Latest news with #FalconHeavy
LeMonde
04-08-2025
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
The sci-fi classic that shaped Elon Musk's worldview
On February 6, 2018, a Falcon Heavy rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a roadster belonging to Elon Musk on board. At the wheel of the car – one of the very first models built by Tesla – sat a mannequin nicknamed "Starman," a nod to the David Bowie (1947-2016) song. A message urging calm was displayed on the dashboard screen : "Don't panic!" It was a nod to British novelist Douglas Adams (1952-2001). The launch was a test to demonstrate the prowess of the Falcon Heavy rocket, built by SpaceX. Musk came up with the idea of sending a Tesla Roadster into space as cargo, referencing the 1981 animated film Heavy Metal and its convertible cruising through interstellar space. It's also because it was not feasible to risk carrying satellites and have to reimburse their owners if the mission failed. Some saw it as an outlandish marketing stunt, while others considered it a flagrant act of pollution. The first novel ever sent into orbit around Mars was slipped into the glove compartment of the car: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, a bestseller written by an author passionate about both science and nonsense. A towel was also placed inside, since a towel is a useful object for hitchhiking through space, as anyone who has taken the time to listen to, watch or read Adams's "five-part trilogy" knows. "H2G2" to insiders, short for the original title The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, tells the story of Arthur Dent, a thoroughly ordinary Englishman in a bathrobe, who, one morning while nursing a severe hangover, escapes the destruction of Earth by an extraterrestrial construction vessel thanks to his best friend.
UPI
04-08-2025
- Climate
- UPI
SpaceX lifts 28 Starlink satellites in landmark reusable booster mission
1 of 3 | Poor weather conditions early Monday forced SpaceX to postpone the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The booster launched with 28 Starlink satellites on board at 3:57 a.m. local time. Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo Aug. 4 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched dozens of new Starlink satellites into orbit overnight after initial delays over weather in the company's 69th liftoff this year. The Starlink 10-30 mission saw liftoff at 3:57 a.m. EDT from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after its original 2:01 a.m. time slot had to be changed due to persistent storms. The Falcon 9 and its joint Falcon Heavy rocket carried 28 Starlink satellites to its growing constellation of Internet-ready satellite devices. But it marked a milestones for SpaceX with the 450th launch of its flight-proven booster 1080, which flew for its 21st time. Initially there was an 85% chance for favorable weather in the forecast, according to the 45th Weather Squadron. But strong thunderstorms via a low-pressure system hung over the region and temporarily delayed the launch as Tropical Storm Dexter gains strength. A little over 8 minutes after liftoff the B1080 landed on SpaceX's drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" in the Atlantic Ocean in the 131st landing on the drone ship vessel. So far this year SpaceX has launched over 1,650 Starlink satellites in the Elon Musk-run company's bid to expand global Internet access.
Miami Herald
02-07-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
Overnight Canaveral launch marked 500th for SpaceX Falcon 9
An early Wednesday morning launch on the Space Coast marked the 500th time SpaceX has flown its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, reusing the fleet-leading first stage booster for a record 29th time. The latest flight with a payload of 27 Starlink satellites lifted off Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:28 a.m. coming just over nine hours since launch No. 499 from neighboring Kennedy Space Center, which sent up a European weather satellite. The booster, which first flew in 2021 and had since been used on two human spaceflights among 28 previous missions, completed flight 29 landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The first Falcon 9 launched in 2010, and only two of the 500 launches have ended in complete failure. Elon Musk's company had its first successful orbital launch with the Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, but it only flew one more time before switching to the Falcon 9. It also has flown the Falcon Heavy, which is essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together, 11 times. The launch was the 83rd Falcon 9 mission for SpaceX in 2025 from all of its facilities in Florida and California. No Falcon Heavy has launched yet this year. For the Space Coast, it marked the 58th orbital mission, with all by three flown by SpaceX. ------------ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Indian Express
01-07-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
10 strangest objects floating in space
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, it marked the beginning of humanity's presence beyond Earth. But in the decades since, we've done more than just launch satellites and scientific instruments into orbit — we've sent art, ashes, accidents, and outright oddities. Some objects were placed in space on purpose, symbolic gestures meant to inspire or amuse. Others were lost by accident, abandoned or forgotten during ambitious missions. Still more were part of bizarre Cold War schemes or questionable experiments that never quite panned out. Let's start with the obvious – astronauts pee. But when you're in a cramped spacecraft hurtling around the Earth, waste disposal isn't as simple as flushing it away. For decades, urine produced aboard spacecrafts were simply released into space. Once expelled, it would instantly freeze into a cloud of tiny, glittering crystals — a twinkling, golden mist visible through the portholes. Some astronauts have even described the sight as beautiful. More recently, the International Space Station installed a high-tech filtration system to recycle urine into drinking water, a more sustainable approach to bodily waste in orbit. In 2018, SpaceX decided that a boring concrete test payload just wouldn't cut it for the maiden voyage of its Falcon Heavy rocket. Instead, Elon Musk launched his own cherry-red Tesla Roadster into space, complete with a spacesuit-wearing dummy named 'Starman' in the driver's seat. Originally aimed at a Mars orbit, the Tesla overshot and now loops around the sun every 557 days. It's become a sort of cosmic billboard for SpaceX, and you can track it live at According to the website, its travelled the equivalent of all the world's roads 91 times without ever stopping for a recharge. Not all space toys are left behind by accident. In 2011, NASA launched the Juno probe toward Jupiter — and with it, three tiny Lego figurines made from aluminium to withstand the brutal radiation of the gas giant. The minifigs represent Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods; Juno, his wife; and Galileo Galilei, the first person to observe Jupiter's largest moons. The inclusion was a collaboration with the Lego Group aimed at inspiring young people to engage with science and space. Hurtling through interstellar space, the twin Voyager spacecraft carry one of humanity's most ambitious attempts at cosmic communication: a pair of gold-plated phonograph records. The records, curated by a team led by Carl Sagan, include greetings in 55 languages, recordings of a baby crying and a heartbeat, the sound of waves, and music from across human history — including Bach, Beethoven, and Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode.' There are also 155 images encoded into the disc, showing everything from city streets to diagrams of DNA. The records are meant for any alien civilisations that might stumble upon them. It seems only right that Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, should find his final resting place among the stars. Though previous attempts to launch his ashes into space either failed or ended in atmospheric reentry, a successful launch finally took place in January 2024. This time, a portion of Roddenberry's ashes made it beyond the Earth-Moon system and into deep space, where they will drift forever. We've left a lot of junk up there — and it's starting to get dangerous. Space debris includes everything from dead satellites and spent rocket boosters to flecks of paint and broken antennae. Some pieces travel at over 17,000 mph, fast enough to cause catastrophic damage on impact. The problem has grown so severe that experts warn of the potential for 'Kessler syndrome' — a chain-reaction of collisions that could make Earth's orbit unusable for decades. In 1969, artist Forrest Myers devised a plan to smuggle art onto the Moon aboard Apollo 12. NASA wasn't interested, so Myers covertly handed off a tiny ceramic tile etched with artwork from six famous artists — including Andy Warhol — to an insider working on the lunar lander. The tile, dubbed the 'Moon Museum,' was reportedly installed without NASA's knowledge. Warhol later claimed his contribution was just his initials. But the etching looks very much like a crude drawing of male genitalia. In 2008, astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper was performing maintenance outside the ISS when she lost her grip on a toolbag. The 30-pound bag, filled with grease guns and a scraper, drifted slowly away, becoming one of the most expensive pieces of space litter in history. Amateur astronomers spotted it from Earth in the weeks that followed, and skywatchers could track it using satellite monitoring websites. In the Cold War era, the US feared Soviet attacks on underwater communication cables. The solution? Launch 480 million copper needles into space to create an artificial ionosphere for bouncing radio signals around the globe. The 1963 experiment, called Project West Ford, mostly failed. Most of the needles eventually fell back to Earth and burned up — but not all. Clumps of these tiny metallic slivers still orbit the Earth today, serving as a strange reminder of just how far Cold War paranoia was willing to go. Orbiting Earth and spinning once every minute is a mysterious 60-foot-long object known as J002E3. First detected in September 2002 by an amateur astronomer as it drifted through the constellation Pisces, the object was initially mistaken for an asteroid. But further analysis revealed it was not natural — it was built by humans. Experts now believe it's likely the long-lost third stage of the Apollo 12 rocket, which launched to the Moon in 1969 and was thought to have vanished into deep space.
The Hill
29-06-2025
- Science
- The Hill
How Starship can stay on schedule for Musk and NASA's ambitions
On June 18, SpaceX rolled out the latest iteration of its Starship spacecraft to the test stand for a static fire test in preparation for a test flight scheduled for June 29. Then, around 11 pm Central Standard Time, the spacecraft exploded in a fireball, taking itself and the test stand out in a spectacular conflagration. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's initial reaction was an attempt at humor when he posted on X, 'Just a scratch,' channeling a line from Monty Python. Later, in a more serious post, Musk revealed the likely cause of the explosion: 'Preliminary data suggests that a nitrogen [composite overwrapped pressure vessel] in the payload bay failed below its proof pressure.' Peter Hague, an astrophysicist and a follower of space commercialization, notes that the failure stemmed from quality control issues with the specific component and not, as some suggest, an inherent design flaw in the Starship vehicle. If so, the problem should be easy to fix. What happens next? When will SpaceX test another Starship? How does the accident affect NASA's Artemis program to return to the moon and Musk's ambitions to found a settlement on Mars? SpaceX will have to repair the test stand and surrounding infrastructure before proceeding with another test flight with a new version of Starship, unless it intends to skip the static fire test, a risky move. It will also have to make the next Starship ready for flight. Finally, it will have to satisfy the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory agencies that it understands the root cause of the accident and can proceed. Opinions vary about how long those tasks will take, but most guesses range from one month to two months. However, the accident on the test stand is just the latest in a string of failures that have bedeviled the Starship test program. Hague opines, 'Make no mistake though; this is a serious setback. A failure of this kind should not be happening at this stage in the program, and it's no good glossing over it with references to 'fail fast.'' He said the company 'needs to get Starship back on track — but based on past performance, we can expect that they will.' Indeed, SpaceX has suffered a number of failures during its early years, from which it has bounced back. The Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy are the cheapest, most reliable launch vehicles in the world. But that quality was bought by failures that proved to be the parents of success in the long run. So, it will likely be for Starship. The question of Starship becoming an operational vehicle has not been an if but a when proposition. When Starship is available depends on how quickly SpaceX can recover from the latest accident and how soon it can rack up a series of successful tests. Musk would like to send the Starship to Mars during the next transit window, which lasts from November 2026 through January 2027. The flights (Musk plans on sending several Starships) would be uncrewed, perhaps carrying robots such as the humanoid Optimus. If SpaceX misses the window, the next one occurs 26 months later. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if we see boots on Martian soil 26 months later than Musk's current timeline. Not so the return to the moon. Currently, the Artemis III moon landing is scheduled for 2027. Even before the Starship accident, that date was very much in doubt. Still, if Americans could return to the moon in 2028, the event would not only be well in advance of a potential Chinese moon landing but also during the Trump presidency. President Trump, always on the lookout for a legacy enhancer, would love to ring out his presidency with Americans on the lunar surface. The Starship accident puts that prospect in jeopardy. Wouldn't it be nice if NASA had a permanent administrator, respected by the aerospace community, experienced in space flight, who could make decisions for the Artemis program that could account for the schedule disruption wrought by the Starship accident? Trump may well have committed the most heinous act of self-sabotage in political history by pulling the nomination of Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator at the last minute. He did so without a replacement nominee ready. Musk and his engineering team could still recover from disaster. They have done it before. But a lot has to happen before Starship is ready to open up the moon, Mars and beyond to human exploration. Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled 'Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?' as well as 'The Moon, Mars and Beyond,' and, most recently, 'Why is America Going Back to the Moon?' He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.
