The Ninth Starship Test Launch Had a Few Problems

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Side-by-side illustrations of the SpaceX Starship lunar lander and the Blue Origin Blue Moon lunar lander. (SpaceX/Blue Origin)

Elon Musk may be in a rush to get to Mars, if only to escape all of the chaos he is causing here on Earth, but he is going nowhere fast with his Starship. Today’s ninth test launch of the rocket ended with the explosion of its first-stage booster as well as the rocket itself during re-entry. While this is better than the last two launches, it still demonstrates that the rocket has a ways to go before it can be used for Moon missions, leaving aside any talk about Mars.

SpaceX loves to play with language (particularly when regulators are around), so it called this a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” once again. That said, the humor is getting thin.

Mr. Musk said he is back to his jobs at Tesla and SpaceX, so let’s hope he can get a handle on this rocket. I don’t really care about the cars – Tesla has already been superseded by other car companies – but SpaceX is important to the US space industry.

It is also time for Mr. Musk to stop over-promising on everything (though I am glad he was dead wrong about DOGE savings). The focus needs to be the Moon. Forget Mars for now.

By the way, DOGE has also done damage to future Mars missions by cutting funding and staffing at the Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Center would be critical to finding a safe landing site on Mars for one of Musk’s rockets.

You don’t poke out your eyes and then hope to make progress, but that is what is happening these days.

Note: It seems the term “rapid unscheduled disassembly” precedes Mr. Musk, as this link explains.

Upcoming International Space Development Conference

Posted on by onespaceman2000

You may not like the idea of spending any part of the summer in hot and humid Florida, but the National Space Society has a good reason for you to go anyway. It is holding its 43rd annual International Space Development Conference from June 19 to 22 in Orlando, Florida.

Some of the guests during the week include Jared Isaacman, the future Administrator of NASA, as well as space experts and numerous current, former, and retired astronauts.

The various sessions, panels, and workshops will cover topics such as:

  • Moon and Mars exploration and settlement,
  • Deep space exploration,
  • Innovative technology,
  • Science fiction’s influence on the technology and commercialization of space,
  • Planetary defense,
  • Living in space,
  • Space solar power,
  • Space debris, and
  • Space law and policy.

For instance, on Thursday you can attend four related lectures in a session titled “Interplanetary Infrastructure“. Here is what the session will cover:

Infrastructure is the backbone of civilization. A multi-planetary civilization needs interplanetary infrastructure to support its expansion, facilitate trade, and keep its citizens and their societies connected. The Interplanetary Infrastructure session considers whether investments in infrastructure, especially two-way transportation infrastructure, can address some of the most pressing problems associated with humanity’s initial efforts to expand into the solar system. Historically, infrastructure has facilitated human expansion. It increased accessibility and reduced the personal sacrifices that adventurous settlers and their families had to make. Infrastructure projects tend to be somewhat conservative in nature. They generally use technologies and materials that have been applied in other industries and that are already well-understood and well-characterized by engineers. Successful infrastructure projects are economically viable because their long-term benefit to society exceeds their upfront cost, even when the upfront cost is significant. The speakers presenting concepts in this session adhere to these fundamental principles and can demonstrate that their proposals do indeed pencil out.

Take a look at the program and decide for yourself if you can handle the heat while learning more about future space adventures.

Podcast: Terra-forming Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Cool Worlds

I recommend you check out the recent episode from the Cool Worlds Podcast about the water and atmosphere on Mars and how it has changed and may change again, with and without the intervention of humans. The episode, “Edwin Kite – Early Mars, Terraforming/Settling Mars,” is a discussion between podcast host David Kipping and Edwin Kite, Professor of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago as well as Participating Scientist for the NASA Curiosity Rover.

The discussion gets into where Martian water may be today, what terra-forming efforts have been discusses in the past, the terra-forming possibilities in the future, and whether Mars should be seen as a second Earth. Oh yeah, it also discusses Elon Musk’s crazy idea to nuke the surface of Mars and even touches on the idea of a Planet 9.

It’s a fascinating discussion that is worth your time.

Space Stories: New Bacterial Species at NASA, Geologic Life on Venus, and Water Found in Distant Solar System

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Venus captured by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—SciTechDaily: “NASA Just Found New Signs of Life Inside Venus – Geologic Life, That Is“

Vast, circular features on the surface of Venus may be signs that the planet is still geologically active. That’s according to new research based on data collected over 30 years ago by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft. Unlike Earth, where giant plates of crust shift and recycle through a process called plate tectonics, Venus doesn’t have these moving plates. But its surface is still being reshaped—likely by molten rock rising from deep within the planet.

—USAToday: “NASA ‘Cleanrooms’ Found Crawling with 26 New Bacterial Species“

 A new study reports 26 new bacterial species were found growing inside cleanrooms associated with NASA space missions. Specifically, scientists looked in the cleanrooms used to prepare the Phoenix Mars lander for its launch in August 2007. In the study, scientists analyzed microorganisms growing in the NASA cleanrooms and discovered many of the new species had genes that made them resilient to decontamination and radiation.

—NASA: “Another First: NASA Webb Identifies Frozen Water in Young Star System“

Is frozen water scattered in systems around other stars? Astronomers have long expected it is, partially based on previous detections of its gaseous form, water vapor, and its presence in our own solar system. Now there is definitive evidence: Researchers confirmed the presence of crystalline water ice in a dusty debris disk that orbits a Sun-like star 155 light-years away using detailed data known as spectra from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. (The term water ice specifies its makeup, since many other frozen molecules are also observed in space, such as carbon dioxide ice, or “dry ice.”)

NASA Advisory Groups Share Concerns About Budget Cuts

Posted on by onespaceman2000

NASA Watch published a letter from representatives of the agency’s advisory groups, including:

The letter highlights the importance of science initiatives at NASA at a time when drastic budget cuts are being considered, and quotes Carl Sagan:

Cutting off fundamental, curiosity-driven science is like eating the seed corn. We may have a little more to eat next winter but what will we plant so we and our children will have enough to get through the winters to come?

It’s a much needed yet bold approach at this time when the White House is eliminating all opposition to its wild cuts and erratic attack on diversity. The White House is actively shutting down advisory committees through the federal government, including NASA.

We can only hope the public listens to the wiser voices from these advisory committees. Someday all of this will need to be rebuilt, including our space program, but for now we need to save as much as we can from random cuts from parties that do not seem to understand the important role of science in our economy and our future.