# rss_item

guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351048
title: Apple plans to equip MacBooks with in-house cellular modems
author: mgh2
url: https://www.macrumors.com/2023/11/20/macbook-integrated-cellular-modem-2028/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.macrumors.com/2023/11/20/macbook-integrated-cellular-modem-2028/">https://www.macrumors.com/2023/11/20/macbook-integrated-cellular-modem-2028/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351048">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351048</a></p>
<p>Points: 115</p>
<p># Comments: 173</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351194
title: NVK reaches Vulkan 1.0 conformance
author: mfilion
url: https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/nvk-reaches-vulkan-conformance.html
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/nvk-reaches-vulkan-conformance.html">https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/nvk-reaches-vulkan-conformance.html</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351194">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351194</a></p>
<p>Points: 70</p>
<p># Comments: 8</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351195
title: 15-150: Principles of Functional Programming
author: brandonspark
url: https://brandonspark.github.io/150/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://brandonspark.github.io/150/">https://brandonspark.github.io/150/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351195">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38351195</a></p>
<p>Points: 280</p>
<p># Comments: 85</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38352484
title: After Boeing declines to pay up, ransomware group leaks 45 GB of data
author: turtlegrids
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
url:
https://www.itbrew.com/stories/2023/11/17/after-boeing-declines-to-pay-up-ransomware-group-leaks-45-gb-of-data

content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.itbrew.com/stories/2023/11/17/after-boeing-declines-to-pay-up-ransomware-group-leaks-45-gb-of-data">https://www.itbrew.com/stories/2023/11/17/after-boeing-declines-to-pay-up-ransomware-group-leaks-45-gb-of-data</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38352484">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38352484</a></p>
<p>Points: 289</p>
<p># Comments: 220</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38352891
title: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO
author: mfiguiere
url: https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969586/sam-altman-plotting-return-open-ai-microsoft
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969586/sam-altman-plotting-return-open-ai-microsoft">https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/20/23969586/sam-altman-plotting-return-open-ai-microsoft</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38352891">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38352891</a></p>
<p>Points: 498</p>
<p># Comments: 730</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353146
title: Venmo, Cash App users sue Apple over peer-to-peer payment fees
author: mfiguiere
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
url:
https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/venmo-cash-app-users-sue-apple-over-peer-to-peer-payment-fees-2023-11-20/

content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/venmo-cash-app-users-sue-apple-over-peer-to-peer-payment-fees-2023-11-20/">https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/venmo-cash-app-users-sue-apple-over-peer-to-peer-payment-fees-2023-11-20/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353146">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353146</a></p>
<p>Points: 88</p>
<p># Comments: 16</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353285
title: LLMs cannot find reasoning errors, but can correct them
author: koie
url: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.08516
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.08516">https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.08516</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353285">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353285</a></p>
<p>Points: 123</p>
<p># Comments: 43</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353473
title: Launch HN: Stralis (YC W23) – Hydrogen electric aircraft for medium-haul travel
author: stuart8ol
url: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353473
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Hi HN, we are Bob and Stuart from Stralis Aircraft (<a href="https://stralis.aero">https://stralis.aero</a>). We’re taking advantage of hydrogen electric propulsion technology to design a low cost, 50-seat aircraft that can replace a significant portion of the ubiquitous single-aisle (e.g. Boeing 737) market that makes up ~60% of commercial aircraft sold. We are starting out by developing the propulsion system for a 6-seat Beechcraft Bonanza. So far, we have installed and tested the electric motor and performed some benchtop fuel cell testing. Here’s a quick video showing what it looks like these days: <a href="https://vimeo.com/879966330" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://vimeo.com/879966330</a>. Next step is to perform some system testing with a COTS fuel cell, whilst we progress our own fuel cell development. We are currently working through setting up our hydrogen electric propulsion test lab at Brisbane International Airport, which will allow us to rapidly prototype subsystems and generate the data we need for the 50 seat, SA-1, design. Quick fly through video of our facility here: <a href="https://vimeo.com/884325165" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://vimeo.com/884325165</a><p>Airlines are anticipating the need to de-carbonise, driven by legislation or by customer pressure, but there is not yet any emission-free aircraft solution that is practical and cost-effective to adopt. Other solutions are either too heavy, like batteries and automotive industry fuel cells, or too expensive and inefficient, like sustainable aviation fuel. It is important to get a low enough CASM (Cost per Available Seat Mile) to allow operators to switch to a sustainable solution without having to dramatically increase ticket prices.<p>Bob and I met at a company called magniX, who develop high specific power electric motors. magniX quickly identified aerospace as a major market for their technology but at the time, most of the customers were working on battery electric solutions for de-carbonizing air travel. We were personally involved in 3 aircraft platforms (that have flown) that used our motors. Whilst we are super proud of what we achieved and overcoming the technical hurdles to fly those planes, it became clear that batteries were never going to be the solution to de-carbonising a significant portion of air travel. We went on to work at a few different sustainable aviation companies, and slowly became convinced that hydrogen would be the only technology that would have a chance of achieving the goal of sustainable aviation. There is a lot of public discourse on what is the best technology to solve this high-stakes problem, but instead of arguing about what can and can't work, we decided it would be best to dive into the technology and give our best go at what we think has the best chance.<p>Our propulsion system is quite straightforward—we carry liquid hydrogen in a composite, vacuum insulated storage tank. We boil off the hydrogen and feed it into the fuel cell. We take air from outside the plane to supply the fuel cell with oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen react in the fuel cell and produce electricity, with water vapor being the only by-product. The electricity then powers a lightweight electric motor that spins a propeller.<p>Unlike most other fuel cell systems, we use the oxygen supply air to cool the fuel cell as well — removing the need for large, heavy and draggy external heat exchangers. This is achieved through our choice of fuel cell membrane with a much higher operating temperature (180 C). We remove the weight of the heat exchangers but also reduce the weight of the propulsion system as we don’t need to overcome the extra drag created by the radiators. All of this combines to reduce the fuel cell system weight by about 40%, which equates to a doubling of our payload capacity and, therefore, half the CASM, when compared to a conventional PEM fuel cell system.<p>In addition to our tech, we are also approaching the market differently. We think that a 50-seat aircraft is the optimum size for an aircraft with our hydrogen electric propulsion. This is different from conventional turbofan technology where the optimum size appears to be about 200 seats. All of our competitors are working towards a family of aircraft going upwards of 200 seats (Airbus are only focusing on larger aircraft) but we think there are diminishing returns from building larger hydrogen electric aircraft. Instead, we are honing in on a 50-seat design, optimized for hydrogen electric and designed with automotive manufacture methods in mind. There could be a market demand for up to 50,000 aircraft within the next 25 years, driven by more efficient, point-to-point routes. Most other aircraft programs deliver around 1,000 units, which generally doesn't warrant a large amount of automation, and keeps unit costs high.<p>Hydrogen fuel cells are not new, but we think the need to de-carbonise, the reduction in renewable energy costs, and the improvement in component technologies such as motors, power electronics, batteries etc. make today the best time to pursue this solution to sustainable air travel. We would love to hear from any of you who have worked in aerospace, sustainable aviation fuel (the biggest alternative to hydrogen) and the hydrogen industry. We would also like to hear from people who fly often, and airlines, to learn how important a switch to a sustainable solution is to you. Looking forward to reading all the comments!</p>
<hr>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353473">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353473</a></p>
<p>Points: 71</p>
<p># Comments: 35</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353903
title: Building a starter pack for an API-as-a-Service
author: f35caleb
url: https://www.resteasyapi.com/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.resteasyapi.com/">https://www.resteasyapi.com/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353903">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38353903</a></p>
<p>Points: 27</p>
<p># Comments: 14</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354254
title: A guide to open-source LLM inference and performance
author: varunshenoy
url: https://www.baseten.co/blog/llm-transformer-inference-guide/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.baseten.co/blog/llm-transformer-inference-guide/">https://www.baseten.co/blog/llm-transformer-inference-guide/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354254">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354254</a></p>
<p>Points: 52</p>
<p># Comments: 3</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354422
title: Typst – Compose Papers Faster
author: iNic
url: https://typst.app/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://typst.app/">https://typst.app/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354422">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354422</a></p>
<p>Points: 111</p>
<p># Comments: 35</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354700
title: Why TSA's Implementation of Facial Recognition Is More Dangerous Than You Think
author: underseacables
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
url:
https://epic.org/dont-take-it-at-face-value-why-tsas-implementation-of-facial-recognition-is-more-dangerous-than-you-think/

content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://epic.org/dont-take-it-at-face-value-why-tsas-implementation-of-facial-recognition-is-more-dangerous-than-you-think/">https://epic.org/dont-take-it-at-face-value-why-tsas-implementation-of-facial-recognition-is-more-dangerous-than-you-think/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354700">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354700</a></p>
<p>Points: 113</p>
<p># Comments: 64</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354788
title: Increasing QUIC and UDP Throughput over Tailscale
author: PaulHoule
url: https://tailscale.com/blog/quic-udp-throughput/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://tailscale.com/blog/quic-udp-throughput/">https://tailscale.com/blog/quic-udp-throughput/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354788">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354788</a></p>
<p>Points: 82</p>
<p># Comments: 5</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354918
title: FreeBSD 14.0-Release
author: cperciva
url: https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/announce/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/announce/">https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.0R/announce/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354918">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354918</a></p>
<p>Points: 110</p>
<p># Comments: 39</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354939
title: FDA considers first CRISPR gene editing treatment that may cure sickle cell
author: rntn
url: https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/health/fda-considers-crispr-treatment-cure-sickle-cell/index.html
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/health/fda-considers-crispr-treatment-cure-sickle-cell/index.html">https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/31/health/fda-considers-crispr-treatment-cure-sickle-cell/index.html</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354939">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38354939</a></p>
<p>Points: 25</p>
<p># Comments: 4</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355502
title: Finley (YC W21) Is Hiring Capital Markets Team Members
author: festinalente
url: https://jobs.lever.co/FinleyTechnologies/70462b30-c31a-4db3-932a-0abb96ec5566
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://jobs.lever.co/FinleyTechnologies/70462b30-c31a-4db3-932a-0abb96ec5566">https://jobs.lever.co/FinleyTechnologies/70462b30-c31a-4db3-932a-0abb96ec5566</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355502">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355502</a></p>
<p>Points: 0</p>
<p># Comments: 0</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355503
title: Inhibition of ALDH2 by quercetin glucuronide to explain red wine headaches
author: RadixDLT
url: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-46203-y
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-46203-y">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-46203-y</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355503">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355503</a></p>
<p>Points: 22</p>
<p># Comments: 0</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355762
title: Changing User-Agent to Google Chrome drastically improves YouTube load times
author: drones
url: https://twitter.com/uwukko/status/1726625892620009501
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://twitter.com/uwukko/status/1726625892620009501">https://twitter.com/uwukko/status/1726625892620009501</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355762">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355762</a></p>
<p>Points: 38</p>
<p># Comments: 4</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355934
title: "Object Success" now available
author: dxs
url: https://bertrandmeyer.com/2023/03/24/object-success-now-available/
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://bertrandmeyer.com/2023/03/24/object-success-now-available/">https://bertrandmeyer.com/2023/03/24/object-success-now-available/</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355934">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38355934</a></p>
<p>Points: 14</p>
<p># Comments: 2</p>


guid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38356361
title: SEC charges Kraken for operating as an unregistered securities exchange
author: kklisura
url: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-237
feedurl: https://hnrss.org/frontpage
content:
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-237">https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-237</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38356361">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38356361</a></p>
<p>Points: 14</p>
<p># Comments: 8</p>


guid: news619116542
title: Scientists uncover aurora-like radio emission above a sunspot
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-scientists-uncover-aurora-like-radio-emission.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
In a study published in Nature Astronomy, astronomers from New Jersey Institute of Technology's Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research (NJIT-CSTR) have detailed radio observations of an extraordinary aurora-like display occurring 40,000 km above a relatively dark and cold patch on the sun, known as a sunspot.


guid: news619175581
title: Using eclipses to calculate the transparency of Saturn's rings
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-eclipses-transparency-saturn.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
A Lancaster University Ph.D. student has measured the optical depth of Saturn's rings using a new method based on how much sunlight reached the Cassini spacecraft while it was in the shadow of the rings.


guid: news619178054
title: ALMA observations shed more light on molecular clouds associated with supernova remnant LHA 120-N49
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-alma-molecular-clouds-supernova-remnant.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers has observed a supernova remnant known as LHA 120-N49. Results of the observational campaign, published November 3 on the pre-print server arXiv, provide crucial insights into the nature and properties of molecular clouds associated with this remnant.


guid: news619178072
title: Researchers obtain evidence for nanoflares heating coronal loops
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-evidence-nanoflares-coronal-loops.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Researchers from Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have demonstrated the evolution of separated strands within the apparent single coronal loops observed in Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) images.


guid: news619184588
title: Answering longstanding questions about jets from black holes
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-longstanding-jets-black-holes.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
The one thing everyone knows about black holes is that absolutely everything nearby gets sucked into them. Almost everything, it turns out.


guid: news619184857
title: Brightest flash ever disturbed Earth's atmosphere last year
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-brightest-disturbed-earth-atmosphere-year.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Last year the brightest flash of light ever seen in the night sky disturbed Earth's upper atmosphere in a way that has never before detected before, researchers said on Tuesday.


guid: news619196222
title: Study finds strongest evidence yet for local sources of cosmic ray electrons
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-strongest-evidence-local-sources-cosmic.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
A new study using data from the CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) instrument on the International Space Station has found evidence for nearby, young sources of cosmic ray electrons, contributing to a greater understanding of how the galaxy functions as a whole.


guid: news619178350
title: Downloading NASA's dark matter data from above the clouds
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-downloading-nasa-dark-clouds.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Data from a NASA mission to map dark matter around galaxy clusters has been saved by a new recovery system designed by scientists at the University of Sydney. The system allowed the retrieval of gigabytes of information, even after communication failed and the balloon-based telescope was damaged in the landing process.


guid: news619197148
title: Testing of citizen scientist discovery suggests it is on the boundary between comet and asteroid
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-citizen-scientist-discovery-boundary-comet.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
A team of space scientists, astronomers and astrophysicists affiliated with multiple institutions across the U.S., working with a colleague from Italy, has determined that a celestial object spotted by citizen scientists back in 2016 is neither a comet nor an asteroid, but an object that lies on the boundary between both. In their paper published in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters, the group describes the multiple tests they did to determine the nature of the object and what they learned about it as a result.


guid: news619178354
title: 'Bouncing' comets could deliver building blocks for life to exoplanets
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-comets-blocks-life-exoplanets.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
How did the molecular building blocks for life end up on Earth? One long-standing theory is that they could have been delivered by comets. Now, researchers from the University of Cambridge have shown how comets could deposit similar building blocks to other planets in the galaxy.


guid: news619262833
title: The 'Cosmic Vine': Astronomers discover a large structure that hosts at least 20 massive galaxies
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-cosmic-vine-astronomers-large-hosts.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a large-scale structure that consists of at least 20 massive galaxies. The structure, dubbed "Cosmic Vine," has a size of about 13 million physical light years. The finding was detailed in a paper published Nov. 8 on the pre-print server arXiv.


guid: news619268003
title: Researchers discover alternative cosmic source of gold
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-alternative-cosmic-source-gold.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Dr. Shing Chi Leung, SUNY Poly assistant professor of physics, in collaboration with Mr. Chun-Ming Yip, Dr. Ming-Chung Chu and Dr. Lap-Ming Lin, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, have discovered that the explosion of a low-mass neutron star can be the alternative cosmic source for lanthanides and other heavy elements, including precious metals such as gold and platinum. Their study has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.


guid: news619268015
title: ALMA demonstrates highest resolution yet
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-alma-highest-resolution.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) has demonstrated the highest resolution yet with observations of an old star. The observations show that the star is surrounded by a ring-like structure of gas and that gas from the star is escaping to the surrounding space. Future observations with the newly demonstrated high resolution are expected to elucidate not only the end of a star's life but also the beginning, when planets are still forming.


guid: news619263478
title: With unprecedented flares, stellar corpse shows signs of life
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unprecedented-flares-stellar-corpse-life.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
After a distant star's explosive death, an active stellar corpse was the likely source of repeated energetic flares observed over several months—a phenomenon astronomers had never seen before, a Cornell-led team reports in research published Nov. 15 in Nature.


guid: news619262980
title: JWST detects water vapor, sulfur dioxide and sand clouds in the atmosphere of a nearby exoplanet
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-jwst-vapor-sulfur-dioxide-sand.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
A team of European astronomers, co-led by researchers from the Institute of Astronomy, KU Leuven, used recent observations made with the James Webb Space Telescope to study the atmosphere of the nearby exoplanet WASP-107b. Peering deep into the fluffy atmosphere of WASP-107b they discovered not only water vapor and sulfur dioxide, but even silicate sand clouds. These particles reside within a dynamic atmosphere that exhibits vigorous transport of material.


guid: news619273826
title: Webb follows neon signs toward new thinking on planet formation
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-webb-neon-planet-formation.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Scientists are following neon signs in a search for clues to one planetary system's future and the past of another—our own solar system. Following up on a peculiar reading by NASA's previous infrared flagship observatory, the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the agency's James Webb Space Telescope detected distinct traces of the element neon in the dusty disk surrounding the young sun-like star SZ Chamaeleontis (SZ Cha).


guid: news619347388
title: Peculiar nova eruption inspected by astronomers
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-peculiar-nova-eruption-astronomers.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
An international team of astronomers has employed NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to observe the eruption of Nova Vulpeculae 2021. Results of the observational campaign, published November 8 on the pre-print server arXiv, provide important insights into the peculiar nature of this classical nova, unveiling its complex variability behavior.


guid: news619349041
title: Gamma-rays with energies of up to 13 teraelectronvolts measured for brightest burst of all time
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-gamma-rays-energies-teraelectronvolts-brightest.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Astronomers with The LHAASO Collaboration have found that last year's GRB 221009A gamma-ray burst, subsequently nicknamed the Brightest of All Time (BOAT), carried with it 13 teraelectronvolts of energy. In their study, reported in the journal Science Advances, the group analyzed data from the LHAASO-KM2A detector located in in Sichuan, China, to learn more about the burst.


guid: news619352881
title: ALMA observation of young star reveals details of dust grains
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-alma-young-star-reveals-grains.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
One of the primary goals of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to study the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Young stars are often surrounded by a disk of gas and dust, out of which planets can form.


guid: news619357561
title: NASA's Hubble measures the size of the nearest transiting Earth-sized planet
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-nasa-hubble-size-nearest-transiting.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has measured the size of the nearest Earth-sized exoplanet that passes across the face of a neighboring star. This alignment, called a transit, opens the door to follow-on studies to see what kind of atmosphere, if any, the rocky world might have.


guid: news619436271
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-we0913a-moon-impactor-chinese-booster.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
title:
Study of WE0913A moon impactor shows it was a Chinese booster rocket with an unknown object attached

content:
A team of aerospace and mechanical engineers from the University of Arizona, California Institute of Technology, Project Pluto and the Planetary Science Institute has found evidence strongly suggesting that the March 4, 2022, WE0913A moon impactor was a Chinese booster rocket with an unknown object attached to its side.


guid: news619447714
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unveiling-mercury-geological-mysteries-salt.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
title:
Unveiling Mercury's geological mysteries: Salt glaciers, primordial atmosphere, and the new frontiers of astrobiology

content:
Scientists from the Planetary Science Institute have uncovered evidence of potential salt glaciers on Mercury, opening a new frontier in astrobiology by revealing a volatile environment that might echo habitability conditions found in Earth's extreme locales.


guid: news619510591
title: SpaceX poised for second launch of mega Starship rocket
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-spacex-poised-mega-starship-rocket.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
SpaceX is poised Saturday for the second test launch of Starship, the largest rocket ever built that Elon Musk hopes will one day colonize Mars, while NASA awaits a modified version to land humans on the moon.


guid: news619523377
title: SpaceX launched its giant new rocket but explosions end the second test flight
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-spacex-giant-rocket-pair-explosions.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship but lost both the booster and the spacecraft in a pair of explosions minutes into Saturday's test flight.


guid: news619692603
title: 'Teenage galaxies' are unusually hot, glowing with unexpected elements
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-teenage-galaxies-unusually-hot-unexpected.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Similar to human teenagers, teenage galaxies are awkward, experience growth spurts and enjoy heavy metal—nickel, that is.


guid: news619692506
title: Physicists answer question of Supergalactic Plane's absent spiral galaxies
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-physicists-supergalactic-plane-absent-spiral.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Astrophysicists say they have found an answer to why spiral galaxies like our own Milky Way are largely missing from a part of our local universe called the Supergalactic Plane.


guid: news619700221
title: Using recovery capsules to prevent loss of data from balloon-based telescopes
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-recovery-capsules-loss-balloon-based-telescopes.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
An international team of astrophysicists, aerospace engineers and balloonists has found that data recovery capsules are a viable means of ensuring data integrity in the event of loss of flight capabilities or communications abilities in balloon-based telescope projects. In their paper published in a special issue of Aerospace, the group describes their test of four Data Recovery System (DRS) capsules containing 5 TB of telescopic data sent aboard a helium-filled, super-pressurized balloon.


guid: news619704001
title: Investigating the contribution of gamma-ray blazar flares to neutrino flux
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-contribution-gamma-ray-blazar-flares-neutrino.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
Blazars belong to the family of active galactic nuclei called quasars. What differentiates them from quasars is that the flares ejected out of these active galactic nuclei are pointed toward the Earth. These flares contain high-energy cosmic rays which are released from the core of these galaxies as jets spanning many light years. Such cosmic rays can interact with photons to produce subatomic particles called neutrinos.


guid: news619704902
title: Webb reveals new features in heart of Milky Way
url: https://phys.org/news/2023-11-webb-reveals-features-heart-milky.html
feedurl: https://phys.org/rss-feed/breaking/space-news
content:
The latest image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a portion of the dense center of our galaxy in unprecedented detail, including never-before-seen features astronomers have yet to explain. The star-forming region, named Sagittarius C (Sgr C), is about 300 light-years from the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*.


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33603
title: Low Culture Podcast: Michael Powell's Peeping Tom
author: Luke Turner
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33603-peeping-tom-michael-powell-quietus-podcast
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
In this month's Low Culture podcast John and Luke discuss 1960 film Peeping Tom which, while controversial in its day, has an entirely moral contemporary resonance 


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33600
title: Biting The Hand: ABC's Beauty Stab 40 Years On
author: Matthew Lindsay
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33600-abc-beauty-stab-review-anniversary
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
ABC's follow up to the incredibly successful Lexicon Of Love, was seen as costly misstep by most at the time, but why then, asks Matthew Lindsay, does it feel more resonant than ever?


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33608
title: Hyperspecific: Dance Music For November Reviewed By Jaša Bužinel
author: Jaša Bužinel
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33608-rhyw-ayesha-call-super-evian-christ-lenhart-tapes
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
Jaša Bužinel rounds up another month in electronic music, reviewing outstanding new releases from Rhyw, Ayesha, Lenhart Tapes, Adela Mede and more


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33616
title: Outkast's André 3000 To Release Flute-Based Solo LP
author: Christian Eede
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33616-andre-3000-flute-album-new-blue-sun
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
'New Blue Sun' marks the US artist's first full-length release since Outkast's final studio album in 2006


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33609
title: Sense Fracture - <i>Landscape of Thorns</i>
author: Enrico Monacelli
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33609-sense-fracture-landscape-of-thorns-review
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
From Haunter Records, an album that tries to imagine what industrial music might mean in the 21st century


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33611
title: How Spotify Is Taking Crumbs From Quietus Artists’ Tables
author: Eamonn Forde
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33611-spotify-royalties
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
Eamonn Forde gives us an update on how the new streaming royalties system where a threshold of 1000 plays has to be reached before money is paid out, is an unprincipled devaluation of the music we all hold dear


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33606
title: Patterns In The Sand: Emma Anderson's Favourite Albums
author: Jude Rogers
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33606-emma-anderson-lush-favourite-albums-bakers-dozen
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
On the release of her debut solo album, former Lush member Emma Anderson takes Jude Rogers through her favourite albums, from a teenage years soundtracked by Simple Minds and The Durutti Column to her affinity with later 4AD labelmates


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33619
title: William Doyle Details New Album, 'Springs Eternal'
author: Christian Eede
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33619-william-doyle-new-album-details-springs-eternal
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
The album's 11 tracks are written from the perspective of "hyperreality versions" of Doyle, according to the artist


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33610
title: Not Just Another Lesbian Christian Band: Meat Joy Interviewed
author: Marc Masters
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33610-meat-joy-interview
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
Unconventional free improvising Texan post punks Meat Joy have just reissued their self-titled album. Marc Masters catches up with the progenitors of this "loud soft fast slow beautiful ugly music"


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33620
title: Ben Frost Unveils First Studio Track In Six Years, 'Turning The Prism'
author: Christian Eede
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
url:
https://thequietus.com/articles/33620-ben-frost-unveils-first-studio-track-in-six-years-turning-the-prism

content:
The new cut follows on from a series of collaborative and experimental projects from the artist in recent years


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33612
title: Fresh Starts & Happy Endings: Quaranta By Danny Brown
author: Arusa Qureshi
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33612-danny-brown-quaranta-review
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
Lockdown (and rehab) allow Detroit’s finest living storyteller to deliver his most personal album to date, finds Arusa Qureshi


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33615
title: Organic Intelligence XXVI: Dungeon Synth
author: Joel McIver
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33615-dungeon-synth-quietus-subscribers
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
In this month’s antidote to the algorithm, Joel McIver slaps on the corpsepaint and buys a 50p keyboard to give us a run-down of the non-more troglodytal world of dungeon synth


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33622
title: Kali Malone Details New Album, 'All Life Long'
author: Christian Eede
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33622-kali-malone-new-album-all-life-long-details
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
The new record features the US artist's first compositions for organ since 2019's 'The Sacrificial Code'


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33613
title: VÄLVĒ - <i>Tiny Pilots</i>
author: Zara Hedderman
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33613-vlv-tiny-pilots-review
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
VÄLVĒ's second record takes inspiration from daydreams and adventures to produce a record at once soothing and startling, finds Zara Hedderman


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33624
title: Reissue Of The Week: Ellen O's Sparrows And Doves
author: Irina Shtreis
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33624-ellen-o-sparrows-and-doves-review
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
This reissue of the 2014 debut album by Ellen O, says Irina Shtreis, celebrates the life of the late dream wave artist, and reminds us there is much more to her story than the tragedy of her death. C/W: this article contains discussion of suicide


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33628
title: Say Something! The Grand Guignol Spectacle Of The Birthday Party
author: Adam Steiner
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
url:
https://thequietus.com/articles/33628-darker-with-the-dawn-nick-caves-songs-of-love-and-death-adam-steiner-the-birthday-party-extract

content:
In an exclusive extract from his new book, *Darker With The Dawn — Nick Cave’s Songs Of Love And Death*, Adam Steiner tracks the early days of the bad seed of Australian rock


guid: tag:thequietus.com,2005:Article/33626
title: Abstract Concrete - <i>Abstract Concrete</i>
author: Sean Kitching
url: https://thequietus.com/articles/33626-abstract-concrete-self-titled-review
feedurl: https://thequietus.com/feed
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
The debut album from Charles Hayward’s new group lives up to the promise of their brilliant live shows for Sean Kitching


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96466
author: Aaron McCrea
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/launch-roundup-01/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
title:
Launch Roundup: SpaceX pushes for 100 flights in the year with a ISS resupply, a rideshare mission, and more

content:
<img width="2048" height="1366" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot.jpg 2048w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot-350x233.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot-525x350.jpg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot-1920x1281.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot-585x390.jpg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nov.-8-2023-Falcon-9-Starlink-6-27-Streak-Shot-263x175.jpg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><p>SpaceX is actively working to reach its goal of 100 launches by the end of this year with four launches carrying many different types of payloads coming this week. Additionally, China has continued to upgrade its satellites in orbit with the 150th launch of its Chang Zheng 3B/E rocket.</p>
<p>A Starlink mission started out the week early on Wednesday, launching from SLC-40 with its new crew tower at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). Then China launched its 150th Chang Zheng 3B/E at Xichang Satellite Launch Center adding another communications satellite to orbit.</p>
<p>Three more Falcon 9 launches end this week, with the first of those being the resupply of the International Space Station with the 29th launch of SpaceX&#8217;s Commercial Resupply Mission (CRS). This launched from historic pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Next was the Transporter 9 rideshare mission launching from pad SLC-4E out of Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). For the final launch this week, SpaceX launched two O3b mPOWER 5 &amp; 6 for SES out of SLC-40 at CCSFS.</p>
<p><span id="more-96466"></span></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59767.0">Falcon 9 &#8211; Starlink Group 6-27</a></strong></p>
<p>The first launch of the week was completed by SpaceX, who launched another 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO). This flight successfully launched early on Nov. 8 at 12:05 AM EST (05:05 UTC) out of SLC-40 at CCSFS in Florida.</p>
<p>Falcon 9 booster B1073-11 lifted the 52nd Starlink mission of this year to orbit. The booster has previously supported SES-22, HAKUTO-R Mission 1, Dispasat Amazonas Nexus, CRS-27, and six Starlink missions. The upper stage took these 23 satellites to a 284 by 293-kilometer LEO while the booster returned to the droneship <em>Just Read The Instructions</em>, which was 630 kilometers downrange for the landing of this booster.</p>
<p>Starlink v2-mini satellites were the payload inside the fairing for this launch. They are the second generation of Starlink satellites made for high-speed internet access all over the world due to their placement in LEO. The satellites successfully deployed at 230 kilometers just over an hour after launch. They will now increase their altitude to the final operational orbit of 530 kilometers in the coming months.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Falcon 9 launches 23 <a href="https://twitter.com/Starlink?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Starlink</a> satellites to orbit from Florida. We’ve now launched 80 times in 2023, delivering more than 1,000 metric tons to orbit <a href="https://t.co/fsrVKW8K9x">pic.twitter.com/fsrVKW8K9x</a></p>
<p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1722135185674895655?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59687.0">Chang Zheng 3B/E &#8211; Zhongxing-6E</a></strong></p>
<p>The only rocket that launched this week that was not a Falcon 9 was the Chang Zheng 3B/E from LC-2 at Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China. This was Chang Zheng 3B/E’s fifth launch of this year. It launched on Nov. 9 at 11:23 UTC for its 150th mission of all time.</p>
<p>The payload inside the 4.2-meter-diameter fairing was a Zhongxing-6E satellite. This satellite is a communications satellite put into a geosynchronous orbit above China and is meant to be the successor to the Zhongxing-6B. Zhongxing-6B was used for TV transmissions and shortwave radio jamming, so Zhongxing-6E will likely be used for the same reasons, but with updated technology.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59081.0">Falcon 9 &#8211; CRS SpX-29</a></strong></p>
<p>Keeping the ISS supplied, SpaceX sent its third Falcon 9 this week to LEO. Using Cargo Dragon capsule C211, SpaceX continued its CRS missions contracted by NASA. This launch took place on Nov. 9 out of historic pad, LC-39A at KSC in Florida at 8:28 PM EST (Nov. 10 at 1:28 UTC).</p>
<p>This mission was SpaceX’s 29th CRS mission to the ISS and ninth under CRS phase two. Booster 1081 put the supplies onto a 51.66-degree inclined orbit, the same orbit as the ISS. Then the second stage and Cargo Dragon took them the rest of the way to docking. This is booster 1081&#8217;s second flight with its first being Crew-7&#8217;s mission taking Dragon C210 Endurance to the International Space Station. The booster successfully landed back at Landing Zone 1 at KSC.</p>
<p>This was also Cargo Dragon C211’s second flight. It has taken SpaceX 348 days to refurbish and relaunch this capsule following its launch in late November of last year. It will dock onto the ISS’s Harmony port after just over 29 hours in space. This was Falcon 9’s 77th mission this year and its 272nd mission to date.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Return to sender &#8211; CRS-27</p>
<p>Falcon 9 B1081.2’s vibrant atmospheric exhaust expansion, MECO, stage 2 ignition and first stage boostback all captured in a single exposure tonight at the Kennedy Space Center.</p>
<p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4f8.png" alt="📸" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> &#8211; <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASASpaceflight</a> </p>
<p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f4fa.png" alt="📺" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> &#8211; <a href="https://t.co/jCoYPQGLG1">https://t.co/jCoYPQGLG1</a> <a href="https://t.co/lsJtaLlAlu">pic.twitter.com/lsJtaLlAlu</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Max Evans (@_mgde_) <a href="https://twitter.com/_mgde_/status/1722793436032520675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=56359.0">Falcon 9 &#8211; Transporter 9</a></strong></p>
<p>SpaceX continued the run of Falcon 9 launches this week with its ninth rideshare mission. Transporter 9 launched successfully on Nov. 11 at 10:49 AM PST (06:49 UTC) from pad SLC-4E at VSFB in California.</p>
<p>Booster 1071 conducted a return-to-launch site landing at Landing Zone 4.  In its lifetime, it has carried NROL-87, NROL-85,  SARah-1, Starlink 3-2, Starlink 4-29, SWOT,  Starlink 2-6 with ION SCV-009 Eclectic Elena, Starlink 2-8, Transporter 8, Starlink 6-15, and Starlink 7-2. This was the booster’s 12th launch and second Transporter mission.</p>
<p>Transporter-9 launched a multitude of satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit, deploying them along the way to get them into their specified orbit. The deployments were finished one hour and 26 minutes after liftoff. Since this mission is a return-to-launch site landing, there was not be a drone ship involved in the recovery of the booster. However, both fairings will be recovered downrange by <em>GO Beyond</em>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">On board this mission are 90 spacecraft, including CubeSats, MicroSats, and orbital transfer vehicles <a href="https://t.co/IDkZ5gJ1YK">pic.twitter.com/IDkZ5gJ1YK</a></p>
<p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1722760221247103205?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>This is SpaceX’s ninth dedicated rideshare mission. These missions help many small satellites get to orbit starting at the relatively low price of $275,000 US for a satellite with a mass of up to 50 kilograms. There are many different configurations rideshare buyers can purchase, with options up to 300 kilograms. SpaceX has these transporter missions approximately every four months, allowing many smaller satellite companies or class projects with enough funding access to space.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=58799.0">Falcon 9 &#8211; O3b mPOWER 5 &amp; 6</a></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week’s fourth and final Falcon 9 launch took two O3b mPOWER satellites to an equatorial MEO transfer orbit for the satellite telecommunications network provider SES. SpaceX launched this mission on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 4:08 PM EST (21:08 UTC) and took off out of pad SLC-40 at CCSFS in Florida. This was the fourth time SES has trusted Falcon 9 to get their satellites into orbit and SpaceX’s second launch from SLC-40 this week.</span></p>
<p>Booster 1076 took these satellites to a medium-Earth orbit on its ninth flight. It landed on SpaceX&#8217;s drone ship, <em>A Shortfall of</em> Gravitas, downrange from CCSFS in the Atlantic Ocean. This booster has flown eight missions before this flight which include CRS SpX-26, OneWeb #16, Starlink Group 6-1, Intelsat 40e/TEMPO, Starlink Group 6-3, Starlink Group 6-6, Starlink Group 6-14,  and Starlink Group 6-21.  It has only taken SpaceX 39 days to prepare this booster for launch after the flight of Starlink Group 6-21 and was the 79th Falcon 9 mission of this year.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Take a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BTS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BTS</a> peek at the preparations as we’re getting ready to launch our third pair of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/O3bmPOWER?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#O3bmPOWER</a> satellites!  <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f680.png" alt="🚀" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f6f0.png" alt="🛰" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f6f0.png" alt="🛰" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@spacex</a> livestream details below <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f447.png" alt="👇" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShareAnywhere?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShareAnywhere</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BoeingSpace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BoeingSpace</a></p>
<p><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f5d3.png" alt="🗓" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> Sunday, 12 November<br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f55f.png" alt="🕟" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> 4:08pm EST | 10:08pm CET<br /><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/25b6.png" alt="▶" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <a href="https://t.co/KwAB6QLWok">https://t.co/KwAB6QLWok</a> <a href="https://t.co/PQX8ymtfvk">pic.twitter.com/PQX8ymtfvk</a></p>
<p>&mdash; SES (@SES_Satellites) <a href="https://twitter.com/SES_Satellites/status/1723671305730322754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These are the fifth and sixth satellites that Boeing built for SES, although they have not come without problems. On Oct. 31, SES announced that electrical issues have caused major performance downgrades. This problem, which caused the satellites to periodically switch off the power modules, will cause SES to have to put two more O3b mPOWER satellites into orbit just to get the same expected bandwidth they planned for in the first place. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are also important upgrades that Boeing will have to make before the satellites can launch. Since the problem is so recent, the satellites onboard Falcon 9 did not have the upgrades. SES has stated that they do not expect to spend more money on the constellation due to a risk-sharing deal with Boeing. Boeing is now expected to lose $315 million on the original deal due to the glitch. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Due to the downgrade in bandwidth, there will now have to be at least three more launches until the constellation of O3b mPOWER is complete. If no more problems arise, the constellation will likely be activated later in 2024. When it is online, it will give internet access to many different hard-to-reach areas. This includes cruise ships and commercial ships as well as offshore energy like oil and gas mining. It is also there to protect military units, and in some specific cases, the average person by creating an always active signal.</span></p>
<p><em>(Lead image: Falcon 9 launching Starlink 6-27 from SLC-40 at CCSFS. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF)</em></p>
<p><iframe title="Rocket Lab&#039;s Comeback &amp; Starship Waits For The FAA! | This Week In Spaceflight" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m-BGz8c061Y?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/launch-roundup-01/">Launch Roundup: SpaceX pushes for 100 flights in the year with a ISS resupply, a rideshare mission, and more</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96499
title: Summit cites Paradigm Shift for European Spaceflight
author: Karin Sturm
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/paradigm-shift-european-spaceflight/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="2560" height="1802" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-17-14-046-scaled.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-17-14-046-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-17-14-046-350x246.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-17-14-046-497x350.jpg 497w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-17-14-046-768x541.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-17-14-046-1920x1352.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-17-14-046-1170x824.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p>The ESA-EU Space Summit at Seville/Spain on November 6/7 focused on the need to evolve the future of the European Space Agency (ESA) and European spaceflight in general.</p>
<p>Europe&#8217;s space ambitions are moving into a &#8220;paradigm shift,&#8221; as noted by Josef Aschbacher, Director General of ESA, as Europe deals with a gap in capability between Ariane 5 and Ariane 6, with an additional focus on future vehicles with reusability in mind.<br />
<span id="more-96499"></span><br />
Supported by the ministers of the European Space Agency&#8217;s 22 member states, ESA&#8217;s council declared more competition and commercial input as the key points for two major projects to define the future participation of Europe in the global space economy.</p>
<div id="attachment_96505" style="width: 2473px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96505" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96505" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-28-30-618.jpg" alt="" width="2463" height="1393" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-28-30-618.jpg 2463w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-28-30-618-350x198.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-28-30-618-619x350.jpg 619w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-28-30-618-768x434.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-28-30-618-1920x1086.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-28-30-618-1170x662.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2463px) 100vw, 2463px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96505" class="wp-caption-text">ESA Council Meeting Presser &#8211; November 2023</p></div>
<p>Project number one is a competition for new launch vehicles to follow the current Ariane 6 and Vega-C programs, in all categories from micro to heavy launchers. The second drive targets a new cargo vehicle for transport to and from the International Space Station (ISS), ready to fly in 2028.</p>
<p>Aschbacher once again admitted to the current &#8220;European launcher crisis&#8221; as a consequence of mistakes made in the past and emphasized the importance of rectifying those now as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Neither Ariane 6, four years behind schedule, nor Vega-C, are currently ready to fly &#8211; the latter after technical problems during the last launch with a NET (No Earlier Than) next launch in April 2024.</p>
<div id="attachment_96503" style="width: 2520px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96503" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96503" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-22-24-502.jpg" alt="" width="2510" height="1564" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-22-24-502.jpg 2510w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-22-24-502-350x218.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-22-24-502-562x350.jpg 562w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-22-24-502-768x479.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-22-24-502-1920x1196.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-22-24-502-1170x729.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2510px) 100vw, 2510px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96503" class="wp-caption-text">Arianespace family of rockets &#8211; via Arianespace</p></div>
<p>For Ariane 6, Aschbacher said he would be better positioned to provide a NET launch date after a long-duration (470 seconds) core stage engine test firing, planned to take place at the end of November 2023.</p>
<p>Dr. Walther Pelzer, Executive Board Member of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Director General of the German Space Agency revealed that funding for the launcher competition will be in the same region as the 361 million Euro a year from 2026 onwards for future Ariane 6 (340 million) and Vega-C (21 million) launches that ESA has agreed on.</p>
<p>It was noted this would secure the program for 42 launches future of each, instead of only 15 so far.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><aside class="penci-sidebar-content widget l2-info"><h4 class="widget-title penci-border-arrow"><span class="inner-arrow">See Also</span></h4><ul><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=17.0">ESA Section</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=47.0">L2 International Vehicles</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/">Click here to Join L2</a></li></ul></aside></span></p>
<p>According to the DLR, the &#8216;European Launcher Challenge&#8217; was initiated by Germany, &#8220;to open up the market to competition from commercial launchers and thus achieve greater cost-effectiveness and resilience. After all, we can only become independent and competitive in Europe if we contrast the approaches of the past with a new vision,&#8221; Pelzer stated.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have decided to completely change the way the next launch vehicle is defined,&#8221; Aschbacher added. The industry will make proposals and ESA will be the anchor customer. &#8220;Something like Ariane 6 – ore 5, 4, etc. &#8211; is not going to happen again.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Of course, it takes time until these new launchers come and fly and provide heavy-lift launch capability&#8221;, he admitted, &#8220;but we are building it up now, and today these decisions are made.&#8221; The joint implementation of the &#8216;European Launcher Challenge&#8217; will be prepared for the next Council Meeting at the Ministerial Level in Germany in 2025.</p>
<p>There was support from EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton, who added &#8220;Commercializing space activities is a priority.&#8221;</p>
<p>The sector is becoming increasingly competitive, especially from non-European players. &#8220;We need to change our approach to a new risk culture.&#8221;</p>
<p>Moving to the future, European cargo transport vehicle is seen by Aschbacher as a &#8220;currently missing piece&#8221; in the further participation of Europe in space exploration.</p>
<p>In the past, Europe contributed to resupply missions to the ISS with the ATV from 2008 to 2015. Now, a new competition is targeted to inspire industry to provide a new vehicle in a very short time, &#8220;a huge challenge&#8221;, according to the Director General of ESA.</p>
<div id="attachment_96504" style="width: 2520px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96504" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96504" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-24-07-561.jpg" alt="" width="2510" height="1564" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-24-07-561.jpg 2510w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-24-07-561-350x218.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-24-07-561-562x350.jpg 562w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-24-07-561-768x479.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-24-07-561-1920x1196.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-24-07-561-1170x729.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2510px) 100vw, 2510px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96504" class="wp-caption-text">ESA&#8217;s ATV provided upmass to the ISS</p></div>
<p>&#8220;We will buy a cargo return vehicle which should fly to the International Space Station by 2028&#8221;, Aschbacher set as the time frame. &#8220;It will bring some tons of payload up to the space station, dock at the space station, and come back to Earth with some tons of cargo in the vehicle.&#8221;</p>
<p>While officially the new cargo transporter was always called as a service vehicle to and from the ISS, which is currently planned to be retired in 2030, ESA is aiming to evolve further into the next decade.</p>
<p>German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, who spent six months on the ISS as a Crew-3 member, mentioned that it could also be used to serve further space stations after the ISS.</p>
<p>Airbus, the leading European space company, in a joint venture with the U.S. Companies Voyager Space and Northrop Grumman is working on building Starlab, one of the competitors in NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations program.</p>
<p>Maurer also already hinted at what would be a big leap for ESA, crewed missions on European vehicles. &#8220;It could even evolve into a human-rated vehicle to ferry astronauts from and to space, which of course I find very exciting.&#8221;</p>
<p><iframe title="But Now There&#039;s Two! | This Week In Spaceflight" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VyipTtLIuCc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Aschbacher was positive about this ambition, but wasn&#8217;t willing to not yet want to commit to at this stage, as this would be &#8220;a future decision for the Council to make.&#8221; But should such a decision once be made, the crew version could even go further than low Earth orbit &#8211; eventually possibly to the Moon.</p>
<p>A &#8220;tiger team&#8221; is now implemented within ESA to begin the competitive procurement process immediately.</p>
<p>For the first phase, a projected three companies will compete with each other for funding of 75 million euros from the agency&#8217;s 2022 budget. Funding for Phase 2 will be considered and decided at the next ministerial meeting in 2025.</p>
<div id="attachment_96506" style="width: 2556px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96506" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96506" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-29-56-570.jpg" alt="" width="2546" height="1613" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-29-56-570.jpg 2546w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-29-56-570-350x222.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-29-56-570-552x350.jpg 552w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-29-56-570-768x487.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-29-56-570-1920x1216.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-08-18-29-56-570-1170x741.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2546px) 100vw, 2546px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96506" class="wp-caption-text">Susie concept as a full scale vehicle working in orbit &#8211; via Arianespace</p></div>
<p>ESA will not specify the vehicle&#8217;s design, only the services it requires, including docking and re-entry capability, something yet to be provided by European vehicles. As in the launcher program, the agency will serve as the anchor customer.</p>
<p>Similarities between the ESA program and NASA’s commercial cargo program are starting to align, following the success of its partnership with SpaceX&#8217;s Dragon spacecraft which started as a cargo vehicle that berthed, but later was turned into a spacecraft that can be flown either with or without crew, and docks.</p>
<p>ESA appears to be aiming to merge into that partnership path as a future aspiration.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-96431 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png" alt="" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-350x197.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-622x350.png 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-768x432.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-1170x658.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/paradigm-shift-european-spaceflight/">Summit cites Paradigm Shift for European Spaceflight</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96510
title: SpaceX Transporter 9 rideshare features new OTV from Tom Mueller’s Impulse Space
author: Danny Lentz
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/transporter-9/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="1919" height="1080" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-liftoff.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-liftoff.jpg 1919w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-liftoff-350x197.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-liftoff-622x350.jpg 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-liftoff-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-liftoff-1170x658.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1919px) 100vw, 1919px" /><p>On Saturday, Nov. 11 SpaceX launched the Transporter-9 rideshare mission from launch complex SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). The rocket lifted off at 10:49 AM PST (18:49 UTC).</p>
<p>Deployment of payloads from the second stage to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of approximately 520 kilometers began almost an hour after launch, and lasted for about 30 minutes. There were 89 deployment events from Falcon 9 releasing 90 spacecraft, some of which are orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) carrying an additional 23 satellites for later deployment. SpaceX was able to immediately confirm successful deployment for 85 of those 89. The owners for two of those four unconfirmed deployments have announced on social media that they received signals from the satellites.</p>
<p><span id="more-96510"></span></p>
<p>The booster used for this flight was B1071-12, the same booster used for the previous Transporter flight. It has also launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, and six Starlink missions. After stage separation, the booster returned to land on LZ-4 at VSFB. The second stage, which had the shorter version of the MVac nozzle, conducted two burns to reach the payload deployment orbit, then a third burn to deorbit the stage when the mission was complete. Support ship <em>GO Beyond</em> will recover the payload fairing halves downrange in the Pacific Ocean.</p>
<p>This was the 82nd Falcon mission of the year for SpaceX. The company is continuing to launch at a rapid pace with this being the third of four flights scheduled in less than a week. The next flight will launch a pair of O3B mPOWER satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, Nov. 12. Another flight from VSFB at the end of November will also carry some rideshare satellites along with its primary payload of an Earth observation satellite for the South Korean government.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">LHA map for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Transporter?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Transporter</a>-9 mission from VSFB SLC-4E NET 11 Nov 18:49 UTC, altern. 12 to 15 Nov based on issued NOTAM/NOTMARs. LZ-4 landing for B1071.12. Estimated fairing recovery position approx. 551km downrange. Stage2 debris reentry south of Cape Town. <a href="https://t.co/dG6yDqlaep">https://t.co/dG6yDqlaep</a> <a href="https://t.co/XSDxJUHgri">pic.twitter.com/XSDxJUHgri</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Raul (@Raul74Cz) <a href="https://twitter.com/Raul74Cz/status/1722980456474288351?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><strong>Mission Overview</strong></p>
<p>This was the ninth dedicated rideshare mission organized by SpaceX. The Transporter flights provide a consistent cadence of rideshare opportunities to the popular SSO destination, with several flights per year. Beginning in 2024 these will be joined by the Bandwagon missions to a mid-inclination orbit.</p>
<p>Payloads range in size from picosatellites of less than a kilogram that are only a few centimeters on a side to satellites massing a couple hundred kilograms. There are a wide variety of CubeSat sizes being launched. The larger 16U size is becoming more common now, with at least five of them on board this mission from several manufacturers. There is also an unusual 4U size built by Spire.</p>
<p>The volume of CubeSats is usually given in units — “U” — of 10 by 10 by 10 centimeters. For example, a 6U CubeSat would measure 10 by 20 by 30 centimeters. The volume of PocketQubes is usually given in P units of 5 by 5 by 5 centimeters, so a 2P PocketQube measures 5 by 5 by 10 centimeters.</p>
<p>While some rideshare customers deal directly with SpaceX to launch their spacecraft, most of the payloads are handled by launch integrators who buy space on the payload stack and then assemble multiple customers into that space, launching either directly from the launch vehicle&#8217;s second stage or on board a separable deployer or space tug that will release payloads at a later time, possibly after adjusting the orbit.</p>
<aside class="penci-sidebar-content widget l2-info"><h4 class="widget-title penci-border-arrow"><span class="inner-arrow">See Also</span></h4><ul><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=56359.0">Transporter-9 Updates</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=55.0">SpaceX Missions Section</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=60.0">L2 SpaceX Section</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/">Click here to Join L2</a></li></ul></aside>
<p>Some of the launch integrators for this flight are Exolaunch supporting 35 satellites including the deployment of 28 CubeSats, Maverick Space handling three CubeSats, SEOPS handling three CubeSats, and Momentus handling four CubeSats. There are three orbital transfer vehicles (OTV) from D-Orbit, Impulse Space, and Exotrail which will release more satellites at later dates.</p>
<p>D-Orbit is back with its ION SCV013 &#8220;Ultimate Hugo&#8221; OTV. The spacecraft will be carrying 15 CubeSats and 6 PocketQubes for later deployment, as well as several hosted payloads. One of the hosted payloads is the &#8220;Stars of Calm&#8221; space memorial flight for New Zealand&#8217;s StardustMe.</p>
<p>Exotrail, based in France, is debuting a new OTV. SpaceVan 001 uses Exotrail&#8217;s ExoMG electric propulsion system and appears to be based on the Nanoavionics MP42 satellite bus.</p>
<div id="attachment_96511" style="width: 1610px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96511" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96511 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mira-testing.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1281" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mira-testing.jpg 1600w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mira-testing-350x280.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mira-testing-437x350.jpg 437w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mira-testing-768x615.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Mira-testing-1170x937.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96511" class="wp-caption-text">Mira OTV undergoing vibration testing before flight. (Credit: Impulse Space)</p></div>
<p>Another new OTV comes from Impulse Space, a company founded by Tom Mueller, former head of propulsion at SpaceX.</p>
<p>Impulse Space was formed to provide in-space logistics services and reduce the cost of getting to higher energy orbits. In the future that could include high-energy kick stages to move payloads between orbits and services such as debris removal. The first step toward those goals is the Mira OTV.</p>
<p>Mira is designed with the propellant tanks stacked in the center of the vehicle with a pair of payload attachment points on either side. This arrangement helps optimize the total impulse provided by the vehicle.</p>
<p>Mira uses Impulse Space&#8217;s Saiph thrusters for propulsion. Saiph generates 22 newtons (five pounds-force) of thrust, using ethane and nitrous oxide propellants lit by a spark igniter. These propellants are relatively safe to work with and can easily be kept in the needed temperature range while in space. The ethane fuel is also used for a reaction control system of 16 cold gas thrusters.</p>
<p>The eight Saiph thrusters on this vehicle are arranged in four pairs and will be used to demonstrate providing high thrust for missions such as setting a reentry capsule on a path to hit its landing ellipse on the ground. The arrangement also gives redundancy if a thruster should fail. The number of thrusters could be reduced to four in the future for missions not needing that level of performance.</p>
<p>Almost all of the Mira vehicle is built in-house, including the thrusters, propellant tanks, flight computers, and engine controllers. The current generation of avionics is designed to work in LEO. For future missions going to GEO and farther the avionics will be upgraded for more radiation tolerance.</p>
<p>Mira&#8217;s first mission is intended to demonstrate high delta-V (change in orbital velocity) capability while performing maneuvers that would be done for customers such as plane changes and LTAN changes (changing the time that the vehicle crosses the equator in its orbit.)</p>
<p>Mira will deploy the &#8220;Time We’ll Tell&#8221; satellite for TrustPoint, which features a compact Position, Navigation, and Time (PNT) demonstration payload to deliver C-Band global time and positioning services from LEO independent of the GPS system.</p>
<div id="attachment_96585" style="width: 1610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96585" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96585" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Kepler_Pathfinder-s.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="900" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Kepler_Pathfinder-s.jpg 1600w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Kepler_Pathfinder-s-350x197.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Kepler_Pathfinder-s-622x350.jpg 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Kepler_Pathfinder-s-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Kepler_Pathfinder-s-1170x658.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96585" class="wp-caption-text">Render of Kepler AETHER pathfinder satellite. Credit: Kepler Communications</p></div>
<p>There are a variety of communications satellites on the flight.</p>
<p>Kepler Communication has AETHER 1 &amp; 2, two pathfinder satellites to test technology for its upcoming optical communications relay network. Jacobs is launching two 3U satellites built by Spire, Mango 2a and 2b, to demonstrate a software-defined radio that can be used for both inter-satellite and space-to-ground communications, as well as a chip-scale atomic clock to support synchronization between the satellites and geolocation. Turkey&#8217;s Plan-S has Connecta T3.1 &amp; T3.2, a pair of 3U spacecraft to demonstrate inter-satellite links.</p>
<p>OQ Technologies expands its IoT constellation with Tiger-5 and -6, a pair of 6U satellites built by Danish company Space Inventor. hiSky is launching Ella 1, the first 4U CubeSat built by Spire, designed to showcase the capabilities of hiSky’s Smartellite IoT ground network to switch between satellites in different orbits. DJIBOUTI-1A (1U), a collaboration between engineers in Djibouti and the University of Montpellier, will collect data from climatological stations. <span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;Malaysia's SpaceIn has SpaceANT-D (1P) to demonstrate an IoT payload.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;12&quot;:0}">Malaysia&#8217;s SpaceIn has SpaceANT-D (1P) to demonstrate an IoT payload. Apogeo Space has nine PICo-IoT (.3U) satellites for IoT service. The stack of nine satellites fits in a 3U deployer slot.</span></p>
<p>Turkey&#8217;s Hello Space is launching for the second time this year with Hello Test 1 &amp; 2, a pair of 2P satellites for IoT communications. One interesting aspect of this mission is that they appear to be using an adapter to launch PocketQubes from a CubeSat dispenser.</p>
<p>The Swedish satellite Ymir-1 (3U) for the AOS partnership between AAC Clyde Space, Saab, and Orbcomm was built by AAC Clype Space with a VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) payload from Saab for maritime communications.</p>
<p>Taiwan&#8217;s Foxconn has two 6U XL demonstration satellites, PEARL 1C, and PEARL 1H, built in collaboration with National Central University. PEARL 1C has a Ka-band communications payload and a probe for ionospheric plasma measurement. PEARL 1H has a broadband communication experiment with a phased array antenna.</p>
<p>There are a large number of Earth observation satellites for optical imaging, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, radio frequency (RF) signal detection, and geolocation.</p>
<p>Planet has 37 imaging satellites on this flight. Flock 4q will refresh the SuperDove constellation with three dozen of the 3U spacecraft which have medium-resolution imaging payloads. The other spacecraft from Planet is Pelican-1, a demonstration of a new microsatellite design that will be used for high-resolution imaging. These Pelican satellites, which mass up to 160 kilograms, will operate at a very low altitude of under 400 kilometers. This new satellite bus will also be used for Planet&#8217;s upcoming Tanager hyperspectral imaging satellites.</p>
<p>GHGSat will increase the size of its constellation with a trio of 16U satellites built by Spire that will be used for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions. GHGsat C-9 (Juba) &amp; C-11 (Elliot) will detect methane emissions, while GHGSat C-10 (Vanguard) will detect carbon dioxide emissions. In August, GHGSat ordered four more of the 16U satellites from Spire for deployment no earlier than 2024.</p>
<p>UK company Open Cosmos has MANTIS, a 12U satellite generating 100 watts of power with a 2.5m resolution imaging payload and onboard AI capabilities. Open Cosmos also built PLATERO (6U), a spacecraft with a multispectral camera and IoT capabilities that is funded by the government of the Andalusia region of Spain.</p>
<p>AAC Clyde Space has EPICHyper-3 (6U) with a hyperspectral payload that will deliver data for Canadian company Wyvern, which refers to the satellite as Wyvern-3. GenMat has its first satellite GENMAT-1, a 6U spacecraft built by Exobotics, with a hyperspectral imager for mineralogical data acquisition.</p>
<div id="attachment_96531" style="width: 1610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96531" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96531 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1066" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite.jpg 1600w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite-350x233.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite-525x350.jpg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite-585x390.jpg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nara-satellite-263x175.jpg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96531" class="wp-caption-text">The 16U Observer-1A satellite from Nara Space. (Credit: Exolaunch)</p></div>
<p>South Korean company Nara Space has Observer-1A (16U) with a multi-spectral imaging payload that captures seven bands in the 450-900 nanometer range. French company ProtoMéthée has ProtoMéthée-1, a 16U satellite built by Nanoavionics with a MultiScape200 multispectral camera from Simera Sense. French company Aerospacelab has the 120-kilogram SPIP (multiSPectral Imagery Prototype) satellite which will demonstrate new Earth observation payloads.</p>
<p>Poland&#8217;s KP Labs has Intuition 1 (6U) equipped with a hyperspectral camera and on-board processing payloads. KP Labs also has an Antelope onboard computer that will run as a hosted payload on the D-Orbit ION vehicle.</p>
<p>Polish company SatRev has AMAN-1/STORK-7, a 3U satellite with a medium-resolution camera. This satellite will be testing perovskite solar cells, which are flexible and have the potential to be less costly than the solar cells currently used for spacecraft. AMAN-1 is Oman&#8217;s second attempt at putting its first satellite in orbit. The first AMAN was lost due to a failure of the Virgin Orbit rocket carrying it.</p>
<p>South Korea&#8217;s JINJUSat-1 is a 2U satellite with an imaging payload from Jinju City, Korea testing Laboratory, and Gyeongsang National University. KAFASAT (3U), from the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy, has an imaging payload. Alba Orbital has UNICORN-2J and -2K (both 3P), adding to their constellation of picosats that monitors artificial light at night on Earth.</p>
<p>Two SAR constellations continue to grow with more spacecraft on this flight. Finnish firm ICEYE continues to expand its constellation with four more Generation 3 compact SAR microsatellites, ICEYE 31//32/34/35, each with a mass of around 90 kilograms. Umbra is launching a pair of 83-kilogram microsatellites for its SAR constellation, Umbra 07 &amp; 08.</p>
<p>There are several spacecraft on the flight for radio frequency (RF) signal detection.</p>
<p>SNC has the Vindlér satellite constellation, four Spire-built 6U satellites to detect and geolocate RF signals. French company Unseenlabs, which specializes in RF signal detection and geolocation, has two satellites on board, BRO-10 and -11. Based on the size of the deployers containing them, BRO-11 is likely 6U but BRO-10 could be a larger CubeSat. Spire has its LEMUR 2 NANAZ (3U) satellite, which will show Spire&#8217;s capability to track and gather information from terrestrial and space-based signals emitted by LEO constellations providing broadband internet services, extending signal collection up to 30GHz with enhanced capabilities.</p>
<p>The US Air Force Academy continues its FalconSAT program of experimental satellites with the FalconSAT-X microsatellite.</p>
<p>Japanese research institute RIKEN, with Mitsui Bussan Aerospace, has NinjaSat, a 6U spacecraft built by Nanoavionics to observe bright X-ray sources.</p>
<p>Outpost has its Mission 2 &#8220;Debug As You Go&#8221; spacecraft (3U) that will test Outpost&#8217;s core bus technology, as well as hosting payloads for NASA Langley (a small cool gas generator in support of NASA&#8217;s inflatable heat shield technology) and ETH Zurich (a GPS system).</p>
<p>Odyssey SpaceWorks has OSW Cazorla (3U) containing two laboratory modules. The first module for Tufts University will measure the growth of insect protein cells in microgravity. The second module for Physical Synthesis has a digital synthesizer thta will convert LEO physical conditions to sound that can be transmitted back to Earth.</p>
<p>Rogue Space Systems has Barry-1 (3U), a demonstration satellite that will test the ability of Rogue&#8217;s onboard computer to aggregate data from multiple sensors and process it in real-time. Barry-1 will also be testing propellantless IVO Quantum Drives. Internet Think Tank has OMNI-LER1 (6U) to demonstrate blockchain transactions in low Earth orbit (LEO). Cryptosat has Crypto3 (3U) for blockchain applications. Picacho is a 1U demonstration satellite from Lunasonde that will measure the power spectral density of low-frequency radio signals in the ionosphere.</p>
<p>Slovakian company SpaceManic has Veronika (1U) with an amateur radio payload. HERON Mk. II (3U), the first satellite from the University of Toronto Aerospace Team, is an educational mission to gain experience with operating an amateur radio payload. <span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;HADES-D (1.5P) from Spain's AMSAT EA carries an amateur radio payload.&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:513,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;12&quot;:0}">HADES-D (1.5P) from Spain&#8217;s AMSAT EA carries an amateur radio payload. Romania&#8217;s ROMSpace, high school students from the International Computer High School of Bucharest, has the ROM-3 (1.5P) satellite with an amateur radio payload and low resolution imager. Carnegie Mellon University has TARTAN-ARTIBEUS 2 (1P), demonstrating edge processing.</span></p>
<p>Other payloads on board include IRIS C2 (possibly from Satoro Taiwan), OrbAstro PC1, OrbAstro TR1, and Platform 5 (possibly from Endurosat). This list is currently one short of the total given by SpaceX, with one of the payloads aboard the OTVs missing.</p>
<p>This article will be updated after the launch as more payload information becomes available. Several of the companies involved do not release information before launch.</p>
<div id="attachment_96528" style="width: 1495px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96528" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96528 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-stack.jpg" alt="" width="1485" height="2048" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-stack.jpg 1485w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-stack-254x350.jpg 254w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-stack-768x1059.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/T9-stack-1170x1614.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1485px) 100vw, 1485px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96528" class="wp-caption-text">The payload stack for this flight completes the transition to SpaceX&#8217;s new plate architecture. (Credit: SpaceX)</p></div>
<p><em>(Lead Image: Falcon 9 lifts off from SLC-4E for the Transporter 9 mission. Credit: SpaceX)</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/transporter-9/">SpaceX Transporter 9 rideshare features new OTV from Tom Mueller&#8217;s Impulse Space</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96556
title: ESA reveals Euclid’s first five images
author: Martijn Luinstra
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/euclid-first-images/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness_pillars.png" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness_pillars.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness_pillars-350x197.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness_pillars-622x350.png 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness_pillars-768x432.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_first_images_the_dazzling_edge_of_darkness_pillars-1170x658.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /><p>The European Space Agency (ESA) has released the first full-color images from Euclid, the agency&#8217;s latest space telescope designed to study the nature and distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. During a video broadcast on Nov. 7, scientists, engineers, and agency officials unveiled the telescope’s first five images.</p>
<p>The images reveal five targets at different distances, with the furthest, the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, being released first, followed by spiral galaxy IC 342, irregular galaxy NGC 6822, globular cluster NGC 6397, and finally the Horsehead Nebula. These targets were chosen to demonstrate the full potential of Euclid’s two instruments, a visible-wavelength camera called the VISible instrument (VIS) and a near-infrared camera/spectrometer called Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer (NISP).</p>
<p><span id="more-96556"></span></p>
<p>“The images exceed expectations,” said Euclid NL national project manager Edwin Valentijn of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, in an interview with NSF. “It is unbelievable how well Euclid meets its specifications!”</p>
<p>However, this success was hardly guaranteed a few months ago when the telescope experienced issues during its commissioning phase. The problems delayed the start of Euclid’s six-year mission by more than a month. With the issues resolved, the telescope can finally begin mapping a third of the sky to study dark matter and dark energy.</p>
<p>Euclid’s commissioning initially began without issues while the telescope was still on its way to Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2) after lifting off on July 1 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. Problems arose soon after the telescope turned on its detectors for the first time, though.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Welcome to the dazzling edge of darkness!<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f929.png" alt="🤩" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
<p>The first images from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ESAEuclid?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ESAEuclid</a> are here:<br />razor-sharp, wide &amp; looking far into the distant Universe. A trifecta never before achieved.</p>
<p>Explore these 5&#x20e3; cosmic portraits that show Euclid&#39;s full potential <a href="https://t.co/5gI7zvAaY4">https://t.co/5gI7zvAaY4</a> and<img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/14.0.0/72x72/1f447.png" alt="👇" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /> <a href="https://t.co/viqWrx1dQ2">pic.twitter.com/viqWrx1dQ2</a></p>
<p>&mdash; ESA&#39;s Euclid mission (@ESA_Euclid) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESA_Euclid/status/1721880626159292431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>When Euclid sent back its first images, the team noticed the telescope picked up flares of stray sunlight. “We now know it was caused by a thruster bracket that stuck out past the sun shield and reflected light inwards,” explained Valentijn. “Fortunately, this could be moved outside the focal plane by rolling the telescope by 3 degrees, so it’s gone now.”</p>
<p>A second issue was caused by the Sun, which is currently in a period of high activity. When X-rays from solar flares reach Euclid’s detectors, they interfere with the observations. Luckily, scientists can minimize the impact to less than 1% of the data by simply removing the affected data. Repeating observations at a later moment could potentially negate these issues entirely.</p>
<aside class="penci-sidebar-content widget l2-info"><h4 class="widget-title penci-border-arrow"><span class="inner-arrow">See Also</span></h4><ul><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=29201.0">Euclid Updates</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=49.0">Space Science coverage</a></li><li><a href="http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=29.0">L2 Future Spacecraft</a></li><li><a href="http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/">Click here to Join L2</a></li></ul></aside>
<p>The biggest issue arose when the Fine Guidance Sensor was not able to reliably track guide stars. This meant the telescope was unstable and unable to precisely point at its targets, a crucial requirement for the mission’s science goals. “I was always afraid to hear about this because that would mean we had real problems,” said Valentijn.</p>
<p>After the guidance issues were resolved by uploading a software patch to the telescope, Euclid could finally start making scientific observations. The first of which has now been released to the public.</p>
<p><strong>The Perseus Cluster of galaxies</strong></p>
<p>“My favorite image is the one of the Perseus Cluster,” said Valentijn enthusiastically. “It is hard to see depth in a flat image, but you really can in this one. It shows 1,000 large galaxies that are relatively close by in the cluster, and behind those, you can see 100,000 more galaxies, all the way to the limit of what Euclid can observe, 10 billion years back in time.”</p>
<div id="attachment_96559" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96559" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96559 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Perseus_cluster_of_galaxies-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="2560" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Perseus_cluster_of_galaxies-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Perseus_cluster_of_galaxies-350x350.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Perseus_cluster_of_galaxies-768x768.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Perseus_cluster_of_galaxies-1920x1920.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Perseus_cluster_of_galaxies-1170x1170.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96559" class="wp-caption-text">Euclid&#8217;s view on the Perseus Cluster of galaxies. (Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay)/G. Anselmi)</p></div>
<p>“This is an image that really shows what Euclid is made for and what it can do,” Valentijn continued. “It took just about one hour to take a single image. I cannot stress that enough. We will take 30,000 more of these!”</p>
<p>Located 240 million light-years from Earth, the Perseus Cluster is one of the largest structures in the nearby universe. According to astronomers, dark matter was essential to the formation of this cluster. Euclid’s image shows small, faint galaxies in the cluster that haven’t been visible in other images.</p>
<p>Even the far-away galaxies in the background are of interest to astronomers because their light is distorted, an effect called weak lensing. Scientists can deduce how dark matter is distributed throughout the universe by studying these distortions. Euclid’s wide field of view and high resolution make this study possible by collecting lots of data in a short time.</p>
<p>“How can you even measure distortion if you don’t know the original shape,” Valentijn pondered. “Well, you can’t! You can only do that by applying statistics, which will give better results if you have more data. That is why we want so much data.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Perseus_cluster_of_galaxies">Euclid’s image of the Perseus Cluster can be found here.</a></p>
<p><strong>Spiral galaxy IC 342</strong></p>
<p>The next image to be released was of a spiral galaxy known as IC 342, nicknamed the Hidden Galaxy. This galaxy owes its nickname to the fact that it is obscured by the Milky Way from our perspective. It is located 11 million light-years from Earth and appears in the sky about as large as the full Moon.</p>
<div id="attachment_96561" style="width: 1610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96561" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96561" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_spiral_galaxy_IC_342-350x350.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1600" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_spiral_galaxy_IC_342-350x350.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_spiral_galaxy_IC_342-768x768.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_spiral_galaxy_IC_342-1920x1920.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_spiral_galaxy_IC_342-1170x1170.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96561" class="wp-caption-text">Euclid&#8217;s view of spiral galaxy IC 342. (Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay)/G. Anselmi)</p></div>
<p>Using infrared instruments, telescopes can look through the Milky Way’s dust and observe IC 342. Earlier infrared information made by NASA&#8217;s Hubble Space Telescope previously observed parts of this galaxy, but Euclid’s NISP instrument allowed scientists to see the galaxy in its entirety for the first time.</p>
<p>“This image might look normal, as if every telescope can make such an image, but that is not true,” explained Euclid Consortium scientist Leslie Hunt of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy on behalf of a broader team working on showcasing galaxies imaged by Euclid. “What’s so special here is that we have a wide view covering the entire galaxy, but we can also zoom in to distinguish single stars and star clusters. This makes it possible to trace the history of star formation and better understand how stars formed and evolved over the lifetime of the galaxy.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_spiral_galaxy_IC_342">Euclid’s image of IC 342 can be found here.</a></p>
<p><strong>Irregular galaxy NGC 6822</strong></p>
<p>The third image released was of an irregular dwarf galaxy called NGC 6822, which is located 1.6 million light years away from Earth. Despite the galaxy having been observed before by many telescopes, including the James Webb Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes, Euclid was able to provide a new view in only one hour.</p>
<div id="attachment_96562" style="width: 1610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96562" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96562" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_irregular_galaxy_NGC_6822-350x350.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1600" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_irregular_galaxy_NGC_6822-350x350.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_irregular_galaxy_NGC_6822-768x768.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_irregular_galaxy_NGC_6822-1920x1920.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_irregular_galaxy_NGC_6822-1170x1170.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96562" class="wp-caption-text">Euclid&#8217;s view of irregular galaxy NGC 6822. (Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay)/G. Anselmi)</p></div>
<p>“The Euclid field of view is about 100 times bigger than the one of the James Webb Space Telescope, and that’s unique for Euclid,” said Euclid Consortium deputy lead Francis Bernardeau of the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris CNRS and CEA Paris-Saclay, France. “Even if you think of ground-based observations you can reach a similar field of view, but the resolution is – by nature – degraded because of the atmospheric turbulence.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_irregular_galaxy_NGC_6822">Euclid’s image of NGC 6822 can be found here.</a></p>
<p><strong>Globular cluster NGC 6397</strong></p>
<p>The fourth image to be released was that of a globular cluster in our own Milky Way. The cluster, called NGC 6397, is located about 7,800 light-years from Earth.</p>
<p>“You can see the entire cluster all at once,” described Valentijn. “There’s a bunch of stars in the middle, but nearly all stars in the image are part of this cluster. It is fantastic to be able to see all of this at the same time!”</p>
<p>Scientists will use Euclid to study clusters in the search for trails of stars called tidal tails. Observing these tails allows scientists to calculate how the clusters orbit the Milky Way. “And this will tell us how dark matter is distributed in the Milky Way,” said Euclid Consortium scientist Davide Massari of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy.</p>
<div id="attachment_96563" style="width: 1610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96563" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96563" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_globular_cluster_NGC_6397-350x350.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1600" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_globular_cluster_NGC_6397-350x350.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_globular_cluster_NGC_6397-768x768.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_globular_cluster_NGC_6397-1920x1920.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_globular_cluster_NGC_6397-1170x1170.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96563" class="wp-caption-text">Euclid&#8217;s view of globular cluster NGC 6397. (Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay)/G. Anselmi)</p></div>
<p>“We expect all of the globular clusters in the Milky Way to have them, but so far we have only seen them around just a few,” said Massari. “If there are no tidal tails, then there could be a dark matter halo around the globular cluster, preventing the outer stars from escaping. But we don’t expect dark matter haloes around smaller-scale objects like globular clusters, only around bigger structures like dwarf galaxies or the Milky Way itself.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_globular_cluster_NGC_6397">Euclid’s image of NGC 6397 can be found here.</a></p>
<p><strong>The Horsehead Nebula</strong></p>
<p>The final image is a colorful shot of the Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33. At a distance to Earth of 1,375 light-years, this is the closest object among the five Euclid observed.</p>
<p>This region in the constellation Orion is a so-called stellar nursery, where dust and gas accumulate into stars and planets. Euclid’s images help astronomers find new stars, brown dwarfs, and planet-like objects in this cloud.</p>
<p>“These images contain objects that are almost planet-like, which are very faint and on the boundary between star and planet,” said Valentijn. “These are quite interesting for astronomers, as we suspect there are many more light stars than heavy stars, but we don’t know how many more there are.”</p>
<div id="attachment_96564" style="width: 1610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96564" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96564" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Horsehead_Nebula-350x350.jpg" alt="" width="1600" height="1600" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Horsehead_Nebula-350x350.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Horsehead_Nebula-768x768.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Horsehead_Nebula-1920x1920.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Horsehead_Nebula-1170x1170.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96564" class="wp-caption-text">Euclid&#8217;s view of Barnard 33, or the Horsehead Nebula. (Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay)/G. Anselmi)</p></div>
<p>Like the other images, this view showcases Euclid’s ability to capture a lot of detail in a short time.</p>
<p>“We have never seen astronomical images like this before, containing so much detail,” said René Laureijs, ESA’s Euclid Project Scientist. “They are even more beautiful and sharp than we could have hoped for, showing us many previously unseen features in well-known areas of the nearby Universe. Now we are ready to observe billions of galaxies, and study their evolution over cosmic time.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/11/Euclid_s_view_of_the_Horsehead_Nebula">Euclid’s image of the Horsehead Nebula can be found here.</a></p>
<p><strong>Final steps before routine observations</strong></p>
<p>Euclid will start routine observations in early 2024, but before that, the team needs to perform some final fine-tuning of the telescope. During these scheduled operations, the team will characterize the telescope’s optical performance and how the space environment affects the systems through heat and cosmic radiation. After that, the telescope can finally begin collecting vast amounts of data on dark matter and dark energy.</p>
<p>“It will take a while before we’ve collected enough data for a breakthrough,” warns Valentijn. “But Euclid also delivers legacy science, which does not directly involve dark matter or dark energy. We certainly expect interesting discoveries, even in the near future.”</p>
<p><em>(Lead image: A compilation of the five first images from Euclid. Credit: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay)/G. Anselmi)</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/euclid-first-images/">ESA reveals Euclid’s first five images</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96517
title: First Dream Chaser Vehicle Ready for Final Testing
author: Sawyer Rosenstein
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/dream-chaser-shipment/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="2000" height="1500" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity1.png" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity1.png 2000w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity1-350x263.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity1-467x350.png 467w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity1-768x576.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity1-1920x1440.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity1-1170x878.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><p>After years of work, Sierra Space&#8217;s first Dream Chaser reusable spaceplane is almost ready to fly. The vehicle&#8217;s next step is a trip to NASA’s Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio ahead of its first launch at the Kennedy Space Center currently scheduled for no earlier than March 2024.</p>
<p>NSF was invited as part of a media event inside the company&#8217;s facility in Louisville, Colorado, to see the first flight article named <em>Tenacity </em>prior to departing for environmental testing.</p>
<p><span id="more-96517"></span></p>
<p>Dream Chaser is a reusable spaceplane that contains an expendable cargo module. That module also houses the vehicle&#8217;s solar panels. It was selected as part of the Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) contract by NASA, joining SpaceX and Northrop Grumman to bring supplies to, and in this instance from, the International Space Station (ISS).</p>
<p>The plane is then designed to land on a runway. In particular, ISS missions will land at the Launch and Landing Facility, formerly the Shuttle Landing Facility, located at NASA&#8217;s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and currently operated by Space Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Re-Flying Dream Chaser</strong></p>
<p>Sierra Space&#8217;s CEO Tom Vice said the company expects to be able to turn <em>Tenacity</em> around in six months following its landing, seeing it fly again aboard United Launch Alliance&#8217;s new Vulcan rocket.</p>
<div id="attachment_63684" style="width: 1783px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-63684" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-63684" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NSF-2019-10-15-21-12-53-493.jpg" alt="" width="1773" height="932" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NSF-2019-10-15-21-12-53-493.jpg 1773w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NSF-2019-10-15-21-12-53-493-350x184.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NSF-2019-10-15-21-12-53-493-630x331.jpg 630w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NSF-2019-10-15-21-12-53-493-768x404.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/NSF-2019-10-15-21-12-53-493-1170x615.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1773px) 100vw, 1773px" /><p id="caption-attachment-63684" class="wp-caption-text">A model of Dream Chaser inside the Vulcan fairing. (Credit: Lee Jay Fingersh for NSF)</p></div>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;d like to turn the vehicle and be prepared to fly potentially twice next year, but again, that&#8217;s really dependent upon NASA,&#8221; Vice said. &#8220;NASA has a manifest, when they can take the cargo, when they need cargo.&#8221;</p>
<aside class="penci-sidebar-content widget l2-info"><h4 class="widget-title penci-border-arrow"><span class="inner-arrow">See Also</span></h4><ul><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=76.0">Dream Chaser Forum</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38270.0">L2 Dream Chaser</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/">Click here to Join L2</a></li></ul></aside>
<p>Sierra Space is currently contracted for seven missions under the CRS-2 contract and is in discussions for potentially more flights.</p>
<p>However, Vice says one of the benefits to Dream Chaser is that it can be used as its own orbiting science platform as well, and can spend six months in orbit undocked from the ISS.</p>
<p>&#8220;We fly [Dream Chaser] as a service,&#8221; Vice said. &#8220;So we could fly them for other government agencies&#8230; Whether it&#8217;s flying it for a commercial customer that wants to do early drug clinical trials on a free-flying mission, or it&#8217;s another part of the US government that would like to have a mission for other purposes, it&#8217;s set up to be able to do those.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Production Delays</strong></p>
<p>Dream Chaser&#8217;s first ISS mission was originally planned for 2021; however, the company has faced many delays, including issues with the supply chain during the COVID-19 global pandemic.</p>
<p>As a result, Vice said Sierra Space has tried to counter those challenges by building as many components on-site as possible.</p>
<div id="attachment_96546" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96546" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96546" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1500" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles.png 2000w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-350x263.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-467x350.png 467w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-768x576.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-1920x1440.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-1170x878.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96546" class="wp-caption-text">A close-up view of the white and black thermal tiles on Dream Chaser&#8217;s first flight vehicle. (Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)</p></div>
<p>&#8220;Where we saw a critical need was, obviously, we built all of our own thrusters,&#8221; Vice said. &#8220;We&#8217;re now doing all of our own thermal protection systems. We built 90 percent of all of our own harnesses. So we really have thought about where were their bottlenecks, and we&#8217;ve eliminated those bottlenecks by bringing them to work in-house. And what we found almost immediately is we can move faster, higher quality products, much cheaper, and we don&#8217;t have that risk.&#8221;</p>
<p>The company has even built its own solar panels on-site to help provide electricity to its buildings.</p>
<p>An additional concern has been delays in working with NASA and other partners involved with the ISS. There are strict requirements that must be met by any vehicle visiting the orbiting laboratory, including making sure the software onboard Dream Chaser can communicate with the software used on the ISS.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a big deal to approach the ISS, and so we&#8217;ve taken that very seriously for a long period of time, and we do a lot of joint activity with NASA just to make sure we don&#8217;t have that problem,&#8221; Vice said.</p>
<p>The company is also still waiting for a license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to perform a commercial reentry. The FAA released the first proposed project information in 2021 for that license.</p>
<div id="attachment_54870" style="width: 1201px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-54870" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-54870" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-02-07-223426.jpg" alt="" width="1191" height="652" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-02-07-223426.jpg 1191w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-02-07-223426-350x192.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-02-07-223426-630x345.jpg 630w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-02-07-223426-768x420.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2018-02-07-223426-1170x641.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1191px) 100vw, 1191px" /><p id="caption-attachment-54870" class="wp-caption-text">Dream Chaser&#8217;s flight test article eases onto the Runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California during an approach and landing test. (Credit: Sierra Space)</p></div>
<p>Vice said they are working closely with the FAA and are continuing to exchange information and have continued discussions. However, he&#8217;s aware there are a lot of launches and claims there are not enough resources.</p>
<p>&#8220;The FAA is really busy, and I think one of the things I always advocate is the FAA needs more resources, and we spent time in Congress trying to get the FAA more resources because they could really use it,&#8221; Vice said. &#8220;Space is growing fast. As you can imagine, SpaceX is waiting, Blue Origin is waiting, lots of rocket companies are waiting, and of course, we&#8217;re waiting&#8230; so they could use additional resources.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Advancements</strong></p>
<p>Prior to its upcoming testing in Ohio, the vehicle went through some of its own testing in Colorado. That included the first deployment of the wings.</p>
<div id="attachment_96545" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96545" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96545" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Wings.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1500" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Wings.png 2000w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Wings-350x263.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Wings-467x350.png 467w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Wings-768x576.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Wings-1920x1440.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Wings-1170x878.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96545" class="wp-caption-text">A view from behind Tenacity at Dream Chaser&#8217;s folded wings. (Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)</p></div>
<p>Dream Chaser&#8217;s wings fold to allow the current cargo variant to fit within Vulcan&#8217;s 5.4-meter fairing. The wings are unfolded in space and are used for control authority upon returning to Earth&#8217;s atmosphere. However, once in the atmosphere, the primary source of lift is the body of the spacecraft and not the wings.</p>
<p>Similar to the space shuttle&#8217;s payload bay doors, special equipment is needed to test these systems while on the ground.</p>
<p>&#8220;You have to be very careful in a one G environment because they are meant to deploy it in 0 G. A lot of mechanisms are on top of it to make sure you deploy it without breaking anything.&#8221;</p>
<p>Vice also noted the increased interest in hypersonic vehicles, and said, &#8220;Wings are back!&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;You know, we&#8217;re going to be flying Mach 25 on Dream Chaser every time we enter the atmosphere, and we&#8217;re going to collect probably the most amount of data on hypersonic vehicles,&#8221; Vice said, noting that this is in addition to creating a vehicle that is also stable aerodynamically during supersonic, transonic, and subsonic phases of flight.</p>
<p>Another development that has been years in the making is the on-orbit propellants the vehicle will use. Many spacecraft use hypergolic propellants, such as hydrazine,  which ignites when coming in contact with an oxidizer, removing the need for a spark or additional igniter.</p>
<div id="attachment_96544" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96544" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96544" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-Thrusters.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1500" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-Thrusters.png 2000w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-Thrusters-350x263.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-Thrusters-467x350.png 467w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-Thrusters-768x576.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-Thrusters-1920x1440.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Tenacity-Tiles-Thrusters-1170x878.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96544" class="wp-caption-text">A close look at the thermal protection tiles and RP-1/Hydrogen Peroxide thrusters near Tenacity&#8217;s nose. (Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)</p></div>
<p>While used for many years, they are toxic to humans. Sierra Space is using a mixture of Rocket Propellant 1 (RP-1), which is a refined form of kerosene, along with hydrogen peroxide, for maneuvering the vehicle.</p>
<p>&#8220;We wanted to have a fuel system that was green, instead of using hypergolic, so that we could land it at a runway and walk up to the vehicle without being in hazmat suits,&#8221; Vice said.</p>
<p>He did note that designing the system contributed to some of the company&#8217;s delays.</p>
<p>While <em>Tenacity</em> and the currently-under-construction second vehicle are designed solely for cargo missions, future missions are planned that can carry three to six people into orbit and back. That&#8217;s part of why Vice said safer fuels are so important.</p>
<p>&#8220;Think about it, we could land Dream Chaser at the Paris Air Show. A few minutes later, it cools down, six people get out and walk into a chalet, they&#8217;re not wearing hazmat suits,&#8221; Vice said. &#8220;Then it&#8217;s just waiting for [the vehicle&#8217;s heat shield tiles] to cool off and it doesn&#8217;t take long.&#8221;</p>
<p>Vice said a crew variant isn&#8217;t expected until 2026. The crewed version will feature an abort system with a different fuel system, but no details on this system were offered.</p>
<p><strong>Future Designs</strong></p>
<p>While at Sierra Space, NSF saw what will be the company&#8217;s second spaceplane.</p>
<p>Vice said a lot has been learned from building <em>Tenacity</em>. These lessons have reduced the number of issues on build two by 80%, resulting in quicker assembly and lower cost. Vice estimated that Tail 2 is roughly 24 months behind <em>Tenacity</em>.</p>
<div id="attachment_96547" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96547" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96547 size-full" style="text-align: center;" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SN-Vehicle-2.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1500" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SN-Vehicle-2.png 2000w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SN-Vehicle-2-350x263.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SN-Vehicle-2-467x350.png 467w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SN-Vehicle-2-768x576.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SN-Vehicle-2-1920x1440.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/SN-Vehicle-2-1170x878.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96547" class="wp-caption-text">Tail 2&#8217;s composite frame. (Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)</p></div>
<p>A look at the shell of what will be Sierra Space&#8217;s second, yet-to-be-named Dream Chaser vehicle. (Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)&#8221;Things that used to take weeks and months and years to build, we now build in a fraction of the time,&#8221; Vice said. &#8220;We do the work that we&#8217;re doing on next-generation thermal protection systems here, material systems is done here, so there&#8217;s a lot done here.&#8221;</p>
<p>The design of the cargo variant also features a cargo module placed behind the vehicle, which currently is not reusable and is designed to burn up on reentry. The company aims to launch 30 missions using its first two flight vehicles, each of which requires a brand-new module.</p>
<div id="attachment_96549" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96549" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96549" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CargoAttachment.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1500" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CargoAttachment.png 2000w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CargoAttachment-350x263.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CargoAttachment-467x350.png 467w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CargoAttachment-768x576.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CargoAttachment-1920x1440.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CargoAttachment-1170x878.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96549" class="wp-caption-text">A view of a cargo module loading mockup inside Sierra Space&#8217;s Denver facility. (Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)</p></div>
<p>Sierra Space is now working on a product known as <em>Ghost</em>. The system would act as an inflatable ablative shield that would protect the cargo module before parachuting down to a designated location to be recovered. Economically, Vice said it would be a game changer to be able to reuse the cargo module and vehicles 15 times each.</p>
<p>&#8220;Even on [SpaceX&#8217;s] Dragon, you know, the trunk of Dragon gets burned up every time,&#8221; Vice said. &#8220;We took one step back and said, you know, can we reuse the entire system? And again, that would change everything.&#8221;</p>
<p>The company plans to start with small-scale tests before scaling up to the larger size needed for the cargo module.</p>
<p><strong>Next Steps</strong></p>
<p>While an exact date has not been publicly released, <em>Tenacity</em> will soon make the journey from Louisville, Colorado to the former Plum Brook facility, now the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility, in Sandusky, Ohio.</p>
<div id="attachment_96550" style="width: 2010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96550" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96550" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Inside-Tenacity.png" alt="" width="2000" height="1500" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Inside-Tenacity.png 2000w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Inside-Tenacity-350x263.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Inside-Tenacity-467x350.png 467w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Inside-Tenacity-768x576.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Inside-Tenacity-1920x1440.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Inside-Tenacity-1170x878.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96550" class="wp-caption-text">A view inside Tenacity prior to environmental testing. (Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)</p></div>
<p>Once there it will be placed inside the facility&#8217;s large thermal vacuum chamber for environmental testing. Once completed, the vehicle is then expected to move to the Kennedy Space Center for launch preparations.</p>
<p>While no launch date has officially been set, Sierra Space expects to launch no earlier than March 2024, using ULA&#8217;s second-ever Vulcan Centaur launcher.</p>
<p><em>(Lead image: Tenacity, the first Dream Chaser vehicle, prior to shipping out for testing in Ohio. Credit: Trevor Sesnic for NSF)<br />
<a href="https://shop.nasaspaceflight.com/products/nsf-l2-subscription"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96431" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png" alt="" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-350x197.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-622x350.png 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-768x432.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-1170x658.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a><br />
</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/dream-chaser-shipment/">First Dream Chaser Vehicle Ready for Final Testing</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96604
title: Launch Roundup: Starship, Falcon 9, and Chang Zheng-2C this week
author: Justin Davenport
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/roundup-3/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="2560" height="1707" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-scaled.jpeg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-350x233.jpeg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-525x350.jpeg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-1920x1280.jpeg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-1170x780.jpeg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-585x390.jpeg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8138-263x175.jpeg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p>While the spaceflight world waited for the Starship Integrated Flight Test-2 (IFT-2) launch that happened from Texas this week, three other launches were scheduled, from China as well as both main coasts of the United States. One was a Chang Zheng-2C (CZ-2C) from China, and another is Starlink 6-28 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), which launched successfully on the very early hours of Nov. 18. There is also Starlink 7-7 from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) in California on the late evening of Nov. 18, after Starship IFT-2’s launch earlier that day.</p>
<p>Many Chinese launches are not announced well in advance, and there is always a possibility that the country could add another flight to this week’s manifest, but for right now the flight that occurred on Nov. 16 is the only Chinese flight on the schedule between Nov. 13 and Nov. 19. The only other flights besides this and Starship that are firmly scheduled so far this week are the Starlink launches out of Florida and California.</p>
<p><span id="more-96604"></span></p>
<div id="attachment_94908" style="width: 1290px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc.jpeg" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-94908" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-94908" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc.jpeg" alt="" width="1280" height="853" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc.jpeg 1280w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc-350x233.jpeg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc-525x350.jpeg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc-1170x780.jpeg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc-585x390.jpeg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/9da82ba5gy1hfr0ilvba7j20zk0npwkc-263x175.jpeg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-94908" class="wp-caption-text">CZ-2C on the pad after tower retraction. (Credit: CASC)</p></div>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59862.0">CZ-2C/YZ-1S Y54- Haiyang 3-01</a></strong></p>
<p>The first launch of the week happened at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China on Thursday, Nov. 16. The launch vehicle was a CZ-2C with a YZ-1S liquid upper stage flying from SLS-2 at Jiuquan. Launch time was at 03:55 UTC, and the trajectory sent the Haiyang 3-01 ocean observation satellite into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit after a successful flight.</p>
<p>These types of orbits are commonly used by Earth observation and reconnaissance satellites. Possible payload candidates for this flight had been said to be Aiji-2 or Siwei Gaojing-3 01/02, while Yaogan-32 03 A/B and Jishu Ceshi A/B had also been mentioned as candidates.</p>
<p>However, the actual payload that was launched was the Haiyang 3-01 satellite. The Haiyang series is a constellation of satellites that is designed to continuously monitor the world’s oceans for environmental changes.</p>
<p>The Haiyang satellite launched this week is the first of a new generation of spacecraft designed to observe changes in the color of oceans, lakes, and rivers, and is a successor to the Haiyang-1 satellites. Other Haiyang satellites have different instruments for observing maritime environment dynamics. Nine Haiyang satellites have been launched so far since 2002.</p>
<div id="attachment_96614" style="width: 590px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8141.png" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96614" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96614" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8141.png" alt="" width="580" height="400" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8141.png 580w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8141-350x241.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8141-508x350.png 508w" sizes="(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-96614" class="wp-caption-text">The MisrSat-2 completed at a new satellite integration facility in New Cairo, Egypt. (Credit: CASC)</p></div>
<p style="text-align: left;">As far as satellites that could be launched by future CZ-2C rockets, Aiji is one of the more prominent ones. Aiji is the Chinese word for Egypt, and this satellite, an Earth observation spacecraft, is a joint project by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the Egyptian Space Agency. The satellite, also known as MisrSat-2, was finished at a new satellite assembly and testing center, built by China, in New Cairo, Egypt.</p>
<p>Egypt has become the first African country with complete satellite assembling and integration testing capabilities. The testing facility and MisrSat-2 satellite would follow the flights of the Egyptian Horus-1 and Horus-2 remote sensing satellites &#8212; also flown from SLS-2 at Jiuquan &#8212; aboard CZ-2C vehicles earlier this year.</p>
<div id="attachment_96615" style="width: 650px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8142.png" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96615" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96615" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8142.png" alt="" width="640" height="416" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8142.png 640w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8142-350x228.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8142-538x350.png 538w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-96615" class="wp-caption-text">Launch of the Egyptian Horus-2 satellite, built in China. (Credit: CGWIC)</p></div>
<p>Siwei Gaojing-3 01/02 is a pair of satellites that use synthetic aperture radar to observe Earth even through clouds or otherwise less-than-ideal imaging conditions for optical satellites. This pair would join another two Siwei Gaojing satellites already in orbit. The China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd. is an Earth observation company that is a subsidiary of CASC.</p>
<p>The Yaogan-32 satellites are remote sensing spacecraft for military purposes similar to the United States satellites with a prefix of USA or certain Soviet/Russian Kosmos satellites. Not much is currently known in the West about the Jishu Ceshi satellites.</p>
<div id="attachment_96750" style="width: 1717px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8534-scaled.jpeg" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96750" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96750" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8534-scaled.jpeg" alt="" width="1707" height="2560" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8534-scaled.jpeg 1707w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8534-233x350.jpeg 233w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8534-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8534-1920x2880.jpeg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8534-1170x1755.jpeg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-96750" class="wp-caption-text">Starship on its way to space during the IFT-2 launch. (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)</p></div>
<p><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59871.0">Starship &#8211; Integrated Flight Test-2</a></p>
<p>The long-awaited Starship IFT-2 launch happened Saturday Nov. 18 at 7:03 AM CST (13:03 UTC) from the Orbital Launch Pad at Starbase, Texas, near the start of a 20 minute launch window. The schedule was firmed up after the FAA granted the launch license for this flight, following a study by the US Fish and Wildlife Service of the water deluge system added after the eventful IFT-1 launch.</p>
<p>IFT-2 was planned to launch on Friday, Nov. 17, but has been pushed back due to the need to replace a grid fin actuator. The flight is to test out major improvements in the booster, ship, and launch pad. Booster 9 and Ship 25 had been planned to launch on a flight that is meant to take the ship to a speed just short of orbital velocity, then descend to the ocean off Hawaii.</p>
<p>Starship launched on the thrust of 33 Raptor engines on the first stage, and the stack made it to the objective of testing hot staging. Booster 9 conducted a boost back burn but was lost before it could demonstrate a soft ocean landing. Ship 25 ignited all six Raptor engines and flew almost all the way to its planned near-orbital trajectory before the flight termination system activated at an altitude of 150 kilometers. This was the first Starship flight to reach space.</p>
<div id="attachment_91998" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack.jpg" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-91998" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-91998" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1366" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack.jpg 2048w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack-350x233.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack-525x350.jpg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack-1920x1281.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack-585x390.jpg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Starlink-v2-mini-stack-263x175.jpg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-91998" class="wp-caption-text">View of a stack of 21 Starlink v2 Mini satellites before being enclosed in their fairing. (Credit: SpaceX)</p></div>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59801.0">Falcon 9 &#8211; Starlink 6-28</a></strong></p>
<p>The next planned flight was a Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) at CCSFS. That launch has been delayed twice now from its Thursday night slot, to Friday, Nov. 17 &#8211; due to weather at the recovery site &#8211; and now to 12:05 AM EST (05:05 UTC) on Nov. 18 when it launched into a cloudy sky.</p>
<p>There were 23 v2 Mini satellites aboard. B1069 made its 11th flight, going on a southeast trajectory like other Group 6 launches. <em>Just Read The Instructions, </em>towed by the tug <em>Signet Titan, </em>was the drone ship for the booster landing 630 kilometers downrange. The landing was successful.</p>
<p>B1069’s previous flights were the CRS-24 cargo flight to the ISS, Starlink 4-23, Hotbird 13F, OneWeb #15, Starlink 5-3, SES-18 and 19, Starlinks 5-6 and 5-12, and Starlinks 6-9 and 6-19. The booster had an eventful recovery after the CRS-24 flight, with damage to the landing legs and the Merlin engines as well as the Octagrabber recovery fitting, but it was fixed and has had a successful flying career.</p>
<p>Group 6 satellites use a low-Earth orbit inclined 43 degrees to the Equator, and there have been 27 of these launches so far. These satellites will use a 530 kilometer altitude circular orbit when they become operational. This flight is the 80th Falcon 9 launch of 2023, as well as the 84th overall orbital SpaceX Falcon family flight.</p>
<div id="attachment_89541" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1.jpg" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-89541" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-89541" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1708" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1-350x234.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1-525x350.jpg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1-1920x1281.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1-1170x781.jpg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1-585x390.jpg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/FE6NbAeVIAc8XEO-scaled-1-263x175.jpg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-89541" class="wp-caption-text">A Falcon 9 stands at SLC-4E at the Vandenberg Space Force Base. (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)</p></div>
<p><strong><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=59745.0">Falcon 9 &#8211; Starlink 7-7</a></strong></p>
<p>The fourth flight of this week was Starlink 7-7 from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. It launched successfully early in the morning of Nov. 20 on the West Coast after weather-related delays followed by a scrub. Launch time was 2:30 AM PST Nov. 20 (10:30 UTC). The trajectory used by Group 7 launches out of VSFB, including this one, is southeast to an orbit inclined 53 degrees to the Equator.</p>
<p>B1063 made its 15th flight. This booster started its career by flying the Sentinel-6A Michael Freilich mission, and that was followed by Starlink V1 L28, DART, Starlink 4-11, 4-13, 3-1, 3-4, 4-31, and 2-5. Transporter-7 followed afterward, then the Iridium-9/OneWeb #19 mission, Starlink 5-13, Transport &amp; Tracking Layer (Tranche 0), and finally Starlink 7-4 have been flown. The booster landed successfully on <em>Of Course I Still Love You </em>in the Pacific, making this the 173rd straight successful Falcon landing. There have been 246 successful Falcon landings out of 258 attempts.</p>
<p>This flight would be the seventh Group 7 flight, and all Group 7 flights so far have been out of VSFB. The Starlink 7-6 flight carried 22 v2 Mini satellites, as opposed to earlier flights that carried 21, and there were 127 satellites launched for this group before this launch. Starlink 7-7 deployed 22 satellites.</p>
<p>In addition, Starlink 7-7 launched around nine days after Transporter-9. This would be close to a record time between launches for the SpaceX operation at VSFB, and would likely be fairly close to the fastest turnaround possible with the current launch infrastructure.</p>
<div id="attachment_69792" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-scaled.jpeg" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-69792" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-69792" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-scaled.jpeg" alt="" width="2560" height="1884" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-350x258.jpeg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-476x350.jpeg 476w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-768x565.jpeg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-1920x1413.jpeg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/24427680-3953-42B0-BE13-582D8A6CBAAE-1170x861.jpeg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-69792" class="wp-caption-text">Falcon 9 launches from SLC-4E at the Vandenberg Space Force Base, with the older-style T/E in use. (Credit: SpaceX)</p></div>
<p>The transporter-erector at SLC-4E uses an older structure that does not retract in a “throwback” manner like the newer structure in Florida, so the turnaround time is slightly longer for the West Coast pad. Nevertheless, this flight would be the 25th Falcon 9 launch out of VSFB, along with being the 81st Falcon 9 and 85th SpaceX Falcon family orbital flight of 2023.</p>
<p>There are currently over 5,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, out of 5,422 Starlink satellites launched overall through the life of the project, from 2018 onward. This includes around 730 v2 Mini satellites, which were developed to be launched from the Falcon 9 as the full-sized Starlink v2 satellites to be launched on Starship are not yet able to be launched.</p>
<p>The v2 Mini satellites have improvements over the v1.5 satellites that preceded them. These include more powerful argon Hall-effect thrusters as well as a more powerful phased array antenna. Each v2 Mini satellite can provide four times more bandwidth than a v1.5 satellite. The Starlink broadband service is now available throughout the United States as well as many other countries and on all six non-polar continents.</p>
<div id="attachment_96668" style="width: 2290px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246.png" data-rel="penci-gallery-image-content" ><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96668" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96668" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246.png" alt="" width="2280" height="1280" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246.png 2280w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246-350x196.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246-623x350.png 623w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246-768x431.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246-1920x1078.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG_8246-1170x657.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2280px) 100vw, 2280px" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-96668" class="wp-caption-text">Video capture from a Falcon 9 flight showing Starlink v2 Mini satellites being deployed. (Credit: SpaceX)</p></div>
<p>SpaceX is attempting to make 100 Falcon family flights in one calendar year for the first time. Over the past six years, the Falcon family has made record-breaking strides in its yearly launch cadence, beginning with its first double-digit launch year in 2017.</p>
<p>From 2017, when the Falcon 9 achieved 18 flights, including the first flights with reused boosters, to this year, the Falcon rocket family has continuously increased its launch cadence through improvements such as the Block 5 booster as well as launch pad upgrades and additional drone ships. For 2024, SpaceX is planning up to 144 flights, or 12 flights per month.</p>
<p><em>(Lead image: Falcon 9 B1076 at SLC-40 prior to the SES mPOWER 5 &amp; 6 flight. Credit: SES)</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/roundup-3/">Launch Roundup: Starship, Falcon 9, and Chang Zheng-2C this week</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96650
title: SpaceX receives launch license for second integrated flight test of Starship
author: Adrian Beil
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/ift2-launch-license/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="1277" height="849" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA.jpeg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA.jpeg 1277w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA-350x233.jpeg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA-526x350.jpeg 526w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA-768x511.jpeg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA-1170x778.jpeg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA-585x390.jpeg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/f1N6GqA-263x175.jpeg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 1277px) 100vw, 1277px" /><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">SpaceX has received the modified license No. VOL 23-129 Rev. 1, which will allow them to fly its Starship-Super Heavy vehicle for the second time. This came shortly after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) confirmed the completion of their investigation into the new deluge system at the orbital launch site in Starbase. </span></p>
<p><span id="more-96650"></span></p>
<p><b>FWS environmental investigation</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On Oct. 19, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated an Endangered Species Act consultation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). During this investigation, the agency had 135 days to issue an amended biological opinion. From day one, the FWS did communicate that it did not expect to take the full 135 days to complete the investigation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The investigation was started based on Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, which mandates the FWS to review a project should the impact of the project on the environment significantly change or if the amount of change the previously issued license allowed is exceeded.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The US Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded its investigation into the Deluge System.</p>
<p>Conclusion: It is not expected to change the salinity of the existing mud flats or reduce or modify the piping plover or red knot habitat.<a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASASpaceflight</a> <br />Link: <a href="https://t.co/N14jXgTRtq">https://t.co/N14jXgTRtq</a> <a href="https://t.co/Jc6c53B7EI">pic.twitter.com/Jc6c53B7EI</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Adrian Beil (@BCCarCounters) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCCarCounters/status/1724821133457829944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In SpaceX&#8217;s case, this consultation was triggered because of a significant modification to the launch infrastructure at Starbase with the implementation of a new deluge system at the orbital launch pad. Since the deluge system produced so much water that would be released into the surrounding environments and ecosystems, the FWS deemed the investigation necessary. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During the period, FWS workers were spotted multiple times at Starbase investigating the areas surrounding the orbital launch pad. After concluding the investigation, the FWS submitted the Final Biological and Conference Opinion (BCO) addendum on Nov. 17. The report addresses the impacted environmental baseline and consequences for SpaceX in the future.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The conclusion of the investigation mentions that deluge systems are a widely used system of rocket launch pads around the world and also that the use of the deluge system will help mitigate the impacts of Starship-Super Heavy operations on surrounding environments by reducing sound and vibrations created during liftoff and by assisting in cooling and fire suppression. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During the investigation, several species living in the Starbase area were mentioned. These species were considered, updated, and investigated to determine whether or not the deluge system would impact their life and surrounding ecosystems. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The report also demands that SpaceX use drone imagery to monitor the visible extent of water in overland sheet flow discharges and vapor plumes and must summarize and report findings to the FAA and the FWS in each post-launch monitoring report.</span></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Slow mo shot of Booster 9&#39;s static fire today. We&#39;ve been working on getting shots like this remotely- today <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanKD_Photos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SeanKD_Photos</a> set up my camera and I operated it all the way from NY! </p>
<p>More views of B9&#39;s static fire here (but not this one bc i was too slow): <a href="https://t.co/X6RUzgWnnb">https://t.co/X6RUzgWnnb</a> <a href="https://t.co/3aYfHIFhd1">pic.twitter.com/3aYfHIFhd1</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1695153558432223452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While the agency considered the water that would reach the surrounding landscape and the potential for vegetation changes, they do not expect a significant change to the overall salinity of the existing mud flats or other nature-related factors. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">An interesting side note mentioned in the report is that SpaceX expects each launch to be associated with about two static fire engine tests that would use the deluge. This statistic, when combined with launch operations and other tests, means SpaceX expects to use the deluge system up to 30 times per year, which equates to ten launches from Starbase in one year.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another side note added that a planned additional orbital launch mount would include a deluge system. However, SpaceX still needs to finalize the system design before constructing a second launch pad at Starbase. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Lastly, the FWS mentioned the “Forward Heat Shield Interstage,” which is seemingly the regulatory name of the Hotstaging ring located at the top of the Super Heavy booster. In this note, the report details that the ring weighs about “20,000 pounds” and might be expendable for some missions, where it will be jettisoned between 30 and 400 kilometers offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.</span></p>
<p><b>The FAA&#8217;s safety review and launch license</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Along with the environmental investigation performed by FWS, the FAA also researched the safety aspect of Starship&#8217;s launch procedures. This investigation was led by SpaceX and detailed a list of 63 items that would improve the chances of success in flight and reduce the probability of a major malfunction that could endanger the health and safety of those affected by Starship operations. Once SpaceX had finalized the list, the FAA approved the steps and conducted a safety review of the launch procedures. About two-thirds of the changes were related to changing hardware, while about one-third aimed to improve program leadership and oversight.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_96652" style="width: 1284px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96652" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96652 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO.jpeg" alt="" width="1274" height="850" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO.jpeg 1274w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO-350x234.jpeg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO-525x350.jpeg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO-1170x781.jpeg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO-585x390.jpeg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/irQOLEO-263x175.jpeg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 1274px) 100vw, 1274px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96652" class="wp-caption-text">Booster 9 and its new engine shielding. (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This list also includes the purge system of the Super Heavy Booster to reduce fires in the engine section during future launches and landings.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On Oct. 31, the FAA completed the safety review. The FAA issued a statement that pointed out that this part of the review looks at the applicant&#8217;s safety organization, systems safety processes, flight safety analysis, and quantitive risk criteria for launch, reentry, and vehicle disposal.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The completion of the safety review paved the way for the modification of License VOL 23-123, which now includes the permit to fly for a second time. Similar to the first launch license, this second launch license is only viable for the launch of Starship&#8217;s second integrated flight test, with the license stating: “For the Orbital Flight Test 2 mission only, unless this license is modified to remove this term.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This now only allows Starship to fly for a second time. The second flight might trigger another mishap investigation, which would happen if SpaceX does not fully reach all of its flight goals and potentially delay a third license modification, which SpaceX would need to acquire. The FAA again underlined that this license is concluded: “With no significant environmental changes.”</span></p>
<p><strong>The Road to Launch</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With the launch license now received, SpaceX confirmed a flight attempt was set to be as early as Friday, Nov. 17.  However, that was delayed to at least Saturday due to an issue with a Grid Fin actuator. This has also required yet another destack to access the area for the work to take place.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Slip to Saturday official now, as Elon has noted and cited the issue is with a grid fin actuator.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, can you spot the human for scale!<a href="https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5">https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5</a> <a href="https://t.co/IjING9rMGT">pic.twitter.com/IjING9rMGT</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Chris Bergin &#8211; NSF (@NASASpaceflight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1725234153128354227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><br />
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The flight attempt will feature the upgraded hardware and the potential to perform a hot staging maneuver, in which the upper stage will light before the first stage entirely shuts down. This improves efficiency for the overall flight.</span></p>
<p><em>(Lead image: Flight Stack Two before stacking at Starbase. Credit: Sean Doherty)</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/ift2-launch-license/">SpaceX receives launch license for second integrated flight test of Starship</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96477
title: After upgrades, Starship achieves numerous successes during second test flight
author: Ryan Weber
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/ift-2-launch/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="2560" height="1707" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-scaled.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-350x233.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-525x350.jpg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-585x390.jpg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-18-17-28-22-580-263x175.jpg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With the Federal Aviation Administration and US Fish and Wildlife Service approving the final signoff and license and SpaceX saying the rocket is ready, Starship set sail from Starbase on its second test flight Saturday. Liftoff at the first attempt followed only a one day slip to fix an issue with Booster 9&#8217;s grid fin actuators.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During Starship&#8217;s first test flight, which took place on April 20, 2023, SpaceX experienced several issues that led to the loss of control and, ultimately, the loss of Booster 7 and Ship 24. For this second flight, SpaceX made several changes to the booster, ship, and the launch pad &#8211; resulting in numerous successful milestones.</span></p>
<p><span id="more-96477"></span></p>
<p><iframe title="SpaceX Launches Second Starship Flight Test" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uOI35G7cP7o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p><b>Starship Flight Test One: </b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During the first flight, Booster 7 experienced fires in its engine compartment due to a build-up of methane, which was a result of propellant leaks in the aft section of the vehicle. These fires led to wire bundles melting and burning, leading to loss of control of most of the booster&#8217;s engines from the flight computer.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To mitigate the engine fires and loss of control of each vehicle, SpaceX upgraded the engine section purge system with larger supply tanks and more vents to allow the gasses to be vented out and away from the vehicle.</span></p>
<p>The second biggest upgraded system is the flight termination system on both vehicles, as SpaceX added larger explosive charges and relocated them to a more effective location for the termination of the flight.</p>
<div id="attachment_96734" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96734" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96734" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1547" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-350x212.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-579x350.jpg 579w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-180x110.jpg 180w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-768x464.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-1920x1161.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-33-27-482-1170x707.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96734" class="wp-caption-text">Starship&#8217;s maiden flight &#8211; via Max Evans for NSF.</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">An exciting change for this flight will be the introduction of hot staging. This is where the ship will ignite its engines and separate from the booster while some of its engines are still running. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">This will add some more payload capacity to the ship, and keep the separation system simpler.</span></p>
<p><b>Orbital Pad Changes</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After the first flight test, the Orbital Launch Pad (OLP) had a massive crater dug into it while the engines ramped up to full power. Then, even more damage was done because at liftoff Booster 7 was only running with 30 engines at 90% throttle, which put its Thrust-to-weight ratio (TWR) at just above one.  This resulted in a slower initial ascent and the stack taking longer to clear the pad than SpaceX predicted.<br />
</span></p>
<div id="attachment_96735" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96735" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96735" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1547" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-350x212.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-579x350.jpg 579w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-180x110.jpg 180w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-768x464.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-1920x1161.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2023-11-17-19-35-09-738-1170x707.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96735" class="wp-caption-text">The orbital pad after the maiden launch &#8211; via Jack Beyer for NSF</p></div>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To prevent something like this from occurring again, SpaceX had been working on a water deluge system before the first flight. However, Elon indicated shortly after the first flight that this system wouldn’t have been ready in time for that first flight. After the first launch, SpaceX got to work quickly on repairing the damage, along with the preparations for redoing the entire foundation of the launch pad.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These launch pad upgrades started with reinforced concrete pilings in and around the pad. Once these were completed, SpaceX dug a couple of meters into the ground under the Orbital Launch Mount (OLM) and started to lay very large amounts of rebar for what would become the new foundation. After the foundation had been poured, SpaceX laid out the rebar for the pile cap on top and then welded embeds on the top, where the deluge plate would be welded to once installed.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After everything was installed and all the concrete was poured, SpaceX installed the water deluge flame deflector, significantly increasing the robustness of the launch pad.</span></p>
<p><iframe title="SpaceX Thinks They Know Better. Is The Water Plate Enough? (Starship&#039;s Deluge)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DQboHROM5X0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The water pressure for this system is very high, which is expected to protect the steel plate itself from the Raptors&#8217; exhaust. This will prevent the &#8220;rock tornado” that was seen during the last launch.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With these pad upgrades and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk saying that the launch sequence will be modified to reduce the engine ramp-up time from six seconds to three seconds, the pad is expected to survive with significantly less damage than after Starship&#8217;s first integrated test flight.<br />
<a href="https://shop.nasaspaceflight.com/"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-96738 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Starship-Patch_PartDeux_Forum-Ad.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="320" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Starship-Patch_PartDeux_Forum-Ad.webp 1600w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Starship-Patch_PartDeux_Forum-Ad-350x70.webp 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Starship-Patch_PartDeux_Forum-Ad-630x126.webp 630w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Starship-Patch_PartDeux_Forum-Ad-768x154.webp 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Starship-Patch_PartDeux_Forum-Ad-1170x234.webp 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></a></span><b>Flight Test Two</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><aside class="penci-sidebar-content widget l2-info"><h4 class="widget-title penci-border-arrow"><span class="inner-arrow">See Also</span></h4><ul><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=72.0">SpaceX Starship Section</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=60.0">L2 SpaceX/Starship Section</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/">Click here to Join L2</a></li></ul></aside></span></p>
<p>Ahead of launch, there has been no indication that SpaceX is changing the countdown other than the engine ramp-up time mentioned earlier. Also, the trajectory of this flight test was set to be the same as what the first test flight was supposed to be.</p>
<p>Unlike the maiden flight, Starship stuck to the plan, with a clean liftoff and all 33 Raptor 2s running without issue as the vehicle flew out of South Texas.</p>
<p>Hotstaging &#8211; debuting on this flight &#8211; also worked as planned, with Ship 25 firing up its six Raptors and moving away from the booster.</p>
<p>Booster 7, having completed its primary task, then attempted a boostback burn, before letting go during that attempted relight.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Farewell shot of Booster 9, which performed amazingly with all 33 engines smiling all the way up. Went out with a bang.</p>
<p>Via Jack Beyer (<a href="https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@thejackbeyer</a>) for NSF.<a href="https://t.co/zlE5w68Uda">https://t.co/zlE5w68Uda</a> <a href="https://t.co/fxvQHmXFy4">pic.twitter.com/fxvQHmXFy4</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Chris Bergin &#8211; NSF (@NASASpaceflight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1725872284240347626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Ship 25 got very close to orbital velocity before it too was destroyed by the Flight Termination System (FTS), although both losses of vehicle should not detract from the numerous successes achieved during this second flight.</p>
<p><b>Expectations/Achievements</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For this launch, the hope was for the upgrades to Booster 9 to be effective, allowing the stack to reach stage separation without many issues. That was achieved.</p>
<p><iframe title="SpaceX Launches 2nd Starship Test Flight" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O3F8aTBLLx0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The main goal of the first few test flights is to test the booster and work out potential issues with its design. Once this goal is achieved, SpaceX is expected begin testing reentry and booster recovery.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">The pad just three hours post launch. Holy moly now that’s what I can a rapidly reusable launch pad! <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NASASpaceflight</a> <a href="https://t.co/xZ1A6xekDt">pic.twitter.com/xZ1A6xekDt</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Jack Beyer (@thejackbeyer) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejackbeyer/status/1725907768127672633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>The launch pad appears to have survived well during this launch, a testament to the water deluge system and other improvements.</span></p>
<p><b>Flight Test Three and Beyond</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The vehicles for the third flight are slated to be Ship 28 and Booster 10, both of which have several upgrades already over the current stack. After the third flight, it is expected that SpaceX will follow up with booster/ship pairings in sequential order. For example, Ship 29 would fly with Booster 11, Ship 30 would fly with Booster 12, etc. It is unclear, however, if this sequential order will be kept going forward as SpaceX could be planning for ground test vehicles at a later point.</span></p>
<div id="attachment_96486" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96486" decoding="async" class="wp-image-96486 size-full" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1707" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-350x233.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-525x350.jpg 525w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-1920x1281.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-585x390.jpg 585w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/S28-and-B10-263x175.jpg 263w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96486" class="wp-caption-text">S28 and B10 at Masseys. (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)</p></div>
<p>To get approval for the third flight, SpaceX will still have to get a launch license modification, as Revision 1 of License No. VOL 23-129  for the second flight notes &#8220;For the Orbital Flight Test 2 mission only unless this license is modified to remove this term.&#8221; Additionally, if there is any sort of anomaly during this second flight, a mishap investigation will be required before another launch.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ships 28 through 32 have many similarities, although as more upgrades are made to ships, some of the changes are being retrofitted to the older ships. Regarding boosters, Boosters 10 through 13 have decent changes between them as SpaceX continues to upgrade.</span></p>
<p><em>(Lead Image: B9/S25 launch. Credit: Mary (Bocachicagal) for NSF)<br />
<a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96431" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png" alt="" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-350x197.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-622x350.png 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-768x432.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-1170x658.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a><br />
</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/ift-2-launch/">After upgrades, Starship achieves numerous successes during second test flight</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96746
title: Webb detects neon in young star system, provides insight into planet formation
author: Haygen Warren
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/webb-szcha/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="2560" height="1440" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmdd6stharet4yf7vnmrjk-scaled.webp" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmdd6stharet4yf7vnmrjk-scaled.webp 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmdd6stharet4yf7vnmrjk-350x197.webp 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmdd6stharet4yf7vnmrjk-622x350.webp 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmdd6stharet4yf7vnmrjk-768x432.webp 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmdd6stharet4yf7vnmrjk-1920x1080.webp 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmdd6stharet4yf7vnmrjk-1170x658.webp 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p>In 2008, observations from NASA&#8217;s now-retired Spitzer infrared space telescope hinted at the presence of neon within the protoplanetary disk of Sun-like star SZ Chamaeleontis (SZ Cha). However, Spitzer&#8217;s instruments could not confirm whether this reading was correct. Over a decade after Spitzer&#8217;s results were published, the joint NASA, European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope observed SZ Cha and directly detected distinct amounts of neon in the protoplanetary disk of SZ Cha &#8212; confirming Spitzer&#8217;s observations from 2008.</p>
<p>Webb&#8217;s observations, coupled with Spitzer&#8217;s data from 2008, are allowing scientists to better understand SZ Cha and its future as a star system while also providing scientists with insight into what our own solar system may have looked like during its formation.</p>
<p><span id="more-96746"></span></p>
<p>“How did we get here? It really goes back to that big question, and SZ Cha is the same type of young star, a T-Tauri star, as our Sun was 4.5 billion years ago at the dawn of the solar system. The raw materials for Earth, and eventually life, were present in the disk of material that surrounded the Sun after it formed, and so studying these other young systems is as close as we can get to going back in time to see how our own story began,” said lead author Catherine Espaillat of Boston University in Massachusetts, who also led the 2008 <a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/spitzer/">Spitzer</a> observations.</p>
<p>Small differences in the specific types of neon detected by Spitzer and <a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/jwst/">Webb</a> have revealed a change in high-energy radiation within the disk &#8212; a never-before-observed phenomenon. This change in high-energy radiation is predicted to eventually cause the protoplanetary disk around SZ Cha to evaporate, limiting the total amount of time planets have to form within the disk. Neon is a great indicator of how much radiation is hitting and eroding the protoplanetary disk around a star, which is why many scientists search for neon around young stars.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">15 years ago, Spitzer saw unusual readings of neon III in a still-developing “solar system.” Webb just discovered the abnormal neon III has all but disappeared. Scientists believe clues to our own solar system’s past may lie in these flashing neon signs: <a href="https://t.co/HfHMRONG8N">https://t.co/HfHMRONG8N</a> <a href="https://t.co/Qpk2JSPh6V">pic.twitter.com/Qpk2JSPh6V</a></p>
<p>&mdash; NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1724806070349267365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2023</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Spitzer&#8217;s observations hinted at the presence of neon III within SZ Cha&#8217;s protoplanetary disk &#8212; an extremely rare neon reading that is uncommon in other young T-Tauri star disks, specifically protoplanetary disks that are continuously exposed to high-energy X-rays. The presence of neon III means that the aforementioned high-energy radiation within SZ Cha&#8217;s disk was being produced by ultraviolet (UV) light rather than the more common X-ray light. It was the only detection of neon III in a sample of 50 to 60 stellar protoplanetary disks, making the difference in UV light and X-rays even more significant for the planets within SZ Cha&#8217;s disk and the lifetime of the disk as a whole.</p>
<aside class="penci-sidebar-content widget l2-info"><h4 class="widget-title penci-border-arrow"><span class="inner-arrow">See Also</span></h4><ul><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=55472.0">JWST Mission Updates</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=49.0">Space Science Coverage</a></li><li><a href="https://shop.nasaspaceflight.com/">NSF Store</a></li><li><a href="http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/">Click here to Join L2</a></li></ul></aside>
<p>“Planets are essentially in a race against time to form up in the disk before it evaporates. In computer models of developing systems, extreme ultraviolet radiation allows for 1 million more years of planet formation than if the evaporation is predominately caused by X-rays,” said co-author Thanawuth Thanathibodee of Boston University.</p>
<p>However, when Espaillat et al. returned to SZ Cha and its protoplanetary disk with Webb, they found that the neon III signature detected by Spitzer wasn&#8217;t there &#8212; likely meaning that the neon III within SZ Cha&#8217;s protoplanetary disk had entirely disappeared. The disappearance of the neon III from the disk was probably due to the dominance of X-ray radiation within the disk &#8212; a typical occurrence within these types of protoplanetary disks.</p>
<p>More specifically, the team believes that different neon signatures within SZ Cha&#8217;s disk create a variable wind that, when present within the disk, causes UV light to be absorbed &#8212; meaning only X-rays are left behind to pummel the disk when the UV light is absorbed. These types of winds are not uncommon in newly forming star systems with energetic stars at their core, but occasionally, there is a quiet period where the winds don&#8217;t exist in the disk. This quiet period is what allowed for the presence of neon III in the disk when Spitzer observed SZ Cha in 2008.</p>
<div id="attachment_96755" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96755" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96755" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-scaled.webp" alt="" width="2560" height="1568" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-scaled.webp 2560w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-350x214.webp 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-571x350.webp 571w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-180x110.webp 180w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-768x470.webp 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-1920x1176.webp 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/stsci-01heqmgyyqfbmttv4m0g41p7wp-1170x717.webp 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96755" class="wp-caption-text">Data from Webb and Spitzer&#8217;s observations of SZ Cha. Note the absence of neon III in Webb&#8217;s observations. (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))</p></div>
<p>“Both the Spitzer and Webb data are excellent, so we knew this had to be something new we were observing in the SZ Cha system – a significant change in conditions in just 15 years,” explained co-author Ardjan Sturm of Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands.</p>
<p>Discovering the variable wind and the disappearance of neon III from the system were just two of the many mysteries of SZ Cha, and even following their discoveries Espsillat et al. still have many questions. The team is already planning to use Webb to observe SZ Cha again, as well as with other telescopes.</p>
<p>“It will be important to study SZ Cha, and other young systems, in multiple wavelengths of light, like X-ray and visible light, to discover the true nature of this variability we’ve found. It’s possible that brief, quiet periods dominated by extreme UV radiation are common in many young planetary systems, but we just have not been able to catch them,&#8221; said co-author Caeley Pittman of Boston University.</p>
<p>Webb and Spitzer&#8217;s observations continue to show how useful infrared telescopes are for discovering and investigating various objects and phenomena in the universe. Without observations like the SZ Cha observations, scientists wouldn&#8217;t have known about the variable wind and how it affects neon and other elements within a young T-Tauri star&#8217;s protoplanetary disk.</p>
<p>“Once again, the universe is showing us that none of its methods are as simple as we might like to make them. We need to rethink, re-observe, and gather more information. We’ll be following the neon signs,” Espaillat explained.</p>
<p><a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ad023d">Espaillat et al.&#8217;s research was published in <em>The Astrophysical Journal Letters</em> journal on Nov. 15.</a></p>
<p><em>(Lead image: Artist&#8217;s concept of SZ Cha and its protoplanetary disk. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI))</em></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/webb-szcha/">Webb detects neon in young star system, provides insight into planet formation</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


guid: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/?p=96407
title: Stars aligning for Boeing crew launch in April
author: Karin Sturm
url: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/starliner-asap-nac/
feedurl: https://nasaspaceflight.com/feed/
content_mime_type: text/html
content:
<img width="2048" height="1523" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CCP-Starliner-image.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CCP-Starliner-image.jpg 2048w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CCP-Starliner-image-350x260.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CCP-Starliner-image-471x350.jpg 471w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CCP-Starliner-image-768x571.jpg 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CCP-Starliner-image-1920x1428.jpg 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CCP-Starliner-image-1170x870.jpg 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><p lang="en-US">The long-awaited crewed launch of Starliner has gained increased positivity that its latest launch date will remain on target, following numerous slips since the maiden uncrewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS).</p>
<p lang="en-US">While NASA postponed the NET launch date for the Starliner crew flight test (CFT) is now set for April 14, 2024 due to scheduling reasons, NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) &#8211; a traditionally conservative body by nature &#8211; cited hope that Boeing&#8217;s latest issues with the spacecraft are coming to a close for a launch in April. This was followed by the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) citing the specific launch date target.<br />
<span id="more-96407"></span><br />
<img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96768" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-3.png" alt="" width="1281" height="724" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-3.png 1281w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-3-350x198.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-3-619x350.png 619w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-3-768x434.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/image-3-1170x661.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1281px) 100vw, 1281px" /><br />
Starliner completed two uncrewed flight tests, with the first being the infamous mission in December 2019, which revealed numerous software problems and failed to reach the International Space Station (ISS).</p>
<p>The second was Orbital Flight Test-2, which docked to the Station on May 21, 2022, following a launch two days prior from Kennedy.</p>
<p><iframe title="Atlas V Launches Starliner&#039;s Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2)" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_5KGePUTq_g?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The spacecraft remained docked to the ISS for four days before successfully landing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, this time with only more minor problems, such as issues with backup thrusters during the flight.</p>
<p>During a previous meeting in May, the panel had been somewhat critical of Starliner´s progress and warned not to launch too early while bypassing potential safety issues. That was a few days before Boeing and NASA had to admit the flammability issues with some tape used within the capsule and safety concerns about the parachutes.</p>
<p>Now, the ASAP members are far more optimistic about the path to launch following months of work to mitigate the latest issues.</p>
<p lang="en-US">&#8220;The ASAP believes it is important to have two crew providers and is pleased to see progress,&#8221; said Kent Rominger, a former Shuttle astronaut with five flights under his belt, two as a commander. &#8220;Boeing has been responsive; tape removal in the upper dome is complete, while the work in the lower dome should be completed in a few weeks. The parachutes´ soft link joints are being redesigned, and a drop test is upcoming.</p>
<p><iframe title="Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 Mustang footage" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j7l4n6eRx5A?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p lang="en-US">“NASA and Boeing are working through the battery redesign plan, and the CFT batteries have been approved for flight. The ASAP was pleased to see the independent reviews.&#8221;</p>
<p>This positive review from a figure, as noted by Rominger, bears a lot of value. He was the Head of the Astronaut Office at NASA during the Columbia tragedy in 2003. He belongs to a NASA generation who has the importance of a proper safety culture and the horrible consequences of a lack of such ingrained in their DNA.</p>
<p>The ASAP cited the NET date for CFT is around April 2024, with Boeing still targeting March for having everything checked, verified, approved, and ready on the technical side. Other factors are in play, such as the ISS&#8217; Visiting Vehicle (VV) schedule to find a placeholder for Starliner to dock at the orbital outpost. However, the NAC provided an update with a specific NET 14th of April date.</p>
<div id="attachment_96495" style="width: 1180px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-96495" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-96495" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2021-04-02-22-45-33-965-1170x704-1.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="704" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2021-04-02-22-45-33-965-1170x704-1.jpg 1170w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2021-04-02-22-45-33-965-1170x704-1-350x211.jpg 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2021-04-02-22-45-33-965-1170x704-1-582x350.jpg 582w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/NSF-2021-04-02-22-45-33-965-1170x704-1-768x462.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1170px) 100vw, 1170px" /><p id="caption-attachment-96495" class="wp-caption-text">Starliner docking with Dragon already at the ISS, via L2 Render Artist Mack Crawford.</p></div>
<p>The clearance of the latest issues includes the P-213 tape referenced in the last update.</p>
<p>The problems with the flammability of the P-213 tape used on Starliner caught Boeing and NASA by surprise. The tape is wrapped around wiring harnesses to protect the wiring from potential abrasions or nicks – and is used a lot in other spacecraft, including on the ISS.</p>
<p>However, it is flammable under specific conditions that might arise after another failure on board happened – a fact found in extensive testing in preparation for the CFT launch.</p>
<p><iframe title="Flammable Space Tape, China Sets Moon Shot, and North Korea Takes a Swim - This Week In Spaceflight" width="1170" height="658" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zXrzLaWJ2xs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&#8220;This is a tape that&#8217;s widely used across the aerospace industry for many applications for protecting wires from abrasion. I would say in the NASA database, the entries were a bit inconsistent relative to the flammability of that tape at various levels of oxygen concentration. And so, it was a bit confusing as to when it could be used and when it couldn&#8217;t&#8221;, NASA´s Commercial Crew Program manager had said at a press conference in August.</p>
<p>As Rominger stated at the ASAP, removing the tape in the lower part of the spacecraft is still ongoing at KSC but should be completed within the coming weeks. Any remaining tape in some places difficult to access or deemed uncritical will undergo a final evaluation to guarantee an acceptable risk level.</p>
<p>Another issue to be cleared related to the parachutes, with the newly designed drogue and main parachute soft-link joints and stronger main canopy suspension lines will be installed on the CFT spacecraft until the end of the year, with a drop test planned now for the beginning of 2024. Initially, this test had been scheduled for &#8220;at the very earliest at the end of November 2023.&#8221;</p>
<aside class="penci-sidebar-content widget l2-info"><h4 class="widget-title penci-border-arrow"><span class="inner-arrow">See Also</span></h4><ul><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=47978.0">Starliner CFT Updates</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=75.0">Starliner/CST-100 Forum</a></li><li><a href="https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?board=54.0">L2 Commercial Crew</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/">Click here to Join L2</a></li></ul></aside>
<p>Boeing is also working on a radiator bypass valve issue discovered during ground operations. To prevent this from happening again, the hardware has been modified. Future options to improve the system further are considered, including a system purge to prevent stiction, component upgrades, and changes to the way of operating the system.</p>
<p>Once all these issues have been signed off and cleared for flight, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be tasked with performing the first crewed mission of the spacecraft.</p>
<p>They continue to train for their mission going through simulations of all phases of flight together with Mission Control at Johnson Space Center (JSC) and other support teams. At the same time, requirements regarding manual crew control of the spacecraft and abort system analysis, which are essential for their safety, have been reached and are soon to be finally closed out.</p>
<p>On the software side, qualification testing of the CFT flight software is completed. Hardware and software integration testing is still ongoing at Boeing.</p>
<p>On the pure hardware side, Starliner´s crew and service module are already mated with normal preflight processing coming up.</p>
<p>The ULA Atlas V rocket is already at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the integration process with the spacecraft should begin soon after a successful drop test.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Inside Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida . Photo credit: Boeing/John Grant</em></p>
<p><a href="https://shop.nasaspaceflight.com/products/nsf-l2-subscription"><img decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-96431" src="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png" alt="" width="1920" height="1080" srcset="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1.png 1920w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-350x197.png 350w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-622x350.png 622w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-768x432.png 768w, https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/L2-Memberships2_1920x1080-1-1170x658.png 1170w" sizes="(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px" /></a></p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/11/starliner-asap-nac/">Stars aligning for Boeing crew launch in April</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.nasaspaceflight.com">NASASpaceFlight.com</a>.</p>


