Cozy Dark emerging technology began work in 2010 as a skunkworks-style engineering firm and is registered with CCR and NSPIRES.
Our early engineering & design efforts have focused on orbital debris solutions and electrodynamic tether technology.
Zach Urbina founded Cozy Dark with the cooperation of technical, research, and academic colleagues in the Southern California AeroAstro community.
We also have a growing library of space science talks featuring Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, astrophysicist Sean Carroll and more.
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33 posts tagged rockets
Days of ‘Gizmo’ Launches Return: NASA Team to Test New Vehicle-Descent Technologies |
NASA technologists will get a chance next summer to relive the good old days when Agency engineers would affix space-age gizmos to rockets just to see if the contraptions worked.
In what will be the first of four high-altitude balloon flights to begin in the summer of 2013, technologists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., and Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., are preparing to test new deceleration devices that could replace current descent technologies for landing ever-larger payloads at higher elevations on Mars.
NASA hasn’t tested deceleration technologies supersonically since 1972 when it conducted four high-altitude tests of a supersonic parachute used during the Viking program. “We’ve been stuck with that design ever since,” said Mark Adler, NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) program lead. NASA will use the same technology again this year when it delivers the Curiosity rover to Mars.
However, planetary landers of tomorrow will require much larger drag devices than any now in use. “What we need is new technology to slow larger, heavier landers from the supersonic speeds of atmospheric entry to subsonic ground-approach speeds,” Adler said. continue reading
Dragon Fire
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared into space from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying the Dragon capsule to orbit at 3:44 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, May 22, 2012. The launch is the company’s second demonstration test flight for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, Program.
During the flight, there will be a series of check-out procedures to test and prove Dragon’s systems, including rendezvous and berthing with the International Space Station. If the capsule performs as planned, the cargo and experiments it is carrying will be transferred to the station.
Watch the launch footage: http://youtu.be/dlpk-gOkY6M
via unknownskywalker
SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule Roars to Space Station |
SpaceX’s first space station-bound Dragon spacecraft, flying atop a Falcon 9 rocket, launched early yesterday morning. Liftoff occurred on May 22, 2012 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Masten Space System’s Katana KA5S Engine Firing |
Masten Space Systems conducted a 2-sec shakedown test on May 18th, 2012 of a new engine test trailer with a Katana class heatsink engine, the KA5S. Engines in the Katana class can produce up to 4000 lbs of thrust. Read more about Masten Space Systems.
ATK to Launch Private Space Taxi by 2015 |
The aerospace company that built the solid rocket boosters for NASA’s space shuttle fleet announced plans today (May 9) to develop its own private launch system — a spaceship and rocket — to fly astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. The first manned flight could launch in about three years, company officials said.
Utah-based Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, announced the new project here at the first Spacecraft Technology Expo, where thousands of government and industry officials have gathered to discuss innovative new technologies and the future of human spaceflight.
ATK had already been working on a new private rocket, called Liberty, which it submitted as a contender in the second round of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program last year. Ultimately, the Liberty rocket was not selected to receive funding, but ATK continued development of the booster under an unfunded Space Act Agreement with NASA. As part of this arrangement, NASA shares its expertise in designing and testing the rocket but does not provide money for the project.
Now, ATK has unveiled plans for a complete launch system centered around the Liberty rocket. The design includes a space capsule to carry passengers to destinations in low-Earth orbit, such as the International Space Station, said Kent Rominger, vice president and program manager for Liberty.continue reading
HIFiRE Scramjet Research Flight Will Advance Hypersonic Technology |
A team that includes NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is celebrating the successful launch of an experimental hypersonic scramjet research flight from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
NASA, AFRL and Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) are working with a number of partners on the HIFiRE (Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation Program) program to advance hypersonic flight — normally defined as beginning at Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound. The research program is aimed at exploring the fundamental technologies needed to achieve practical hypersonic flight. Being able to fly at hypersonic speeds could revolutionize high speed, long distance flight and provide more cost-effective access to space.
During the experiment the scramjet — aboard its sounding rocket — climbed to about 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) in altitude, accelerated from Mach 6 to Mach 8 (4,567 to 6,090 miles per hour; 7,350 to 9,800 kilometers per hour) and operated about 12 seconds — a big accomplishment for flight at hypersonic speeds. It was the fourth of a planned series of up to 10 flights under HIFiRE and the second focused on scramjet engine research. continue reading
“Next time Dragon sees the sun, it should be doing 17,000 mph over the Atlantic. ~8 hrs to liftoff.” - Elon Musk, SpaceX
2012 Spacecraft Technology Expo Lands at the LA Convention Center |
In a city where glamour and fame often capture the media spotlight, it can be easy to forget that modern rocketry first took root in a dusty stretch of dry riverbed in Pasadena, and eventually bloomed into the most ambitious efforts of humankind to date. Last week, in Downtown Los Angeles, the industry leaders and feisty upstarts who continue to carry that proverbial torch gathered to show-off the current capabilities and bold plans for the future at the Spacecraft Technology Expo.
From May 9th through May 10th, the Los Angeles Convention Center played host to the best and the brightest in orbital and suborbital technology. Although there were bigger and more moneyed players in the space game who took out space at the expo, it was small, but determined suborbital flight provider XCOR Aerospace who stole the floor of the convention with a full-scale mock-up of their Lynx spacecraft, a rocket-propelled reusable launch vehicle.
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Additional exhibit’s worthy of mention included Sage Cheshire Aerospace’s Red Bull Stratos capsule, built for the upcoming record-breaking skydive of Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner. Baumgartner recently completed a test jump from 70,000 feet and is sure to make more headlines for both Red Bull and Sage Cheshire as he scales up to an eventual 120,000 ft. jump sometime later this year. - ZU
