SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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CNN
The death of a star is one of the most dramatic and violent events in space -- and astronomers had an unprecedented front-row seat to the explosive end of a stellar giant.

Ground-based telescopes provided the first real-time look at the death throes of a red supergiant star. While these aren't the brightest or most massive stars, they are the largest in terms of volume.
...
[T]he star at the heart of this new research, located in the NGC 5731 galaxy about 120 million light-years away from Earth, was 10 times more massive than the sun before it exploded.

Before they go out in a blaze of glory, some stars experience violent eruptions or release glowing hot layers of gas. Until astronomers witnessed this event, they believed that red supergiants were relatively quiet before exploding into a supernova or collapsing into a dense neutron star.

Instead, scientists watched the star self-destruct in dramatic fashion before collapsing in a type II supernova. This star death is the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive star after it has burned through the hydrogen, helium and other elements in its core.

All that remains is the star's iron, but iron can't fuse so the star will run out of energy. When that happens, the iron collapses and causes the supernova.
...
Astronomers were first alerted to the star's unusual activity 130 days before it went supernova. Bright radiation was detected in the summer of 2020 by the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy Pan-STARRS telescope on Maui's Haleakalā.

Then, in the fall of that year, the researchers witnessed a supernova in the same spot.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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And it died 120 million years ago?
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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We had our first launch of the year: SpaceX lofts 49 Starlink internet satellites to orbit in 1st launch of 2022
SpaceX successfully launched its first Falcon 9 rocket of the year Thursday (Jan. 6), sending a new stack of Starlink satellites into orbit from Florida, before nailing a landing at sea.

The previously flown Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 4:49 p.m. EST (2149 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station here in Florida, carrying a stack of 49 Starlink satellites.

Approximately nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first stage returned to Earth and touched down on the deck of SpaceX's newest drone ship, "A Shortfall of Gravitas," marking the company's first successful launch and landing of the new year.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Web is now fully unfolded. Onward to L2, and to mirror alignment.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Hope everything stays amazing for it. Been waiting so long. The team must be on pins and needles at each step.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Starship on top of booster... that's one amazingly big crane :shock:

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Scientists unravel mystery of giant cosmic bubble surrounding Earth
Once upon a time in galactic history, a cluster of stars detonated to form fantastical supernovas. The blasts were so strong their sparkly leftovers pushed the surrounding shroud of interstellar gas outward until it drifted into a cosmic bubble 1,000 light-years wide -- a giant blob that's still growing now.

By sheer coincidence, experts say, our very own sun flew directly into this bubble. Now we live smack in the middle of it, earning the globule a fitting name: the Local Bubble. And in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, scientists offer novel details of the bubble's saga using a 3D map of the enormous structure.
The concept is comparable with space's fabric resembling a holey Swiss cheese, with each hole representing a star formation center. Somehow, we're in one of the cheesy holes. Because our home star set up shop inside the Local Bubble, every time we peer out at the sky, we're witness to tons of star births.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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A nice summary video of Starship operations at Boca Chica from December 2020 till now. Long, but lots of great content.

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Nice article on the current status of the Artemis I mission: EGS, Jacobs working to finish testing in time for Artemis 1 rollout in mid-February
NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime launch processing contractor Jacobs are performing final installations, functional checks, and buttoning up the Artemis 1 vehicle in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida before rolling it out to its seaside launch pad for the first time. Rollout to Launch Pad 39B will be no earlier than mid-February after an engine computer needed to be replaced at the end of the year.

In addition to finishing functional checks and closing the Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage engine compartment out for launch, EGS and Jacobs are also preparing to re-run a countdown sequencing test to verify that the ground-based launch sequencer is ready to conduct launch countdowns for the integrated Orion and SLS vehicle. The first vehicle trip to the pad will be to conduct a full launch countdown demonstration test called the Wet Dress Rehearsal.

The schedule still projects that the vehicle could be ready to launch no sooner than the end of lunar launch window in March, but doesn’t leave much time to address issues and later windows beginning in April are more realistic.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Asteroid almost 3 times bigger than the Empire State Building and traveling at 43,000 mph set to pass Earth tonight. Man thats a world ender if ever there was one.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... NIGHT.html
It is estimated to be 3,451 feet (1.052km) in diameter, much larger than the tallest building on earth, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which measures 2,722 feet.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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NASA: Webb Mirror Segment Deployments Complete
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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ULA’s Atlas V to launch satellite-inspection mission for Space Force
United Launch Alliance will carry out an Atlas V launch Friday with the third pair of GSSAP satellites for the US Space Force. Flying in its never-before-used 511 configuration, Atlas will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:00 PM EST (19:00 UTC) for a lengthy mission that will inject the satellites into a near-geostationary orbit.

The GSSAP (Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program) is a US Space Force project using small satellites to inspect other spacecraft operating in geostationary orbit. Friday’s launch, which is designated USSF-8 (US Space Force 8), is carrying the fifth and sixth satellites in this series.

With the deployment of these two satellites, the Space Force will be continuing a program which has given them a new capability in recent years to study foreign satellites and monitor their operations in orbit. This likely builds on the earlier experimental MiTEx (Microsatellite Technology Experiment) satellites which performed an array of experiments including satellite inspections during their time in geostationary orbit in the 2000s.

Alongside GSSAP, a series of demonstration missions are being undertaken to further improve the capabilities of so-called “space situational awareness” satellites, including the ANGELS (Automated Navigation and Guidance Experiment for Local Space) satellite that shared a ride to orbit with the first two GSSAP spacecraft, and the Mycroft satellite launched in 2018.

GSSAP satellites are manufactured by Northrop Grumman, formerly Orbital ATK, and are based on the lightweight GeoStar-1 bus. This is a three-axis stabilized platform incorporating the systems that enable the satellite to carry out its mission. Each satellite is powered by a pair of deployable solar arrays and are capable of maneuvering on-orbit to set up inspection passes of other spacecraft.

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Space Force satellite launch could create a luminous cloud in tonight's evening sky
If you are outside doing some stargazing in the Western Hemisphere this evening and are looking up at just the right time, you might catch sight of something that will appear quite strange: a small circular cloud of light that will rapidly expand to roughly the apparent size of a full moon, before finally fading away some minutes later.

What you will have just seen is not some strange atmospheric phenomenon, but a fuel dump from a U.S. Space Force (USSF) mission that launched earlier today on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 511 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The launch, which occurred on right on schedule at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT), carried two satellites for the USSF's Space Systems Command (SSC). The mission, called USSF 8, will place the two identical Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites — GSSAP 5 and GSSAP 6 —directly to a near-geosynchronous orbit approximately 22,300 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the equator.
Seven hours, 11 minutes and 40 seconds after the launch, the Centaur second stage will dump its unused (excess) fuel out into space. Dumping excess fuel is the usual practice for all Centaur booster-assisted launches. It happens after satellite separation; the fuel bleeding off from a Centaur upper rocket stage.

As it turns out, the timing of this event will be perfect for creating a sky show for much of the Western Hemisphere. When the Centaur releases its excess fuel, it will be nighttime over North and South America. But the Centaur, at an altitude of roughly 22,300 miles (36,000 km) will be in sunlight and as such the fuel will be reflecting sunlight as seen from Earth.

In a Twitter thread, assiduous satellite watcher Cees Bassa has provided a considerable amount of information concerning the visibility of the fuel dump:


Bassa likens the appearance of the fuel dump as a "bright nebula, possibly as big as the full moon on the sky."

"The cloud should be visible to the naked eye, and with binoculars or telescopes it should be possible to see the cloud grow and change shape," Bassa added.

The fuel dump is expected for 9:11:40 p.m. EST (6:11:40 p.m. PST). It should suddenly appear to the naked eye as an expanding circular, comet-like cloud about 10 to 15 degrees west (or to the right) of the bright bluish zero-magnitude star Rigel in the Orion constellation. Your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees, so approximately "one or one and a half fists" to the right of Rigel is where the cloud should appear.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Im surprised at how close buildings and tanks are to an Atlas V launch.

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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#nailedit

At least according to the public dashboard...
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Shoulda named it Maj. Tom
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Oops
A Falcon 9 second stage has been tumbling uncontrollably in space since 2015, but experts say its seven-year journey is coming to an end, as the 4-ton rocket part is expected to hit the Moon in a matter of weeks.

The spent rocket stage is expected to hit somewhere near the lunar equator on March 4, according to Bill Gray, creator of Project Pluto, a software program for tracking near-Earth objects, asteroids, comets, minor planets, and other things floating in space. There is still some uncertainty about the exact timing and location of the collision, but the current data shows a “certain impact,” writes Gray.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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SpaceX snags $102 million contract to rocket military supplies and humanitarian aid around the world: report
SpaceX has won a contract, worth over $102 million, to transport military supplies and humanitarian aid around the world using a rocket.

The U.S. Air Force awarded SpaceX the contract on Jan. 14. It's a five-year agreement that's part of the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) new rocket cargo program, according to a SpaceNews report about the contract, which was first reported by AviationWeek.com. The new project is exploring the use of large rockets for Department of Defense (DoD) global logistics, SpaceNews reported.

The contract states that SpaceX will "demonstrate technologies and capabilities to transport military cargo and humanitarian aid around the world on a heavy rocket," according to SpaceNews.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Because there's nothing that screams 'humanitarian aid' like a ballistic missile heading your way. :lol:
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission rocket faces new delays
NASA's first Artemis moon mission will have to wait to launch.

The rollout for the agency's Artemis 1 mission, the first flight of its Artemis program that will ultimately return humans to the moon, has been pushed back. NASA announced Wednesday (Feb. 2) that the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket and Orion capsule won't roll out to Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center until sometime in March.

"Ultimately, we're going to launch this flight hardware when the flight hardware is ready and when the team's ready," Mike Bolger, the program manager of exploration ground systems at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, told Space.com during a news conference held today.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Should Launch Sometime.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Zaxxon wrote: Wed Feb 02, 2022 5:28 pm Should Launch Sometime.
:D

Check out this video from the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch this afternoon from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. I've jumped it ahead to just before launch. This is an RTLS (Return To Launch Site) for the first stage and some of the things you can see are amazing.

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Watched it live but didn't want to pile onto the SLS latest delay.

Falcon 9 launched Monday, then today, has another scheduled tomorrow, plus two more in Feb. Not the same physical rocket but I did think it impressive that they were able to scrub and recycle for non-technical reasons several times in a row for what became Monday's launch.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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NASA to deorbit ISS in Pacific Ocean crash come 2031
The long-orbiting International Space Station will be officially decommissioned come January 2031, according to recently-announced plans from NASA, and its final resting place will be in a remote location at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Point Nemo – sometimes referred to as the “spacecraft cemetery” – lies around 2,500 - 3,000 miles off of New Zealand’s eastern coast. It is home to over 200 decommissioned satellites and other spacecraft from numerous countries, including Japan and Russia. The ISS will join the watery grave in less than a decade, and NASA on Monday detailed how the agency will keep the station running through 2030 while preparing for its reentry.

The ISS was first launched in 1998 thanks to a multi-national partnership between the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada. Over the past two-plus decades, the laboratory has offered groundbreaking research in the areas of science and technology, with one goal to prepare procedures for the first humans to visit Mars. While the station was originally set to be decommissioned in 2024, the Biden-Harris administration in late December announced it would extend the ISS’ mission through 2030.

“As more and more nations are active in space, it’s more important than ever that the United States continues to lead the world in growing international alliances and modeling rules and norms for the peaceful and responsible use of space,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said at the time.

Monday’s report also said NASA will use the transition period to foster new opportunities for space travel in the lower-Earth orbit – like those recently hosted by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“This third decade is one of results, building on our successful global partnership to verify exploration and human research technologies to support deep space exploration, continue to return medical and environmental benefits to humanity, and lay the groundwork for a commercial future in low-Earth orbit,” Robyn Gatens, ISS director at NASA Headquarters, wrote in Monday’s statement.

“We look forward to maximizing these returns from the space station through 2030 while planning for transition to commercial space destinations that will follow,” Gatens added.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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It's a pity that ISS can't be broken up and reused or recycled. All that mass that cost so much to launch...someday there will be an orbital outpost that salvages and remanufactures such highly refined materials -- today's space junk is tomorrow's free resources. But that industry is a few decades away yet.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Kraken wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 2:37 am It's a pity that ISS can't be broken up and reused or recycled. All that mass that cost so much to launch...someday there will be an orbital outpost that salvages and remanufactures such highly refined materials -- today's space junk is tomorrow's free resources. But that industry is a few decades away yet.
If we still had the shuttle we could return some modules, since that's how they were brought up there. However, with the SpaceX Starship, there is a really big payload volume :D. Hopefully someone smart at SpaceX or NASA is going to put together a plan.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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jztemple2 wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:46 am
Kraken wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 2:37 am It's a pity that ISS can't be broken up and reused or recycled. All that mass that cost so much to launch...someday there will be an orbital outpost that salvages and remanufactures such highly refined materials -- today's space junk is tomorrow's free resources. But that industry is a few decades away yet.
If we still had the shuttle we could return some modules, since that's how they were brought up there. However, with the SpaceX Starship, there is a really big payload volume :D. Hopefully someone smart at SpaceX or NASA is going to put together a plan.
It's not so much that the materials themselves are valuable as the cost of launching new ones. There's 450 tons of refined metals, electronic components, and just miscellaneous stuff already up there. You'd think there'd be value to someone in keeping it up there. Someday, someone will figure out on-orbit recycling/remanufacturing. What goes up doesn't necessarily have to come down.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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SpaceX and NASA eye Dragon parachute issue ahead of next astronaut launch

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Caption: This still from NASA's Crew-2 landing webcast on Nov. 8, 2021 shows the delayed opening of one of four parachutes on SpaceX's returning Dragon capsule carrying astronauts home from the International Space Station. (Image credit: NASA TV)
The parachute system on SpaceX's Dragon capsule hasn't behaved exactly as expected recently, and NASA and SpaceX want to know why.

The Dragon named Endeavour returned to Earth with four astronauts on Nov. 8, 2021, wrapping up SpaceX's Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station for NASA. During its descent that day, one of Endeavour's four main parachutes didn't open on schedule, lagging about 75 seconds behind the others.

The same thing happened on the next Dragon reentry, the Jan. 24 return of the capsule that made the CRS-24 (Commercial Resupply Services-24) robotic cargo run to the orbiting lab for NASA. That time, the lagging chute opened about 63 seconds behind its brethren, agency officials said during a call with reporters on Friday (Feb. 4).

The parachute lag didn't affect mission success in either case; both Dragons splashed down safely. But NASA and SpaceX are looking into the issue, to make sure it's fully understood in advance of other crewed Dragon flights.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Kraken wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 5:14 pm
jztemple2 wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 11:46 am
Kraken wrote: Thu Feb 03, 2022 2:37 am It's a pity that ISS can't be broken up and reused or recycled. All that mass that cost so much to launch...someday there will be an orbital outpost that salvages and remanufactures such highly refined materials -- today's space junk is tomorrow's free resources. But that industry is a few decades away yet.
If we still had the shuttle we could return some modules, since that's how they were brought up there. However, with the SpaceX Starship, there is a really big payload volume :D. Hopefully someone smart at SpaceX or NASA is going to put together a plan.
It's not so much that the materials themselves are valuable as the cost of launching new ones. There's 450 tons of refined metals, electronic components, and just miscellaneous stuff already up there. You'd think there'd be value to someone in keeping it up there. Someday, someone will figure out on-orbit recycling/remanufacturing. What goes up doesn't necessarily have to come down.
It's only valuable if the cost of recycling is less than the cost of bringing up new material. And as you point out, that's not true until someone creates an on-orbit recycling facility.
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Quick! Somebody wake up Daehawk! SpaceX says a geomagnetic storm just doomed 40 Starlink internet satellites
SpaceX is in the process of losing up to 40 brand-new Starlink internet satellites due to a geomagnetic storm that struck just a day after the fleet's launch last week.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 49 Starlink satellites on Thursday (Feb. 3) from NASA's historic Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A day later, a geomagnetic storm above Earth increased the density of the atmosphere slightly, increasing drag on the satellites and dooming most of them.

"Preliminary analysis show the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe mode to begin orbit-raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere," SpaceX wrote in an update Tuesday (Feb. 8).
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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Pic and video of the above:

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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

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That *had* to feel like the invasion of the Ukraine had set off something bigger...
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stessier
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

Post by stessier »

This is very cool.

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jztemple2
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Re: SPACE - random thread about space stuff

Post by jztemple2 »

In other space news, Astra rocket suffers catastrophic failure in 1st Florida launch, 4 satellites lost
Astra failed to deliver four satellites to orbit as planned today (Feb. 10) in the company's first-ever orbital launch from the contiguous United States.

The California startup's 43-foot-tall (13 meters) Launch Vehicle 0008 (LV0008) launched the ELaNa 41 mission from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today, rising off the pad at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT).

The two-stage LV0008 performed well initially, soaring high into the Florida skies. But something appeared to go wrong about 3 minutes into flight, just after the rocket's first and second stages separated. Footage from a camera onboard the second stage showed the rocket body spinning rather than cruising smoothly toward its intended destination, an orbit with an altitude of 310 miles (500 kilometers).
I was watching the live video feed from the two stages. As the second stage spun, you could see the three cubesats streaking away :doh:

And in other, other space news, Elon Musk shows off fully-stacked SpaceX Starship as 1st orbital launch nears
Elon Musk took to the stage here on Thursday night (Feb. 10) to deliver what his company, SpaceX, billed as an "update on the design, development and testing of Starship" — the "it" to which Musk was referring and of what he further described as "really some some wild stuff." Towering behind him at SpaceX's South Texas Launch Site (or "Starbase") was the first fully-stacked Starship, comprising a prototype spacecraft of the same name mounted atop a mockup of its even taller "Super Heavy" booster.
Image

This was also very interesting, at least to me in Florida :D
SpaceX's ability to use the tower where it stands hinges on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) giving its approval after a recent environmental assessment of how Starship launches would effect the surrounding area, including the populated Boca Chica beach community and the surrounding Brownsville township. If the FAA requires a more stringent environment review, Musk said SpaceX might have to move operations to Florida and NASA's Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, where the FAA has already signed off on its use.

"Our worst case scenario is that we would be delayed by six to eight months to build up the Cape [Canaveral] launch tower and launch from there," he said.
My father said that anything is interesting if you bother to read about it - Michael C. Harrold
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