Amazon’s Project Kuiper is Underway

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Launch of the Amazon Project Kuiper prototypes from Cape Canaveral. (Amazon)

If you were worried about satellite traffic and its impact on astronomy, then you have one more thing to worry about. Yesterday, two prototype satellites were launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. They are part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which may lead to 3,200 additional satellites orbiting the Earth.

So what is Project Kuiper? Amazon explains it this way:

Project Kuiper is an initiative to increase global broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Its mission is to bring fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.

Sounds a lot like SpaceX’s Starlink, doesn’t it? And plenty more similar projects are being planned by the Chinese and others.

It does make you wonder whether there is a better way. I understand the nationals security complications with satellites, but thousands upon thousands of satellites circling the Earth to provide similar Internet services to customers sounds wasteful, dangerous, and bothersome to astronomy. I liked it better when the wires were running under the seas or underground. This new approach will be a mess.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report last year highlighting some of the risks and mitigation ideas:

  • Increase in orbital debris. Debris in space can damage or destroy satellites, affecting commercial services, scientific observation, and national security. Better characterizing debris, increasing adherence to operational guidelines, and removing debris are among the possible mitigations, but achieving these is challenging.
  • Emissions into the upper atmosphere. Rocket launches and satellite reentries produce particles and gases that can affect atmospheric temperatures and deplete the ozone layer. Limiting use of rocket engines that produce certain harmful emissions could mitigate the effects. However, the size and significance of these effects are poorly understood due to a lack of observational data, and it is not yet clear if mitigation is warranted.
  • Disruption of astronomy. Satellites can reflect sunlight and transmit radio signals that obstruct observations of natural phenomena. Satellite operators and astronomers are beginning to explore ways of mitigating these effects with technologies to darken satellites, and with tools to help astronomers avoid or filter out light reflections or radio transmissions. However, the efficacy of these techniques remains in question, and astronomers need more data about the satellites to improve mitigations.

The report has a lot of good information, but I am not sure Amazon, SpaceX, or the Chinese will be paying any attention until a world body gets involved. National regulation will not be enough.

More likely than not, as with many of these areas in need of regulation, we are just one major accident away from new rules.

Space Quote: SpaceX Has a Long List of Corrective Actions Before the Next Starship Launch

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX)

“The final mishap investigation report cited a total of sixty-three (63) corrective actions for SpaceX to implement. These included actions to address redesigns of vehicle hardware to prevent leaks and fires, redesign of the launch pad to increase its robustness, incorporation of additional reviews in the design process, additional analysis and testing of safety critical systems and components including the Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS), and the application of additional change control practices.”

-Statement in a September 7, 2023 letter from the Federal Aviation Administration to SpaceX regarding its April 20, 2023 Starship launch from Boca Chica, Texas. These correction actions are expected to be implemented before the next launch can proceed. No date for the next Starship launch has been shared to date.

Is Musk Still an Asset, or is He Becoming a Liability?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Earlier SN10 Starship prototype bursting into flames and exploding soon after landing. (NASASpaceflight)

Last week, The Wall Street Journal had a good story on Elon Musk titled “Elon Musk’s Latest Antics Have Some Asking: Is He Out of Touch?” It discuses his frat-like behavior challenging Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to a fight, his strange behavior at Twitter, and the shrinking set of friends and colleagues able to keep him from going adrift in his own bubble. The story notes:

Such antics are leading some Musk supporters to worry aloud that he has lost touch, saying he is ensconced in a distorted reality that is warping his perspective and threatening his businesses at a time when he is trying to oversee multiple companies in different industries.

Of course, one of those companies is SpaceX, which has become the backbone of NASA and the US satellite industry. SpaceX also runs Starlink, which is now a key part of the battle against Russia as it supplies Internet services to the Ukrainian military.

Musk has styled himself as the Trump of Technology – breaking established rules, failing to pay his bills, attacking critics (in-house, as well), and generally seeing what he can get away with before it all collapses.

Can one distracted man manage all of these companies? Should one distracted man manage all of these companies? And should our government be so reliant on him in the space and defense arenas? Or is SpaceX becoming the next Wagner Group, a government-funded satellite that is starting to think it is smarter than its paymaster? We all know how that ended.

You can hear more about this reliance on one man in a recent On With Kara Swisher podcast, Why We Can’t Quit Elon with Ronan Farrow & William Cohan. Here are the podcast notes:

We’re talking about Elon – again – but this time we’re looking at the big picture: the tech titan’s “unprecedented power” over our the federal government and national security, as encapsulated in Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ronan Farrow’s latest New Yorker profile. William Cohan, a financial journalist and founding partner of Puck News, also joins to break down the varying fortunes of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, and the sustainability of those companies under a leader that is ambitious, but capricious. Stay til the end to hear Kara tell Nayeema why, despite his shenanigans, she still has empathy for Elon Musk.

You should also check out Ronan Farrow’s The New Yorker article, “Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule.” While acknowledging that some industrialists have had inordinate influence over US politics in the past, the piece notes:

But Musk’s influence is more brazen and expansive. There is little precedent for a civilian’s becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the U.S. now has on Musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space. 

This really doesn’t sound all that sustainable, or wise. I hope Uncle Sam has a Plan B should Musk run it all into the ground or walks away with all of his marbles (assuming has has any left).

Space Quote: What’s the Launch Date for Artemis III?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: NASA

“We really are trying to get in the details of that schedule because when we come up with a date, December of 2025, or whatever that date might be, we want to have confidence for our teams, that we all have a realistic path to get there.” 

-Statement by Jim Free, NASA associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development, regarding the launch date of the Artemis III mission, as reported in Florida Today. The story highlights the potential delays related to SpaceX’s Starship and Axiom’s space suits.

Pic of the Week: Starship Prepares for a Future Flight

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): June 26, 2023 Starship engine test viewed from above. (SpaceX)

The image above shows the SpaceX Ship 25 rocket from above as it tested it engines on June 26, 2023. Presumably, Elon Musk was tweeting out this and other such shots, but given the restrictions placed on Twitter these days, you may not be able to acquire this on your own without an account.

As far as the next Starship launch, the exact date has yet to be shared. However, NASA is already talking about delaying the Artemis III lunar mission, which will use the Starship, from 2025 to 2026.