Category Archives: Spacex

After one days delay, SpaceX on Thursday, January 18 launched Falcon 9sAxiom Spaces Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 4:49 p.m. ET.

Wednesdays launch was delayed due to concerns Axiom had.

The Axiom statement said some of the needed analysis was with the parachute system energy modulator. It sounds like there are some concerns still to make sure that the parachutes are ready to safely return the capsule to the Earth at the end of the mission.

SpaceX is targeting no earlier than Thursday, January 18 for Falcon 9s launch of Axiom Spaces Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 4:49 p.m. ET. If needed, an additional opportunity is available on Saturday, January 20 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about two hours prior to launch. Watch live.

Safety is a big concern on any launch, and even more so with astronauts onboard, according to Dr. Don Platt of Florida Tech.

Certainly, for a human mission, they are going to want to make sure that every i is dotted and t is crossed. So, if theres some technical data that has not been closed out here, they definitely want to make sure that they are good to go before they put people on a rocket, Platt said.

The Axiom statement said some of the needed analysis was with the parachute system energy modulator. It sounds like there are some concerns still to make sure that the parachutes are ready to safely return the capsule to the Earth at the end of the mission, added Dr. Platt.

The additional time allows teams to complete pre-launch checkouts and data analysis on the vehicle, SpaceX officials announced in a tweet.

Weather should remain favorable at the Cape. The Space Forces 45th Weather Squadron has pegged the odds of go for launch weather for this backup chance at 80%.

Primary concerns include cumulus clouds, precipitation and weather conditions along the rockets ascent corridor in case the Dragon crew capsule has to abort and eject from the second stage.

The Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission previously flew Crew-4 and Ax-2 to and from the space station. Following stage separation, Falcon 9s first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct more than 30 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human physiology and technological industrial advancements.

SpaceX is targeting no earlier than Wednesday, January 17 for Falcon 9s launch of Axiom Spaces Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) to the International Space Station from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The instantaneous launch window is at 5:11 p.m. ET, with a backup opportunity available on Thursday, January 18 at 4:49 p.m. ET.

A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about two hours prior to launch. Watch live.

The Dragon spacecraft supporting this mission previously flew Crew-4 and Ax-2 to and from the space station. Following stage separation, Falcon 9s first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct more than 30 scientific experiments and demonstrations focused on human physiology and technological industrial advancements.

Mission patches are a symbolic expression of the mission objectives and a time-honored tradition dating back to the 1960s with the NASA Gemini program. They are designed and worn by the astronauts and people affiliated with each mission. Axiom Space continues the tradition with its commercial astronaut missions.

The Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) patch is shaped as a shield to illustrate strength and courage. The International Space Station (ISS) is centered and angled to be seen as aviator wings, symbolizing four astronauts piloting toward growth in low-Earth orbit (LEO) through the spirit of exploration and collaboration.

The Ax-3 crew is included at the forefront of the mission patch. The names of each crew member are seen in alphabetical order with flags of the countries they represent. The four stars next to the names represent the four European nations on the Ax-3 missionSpain (Commander Lpez-Alegra as a dual citizen of the U.S. and Spain), Trkiye, Italy, and Sweden.

The tiled Earth is shown with longitude and latitude lines to highlight the new frontier that the crew will explore and celebrate the power of bridging cultural divides to advance human knowledge and prosperity.

Located on the tiled Earth, toward the base of the patch, the number 100 denotes centennial milestones for Trkiye and Italy. Ax-3 will be a symbolic mission for Trkiye as the nation reflects on changes and progress made in the past century to advance economic development, education and technology, and the countrys global influence, now in space. This year, on March 28, 2023, the Italian Air Force celebrated its centennial anniversary as one of the oldest air forces in the world. This mission will serve as an opportunity to celebrate the Italian Air Forces contribution to global security and stability.

The number 500 represents ajubilee year for Sweden as the countrycelebratedfive centuriesas anindependentnation on June 6, 2023. The second Swedish ESA astronaut in history will fly to the space station during the Ax-3 mission, embodying opportunity and freedom to explore the unknown.

Located around the bottom edges of the patch, the missions moto Further, Beyond is written in Latin (PLVS VLTRA).

Ax-3 is the third commercial astronaut mission to the ISS and will carry the first crew of all-European national astronauts. With this crew, Europe is taking a visionary, leadership role in the future of commercial space.

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UPDATE 2: Success as SpaceX transports first humans for 2024 with Axiom's first all European commercial astronauts ... - SatNews

SpaceX continues to come under fire from environmentalists who say the companys actions are putting South Texas wildlife and the environment at risk.

The aerospace company has conducted several launches of its Starship in Boca Chica, Texas. April 2023 marked the first near-orbital test of the spacecraft, which is being called the most powerful rocket ever built.

However, the rocket exploded apparently a planned occurrence and its launch kicked up a cloud of debris that settled on a town six miles away and caused forces similar to an earthquake.

It was truly terrifying, one local resident told The New York Times.

The rockets engines also tore up part of the concrete launch pad, and chunks of concrete from the pad flew through the air, damaging a parked car in a nearby town.

SpaceX appeared to recognize it had to do better and made adjustments to its launchpad and added a wall for Starships November 2023 launch, which shows improvement, though it still resulted in similar but fortunately reduced debris and evidence of chemical waste, as reported by WANE and My San Antonio.

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These launches affected the local environment, as the launch pad is located near a beach and surrounding tidal flats. The first launch even caused a 3.5-acre fire and a 385-acre debris field, causing experts to question why the launchpad did not include a flame diverter, trench, or water deluge system.

The Friends of the Wildlife Corridor, a local environmental group, told MySA that the area is an important habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species like the ocelot, aplomado falcon, piping plover, red knot, snowy plover, and black rail. It is also an important site for spring and fall bird migrations. And the Kemps Ridley sea turtle nests only a quarter of a mile from the launch site, MySA reported.

Though the total impact on wildlife is unknown, the April explosion incinerated a group of blue land crabs and seven bobwhite quail eggs within a local state park. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists were left in disbelief over the environmental damage that the launch caused.

SpaceX also has received backlash for its plans to dispose of contaminated water that degrades wetlands. The company recently asked to dump more than 200,000 gallons of wastewater into the South Bay, and more than 1,100 people submitted comments in opposition to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, according to MySA.

Jim Chapman, president of FOWC, told the outlet that though the local environment might not look like much, It is an extremely important area for lots of shorebirds and is a critical habitat for many endangered animals. There arent a lot of places like that; it is a unique area.

Meanwhile, SpaceX cofounder and CEO Elon Musk took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to say more tests are coming: Starship Flight 3 hardware should be ready to fly in 3 to 4 weeks. There are three ships in final production in the high bay (as can be seen from the highway).

Editors note: A previous version of this article characterized the post-launch explosion of Starship as causing damage on the ground in addition to the launch blast, but it has been updated to correct that damage to the local area in Texas has only been attributed to the launch process of each rocket.

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Environmental experts express concern about SpaceX after company's second test flight results in further damage to ... - The Cool Down

Update for Jan. 17: SpaceX announced that the launch of Axiom Space's Ax-3 mission to the International Space Station has been delayed by a day, to 4:49 p.m. EST (2149 GMT) on Thursday (Jan. 18). Watch it live here at Space.com; coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. EST (1845 GMT) on Jan. 18.

Houston-based Axiom Space is poised for the company's third private astronaut launch to space. Ax-3 will carry a four-person, all-European crew on a roughly two-week mission to conduct research aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The quartet includes Ax-3 mission commander and former NASA astronaut Michael "LA" Lpez-Alegra, mission specialist Walter Villadei, who also flew aboard Virgin Galactic's Galactic 01 suborbital spaceflight as VIRTUTE 1 mission commander last summer, Turkey's soon-to-be first astronaut, Alper Gezeravc and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut reserve member Marcus Wandt.

The Ax-3 crew will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the early evening, Wednesday, Jan. 17, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida. After about 36 hours aboard their SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, the crew will dock with the ISS early Friday morning, Jan. 19, if all goes according to plan.

The Ax-3 crew is scheduled to spend 14 days aboard the ISS, following their arrival on Friday, Jan. 19. Barring any weather delays, like the ones that prolonged the return of Ax-1, the four-person crew is scheduled to return after two weeks' time aboard their Crew Dragon capsule, parachuting back to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

Live updates: Axiom Space Ax-3 private spaceflight with SpaceX: Live updates Photos: The first space tourists

Former NASA astronaut Michael "L.A." Lpez-Alegra is no stranger to spaceflight. Ax-3 will be his sixth launch to the ISS, and he has no plans of quitting anytime soon. "It's a dream come true for me," L.A. told reporters during a Jan. 11 crew teleconference, "I will gladly continue to fly as long as the soul is willing, and as long as the body is willing to do so."

L.A. was born in Madrid, and came to the U.S. with his parents as a young child. Combined, he has more than 40 years of aviation and spaceflight experience, which includes three Space Shuttle launches and a Soyuz launch. He was inducted into NASA's Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2020, and currently holds the space agency's record for cumulative time spent on space walks, or extravehicular activities (EVAs). L.A. now works as Axiom's chief astronaut.

Lpez-Alegra flew as mission commander for Ax-1, and is proud to be reprising that role for Ax-3, he said during Thursday's call.

"I'm very proud and pleased to be leading this mission to the International Space Station, which is important not just for the scientific research and technology demonstrations and outreach events that we'll do, but also it's a very important step toward the goal of Axiom space to have a commercial space station in orbit before the decade is out."

Axiom Space is constructing its own habitation module to berth to the ISS, which it plans to build out and eventually detach to become its own private space station. Throughout development, crews from each of the company's commercially-funded missions to the ISS work, in part, toward helping Axiom reach that goal.

This also isn't the first spaceflight for Ax-3 mission pilot Col. Walter Villadei. Villadei hails from Rome, Italy, and serves as a colonel in the Italian Air Force (ItAF). His background includes extensive military flight experience with the ItAF, as well as assignments in the space sector, which sent him to Star City, Russia, to with the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) as a Soyuz flight engineer.

Currently, Villadei works as the head of ItAF's representative office in the U.S., overseeing commercial spaceflight initiatives.

He flew on a sub-orbital flight to space with Virgin Galactic in June 2023, where he served as VIRTUTE-1 mission commander. At the time, he said that flight would help prepare him for upcoming, longer spaceflights.

"This mission is very important for Italy," Villadei said during the Jan. 11 briefing, calling Ax-3 a "fundamental step" in Italy's national space strategy. "It's a big opportunity for bringing industries of the scientific community and institutions into this new chapter for space exploration."

Alper Gezeravc will fly as Turkey's first astronaut. The Ax-3 mission specialist holds degrees from the Air Force Academy in Istanbul, and the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, in Ohio, and has 15 years experience flying as a fighter pilot for the Turkish Air Force.

On Thursday's call, Gezeravc acknowledged the significance of his country sending someone to space, but said he doesn't want that fact to overshadow the mission's contribution to the global scientific community.

"I'm representing my beautiful country, Turkey, as the first person to go to space," Gezeravc said, "however, this mission is not only focused on the first manned mission, but it's also representing a lot of scientific missions that we are intending to contribute in the science world."

Like Axiom's previous missions, much of the research conducted by the Ax-3 crew will focus on the effects of long-term spaceflight and the effects of microgravity on the human body, with an emphasis on how that research can have beneficial applications down on Earth. Turkey's Vokalkord experiment, for example, is developing artificial intelligence to detect disease through analyzing audio of people speaking and coughing.

Another fighter pilot, Marcus Wandt has more than 20 years experience in the air, serving in the Swedish Air Force. From fighter pilot, Wandt worked his way up to the role of chief test pilot, and eventually founded his own company to give tactical training to other pilots.

Now, Wandt is a lieutenant colonel in the Swedish Air Force and a member of ESA's astronaut reserve, and will be the second person from Sweden to fly to the ISS. For Ax-3, he will serve as a mission specialist.

"The decisiveness of how Sweden came together with ESA and Axiom, and all the support from NASA and SpaceX to make this happen is fantastic," Wandt said during the Ax-3 crew teleconference.

"I'm so proud to be in the center of that, and being a part of pioneering a new way for Europe to gain access to space and to increase the frequency ... of not only European presence but also European science, and the benefit for what we can do here on Earth that brings everyone forward."

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Meet the 4 astronauts of SpaceX's Ax-3 launch for Axiom Space - Space.com

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft is pictured docked to the space station on May 28, 2023, during Axiom Spaces second private astronaut mission, Axiom Mission-2.

Four private astronauts are readying for launch to the International Space Station this week while the Expedition 70 crew ramps up microgravity research and maintenance tasks after yesterdays off-duty day.

The third private astronaut mission to the station, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3), is scheduled to liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:11 p.m. EST Wednesday, Jan. 17. Ax-3 crew members, Commander Michael Lpez-Alegra, Pilot Walter Villadei of Italy, Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravc of Turkey, and ESA (European Space Agency) project astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden, will make the trek to the orbital lab aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, docking at 5:15 a.m. Friday, Jan. 19. The quartet will spend about two weeks conducting science and research in microgravity before heading home.

Ahead of Ax-3 arrival, NASA Flight Engineer Loral OHara spent most of the day prepping station for new visitors. OHara inspected the airflow in crew quarters, prepped sleep accommodations for crew occupancy, and cleaned the liners and vents where the four private astronauts will sleep while aboard the orbital outpost.

ESA (European Space Agency) Commander Andreas Mogensen also prepped for Ax-3, completing training for Dragon rendezvous and docking. Afterward, he set up ECHO, which is equipped with motorized probs, for ground teams to perform remote maintenance activities.

While OHara and Mogensen prepped for Ax-3 crew arrival, other crew members took to space botany and biology tasks. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmin Moghbeli spent the day working with Plant Habitat-06, thinning wild-type tomato seedlings. Afterward, she set up and installed the Plant Water Management 5 hardware to the Maintenance Work Area.

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Flight Engineer Satoshi Furukawa removed culture units from the microscope used for the Space Organogenesis investigation, which demonstrates growth of organ buds from 3D printed human stem cells. Additionally, Furukawa collected water samples from the stations potable water dispenser for in-flight analysis.

The Roscosmos trioFlight Engineers Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Konstantin Borisovperformed an array of maintenance activities on Tuesday. Kononenko replaced hardware in the Zvezda service module, while Chub replaced the thermal control system pump panel in the Zarya module. Afterward, Chub conducted an experiment studying liquid phases in microgravity, while Borisov distilled samples from the Roscosmos segment water management system and conducted maintenance on the stations vacuum cleaner.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on X, as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

Get weekly video highlights at: https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Crew Preps for Private Astronaut Arrival as Ax-3 Mission Nears Launch - NASA Blogs

Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket launches the Axiom-2 mission on May 21, 2023.

SpaceX

The European Space Agencys (ESA) has a deal with Axiom Space to get more Europeans in orbit. But does the partnership benefit European taxpayers who fund the agencys operations?

On Wednesday, January 17, the third privately funded mission by US commercial spaceflight company Axiom Space is set to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket. Inside the Crew Dragon capsule will be a quartet of space travelers, including Swedish fighter pilot Marcus Wandt.

Wandt will be flying under the European Space Agency (ESA) flag, although he is not exactly an ESA astronaut. In the 2022 European astronaut recruitment round, Wandt didnt make the final five of Europes proper astronaut class, who became ESA staff members and started their astronaut training in 2023. Instead, he was selected as a member of ESAs first astronaut reserve pool, a novelty developed by ESA with an apparent goal of encouraging its member states to pay for national missions in addition to their regular contributions to ESAs budget. Sweden was the first to jump at the opportunity in April last year and is paying for Wandts two-week space trip through a contract brokered by ESA as part of a Memorandum of Understanding the agency signed with the American commercial company Axiom Space in October 2023.

Wandt is the first but not the only reserve astronaut with his ticket to space while his seemingly more successful colleagues who made the proper astronaut corps are still in training. Poland, too, has signed up and expects to fly its reservist, Sawosz Uznaski, on another Axiom mission later this year.

Compared to their overall investment in space activities, the price these countries pay to see their nationals float in microgravity is not negligible. At the November 2022 ESA ministerial councilthe triennial member state summit that decides the agencys budget for the following three-year periodSweden pledged 317 million euros ($355 million).

According to a 2018 announcement, Axiom Space sells 10-day space trips for $55 million a seat. The overall cost of each mission is likely to be quite a bit higher. Last year, Hungary signed a contract directly with Axiom to send a Hungarian national to the International Space Station independently of ESA. Hungary discussed plans for a national mission back in 2022 and, at that time, estimated the project to cost about $100 million. Based on that estimate, Sweden may be easily paying an equivalent of its annual contribution into the ESA budget to get Wandt to space.

In addition to Wandt and Uznaski, the ESA astronaut reserve pool includes nine other candidates, none of them officially employed by ESA. By filling this astronaut reserve pool, ESA seems to have created a market for Axiom Space, a move that might raise questions given the agencys purpose is to promote the European space sector. In fact, the ESAs founding Convention enshrines the principle of geo-return, which grants member states at least an 80 percent return on their contributions into ESAs budget in the form of research and development contracts. Although the cost of the Axiom missions is paid through ESA, most of this money goes to the Texas-headquartered Axiom Space and its launch provider, SpaceX.

ESA refused to disclose details of the arrangement between Axiom Space and Sweden, calling it proprietary data as this is implemented through aconfidentialcommercial contract. The Swedish National Space Agency didnt respond to Ars Technicas request for comment.

Polands announcement of a national mission for Uznaski arrived in August last year, accompanied by a jaw-dropping increase of the countrys contribution to ESAs budget. At the 2022 ministerial council, Poland earmarked 197 million euros for the agencys activities in the 2023 to 2025 period. In August, the Polish Space Agency more than doubled this contribution, committing an additional 295 million euros ($322 million). It is not clear how much of this money will go toward Uznaskis space trip.

In the months following the announcement of the astronaut reserve pool, Axiom Space began actively approaching home countries of the reservists with offers to fly those men and women to space, according to media in the Czech Republic, which has recently declined the offer.

In addition to Sweden and Poland, the UK also intends to use Axioms services and conduct a British-only mission that will be headed by semi-retired ESA astronaut Tim Peake. It will also include the UKs Rosemary Coogan, newly named as one of ESAs career astronauts, as well as reservist Meganne Christian and para-astronaut John McFall. Unlike the Swedish and Polish mission, the British mission will be funded by the private industry in the UK rather than by taxpayers, according to the BBC.

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Axiom and SpaceX are disrupting Europe's traditional pathway to space - Ars Technica

SpaceX still has a lot to prove. Starship Has Sailed

NASA's efforts to return humans to the lunar surface are facing some serious delays.

As Reuters reports, the space agency's first crewed lunar landing mission in over half a century, dubbed Artemis 3 will likely slip from its tentative late 2025 launch date, with insider sources saying that the issue is SpaceX is taking longer than expected to reach certain milestones with its massive Starship spacecraft (you know, the one that keeps exploding.)

Similarly, NASA's Artemis 2 mission, a crewed journey around the Moon and back, will also likely be pushed back due to recently uncovered issues with Lockheed Martin's Orion crew capsule, per the report.

Given the astronomical complexities involved, the news shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. SpaceX has been working at a fever pitch to get its 165-foot stainless steel rocket into orbit and carried out two orbital launch attempts last year both of which ended in,well, don't call them failures but the missions didn't survive.

The plan is to have a Starship Human Landing System spacecraft rendezvous with an Orion spacecraft and ferry NASA astronauts from the Moon's orbit down to the surface.

It's a complicated mission that involves several Starship spacecraft fueling a Moon landing variant in Earth's orbit, before meeting up with the crew hundreds of thousands of miles away.

SpaceX still has a lot to prove, including achieving a stable orbit, swapping fuel between spacecraft, and of course the ability to make a safe and soft approach to the lunar surface.

Despite the delays, NASA is still making progress toward its goal of returning the first astronauts to the lunar surface in over half a century. So far, NASA already has one successful Artemis mission under its belt, having launched an uncrewed Orion capsule around the Moon and back in 2022.

According to Reuters, NASA is expected to announce revised plans today, so stay tuned.

Updated to correctly identify the manufacturer of the Orion crew capsule.

More on Artemis: This Multi-Purpose Moon Habitat Looks Cool as Hell

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NASA Reportedly Forced to Push Back Moon Landing After SpaceX Fails to Deliver Starship - Futurism

SpaceX is set to launch yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday (Jan. 11) at 3:59 a.m. EST (0859 GMT; 12:59 a.m. local time in California).

You can watch the launch via SpaceX's account on X. Coverage will begin about five minutes before the launch.

Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky

If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9's first stage will come back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, touching down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

It will be the 18th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. That's just one shy of the SpaceX reuse record of 19 flights, which was set last month by a Falcon 9 first stage.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, will continue hauling the 22 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, where they will be deployed about 62.5 minutes after liftoff.

Starlink is SpaceX's broadband megaconstellation, which beams service to customers around the world. The network currently consists of more than 5,250 spacecraft, and the number will continue to grow far into the future.

Thursday's mission will be the fourth orbital flight of 2024 for SpaceX, which wants to launch 144 missions this year. The company's current record is 98 liftoffs, which which was set in 2023.

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SpaceX to launch 22 Starlink satellites from California early Jan. 11 - Space.com

The high-altitude chase started over Cape Canaveral on Feb. 17, 2023, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched. Thomas Parent, a NASA research pilot, was flying a WB-57 jet when the rocket ascended past the right wing leaving him mesmerized before he hit the throttle to accelerate.

For roughly an hour, Mr. Parent dove in and out of the plume in the rockets wake while Tony Casey, the sensor equipment operator aboard the jet, monitored its 17 scientific instruments. Researchers hoped to use the data to prove they could catch a rockets plume and eventually characterize the environmental effects of a space launch.

In the past few years, the number of rocket launches has spiked as commercial companies especially SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk and government agencies have lofted thousands of satellites into low-Earth orbit. And it is only the beginning. Satellites could eventually total one million, requiring an even greater number of space launches that could yield escalating levels of emissions.

SpaceX declined to comment about pollution from rockets and satellites. Representatives for Amazon and Eutelsat OneWeb, two other companies working toward satellite mega-constellations, said they are committed to sustainable operations. But scientists worry that more launches will scatter more pollutants in pristine layers of Earths atmosphere. And regulators across the globe, who assess some risks of space launches, do not set rules related to pollution.

Experts say they do not want to limit the booming space economy. But they fear that the steady march of science will move slower than the new space race meaning we may understand the consequences of pollution from rockets and spacecraft only when it is too late. Already, studies show that the higher reaches of the atmosphere are laced with metals from spacecraft that disintegrate as they fall back to Earth.

We are changing the system faster than we can understand those changes, said Aaron Boley, an astronomer at the University of British Columbia and co-director of the Outer Space Institute. We never really appreciate our ability to affect the environment. And we do this time and time again.

When a rocket like the Falcon 9 lifts off, it typically takes about 90 seconds to punch through the lower atmosphere, or troposphere, before reaching the middle atmosphere. It was at the top of the troposphere that Mr. Parent began his pursuit, ultimately flying as high as the middle atmosphere, where the airs density is so low that he and Mr. Casey had to wear pressure suits and heavyweight gloves, as well as helmets that provided them with oxygen.

The middle atmosphere has seldom seen so much excitement. Commercial airliners seldom fly at these heights. Nor is there much terrestrial weather or pollution from the ground. It is thus calm, unspoiled and empty except for the occasional rocket, which will pass through it for three to four minutes on its way to space. By the time a rocket curves into orbit, it will have dumped in the middle and upper layers of the atmosphere as much as two-thirds of its exhaust, which scientists predict will rain down and collect in the lower layer of the middle atmosphere, the stratosphere.

The stratosphere is home to the ozone layer, which shields us from the suns harmful radiation. But it is extremely sensitive: Even the smallest of changes can have enormous effects on it and the world below.

When Mount Pinatubo erupted in 1991, it belched enough sulfur dioxide gas into the stratosphere to trigger a multiyear cooling spell on Earth. That gas created sulfate aerosols, which warmed the stratosphere while blocking heat from hitting Earths surface. Some scientists worry that cumulative exhaust from more rockets may affect the climate in a similar manner.

Today, rocket exhaust pales in comparison to the exhaust emitted by aviation. But scientists are concerned that even small additions to the stratosphere will have a much bigger effect. Martin Ross, a scientist from The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research organization in Los Angeles, compared Earths atmosphere to a barrel of muddy water that has settled with muck at the bottom and a relatively clear top. If you add more dirt to the mucky bottom, it may go unnoticed. But if you add that dirt to the clear top, he said, it is likely to become cloudy or even mucky.

Just how rockets will affect that relatively clear top, the stratosphere, remains uncertain. But scientists are concerned that black carbon, or soot, that is released from current rockets will act like a continuous volcanic eruption, a change that could deplete the ozone layer and affect the Earth below.

In the 1990s, when NASAs space shuttle and other rockets consistently launched from U.S. soil, several studies predicted that the spacecraft would cause local ozone damage. One study even forecast a loss as high as 100 percent essentially creating a small ozone hole above Cape Canaveral that would allow more of the suns ultraviolet radiation to reach the ground, raising the risk of skin cancer, cataracts and immune disorders.

The studies relied on models and predictions alone, with no observational data. So Dr. Ross and his colleagues gathered data from high-altitude research flights, which did find local ozone holes in the shuttles wake. But they healed quickly and were not large enough to affect Cape Canaveral at least not at the frequency of launches then, roughly 25 per year.

The same may not be true going forward. In 2023, SpaceX launched nearly 100 rockets on its own, with most flights building its Starlink satellite constellation. It will soon be joined by Amazon, which is planning frequent launches for its Project Kuiper constellation, and other companies seeking substantial presences in orbit. These satellites offer a range of benefits, including broadband internet almost anywhere on Earth.

But once these companies complete their constellations of up to thousands of orbiters, the launches wont end. Many satellites have a lifetime of five to 15 years, requiring satellite companies to loft replacements.

It is the beginning of a new era.

I think we are at a stage in the space industry that we were at many decades ago in a number of our terrestrial environments, said Tim Maclay, the chief strategy officer for ClearSpace, a Swiss company seeking to build sustainable space operations. We see the prospect of development and we tend to race into it without a tremendous amount of forethought on the environmental consequences.

As space companies set records for launches and satellites deployed, scientists are starting to quantify the potential effects.

In a paper published in 2022, soot from rockets was shown to be nearly 500 times as efficient at heating the atmosphere as soot released from sources like airplanes closer to the surface. Its the muddy-barrel effect.

That means that as we start to grow the space industry and launch more rockets, were going to start to see that effect magnify very quickly, said Eloise Marais, an associate professor in physical geography at University College London and an author of the study.

A separate study also published in 2022 found that if the rate of rocket launches increased by a factor of 10, their emissions could cause temperatures in parts of the stratosphere to rise as much as 2 degrees Celsius. This could begin to degrade the ozone over most of North America, all of Europe and a chunk of Asia.

As a result, people at higher latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere may be exposed to more harmful ultraviolet radiation, said the studys lead author, Christopher Maloney of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

That said, Dr. Maloneys team did not quantify how much more radiation exposure could occur.

The exact amounts of soot emitted by different rocket engines used around the globe are also poorly understood. Most launched rockets currently use kerosene fuel, which some experts call dirty because it emits carbon dioxide, water vapor and soot directly into the atmosphere. But it might not be the predominant fuel of the future. SpaceXs future rocket Starship, for example, uses a mix of liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellants.

Still, any hydrocarbon fuel produces some amount of soot. And even green rockets, propelled by liquid hydrogen, produce water vapor, which is a greenhouse gas at these dry high altitudes.

You cant take whats green in the troposphere and necessarily think of it being green in the upper atmosphere, Dr. Boley said. There is no such thing as a totally neutral propellant. They all have different impacts.

What goes up must come down. Once satellites in low-Earth orbit reach the end of their operational lifetimes, they plunge through the atmosphere and disintegrate, leaving a stream of pollutants in their wake. Although scientists do not yet know how this will influence Earths environment, Dr. Ross thinks that it will be the most significant impact from spaceflight.

A study published in October found that the stratosphere is already littered with metals from re-entering spacecraft. It used the same NASA WB-57 jet that chased the SpaceX rocket plume last year, studying the stratosphere over Alaska and much of the continental U.S.

When the researchers began analyzing the data, they saw particles that didnt belong. Niobium and hafnium, for example, do not occur naturally but are used in rocket boosters. Yet these metals, along with other distinct elements from spacecraft, were embedded within roughly 10 percent of the most common particles in the stratosphere.

The findings validate earlier theoretical work, and Dr. Boley, who was not involved in the study, argues that the percentage will only increase given that humanity is at the beginning of the new satellite race.

Of course, researchers cannot yet say how these metals will affect the stratosphere.

Thats a big question that we have to answer moving forward, but we cant presume that it wont matter, Dr. Boley said.

While scientists are raising the alarm, they dont see themselves in opposition to rocket companies or satellite operators.

We dont want to stop the space industry, said Karen Rosenlof, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Chemical Sciences Laboratory, who says that satellites provide incredible services to people on the ground. But she and others are asking for a set of regulations that will consider the environmental implications.

Dr. Rosenlof argues that there are ways to reduce the impacts of the space industry without shutting it down. For example, if scientists find a threshold beyond which the space industry will start to harm the environment, it would make sense to simply limit the numbers of launches and satellites. Alternatively, the materials or fuels used by the space industry could be tweaked.

Dr. Boley agrees. There are a lot of possibilities that could help us protect the environment while still giving access to space, he said. We just need to look at the big picture.

But to do that, scientists argue, satellite operators and rocket companies need regulations. Few are currently in place.

Space launch falls into a gray area, said Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who has been involved in a working group on this research. It falls between the cracks of all the regulatory authorities.

The Montreal Protocol, for instance, is a treaty that successfully set limits on chemicals known to harm the ozone layer. But it does not address rocket emissions or satellites.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is not responsible for analyzing rocket launches. The Federal Communications Commission licenses large constellations of satellites but does not consider their potential harm to the environment. (The Government Accountability Office called for changes to that F.C.C. policy in 2022, but they have yet to occur.) And the Federal Aviation Administration assesses environmental impacts of rocket launches on the ground, but not in the atmosphere or space.

That could put the stratospheres future in the hands of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other private space company executives which is particularly worrying to Dr. Boley, who says the space industry does not want to slow down.

Unless it immediately affects their bottom line, theyre simply not interested, he said. The environmental impact is an inconvenience.

A spokesperson for the telecommunications company OneWeb, which has launched more than 600 satellites, said it is committed to sustainability in satellite design, constellation plans and launch efforts.

We work closely with public and private partners to minimize the environmental impact of our fleet of satellites, said Katie Dowd, a senior director there.

Still, OneWeb plans to expand its constellation to roughly 7,000 satellites.

It remains to be seen how well were going to do this, Dr. Maclay said. We dont tend to be very good as a species at proactively taking responsible steps toward environmental stewardship. It often comes as an afterthought.

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The New Space Race Is Causing New Pollution Problems - The New York Times

SpaceX is targeting tonight at 9:06 p.m. for a Falcon 9 launch of 22 Starlink satellitesto low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Backup opportunities are available until 11:28 p.m., and also on Wednesday, Jan. 10 starting at 9:08 p.m., the agency reported.

Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You autonomous droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

This is the 18th flight for the first-stage booster supporting the mission, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, Korea 425 and seven Starlink missions.

A live webcast of the mission will begin onwww.spacex.comapproximately five minutes prior to liftoff.

Lisa Andr covers lifestyle and local news for Santa Ynez Valley News and Lompoc Record, editions of the Santa Maria Times.

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SpaceX Falcon 9 launch targeting tonight from Vandenberg SFB - Lompoc Record

A strange light moved through the East Texas sky Sunday night. For some onlookers, it seemed to vanish into thin air.

It left them with more questions than answers. What was it? Where did it come from, and where did it go?

On social media pages for Longview-area folks, people posted videos and photos of the celestial glow that they captured around dusk. It didnt look like a plane, helicopter or drone, and some began to joke or question whether extraterrestrials were to blame.

In reality, East Texans were seeing the upper stage of a rocket that was launched to send new satellites into orbit around Earth. And when people here saw the rocket stage mostly clearly, it already had made a trip around the globe, hence its easterly direction over the Lone Star State, according to Chad File, a mechanical engineering professor at LeTourneau University.

File oversees a student rocketry program, the LeTourneau University Nexus for Amateur Rocketry.

In this screenshot of a video posted to Facebook Sunday night by his wife Desirea Salazar, Longview resident David Salazar captured footage of strange light in the East Texas sky Sunday night. It turned out to be that of a SpaceX rocket.

About 5:35 p.m. eastern time (4:35 p.m. central) Sunday, SpaceX a spacecraft manufacturer founded by entrepreneur Elon Musklaunched one of its Falcon 9 rockets from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket had a mission: Deploy 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit.

Photos and videos of the luminescence began appearing on East Texas social media pages around dusk Sunday, generating discussion. Like Hank Williams hit country song I Saw the Light, droves of social media users commented on those posts, testifying that theyd seen it, too.

On Sunday, Longview resident David Salazar took a video of the luminous object by using his phone, and his wife posted it to a Longview community Facebook page.

"I thought, 'Whoa, what's that?'" Salazar said. "Immediately after, I saw the 'boom.' It shot towards the right and then slingshot back to the left quickly. Then it faded into a poof of smoke."

Some quickly attributed the light to the SpaceX launch. Others had their doubts: Most videos showed the light moving from west to east which, at first, didn't seem possible for a rocket launched from Florida.

File explained that the Falcon 9 rocket loops around the globe or circumnavigates, scientifically speaking before its payload is deployed. By dusk, the rocket already had been all the way around the globe, which explains why it was moving from west to east over Texas, as shown in videos on social media, he said.

On its website, SpaceX posts videos that show the flight paths its rockets will take around the Earth.

The flight path shows from [Sundays] launch, in particular after its reached around the globe, it goes right over Texas, File said.

Of note is that SpaceX has a facility in far South Texas near Boca Chica Beach and has launched rockets from there.

So, which specific part of the rocket were East Texans likely seeing Sunday night?

The second stage, File said. To understand that, heres a quick rundown of the Falcon 9.

The Falcon 9 named after the famed Millennium Falcon from Star Wars is a two-stage rocket, according to SpaceX.

The first stage of the rocket gives it more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust for liftoff. That stage falls away from the rest of the rocket and lands at a specific location, where it can be captured and reused. The first stage used Sunday had powered 16 previous missions, according to SpaceX. It landed on a ship about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, news website http://www.space.com reported.

In between the first stage and the second stage is the interstage, which allows the two stages to separate during flight. It falls away from the second stage.

The second stage, or upper stage, gives the payload its final push into desired orbit, according to SpaceX. The payload in this case, a collection of satellites is stored above this section in the fairing, a shell that houses the satellites on their way into space and opens to release them.

Satellites were deployed about 65.5 minutes after liftoff, space.com reported. SpaceX works to recover some parts of the fairing that can be reused.

The same cant be said, though, for the second stage, which burns up as it reenters Earths atmosphere, according to reporting by news website http://www.cnet.com.

Depending upon the time at which some social media users captured their videos, they may have captured the payload stages deorbit burn on its way to Earth rather than one of its trips before sending its satellites into space, File said.

In one of the videos I saw, there was not like a flash around it, but almost like a halo, cloud-ish, around it, File said. And that could just be a remnant of it heating up as its reentering thicker atmosphere.

Re-entry burn-up may be one reason why some folks said they saw the object disappear, File said.

Another one could be just from the location of the sun relative to that object in the sky, File said. Once that object thats up in the air goes into the shadow of the Earth, then the sun will no longer reflect off of it, and it effectively disappears.

File gave this illustration: Anybody who goes out late in the evening after sunset before like midnight or something you can often see a satellite up in the sky that looks like a plane, but its not blinking. Itll look like a plane just moving, but youll only see it for a certain time, and then it just disappears. And thats simply you see the sunlight reflected off of that until a certain point at which you can no longer see the sun reflecting off of it.

The Sunday rocket mission launched the Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, which is the area in Earth orbit near enough to Earth for convenient transportation, communication, observation, and resupply, according to NASA. This is the area where the International Space Station currently orbits and where many proposed future platforms will be located.

Starlink satellites are another one of Musks business ventures. Starlink is a satellite internet provider with a goal of making high-speed internet service, also called broadband, available almost anywhere on Earth, according to the companys website. Some people in East Texas are using the service, as broadband isnt available in some parts of the region.

Starlink satellites are known for emitting their own unique light that has caused social media stirs. Joined together, they comprise illuminated satellite constellations, appearing as if theyre a train of lights passing through the sky.

People can find out when a Starlink constellation will be passing over where they live by visiting the website http://www.findstarlink.com, which provides approximate time and location information for viewing.

The constellations are really impressive to see, File said.

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Glow-in-the-dark mystery: Understanding the SpaceX rocket's trip over East Texas - Longview News-Journal