Space Launch: Who, What, and Where We’re Going – Andreessen Horowitz

For a full landscape of the commercial space market, see our previous post: Space: A Market Map.

Few achievements illustrate American Dynamism in a more visceral way than a rocket blasting off. It is, in a sense, controlled chaos the culmination of expertise in a number of scientific disciplines, harnessing explosive forces to escape our planets grip. In recent years, technical innovations and market opportunity have ushered in an ecosystem of new launch providers, and a domain once reserved for nations is now led by private companies.

Their simple goal is to put mass, in the form of commercial or government spacecraft, into orbit. Of course, this is literally rocket science, so theres actually nothing simple about it. Earths atmosphere and gravity attempt to restrain us, and although we regularly break free today, theres still much innovation to come if were going to truly open up space for anything beyond satellites and exploratory research missions.

This resurgence of the launch ecosystem is young, but segments are emerging. There are a lot of rocket companies, and more are popping up every year. What follows is an explanation of how the launch market works and where it might be headed.

Launch prices have dropped precipitously in recent years, expanding the potential for profitable applications. Notably, in this period, weve seen satellites dramatically shrink in size. But while they may differ in mass, they remain similar in principle:The largest segments of the space economy today are satellites transferring information through the electromagnetic spectrum. Doing this in space is really cheap, as it is on Earth, and is especially worth it if that data can only be supported by space-based infrastructure (e.g. remote sensors, satellite internet, GPS, etc.). As of now, information technology is the king of space and both commercial and government customers are driving demand.

Understandably, customers want to quickly and successfully reach orbit for the cheapest price. Reliability and speed aside, price is commonly measured in $/kilogram (kg). This is often expressed as the price per unit if the rocket is full; more practically, the lowest costs fall between $3,000/kg and $6,000/kg. This is due in part to reusability, scheduling, and volume requirements. However, most customers wont fill a rocket alone, as few companies have payload demands exceeding tens of thousands of kilograms.

Cost per launch better reflects the true price of reaching orbit. You can either fill the full payload capacity and achieve the lowest $/kg costs, or fill only a small fraction of the total capacity and pay more per unit. But the launch company charges the same price whether its at full capacity or empty. Naturally, rideshares enable multiple companies to split the cost per launch, which is why $/kg is commonly used for comparisons (more on this later).

For optimal efficiency and pricing, launch capacity would be matched to payload demand. Large rockets that arent filled end up being far more expensive than a smaller rocket that is fully filled; economical viability can trump technical capability, in that sense. The launch market is commonly categorized by how much mass the rocket can carry small, medium, heavy, super heavy. Ive elected to simplify this according to the groupings of customers and use cases, not just launch capabilities: Big rockets launch big payloads, often mega constellations, and Small / Medium rockets launch smaller payloads, enabling dedicated scheduling and deployment location for spacecraft.

Today, the launch market is roughly $12 billion, but is estimated to grow to $30 billion or more by 2030. The western launch providers that flew at least once in 2022 are illustrated below, including legacy players like United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Arianespace.

If you can fill them, big rockets are the cheapest per-unit launch option. The SpaceX Falcon 9 has proven to be the most effective vehicle for this market, making up a whopping 60 of the 91 western launches in 2022 and there is no close second. But that stat only illustrates whos dominating the launches: Unpacking the customers in this segment reveals broader insights about the launch market and where its headed.

Lets start with SpaceX. In 2022, over 50% of SpaceXs launches were dedicated to Starlink, which now makes up the majority of objects in low-Earth orbit (LEO). These are very full launches. Its worth noting here that Falcon 9s listed max payload 22,800 kg is for the expendable version; its reusable rocket version peaks at around 80% of listed capacity roughly ~18,000 kg for LEO. Even so, Starlink missions regularly pack in over 16,000 kg (approximately 50 satellites), and geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) missions pack over 4,000 kg. In 2022, four of Falcon 9s launches were dedicated to U.S. government payloads, and three others were for allied governments.

For ULA, six out of eight launches on their Atlas V and Delta IV rockets flew U.S. government hardware. The majority of these government payloads are expensive, research-focused or classified, and demand reliability; they cant risk a failed launch.

SpaceXs Falcon Heavy found a unique use case in this government market, and its present usage illustrates the broader importance of matching rocket size with payload demand. Heavy was initially designed for the massive thrust to get large telecom satellites into GTO a highly elliptical orbit that circulates into geosynchronous orbit (GEO) with time, and is much easier to reach than heading to GEO directly. However, the Falcon 9 improved so much over the years that it stole this market from its sister rocket. In 2022, roughly 20% of Falcon 9s launches were for large commercial payloads entering GTO.

Though Heavys unit prices are very low when full, few customers will pay the $97 million launch price when the Falcon 9s $67 million cost maps better to their needs. Heavy would be flown for Starlink missions, but its payload volume is actually similar to the Falcon 9. Effectively, you cant fit more Starlinks in a Heavy anyway, so the added thrust is worthless. On top of this, difficulties with coordinating large enough launchpads makes scheduling difficult. Falcon Heavy only flew once last year, carrying heavy Space Force satellites directly to GEO.

Still, the majority of the launch market is in deploying large constellations in LEO. This will not just be Starlink. Other large telecom deployments, like Amazons Project Kuiper and OneWeb, will also demand high-volume, cheap launches. Given the competitive atmosphere, however, both of these constellations appear to be avoiding launching with SpaceX. Project Kuiper is looking at Arianespace, ULA, and, of course, Blue Origin for their future needs. And OneWeb selected Indias space program and Relativitys future rocket, Terran R. Additionally, OneWeb is launching a couple of payloads with SpaceX due to the last minute cancellation of their Russian Soyuz launches because of the war in Ukraine.

There is also significant demand from other satellite operators, albeit not at the scale of communication satellites. For example, since 2017, Planet Labs has launched from the Russian and Indian state space organizations, Arianespace, Rocket Labs, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX. Today, of the ~7,000 satellites in various orbits, around 1,000 operate in a remote sensing capacity like Planet Labs.

Building and maintaining increasingly large constellations of satellites requires big rockets, and there is certainly demand in this market available to whoever is able to launch reliably. Noteworthy big rockets in development include:

Existing players will likely dominate this market, and steep development costs hundreds of millions, minimum put new entrants at a disadvantage. The majority of the satellites going into space will continue to belong to and be launched by SpaceX; the rest of the market will likely be fighting for chunks of other large constellations. Additionally, the loss of Russian launch has effectively taken offline around 20% of global capacity, and Amazon bought up nearly all remaining viable launch partners until around 2025. Many companies that started building smaller rockets, like Relativity and Rocket Lab, are now moving upmarket to meet this opportunity. Well see rockets get as large as regular payload demand can fill by some estimates, tens of thousands of satellites by 2030.

However, although larger rockets are potentially very profitable, there is still demand in the smaller market, buoyed by significant startup activity.

If you have a single, 200-kilogram satellite you want to get into LEO, you wont be buying out an entire Falcon 9. The common solution to this is to buy a ride with a big rocket thats already launching and is sharing capacity. Last year, for example, SpaceX operated 3 rideshares to LEO to serve this remainder market starting at roughly $6,600/kg.

However, like a bus, you are subject to their timelines and destinations and, frankly, youre competing for capacity against their own Starlink satellites. An additional concern, in some situations, is that precise deployment into a specific orbital position is impossible without a dedicated launch. Currently, there also is a two-year (or more) wait time for rideshare missions. Many smallsat companies are already dealing with tight timelines, so any uncertainty or waiting around for launch is painful. This reality has opened the door for smaller, dedicated launch providers that map closer to smaller payload demand and have more personalized schedules and destinations effectively, a space courier.

There are dozens of companies working in this segment. Because the rocket is smaller and has lower development costs, weve seen a bit more flexibility on launch system design: launching from a mid-flight plane, hypersonic platforms, kinetic first stage, and fully reusable rockets. Right now, Rocket Labs Electron is the leader in this small / medium launch category, flying nine times in 2022 (I wouldve placed Rocket Lab in the Big category, given Neutrons development, if not for the success of Electron). Others, like Astra and Firefly, also succeeded in launching last year, and more are just behind them.

Candidly, though, I expect this market to be tough. While there is demand for dedicated launch, and it will surely increase in the coming years, there will likely only be a handful of players (or fewer) with meaningful market share. Today, whoever can actually launch will get business, although I expect this to change as more systems go online. (However, even successful launches wont save you if the economics dont work out, as recently exhibited in the case of Virgin Orbit.) Reliability and scheduling will be important differentiators against bigger rockets, but within the smaller rocket ecosystem, cost will be a differentiator in order to win business. Price declines will likely fall into three categories:

Were also already seeing companies like Rocket Lab, Relativity, and Astra focus their efforts on building larger, cheaper per unit rockets, like the Neutron, Terran R, and Rocket 4. Small rockets want to become medium rockets, if not larger SpaceX, too, began with the small Falcon 1 before focusing on the bigger Falcon 9. Additionally, companies in this segment have extended into adjacent markets; Rocket Lab actually makes much of their revenue from their Photon spacecraft, and Astra is focusing revenue efforts on their acquired propulsion system. All of this to say that the size of this dedicated launch market remains unclear, and survival might require expanding into other, higher-margin, spaces.

More pessimistically, as the big launch market grows to fuel mega constellations and higher-energy orbit destinations, they might also operate more rideshares. These alone wont cover the development costs of big rockets, but they can still be profitable to launch on a regular basis and they will likely draw demand away from dedicated launch. Furthermore, the development of efficient satellite propulsion systems and space tugs might eliminate the desire for precise orbital drop offs. Rideshare could do the hard part, then you can find another way to go that last mile once in orbit.

As noted above, governments are also large buyers of launch services, and their involvement definitely matters when it comes to how the launch market will evolve. In fact, 109 of the 186 launches globally last year were dedicated to government payloads. When it comes to industries relevant to national security, governments will go out of their way to maintain a healthy industry of domestic suppliers and, of course, space is becoming increasingly critical.

Today, only a handful of nations can regularly enter orbit. There are effectively three players the United States, Russia, and China with distant rivals in Europe, India, Iran, Israel, and South Korea. Perhaps most concerningly, China has accelerated their launch efforts in recent years and plans to deploy a 13,000-satellite mega constellation of their own. In 2022, the launch geographic split looked like this:

There is global demand for launch; last year, SpaceX flew 3 missions consisting of foreign government hardware, and there are many international satellite companies seeking orbital access. The largest launch providers will remain in the largest economies, but growing international demand will likely be subsidized by the governments that want it and channeled toward domestic industry. The days of SpaceX launching German or Japanese government satellites will likely disappear.

If a nation doesnt have launch capacity, and can afford it, they will likely develop it. South Korea has recently achieved this, and Australia is attempting to follow later this year. However, accessible launch pads are a limiting factor here, as most countries lack good locations. Many of Europes launches, for example, take place in French Guiana. To address this, well likely see countries partner to develop shared launch pads, or focus on alternative launch methods that do not require them like launching from a mid-flight plane.

Why does launch capacity matter? Tactical response: the ability to quickly design and launch a spacecraft to replace a damaged satellite or other more kinetic things. A country with security concerns should not rely on another nation for this service. In time, I expect most advanced nations to develop a domestic launch industry, likely small payloads, if only to maintain rapid response capabilities in times of conflict. Tactical response is an explicit goal of the U.S. Space Force, and last year Firefly was selected to take part in the third TacRS exercise, Victus Nox

The rise of the commercial launch industry catalyzed the growth of the modern space economy both directly in orbit and in markets enabled by assets in space. Like the transcontinental railroads of the late 19th century, many of these companies will not survive, but their efforts will lay the foundation for a new frontier. No doubt, SpaceX has been the chief architect of this progress so far.

However, even with weekly Falcon 9 launches, it is still incredibly expensive to move mass into and around in space. This is in part because even the best rockets suffer from the tyranny of the rocket equation, a physics principle illustrating one of the fields great challenges that it takes propellant to lift propellant. While aircraft typically take off with around 50% of their mass being fuel, rockets hover around 85%, counting both fuel and oxidizer (liquid oxygen). To minimize total propellant needed for a mission, weight is shed mid-launch. Often this involves dropping the heavy and high-thrust first stage after ascending beyond the thicker parts of the atmosphere. By reducing weight mid-flight, achieving orbital velocity with the second-stage engine is easier. Typically, the second stage burns up in the atmosphere upon re-entry.

SpaceX has achieved a number of firsts here. Namely, pioneering rapid re-use of the first stage through vertical landing, and developing some of the best rocket engines with the Merlin and Raptor, the latter vying to be the first full-flow, methalox propulsion system to reach orbit. In terms of rocketry, this would be a significant achievement that helps balance specific impulse (fuel economy), propellant storage mass, and pure thrust tempering the tyranny of the rocket equation.

Like an aircraft, however, building a rocket is far more expensive than fueling it the Falcon 9s propellant costs are only around $200,000 per flight. By far the most expensive part of a rocket is the massive first stage, nearly 60% of the total cost for the Falcon 9. A reusable first stage amortizes this across a number of launches, now exceeding 10 for the Falcon 9. Naturally, reducing the largest cost factor shook the launch market.

The question now is: What is next for launch in its current state? Looking farther forward, what new opportunities will open up when the next step function decline in launch costs occurs?

A wave of new rocket companies seek to dethrone the Falcon 9 by achieving even greater reusability and further reducing production costs. Personally, Im excited for Stoke Spaces fully reusable rocket, Relativity Spaces 3D-printed engines, and Rocket Labs structural innovations in their Neutron launch system. Real competition in the launch market is coming, and its likely well see Falcon 9s dominance and margins erode as competition comes online.

However, SpaceXs Starship, a 100,000-kg-payload, fully reusable rocket will completely change the space ecosystem. And this is not just for deploying large volumes of Starlink satellites. Starship makes space markets of physical goods, and moving people, become very real possibilities.

While Starship will not launch at breakeven, nor severely undercut existing prices, it will nonetheless usher in an era of larger payloads, unconstrained by mass, for both in-orbit and deep space objectives realistically, something closer to $1000/kg would still shake up the market. A Starship sitting in LEO could also act as a gas station, fueling a web of spacecraft activity serving commercial stations and transporting assets throughout cis-lunar space. With Starship for logistics, budgets for a Moon base become comparable to other government research programs, and the supply chain necessary for a Mars colony becomes achievable.

Looking further ahead, we might envision a science-fiction-inspired single-stage space plane something like a Star Wars X-Wing that can take off from a standstill, reach cruising speeds, and then accelerate into deep space. Completely optimizing launch systems for specific atmospheres and speeds a transition from jet engines into rockets is incredibly difficult, but it is theoretically optimal when it comes to high-speed flight. At slower speeds, air-breathing jet engines would minimize the perils of carrying oxidizer, and wings enable assistance from aerodynamic lift. Reaching orbit is a speed, not an altitude, and if you leverage jet engines when accelerating in the thicker parts of the atmosphere, before igniting faster rocket engines, competing with Starship prices might be feasible. In this sense, one could consider many hypersonic companies as efficient launch booster stages. I remain hopeful that more advanced technology will make this sci-fi vision achievable, pioneering orbital access that mirrors modern air freight rates of around $2 to $5/kg.

Launch is the beautiful beginning of a never-ending journey. To reach orbit, let alone build a business out of it, is exceedingly difficult. In a world of increasing unseriousness, the sheer complexity of it all gives you hope, reflecting mankinds fiery spirit and deep, eternal curiosity for the mysteries of space.

* * *

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (a16z) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

Here is the original post:

Space Launch: Who, What, and Where We're Going - Andreessen Horowitz

Ved Chirayath is on mission to map world’s oceans – Mirage News

The University of Miami professor, National Geographic Explorer, inventor, and fashion photographer has created and developed next-generation remote sensing instruments capable of mapping the seafloor in remarkable detail.

One misstep and Ved Chirayath would have been a goner. Cut off from civilization and his cell phone useless, he knew that medical aid would never reach him in time if he were bitten by one of the countless sea snakes that surrounded him.

Theyre curious creatures, the University of Miami researcher and National Geographic Explorer said of the highly venomous snakes. Theyll swim right up to you and lick you. And when they sleep, they sleep head down in the rocks. So, my real concern was not to step on one.

But despite the very real prospect of death, Chirayath concentrated on the task at hand: mapping a colony of stromatolites in Australias snake-infested Shark Bay.

He would spend the entire two months of that 2012 field campaign navigating around the deadly snakes, the thought of dying only occasionally entering his mind. His unquenchable thirst for knowledge allowed him to stay focused.

Its that same thirst that drives him today in his quest to explore Earths last unexplored frontier: its oceans.

We have mapped more of Mars and our Moon than we have of our planets seafloor, and we know more about the large-scale structure of our universe and its history than we do about the various systems in our oceans, said Chirayath, the G. Unger Vetlesen Professor of Earth Sciences at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. And we know so much more about our universe because we can see very far into space and in different wavelengths.

Peering into the deep ocean, however, is another matter. Light penetrates only so far below the sea surface, and ocean waves greatly distort the appearance of undersea objects.

But using a camera he invented that literally sees through ocean waves, Chirayath is removing those distortions and helping to reveal the trove of deep secrets hidden by our oceans. Mounted on a drone flying above the water, FluidCam uses a technology called Fluid Lensing to photograph and map the ocean in remarkable clarity. From American Samoa and Guam to Hawaii and Puerto Rico, he has used the device to map more than a dozen shallow marine ecosystems such as coral reefs at depths as low as 63 feet.

That still pales in comparison to the average depth of the ocean, which is nearly 4,000 meters. And 99 percent of the habitable volume of our planet is in that region, said Chirayath, who also directs the Rosenstiel Schools Aircraft Center for Earth Studies (ACES).

So, he created the more powerful MiDAR. The Multispectral Imaging, Detection, and Active Reflectance device combines FluidCam with high-intensity LED and laser light pulses to map and transmit 3D images of the sea floor at greater detail and depths. Chirayaths research will be on display April 2021 at the Universitys showcase exhibit during the eMerge Americas conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Recently, he used MiDAR to conduct multispectral mapping of corals in Guam, validating the airborne images during subsequent dives.

Still, even MiDAR will not illuminate objects 4,000 meters deep. But install the device on a robot sub that can dive thousands of meters deep, and the possibilities of imaging the seafloor in the same detail and volume that satellites have mapped land are limitless, according to Chirayath.

It keeps me up at night, he said of MiDARs potential. He envisions his creation, awarded NASAs invention of the year in 2019, exploring not only the Earths deep oceans but worlds beyondfrom sampling minerals on Mars to looking for signs of life beneath the icy ocean moons like Jupiters Europa.

Chirayaths fascination with studying and surveying the ocean deep was born out of his love of the stars.

He grew up in Los Angeles, looking up at the stars and contemplating the possibility of life on other planets. As a youngster, he would attend open house events at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in nearby Pasadena, learning from the scientists and engineers who were building the Cassini space probe that explored Saturn and its intricate rings.

I knew at 5 years old that I wanted to work for NASA and make a contribution to discovering other worlds, Chirayath said.

By the time he was a teenager, astronomy had been his passion for more than half his life. It was also an escape, a methodology, he said, to deal with some of the challenges he faced at that time. I was homeless for about three years, and I used that time to sit on top of a mountain and do as much astronomy as I could, Chirayath noted.

At 16, he detected an exoplanet one and a half times the size of Jupiter and 150 light years from Earth in the constellation Pegasus, doing so with a consumer digital camera he modified and attached to a telescope. His refashioned scope allowed him to employ the transit photometry method for detecting exoplanets. Whenever a planet passes directly between a star and its observer, it dims the stars light ever so slightly. Chirayaths modified telescope detected just such a dip in light.

Earth- and space-based observatories that look continuously at stars for weeks and even months at a time use the technique. It took Chirayath three years to locate the planet, but his patience paid off in the form of a scholarship he won and used to help study theoretical physics at Moscow State University in Russia.He later transferred to Stanford University, where he earned his undergraduate degree.

To help pay the bills while he attended college, he worked as a fashion photographer for Vogue. His pictures have also appeared in Elle, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair.

He earned his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University, reconnecting with his passion for astronomy and always asking himself, What can I do with small telescopes? How can I make an impact? How can I develop new technologies and explore our solar system?

He came to the University of Miami in 2021 after a decade-long career at NASAs Ames Research Center, where he founded and led its Laboratory for Advanced Sensing, inventing the suite of next-generation remote sensing technologies that are now the cornerstones of his work at ACES.

While at NASA, he also created NeMO-Net, a single player video game in which players help NASA classify coral reefs. The space agency awarded Chirayath with its 2016 Equal Employment Opportunity Medal for organizing its first participation in the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade.

His fluid lensing mapping of the ocean promises to improve the resilience of coastal areas impacted by severe storms as well as assess the effects of climate change on coastal areas around the world.

While his origins are in astronomy, today he is more of a marine scientist than an astrophysicist. Still, the two fields are incredibly similar, Chirayath pointed out. Theyre both very difficult to study and require thinking beyond our terrestrial comfort zone. I love them both, and they can easily coexist. You can have large space observatories, and they can even help one another. A lot of the technologies that Ive created were inspired by things I learned in astrophysics and applied astronomy. But theres not that curiosity for understanding our own planet in a way that there is for space, and Im hoping to change that.

He applauds the $14 billion James Webb Space Telescope, which has been taking the deepest infrared images of our universe ever taken.

But weve never invested $14 billion into an ocean observatory, into something that looks critically at a piece of the puzzle that if we miss, we do so at our own peril, Chirayath explained. Im one of the many technologists who are looking inward and saying, This is what we understand about the universe and its large-scale structure, but a lot of the questions that are being posed to understand our universe and whats in it can also be posed for the ocean. If we dont map it, if we dont understand it, if were not able to characterize it, then when it fails or changes, humans may not be a part of the future.

The University of Miami is a Titanium Sponsor of eMerge Americas. Visit the Universitys research and technology showcase April 2021 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Registration for an Unlimited TECH Pass is free for all University of Miami students and faculty and staff members.

More:

Ved Chirayath is on mission to map world's oceans - Mirage News

How to watch SpaceX launch Crew-8 astronauts to the space station on March 2 (free livestream) – Space.com

SpaceX is poised to launch three astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) this week on the company's Crew-8 mission for NASA.

The crew members' spacecraft, SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavor, will ride atop a Falcon 9 rocket on its fifth flight from the historic Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is currently scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, March 2 at 11:16 p.m. EST (0419 GMT on March 3). Liftoff had been scheduled for early Friday morning (March 1), but bad weather forced a delay.

Crew-8 includes NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick (mission commander), Michael Barratt (mission pilot), Jeanette Epps (mission specialist) and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin (mission specialist). The quartet will spend roughly six months aboard the orbital lab, taking part in over 200 research investigations and tending to space station maintenance.

Related: 'It's white-knuckle time:' NASA chief stresses safety for Crew-8 astronaut launch

NASA's broadcast of the Crew-8 launch coverage will begin Saturday at 7:15 p.m. EST (0015 GMT on March 3), and will be available here at Space.com.

Coverage of Crew-8's ride to orbit will involve checkpoints beginning with Falcon 9's main booster returned to SpaceX's landing zone at Cape Canaveral and culminating in the release of Endeavor from Falcon 9's second stage. Following the spacecraft's orbital insertion, the Crew Dragon coverage will then switch to an audio-only feed until the beginning of the rendezvous and docking broadcast.

Approximately two hours after liftoff, NASA is expected to hold a post-launch news conference. The early-morning mission check-in will include NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich and ISS program manager Joel Montalbano, as well as SpaceX director of Dragon mission management Sarah Walker.

This is Montalbano's final crewed mission as ISS program manager. Continuing his service to NASA, Montalbano has been promoted to NASA's deputy associate administer of space operations. NASA announced that Dana Weigel will begin as ISS program manager April 7; Weigel will be the first woman to hold the role.

Once in orbit, Crew-8 will spend a little more than 15 hours catching up to the ISS.

Rendezvous coverage is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Sunday (March 3), about 2.5 hours before docking is expected to take place. Crew Dragon Endeavor is slated to dock to the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module. Hatch opening will occur about two hours later, after which the current space station crew will come together with members of the newly-arrived Crew-8 for a welcome ceremony a long-standing tradition whenever astronauts first come aboard the ISS.

Crew-8's arrival will also mark the imminent departure of the station's Crew-7 astronauts. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli,European Space Agency(ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov launched to the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endurance in August. They'll soon be wrapping up their own six-month stay.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:20 a.m. ET on Feb. 29 with news of the launch delay to March 2.

View post:

How to watch SpaceX launch Crew-8 astronauts to the space station on March 2 (free livestream) - Space.com

10 Movies to Watch if You Loved 2001: A Space odyssey – MovieWeb

2001: A Space Odyssey is a name that is engraved into the emblems of science fiction. A film that has revolutionized the sci-fi genre and has been an inspiration to countless movies and TV shows. The movie's awe-striking visuals and cinematography are way ahead of their time and remain very relevant to pop culture to this day. 2001: A Space Odyssey has influenced films like Star Wars, Alien, and Interstellar, and its mesmerizing score has sparked the music industry into a renaissance.

The Kubrick Masterpiece has paved the way for several incredible sci-fi and space travel movies like Contact (1997) and Moon (2009), taking the space genre in cinemas to new heights. Today's world is home to some great films with similar immersive experiences to 2001: A Space Odyssey. And so we have curated for you a list of Movies to Watch if You Loved 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Silent Running is a sci-fi space drama directed by the visual effects maestro Douglas Trumbull. The movie is based on aspects like space journey, the future world, environmentalism, preservation, etc., and strongly links to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The world has seen the extinction of its flora and fauna, and the only existing plants and animals are now aboard a spaceship surviving inside domes. One such dome comprising a forest is tended by the botanist Freeman Lowell who has formed a deep connection with the living beings. Due to increasing expenses, the ship's crew are ordered to destroy the forests and return to Earth. Lowell refuses to abide by the orders and eventually flees with the ship with the help of his companion robots.

The movie focuses on his journey toward the unknown, filled with dramatic events to preserve the last surviving plants and animals. Silent Running is a thought-provoking film that emphasizes nature preservation and sheds light on isolation. An incredibly shot film with amazing visual effects that gives a certain vibe of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

RELATED: 12 Movies to Watch if You Love the Before Trilogy

The popular classic sci-fi horror film Alien was released in 1979 and was directed by Ridley Scott. The film focuses on a crew of the mining spacecraft Nostromo who answers a distress call on a distant planet on their way home. After landing, they discover a hive colony of eggs inside a strange ship. The horror aspects start when a facehugger hatched from the eggs attacks one of the crew members and plants an alien form inside him. The alien creature bursting out from the attacked individual starts stalking and killing the other crew members one by one.

The story is paced with jump scares and thrilling twists. The film revolutionized the sci-fi space genre by incorporating horror aspects to it. Even though the movie's core doesn't really relate to the one of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the film's blend of thriller and space certainly helps create the unique atmosphere.

The lesser-known successor to the highly acclaimed 2001: A Space Odyssey is our current pick, 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984). The film, directed by Peter Hyams, is based on the later events of Kubrick's film and follows the crew of the spacecraft Leonov on their journey to Jupiter. The crew ventures to Jupiter to investigate the lost ship Discovery One and unravels several mysteries surrounding it. The film answers the secrets of the monolith and brings down curtains to the incredible duology.

Even though the film failed to reach the heights of its predecessor, 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) still managed to create a concrete footing in terms of cinematography, screenplay, special effects, and suspense.

The modern-day sci-fi film Annihilation is a horror thriller directed by Alex Garland. The film follows Lena Double (Natalie Portman), a biologist and former soldier who, searching for her husband, volunteers to enter an environmental disaster zone named "The Shimmer." Four scientists, including Lena, are sent into the mysterious, rapidly growing ecological zone to discover its secrets. They encounter strange phenomena and mutated creatures inside the area, and as they venture more and more, they face intense psychological effects.

Their journey to search out the root cause is filled with thrillers and horrors. The film sheds light on alien creatures and philosophical themes and keeps a constant sense of mystery. The film's unique cinematography and story remind us of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Based on the novel by Andy Weir comes the sci-fi adventure film The Martian. The film, directed by Ridley Scott, focuses on Mark Watney(Matt Damon), a NASA astronaut left alone to survive on Mars. The film starts with a group of astronauts on a mission on Mars when suddenly they are hit by a massive storm where Mark is impaled and assailed away. Mark is left alone to survive until the next mission arrives after his crew leaves him, presuming his death.

The movie portrays Mark's survival on the unhabitable planet through his wit and mental strength. As Mark faces issues with his acuity, like growing food, reestablishing communication, ensuring a safe habitat, etc., back on earth, NASA plans a dangerous mission to rescue him unharmed. The film is a representation of space survival and facing alien issues with ingenuity, which relates to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Sunshine is a sci-fi thriller directed by Danny Boyle and released in 2007. The film follows the Icarus II mission crew, tasked to revive the sun and save humanity from mass extinction. Sun is dying, and Earth is about to face its eternal doom; in such circumstances, the Icarus II spacecraft is on a mission to reignite the sun using a bomb. With Cillian Murphy leading the cast, the crew aboard the ship faces hurdles one after another as they proceed toward their goal.

With issues like system failures, accidents, making contact with Icarus I, etc., the crew must give the ultimate test of perseverance to save life on Earth. The film is an intense space thriller, and its suspense creates a similar atmosphere to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

From the famed director Robert Zemeckis, comes the classic sci-fi film Contact. The film, released in 1997, is a drama thriller that follows Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), a SETI scientist who has worked all her life searching for Extraterrestrial intelligence. While facing many hurdles and skepticism, Dr. Ellie and her colleagues finally detect a signal of Extraterrestrial intelligence. They perform a seemingly impossible task with the help of a billionaire and send Dr. Ellie to make contact with Extraterrestrial life.

The film includes aspects like alien contact, space journey, skepticism, etc., and creates a great deal of mystery and suspense throughout. Contact incredible sci-fi film viewers would love to watch if they liked 2001: A Space Odyssey.

One of the cinematic feats of Christopher Nolan, Interstellar is a mind-bending sci-fi thriller adventure film. Favorite to many sci-fi lovers, Interstellar follows the story of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former NASA pilot who is tasked to lead a mission to find a habitable planet. The Earth is now prone to disasters and droughts, and humanity suffers from intense food shortage; in such circumstances, Cooper and a team of scientists and two robots, TARS and CASE, venture on an immersive and dangerous interstellar journey. Along with their search for a habitable planet, they face intense time dilation, effects of relativity, gravitational anomalies, etc., and at times they are met with tough choices.

The movie brilliantly brings up concepts like black holes, wormholes, interstellar journeys, etc., and beautifully portrays the emotions and sacrifices of the characters. The movie's outwardly cinematography and screenplay are something that lovers of 2001: A Space Odyssey would love to enjoy.

RELATED:20 Great Movies to Watch for People In Their 20

Moon is a sci-fi mystery film directed by Duncan Jones and released in 2009. The sci-fi drama follows the story of Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), who has been living on the Moon with a robot named GERTY for almost three years, working for a Helium mining company Lunar Industries. As he nears the end of his contract of three years with the company, Sam starts to face hallucinations and delusions. Suddenly he suffers a severe accident at his mining site, and after his recovery, he starts to discover several mysteries, which leads him to question the reality of his existence. Unearthing the company's dark secrets, Sams plans to return to Earth by himself.

The film is a brilliant representation of isolation, identity, psychological toll, living in space, etc. The film has incredible visual effects and screenplay and is a must-watch for the fans of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

From the great Andrei Tarkovsky comes one of the greatest sci-fi films to ever hit the silver screen, Solaris. This masterpiece of a sci-fi mystery was released in 1972 and focuses on the story of Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis), a psychologist tasked to investigate the strange abnormalities instilled by the planet Solaris. Kris is sent to the space station orbiting the planet Solaris after reports of the crew facing psychological events and hallucinations. After arriving, Kris also starts to face these occurrences, where he meets his wife, Hari, who has been dead for years. Upon further investigation, he begins to unravel the psychological mysteries of the planet, which also affects his psyche.

The film brilliantly explores human consciousness, the deeper meanings of life, and the impacts of memories. The film's imagery is exceptional, and its atmosphere and screenplay are like no other. This thought-provoking masterwork is a must-watch for any sci-fi fan and is a worthy contemporary to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Link:

10 Movies to Watch if You Loved 2001: A Space odyssey - MovieWeb

FAA demands 17 ‘corrective actions’ from SpaceX in Starship mishap investigation – MyRGV

Only have a minute? Listen instead

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday that it has closed a SpaceX-led mishap investigation into the Nov. 18 Starship-Super Heavy orbital flight attempt from Boca Chica.

The test flight successfully launched and achieved stage separation, though the Super Heavy booster rocket (stage one) automatically self-destructed shortly afterward, the stage-two Starship following suit several minutes later, before reaching orbit.

The FAA said it accepts the root causes and 17 corrective actions that SpaceX identified and documented in its mishap report. Seven corrective actions were identified as necessary for the 33-engine Super Heavy, including vehicle hardware redesigns, upgraded control-system modeling, reevaluation of engine analyses based on flight data from the test flight, and updated engine-control algorithms, according to the FAA.

The agency said 10 corrective actions were identified for the six-engine Starship, including vehicle hardware redesigns, operational changes, flammability analysis updates, installation of additional fire protection, and guidance and modeling updates.

After a successful ascent and stage separation early the morning of Nov. 18, Super Heavy BN9 ran into trouble during its boost-back burn (to reverse the boosters course for landing), resulting in a midair explosion and loss of the vehicle, the FAA said. Starship SN25 successfully started its six engines, separated from the booster, and began a planned liquid-oxygen propellant dump before shutting off its engines.

Over the next minute, several explosions and sustained fires were observed in onboard camera aft video streams, ultimately resulting in a loss of communication between the forward and aft flight computers, the FAA reported. This resulted in a commanded shut-down of all six engines, and an Autonomous Flight Safety System flight termination triggering at (7:10:55 a.m.) per flight safety rules.

The agency defined the launch as a mishap per Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and required SpaceX to conduct the mishap investigation.

The FAA has been provided with sufficient information and accepts the root causes and corrective actions described in the mishap reports, the agency said. Consequently, the FAA considers the mishap investigation that SpaceX was required to complete to be concluded.

This was SpaceXs second orbital flight attempt with Starship. The first took place on April 20, 2023, beginning with a successful liftoff and ascent but ending when stage-separation failed to occur and Starship-Super Heavy exploding far above the Gulf of Mexico compliments of onboard flight-termination systems. The reinforced concrete launch pad at Boca Chica was also destroyed during liftoff.

Closure of the investigation into the Nov. 18 test flight does not mean SpaceX is immediately authorized to make a third Starship orbital flight attempt attempt from Boca Chica, the FAA emphasized.

Prior to the next launch, SpaceX must implement all corrective actions and receive a license modification from the FAA that addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory requirements, the agency said. The FAA is evaluating SpaceXs license modification request and expects SpaceX to submit additional required information before a final determination can be made.

Meanwhile, SpaceX has requested a waiver from the FAA in order to conduct at least nine Starship launches from Boca Chica per year, as opposed to the five launches per year the FAA has already approved (as long as SpaceX meets the agencys requirements for each launch).

Kevin Coleman, FAA administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, told reporters earlier this month that SpaceX is looking at a pretty aggressive launch schedule this year.

Weve been talking to SpaceX constantly around the clock, coming together and trying to figure out how do we do this, he was quoted as saying. Were invested with the company, and so well work with them to get them back (flying) as soon as they can.

Original post:

FAA demands 17 'corrective actions' from SpaceX in Starship mishap investigation - MyRGV

SpaceX Reveals Why Its Second Starship Exploded in Flight – ExtremeTech

SpaceX last tried to launch its Starship megarocket in November 2023, and while it made it farther than the first test, both Starship and the Super Heavy booster were lost in flight. The company has now completed the required incident review with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), clearing the way for another launch in the near future. The report details what went wrong with the rocket and the mitigations SpaceX has implemented to ensure it doesn't happen again.

The Nov. 18 launch was Starship's second, following a maiden voyage that incinerated the launchpad. SpaceX shielded the ground infrastructure from Starship's intense exhaust, but the vehicle still didn't reach its destination. About three minutes after launch, Starship completed a "hot staging" maneuver (above) to free itself of the Super Heavy first stage. Super Heavy was supposed to descend and land gently in the Gulf of Mexico, but it exploded just after leaving Starship behind. Meanwhile, Starship flew for a further four minutes before it, too, experienced "rapid unscheduled disassembly," as SpaceX is fond of saying.

The FAA report explains what caused both rocket stages to go up in smoke. After hot staging, Super Heavy fired 13 of its 33 Raptor engines to begin slowing its descent. However, several engines faltered, and one of them failed "energetically." SpaceX blames a liquid oxygen filter that had become clogged. The loss of inlet pressure in the oxidizer turbopumps and this sputtering led to the engine failure. SpaceX says it has already implemented hardware fixes to ensure that filter does not become obstructed in future launches.

As for Starship, SpaceX has expanded on a previous statement that put the blame on a fuel dump. Because Starship was not carrying a payload, too much liquid oxygen was on board as it reached the edge of space. To gather valid data on future payload behavior, SpaceX vented a large amount of oxygen. Unfortunately, a leak developed in the aft section of the vehicle when the oxygen was vented. This sparked a fire inside the rocket, which led to a loss of communication. Starship's autonomous control system attempted to shut down all six engines, but the "Autonomous Flight Safety System" decided Starship was too far gone and initiated a programmed self-destruct.

33 Raptor engines firing to launch Starship. Credit: SpaceX

At the time of Starship's destruction, it had reached an altitude of about 93 miles (150 kilometers), well past the transition between Earth and outer space. Its speed was a whopping 24,000 miles per hour, just shy of escape velocity (28,000 mph). SpaceX says it will implement new electronic thrust control systems in Starship to improve reliability. So, if Starship explodes again, it will be for a completely different reason.

SpaceX has four Starship vehicles waiting in the wings, but it can't launch them just yet. The FAA has accepted SpaceX's explanation of events, but there are a few regulatory hurdles yet to clear. The FAA is expected to grant Starship clearance in early to mid-March, and a third test flight should follow soon after.

See the article here:

SpaceX Reveals Why Its Second Starship Exploded in Flight - ExtremeTech

SpaceX Starship docking system readies for moon missions in tests with NASA – Space.com

Practice makes perfect, which is especially true for moon missions with astronauts on board.

That's why SpaceX and NASA recently completed more than 200 docking scenarios together with Starship hardware. Starship is the landing system that will bring astronauts to the lunar surface with the Artemis 3 mission, no earlier than 2026.

Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center spent 10 days using hardware from the Starship lander and NASA's Orion orbiter (designed by Lockheed Martin) at "various approach angles and speeds," NASA officials said in a release. "These real-world results, using full-scale hardware, will validate computer models of the moon lander's docking system," agency officials wrote on Wednesday (Feb. 28).

Related: NASA astronauts test SpaceX Starship elevator for future moon landings

The Artemis 3 moon landing requires two spacecraft: the Orion capsule, which will ferry the astronauts to lunar orbit, and the Starship lander, which will send the astronauts to the moon's south pole. The agency eventually aims to create a permanent settlement in this region to take advantage of its potential water ice, which would be beneficial for fueling and other mission needs.

The testing put Starship into the active docking role, with its hardware being a "chaser" to the Orion target docking system, NASA officials explained. Testing was meant to ensure SpaceX's soft capture system could extend to Orion, while Orion's passive system stayed retracted. The two hardware pieces join through "latches and other mechanisms," according to the agency.

While Starship has not yet made it to Earth orbit, its lunar docking system has a lot of flight heritage: it's based on the Dragon 2 docking system used for International Space Station missions. On future missions following Artemis 3, Starship will dock, alongside Orion, with NASA's Gateway space station for astronaut transfer.

SpaceX was initially chosen as the winner in 2021 of the Human Landing System (HLS) contract for the NASA-led Artemis program, which intends to bring a coalition of nations to the moon's surface under the Artemis Accords. NASA at first said it was planning on selecting multiple vendors, making the sole-source award a surprise.

Blue Originand Dynetics, other companies competing for the opportunity, filed protests to the Government Accountability Office and cited "flawed acquisition" for the program as well as "issues and concerns" with the award process. The GAO turned those protests down and, in its detailed rationale released that August, said it found no "competitive prejudice" in NASA's decision. The U.S. Senate, however, directed NASA to select a second company in October 2021, and the agency eventually went with Blue Origin for its Blue Moon lander system.

Starship made two test flights in 2023 in an attempt to reach Earth orbit, but neither were successful. The most recent SpaceX-led investigation into the November launch attempt was closed by the Federal Aviation Administration this week, and SpaceX is now working on the launch license for its third attempt.

The Artemis 3 landing, along with the Artemis 2 round-the-moon mission which will have astronauts onboard as well, was delayed in January due to several technical issues that included Starship delays. Artemis 3 will now land in 2026 at the earliest, a year later than planned, while Artemis 2 is launching nine months later in September 2025.

SpaceX's progress with Starship has been a concern for NASA for quite a while. NASA associate administrator Jim Free said in June 2023, for example, that SpaceX will need to finish "a significant number of launches" successfully before the agency gives the green light for Artemis.

In its Tuesday update, NASA officials noted SpaceX has finished "more than 30 HLS specific milestones" regarding hardware ranging from generating power and developing a guidance and navigation system, to mechanisms for propulsion, life support and protection from space's harsh environment.

Excerpt from:

SpaceX Starship docking system readies for moon missions in tests with NASA - Space.com

SpaceX delays Crew-8 astronaut launch for NASA to March 2 due to bad weather – Space.com

SpaceX has delayed its first NASA astronaut launch of 2024 to no earlier than Saturday (March 2) due to offshore weather concerns near the mission's Florida launch site.

The four-astronaut SpaceX mission, called Crew-8, will now lift off on a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than Saturday night at 11:16 p.m. EST (0416 on March 3 GMT) from Pad 39A of the U.S. space agency's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. It's the latest schedule slip for the launch, which was initially given a Feb. 22 launch date.

Read more: SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut mission: Live updates

"Joint teams selected the updated launch opportunity due to unfavorable weather conditions forecast for Friday, March 1, in offshore areas along the flight track of the Dragon spacecraft," NASA wrote in a mission update just after midnight on Feb. 29. "High wind and waves along the eastern seaboard have been observed and are forecast to continue through Saturday morning."

Unsteady sea conditions could pose safety concern for recovery teams if SpaceX's Dragon capsule suffers a launch emergency that forces the capsule to abort in mid-flight and splashdown in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

"In the unlikely case of an abort during launch or the flight of Dragon, the wind and wave conditions must be within acceptable conditions for the safe recovery of the crew and spacecraft," NASA officials wrote in the update.

SpaceX's Crew-8 mission will launch NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin to the International Space Station to begin a six-month mission in orbit. The astronauts are due to return to Earth in late August.

NASA and SpaceX initially hoped to launch the Crew-8 mission on Feb. 22, but delayed it to Feb. 28, then to just after midnight on March 1, to allow more time between an earlier SpaceX launch on Feb. 18 from the same pad.

Crew-8 will mark SpaceX's ninth crewed flight for NASA under a multi-billion-dollar agreement to fly astronauts to and from the space station. SpaceX has been flying astronaut missions for NASA since May 2020. A second company, Boeing, is expected to begin its own crewed flights for NASA in April using its own Starliner spacecraft.

Excerpt from:

SpaceX delays Crew-8 astronaut launch for NASA to March 2 due to bad weather - Space.com

What time is the SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut launch for NASA on March 2? – Space.com

SpaceX is counting down to launch its first NASA astronaut flight of 2024 and you'll be able to see it lift off live online, but you'll need to know where and when to watch.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA on the Crew-8 mission. Liftoff is currently now scheduled for Saturday (March 2) at 11:16 p.m. EST (0416 March 3 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but exactly when the mission launches will depend on weather and the launch vehicle's readiness.

Read more:SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut mission: Live updates

Crew-8 will launch NASA astronauts NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barrett, Jeannette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin on a six-month mission to the ISS. The space quartet will relieve their colleagues of SpaceX's Crew-7 mission. Here's when they'll launch and how long the flight will be.

Currently, SpaceX is targeting Saturday, March 2, for the launch of its Crew-8 astronaut mission for NASA. Liftoff is set for an instantaneous launch window at 11:16 p.m. EST (0416 GMT).

An "instantaneous window" means SpaceX only must launch at its exact target time in order to reach the ISS on time, unlike some NASA shuttle missions that had a few minutes of hold time to work with.

Earlier, SpaceX was targeting a Crew-8 launch just after midnight on March 1, with the U.S. Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron forecasting an 85% chance of good weather at launch time. High winds at liftoff and the potential of flying through precipitation or rain are the only concern, according to the forecast.

But NASA and SpaceX delayed the launch to late Saturday due to unfavorable offshore weather.

"Joint teams selected the updated launch opportunity due to unfavorable weather conditions forecast for Friday, March 1, in offshore areas along the flight track of the Dragon spacecraft," NASA wrote in an update early Feb. 29. "High wind and waves along the eastern seaboard have been observed and are forecast to continue through Saturday morning. In the unlikely case of an abort during launch or the flight of Dragon, the wind and wave conditions must be within acceptable conditions for the safe recovery of the crew and spacecraft."

NASA and SpaceX initially aimed to launch the Crew-8 mission on Feb. 22, but delayed it to Feb. 28 (and ultimately March 1) to allow extra time following SpaceX's successful Feb. 18 launch of a private Intuitive Machines moon lander from the same pad.

Related: 'It's white-knuckle time:' NASA chief stresses safety for Crew-8 launch

Yes, you can watch SpaceX's Crew-8 launch live online, and you've got a few options.

NASA will offer a free livestream online via its NASA TV YouTube channel and NASA+ streaming service, as well as its NASA TV broadcast service. The webcast will actually begin late on March 2 at 7:15 p.m. EST (0015 March 3 GMT) and run through spacecraft separation.

About 2 hours after launch, NASA is expected to hold a post-launch press conference to discuss the results of the launch. That briefing will also be livestreamed via NASA TV and NASA+.

SpaceX will offer its own live webcast of the Crew-8 launch on its @SpaceX account on X (formerly Twitter), starting one hour before liftoff, which is March 2 at 10:16 p.m. EST (0316 GMT).

Space.com will simulcast NASA's Crew-8 launch livestream on our VideoFromSpace YouTube channel, beginning March 2 at 7:15 p.m. EST. You can also see that livestream at the top of this page.

If SpaceX successfully launches the Crew-8 astronauts on March 2, less than 24 hours to reach the ISS and you'll be able to watch that live, too.

NASA will provide a livestream of SpaceX's Crew-8 docking operations starting Sunday, March 3, at 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT), according to a NASA schedule.

If all goes well, the Crew-8 Dragon space capsule Endeavour will dock itself at the ISS at 2:10 p.m. EST (1910 GMT) on March 2, parking at a forward-facing berth on the station's U.S.-built Harmony module.

While SpaceX originally designed its Dragon crew capsule to carry up to seven astronauts, the company has only flown a maximum of four people at a time its crewed vehicles. The Crew-8 mission follows that pattern. You can see detailed biographies of the Crew-8 astronauts in our Meet the Crew-8 Astronauts guide, but here is a brief synopsis.

Crew-8 is commanded by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick, 42, a U.S. Navy test pilot who joined NASA's astronaut corps in 2017. This will be his first career spaceflight.

Veteran NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, 64, is a physician-turned-astronaut who serves as Crew-8 pilot and began his astronaut work in 2000 after serving as flight surgeon since 1992. Unlike his crewmates, Barrett has two spaceflights under his belt: a six-month expedition on the ISS in 2009 and the 13-day STS-133 shuttle flight in 2011, which marked the final voyage of NASA's space shuttle Discovery.

NASA astronaut Jeannette Epps, 53, is a Crew-8 mission specialist who making her first spaceflight. Epps is a physicist and aerospace engineer who joined NASA's astronaut corps in 2009 after working for the Ford Motor Co. and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Rounding out the crew is Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, 41, of the Roscosmos space agency. Grebenkin joined Roscosmos' cosmonaut corps in 2018 after flying as a pilot for the Russian Air Force. He has degrees in engineering, maintenance and repair of aircraft radio navigation systems, and in radio communications, broadcasting, and television.

Related:SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts eager for launch to ISS on March 1: 'Things surprise you, but we're ready'

While SpaceX's full Crew-8 mission for NASA will last six months (from launch to landing), the actual launch will be over in about 13 minutes.

Crew-8 will mark the fifth flight of SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule Endeavour, which the company used to launch its first-ever crewed flight for NASA - Demo-2, in May 2020. It has been used to fly three NASA crews (Crew-2 and Crew-6 are the others) and the private Ax-1 mission for Axiom Space.

SpaceX has not listed any previous flights for the Falcon 9 first-stage booster for Crew-8. The rocket is expected to return to Earth and land at SpaceX's Landing Zone 1 at the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for later reuse.

While the weather looked promising for SpaceX's Crew-8 launch in the wee hours of March 1, SpaceX did have to burn through its initial backup dates available for the mission.

"Of course, we have two backup opportunities," Steve Stitch, NASA's Commercial Crew program manager, said in a Feb. 25 briefing. "Another one in the evening on March 1 at 11:41 p.m. Eastern and then another a day later, March 2, at 11:16 p.m. Eastern."

The weather outlook worsened slightly for a potential launch on March 1 at 11:41 p.m. EST (0441 GMT), dropping to a 65% chance of good weather (down from 85%) for that attempt, according to the 45th Weather Squadron.

The weather forecast worsens for a 48-hour delay, dropping to a 40% chance of good weather.

If SpaceX is unable to launch on March 2, it does have at least one more backup opportunities on March 3.

The company could attempt to launch Crew-8 on Sunday, March 3, at 10:53 p.m. EST (0352 on March 4 GMT), SpaceX wrote in a mission overview.

Editor's note: You can watch SpaceX's Crew-8 launch to the ISS on this page beginning Feb. 29 at 8 p.m. EST (0100 on March 1 GMT). This story was updated at 1 a.m. EST to reflect the new launch day for the SpaceX Crew-8 mission.

Follow this link:

What time is the SpaceX Crew-8 astronaut launch for NASA on March 2? - Space.com

NASA’s SpaceX 30th Resupply Mission to Launch Experiments to Station – NASA

NASA and the agencys international partners are sending scientific investigations to the International Space Station on the 30th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission, including tests of technologies to monitor sea ice, automate 3D mapping, and create nanoparticle solar cells. The companys Dragon cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in early March.

Read more about some of the research making the journey to the orbiting laboratory:

Plants can be used in regenerative life support systems, to provide food, and to contribute to the well-being of astronauts on future deep space exploration missions. C4 Photosynthesis in Space (APEX-09) examines how microgravity affects the mechanisms by which two types of grasses, known as C3 and C4, capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Plants respond to stressful conditions based on their genetic makeup and the environment, said Pubudu Handakumbura, principal investigator with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. We aim to uncover the molecular changes involved in plants exposed to spaceflight stressors and develop an understanding of the mechanisms of photosynthesis in space. Results could clarify plant responses to stressful environments and inform the design of bio-regenerative support systems on future missions, as well as systems for plant growth on Earth.

The ocean significantly affects the global climate. A technique called Global Navigation Satellite System reflectometry (GNSS-R), which receives satellite signals reflected from the surface of Earth, shows promise as a way to monitor ocean phenomena and improve climate models. Killick-1: A GNSS Reflectometry CubeSat for Measuring Sea Ice Thickness and Extent (Nanoracks KILLICK-1) tests using this technique to measure sea ice. The project supports development of space and science capabilities in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, by providing hands-on experience with space systems and Earth observation. More than 100 undergraduate and graduate engineering students participated in the project.

The most exciting aspect of this project is that students have the opportunity to launch a mission into space, said Desmond Power, a co-investigator with C-CORE of Canada. It is also exciting to build a tiny satellite that does different things, including contributing to our knowledge of climate change.

GNSS-R technology is low-cost, light, and energy efficient. Its potential applications on Earth include providing data for weather and climate models and improving the understanding of ocean phenomena such as surface winds and storm surge.

The Multi-resolution Scanner (MRS) Payload for Astrobee (Multi-Resolution Scanning) tests technology to automate 3D sensing, mapping, and situational awareness systems.

Our MRS on an Astrobee free-flying robot will create 3D maps inside the space station, said Marc Elmouttie, project lead with Australias national science agency, CSIRO, which developed the technology with The Boeing Company. The scanner integrates technologies developed by our mining and robotics teams. By combining data from multiple sensors, we compensate for weaknesses in any one system. This provides very high-resolution 3D data and more accurate trajectory data to help us understand how the robot moves around in space.

The technology could be used to autonomously operate spacecraft with minimal or no human occupancy where robots must sense the environment and precisely maneuver, including the lunar Gateway space station, said Principal Investigator Connie Miller of Boeing. Other uses could be to inspect and maintain spacecraft and for autonomous vehicle operations on other celestial bodies. Results also support improvements in robotic technologies for harsh and dangerous environments on Earth.

The Nano Particle Haloing Suspension investigation examines how nanoparticles and microparticles interact within an electrical field. A process called nanoparticle haloing uses charged nanoparticles to enable precise particle arrangements that improve the efficiency of quantum-dot synthesized solar cells, according to Stuart J. Williams, principal investigator with the University of Louisville Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Quantum dots are tiny spheres of semiconductor material with the potential to convert sunlight into energy much more efficiently. Conducting these processes in microgravity provides insight into the relationship between shape, charge, concentration, and interaction of particles.

The investigation is supported by NASAs Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which partners with government, higher education, and industry on projects to improve a research infrastructure and research and development capacity and competitiveness.

Download high-resolution photos and videos of the research mentioned in this article.

Melissa Gaskill International Space Station Program Research Office Johnson Space Center

Search this database of scientific experiments to learn more about those mentioned above.

Continued here:

NASA's SpaceX 30th Resupply Mission to Launch Experiments to Station - NASA

FAA closes investigation into explosive 2nd flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket – Space.com

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed the investigation into the second flight of SpaceX's huge Starship vehicle, the agency announced this afternoon (Feb. 26).

That test mission, which launched from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on Nov. 18, ended with a bang. Two bangs, actually: Both of Starship's stages exploded high above Earth, around 3.5 minutes and eight minutes after liftoff, respectively.

Ever since, SpaceX has been prepping for Starship flight number 3, in keeping with the company's fast-paced "build, fly and iterate" philosophy. But today's news does not constitute clearance to launch, the FAA stressed.

"Prior to the next launch, SpaceX must implement all corrective actions and receive alicensemodification from the FAA that addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory requirements," agency officials wrote in an emailed statement today.

"The FAA is evaluating SpaceXs license modification request and expects SpaceX to submit additional required information before a final determination can be made," they added.

Related:See stunning photos and video of Starship's 2nd launch

The mishap investigation, which SpaceX led, identified 17 corrective actions, which the FAA accepted. Seven of them concerned Starship's huge first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, "including vehicle hardware redesigns, updated control system modeling, reevaluation of engine analyses based on OTF-2 [Orbital Flight Test-2] flight data and updated engine control algorithms," the FAA's emailed statement reads.

The other 10 corrective actions deal with the vehicle's 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper stage, which is called Starship. Among these modifications are "vehicle hardware redesigns, operational changes, flammability analysis updates, installation of additional fire protection and guidance and modeling updates," FAA officials wrote.

The stainless-steel Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. When stacked, it stands about 400 feet (122 meters) tall and future versions will likely be even taller, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

The company is developing the fully reusable vehicle to help humanity settle the moon and Mars and perform a variety of other ambitious exploration feats. NASA is invested in the vehicle's success; the agency picked Starship to be the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis moon program.

Starship first flew in April 2023. The vehicle suffered a number of issues on that mission, including the failure of its two stages to separate as planned, and SpaceX detonated the tumbling craft about four minutes after liftoff.

Things went much better on flight two this past November. The two stages separated on time, for example, and the upper stage likely would have reached orbit if it had been carrying a payload, Musk said last month. (The upper stage's detonation was caused by a venting of liquid oxygen, and there wouldn't have been any liquid oxygen left to vent if Starship had been carrying a satellite, he said.)

The FAA closed the investigation of Starship's first flight on Sept. 8 of last year, and the vehicle got off the ground again on Nov. 18. But you shouldn't expect such a lengthy wait this time around, considering how much progress SpaceX made on flight number two. That first-flight investigation, for example, identified 63 corrective actions for SpaceX to make, compared to 17 after the November launch.

Originally posted here:

FAA closes investigation into explosive 2nd flight of SpaceX's Starship megarocket - Space.com

SpaceX, NASA ‘go’ to launch Crew-8 astronaut mission to ISS on March 2 – Space.com

SpaceX and NASA are officially go to launch their next astronaut mission to International Space Station (ISS) this week, with its four-person crew arriving at their Florida launch site on Sunday (Feb. 25).

Called Crew-8, the upcoming SpaceX mission will launch four astronauts into orbit on the Dragon capsule Endeavour and Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Liftoff is scheduled for March 2 at 11:16 p.m. EST (0416 GMT on March 3).

Related: 8 ways SpaceX has transformed spaceflight

"Even though we all go today, we're constantly paying attention to what the rocket and spacecraft are telling us so that we'll make sure that we launch when the crew and the spacecraft are ready to go, and we're ready to have a good flight to the station and a good return," Ken Bowersox, NASA's associate administrator for space operations and a former astronaut, told reporters in a Sunday night teleconference.

SpaceX's Crew-8 mission for NASA will launch NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barrett, Jeannette Epps and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin on a six-month expedition to the ISS. They will relieve their Crew-7 predecessors, another four-astronaut team, who will return to Earth on a SpaceX Dragon a week after Crew-8 reaches the ISS.

Dominick will command the Crew-8 flight to the ISS with Barrett as pilot. Epps and Grekenkin are mission specialists. The mission is the first career spaceflight for all but Barrett on the Crew-8 team. NASA and SpaceX initially aimed to launch Crew-8 to the ISS on Feb. 22, but delayed it to March 1 to clear a path for a private moon launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from their same launch pad on Feb. 15.Bad weather pushed the liftoff back again, to March 2.

The Crew-8 astronauts arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday afternoon as they spend their final days on Earth ahead of launch. The quartet will perform a dress rehearsal for their launch overnight on Monday and Tuesday, with SpaceX expected to perform a so-called "hot-fire" test of the Falcon 9's first stage engines a day later.

Steve Stich, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, told reporters Sunday that NASA and SpaceX are working through some final issues to clear ahead of the Crew-8 launch. Those include reviews of composite material fasteners on the Dragon/Falcon 9 launch vehicle for Crew-8 that are expected to be resolved before flight. Engineers are also reviewing some paint discoloration on Crew-7's Dragon capsule currently docked at the ISS, apparently due to residue tape on the capsule, to ensure it's not an issue for reentry and landing.

Crew-8 will mark the fifth flight of the Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour, which first flew astronauts to the ISS in May 2020 on SpaceX's first-ever human spaceflight, Demo-2. SpaceX and NASA are currently working to certify the reusable Dragon capsules for up to 15 spaceflights, NASA officials said.

SpaceX is one of two commercial companies with multi-billion-dollar contracts to fly astronauts to and from the ISS for NASA. The other company, Boeing, aims to launch the first crewed flight on its Starliner spacecraft no earlier than April 22.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:20 a.m. ET on Feb. 29 with news of the launch delay to March 2.

See the original post here:

SpaceX, NASA 'go' to launch Crew-8 astronaut mission to ISS on March 2 - Space.com

Meet the SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts launching to the ISS on March 2 – Space.com

Four new astronauts are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station on Saturday (March 2) as part of NASAs SpaceX Crew-8 mission.

Crew-8, the eighth operational commercial crew mission for NASA, will lift off Saturday at 11:16 p.m. EST (0416 GMT on March 3) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida using the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft, situated atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The Crew Dragon spacecraft will then dock with the orbiting lab the following day around 2:10 p.m. EST (1910 GMT).

The crew includes NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick (commander), Michael Barratt (pilot) and Jeanette Epps (mission specialist) along with mission specialist Alexander Grebenkin, of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Over the course of their six-month stay in space, the astronauts will conduct more than 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, including research that will support human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

Related: SpaceX rolls out rocket, capsule for Crew-8 astronaut launch (photos)

Saturday's launch will be the first for all of the crew members but Barrett, who will be making his third flight and second long-duration stay on the space station. You can learn more about each of them below.

Matthew Dominick, Crew-8's commander, is a 42-year-old U.S. Navy test pilot who joined NASA as an astronaut candidate in 2017. Dominick has more than 1,600 hours of flight time in 28 aircraft, 400 carrier-arrested landings and 61 combat missions on his resume. When Dominick was selected as an astronaut candidate in June 2017, he was at sea on the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) serving in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator and a department head for Strike Fighter Squadron 115.

Dominick was born and raised in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, where his parents still live today. He is married to Faith Dominick, with whom he shares two daughters, according to his biography from NASA. Dominick has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of San Diego with minors in physics and mathematics. Following his graduation in 2005, he was commissioned through the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and attended Primary Flight Training at Naval Air Station Pensacola. He was designated a naval aviator in 2007.

He completed F/A-18 Super Hornet training and then served two deployments with Strike Fighter Squadron 143 (VFA-143) before attending the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he earned a Master of Science in systems engineering. He later graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and was assigned to Air Test Evaluation Squadron 23 (VX-23), where he served as the developmental flight test project officer for a variety of carrier suitability test programs. Having completed two years of training as an astronaut candidate in 2019, Dominick is now an active-duty U.S. Navy astronaut. While waiting for his chance to fly in space, he was also promoted to Navy Commander in 2020.

Michael Barratt, Crew-8's pilot, is a 64-year-old physician specializing in aerospace medicine. He served as a flight surgeon for NASA before he was selected as an astronaut candidate in 2000. Barratt has played a pivotal role in developing NASA's space medicine initiatives for both the Shuttle-Mir Program and the International Space Station (ISS).

Barratt was born in Vancouver, Washington, but considers Camas, Washington, to be his hometown. He has a Doctor of Medicine degree from Northwestern University and is board-certified in both internal and aerospace medicine. He is married to Dr. Michelle Lynne Sasynuik and has five children, according to his official biography.

Barratt has spent a total of 212 days in space across two prior spaceflights, including Expedition 19/20 in 2009 which saw the transition from three to six permanent ISS crew members and STS-133 in 2011, near the end of NASA's Space Shuttle program. Barratt served as Flight Engineer for Expedition 19/20 and performed two spacewalks during this mission. The long-duration flight mission involved crews studying bone loss, cardiac atrophy, immune system changes and nutritional dynamics in microgravity. STS-133, Space Shuttle Discovery's final mission, delivered the Permanent Multipurpose Module and fourth Express Logistics Carrier to the space station.

Barratt managed the Human Research Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center from January of 2012 through April of 2013 and has provided expertise on human factors and space medical risks for newly developed space vehicles for the Commercial Crew and Artemis Programs.

Jeanette Epps, Crew-8's mission specialist, was selected as an astronaut candidate in 2009. Prior to joining NASA, she worked at Ford Motor Co. and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Hailing from Syracuse, New York, the 53-year-old holds a Bachelor of Science in physics from LeMoyne College and a Master of Science as well as a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. As a NASA Fellow during graduate school, Epps authored several highly referenced journal and conference articles, according to her NASA biography.

During her time at Ford Motor Company, she received both a provisional patent and a U.S. patent for her research. She later worked as a technical intelligence officer for the CIA. Since becoming an astronaut, she has served on the Generic Joint Operation Panel working on space station crew efficiency, as a crew support astronaut for two expeditions and as lead capsule communicator at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Epps was previously assigned to NASA's Boeing Starliner-1 mission, but was reassigned due to delays concerning the mission's development, making Crew-8 her first spaceflight. During the upcoming mission, she will assist with monitoring the spacecraft for launch and re-entry.

Alexander Sergeyevich Grebenkin, Crew-8's mission specialist, served in the Air Force of the Russian Armed Forces before joining Roscosmos as a cosmonaut candidate in 2018.

Grebenkin graduated from Irkutsk High Military Aviation School in Irkutsk, Russia, majoring in engineering, maintenance and repair of aircraft radio navigation systems. The 41-year-old also has a degree in radio communications, broadcasting, and television from Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics, according to a statement from NASA.

During his time in the Russian Armed Forces, Grebenkin worked as an aircraft readiness technician and engineer to prepare aircraft, later serving as head of the regulations and repair group of a military unit. Since becoming a cosmonaut, he has participated in mock missions on Earth, with Crew-8 representing his first spaceflight. He will serve as flight engineer during Expeditions 70/71 on the space station.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:20 a.m. ET on Feb. 29 with news of the launch delay to March 2.

More here:

Meet the SpaceX Crew-8 astronauts launching to the ISS on March 2 - Space.com

‘Good night, moon lander’: SpaceX lunar craft carrying 125 Jeff Koons sculptures expected to lose power – Art Newspaper

Nova-C (Odysseus), the lunar lander that is currently carrying more than 100 Jeff Koons sculptures into space, is expected to lose power and communication with flight control engineers after a botched landing. According to Intuitive Machines, the company that designed it, the craft came down on its side on 22 February, severely impacting its intergalactic performance. This is the first time a nongovernmental space apparatus has accomplished a landing on the moon, despite the obstacles.

Two rangefinder lasers were unable to guide the touchdown due to a variety of glitches and trajectory calculation inaccuracies, including engagement of the landers safety switches, which can only be manually disabled. The vessels tipped-over position re-oriented Odysseuss solar panels and antennas, limiting power and preventing contact with engineers on the ground.

In a briefing , the Intuitive Machines chief executive officer Steve Altemus said that the cargo occupying Odysseuss compromised side is Koonss Moon Phases, a collection consisting of 125 one-inch miniature sculptures. Each sculpture represents a phase of the moon and is dedicated to a different historical figure (Mozart and Leonardo da Vinci feature in the suite). The sculptures are tethered to a collection of Koons NFTs available through Pace Verso, the gallerys Web3 platform.

The Moon Phases Project" was initially destined for take-off in July of 2022, and were launched spacewards on a Falcon 9 rocket designed by SpaceX, controversial billionaire Elon Musks company, on 14 February, 2024. Koons work is officially the first example of fine art on the moon.

I grew up listening to President Kennedy speak about going to the moon, Koons told the New York Times before the rockets takeoff. It gave our society a vision and drive that we could believe in ourselves and accomplish things.

Intuitive Machines will attempt to "wake up" Odysseus in two to three weeks.

Continued here:

'Good night, moon lander': SpaceX lunar craft carrying 125 Jeff Koons sculptures expected to lose power - Art Newspaper

FAA closes investigation into second Starship test flight – SpaceNews

WASHINGTON The Federal Aviation Administration has closed its investigation into the second Starship/Super Heavy launch in November, bringing SpaceX a step closer to launching its third test flight as soon as mid-March.

The FAA announced Feb. 26 that it closed the investigation into the Nov. 18 launch, designated Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 2, by accepting the root causes into the failure identified by SpaceX. That includes 7 corrective actions for the Super Heavy booster and 10 for the Starship upper stage.

On that launch, the vehicle appeared to perform as expected through stage separation. However, the Super Heavy booster broke apart shortly after separation as it was attempting to perform a controlled reentry and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The Starship upper stage continued its ascent until the final minute of its burn, when it broke apart. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said in January that liquid oxygen venting triggered a fire and explosion of Starship.

The letter noted that Starships ascent was going normally until seven minutes and five seconds after liftoff, when the vehicle started a pre-planned dump of excess liquid oxygen. Over the next minute, several explosions and sustained fires were observed in onboard camera aft video streams, ultimately resulting in a loss of communication between the forward and aft flight computers, the letter stated. That led to a shutdown of all six engines and a triggering of the vehicles autonomous flight safety system a minute after the vent started.

SpaceX, in its own statement about the investigation, said the fires in Starship came from a leak in the aft section of the vehicle when the liquid oxygen vent started. The vehicle was carrying the excess oxidizer to gather data representative of future payload deploy missions and needed to be disposed of prior to reentry to meet required propellant mass targets at splashdown.

The SpaceX statement also discussed the loss of the Super Heavy booster. Thirteen of its 33 Raptor engines were firing in a boostback maneuver after stage separation when several engines shut down, including one that failed energetically. That led to the booster breaking apart at an altitude of 90 kilometers over the Gulf of Mexico.

The company said the most likely explanation for the failure is a filter blockage in a liquid oxygen line that reduced inlet pressure in engine turbopumps that eventually resulted in one engine failing in a way that resulted in loss of the vehicle.

The Super Heavy corrective actions, the FAA stated in its letter to SpaceX, include redesigns of vehicle hardware to increase tank filtration and reduce slosh, updated thrust vector control system modelling, reevaluation of engine analyses based on OFT-2 data, and updated engine control algorithms.

The Starship corrective actions, according to the FAA letter, include hardware redesigns to increase robustness and reduce complexity, hardware changes to reduce leaks, operational changes eliminating pre-second engine cutoff propellant dumps, flammability analysis updates, installation of additional fire protection, creation of analytical guidance, performance of transient load analysis, and modeling updates.

Neither the FAA nor the SpaceX statements offered a schedule for completing the corrective actions and launching a third test flight. Musk, in a conversation on his social media platform X Feb. 19, said he was looking to the second week of March to launch the vehicle. Nominally its, like, March 8. Were trying to get it to be sooner than March 8, he said. My guess is that it happens at some point in the first half of next month. A fourth launch, he added, could take place shortly thereafter.

Other company officials have repeated Musks timeline for the mission. During a panel discussion at the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference Feb. 21, Nick Cummings, senior director of program development at SpaceX, said the upcoming launch will also conduct a propellant transfer test within Starship, something NASA officials previous said might be included as part of an agency Tipping Point award.

The company is also working to accelerate its rate of test flights. Im very excited about the fact that weve got four sets of Starships and Super Heavies basically already built at Starbase, ready to go for the next flights, Cummings said.

The next flight, though, still requires the FAA to update SpaceXs Starship launch license. The FAA said SpaceX must first demonstrate to the FAA that it has implemented those corrective actions. The FAA is evaluating SpaceXs license modification request and expects SpaceX to submit additional required information before a final determination can be made, the agency stated.

In a briefing with reporters during the FAA conference Feb. 21, Kelvin Coleman, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, since it appeared feasible to have a license ready in time for a launch by mid-March. Thats where Im hearing things are headed right now, he said.

The timing of subsequent launches, he said, will depend on the outcome of the third launch. Theyre looking at a pretty aggressive launch schedule this year, he said, with at least nine launches proposed for 2024. Well work with them to get them back going as soon as they can.

Visit link:

FAA closes investigation into second Starship test flight - SpaceNews

SpaceX’s talks with Vietnam over Starlink service stalled over ownership rule report – Light Reading

Talks between SpaceX and the Vietnamese government for Starlink satellites to provide broadband satellite in the Southeast Asian country reportedly hit a snag over foreign ownership regulation.

Citing unnamed sources, Reuters reported that discussions between the two parties had been put on hold since November after the country's amended telecommunications law, which will take effect in July, did not ease the existing provision on foreign ownership.

SpaceX had been seeking an exception to the rule restricting foreign ownership to a non-controlling 50% stake in telecommunication companies with network infrastructure.

Vietnam has been looking into satellite-based broadband Internet services to improve coverage in its mountainous and underserved areas that cannot be reached by terrestrial networks. It is also planning to upgrade its Internet infrastructure in the aftermath of recent outages at its five major underwater fiber-optic cables.

Reuters said SpaceX and Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) had held several meetings for months from at least the middle of last year until November 2023

The stalled talks led to the interruption starting in November of Starlink's previously unreported pilot services for Vietnam's coast guard, which used the satellites to guide drones in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand.

Sources told Reuters they do not know when talks would resume.

New regulatory hurdles

Aside from the limitation on foreign ownership, foreign satellite service providers face new regulatory hurdles before entering the Vietnamese market.

According to the Vietnam New Agency, a draft decree that will implement the revised law added a requirement for foreign satellite service providers to set up a local ground gateway connected to the public telecoms network. Foreign satellite providers must ensure that all traffic generated by satellite subscriber terminals in Vietnam must pass through this local ground gateway.

The draft decree classifies satellite broadband services such as Starlink as cross-border services. The MIC, which is tasked to finalize the document after public consultation, considers cross-border satellite communications to be a risk in terms of data from Vietnamese Internet users being collected abroad and used illegally.

Furthermore, the draft decree specifies that foreign satellite service providers must meet capital and investment conditions. For example, the VNA said that contributed charter capital must be at least 30 billion Vietnamese Dong ($1.2 million), and total investment capital in the network must be at least VND100 billion ($4.2 million) in the first three years.

Foreign satellite service providers must also have a commercial agreement with a licensed domestic telecommunications enterprise and a technical plan to ensure information security, perform emergency prevention and shut off services when ordered to do so by relevant state agencies.

Visit link:

SpaceX's talks with Vietnam over Starlink service stalled over ownership rule report - Light Reading

US-NEWS-SCI-SPACEX-GET | | thedailynewsonline.com – The Daily News Online

State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada

Zip Code

Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe

Read the original here:

US-NEWS-SCI-SPACEX-GET | | thedailynewsonline.com - The Daily News Online

SpaceX Starship: What Does the Future Hold? – Executive Gov

The SpaceX Starship is a historic breakthrough, providing high-technology systems for fast and secure spaceflight. With its promising features, the new spacecraft can help the federal government carry out its interplanetary missions. Lets take a deeper look into the SpaceX Starship and the future it holds.

Starship is a fully reusable spacecraft designed and created by SpaceX. This invention supports human exploration and missions beyond Earths orbit. Starship has the potential to transform long-distance Earth travel, satellite placement, cargo delivery, and human space exploration.

Starship is a flexible and powerful spaceship designed to transform space exploration and increase accessibility to interplanetary travel. It replaces SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

Lets take a look at the fundamental specifications of the Starship.

The SpaceX Starship has two main components: the Starship Rocket and the Super Heavy Booster. These two components are integrated with the SpaceX Starship system to perform different missions, including cargo transport and satellite deployment.

The Starship Spacecraft is the upper part of the Starships system. The spacecraft is designed to carry the crew and passengers. The upper stave has a payload bay, crew compartments, and engines. It also features a heat shield that slows down the spacecraft and protects the passengers when reentering Earths atmosphere.

The Super Heavy Rocket, also known as the Super Heavy Booster, is the lower stage of the Starships system. The lower stage is designed to lift the starship spacecraft into space. The Super Heavy booster has several Raptor Engines installed, powered by methane and liquid oxygen. These engines generate force to propel the rocket off the ground. After launching, the lower stage detaches from the Starship spacecraft to return to Earth for further usage.

Fully Reusable. The Starship spaceships Super Heavy booster has been engineered for swift reuse, which contributes to a significant decrease in space travel expenses. Unlike the Falcon 9, which can reuse the booster only over ten times, Starships booster is designed to complete thousands of flights before any significant refurbishment.

Massive Payload Capacity. The Starships cargo and crew payload capacities are much bigger than those of the previous SpaceX spacecraft. In comparison, the Starships lower stage, Super Heavy, is almost as tall as the Falcon Heavys overall height.

Aerodynamic Design. Its aerodynamic shape is streamlined for atmospheric entry and reusability.

In-orbit Refueling. The Starship is built with onboard refueling features. It results in more efficient missions, reaching farther destinations compared to a spacecraft with a single fuel tank.

We invite you to join the 2024 Space Summit and learn from the discussions of space industry leaders. You may register for the event here.

Starship revolutionizes human space exploration. Here are the three primary uses of Starship.

The Starship is built to transport people on missions that take them beyond Earths orbit. It aims to carry astronauts to Mars, the Moon, and other planets in our solar system to conduct further studies, research, and development.

Moreover, the two-stage spacecraft can deploy satellites into Earths orbit and facilitate global internet coverage. It can be helpful for Earth observation and other satellite-based services.

Given its size of 160 ft tall and 30 ft in diameter, Starships payloads can carry a ton of cargo. Specifically, it allows supply missions to Moon bases, space stations, and other locations.

Point-to-point transportation on Earth is another feature of Starship. This fantastic feature allows transit to any global location in one hour or less.

In a 2022 CNBC article, SpaceX plans to use Starship for commercial space tourism, enabling the public to fly into space. The Starship has the potential to create jobs and draw in more tourists by offering space passenger transportation.

During the Starships return for a landing in 2023, multiple engines of the Super Heavy booster failed to light up properly. This incident led to an investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Last February 26, 2024, the FAA closed the investigation regarding SpaceXs Starship Super Heavy Orbital Test explosion. The FAA and the space firm agreed on new protocols for upcoming flights. So, whats next with SpaceX Starship?

SpaceX plans to test the Starship prototypes to improve their functionality, dependability, and design. The spacecrafts performance is demonstrated by carrying out more suborbital and orbital test flights, testing their launch, reentry, and landing.

SpaceX will soon get Starship back into operational status. It is set to start routine missions like crewed space exploration, satellite deployment, and potentially point-to-point Earth travel.

Future beyond-Earth orbit projects can bring SpaceX and NASA together. NASA can use the Starship for the Artemis Moon Mission to carry its team to the Moon and other beyond Earth destinations.

Commercial clients can utilize SpaceXs Starship services for satellite placement, cargo transportation, and space travel. Commercial services like contracting with private businesses may also be available soon.

SpaceX is a privately held business that has built a reputation for successfully launching a spaceship in low-Earth orbit. Elon Musk founded the firm in 2002 with the goal of lowering the cost of space transportation.

SpaceX develops, designs, and manufactures its rocket and spacecraft in facilities in Hawthorne, California, and Boca Chica, Texas.

Link:

SpaceX Starship: What Does the Future Hold? - Executive Gov

SpaceX discloses cause of Starship anomalies as it clears an FAA hurdle – Ars Technica

Enlarge / Starship launches on its second flight on November 18, 2023.

SpaceX

A little more than three months after the most recent launch of a Starship vehicle, which ended with both the booster and upper stage being lost in flight, the Federal Aviation Administration has closed its investigation of the mishap.

"SpaceX identified, and the FAA accepts, the root causes and 17 corrective actions documented in SpaceXs mishap report," the federal agency said in a statement issued Monday. "Prior to the next launch, SpaceX must implement all corrective actions and receive a license modification from the FAA that addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory requirements."

SpaceX must still submit additional information to the FAA, which is responsible for the safety of people and property on the ground, before the agency completes its review of an application to launch Starship for a third time. The administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration, Kelvin Coleman, said last week that early to mid-March is a reasonable timeline for the regulatory process to conclude.

A launch attempt is likely to follow soon after.

In conjunction with Monday's announcement, SpaceX released details for the first time of what happened to cause the November 18 launch to go awry.

In this update, SpaceX noted that the Super Heavy first stage of the rocket performed nominally, with all 33 Raptor engines on this massive rocket igniting successfully. The booster then performed a full-duration burn to reach stage separation. At this point, the upper stage executed a successful "hot staging" maneuver in which the Starship stage separated from the booster while some of the booster's engines were still firing.

For the Super Heavy booster, the next step was to perform a series of burns to make a soft landing in the Gulf of Mexico. As part of the initial burn, 13 of the rocket's engines were intended to fire.

"During this burn, several engines began shutting down before one engine failed energetically, quickly cascading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly of the booster," SpaceX said. "The vehicle breakup occurred more than three and a half minutes into the flight at an altitude of ~90 km over the Gulf of Mexico."

The problem was subsequently linked to a problem with supplying liquid oxygen to the Raptor engines.

"The most likely root cause for the booster RUD was determined to be filter blockage where liquid oxygen is supplied to the engines, leading to a loss of inlet pressure in engine oxidizer turbopumps that eventually resulted in one engine failing in a way that resulted in loss of the vehicle," the company stated. "SpaceX has since implemented hardware changes inside future booster oxidizer tanks to improve propellant filtration capabilities and refined operations to increase reliability."

As Super Heavy was experiencing these problems, the six Raptor engines on the Starship upper stage were burning nominally and pushing the vehicle along a flight path intended to take it nearly two-thirds of the way around Earth before splashing down near Hawaii. However, at about seven minutes after liftoff, a large vent of liquid oxygen occurred. There was excess liquid oxygen on the vehicle, SpaceX said, to gather data representative of future payload deployment missions. It needed to be released before Starship splashed down.

"A leak in the aft section of the spacecraft that developed when the liquid oxygen vent was initiated resulted in a combustion event and subsequent fires that led to a loss of communication between the spacecrafts flight computers," the company said. "This resulted in a commanded shut down of all six engines prior to completion of the ascent burn, followed by the Autonomous Flight Safety System detecting a mission rule violation and activating the flight termination system, leading to vehicle breakup."

At the time, the vehicle had reached an altitude of 150 km, well into outer space, and had achieved a velocity of about 24,000 km/h. This is just short of orbital velocity, which is 28,000 km/h.

In its statement, SpaceX said it was implementing changes to the Super Heavy and Starship stages to account for these issues. The company is also seeking to improve the overall performance of Starship, with the addition of a new electronic Thrust Vector Control system for Starships upper-stage Raptor engines and more rapid propellant loading operations prior to launch.

SpaceX has four Starships in complete, or nearly complete, build stages. Should the next flight go smoothly, the company could begin to launch the world's largest rocket on a more frequent basis.

Read the original post:

SpaceX discloses cause of Starship anomalies as it clears an FAA hurdle - Ars Technica

NASA, SpaceX test Starship docking system for moon missions – Inceptive Mind

NASA and SpaceX have recently performed full-scale qualification testing of the docking system that will connect SpaceXs Starship Human Landing System (HLS) with Orion and later Gateway in lunar orbit during future crewed Artemis missions. The docking system will help astronauts move between different spacecraft during lunar landings as part of NASAs Artemis campaign.

The Artemis III mission will see astronauts riding the Orion spacecraft from Earth to lunar orbit and then transfer to the Starship Human Landing System (HLS) to land on the moons surface. Once their activities on the surface are complete, they will return to Orion in lunar orbit via Starship.

For future missions, the astronauts will move from Orion to Starship through the Gateway lunar space station. The Starship docking system is based on SpaceXs flight-proven Dragon 2 docking system, which has been used in missions to the International Space Station. The Starship docking system can be configured to connect the lander to Orion or Gateway.

The recent docking system tests for Starship HLS were conducted at NASAs Johnson Space Center. The tests were carried out for over 10 days and covered more than 200 docking scenarios with varying approach angles and speeds. These real-world results using full-scale hardware will help validate computer models of the Moon landers docking system.

During the dynamic testing, the Starship system could perform a soft capture while in the active docking role. This means the soft capture system (SCS) of the active docking system can attach to the passive system of the other spacecraft, allowing the two spacecraft to dock. This was demonstrated during the testing, where one vehicle assumed an active chaser role while the other was in a passive target role.

NASA says the docking mechanism is on its way to formal certification in the run-up to the launch of Artemis III in 2026.

SpaceX has achieved a lot since it was chosen as the lander to take humans back to the Moon. They have completed over 30 HLS specific milestones, which involved defining and testing hardware for power generation, communications, guidance and navigation, propulsion, life support, and space environments protection.

NASAs Artemis campaign is focusing on landing the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface. The mission is also preparing for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all. Commercial human landing systems are crucial for deep space exploration, along with the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, advanced spacesuits and rovers, exploration ground systems, and the Gateway space station.

Read the rest here:

NASA, SpaceX test Starship docking system for moon missions - Inceptive Mind