In WRAL TechWire’s space beat wrapup:

  • DARPA picks Boeing for hypersonic space plane project
  • New Zealand test rocket makes it to space but not to orbit
  • Spacewalking astronauts pull off urgent station repairs

The details:

  • DARPA picks Boeing for hypersonic space plane project

Satellite launches could be going hypersonic in the near future.

The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, better known as DARPA, has selected Boeing to design and build a hypersonic space plane known as the XS-1.

A goal of the project is to speed up as well as lesson the cost of satellite launches.

“The XS-1 would be neither a traditional airplane nor a conventional launch vehicle but rather a combination of the two,” DARPA’s Jess Sponable explained in a press release. “With the goal of lowering launch costs by a factor of ten and replacing today’s frustratingly long wait time with launch on demand.”

Notes Engadet: “[T]he project is still years away from being finished, and the earliest on-ground engine tests won’t start until 2019 at the earliest. Until then, we’ll have to settle for DARPA’s concept video, which admittedly, is still pretty cool.”

[VIDEO: Watch the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEZDWoJdC7w ]

Read more at: https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/24/boeing-is-building-darpas-new-hypersonic-space-plane/

  • New Zealand test rocket makes it to space but not to orbit

California-based company Rocket Lab said Thursday it had launched a test rocket into space from its New Zealand launch pad, although the rocket didn’t reach orbit as hoped.

The company said its Electron rocket lifted off at 4:20 p.m. Thursday and reached space three minutes later.

“It was a fantastic flight and we are really, really happy with the performance of the vehicle,” said company founder Peter Beck.

Beck, a New Zealander, said the early stages of the mission went to plan, right up to the final separation.

He said his team would be working through terabytes of data over the coming weeks to find out why the rocket didn’t reach orbit. He said a second test rocket has been built but it would take the team at least a couple of months before they were ready to launch it.

Rocket Lab was given official approval last week to conduct three test launches from the remote Mahia Peninsula on the North Island. The company hopes to begin commercial launches later this year and eventually launch about one rocket every week.

Beck said it will target getting to orbit on the second test and will look to carry a heavier payload.

  • Spacewalking astronauts pull off urgent station repairs

Spacewalking astronauts completed urgent repairs at the International Space Station on Tuesday, replacing equipment that failed three days earlier and restoring a backup for a vital data-relay system.

It took commander Peggy Whitson much longer than expected to install the spare unit. Success finally came after her spacewalking partner, Jack Fischer, blasted the area with nitrogen gas to clear away flecks of metal.

Mission Control noted that the failure occurred only 2 days, 21 hours, 38 minutes earlier, “and we are already back in a good position, so excellent work. “

Testing confirmed the new unit worked, restoring full redundancy to the system that operates the space station’s solar panels, radiators and robotic equipment.

“Very good. We are really happy about that,” Whitson said.

Tuesday’s spacewalk lasted less than three hours — exceedingly short by NASA standards. Whitson has now tied the record for most spacewalks by an American — 10 — and moved up to third place on the all-time spacewalking list.