SpaceX Rockets: The Good and Bad News

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on August 31, 2024. (SpaceX)

First the good news. SpaceX is able to launch its Falcon 9 rockets following a booster issue last week. That led to the immediate launch yesterday of two back-to-back launches of Starlink satellites.

Now the bad news. Russian scientists have reported that SpaceX’s second launch of its Starship rocket last November created a hole in the ionosphere. Specifically, an exploding engine generated the shock wave that created this hole. The scientists claim this is the first time a “human-caused explosion” has had this impact on the ionosphere.

This is the “plain language summary” from the Russian study:

On 18 November 2023, SpaceX launched the Starship, the tallest and the most powerful rocket ever built. About 2 min and 40 s after the liftoff, the Super Heavy engine separated from the Starship spacecraft and exploded at an altitude of 90 km. The main core Starship continued to rise to 149 km and exploded as well. The rocket launch and explosion produced an unexpected response in the ionosphere—the ionized part of the Earth’s atmosphere. The Starship flew at a velocity, exceeding the local sound speed, and generated cone-like atmospheric shock-acoustic waves. Most unexpectedly, the observed disturbances represented long and intensive multi-oscillation wave structures that propagated northward, which is unusual for disturbances driven by a rocket launch. The Starship explosion also generated a large-amplitude total electron content depletion that could have been reinforced by the impact of the spacecraft’s fuel exhaust in the lower atmosphere. This study appears to be the first-time detection of a non-chemical ionospheric hole produced by a man-made explosion.

I like the fact that Russian’s can share results in plain language. However, it is a little disturbing that we needed the Russians to fill us in on the destructive impact of the Starship rockets. Nature noted that “Ionospheric disturbances can affect not only satellite navigation but also communications and radio astronomy.”

We have seen the mess that the rockets can leave on the ground, but this is something else. We need to understand the impact of such launches and related issues if this is to become the new way of doing things. The FAA and NASA should be looking into this matter.

Progress MS-28/89 Spacecraft Docks with the ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Progress MS-28 cargo spacecraft approaches the ISS on Saturday, August 17, 2024. (NASA)

The Progress MS-28 (or Progress 89 per NASA) spacecraft successfully attached itself to the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday so that three tons of supplies could be unloaded.

As with previous resupply spacecraft, it will remain attached to the station for the next six months before being ejected back towards Earth where it will burn up in the atmosphere.

Pic of the Week: Russian Launch to Resupply the ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The launch earlier today of the Progress MS-28 cargo spacecraft to the ISS. (TASS Russian News Agency)

This week’s image is from earlier today when the Russian’s successfully launched its Progress MS-28 cargo spacecraft via a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station (ISS). The resupply mission was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome located in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft will rendezvous with the ISS on Saturday.

Note: NASA identifies the mission as Progress 89.

Travel to the ISS May be Limited to the Russians

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): A Russian Soyuz spacecraft outside the ISS. (NASA)

Well, the U.S. now has one space company with its manned spacecraft stranded at the International Space Station (ISS) while a second space company responsible for manned flights to the ISS has been grounded following a rocket mishap.

That’s right, while the Boeing Starliner awaits word on when it can return to Earth after it maiden flight, SpaceX just suffered a Falcon 9 rocket launch failure related to its Starlink program.

So where does this leave the ISS? Dependent on the Russians for manned flights to the ISS until the SpaceX problem can be investigated. Of course, SpaceX was also one solution for returning the Boeing crew to Earth if the Starliner problem could not be timely resolved. So much for that at the moment.

Both the Boeing and SpaceX issues could be resolved in the next few weeks, but this shows how quickly the situation can change on the ground and in space. While the Russians have certainly had their own issues with the Soyuz spacecraft as well, at least the men and women on the station have one option available to them.

Let’s hope Boeing gets its act together and the SpaceX mishap can be resolved quickly.

Space Stories: Fewer Eyes on Asteroids, Volunteer Martians Released, and Russians Plans for a New Space Station

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NEOWISE space telescope. (NASA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Flying Magazine: “NASA’s Asteroid, Comet Hunting Telescope Set to Retire at End of Month“

A NASA space telescope designed to “hunt” asteroids and comets that could pose a threat to life on Earth and orbiting spacecraft will soon burn up in orbit. In late 2024 or early 2025, the agency’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer—or NEOWISE—is expected to come home in pieces following the conclusion of its second mission later this month…However, NASA has a replacement lined up: the Near Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor), set for a 2027 launch. The infrared space telescope is the first to be designed specifically for hunting large numbers of NEOs in and around Earth orbit. It has a baseline development cost of $1.2 billion to which NASA committed in 2022.

—NPR: “Volunteers Who Lived in a NASA-created Mars Replica for Over a Year Have Emerged“

Four volunteers who spent more than a year living in a 1,700-square-foot space created by NASA to simulate the environment on Mars have emerged. The members of the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog mission — or CHAPEA — walked through the door of their habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday to a round of applause…Haston and the other three crew members — Anca Selariu, Ross Brockwell and Nathan Jones — entered the 3D-printed Mars replica on June 25, 2023, as part of a NASA experiment to observe how humans would fare living on the Red Planet.

—Reuters: “Russia Plans to Create Core of New Space Station by 2030“

Russia is aiming to create the four-module core of its planned new orbital space station by 2030, its Roscosmos space agency said on Tuesday. The head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, signed off on the timetable with the directors of 19 enterprises involved in creating the new station. The agency confirmed plans to launch an initial scientific and energy module in 2027. It said three more modules would be added by 2030 and a further two between 2031 and 2033.