Nauka = Science!
"She's tidied up and I can't FIND anything!"
Russia's elderly Nauka module has made it to the International Space Station (ISS), some 25 years since construction of the research module began. Despite a somewhat problematic start to life in space following its launch atop a Proton-M rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, engineers were able to fire the engines of the veteran …
The UK should just contract with SpaceX to build a launch facility in the UK and launch SpaceX rockets from it. That would be faster than any other way. Maybe sweeten the deal someway to also have the SpaceX rockets to be launched from the UK built in the UK. (Well, maybe not as nothing would generate failures like unionized labor. Better to import the rockets from the US.)
The problem is that the Earth is round.
Launching polar orbits from the northern bits of the UK is OK (except for weather)
Launching eastwards is a problem since a failed launch would fall on some grumpy foreigners with rockets of their own.
Equatorial launches are right out due to the insistence that Britain remain in Europe
Equatorial launches are right out due to the insistence that Britain remain in Europe
The Rock of Gibraltar is close to the equator and full of tunnels anyway, go full super-villain and hollow it out for launches, proximity to the ocean provides nice abort areas and it's easy to keep the shark tanks full.
Launching polar orbits from the northern bits of the UK is OK (except for weather)
Nah, the weather isn't a problem. We're used to it - that's why we build all-weather aircraft (i.e. cockpit windows essentially pointless).
No one planning on launching anything out of Scotland would succeed unless it could stand a raging hoolie, and is also midgie proof. One visit is all one needs to realise that.
There are still 11 spacewalks, spread over the next 7 months, to connect the nauka module to the electric and hydraulic systems of the Russian ISS segment before the cosmonauts could feel at home there.
This isn't the equivalent of mating your roulotte to the hitch of your Ford and connecting the stop/turn lights' wires. Or maybe it is, but at a massive scale.
At a news conference it was reported that updated software or software commands were uploaded to prevent this in the future. Presumably this will allow Nauka to tie into the ISS automated trim system (which was what corrected the trim when the Nauka thrusters fired).
As we learned with Hubble, fixing a decades old system is not that easy. I offer a pint to all the Russian boffins and cosmonauts who worked this out.
I have to say that, considering where they were immediately after launch, getting it there and docked is quite a feat for the flight controllers, crew, their support and other participants in the ground->ISS journey. Hats off, beer well deserved.
The fact that their talents were required in this way is a great pity, considering what it indicates.
We used to launch from the Isle of Wight and it was always rather pleasant when I went there. Bognor could be pencilled in as an emergency 'hard landing' site, should the launch go badly.
Building the soon-to-be-Independent Republic of Scotland a shiny new spaceport on top of the RMS Carrie, the Giant BoJo Bridge and the London climate dome might stretch the finances a bit. Plus they have a lot of midges. Midges are a known issue (Star Trek TOS Ep 8).
How about Tristan da Cunha? After their inevitable failures (metric/imperial snafu, buffer overflow, MS upgrade mid-launch), Rockety McRocketface I, II and III can plop into the biggest bit of ocean. Nobody would ever know if we bung FlightRadar24 a few quid. No clean up costs. What loud bang? We're just tourists.
We can slow Our-New-Enemies, the Norwegians down with a court order claiming cultural appropriation. Amstrad own the rights to 'Spectrum'.
Incidentally, at the risk of being controversial, should we be building our rockets in such a phallic shape in the era of #MeToo? Shouldn't we turn away from such a gendered design and employ gender-neutral shapes instead?