Episode 280: DOWNLINK--Ella Atkins II

Spaceflight news— SpaceX Crew-1 mission delayed (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) — Tom Mueller explained the gas generator cycle, and the Merlin engine in particular (youtube.com) — GPS III SV04 launch scrubbed earlier this month due to “unexpected pressure rise in the turbomachinery gas generator” (twitter.com/elonmusk)Short & Sweet— Chinese taikonauts selected for country’s space station (spacenews.com)— The Autophage engine receives funding (space.com) (patents.google.com)— SpaceX is deorbiting its original Starlink satellites (spacenews.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)Questions, comments, corrections— Emory Stagmer: The LCROSS Flight Director's Blog (nasa.gov)Interview -- Ella Atkins, Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, and IEEE Senior Member.— We previously spoke with Ella on Episode 223 (theorbitalmechanics.com)— Autonomous done with a nailgun (youtube.com)— Ella’s professional profile and CV (aero.engin.umich.edu)— U of M’s robotics department (robotics.umich.edu)— Thanks to IEEE for putting us in touch with Ella! (IEEE.org)This week in SF history— 16 Oct, 1976: Soyuz 23 becomes the first unintentional splash-down (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (youtube.com) (books.google.com)— Next week in 2006: a fresh pair of eyes