July 1, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Firefly conducts rapid launch operation, transporting payload fairing to pad and mating it to Alpha rocket just 14 hours before launch
That liftoff is scheduled for 9:03 pm (Pacific) tonight. The live stream is here.
Four quick links in connection to Space Pioneer’s static fire test catastrophe yesterday:
- Company say it will continue rocket tests, but no large-scale ones in the near future
I think the company is going to have to explain itself to the Chinese government, which is likely to take a much closer interest in what these pseudo-companies are doing. This will not be to prevent dangerous accidents, but to use this most recent accident as a ploy to gain full control of these pseudo-companies.
- Next Cygnus cargo mission will be named after astronaut Dick Scobee, who died in the 1986 Challenger failure
The freighter will be launched by a Falcon 9 sometime in August.
- Mars Odyssey just completed its 100,000th orbit around Mars
It was launched in 2001, and has been in orbit for more than two decades. Nowadays it mostly serves as a communications satellite, relaying data from the rovers/landers back to Earth.
- ISRO head says design of first module for India’s space station is complete
ISRO hopes to launch that module by 2028.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- Firefly conducts rapid launch operation, transporting payload fairing to pad and mating it to Alpha rocket just 14 hours before launch
That liftoff is scheduled for 9:03 pm (Pacific) tonight. The live stream is here.
Four quick links in connection to Space Pioneer’s static fire test catastrophe yesterday:
- Company say it will continue rocket tests, but no large-scale ones in the near future
I think the company is going to have to explain itself to the Chinese government, which is likely to take a much closer interest in what these pseudo-companies are doing. This will not be to prevent dangerous accidents, but to use this most recent accident as a ploy to gain full control of these pseudo-companies.
- Next Cygnus cargo mission will be named after astronaut Dick Scobee, who died in the 1986 Challenger failure
The freighter will be launched by a Falcon 9 sometime in August.
- Mars Odyssey just completed its 100,000th orbit around Mars
It was launched in 2001, and has been in orbit for more than two decades. Nowadays it mostly serves as a communications satellite, relaying data from the rovers/landers back to Earth.
- ISRO head says design of first module for India’s space station is complete
ISRO hopes to launch that module by 2028.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Axiom to install data center on ISS. In hopes that all data centers can be in orbit sending Data back to earth, not electricity, that can be used in space?
Are there any engineers that aren’t afraid to speak up left on earth? Even chat GPT is going broke at $.50 a question worth of electricity.
From the article;
“For example, power usage. In 2022, data centers consumed 460 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity globally, which could rise to over 1,000 TWh by 2026”
How many solar panels would make one terawatt?
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/03/15/humans-have-installed-1-terawatt-of-solar-capacity/
OK, will need to install 500 times as many solar panels as the entire world put together. Linked together, it could be an artificial ring around earth. Perhaps the intent is to block the sunlight? (Would much prefer this over throwing dirt from the moon around the earth.) Covering the skies with Chem trails hasn’t worked out so well either… (Speaking of which I haven’t seen any in a month which is very unusual.)
What could happen? A satellite, meteor or malfunctioning booster could smash and drag the whole thing back out of orbit? Obviously they can’t be linked together or one catastrophe could doom the entire project.
So each processing center is independent. That is until a solar storm blows against the solar panels like a sailboat… which is good! They won’t need thrust to push themselves to a higher orbit! Unless the gyroscopes go out which never happens… The radiation will be a huge factor, for both the processing chips (cosmic radiation) and the panels themselves which will receive 5% degradation with one solar storm.
Great job replacing solar panels every 20 years. At least they don’t have to worry about hail storms.
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/green-energy-beaten-black-and-blue-video-shows-massive-hail-damage-texas-solar-farm
(Picture doesn’t do justice, watch the short video to see mile after mile after mile of destroyed solar panels with damage in the billions of dollars)
Firefly scrubbed just under 8 mins.
sippin-bourbon: I just watched the live stream. The first abort occurred at about T-2 seconds, apparently because of some ground equipment related the “release system.” The second launch attempt was then scrubbed at just under 8 minutes for apparently the same reason.
Firefly is looking to try again tonight. Hopefully they can get everything ready. Quub built the Serenity 3 satellite that is on board. Looking forward to acquiring the signal.
Max asked: “How many solar panels would make one terawatt?”
Solar energy strikes the Earth at about 1.3 kilowatts per square meter. Expensive solar cells are about 25% efficient, for the energy that reaches the ground, common cells are around 15%, and the theoretical maximum is around 32% for the photovoltaic theory we use today. 25% cells would generate around 300 watts per square meter, and 15% would generate more like 200. When the sun shines without clouds or haze.
So, a terawatt would require 5 billion square meters of 15% cells. By my math, that is five thousand square kilometers (just about 71 km by 71 km, or an 80 km diameter circle.). Be advised that large power plants are built to generate only 1 gigawatt (1/1000 of that terawatt), so these replace roughly 1,000 large power plants, worldwide. (I guess, with all that power being used for artificial intelligence, it seems silly to keep turning off the lights around the house. Or maybe we could stop asking AI silly or unimportant questions,)
Ultraviolet light degrades solar panels, so eventually they need to be retired or replaced. A space-based power generation station may end up needing constant maintenance of the solar cells and panels, like large bridges here on Earth are constantly painted.
There are more efficient generation methods than solar cells and longer lasting hardware, but not many of these have been used in space, so they may not be economical alternatives. Transmitting power to Earth is still largely theoretical, although a few tests have been performed.
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Joe,
I hope you can let us know how well your satellite works. I love its name.
It was exciting while it lasted, last night, with two attempts within half an hour. I don’t see it on the launch schedule for tonight, but when it does launch, good luck!