Recent content by mfb

The Swift rescue mission launched now. The launch was successful, but we might not hear more until it docked (or attempted to). The last conventional Atlas V launched another batch of Amazon Leo satellites. There are six Atlas V remaining but they are all a different configuration that is...

The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is a gamma ray telescope launched in 2004. The spacecraft is still healthy, but drag has reduced its initial 600 km orbit to 370 km, with reentry expected for the end of the year. Katalyst Space Technologies won a contract for a last-minute rescue mission...

The second screenshot looks like it comes from YouTube. Who knows what thread he found here.

Climate change event on extreme heat is cancelled – due to extreme heat

SpaceX developed "Starfall", a set of disk-shaped reentry vehicles. They are essentially a heat shield, parachutes, and some basic maneuvering capability to reenter in the right orientation. Each one has a mass of 2 tonnes and can reenter with up to one tonne of payload. The first demonstration...

Falcon 9 launched three BlueBird satellites (also a Starlink competitor). Blue Origin test-fired a BE-7 for 40 minutes This engine will be used on Blue Moon landers. It's relatively low thrust (still 9 to 44 kN), so it needs to fire for a long time. It's a new record for engines like this...

Russia will decommission the PrK ISS module which keeps leaking. It will be depressurized. It was used for Progress resupply vehicles. These can still dock there to transfer fluids, but everything else will need to be transferred via other docking ports. Isar Aerospace keeps working on a second...

Germany beat Curaçao 7:1. The winner isn't surprising anyone, but the score reminds me of something... With this match Germany took the lead in all-time world cup goals scored. That's right, Germany beat Brazil with a 7:1 again. Without Brazil even playing. Edit: The 7:1 in 2014 also had...

Artemis III crew announcement Randolph Bresnik (previously flew on the Space Shuttle and Soyuz) Luca Parmitano (ESA, previously flew two Soyuz missions) Francisco Rubio (previously flew a Soyuz mission) - no relation to Marco Rubio as far as I can tell Andre Douglas (no flight yet) - was...

Update on SpaceX's computing satellites 16:00 shows the satellite concept with some numbers. Around 2 tonnes per satellite, 120 kW average computing power. Two large solar panels, a central computing point and then some smaller radiators. Google pays SpaceX $0.9 billion/month for ~250 MW of...

The air leak on the ISS is getting worse. Looks like it doubled its leak rate on Monday. The Soyuz crew was trying to fix it while the Dragon crew was ordered to suit up and wait in Dragon as there was some risk of a rapid pressure loss. They paused the work now.

I found this 1998 publication: Stop Production at Hadron Colliders The authors are all particle physicists. Why would they ask for that?

Surprise maiden launch of Long March 12B. No announced launch date, no hazard areas for aircraft to avoid, it just launched. This rocket is designed to reuse its booster in the future, but the first flight made no recovery attempt. The launch was successful. Good news from Blue Origin. They can...

That's a big dent in the tower that's still standing. They probably have to rebuild that as well. Even if something looks like it's still intact, it could have taken internal damage from the explosion, making it weaker and more likely to fail later. All the exposed plumbing can't be trusted any...

Daylight pictures (very high resolution, zoom in!) The launch pad is a big mess of steel from the collapsed tower, remains of the transporter/erector and soot. The rocket is just gone. Looks like the integration facility (big white building) is fine overall but the tents near it are damaged. Not...