Space In General

[CodeRedR51]

SpaceX completed 3 static fires today on SN9. First time they have done this many in a single day. 12.5km flight should take place very shortly.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Full video recap from today. Road closure for Thursday has been cancelled. I figure they will spend the day inspecting and testing flap movement, etc. Friday looks bad for weather with high winds. Saturday looks amazing, sunny and low winds. Could be the day of the flight. Fingers crossed.

 

[Famine]

NASA will run a full, four-engine static hotfire today, the final test in the Green Run sequence to certify SLS for flight (planned later this year).

Kicks off somewhere around 5-7pm UTC:

 

[CodeRedR51]

Seems they had an issue and had to shut it down. Curious to see if they test again because the lady on the broadcast said that it would be shipped to Kennedy after this and start assembly for first flight at the end of the year.

Bad news for SN9, they've had to replace a couple of the engines due to "minor damage". There are still road closures for early in the week and TFR's through Thursday, but as far as I can tell the weather forecast isn't great so even if they get it back together in time, mother nature isn't playing along.

 

[Dotini]

NASA will run a full, four-engine static hotfire today, the final test in the Green Run sequence to certify SLS for flight (planned later this year).

Kicks off somewhere around 5-7pm UTC:

It's good to see some progress in this mission.

NASA fired up the core stage of its massive new rocket — the Space Launch System (SLS) — on Saturday (Jan. 16) in a critical test that ended prematurely when the booster's engines shut down earlier than planned.


Smoke and flames billowed from the four RS-25 engines that power the behemoth rocket's core booster, a centerpiece of NASA's Artemis moon program, as it roared to life atop a test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Centernear Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Ignition occurred at 5:27

EST (2227 GMT), with 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of cryogenic fuel flowing through the engines as they roared for just over 1 minute, much shorter than planned.

The test was supposed to run for 485 seconds (or just over 8 minutes), which is the amount of time the engines will burn during flight. Following engine ignition, the four RS-25 engines fired for just over 60 seconds, NASA said.

"Not everything went according to script today," NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said late Saturday after the test. "But we got a lot of great data, a lot of great information."

https://www.space.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-artemis-1-engine-test-fire

Controllers could be heard saying there was an "MCF", or major component failure.
Now the schedule is uncertain.
Mike Pence in 2019 threatened to sideline the SLS.
Numerous government watchdog reports have catalogued a series of technical missteps, wasteful spending and lax oversight. One GAO report found that NASA had paid Boeing tens of millions in award fees for scoring high on evaluations, despite poor performance.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/16/nasa-sls-test-moon-rocket-boeing/

 

[Famine]

The UK's own mental entrepreneur - and allegedly the most evil man in the world according to Carlos Kavros - has launched his first satellites into orbit from a 747-launched rocket:



https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...e-space-company-richard-branson-b1788674.html

(and of course the aircraft have stupid names; it's apparently a "quirky" thing mental entrepreneurs do when they become mental space entrepreneurs)

Edit: Ooh, an video of it:

 

[Outspacer]

(and of course the aircraft have stupid names; it's apparently a "quirky" thing mental entrepreneurs do when they become mental space entrepreneurs)

"When G-VWOW was named Cosmic Girl back in 2001, we couldn’t have predicted how the name would come into its own 14 years later. After retiring from passenger service, Cosmic Girl went on to become an airborne launch platform for Virgin Orbit’s satellites." - G-VHOW do we name our aircraft

Even my mental self gives things quirky names... but nobody notices or cares

 

[Famine]

"When G-VWOW was named Cosmic Girl back in 2001, we couldn’t have predicted how the name would come into its own 14 years later. After retiring from passenger service, Cosmic Girl went on to become an airborne launch platform for Virgin Orbit’s satellites." - G-VHOW do we name our aircraft

Even my mental self gives things quirky names... but nobody notices or cares

Pfft, facts. But yes, Branson - one of the Queen's eight identical illegitimate children (thanks, Carlos Kavros) - has indeed always given his planes stupid names.

 

[Tornado]

Can you run the world's worst pedophile ring in space and not be under anyone's jurisdiction?

 

[wfooshee]

Um... why do you ask?

 

[CodeRedR51]

Amazing thread here on Twitter about SpaceX purchasing offshore oil rigs for use as future mobile launch platforms.

 

[Dotini]

Amazing thread here on Twitter about SpaceX purchasing offshore oil rigs for use as future mobile launch platforms.

If he does establish an independent and sovereign colony on Mars, he will far exceed any fictional James Bond super-villain - or even Captain Nemo.

 

[Dennisch]

Would be funky if Doom suddenly becomes a documentary when he has a bunch of scientists running around on Mars and its moons.

 

[Dotini]

Would be funky if Doom suddenly becomes a documentary when he has a bunch of scientists running around on Mars and its moons.

Is it just barely conceivable that Musk could become the greatest human being in history since Noah?

 

[Dennisch]

I hate to break it to you but Noah was a fairy tale.

Musk does help humans kicking certain things into overdrive.

 

[CodeRedR51]

60 more Starlink satellites in orbit courtesy of booster 1051's 8th flight. It last flew on December 13th so this is a record for flight turnaround. I would not be surprised to see it fly again next month.

 

[EngieDiesel]

In addition to Virgin Orbit and SpaceX and NASA doing the things, Jeff Bezos' space-going-up-to outfit Blue Origin successfully launched and recovered its New Shepard booster and (currently unmanned) capsule last week, reaching an apogee of 105km. This time the capsule was fully fitted with all the trimmings for habitation, and this marks the program's 15th consecutive successful capsule landing.

Meanwhile, Boeing says that the software for the Starliner has passed requalification with a second test attempt scheduled for sometime in March. If that goes well, Boeing hopes to have a manned flight before the year is out.

 

[Famine]

Jeff Bezos' space-going-up-to outfit Blue Origin successfully launched and recovered its New Shepard booster and (currently unmanned) capsule last week, reaching an apogee of 105km.

Pffft, it doesn't even have a quirky, pop-culture name. Amateur.

This time the capsule was fully fitted with all the trimmings for habitation, and this marks the program's 15th consecutive successful capsule landing.

15 consecutive successes? That's a lot of explosive disassembly to clean up...

 

[CodeRedR51]

(currently unmanned)

Ah, but Mannequin Skywalker was onboard.

 

[Famine]

Mannequin Skywalker

Ah, there it is. Phew, normality is restored; Bezos is a pro.

 

[CodeRedR51]

SpaceX attempted to static fire SN9 yesterday and aborted 3 times. I think they're trying again today. Unfortunately yesterday we had a range violation as some guys in a Montero drove past the site during fueling. My guess is that the sheriff didn't make sure the beach was 100% clear...

 

[CodeRedR51]

Successful static fire this morning on SN9 in the lifting fog. Hopefully getting closer to flight.

 

[CodeRedR51]

The Flight Termination System has been installed on Starship SN9 and it is scheduled for flight Monday or Tuesday. I will post live stream links when available.

Edit: Road closures have been posted...

And residents were told that they will be evacuated at 7am local.

Edit: Here's a photo of the FTS (white squares)

 

[CodeRedR51]

Here's the first live stream link. I will edit this post and add others when they become available.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Test flight was called off today due to high winds. Tuesday looks better in that regard, but it might be cloudy. Will update.

 

[Dotini]

From today's edition of spaceweather.com:

WHAT IF A 'PERFECT CME' HIT EARTH? You've heard of a "perfect storm." But what about a perfect solar storm? A new study just published in the research journal Space Weather considers what might happen if a worst-case coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth. Spoiler alert: You might need a backup generator.

For years, researchers have been wondering, what's the worst the sun could do? In 2014, Bruce Tsurutani (JPL) and Gurbax Lakhina (Indian Institute of Geomagnetism) introduced the "Perfect CME." It would be fast, leaving the sun around 3,000 km/s, and aimed directly at Earth. Moreover, it would follow another CME, which would clear the path in front of it, allowing the storm cloud to hit Earth with maximum force.


Above: a SOHO image of a coronal mass ejection (CME). MORE

None of this is fantasy. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has observed CMEs leaving the sun at speeds up to 3,000 km/s. And there are many documented cases of one CME clearing the way for another. Perfect CMEs are real.

Using relatively simple calculations, Tsurutani and Lakhina showed that a Perfect CME would reach Earth in only 12 hours, allowing emergency managers little time to prepare, and slam into our magnetosphere at 45 times the local speed of sound. In response to such a shock, there would be a geomagnetic storm perhaps twice as strong as the Carrington Event of 1859. Power grids, GPS and other high-tech services could experience significant outages.

Sounds bad? Turns out it could be worse.

In 2020, a team of researchers led by physicist Dan Welling of the University of Texas at Arlington took a fresh look at Tsurutani and Lakhina's Perfect CME. Space weather modeling has come a long way in the intervening 6 years, so they were able to come to new conclusions.


Above: Sample results from computer modeling a Perfect CME impact. The images show the distortion and compression of Earth’s magnetic field as well as induced currents in the atmosphere. Source: Welling et al, 2020. FULL CAPTION

"We used a coupled magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)-ring current-ionosphere computer model," says Welling. "MHD results contain far more complexity and better reflect the real-world system."

The team found that geomagnetic disturbances in response to a Perfect CME could be 10 times stronger than Tsurutani and Lakhina calculated, especially at latitudes above 45 to 50 degrees. "[Our results] exceed values observed during many past extreme events, including the March 1989 storm that brought down the Hydro-Quebec power grid in eastern Canada; the May 1921 railroad storm; and the Carrington Event itself," says Welling.

A key result of the new study is how the CME would distort and compress Earth's magnetosphere. The strike would push the magnetopause down until it is only 2 Earth-radii above our planet's surface. Satellites in Earth orbit would suddenly find themselves exposed to a hail of energetic charged particles, potentially short-circuiting sensitive electronics. A "superfountain" of oxygen ions rising up from the top of Earth's atmosphere might literally drag satellites down, hastening their demise.

For specialists, Table 1 from Welling et al's paper compares their simulation of a Perfect CME impact (highlighted in yellow) to past extreme events:



You don't have to understand all the numbers to get the gist of it. A Perfect CME strike would dwarf many previous storms.

Now for the good news: Perfect CMEs are rare.

Angelos Vourlidas of Johns Hopkins University has extensively studied the statistics of CMEs. He notes that SOHO has captured only two CMEs with velocities greater than 3,000 km/s since the start of operations in 1996. "This means we expect roughly one CME ejected at speeds above 3000 km/s per solar cycle," he says. Speed isn't the only factor, however. To be "perfect," a 3000 km/s CME would need to follow another CME, clearing its path, and bothCMEs must be aimed directly at Earth.

It all adds up to something that doesn't happen every day. But one day, it will happen. As Welling et al conclude in their paper, "Further exploring and preparing for such extreme activity is important to mitigate space-weather related catastrophes."

https://www.spaceweather.com

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020SW002489

 

[CodeRedR51]

SN9 is GO for launch on Thursday. Boca Chica Village residents were given notice to evacuate before 8am.

Edit: Live streams scheduled. I'll edit this post with others when they are available.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Pushed to Friday.



Edit: maybe not yet. SpaceX and the FAA are still negotiating for a flight today. The launch pad is clear and residents have been evacuated, so we're just in a holding pattern at the moment. As you would expect, Elon isn't happy.



Edit 2: vehicle was fueled and ready for launch as they tried to get FAA approval, which never happened. So at least they got a wet dress rehearsal in. Trying again tomorrow?

 

[CodeRedR51]

Still no FAA approval for flight so today's attempt has been cancelled. On a positive note, we could see SN10 make its way to Pad A very soon. Which means two Starships on launch mounts at the same time...

 

[Dotini]

Still no FAA approval for flight so today's attempt has been cancelled. On a positive note, we could see SN10 make its way to Pad A very soon. Which means two Starships on launch mounts at the same time...

What's going on between Musk and the FAA?