Here's our curated list of important tech news from this week in byte size.

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Earlier this year, SpaceX bought two oil rigs in the Port of Brownsville, Texas, with a plan to convert them into floating launch pads for the Starship. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday confirmed the company has started building one of the floating spaceports that may be launch-ready in 2022. Ocean spaceport Deimos is under construction for launch next year, Musk wrote on Twitter. The spaceports have been named after the two moons of Mars, Deimos and Phobos. SpaceX is building the Starship to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. It also plans to use the Starship and floating spaceports for hypersonic travel around Earth. Sometime in the future Starship will be capable of taking people from any city to any other city on Earth in under one hour, according to the aerospace firm. In another space update, NASA announced plans to launch two missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030, its first in decades, to study the atmosphere and geologic features of Earths so-called sister planet.

Fujifilm corporation on Wednesday said that it became aware of a possible ransomware attack in the late evening of June 1. Two days later, the firm confirmed it and said the impact of the unauthorised access is confined to a specific network in Japan. A special Task Force, including external experts, was immediately established, and all networks and servers were shut down to determine the extent and the scale of the issue, the Japanese company said in a statement. Starting today [June 4], with a clear understanding of the extent of the impact, we have begun to bring the network, servers, and computers confirmed safe back into operation. The Japanese multinational conglomerate is the latest victim of a cyberattack amid a growing number of ransomware attacks that have become a major cause of concern for organisations across the globe. This week, a ransomware attack on the worlds largest meat processing company disrupted production around the world just weeks after a similar incident shut down a U.S. oil pipeline.

Twitter on Thursday said it is partnering with organisations committed to tackling climate change and making it easier to find credible climate information from global experts. The micro-blogging platform is collaborating with organisations like Earth Day Network, UN Environment Programme, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Greenpeace, Voice for the Planet, Let Me Breathe, WWF, 350.org, and FridaysForFuture. Also, starting this week, users can follow the Climate Change Topic to find personalised conversations about climate change, including Tweets from environmental and sustainability organisations, environmental activists, and scientists, it noted. In a separate development, Twitter resumed accepting requests for its verification programme after pausing it due to an overflow of requests. In another update, Twitter unveiled its new subscription-based service that will grant users access to exclusive features, including one to undo a published tweet within 30 seconds of posting.

Microsoft on Wednesday said it is expanding the Airband Initiative to U.S. cities that face some of the largest broadband gaps among racial and ethnic minorities, specifically Black and African American communities. The initiative was launched four years ago to improve broadband access in rural areas. Our approach focuses on providing access to affordable broadband, devices and digital skilling tools and resources in eight cities, including aiding in the digital transformation of the institutions that support these communities, Vickie Robinson, General Manager, Airband Initiative, said in a blog post. The initiative will be extended to communities in Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, El Paso, Los Angeles, Memphis, Milwaukee and New York City. Federal Communications Commission claims that more than 14.5 million people in the U.S. do not have broadband access. This week, Morgan Stanley and Microsoft announced a cloud partnership to support the formers digital transformation and push the financial services industry forward.

Mozilla on Tuesday released a redesigned version of Firefox with a modern and cleaner look to offer users a fresh new web experience. The browsers tabs are now bigger and float neatly above the toolbar. We detached the tab from the browser to invite you to move, rearrange and pull-out tabs into a new window to suit your flow, and organise them so theyre easier for you to find, Mozilla noted in a blog post. The menus are streamlined with labels that are clear and easier to understand, and fewer icons for better navigation. The browser also got a new simplified toolbar, and consolidated panels for notifications like microphone and camera permissions, enabling users to get to all their web calls and meetings with fewer clicks. The redesigned version of Firefox, which also improves privacy protection in Private Browsing mode, is available for desktop and mobile devices. Next year, Google plans to phase out technology in its Chrome browser that lets other companies track users' web browsing. Heres how brands may target ads after the death of browser cookies.

Samsung on Thursday unveiled two new Galaxy Book devices, expanding its PC line-up. The Galaxy Book Go series is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c Gen 2, with optional LTE connectivity, and the Galaxy Book Go 5G powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G, promises to deliver lightning-fast 5G connectivity speeds. The Galaxy Book Go series features a 14-inch FHD display, 720p HD camera, 180-degree folding hinge, Dolby Atmos for rich soundscape, 4GB or 8GB (LPDDR4X) RAM, 64GB or 128GB (eUFS) storage, 42.3 Watt-hour battery, and builds on Windows 10 experiences with the benefit of instant boot speeds, allowing users to open it and immediately use their PC. The Galaxy Book Go Wi-Fi and LTE versions will be available from June in select markets starting at $349 (about 25,400), while the Galaxy Book Go 5G will be available later this year, Samsung noted. In another gadget update, Alienware, a favourite among the gaming community, expanded its product portfolio with the launch of new X-Series gaming laptops.

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Weekly Bytes | SpaceXs floating spaceport, Ransomware attack on Fujifilm, and more - The Hindu

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Here at EarthSky, were receiving many excited emails about sightings of lights traveling together across the night sky. UFOs? No. Usually, people are seeing Starlink satellites. Roger Oban in Tucson, Arizona, captured this photo of Starlinks on May 5, 2021. He wrote: Shot in my backyard. I was just about to shut down, when 5 satellites came through, all in a straight line. Thank you, Roger!

Starlink is the name of a satellite network that SpaceX is developing to provide global broadband coverage for high-speed internet access, particularly for people across the world in rural and remote areas. SpaceX has launched more than 600 new Starlinks this year,typically launching 60 at a time.As of last week, that places the number of Starlink satellites currently in orbit at more than 1,500. Over the coming few years, SpaceX plansto send up at least 12,000 Starlink satellites.Satellite internet is beamed through space at a rate thats reportedly 47% faster than fiber-optic cable internet. All well and good. But the Starlinks are bright. Theycan be seen in the night sky. Each launch creates whats being called megaconstellations groups of satellites moving together. Is2021s sudden upsurge in the number of Starlink satellites also causing UFO sightings to increase? Plus, astronomers are worried. The Starlink satellitesare photobombingastronomical images. They have the potential to interferewith the professional observations that have brought us our modern-day view of the cosmos.

The proposal for Starlink was announced by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk back in January 2015. Though it wasnt given a name at the time, Musk said that the company had already filed documents withinternational regulators to place about 4,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit. He said in a speech when revealing the project:

Were really talking about something that is, in the long term, like rebuilding the internet in space.

And his predictions so far have proven true. Musks initial estimate of the number of satellites quickly grew, as he hoped to capture a part of the estimated $1 trillion worldwide internet connectivity market. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted SpaceX permission to fly 12,000 satellites, and perhaps as many as 30,000 eventually. To put things into perspective: only about 2,000 operational satellites currently orbit Earth. Fewer than 9,000 have ever been launched in all of history, according to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Starlink satellites orbit at an altitude of 340 miles (550 km). At that height, theyre low enough to get pulled down to Earth by atmospheric drag and burn up in a few years, so that they dont become space junk once they die (a problem SpaceX may hope to tackle using Starship). Each one weighs 500 pounds (227 kg), and measures about the size of a typical coffee table, according to Skyandtelescope.com.

It was exciting to see the first few Starlink satellites, traveling together in the night sky. But then more were launched, and then more. And astronomers began to worry.

SpaceXs two test satellites, TinTinA and TinTinB, launched in 2018. The mission went smoothly. Using that initial data, the company decided it wanted its fleet to operate lower than originally planned. Regulators deliberated and the FCC approved the move.

The first 60 Starlink satellites were successfully launched on May 23, 2019, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Members of the Starlink team plan to launch up to 60 more per Falcon 9 flight, with launches as often as every two weeks in 2021. Of the 15 Falcon 9 launches so far this year, all have been dedicated to lofting 60 Starlink satellites apart from two, bringing the total number launched so far this year to 722 as of today. One the Transporter-1 rideshare mission in January carried only 10 satellites, and the other the Capella Space rideshare mission launched last Saturday carried 52.

Starlink controversy within the astronomy community. Despite the promise of high-speed broadband internet, SpaceX has taken criticism within the astronomical community for its Starlink satellites, due to their brightness and potential to disrupt observations of the night sky. The National Science Foundation and the American Astronomical Society released a report on the situation in August 2020. Discussions among more than 250 experts at the virtual Satellite Constellations 1 (SATCON1) workshop expressed concern that the bright train of satellites marching across the sky will hinder their observations.

In response, SpaceX has begun outfitting their satellites with a blackened sunshade called VisorSat that the company hopes will reduce the satellites apparent brightness by reducing the amount of sunlight thats reflected. This is just one of the six suggestions proposed by the SATCON1 team. Initial efforts at mitigating the spacecrafts impact involved launching a prototype Starlink satellite later dubbed DarkSat earlier this year, which features a black antireflective coating. Recent ground-based observations of DarkSat in orbit found it half as bright as a standard Starlink satellite, which is a good improvement, according to experts, but still far from what astronomers say is needed. Jeremy Tregloan-Reed, a University of Antofagasta astronomer on the observational team that assessed the prototype, commented:

I would not consider DarkSat as a victory but instead a good step in the right direction.

The team compared DarkSat with a typical Starlink sibling using a two-foot (0.6-m) telescope at the Ckoirama Observatory in Chile and found that although DarkSats antireflective coating rendered it invisible to the unaided eye, it remains far too bright to avoid interfering with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory now under construction in Chile and other major telescopes. Additionally, DarkSats darker color retains too much heat, so the company is sticking with the visor alternative instead.

Astronomers are hoping to observe VisorSat and compare it with DarkSat once observatories reopen following the Covid-19 shutdown. With SpaceXs plans, plus Amazons Kuiper project, OneWeb, Chinas Hongyan, and other projects launching their own global networks of hundreds or thousands of satellites with little to no regulation, the scale of astronomys satellite-constellation problem might only increase.

Bottom line: Have you seen a group of bright satellites crossing the night sky together? They are likely SpaceX Starlink satellites, which create relatively bright, large, moving megaconstellations. Starlinks goal is to provide global broadband coverage for high-speed internet access, especially for rural and remote areas. Astronomers and skywatchers worry about Starlinks potential to interfere with their work understanding the universe, and their enjoyment of the night sky.

Lia De La Cruz is a Physics graduate and Editorial Assistant of EarthSky, contributing also as a field correspondent with a long-time passion for space exploration that began early in her college career. She started her blog SkyFeed in 2018, which earned a mention in Feedspots Top 50 Space Blogs to Follow," has been published in Smore Magazine, and led her to launch a communications career in tandem with her planetary passion. She currently resides in Southern California with her husband and small pug pup.

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What is that?! SpaceX's Starlink satellites explained - EarthSky

With more than 1,000 Starlink satellites beaming internet signals from the sky, SpaceX is leading the race of constellation-based broadband service. But its ambitious launch plan makes space environmentalists nervous: SpaceX has applied for regulatory permission to deploy 42,000 Starlink satellites over the next few years in low Earth orbit, an area already increasingly crowded with manmade objects and debris. Thats perhaps why Starlinks main competitor, U.K.-based OneWeb, despite having launched fewer than 200 satellites, is looking to develop a more efficient version of the emerging technology.

A consortium of space firms led by OneWeb has secured $45 million in funding from the British government to launch a beam-hopping satellite next year to test a second-generation network it aims to launch in 2025.

These new satellites, called Joey-Sat, are designed to be able to direct beams to increase capacity in specific areas in response to demand spikes or emergencies. From helping during a disaster to providing broadband on planes, this amazing technology will show how next-generation 5G connectivity can benefit all of us on Earth, U.K. Science Minister Amanda Solloway said in a statement Monday.

OneWeb is teaming up with antenna maker SatixFy, ground station builder Celestia and space debris removal startup Astroscale. The pilot mission is funded by the U.K. Space Agency through the European Space Agencys Sunrise program.

SatixFy, which receives the largest chunk of the fund ($35 million), will be tasked to build Joey-Sats beam-hopping payload and user terminals.

In March, SatixFy agreed to build an in-flight connectivity terminal for OneWebs existing LEO constellation. The company has a similar deal with the Canadian satellite operator Telesat, providing modem chips that will support beam hopping for Telesats Lightspeed LEO constellation project.

Celestia will build and test ground stations for Joey-Sat that feature a new multi-beam, electronically steered antenna. Astroscale is commissioned to develop technologies that could safely de-orbit these satellites when theyre dead so that they wont become free-floating space junk.

This ambitious project with OneWeb is the next step towards maturing our technologies and refining our U.K. capabilities to develop a full-service Active Debris Removal offering by 2024, Astroscale U.K. managing director John Auburn said in a statement.

OneWeb is partly owned by the U.K. government. The company aims to begin satellite broadband service to north of 50 degrees latitude by June, which would cover the U.K., northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Canada and Alaska.

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SpaceX Rival OneWeb Plans Next-Gen Constellation Thats Better Than Starlink - Observer

Elon Musks Starlink space internet is running into an unusual adversary: trees.

The SpaceX satellite internet service entered beta testing in June 2020 for areas in high latitudes such as Seattle, but some users have been experiencing issues.

We want to get Starlink but the sky above our house is almost completely covered with trees over 40 feet tall, one user posted on the r/Starlink subreddit. Is it possible to get Starlink to work in our area or are we just out of luck?

Another expressed similar issues, asking for advice about using mounts to get the Starlink antenna six to 10 feet higher to get signal above the nearby trees, but potential masts don't seem to appear to accommodate the dish. One beta tester managed to get above the trees via a tripod mounted to the top of their roof, something that they described as an idiotic contraption.

In order to set up a Starlink internet connection users require a 439 satellite dish and pay an 84 monthly fee, but also need a direct line of sight between the dish and the satellite, as well as a 100-degree cone with a 25 degree elevation minimum around the centre of the dish.

This means that trees, neighbouring buildings, and other obstacles provide a severe challenge - with one user installing his dish nearly five meters above his chimney.

If you could see the connection between a Starlink satellite and your Starlink, it would look like a single beam between the two objects. As the satellite moves, the beam also moves. The area within which this beam moves is the field of view, the Starlink website explains.

Some obstructions are worse than others. Obstructions low in the sky will cause more outages because satellites are in this area of the sky more frequently. The best guidance we can give is to install your Starlink at the highest elevation possible where it is safe to do so, with a clear view of the sky. Starlink also notes that a single tree can interrupt users service.

(SpaceX)

As early reviews have pointed out, Starlink provides an app to help users check for obstructions but the phone needs to be at knee height to operate counter to the high altitude that will actually get users the best service from the internet service. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment from The Independent before time of publication.

Starlink, a service which remains in beta and is set to improve with the launch of more satellites, is not designed for urban environments due to interference from buildings; but in rural areas trees are likely to remain a bigger problem, Mark Jackson, the editor in chief of UK internet service provider website ISPreview, told The Independent.

Some people may be able to get around that by professionally mounting the dish higher up on their roof, although there have also been some questions about the kit's durability in high winds if you mount it high up, then you might need to take it down for a storm [which is] not ideal or safe.

Only time will tell whether they can truly resolve all of these issues, but they do stand a good chance of being able to overcome them. A bigger challenge will be in making the whole thing profitable, while also trying not to completely wreck observational science (astronomy) in the process.

Starlink satellites currently in orbit have disrupted astronomical observationsical

(Victoria Girgis/Lowell Observatory)

However for many users especially those in the United States Starlink will still be a compelling alternative over traditional internet providers due to long-running issues with service and competition.

Phone companies originally used existing wires to provide internet service, and were required by law to lease wires to competitors; but in 1996, the Telecommunications Act made it easier for cable companies to consolidate, and in 2005 that leasing requirement was removed. This meant that they were basically trading off areas so they wouldn't compete, according to University of Virginia media studies professor Christopher Ali.

Alongside policy issues, there are population problems with the internet experience in the United States.

I wouldn't characterise US internet as bad so much as I would characterise it as inconsistent, said Jamie Steven, Chief Innovation Officer at Speedtest creator Ookla. And while cities and populated areas have great access, this is lacking in rural and remote areas.

Astronomers-Satellite Pollution

(AP)

The USs lower population density is a big reason, especially in the West. It can be very expensive to run fiber optic networks for communities with only a few hundred residents. New satellite options such as Starlink provide a desirable alternative to the aging copper-based connectivity (DSL & cable) in those communities, Steven told The Independent.

Im a Starlink beta customer and live in a heavily wooded rural area. Ive had some minor problems with obstructions from the very tall trees in my yard, but overall the service is a significant and welcome improvement over the unreliable DSL service I had previously.

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Starlink snag forces users to build idiotic contraptions to access Elon Musks space internet - The Independent

Back at the beginning of May, the first-ever crew to have been transported with the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS) came back to Earth. They made the journey back home in the spacecraft called Resilience, and they arrived safely in what became the first nighttime landing in over 50 years.

The Crew Dragon is seen in this shot shortly before undocking from the ISS. That means all four Crew-1 astronauts (Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins, and Soichi Noguchi) were already on board when it was taken, and the spacecraft is shown still held in place by the docking adapter of the stations Harmony module.

We thought it would be relevant to bring Resilience back into focus because this is the ship Elon Musks space faring company will use to send a crew of four civilians on a short trip around the planet. The launch is scheduled for sometime this fall.

The four people that will probably become the first tourists to go around the planet in a spaceship (Blue Origins launch will be only a trip up and down) are billionaire Hayley Arceneaux, Lockheed Martin engineer Christopher Sembroski, scientist-teacher Sian Proctor, and the man bringing the money to the mission, billionaire and former pilot Jared Isaacman.

The mission that will be taking them up is called Inspiration4 and is described as a charitable trip meant to help raise $200 million for St. Jude Childrens Research Hospitals efforts to fight childhood cancer.

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Close Up Photo Shows the SpaceX Resilience Capsule Still Tied to the ISS - autoevolution

June 3 will mark the 22nd SpaceX cargo resupply mission of scientific research and technology demonstrations.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla It's that time again. The International Space Station is in need of a delivery, and SpaceX is ready to lend a hand with its 22nd cargo resupply mission.

A collection of scientific research and technology demonstrations will fly to the orbiting laboratory on SpaceX's upgraded Dragon spacecraft on June 3.

The commercial space company is targeting a 1:29 p.m. liftoff from Kennedy Space Center's historic Launch Complex 39A.

Among the dozens of experiments heading into space to support the Expedition 65 and 66 crews are tardigrades or "water bears" that NASA says can tolerate more extreme environments than most life forms.

Research involving the organisms will advance astronauts' understanding of stress factors impacting them while in space and allow researchers to develop countermeasures.

Spaceflight can be a really challenging environment for organisms, including humans, who have evolved to the conditions on Earth, said principal investigator Thomas Boothby. One of the things we are really keen to do is understand how tardigrades are surviving and reproducing in these environments and whether we can learn anything about the tricks that they are using and adapt them to safeguard astronauts.

Joining the microscopic will be the equally small symbiotic squid, which will interact with microbes to help develop protective measures to preserve astronaut health while on long-duration missions in space.

Researchers will also be looking to give cotton a boost by examining stressors that can toughen the material-producing plants.

"We are hoping to reveal features of root system formation that can be targeted by breeders and scientists to improve characteristics such as drought resistance or nutrient uptake, both key factors in the environmental impacts of modern agriculture, principal investigator Simon Gilroy said. "Improved understanding of cotton root systems and associated gene expression could enable development of more robust cotton plants and reduce water and pesticide use."

NASA noted a portable ultrasound device, Pilote, tissue chip and new solar panels to help increase the energy available for activities at the ISS will also join the cargo headed to the orbiting laboratory.

You can catch the mission live by tuning into 10 Tampa Bay where we will be streaming on Facebookand YouTube.

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Squid, cotton and 'water bears' among cargo headed to the International Space Station - WTSP.com

May 26 (UPI) -- SpaceX's 22nd cargo resupply mission, slated to launch no earlier than June 3, will see several unique science experiments -- involving water bears, baby squids and kidney stones -- ferried to the International Space Station.

Like so many experiments before them, the bulk of the experimental setups being carried aboard SpaceX CRS-22 are designed to illuminate the health risks facing astronauts.

One of these will use tardigrades, or water bears, to do so.

"Tardigrades are renown for their ability to withstand a number of extreme stresses," Thomas Boothby, an assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Wyoming and the principal investigator on the Cell Science-04 experiment, told reporters during a press call on Wednesday.

Tardigrades can survive absolute zero and boiling water, withstand intense air and water pressures and persist in a dormant state for up to 30 years without food and water.

"Importantly for this mission, they've been shown to survive and reproduce during spaceflight and can even survive prolonged exposure to the vacuum of outer space," Boothby said.

For the experiment, scientists are planning to conduct both short-term and long-term tests, exposing single generations of water bears, as well as multiple generations, to the stresses of spaceflight, such as microgravity and radiation.

"We're going to be recovering those animals and looking at what genes they've turned on and off while aboard the ISS to get a sense of how they're coping with the stresses," Boothby said.

A separate experiment, called UMAMI, will use another tiny creature, baby bobtail squids, Euprymna scolopes, to study the impacts of spaceflight and microgravity on animal-microbe symbiosis.

"I'm very interested in how beneficial microbes communicate with animal tissues in space," said UMAMI principal investigator Jamie Foster.

"It's really important to understand how those microbes and their relationship with tissue and each other cause the microbiome to change in the space environment," Foster said.

Healthy adult squid maintain a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Vibrio fischeri. For the UMAMI experiment, several dozen immature bobtail squid -- all of which will be bacteria-free -- will be flown to the International Space Station.

Once onboard, the bacteria will be introduced to the squid paralarvae and allowed to colonize their light organs, an extra set of primitive eyes.

Researchers will monitor the onset of symbiosis for 12 hours before freezing the squid for tissue analysis back on Earth.

Astronauts face a variety of health challenges in space, one of which is an increased risk of kidney stones.

"On Earth, gravity helps maintain bone structure, and so bones tend to demineralize in space," said principal investigator Ed Kelly, associate professor of pharmaceutics at the University of Washington.

"Where does that calcium phosphate and magnesium go? It goes to the kidneys. This is one of the big reasons why astronauts are so susceptible to kidney stones," Kelly said.

But studying kidney stone formation on Earth is complicated by gravity. In lab experiments, kidney stones tend to sink to the bottom of solutions as they grow, complicating observation and measurement efforts.

Kelly and his research partners hope the kidney cell models -- installed on 3D tissue chips -- will help them solve this problem.

"We think the microgravity environment will allow us to model how kidney stones form and what can be done to prevent them from forming," Kelly said.

Additionally, SpaceX will carry experiments testing robotic arm and solar panel technologies, as well as more resilient cotton crop varieties, according to NASA.

20 years aboard the International Space Station

The International Space Station is photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking on October 4, 2018. NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev executed a fly-around of the orbiting laboratory to take pictures of the space station before returning home after spending 197 days in space. Photo courtesy of NASA/Roscosmos

Guinness World Records announced on October 19, 2020, that NASA astronauts Christina Koch (R) and Jessica Meir, who made history with the first all-female spacewalk on October 18, 2019, are being honored for this achievement with a feature in the Guinness World Records 2021 edition. The historic spacewalk took place at the ISS, where they worked on maintenance and upgrades. While this was Koch's fourth spacewalk, it was Meir's first. Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo

Expedition 64 NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is seen having her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked as she and fellow crewmates Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos prepare for their Soyuz launch to the ISS on October 14, 2020, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio was launched at 1:45 a.m. EDT to begin a six-month mission aboard the ISS. Photo by Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/NASA | License Photo

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is happy to be aboard the ISS after the hatch opening of the Soyuz spacecraft March 28, 2015. Kelly traveled with Expedition 43 Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka on the Soyuz TMA-16M that was launched the day before from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly and Kornienko each spent a year in space and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA

Astronaut William Shepherd (C), the Expedition 1 mission commander, looks on while Soyuz commander cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko (L) and the flight engineer, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, apply final touches to his full pressure entry suit as he lies on a couch of a Johnson Space Center trainer on May 12, 2000. Scheduled to come back from his space station stay aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, the three were participating in a rehearsal of their duties during shuttle descent. Photo courtesy of NASA

Kelly cared for two crops in the Veggie Plant Growth Facility during his year in space. Understanding the most effective ways to grow plants in microgravity is a key piece of the future journey to Mars. Growing plants in space provides crew members with fresh foods to supplement their diets, as well as a positive effect on morale and well-being. Photo courtesy of NASA

Tim Kopra photographed his breakfast floating inside of the Unity module aboard the ISS on April 16, 2016. In a tweet, he remarked "#Breakfast taco on#ISS:refried beans, shredded pork, pepper jack cheese, eggs and salsa on a tortilla. Awesome." Photo courtesy of NASA

Flight controllers at the ISS Mission Control at Johnson Space Center monitor systems aboard the orbiting laboratory during a number of dynamic events for Expedition 44 on August 10, 2015. Screens in the front of the room show the camera views from two spacewalking Russian cosmonauts, while NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren is seen harvesting lettuce from the veggie experiment that would become the first food grown in space to be eaten. Photo by Bill Stafford/NASA

Expedition 61 crew members, from left to right, NASA flight engineers Meir, Andrew Morgan and Koch with Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA unpack fresh fruit and other goodies from a stowage bag delivered aboard Japan's HTV-8 cargo craft on the ISS on October 7, 2019. Photo courtesy of NASA

Kelly corrals the supply of fresh fruit that arrived on the Kounotori 5 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-5) on August 25, 2015. Visiting cargo ships often carry a small cache of fresh food for crew members aboard the ISS. Photo courtesy of NASA

NASA astronauts Jeff Williams (shown here) and Rubins successfully installed a new international docking adapter on August 19, 2016, during a 5-hour, 58-minute spacewalk. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi assisted the duo from inside the space station, while all three then cleaned up the Quest airlock, where they stowed their spacesuits and tools. Photo courtesy of NASA

Koch worked in the vacuum of space 265 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa aboard the ISS on January 15, 2020. She and Meir conducted a spacewalk to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the stations Port-6 truss structure. Photo courtesy of NASA

Astronauts aboard the ISS captured these star trail images as they orbited the Earth at 17,500 mph on October 3, 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA

NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy embarks on a spacewalk outside the ISS on June 16, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA

Behnken and Cassidy completed the first of two scheduled spacewalks on June 16, 2020, to replace batteries on one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the ISS. Of this image posted by Behnken on Twitter, he said: "Yesterday, @Astro_SEAL snapped this shot from our worksite on @Space_Station @SpaceX's Crew Dragon and @JAXA_en's HTV in clear view. Not bad for a view while working. " Photo courtesy of NASA/Twitter | License Photo

Koch (L) and Meir work on their U.S. spacesuits ahead of a spacewalk they conducted to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the stations Port-6 truss structure on the ISS on January 15, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA

Commander Peggy Whitson works to change the media in a BioCell for the OsteoOmics experiment inside the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox in the Destiny U.S. Laboratory on the ISS on May 3, 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA

Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles before loading it in the biomolecule sequencer in September 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA

Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 63 Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner transfers biological samples into a science freezer for stowage and later analysis aboard the ISS on October 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA

Cassidy (L) and Behnken work on U.S. spacesuits inside the ISS's Quest airlock. The two conduct spacewalks on June 26 and July 1, 2020, to begin the replacement of batteries for one of the power channels on the orbiting laboratory. They replaced aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the station with new lithium-ion batteries that arrived to the station on a Japanese cargo ship. This was the culmination of power upgrade spacewalks that began in January 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

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SpaceX cargo mission to carry water bears, baby squids to space station - UPI News

SpaceX dropped an early Christmas present for space fans everywhere this week with an amazing video recap of its first major test launch of a Starship rocket.

The video, which SpaceX unveiled Wednesday (Dec. 23), shows the company's first high-altitude launch of its giant Starship SN8, a rocket prototype for a fully reusable space launch system for trips to the moon and Mars. SpaceX launched the Starship SN8 on Dec. 8 from a pad it its test facility near the village of Boca Chica in South Texas.

"12 story rocket turns off its engines & does a controlled fall," SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk wrote on Twitter.

Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX's Mars-colonizing vehicles in images

During the Dec. 8, SpaceX's Starship SN8 launched to an altitude of about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) using its three Raptor engines. At its peak, the rocket shut down its engines and performed a "belly flop" to make a controlled glide to a landing site near its launch pad.

Just before touchdown, Starship SN8 fired up one of its engines once more to flip the rocket around to attempt an upright landing similar to those regularly performed by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters. But the rocket landed a bit too fast due to a lower than expected fuel tank header pressure, cause it to crash and explode in a brilliant fireball.

In the new video, SpaceX catches that moment with a camera just below the booster at the landing pad, as well as from afar. Musk and SpaceX celebrated the launch test despite the explosion, adding that the mission proved Starship's ability not only to launch on the company's new Raptor engines, but also glide itself back to Earth to a landing spot.

"SN8 did great!" Musk wrote on Twitter on Dec. 9. "Even reaching apogee would've been great, so controlling all the way to putting the crater in the right spot was epic."

"Mars, here we come," Musk wrote later.

SpaceX expressed similar sentiments in the recap video.

"SN8 demonstrated a first-of-its-kind controlled aerodynamic descent and a landing flip maneuver," SpaceX states in the video. "Together these will enable landing where no runways exist including the moon, Mars and beyond."

Musk has said the company may save the SN8 wreckage to preserve its memory.

Indeed, NASA has tapped SpaceX's Starship vehicle as a contender for crewed moon landing missions under its Artemis program. The company's final Starship vehicle will include both the Starship spacecraft and a massive reusable booster called Super Heavy to launch deep-space missions.

SpaceX is already hard at work preparing its next Starship prototype, the SN9 rocket, for its own test launch, possibly later this month. The rocket required some extra work earlier this month after it appeared to tip slightly inside its hangar at Boca Chica, according to images captured by Starship watchers and posted on Twitter.

But the rocket has since rolled out to to its launch pad.

"Next up: SN9," SpaceX said.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.

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Relive SpaceX's Starship SN8 test launch with this epic recap video - Space.com

SpaceX aimed for up to 39 launches in 2020. The company wound up with 26, which still makes it the most prolific year for Elon Musk and his team, and second only to China and its Long March family of rockets with an unofficial count of 30.

Most notably, SpaceX's number includes two missions that carried astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a Crew Dragon, setting a number of milestones for human spaceflight. The Demo 2 mission that took NASA's Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station was the first crewed commercial flight and the first from US soil since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. SpaceX did it again with four astronauts, including one from Japan's space agency, JAXA, on the Crew-1 mission in November.

From the lab to your inbox. Get the latest science stories from CNET every week.

The 14 Starlink satellite launches made up more than half the SpaceX flights this year, brought the broadband constellation closer to its first 1,000 flying routers in orbit and enabled the Better Than Nothingbeta to begin in October.

In addition to those 26 Falcon 9 flights, SpaceX also continued development of its next-generation Starship rocket at its south Texas facility. This culminated in the dramatic first high-altitude flight of a prototype, which was deemed a success despite the hard, explosive landing after reaching about 8 miles (12.5 kilometers) in altitude.

In 2021 we can expect even more of the same, with scheduled Falcon 9 missions carrying Starlinks, bigger satellites and more astronauts to space. There are even a few Falcon Heavy launches on the calendar, which we didn't get to see in 2020. And certainly we'll be seeing more from the Starship development team in Texas.

Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy every launch Elon and his pals brought us during what was otherwise a year we'd rather forget.

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Watch every SpaceX launch from 2020 and say Auld Lang Syne with fire - CNET

The four RS-25 engines slated to fly on the maiden flight of NASA's SLS rocket, at the company's facility at NASA's Stennis Space Center.

Aerojet Rocketdyne

Lockheed Martin intends to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne at a $4.6 billion equity value, a deal that adds rocket engine and spacecraft propulsion assets to the defense contractor as it competes against the likes of Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin in the growing space industry.

Aerojet Rocketdyne's business is split between defense and space, with about 60% of its sales to the former and 40% to the latter.

"Near term, the benefit for Lockheed Martin is on the defense side and then you're buying some optionality in the space markets down the road, to ideally get more competitive and defend your position," Canaccord Genuity analyst Ken Herbert told CNBC.

Lockheed Martin is Aerojet's largest customer, making up about 33% of its sales. United Launch Alliance, or ULA, makes up another 10% of Aerojet's sales a further complement to Lockheed Martin, which owns a 50% stake in ULA as a joint venture with Boeing.

"This is clearly a vertical integration play for [Lockheed Martin] and a larger investment on Space. The acquisition should complement their space launch business at United Launch Alliance, boost their capabilities in hypersonic propulsion and could have an impact on their battle field and tactical missile business," Bank of America analyst Ron Epstein wrote in a note to investors on Monday.

Herbert also pointed to the benefits of vertical integration as a catalyst for Lockheed Martin acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne. While aerospace companies historically have wide networks of suppliers, Herbert pointed out that SpaceX and Blue Origin have had success with building as much as possible in-house to drive down costs.

"Maybe on the government side, [Lockheed Martin is thinking] that's where we need to be more vertically integrated to better compete over time against these companies coming into our market who are demonstrating real cost savings through their vertical integration," Herbert said.

Lockheed Martin recently highlighted SpaceX as a major competitor, shortly after the private company went toe-to-toe with ULA in the latest Pentagon award of billions in launch contracts.

"We have seen SpaceX as an emerging threat [and] they are more than an emerging threat right now," Lockheed Martin CFO Ken Possenriede said on the company's third quarter earnings conference call in October.

"But ... of the recent competitions we've had with them, we've actually been pleased with the outcome of where ULA landed relative to SpaceX," Possenriede added. "Going forward, we're confident that we certainly have the mission capable abilities, but we also think we now have a price point that is compelling to customers that will allow ULA to get its fair share of awards over SpaceX."

A Falcon 9 rocket launches the company's 14th Starlink mission on Oct. 18, 2020.

SpaceX

While Herbert expects Aerojet Rocketdyne's missile defense and hypersonic weapons programs will bring a boost, its space business has been on the sidelines of much of the grow in the space economy, as identified by CNBC PRO in November. The company's decreased lead in the space industry was exemplified in 2018, when long-time customer ULA picked Blue Origin's BE-4 engine over Aerojet's AR1 to power the coming Vulcan rocket.

But Lockheed Martin will add several key space products through Aerojet Rocketdyne, which builds the RS-25 engine for NASA's Space Launch System, the RL10C-X engine for the upper stage of ULA's Vulcan rocket, and small spacecraft control thrusters that are used by Boeing's Starliner crew capsules as well as NASA and ULA missions.

Jefferies analyst Greg Konrad noted the similarity of Lockheed Martin buying Aerojet Rocketdyne to Northrop Grumman's $7.8 billion acquisition of rocket maker Orbital ATK in 2018. Both deals represent a top defense contractor widening its reach by acquiring a company that specializes in rocket propulsion and space.

"We don't expect any issues with the deal closing. There will likely be a similar process as Northrop Grumman went through with Orbital ATK, with likely some pushback from key customers such as Raytheon and Boeing," Konrad wrote.

The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2021, with analysts highlighting regulatory approval as one of the top risks to the transaction. Read more analysis of Aerojet Rocketdyne's business here.

Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.

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Lockheed Martin buys Aerojet Rocketdyne to better compete with Musk's SpaceX, Bezos' Blue Origin - CNBC

Three projects intended to increase the reach of broadband internet in Perry County over the next 10 years will include one by Elon Musks SpaceX company, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC on Dec. 7 announced the $9.2 billion award of money to companies around the country to increase broadband internet connectivity in rural communities. The money comes from fees that telecommunications customers pay. Pennsylvania as a whole is receiving $368.7 million in this round of awards to connect 327,000 rural customers.

In Perry County, three companies received more than $7.7 million to improve broadband to 4,200 homes and businesses, according to the FCCs Pennsylvania news release. The projects are designed to increase internet speeds to at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) on download and 20 Mbps for uploads in unserved and underserved areas. However, a majority of projects would improve speeds to the gigabit levels, according to the FCC.

There was a strong and unified flow of comments from PA leadership and organizations to the FCC, encouraging the FCC to ensure that the auction process would give priority to unserved areas, instead of seeing the dollars simply flow to boosting speeds in areas that currently have service, said Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

The winning companies and project scopes for Perry County are:

According to the telecom publication LightReading, Connect Everyone is a company attached to the next generation internet firm Starry, based in Boston and New York City.

Virginia Lam Abrams, a Starry spokesperson, confirmed in an email that Connect Everyone is a Starry Internet venture. However, due to FCC rules the company could not comment about the broadband projects at this time. More information could be available after January, she said. According to Starrys website, the company uses fixed wireless technology to expand broadband internet.

Space Exploration Technologies is a division of Musks SpaceX, the same Hawthorne, Calif., company working with NASA on new space-flight rockets. Musk is also the force behind the Tesla brand of electric cars. SpaceXs rural broadband projects are expected to use satellite technology.

Over the past couple years, SpaceX has been launching its Starlink satellites, which will create a network to expand broadband internet anywhere. There will eventually be thousands of satellites to create a seamless internet experience globally, according to SpaceX. The company began testing the new technology in October.

Windstream Services is a division of Windstream, the Little Rock, Ark.-based telecom company. It operates internet and other services in Pennsylvania. The LightReading story pointed to various technologies such as next generation DSL, fiber optic and wireless as potential for Windstreams projects.

Windstream also could not comment about the project due to FCC rules, said Scott Morris, a company spokesman.

Its not known when the projects would start, or what areas of the county would be served by the companies broadband solutions.

Jim T. Ryan can be reached via email at jtryan@perrycountytimes.com

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SpaceX among Perry broadband project awards - pennlive.com

Suzie Dills| Special to Akron Beacon Journal

Although 2020 was a very difficult year for us, it gave us a chance to take time to observe astronomical highlights and night sky delights and view live broadcasts of historic launches. Many of us enjoyed the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and the surprise visit of Comet NEOWISE. We watched the launch of the next Mars rover, Perseverance, in July. History was made with the NASA SpaceX Crew Dragon flight, the first American rocket launch since 2011 and the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 Mission.

Mars Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is scheduled to land inside the 28-mile Jezero Crater, on Feb. 18. Perseverance will search for signs of ancient life in Jezero Crater, which harbored a lake and river delta billions of years ago. The rover will collect and store samples for future return to Earth, along with demonstrating technology that could aid in future exploration. A tiny helicopter, namedIngenuity, hitched a ride on the belly of Perseverance. After the rover lands, it will find a place for Ingenuity to conduct test flights. Then Ingenuity will make a few short flights into the Martian skies. This will be the first ever flight by a rotorcraft on a planet beyond Earth.

SpaceX crew In May, the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts will return to Earth. Soon after the NASA SpaceX Crew-2 Mission with four astronauts aboard will head to the International Space Station. The Crew-2 astronauts will spend six months at the ISS.

Boeing crew Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 is targeted to launch March 29. The first crewed mission for Boeings CST-100 Starlinerwill be slated for June or later.

Moon The first stage of the Artemis program for the return to the moonby humanswill begin with the launch of Artemis Iin November 2021. The mission is designed to test the crew spacecraft Orion and the Space Launch System. Crewed Artemis missions will follow.

Space telescope The James Webb Telescope is still on track for launch on Oct. 31. The James Webb Telescope will be the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built and launched into space. With the Webb, we will be able see much closer to the beginning of time, when the first stars and galaxies started to form.

March 10 The thin crescent moon joins Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn in the morning twilight.

April 25 Mercury and Venus will be about a degree apart, low in the western sky after sunset.

April 26 Supermoon: closest full moon of the year.

May 12 Venus and the thin crescent moon, less than 1 degree apart, low in the west-northwest at dusk.

May 26 Partial lunar eclipse, begins at 5:44 a.m. with the moon setting at 6:02 a.m.

June 10 Partial solar eclipse, will be underway with the sunrise at 5:52 am. Maximum at 5:55 a.m., and eclipse will end at 6:35 a.m.

July 11 The thin crescent moon will be 5 degrees from Venus and Mars, which will be separated by 1 degree low in the western sky at dusk.

Aug. 22 Seasonal blue moon, occurs when we have four full moonsin one season. The third is called the blue moon. This is the original definition of a blue moon.

Nov. 19 Near-total lunar eclipse. Partial eclipse begins at 2:18 a.m., maximum at 4:02 a.m. and eclipse ends at 5:47 a.m.

Dec. 5 Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the moon form a spectacular line in the western sky after sunset.

Planets and moon:Jupiter and Saturn start the month low in the southwestern sky, right after sunset. By mid-month, they drop from view, but will return to the morning sky next month. Mercury returns to the evening sky in January and creates a spectacular trio with Jupiter and Saturn, in the southwest, right after sunset Jan. 10. Mercury will continue to climb higher and remains visible through the end of the month. Mercury reaches greatest elongation Jan. 23, 19 degrees east of the sun. Mars shines brightly overhead all month but continues to move away from Earth. At the beginning of the month, Mars is 84.3 million miles from Earth, at months end it will be 111 million miles away. Brilliant Venus will be low in the predawn southeastern at the beginning of January but lost in the suns glare at months end. Jan. 18-22 will be a great time to spot Uranus. Mars will pass north of Uranus, with Jan. 21 as the best night, when Uranus is 1.7 degreesdue south of Mars. On Jan. 1, Neptune will be 1 degree east of Phi Aquarii in eastern Aquarius. On Jan.14, the moon pairs with Mercury, 35 minutes after sunset. Then on Jan. 17 the moon passes south of Neptune and on Jan. 21 passes south of Mars and Uranus. In the predawn sky, the moon pairs with Venus on Jan. 11.

Constellations:East Great star hopping in this part of the sky! Start with the most magnificent picture in our stars, Orion, the Hunter. Look for the three stars in a line, which make up the belt of Orion. The bright red-orange star up and to the left of the belt is Betelgeuse. The bright blue-white star down and to the right of the belt is Rigel. Draw a line up from the belt to a red, orange star, Aldebaran, which is the eye of Taurus, the Bull. The sideways V shape is the face of Taurus. Above Taurus, the small cluster of stars is the Pleiades or Seven Sisters. Making a counterclockwise loop from the Pleiades, the next bright star is Capella. Continuing down, the two stars you see are Gemini, the Twins.

North The Big Dipper is beginning to swing up on its handle. Following the two stars at the end of the cup to the next bright star, is Polaris, or the North Star. The constellation Cassiopeia is above and to the left of Polaris and resembles the letter M.

West There you will see four stars that form the Great Square of Pegasus.

Binocular highlights When facing north, locate the M shape of Cassiopeia. From the left point of the M shape, scan slowly up to the left. You will see a fuzzy circular shape. That is the Andromeda Galaxy. It is 2.5 million light years away. From the right point of the M,scan up slightly. You will come upon the Double Cluster in Perseus. High overhead, you will see the small cluster of stars, the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. ThePleiades is a beautiful open star cluster. Head to Orion, the Hunter. Scan below the three stars of Orions belt. You will see fuzzy area with bright stars. This is the Orion Nebula, a hydrogen gas cloud where new stars are forming.

The peak of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is Jan. 3.

For further night sky details, maps and audio, visit my website http://www.starrytrails.com.

Visit the Hoover Price Planetarium: Visit http://www.mckinleymuseum.org, for limited show dates and times. Planetarium shows are free with museum admission. Seating is limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. The planetarium is located inside the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, 800 McKinley Monument DriveNWin Canton. For more information,call the museum at 330-455-7043.

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What's Up in the Sky: Here's what to expect in 2021 - Akron Beacon Journal

The 100th launch carried a weather satellite for Argentina into orbit.

SpaceX successfully launched and landed yet another Falcon 9 rocket yesterday marking a couple of important milestones for the company.

The companys Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 7.18 P.M. Eastern Time with the SAOCOM-1B satellite on board, the company's 15th launch of 2020.

About eight minutes after the launch, the first stage of the Falcon 9 then returned to Cape Canaveral to touch down safely at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1). This was the fourth successful launch and landing for this booster.

Impressively, this was the 100th launch in total for Elon Musk's company since its first attempt in 2006, and its 96th successful flight. Those 100 launches comprise five Falcon 1 launches (with three failures), 92 Falcon 9 launches (one failure), and three Falcon Heavy launches (no failures).

The SAOCOM-1B satellite on board this mission was an Earth observation satellite for Argentinas space agency, the second of two satellites designed to use radar to look for potential disasters from an altitude of 620 kilometers. Also on board were two smaller satellites, GNOMES-1 and Tyvak-0172.

This launch not only marked a century of launches for SpaceX, but also 58 successful rocket landings for the company, both on its ocean barges and back on land, and the 42nd reflight of a first stage booster.

The launch was notable for another reason too. This was the first polar launch from Florida since 1969, with the Falcon 9 rocket performing a maneuver shortly after launch (called a dogleg maneuver) to turn right and head south along the eastern Florida coast.

The last polar launch from Florida was a weather satellite for the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA), the precursor to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Their satellite called ESSA-9 launched on February 26, 1969 and was operational until November 1972.

This was SpaceX's 15th flight of 2020.

Since then, polar launches from the U.S. have taken place from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. However, wildfires in California that can damage the launch site meant that alternatives were sought back in 2016.

Any polar launch from Florida would need to avoid dropping debris on inhabitated areas, such as Cuba, where a cow was supposedly killed by falling debris in 1960. SpaceX has been allowed to conduct such launches as their rockets have an automatic safety system that self-destructs the rocket in the event of a failures.

SpaceX was also close to hitting yet another milestone on Sunday, with a launch of another batch of 60 Starlink satellites in the companies space internet mega constellation. This would have been the first double launch since 1966, but the mission was postponed until tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1.

Link:

SpaceX Just Launched Its 100th Rocket In A Major Milestone For The Company - Forbes

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Pending United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy launch early Saturday morning and the Eastern Range approval, SpaceX mightjust pull off a one-of-a-kind performance this Sunday.

The aerospace company is currently scheduling back-to-back launches on Aug. 30.

If SpaceX is granted approval, it will attempt to launch its 12th batch of Starlink satellites at 10:12 a.m. Sunday from Kennedy Space Center pad 39A.

More: SpaceX secures even more contracts with SES for launches from Cape Canaveral

Upon success of the mission, SpaceX would have about 700 Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit.

Weather is currently 50% "go" for the Sunday morning attempt with the primary concern being thick cloud coverage, according to the 45th Space Wing.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 58 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral on the 11th mission for the constellation on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. Florida Today

In the event of a delay, SpaceX will try again two days later on Tuesday.

But that's not all happening that day,

Later in the evening, the aerospace company will once again launch its Falcon 9 rocket, only this time, it will be from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40 and it will send an Earth-observation satellite for the Argentinian space agency to low-Earth orbit.

Scheduled to launch at 7:18 p.m., the SAOCOM 1B mission will mark the first polar orbit launch from the Cape since the 1960s. That means all along the south coast of Florida, spectators will be able to see the launch.

More: NASA adds astronaut Jeanette Epps to Boeing's Starliner first operational crewed flight

And if that weren't cool enough, SpaceX is also planning on returning its booster to Landing Zone 1 at the Cape, marking the first booster landing on land since March.

Those along the Space Coast should expect to hear sonic booms approximately eight minutes after liftoff.

Weather for Sunday evening's launch is currently 40% "go" with the primary concern being thick cloud coverage and storm showers, according to the 45th Space Wing.

Contact Antonia Jaramillo at321-242-3668or antoniaj@floridatoday.com. Follow her onTwitterat@AntoniaJ_11.

Get the latest space news by becoming a subscriber.

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Three launches this weekend? SpaceX to try back-to-back launches this Sunday - Florida Today

Barstool Sports founder turned day trader Dave Portnoy has made a big splash in the world of finance in 2020. Hes called the Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett washed up and set the crypto industry on fire when he bought his first Bitcoin. But unfortunately, hes already panic sold.

But Portnoy has already let the cat out of the bag on some important subjects. His 1.7 million Twitter followers now know what Bitcoin is, and thanks to his recent guests the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, his followers also know how scarce the digital asset is compared to gold.

Finally, the public now knows that there are asteroids filled with gold floating around in space. Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk plans to infiltrate and extract the precious metals from the floating space mass. Portnoy gawked at the claim, laughing it off as a joke. But the Winklevoss twins explain just how serious this is. Later Portnoy took to Twitter and confirmed the comment himself with Musk who concurred.

Yes, Theres An Asteroid Filled With Gold: SpaceX Next Mission

It sounds ridiculous, but it is entirely true: there are asteroids orbiting in space, filled with various rare earth metals like gold, silver, platinum, and others. Here on earth, these metals are considered assets due to their scarcity. In space, however, these metals are in abundance.

So what happens then, when someone like Elon Musk with the capability, creativity, and curiosity, partners with NASA on a mission to the metal-filled asteroid called Psyche. A press release from NASA reads:

The Psyche mission will journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.

Musk and NASAs goal is to learn more about the planets nickel-iron core, but the glimmer of gold could be too alluring to pass up. The SpaceX mission will be visiting Psyche for the first time. This time the intent is to explore, but perhaps the next time is to extract.

Winklevoss Twins To Barstools Davey Day Trader: We Think Of Bitcoin As Internet Gold

As part of the segment of Davey Day Trader, the Winklevoss twins convinced Portnoy to buy Bitcoin, and he began raving about cryptocurrencies to his massive following on social media.

Eventually, Portnoy claims to have sold his Bitcoin holdings after a short drawdown, but it was made extremely clear to the masses that Bitcoin is an important asset for all investors to consider.

The assets 21 million BTC hard cap and digital scarcity was explained in detail, along with why and how it has become money over the course of its ten year history. Knowing exactly how many Bitcoin exist was said to be one of the cryptocurrencys most attractive attributes, making it far rarer and finite than gold.

Theres no telling how much gold is still ready to be mined in the Earth, and theres potentially trillions of gold floating around in space, ripe for the picking. If that gold makes its way back to Earth, golds scarcity goes immediately out the window.

The safe haven asset is no longer safe. Bitcoins existence in cyber space means outerspace poses almost no threat to the cryptocurrency. The only thing capable of taking it out, is an extreme solar flare causing electromagnetic shockwaves that knock out internet infrastructure and power grids completely.

But if that were ever to happen, investments would be the last thing anyone was worried about. The modern world would be in pure chaos without smartphones, social media, the internet, or computers. Still, the risk space poses against gold, and an archaic asset starting to show its age in the digital era has put a spotlight on Bitcoin recently.

Modern Day Gold Rush: Investors To FOMO Into Bitcoin As The Best Insurance Policy

Bitcoin is often called digital gold, because it shares many benefits with the precious metal. Where Bitcoin wins, is in its portability, durability, scarcity, and inability to be counterfeited. Bitcoin loses, however, in historic precedent. But thats all about to change.

Recently, the gold rush has spilled into digital assets. The market cap of commodity-backed gold tokens have been growing nearly as rapidly as gold prices have. But after setting a new all-time high, capital began to pour into cryptocurrencies.

Like precious metals, crypto assets like Bitcoin have a scarce supply, making them a great hedge against inflation and safe haven assets even better than gold or silver. The chart XAUBTC above shows just how far gold has fallen, priced in Bitcoin. Currently, a full ounce of gold trading against Bitcoin can only buy 0.17 BTC. Early in Bitcoins lifecycle, it took hundreds of BTC to afford an ounce of gold. But times have changed in just ten years.

As mentioned previously, gold extracted from space means the gold supply is no longer so scarce. And because theres only 21 million BTC, and the Bitcoin market cap is only $200 billion compared to $11 trillion in gold, Bitcoins growth will always be the fastest for the least amount of capital.

Investors who deeply look into the decentralized financial technology can clearly see how the asset could be set to appreciate in value significantly against other assets, especially the dollar with inflation coming.

Hedge funds have been moving gold holdings into Bitcoin, and major business firms have begun adding Bitcoin holdings to their reserve treasuries to prepare and hedge against inflation or the unknown.

One of those unknowns, lies in the final frontier: space. Thanks to SpaceXs mission to the precious metal-filled Psyche, the cat is already out of the bag, and golds status as a safe haven has already been damaged. The information is now out there that there could be far more gold coming than ever before.

This confirmation could be responsible for golds recent pullback, as investors have begun dumping the safe haven asset before any asteroid-mining begins.

Why Not Profit From Both? Trade Bitcoin, Gold, Stock Indices, Oil, And More With PrimeXBT

Regardless of what gold or Bitcoin does, theres a way to profit from the trend whichever way things turn with PrimeXBTs long and short positions.

The award-winning Bitcoin margin trading platform bases all accounts in Bitcoin, but offers CFDs for a wide range of assets like gold, silver, oil, gas, the S&P 500, Nasdaq, forex, and cryptocurrencies.

Rather than invest and risk losing money if one outperforms the other, trading allows for strategic hedge positions, or building a portfolio that consists of positions on both assets. Another way to take advantage of the coming change in gold and Bitcoin trends, is to let other traders worry about it for you. With PrimeXBTs Covesting, followers can earn passive income off skilled strategy managers, trading gold and Bicoin on their own using years worth of real market experience and natural talent.

DOWNLOAD THE PUNCH NEWS APP NOW ON

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SpaceX & NASA To Explore Gold-Filled Asteroid: Where Do Investors Flee If The Main Safe Haven Becomes Worthless? - The Punch

$69.1 billion

$188 billion

2002

2000

Google

Courtesy of Google

NASA

Courtesy of NASA

The Starship rocket, which will launch asmany as 100 people into space at a time.

NEXT BIG THING

Successfully launching a crewed mission.

The Foundation book series by Isaac Asimov.

SENT HUMANS TO SPACE?

Yes, two.

SENT HUMANS TO SPACE?

Nope.

Falcon 9, which is taller than the LeaningTower of Pisa (229.6 ft.).

MOST IMPRESSIVE MEMBER

New Glenn, which is a bit taller than the Statue ofLiberty (313 ft).

CREWED SHIP

ESTIMATED TICKET PRICE

$500,000 for a trip to Mars.

ESTIMATED TICKET PRICE

Between $200,000 and $300,000 for a suborbital cruise.

When Bezos tweeted a video of a rare reused rocket from Blue Origin, Musk was quick to point out that the SpaceXGrasshopper had already completed six suborbital flights.

FRIENDLY RIVALRY

After SpaceX launched a rocket into space and brought the booster back to Earth, Bezos tweeted,Welcome to the club!

235,000

Tony Stark

Courtesy of Adobe Stock

Lex Luthor

Courtesy of Adobe Stock

Elon is absolutely fixated on going to Mars.

Were both neck and neck as to who will put peopleinto space first.

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Elon Musks SpaceX vs Jeff Bezoss Blue Origin: Which Space Project Will Dominate the Cosmos? - Robb Report

SN5 blasts off earlier in August.

If you missed it the first time around, there may be another opportunity, in the coming days, to see an early version of Elon Musk's Mars rocket take a very short flight.

SpaceX has been working at its Boca Chica, Texas, site to develop Starship, its next-generation spacecraft designed to eventually take people to the moon, Mars and even farther.

Subscribe to the CNET Now newsletter for our editors' picks of the most important stories of the day.

Earlier this month a single-engine Starship prototype labeled SN5 successfully made its first "hop," which was a short flight of nearly 500 feet in altitude, followed by a controlled landing not far from the launch pad.

Now playing: Watch this: SpaceX Starship prototype takes first 'hop'

1:01

We saw the same feat performed by a smaller prototype dubbed Starhopperin 2019, but the far larger SN series is designed to be capable of orbital flight. It's not clear when we might see that, but Musk has said the plan is to do a series of hops in order to work up to higher altitude flights.

Cameron County, Texas, where the development site is located, has issued an all-day road closure for this Sunday, with backup dates on Monday and Tuesday, suggesting that SpaceX hopes to hop SN6, its next prototype, as soon as this weekend.

The closures were originally set for Friday through Sunday and it's possible they could slip further. Musk recently acknowledged the company has a very busy Sunday planned, with a pair of launches from Florida set for the same day.

Link:

SpaceX hopes to 'hop' another Starship prototype this weekend - CNET

Elon Musk

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Elon Musks Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is close to finalizing $2 billion in new funding after the company increased the size of the round due to strong demand, according to people familiar with the matter.

Fidelity Investments, an existing investor, is one of the biggest participants in the round, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

A representative for Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Fidelity declined to comment.

The company had been in discussions to raise about $1 billion at a price of $270 a share, Bloomberg News previously reported. Not including the new funds, that wouldve valued SpaceX at $44 billion.

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When the transaction is finalized, the company will have an equity value of $46 billion, including the fresh $2 billion in capital. This ranks SpaceX as one of the most valuable U.S. venture-backed companies.

The $2 billion round, which was oversubscribed, would be the largest fundraising so far for SpaceX, according to PitchBook. It also comes just as SpaceX pulled off its most highest-profile mission.

SpaceXs Dragon capsule returned to earth safely this month, the first mission in which U.S. astronauts flew to the International Space Station on American spacecraft since the shuttle program ended in 2011.

For SpaceX, the flight was a signature achievement 18 years after Musk founded the company with the ultimate goal of populating other planets. The mission also cements SpaceXs spot as the most valuable firm in the New Space industry.

SpaceXs previous investors include Peter Thiels Founders Fund, Alphabet Inc., Baillie Gifford and Valor Equity Partners.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been a key partner and customer for SpaceX. It said on Friday that it was targeting Oct. 23 for its first operational mission with SpaceX.

With assistance by Annie Massa, and Dana Hull

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SpaceX Increases Latest Funding Round to $2 Billion - Bloomberg

We can expect a lot more Starship action out of SpaceX in the near future.

Last week, Elon Musk's company flew a full-size prototype of its Mars-colonizing Starship spacecraft for the first time ever, sending a vehicle called the SN5 ("Serial No. 5") about 500 feet (150 meters) into the sky above the South Texas village of Boca Chica.

More such uncrewed test hops are coming from the company, and not just from the SN5. Indeed, the SN6 prototype is already at the launch pad at SpaceX's facilities near Boca Chica, and it may be the next Starship vehicle to get off the ground.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN5 prototype's 1st flightRelated: SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy Mars rocket in pictures

"Not sure yet, but hopefully. Will need leg & other repairs. Probably SN6 flies before SN5. We need to make flights simple & easy many per day," Musk said via Twitter on Saturday (Aug. 8), responding to a follower who asked if SN5 will fly again.

SN5 and SN6 both have a single Raptor engine and will likely fly only on short test hops, similar to the one SN5 performed last week.

The SN7 was a test tank that SpaceX burst on purpose in a pressure test this past June. But the SN8 will be another flying prototype one with body flaps and a nosecone, Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday.

That suggests the SN8 will fly relatively high likely to a target altitude of about 12 miles (20 kilometers), if Musk's previous statements about the Starship test campaign are any guide. The SN8 will therefore likely sport three Raptors, SpaceX's powerful next-generation engine. (SpaceX's currently operational rockets, the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, are powered by Merlin engines.)

The final version of the 100-passenger, 165-foot-tall (50 m) Starship will feature six Raptors and be powerful enough to blast itself off the moon and Mars, Musk has said. But it will need help to get off Earth. Starship will launch from our planet atop a giant first-stage booster known as Super Heavy, which will have 31 Raptors of its own.

Starship and Super Heavy will both be fully and rapidly reusable. The duo will therefore be relatively cheap to fly, Musk has said cheap enough to make crewed Mars missions and a variety of other exploration feats economically feasible, if all goes according to plan.

SpaceX is already starting to flesh out ancillary aspects of this bold vision. For example, the company recently put out a hiring call for offshore operations engineers to help develop floating spaceports for Starship vehicles.

The company is also looking to hire a resort development manager, who will be in charge of transforming Boca Chica Village into a suitable jumping-off point for Starship passengers.

"Boca Chica Village is our latest launch site dedicated to Starship, our next-generation launch vehicle. SpaceX is committed to developing this town into a 21st-century spaceport," a new SpaceX job notice reads. "We are looking for a talented Resort Development Manager to oversee the development of SpaceX's first resort from inception to completion."

That resort will likely be lavish, given that Starship trips will be quite expensive. (Musk has said that the cost of a seat aboard a Mars-bound Starship could eventually drop below $100,000.) Indeed, one of the preferred qualifications for the posted job is "experience working for high-end brand luxury development."

"Aiming to make it super fun!" Musk said in another Tuesday tweet, referring to the resort.

Though Starship is still in the early testing stages, SpaceX already has a mission on the books for the vehicle: Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa booked Starship for a round-the-moon trip, with a target launch date of 2023.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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SpaceX ramping up Starship prototype tests in Texas (and looking for a resort manager) - Space.com

[8/11/2020] Virgin Galactic Q2 Earnings & Other Updates

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group Ltd., waves after ringing the opening bell during Virgin ... [+] Galactic Holdings Inc.'s initial public offering (IPO) on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE), an aerospace company focused on suborbital spaceflight for space tourists, published Q2 earnings last week. While the companys financials are not very relevant yet, given that it has yet to begin commercial operations, there have been a couple of noteworthy developments in recent weeks.

Space Tourism Updates

The company indicated that it could begin commercial service of its spaceflight by early 2021, flying its founder Richard Branson. While this is behind the companys previous 2020 timeline, the delay was largely expected due to the Covid-19 related disruption. The company continues to test its space flights and noted that it had now cleared 27 out of 29 Federal Aviation Administration milestones. The FAA clearance is key to receiving final approval to begin flights with commercial customers.

New Projects

The company also provided updates on some new projects. The company is working with Rolls-Royce to develop a supersonic aircraft that would be able to carry between 9 to 19 passengers, capable of traveling at about 3x the speed of sound. Separately, the company is also looking to expand its services to start flying customers to orbital destinations such as the International Space Station. The orbital flight is typically much more expensive and currently costs about roughly $50 million today (versus suborbital flights that are priced at $250k per ticket) [1]

Recent Fundraising

On Monday, the company raised about $460 million by selling 23.6 million equity shares in a secondary offering priced at $19.50 per share. The should considerably boost Virgins cash balance, which stood at about $360 million at the end of Q2 2020.

Interested in investing in Space-related stocks? Check out our theme The Final Frontier: Space Stocks To Watch, which includes publicly listed space companies such as Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD), and Iridium (NASDAQ: IRDM)

[7/16/2020] Valuing Virgin Galactic Stock

Virgin Galactic is an aerospace company focused on suborbital spaceflight for private individuals and researchers. The company hasnt been able to generate much buzz, unlike the Elon Musk-backed SpaceX, considering that it is still in the test phases and doesnt generate meaningful revenues as of yet. That said, things are likely to change in the next few quarters, as it likely begins commercial space flights carrying paying space tourists from 2021, charging each passenger about $250,000. The stock currently trades at about $19 per share, translating into a market cap of under $4 billion. So what exactly are the factors driving Virgin Galactics Revenues And Valuation?

How Does Virgin Galactic Make Money?

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Virgin Galactics Outlook And Valuation

While Virgin Galactic might offer significant upside, it comes with a fair bit of risk. If youre interested in larger-cap stocks that look set to outperform, check out our 5 In S&P 500 Thatll Beat The Index: TWTR, ISRG, NFLX, NOW, V

See allTrefis Price EstimatesandDownloadTrefis Datahere

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Virgin Galactic Updates: Whats Happening With SpaceX Rival - Forbes