Recent content by mfb

View of the pad before and after launch Looks like some paint or other coating was ablated on the right and there is a bit of black stuff (presumably soot) on the launch table, but otherwise things look great. Scott Manley made a video It looks like the booster didn't rotate in the expected...

Liftoff! Edit:

Next attempt, same time as yesterday: Weather looks good (85%).

Linacs need to know that ratio to work, but they might not measure and publish that ratio as we already have way more precise measurements elsewhere. In principle you can combine a direct charge measurement (-> Millikan) with spectroscopy of hydrogen (dominated by electric fields) to find the...

Starship is on track to launch in 11 hours. SpaceX live coverage will start around an hour before launch: https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-12 This will be the first launch attempt of v3, the first with a new launch pad, and there is a significant chance of bad weather, so a delay...

Curiosity has picked up a rock on Mars. It drilled into the rock to take a sample, but then the drill got stuck - retracting it lifted the whole rock. After some rotation and vibration it eventually fell down and broke into pieces...

Introducing Starship v3 12th flight test No earlier than May 19, 5:30 pm CT (22:30 UTC). They upgraded to 22 Starlink simulators that will be deployed, two of them will take pictures of Starship from the outside. Besides that it's mostly the same as for the previous two flights, but now with v3...

Really? The Moon just changed its shape and got 100 times faster? Successful wet dress rehearsal for Starship flight 12 It looks like they have some more work to do so May 15 is probably too optimistic, but the weekend or next week are likely.

SpaceX: "Full duration and full thrust 33-engine static fire with Super Heavy V3" Launch is still no earlier than May 15. Interior of the booster of Stoke Space's Nova rocket (exterior is here)

Some analysis of the Artemis pictures The second part (starting 6:10) takes multiple versions of the Earth eclipse images to make an animation. You can see thunderstorms, and you can also see which of the isolated dots of lights are stars and which are satellites.

A Starlink satellite watching itself and other nearby satellites shortly after deployment. The group of three satellites ahead look like they are far away, but they are probably within a kilometer while the ground is 300 km below and the horizon is well over 1000 km away.

Over 10000 pictures taken during the mission

Starship flight 12 no earlier than May 12 It's the first flight of v3, so a lot of things are going to be new. The flight plan is similar to before, go to an almost-orbital trajectory then splash down near Australia. Compared to previous flights this one will go to a somewhat larger inclination...

A bit delayed, but now it launched successfully on a suborbital trajectory. Psyche (the spacecraft) will fly past Mars in 14 days, gaining enough momentum to reach Psyche (the asteroid). The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has been full assembled - earlier than scheduled and under budget...

Second attempt to launch Falcon Heavy in 1 hour, this time the weather is better: https://www.spacex.com/launches/viasat3f3