The launch of SpaceX’s Starship, delayed on Monday, could take place as early as tomorrow morning at 9:28 am ET.
Should everything go according to plan, you can watch tomorrow’s launch here.
I am just hoping that the delay was not another weed-related game to mark 4/20 in a unique way. The joke is getting old and costly for Mr. Musk.
Let’s just get the Starship in the air.
Today was supposed to be the day SpaceX flight tested the Starship from its facility in Texas, but less than 10 minutes before the launch a problem with the Super Heavy booster put everything on hold.
The Starship is a key part of NASA’s Artemis III mission to place astronauts on the Moon, so the tests are crucial to move that project forward.
SpaceX will need to wait at least 48 hours before attempting another launch.
The Washington Post recently published a story, “China’s military aims to launch 13,000 satellites to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink,” that can only terrify astronomers here on Earth trying to view the stars. The title says it all – the space race continues to clutter the skies with more and more low-Earth satellites broadcasting back to the surface. It is a dippy Dyson Sphere that contains scientists rather than energy.
Starlink’s success in Ukraine really bothers the Chinese, who see the network as a lifeline for Taiwan as well. The article quotes Chinese military researchers, who state:
Once the Starshield is completed, it will be tantamount to installing networked surveillance cameras all over the world. At that time, military operations including the launch of ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles and fighter jets will hardly escape the monitoring of the United States.
I would prefer the space race between the US and China focused on the Moon or Mars rather than local invasions, but that is the state of the world at the moment. Not that the race to the Moon was a completely tame affair. For instance, the US contemplated exploding a nuclear bomb on the surface of the Moon to impress the Russians and everyone else. Fortunately, Project A119 never happened.
This week’s image comes from NASA showing a Dragon cargo ship approaching the International Space Station (ISS) earlier this month with supplies for the Expedition 68 crew. In this photo, the Dragon is above the Indian Ocean near Madagascar.
It is an amazing image each and every time. What a workplace and what a view. Telework just isn’t the same.
Here are some recent stories of interest.
—Forbes: “Elon Musk Gets More Specific About Starship’s First Rocket Launch to Space“
We’ve been waiting for nearly two years to see Elon Musk’s big rocket blast off again, and now the SpaceX founder is starting to narrow the targeted time frame for Starship’s first orbital attempt. The controversial entrepreneur said on Twitter last week that the next generation vehicle destined to take astronauts to the moon and perhaps start a civilization on Mars “will be ready to launch… in a few weeks, then launch timing depends on FAA license approval.”
—Space News: “South Korea’s Innospace Succeeds in Test Launch“
South Korean rocket startup Innospace successfully launched a suborbital rocket from Brazil over the weekend, demonstrating a hybrid motor it plans to scale up into a small orbital launch vehicle. The launch of Innospace’s HANBIT-TLV suborbital rocket took place March 19 from the Alcântara Space Center, and the company called the flight a success, although it did not disclose the rocket’s peak altitude.
—Space.com: “The Early Universe was Crammed with Stars 10,000 Times the Size of our Sun, New Study Suggests“
The first stars in the cosmos may have topped out at over 10,000 times the mass of the sun, roughly 1,000 times bigger than the biggest stars alive today, a new study has found. Nowadays, the biggest stars are 100 solar masses. But the early universe was a far more exotic place, filled with mega-giant stars that lived fast and died very, very young, the researchers found.
