hydrogen fuel cells (together with batteries) were used for electrical power in the Apollo program, where it was recombined with oxygen on board to produce electricity.
Doing chemistry in practical ...
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What was the first successful two-stage-to-orbit launch by the US? What was the first attempt if different?
Wikipedia's Juno I (the launch vehicle for the first US satellite in orbit Explorer 1) begins:
The Juno I was a four-stage American space launch vehicle, used to launch lightweight payloads into low ...
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Is 18 Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) which "detects, tracks, and identifies all artificial objects in Earth orbit" a part of Space Force?
According to their twitter account:
18 Space Control Squadron (18 SPCS) detects, tracks, and identifies all artificial objects in Earth orbit.
Is 18 SPCS a US military squadron? Is it a part of ...
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