Space News thread

[Molle]

Americans need to forget about politics sometimes, and view the bigger picture (the world and humanity's future)

They are very good at caring for others than themselves, aren't they?

[misskit]

Thailand to collaborate with NASA to survey outer space

Thailand is collaborating with the USA’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to promote peaceful exploration of space.


Under the Artemis Accords, non-binding multilateral arrangements that elaborate on the norms expected to be followed in outer space which Thailand signed on December 16, the partnership seeks to advance scientific knowledge for public benefit and ensure the responsible and sustainable use of space resources for the betterment of humanity.


The Artemis Accords, initiated by NASA in October 2020, extend existing space treaties in alignment with the Artemis program, which aims to send humans back to the Moon. Thailand is the 51st country to sign this agreement.


Thailand is the first country to sign up for participation in both the Artemis Accords and China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

Pakorn emphasised that joining the Artemis Accords presents opportunities for Thai institutions and businesses to participate in space exploration, as well as research and technological development, ultimately developing the nation's space-related workforce.


Importantly, it enables the Thai government to leverage these agreements to strengthen the country's space capabilities as the global space race intensifies.

Thailand to collaborate with NASA to survey outer space

[misskit]

NASA spacecraft touches Sun’s atmosphere, breaking record

The concept of touching the Sun can be traced back to the ancient Greek myth of Icarus, but scientists at NASA have turned that idea into a reality. On Dec. 24th, their Parker Solar Probe managed to travel to just within 3.86 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) of the Sun’s surface, a new record. The probe, which is roughly the size of a small car, has now become the human-made object to come closest to touching the Sun among everything our species has created.

“Moving at up to 430,000 miles per hour (692,017 km per hour), the spacecraft endures temperatures up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit (982 degrees Celsius) as it flies through the tenuous outer atmosphere of the Sun called the corona to help scientists better understand our closest star,” the scientists write on their website. If the probe were to travel on Earth at that same velocity, it could move from Los Angeles to New York City in only 20 seconds.


Overall, this is the 22nd time the Parker Solar Probe has made a close approach to the Sun. According to the program director, Arik Posner, the solar explorations are part of NASA’s broader ambition to reach new frontiers in space exploration.


“This is one example of NASA’s bold missions, doing something that no one else has ever done before to answer longstanding questions about our universe,” Arik told Earth.com. Because the probe is currently very close to the Sun, scientists are not able to communicate with it, but they hope to receive a beacon tone on Dec. 27th to confirm the probe has survived.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/science/as...rd/ar-AA1wrBIz

[Simon43]

The ISS is doing a special event over Xmas and the New Year period, transmitting images to celebrate the season. As usual, I will see if I can manage to receive an image or two, and receive the special certificate that is awarded to all who succeed This time, it will need me to point my erection out of my hotel window (my antenna erection I mean...)

[Takeovers]

Blue Origin has done a static fire of their New Glenn rocket. They have also received the launch license from the FAA. Expected NET launch date is January 6, 2025.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Completes Integrated Launch Vehicle Hotfire


New Glenn successfully completed an integrated launch vehicle hotfire test today, the final major milestone on our road to first flight. NG-1 will carry a Blue Ring Pathfinder as its first manifested payload and will launch from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, FL.


The seven-engine hotfire lasted 24 seconds and marked the first time we operated the entire flight vehicle as an integrated system. The multi-day test campaign leading up to the hotfire included numerous inert functional and tanking tests. The integrated launch vehicle included the first and second stages of the NG-1 flight vehicle, and a payload test article comprised of manufacturing test demonstrator fairings, a high-capacity fixed adapter flight unit, and a 45,000 lb payload mass simulator.


One of the primary goals of the test campaign was to demonstrate day-of-launch operations in our NG-1 test configuration. Additionally, the team conducted several tests to validate vehicle and ground systems in the fully integrated, on-pad configuration. This data will be utilized to finalize day-of-launch timelines, confirm expected performance, and correlate our models to real-world test data.


“This is a monumental milestone and a glimpse of what’s just around the corner for New Glenn’s first launch,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. “Today’s success proves that our rigorous approach to testing–combined with our incredible tooling and design engineering–is working as intended.”


The tanking test included a full run-through of the terminal count sequence, testing the hand-off authority to and from the flight computer, and collecting fluid validation data. The first stage (GS1) tanks were filled and pressed with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX), and the second stage (GS2) with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen–both to representative NG-1 set points.


The formal NG-1 Wet Dress Rehearsal demonstrated the final launch procedures leading into the hotfire engine run. All seven engines performed nominally, firing for 24 seconds, including at 100% thrust for 13 seconds. The test also demonstrated New Glenn’s autogenous pressurization system, which self-generates gases to pressurize GS1’s propellant tanks.


This test campaign captured a number of firsts for the New Glenn launch system, including the first seven-engine operations, the first integrated GS1-GS2 tanking demonstration, the first LNG/LOX fill for GS1, as well as first chilled helium operations for GS2.


The campaign met all objectives and marks the final major test prior to launch.


Blue Origin has several New Glenn vehicles in production and a full customer manifest. Customers include NASA, Amazon's Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, several telecommunications providers, and a mix of U.S. government customers. Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the U.S. Space Force for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program to meet emerging national security objectives.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Completes Integrated Launch Vehicle Hotfire | Blue Origin

[Takeovers]

New Glenn is designed to be a competitor to the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. It has a reusable first stage, that will land on a drone ship similar to what SpaceX is doing.

The launch capacity to LowEarthOrbit, LEO, is higher than F9 and the payload fairing is much larger. A good fit for the planned Amazon Kuiper internet constellation. New Glenn is also intended to be the launch vehicle for the Blue Origin HumanLandingSystem (HLS) which is contracted by NASA to fly on their Artemis 5 mission, after SpaceX HLS missions to the Moon on Artemis 3 and 4.

New Glenn is probaby quite a bit more expensive than Falcon. Falcon prices presently include a huge profit margin. Their cost per launch is very low. With a low profit margin New Glenn will be competetive in price for some missions, especially missions that utilize the full payload capacity, like Kuiper launches will do. But the large majority of launches does not need the large LEO payload capacity. The huge fairing is also quite expensive. My guess is that New Glenn will not force SpaceX to reduce their launch prices and profit margin for quite a while.

[misskit]

SpaceX launches cause late-night booms that rattle windows, set off car alarms, and may damage property. Some locals are pushing back.

On December 28, at 5:58 p.m., a loud boom erupted from the dusk sky, stemming from Vandenberg Space Force Base, more than 70 miles away from the sleepy beach town of Carpinteria, California.


The sound, measuring 86 decibels on a home monitor — comparable to a chamber orchestra playing in a small auditorium, according to a scale published by Yale University — was preceded by a low rumbling that rattled windows and started a chorus of neighborhood dogs barking into the evening.


SpaceX rocket launches from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, some taking place between midnight and 5 a.m., have also triggered car alarms, loosened light fixtures, and knocked books and framed photos from the shelves inside homes, residents of Santa Barbara County, California, told Business Insider.


In the quiet city of Lompoc, less than 10 miles from the base, the sonic booms can feel like an earthquake, some residents said.


In 2024, Elon Musk's SpaceX conducted 50 launches from Vandenberg, a spokesperson for the base told BI. In 2025, the company aims to double that number to 100 rockets, according to a statement by The Department of the Air Force.

The base offers an opt-in alert system allowing users to be notified via text of upcoming launches.


Still, some locals are pushing back.


Loud, disruptive launches


Business Insider spoke with 10 residents of communities near the Vandenberg Space Force Base whose reactions to the launches ranged from fascination to full-blown outrage at the thundering noise and rattling.


"These launches, especially at night, when everyone is asleep, are particularly disruptive," Montecito resident Aimee Klaus told BI. "I'm in an older California bungalow, and things rattle and shake quite substantially."


Each launch sets off a flurry of social media activity in which people express their excitement, anger, and hopelessness about the disruptions and potential environmental impacts.


Locals told BI the base's opt-in alert system is largely ineffective in warning of disruption, because the intensity of the sonic booms changes based on atmospheric conditions, there are sometimes delays not accounted for by the alerts, and some launches take place in the middle of the night — making them disruptive even if you know they're coming.


"I have major panic attacks during the launches," Inga Yater, a resident of Carpinteria, told BI. "And it keeps getting worse; sometimes I feel like I'm having a heart attack."


Yater and other residents also worry the launches might damage the fragile coastal ecosystems nearby.


More than 1,300 people have signed a virtual petition created by Ojai resident Christopher Cantu calling for the suspension of SpaceX launches from Vandenberg pending an environmental impact report.


For his part, Cantu said he's particularly troubled by SpaceX's launches from its Starbase in Texas, where reports indicate the launches have harmed protected habitats, and worries the same damage could occur on the Central Coast he has called home his whole life.


On December 13, the Department of the Air Force announced it would prepare an environmental impact statement for SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base to evaluate the potential impact of expanding Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches and landings. The final statement and any potential alternative plans are set to be published by the fall of 2025 at the earliest.


"All launches have the potential to generate sonic booms; however, their audibility to the public is influenced by several factors, including the launch trajectory, the size of the rocket, and atmospheric conditions," a spokesperson for the Vandenberg Space Force Base told BI.


The base has partnered with Kent Gee, a physics professor and acoustics engineer from Brigham Young University, to study the conditions and improve prediction accuracy. However, the spokesperson added that the studies have not yet been completed or their results publicly released.


Representatives for SpaceX and the California Coastal Commission did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.


SpaceX plans for more launches


SpaceX launches take place at four facilities across the country: Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and Starbase, the Brownsville, Texas launch site. Residents of each community have expressed similar concerns about the noise and rattling in social media posts and news reports.


In 2024, SpaceX conducted 45 Falcon 9 launches, one Firefly Alpha launch, one Minotaur IV launch, and three Minuteman III test launches from Vandenberg.


In 2025, according to a statement by The Department of the Air Force, the company hopes to expand the types of launches to include its Falcon Heavy rockets, which the company says are larger than the Falcon 9 models and generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff — equal to about 18 747 aircraft.


A spokesperson for the base told BI that up to 50 Falcon 9 launches have already been approved for Vandenberg in 2025. However, they said Falcon Heavy launches will not proceed until the forthcoming environmental impact statement has been reviewed and accepted by the Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment, and Energy.


SpaceX also aims to eventually phase out its Falcon-series rockets and replace them with launches of its Starship vessels, The Los Angeles Times reported in March.


At over 30 stories high, Starships are the tallest vehicles ever to fly and create even louder sonic booms during takeoff than the Falcon-series rockets. BI previously reported the Starship launches, which have flown six test flights from the Starbase launch site so far, are akin to a volcanic eruption on the launchpad.


In November, Gee published comprehensive data about the acoustics of Starship launches in Texas.


Gee told BI the sonic booms from Starship launches are so loud — equal to standing 200 feet from a Boeing 747 during takeoff, by his measurements — that there's an "increased risk" of causing structural damage to the properties near the launch pads.


"And that's not to say it's inevitable," Gee said, "but we're getting into that range where the risk isn't negligible."


A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration told BI that the agency requires SpaceX to maintain insurance in the event of claims of structural damage resulting from the flight of its vehicles. Property owners would contact SpaceX to submit claims and evidence in support of any damage claim, the spokesperson said.


Gee is also studying SpaceX launches from Vandenberg, which he said can likely be felt by a broader radius of people than the launches in Florida or Texas, given the California base's proximity to more populated areas.


A spokesperson for Vandenberg said the base is "not currently planning for Starship launches" from the west coast spaceport.


The results of Gee's study at Vandenberg are not yet available. Gee said the researchers studying the impact "don't really have enough data to understand what's going on," given that the booms from each launch change based on the meteorological conditions and weather patterns.


"It took decades of people's experiences with airports and their noise impacts for engineers to learn how to quiet aircraft," Gee said. "We're just starting here and it will be an evolving situation for many years to come."

MSN

[Edmond]

Oh no, we get to experience historic space rocket launches from our homes.


Stick a dozen Thai Hilux's blaring Thai advertisements through loudspeakers while rolling around their town at 3kph for a few days and see how they feel.

[misskit]

It was surprising to me that people around Cape Canaveral and Kennedy were complaining. In the past, the rocket launches were a great source of pride. SpaceX must be making a lot more noise than the rockets before them.

[Molle]

It was surprising to me that people around Cape Canaveral and Kennedy were complaining. In the past, the rocket launches were a great source of pride. SpaceX must be making a lot more noise than the rockets before them.

I don't think it has so much to do with noisier rockets, it is more likely related to the number of launches. In the past they were few and they were all space explorative. It was rocket science and the launches were a competitive race in space against USSR, so yes it created pride.
Today most of the launches are commercial, Elon shooting up his Starlink sattelites, what national pride does that create?

[Simon43]

My interest in receiving satellite signals has been somewhat frustrated here in Mandalay (Myanmar). Although I can continue to receive images in the 135-145 MHz band, such as from the ISS (See latest Xmas image below) and weather satellites (see Russian Meteor image recently received), I can no longer receive telemetry data from the many satellites operating in the 400-440 MHz frequency range. Why? Because the lousy Burmese military jam that range, blocking out reception of signals. Bastards!

[Salsa dancer]

Scientists Observed A Star Exploding In Real-time For The First Time Ever

Scientists Observed A Star Exploding In Real-time For The First Time Ever

[Takeovers]

Blue Origin New Glenn is prepared to launch today, Going to be the first orbital launch of this vehicle and of Blue Origin. We are inside the launch window. About 35 minutes to launch. Landing on a drone ship is intended, but main mission goal is getting orbital.

- YouTube New Glenn live stream

NSF forum live stream

[Takeovers]

New Glenn launch scubbed. Working on some issues with the rocket. This is not unusual for a new rocket. New attempt date not known yet. Probably NET 2 days from now.

[bsnub]

SpaceX launches cause late-night booms that rattle windows, set off car alarms, and may damage property.

Ahh the days of living in Germany during the Cold War. Sonic booms were a regular occurrence and no one ever bitched about it. We all knew that the jets were responding to a common enemy. Sadly, ruzzian propaganda has spread like wildfire through western nations.

[Takeovers]

After a few attempts Blue Origins New Glenn launched successful during Florida night. Great success for a first launch of a heavy lift rocket. Well deserved congratulations all over.

The landing attempt of the booster on a drone ship failed. We don't have details on that yet. Blue Origin had declared their goal as reaching orbit. Landing would have been bonus points.



SpaceX has their engineers commenting launches. Blue has a media professional instead. This resulted in a funny slip. She probably intended to say fists were bumped. But instead she said "bumps were fisted".

[misskit]

Regulators are investigating reports of property damage from SpaceX Starship’s explosion

US regulators and government officials in Turks and Caicos are looking into reports of property damage in the island nation caused by debris falling after a SpaceX Starship vehicle exploded over the ocean during a test mission Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.


Flights of the spacecraft and rocket system are now grounded pending an investigation into the mishap, the agency confirmed in a Friday statement. The FAA and Turks and Caicos officials both said Friday there were no reported injuries.

Authorities routinely halt flights of rockets to carry out what is referred to as a “mishap investigation” when launches and flights do not go according to plan.


SpaceX will lead the investigation, as the company confirmed yesterday. The FAA will then issue a list of corrective actions the company needs to take in order to get Starship back on the launchpad for another test flight.


The SpaceX vehicle disintegrated partway through the seventh uncrewed test flight of the rocket system — about 10 minutes into a mission that launched out of South Texas.


A shower of debris prompted the FAA to briefly create a “Debris Response Area” that forced planes to reroute, causing a string of travel delays.

In an advisory issued Friday, the Turks and Caicos National Security Secretariat also said the “Turks and Caicos Islands Airport Authority diverted all flights in (Turks and Caicos Islands) airspace as well as grounded all flights until an all clear had been given.”


The FAA implements a “Debris Response Area” only when debris from a rocket mishap falls outside of predefined hazard areas that are closed to aircraft, according to the agency. However, SpaceX asserted in a Thursday statement that “surviving pieces of debris would have fallen into the designated hazard area.” (Initially, the statement described debris as falling “into the Atlantic Ocean” — but the language was amended by Friday afternoon to remove that phrase.)


When asked to clarify what constituted a “hazard area” and which locations were closed to air traffic during launch, the FAA said that its “investigation is ongoing” and “information is preliminary and subject to change.” The agency added that the amount of airspace closed for rocket launches can vary from launch to launch depending on a variety of factors, including the safety record of the launch vehicle.


After Starship exploded Thursday, photos and videos flooded social media, showing debris that glowed bright orange and white as it streaked across the sky. Much of the footage was captured from Turks and Caicos or cruise ships and other islands in the surrounding area.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told CNN his analysis of Starship’s trajectory showed that the vehicle likely exploded “over Bahamas, (with) debris passing over Turks and Caicos a couple minutes later at ~120 km altitude (~75 miles).”


The FAA said in its statement Friday that the agency is working alongside SpaceX and local authorities to investigate reports of debris striking Turks and Caicos.


In its advisory, the Turks and Caicos government said it convened a meeting of officials on Friday “with relevant partners in the United Kingdom including the UK Space Agency, who are supporting the post incident response, including technical expertise on the handling of debris, health and safety risks, protocols and procedures.” The government also acknowledged the “active investigation” from the FAA.


SpaceX and Turks and Caicos authorities are urging members of the public who may find a piece of debris not to handle the object, but to contact local authorities or the company. The local government shared the following email address for reports: [email protected].


Sonic booms and reported damage


Turks and Caicos authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment about how many damage reports have been received.

Some unverified social media reports have shown physical debris on the island. But Dr. Benjamin Fernando, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Earth and planetary sciences at Johns Hopkins who studies seismology, told CNN that it’s also possible that loud sonic booms created by the falling pieces of Starship fragments could have caused minor damage.


“This event was over one of the most populated areas in the Caribbean, with one of the largest things we’ve ever seen re-enter the atmosphere,” Fernando said. “So if (sonic boom property damage) is going to happen, it’ll be an event like this that does cause it.”


Fernando said he analyzed data collected by existing seismic stations in the Turks and Caicos Islands — and he found the instruments recorded an event consistent with a sonic boom at the time the Starship exploded.


The ground velocity of the event was “about 10 micrometers per second” — which is an event equivalent to standing near a road and feeling a truck drive by.


“They’re not huge,” Fernando said. “But you’ll still feel and notice them. So this isn’t the sort of thing that you need to be worried about, that it’s going to collapse your house — but (it) can cause damage to things like windows, roofing tiles, etc.”


Pilots react to debris


Matt Morley, a 39-year-old charter pilot who works for Minnesota-based Club Jet, was flying a business jet from the Chicago Midway International Airport bound for Turks and Caicos when he caught sight of the spacecraft debris falling in the sky.


Morley told CNN he initially thought it was a meteor shower, which he reported to an air traffic controller over the radio. But the air traffic controller clarified that it was a rocket, according to Morley.


“Then my next thought was, ‘Oh man I hope there was no one on that,’” Morley said.


Morley said he had to divert his plane to Exuma International Airport in the Bahamas after the airspace was shut down.


He added that the flight he was piloting had taken off 15 minutes late. “Had our flight left on time (the debris) would have been much closer,” Morley said.


There were two commercial aircraft in front of Morley’s plane that had to declare fuel emergencies and divert safely to Exuma International Airport, he added.


“I’m glad we took extra fuel,” Morley said. “It gave us lots of options and I had a really good second in command with me who made my job easier calculating our fuel reserves and finding a suitable alternate.”


Morley described this encounter as “not too stressful, just crazy to witness.”


You can hear more from pilots captured on air traffic control audio here.


A fiery mishap


SpaceX has been aggressively pursuing a test and development campaign since 2023 in an effort to hash out the design of its Starship launch system, which consists of two parts: The Super Heavy rocket booster, which gives the initial burst of power at liftoff and the Starship spacecraft that rides atop it.


SpaceX recovered the Super Heavy booster after launch on Thursday — guiding it to a precision landing back at the launchpad. After separating from Super Heavy a few minutes into flight, the Starship spacecraft fires up its own engines and continues its own journey — one that, this time, it did not survive.


SpaceX is known to embrace fiery mishaps during test flights, as the company favors launching relatively cheap prototypes to learn quickly rather than relying on extensive ground testing and simulations.


Eventually, SpaceX aims to send Starship to orbit to drop off satellites or carry convoys of people to the moon or Mars. But on Thursday’s test flight, the vehicle was slated to travel a suborbital trajectory and splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour after launch — following a path similar to those it has taken on the last several demonstration missions.

Starship has attempted controlled landings in the Indian Ocean on the last several flights. But on Thursday, SpaceX said it was testing substantial “upgrades” to the vehicle that included larger fuel tanks that stretched its size by 2 meters (6.6 feet), a new flight computer and changes to the vehicle’s avionics.


For the first several minutes, the mission appeared to be going smoothly, as Starship fired up its six engines after separating from Super Heavy. About five minutes later, however, one of Starship’s engines flamed out.


By the 8 minute, 30 second mark — five of the six engines were offline. SpaceX’s Dan Huot and Kate Tice, who hosted a webcast of the test flight, confirmed about 10 minutes later that the Starship spacecraft was lost.


Starship’s future


It’s not clear whether the mishap investigation will force significant delays for Starship testing.


Explosive accidents during Starship test flights have occurred in the past, particularly early in the test campaign. But most of the “rapid unscheduled disassemblies” — as SpaceX calls the explosive accidents — have occurred closer to launch or designated landing sites. Those mishaps have also prompted investigations that left Starship grounded for weeks.


Notably, the explosion that occurred Thursday happened less than midway through Starship’s flight path over an area that is speckled with populated islands.


FAA-related delays with Starship have frequently drawn SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s ire.


Musk appeared to signal on Thursday that he did not anticipate significant delays, despite the Starship loss. He said in one social media post that, based on a “preliminary” look at the problem, “Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month.”


Early analysis “indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” SpaceX said in a statement.


It’s unclear how Musk’s role in the incoming presidential administration may affect oversight of SpaceX.


Musk was also tapped by President-elect Donald Trump to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency,” and his stated goals are to downsize the federal budget and operations by slashing spending, curbing regulations and cutting the workforce.


Trump’s inauguration takes place Monday. Musk is expected to be in attendance.

Regulators are investigating reports of property damage from SpaceX Starship’s explosion