Space In General

[andrea]

Props to that NASA team.

5~6 months of calibration and in 15 days the engine maneuver for L2 orbit insertion.

The calibration schedule:

 

[CodeRedR51]

Catching/stacking arms aka "chopsticks" are being tested today and they are higher on the tower than they have ever been.

Edit:

 

[CodeRedR51]

 

[EngieDiesel]

It finally occurred to me what these remind me of:

 

[TB]

It finally occurred to me what these remind me of:

 

[CodeRedR51]

SpaceX had a ride share mission this morning and the booster had a RLTS (return to launch site) landing. 10th landing for this particular booster.



Edit:

 

[CodeRedR51]

Because this never gets old.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Really good video of the last SpaceX launch, tracking the booster the whole way.

 

[CodeRedR51]

 

[CodeRedR51]

Some explosive tank testing at Starbase today.



And another successful Falcon9 launch & landing tonight. 10th mission for this booster.

 

[EngieDiesel]

Curiosity poked at some Martian rocks that had carbon similar to the kind produced by biological processes on Earth. Is it a sign that there was life on Mars? Well... maybe, possibly, not really, kindasorta, question mark...?

“There’s a huge chunk of the carbon cycle on Earth that involves life, and because of life, there is a chunk of the carbon cycle on Earth we can’t understand, because everywhere we look there is life,” said Andrew Steele, a Curiosity scientist based at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C.

Steele noted that scientists are in the early stages of understanding how carbon cycles on Mars and, thus, how to interpret isotopic ratios and the nonbiological activities that could lead to those ratios. Curiosity, which arrived on the Red Planet in 2012, is the first rover with tools to study carbon isotopes in the surface. Other missions have collected information about isotopic signatures in the atmosphere, and scientists have measured ratios of Martian meteorites that have been collected on Earth.

“Defining the carbon cycle on Mars is absolutely key to trying to understand how life could fit into that cycle,” Steele said. “We have done that really successfully on Earth, but we are just beginning to define that cycle for Mars.”

 

[CodeRedR51]

 

[EngieDiesel]

So, someone's raising money to attach an inflatable movie studio to the International Space Station.

Boy, there's a sentence I never expected I'd be writing in my lifetime.

Oh, and apparently Tom Cruise is involved too, because of course he is.

 

[Danoff]

So, someone's raising money to attach an inflatable movie studio to the International Space Station.

Boy, there's a sentence I never expected I'd be writing in my lifetime.

Oh, and apparently Tom Cruise is involved too, because of course he is.

It's not the worst idea. The problem is money. It's simply not worth it to film space footage in space, no not just space, in orbit. The costs are extreme, and movie filming requires lots of heavy equipment, and markup artists, and key grips, etc.

These days computers are so good that you can get lifelike zero g AND keep your moviestars on the ground with fresh makeup and perfect hair.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Starship 20 was removed from suborbital pad B today and placed on a transport stand. Unknown where its off to. Hopefully preparing to be stacked on Booster 4...

 

[EngieDiesel]

And here's a blog post detailing it if reading Twitter threads ain't your thing.

 

[CodeRedR51]

This looked too cool to not share.

 

[TheCracker]

So, someone's raising money to attach an inflatable movie studio to the International Space Station.

Boy, there's a sentence I never expected I'd be writing in my lifetime.

Oh, and apparently Tom Cruise is involved too, because of course he is.

I don't recall ever thinking whilst watching any of the recent contemporary-set space films, Gravity, Life etc that the zero-gravity effects ever appeared in any way unrealistic.

 

[CodeRedR51]

SpaceX launch in a couple hours. 3rd launch for this booster, although its previous launches were as a Falcon Heavy side booster. This is its first solo mission, and it will come back to land at the launch site. Sunset launch from the cape, should be spectacular.

Edit:

 

[Danoff]

I don't recall ever thinking whilst watching any of the recent contemporary-set space films, Gravity, Life etc that the zero-gravity effects ever appeared in any way unrealistic.

Agreed, but in the ways that they are unrealistic, it's probably for the best. Consider the puffy face of zero g:

To really nail it, the face needs to be redder, and rounder - a little swol. It's always especially noticeable around the eyes for me. Here's another comparo shot.

 

[CodeRedR51]

The launch stream from my last post is live. 👍

Edit: Scrubbed again. Which could lead to a double header this weekend as there is a Starlink launch on Sunday.

 

[ProjectWHaT]

After 7 years, a spent Falcon 9 rocket stage is on course to hit the Moon

The impact could offer scientists a peek at the selenology of the Moon.

arstechnica.com

https://www.projectpluto.com/temp/dscovr.htm

A Falcon 9 rocket from 2015 has been in orbit around the Earth will soon crash into the moon in a few weeks.

SpaceX launched its first interplanetary mission nearly seven years ago. After the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage completed a long burn to reach a transfer orbit, NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory began its journey to a Sun-Earth LaGrange point more than 1 million km from the Earth.

By that point, the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage was high enough that it did not have enough fuel to return to Earth's atmosphere. It also lacked the energy to escape the gravity of the Earth-Moon system, so it has been following a somewhat chaotic orbit since February 2015.

Now, according to sky observers, the spent second stage's orbit is on course to intersect with the Moon. According to Bill Gray, who writes the widely used Project Pluto software to track near-Earth objects, asteroids, minor planets, and comets, such an impact could come in March.

Notably:

It's likely that this will be the first time a piece of space hardware unintentionally strikes the Moon.

 

[CodeRedR51]

The launch stream from my last post is live. 👍

Edit: Scrubbed again. Which could lead to a double header this weekend as there is a Starlink launch on Sunday.

Update:



3 launches in 4 days!

 

[CodeRedR51]

The catching arms (chopsticks) are being tested right now with big bags full of water to simulate the weight of lifting a Starship or booster.

Also, 3rd time is the charm? 90% go for liftoff today.

Edit: Scrubbed due to a cruise liner in the hazard zone. They just can't catch a break on this one it seems.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Liftoff! Finally! And this one had some AMAZING views!







Edit:

 

[CodeRedR51]

Ok, this is pretty cool. Take a 3D tour of a crew Starship! (Unofficial design of course) Still cool!

 

[Milouse]

I was thinking of this man just before reading your message since he took part in a video about the realism of space movies:

Agreed, but in the ways that they are unrealistic, it's probably for the best. Consider the puffy face of zero g:

 

[CodeRedR51]

The "two launch Wednesday" ended up being one launch, but I'll take it. This one scared me a bit during the landing when one of the legs got stuck for a second, but managed to deploy in time. 😬

 

[CodeRedR51]

Booster 4 and Starship 20 will be stacked for the occasion. 🤘

 

[andrea]

The International Space Station (ISS) will continue working until 2030, before plunging into the Pacific Ocean in early 2031, according to Nasa.

In a report this week the US space agency said the ISS will crash into a part of the ocean known as Point Nemo.

This is the point furthest from land on planet Earth, also known as the spacecraft cemetery.

Many old satellites and other space debris have crashed there, including the Russian space station Mir in 2001.

Nasa said that in the future space activities close to earth will be led by the commercial sector.