Year: 2023

Astra defaults on debt agreement

10:25 am

The rocket startup Astra revealed on Friday that it was unable to meet the requirements of one of its investors that it maintain at least $10.5 million in cash reserves, and thus defaulted on that debt agreement.

Astra twice last month failed to meet minimum cash reserve requirements associated with a $12.5 million note issuance to New Jersey investment group High Trail Capital.

The debt raise first required that Astra have “at least $15.0 million of cash and cash equivalents” on hand. That liquidity requirement was adjusted after Astra failed to prove compliance a first time, to require “at least $10.5 million of unrestricted, unencumbered cash and cash equivalents.” Having fallen out of compliance a second time, Astra now owes $8 million on the aggregate principal investment.

Sadly, it appears the end for this company is coming.

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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink with a 1st stage flying for a record-setting 18th time

5:46 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched 23 Starlink, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral and using a first stage flying for a record-setting 18th time.

The first stage landed successfully on its drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

79 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 91 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 91 to 79. SpaceX by itself is once again tied the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 79 to 79.

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November 3, 2023 Quick space links

3:08 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

  • Bezos is abandoning Seattle and moving to Florida

    • He says he wants to be closer to both his family and his Cape Canaveral space facilities in Florida, which as he says is “shifting increasingly to Cape Canaveral.” He also likely decided to get out because of a new state tax that will steal $70 million from him for every stock sale of $1 billion.

 

 

 

 

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Ingenuity completes very short 65th flight

2:31 pm

Overview map
Click for interactive map.

Ingenuity yesterday completed a very short 48 second flight that shifted its position only slightly to the west, by about 23 feet. The distance, time, and highest elevation (33 feet) matched the flight plan exactly.

The green dot on the overview map above indicates its present position, with the blue dot marking Perseverance’s location. This particular flight was so short that it actually fits entirely within that green dot. Furthermore, the helicopter’s next flight, scheduled for today as well, is intended to also only reposition the helicopter, but even less so, moving only two feet or so sideways while rising only ten feet.

It appears the engineering team is preparing the helicopter for the upcoming solar conjunction, when the Sun will be between the Earth and Mars and no communications will be possible for several weeks. Such conjunctions occur about every two years, with this one beginning on November 6th and lasting until November 29th. Getting the helicopter in the right spot during that down time will increase the chances for regaining communications afterward. Since Perseverance acts as a relay station, Ingenuity must get placed in a spot where there is a direct line of communications, blocked by no objects or intevening rise in land.

Note that all the Martian rovers and orbiters are preparing for conjunction right now.

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Mars geology that only makes sense by digging deeper

1:54 pm

Not-so baffling Martian geology
Click for original image.

Today’s cool image is a perfect example of why nothing in science research should ever be taken at face value, without digging a bit deeper. The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on October 5, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

First an important technical point. Though the electronics unit for one of the camera’s color filters is still not working — causing a blank strip down the center of all black & white images, the camera team has gotten around this problem by inserting in that strip other color filter data, thus creating a complete image as you see to the right. This work-around means that MRO’s capabilities, though showing signs of age, will continue almost as good as before.

As for the image itself, when I first looked at it, I was baffled by the striking contrast between the mottled and rough ground in the lower left, and the almost featureless and smooth terrain everywhere else. Why this sudden transition? What could cause it? That inexplicable contrast demanded I post it as a cool image.
» Read more

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Real pushback: “We won’t hire your bigots!” say 42 law firms to top universities

12:48 pm

A Nazi youth rally, little different than today's pro-Hamas demonstrations
A 1930s Nazi youth rally, little different than
today’s pro-Hamas demonstrations

Bring a gun to a knife fight: In a letter [pdf] sent out on November 1, 2023 to all the major law schools in the country, more than three dozen law firms made it very clear they will not hire students from those schools if action wasn’t taken against the rise of anti-Semitism on those college campuses.

Rather than summarize, I think it worthwhile to let the letter speak for itself:

Over the last several weeks, we have been alarmed at reports of anti-Semitic harassment,
vandalism and assaults on college campuses, including rallies calling for the death of Jews and the elimination of the State of Israel. Such anti-Semitic activities would not be tolerated at any of our firms. We also would not tolerate outside groups engaging in acts of harassment and threats of violence, as has also been occurring on many of your campuses.
» Read more

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China launches military satellite

12:13 pm

China today successfully launched a military satellite, its Long March 7 rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport.

As this launch was on the coast, the rocket’s lower stages likely landed in the ocean harmlessly.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

78 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise still leads China 90 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 90 to 79. SpaceX by itself is trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 78 to 79.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the link.

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Hubble snaps an ultra-violet view of Jupiter

9:59 am

Jupiter in ultra-violet

Cool image time! Using the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have taken a false-color ultra-violet image of Jupiter. That picture is to the right, cropped, reduced and sharpened to post here.

This newly released image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the “Great Red Spot.” Though the storm appears red to the human eye, in this ultraviolet image it appears darker because high altitude haze particles absorb light at these wavelengths. The reddish, wavy polar hazes are absorbing slightly less of this light due to differences in either particle size, composition, or altitude.

The data used to create this ultraviolet image is part of a Hubble proposal that looked at Jupiter’s stealthy superstorm system. The researchers plan to map deep water clouds using the Hubble data to define 3D cloud structures in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

By comparing this ultra-violet image with Hubble’s optical view as well as Webb’s infrared view, scientists can study Jupiter’s atmosphere much like meteologists study the Earth’s, using multi-wave satellite observations.

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Sierra Space: Tenacity is complete and ready for ground testing

9:50 am

Sierra Space announced yesterday that its reuseable Tenacity cargo freighter, the first of its Dream Chaser mini-shuttles, is now complete and ready shipment to NASA’s test facilities in Ohio for ground testing.

The spacecraft hopefully will fly next year. Though this is four years behind schedule, it signals an important milestone for the company, and suggests its operational pace will pick up afterward. Though its arrival comes very late in ISS’s lifespan, the coming arrival of many private space stations, including Sierra’s own, will likely provide it many customers.

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Musk: Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow”

9:45 am

In a tweet yesterday, Elon Musk revealed that Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow,” adding that “Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year.”

This means that SpaceX achieved this goal using only its Falcon 9 rocket. Originally the company thought it had to have Starship to get enough satellites into orbit to operate the constellation. Because of delays in developing Starship (right now mostly caused by red tape in the federal government), the company ramped up the launch pace using just Falcon 9, and apparently got the job done.

The profits from Starlink can now be used to further develop Starship and Superheavy, assuming the federal government ever gets out of the way.

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