Episode 1507: A Secret Mission and … OceanGate’s Titan?

You may ask, “Why are we talking about the OceanGate Expeditions’ Titan submersible tragedy in a podcast dedicated to space-related stuff?” The commonality with undersea exploration is the lack of Human Commercial Spaceflight Safety Regulations. Do we need more regulation? The team muses about this issue in this episode of Talking Space. But first, the News Roundup:  Mark manages to both provide us interesting info as well as to humanize the launch he witnessed of a classified military payload -- the mission designated NROL-68.  A classified military orbital mission notwithstanding, there’s still lots of news we CAN provide details about in this episode, including the ribbon-cutting ceremony for NASA’s Earth Resource Information Center in Washington, D.C.  The final flight of the Ariane V, VA261, was postponed during rollout. After an additional weather delay on July 4, the final launch of the Ariane 5 rocket took place on Wednesday, July 5.  Ecuador and India become the 26th and 27th signatories of the Artemis Accords. The Mars Sample Return mission’s cost has skyrocketed, according to a report in Ars Technica. Will it affect the budgets or existence of other planetary research missions? Gene has some insights. The Deep Space Food Challenge, an international competition sponsored by NASA to innovate food production for deep space missions, is heading into its final phase. Mark has details. Please be sure to let us know your thoughts on the topics we discuss. You can always reach us at [email protected] .   Show recorded 06-25-2023.   Host: Sawyer Rosenstein Panelist(s): Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman and Larry Herrin (Dr. Kat Robison will return) Podcast Editor: Mark Ratterman NROL-68 Mission Patch photo credit: NRO, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Delta IV Heavy launch photo credit: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., (June 22, 2023) A ULA Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying the NROL-68 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office lifts off from Space Launch Complex-37 at 5:18 a.m. EDT on June 22. Photos by United Launch Alliance   Delta IV Heavy opening a portal to the heavens Photo Credit: Lavie Ohana @Lavie154 @WeAreSpaceScout