Houston We Have a Problem 2
Fancy Flying
Contracts and Competitors
Engines
Orbital Mechanics
100
The 2017 AMOS-6 Falcon 9 pad failure was initially caused by a rupture of this component
COPV
100
While in space, this vector is used to describe the orientation of the spacecraft with respect to an external reference frame (like the Earth), and is often controlled by smaller thrusters on the sides of the vehicle
Attitude
100
This aerospace company was founded by a billionaire in late 2000, with the goal of reducing costs and increasing reliability of launch vehicles
Blue Origin
100
This engine was replaced by the RD-181 on Antares after the ORB-3 failure
AJ-26
100
This well-known mechanical engineer hails from Texas and is well known for his rules of 3
Esteen Bottlinger
200
A crack in the casing of one of nine GEM-40 strapon motors led to the explosive failure of this rocket in 1997, but it went on to launch over 100 successful consecutive flights until retired in 2018
Delta II
200
This orbital parameter defines the angle between the orbital plane of the satellite and the equator
Inclination
200
Air launched from the wing of a modified Boeing 747, this Virgin Orbit launch vehicle is set to make its first test flight this year and would compete with Pegasus in the small, air dropped vehicle market
Cosmic Girl and LauncherOne
200
A rocket engine's efficiency can be measured using this statistic (for an RL-10, it is approximately 450 seconds)
ISP (Specific Impulse)
200
Often praised as the professor of structural analysis, this mechanical engineer literally established some of the company standards on bolted joint and other structural analysis techniques
Dave Oakeson
300
On January 25th, 2018, this rocket ended up orbit 20 degrees off from its intended target when a ground operator input incorrect headings into the guidance software
Ariane 5
300
This special type of orbit is defined as one where a satellite remains stationary over a single point on the equator indefinitely by possessing an orbital period of exactly one Earth day
Geostationary Orbit
300
The winners of Commercial Resupply Phase 1 were these two companies
SpaceX and Orbital Sciences
300
An Open Gas Generator Cycle, where some of the fuel and oxidizer is burned separately to power the pumps and then discarded. Though inefficient due to dumping fuel overboard, it is one of the simplest engine cycles to design, and is used in one of these engines.
Merlin, F1, Vulcain, RS-68
300
Formerly of ULA, he now holds the position of Chief Engineer of OmegA
Peter Wilson
400
In 2015, this launch failed due to a COPV breaking free of its mounting strut during boost
CRS-7
400
While in orbit, the point where the altitude of the spacecraft is highest is referred to as this
Apogee, Apoapsis
400
This launch provider was born as a joint venture in 2005 between two of the largest players in the launch vehicle industry, after an executive from one of the companies was caught with sensitive info from the other
ULA
400
A Stage Combustion Cycle is so named because the portion of the fuel that travels through the pre-burner and the turbopump is forced back into the the main combustion chamber. Name an engine that uses this cycle
SSME/RS-25, Raptor, RD Series, AR-1
400
This engineer is in charge of all things for S3 on OmegA
Brian Mabery
500
This spacecraft mission encountered an anomaly when exposed wires in a thermal heater caused its liquid oxygen tank to rupture
Apollo 13
500
This orbital parameter is used to describe how circular (or not) a satellite’s orbital is
Eccentricity
500
The EELV program competition between Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, and Blue Origin has recently been renamed to this [state acronym and definition] following negative feedback of the use of the word "expendable" in the program name
National Security Space Lahnch, NSSL
500
An Expander Cycle (which can be open or closed), where the turbine is driven by expanding gas from fuel run through the regeneratively cooled engine nozzle, is used in one of these engines
RL-10, Vinci, BE-3U
500
The VP of the OmegA Program
Mike Laidley