Latest news with #SaturnV
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk to build enormous Texas ‘gigabay' to store 1,000 Starships
Credit: X/SpaceX SpaceX will build the 'biggest structure in the world' to house up to 1,000 of its 400ft-tall Starship rockets per year, Elon Musk has claimed. The Tesla billionaire and world's richest man laid out his vision for 'making life multiplanetary' in an update at SpaceX's Starbase in Texas. Speaking to staff last night, Mr Musk said the company planned to build a 'gigabay', which he said would be 'a truly enormous structure'. He said the building, designed for 1,000 Starships per year, would be 'by some measures the biggest structure in the world'. The first so-called gigabay would be built in Texas, with a further facility in Florida as SpaceX seeks to launch multiple rockets per day in order to reach and colonise Mars. Mr Musk has said humans must colonise the Red Planet to avoid potential extinction risks, such as nuclear war or an asteroid strike, and that the colony would need to become self-sustaining. He said: 'Having two strong, self-sustaining planets will be critical for the long-term survival of civilisation.' The billionaire further claimed the company's Super Heavy booster rockets would one day be able to fly missions 'every hour, maybe every two hours give a bit of extra time'. The Super Heavy boosters are the first stage of the Starship rocket. They are designed to be reusable, falling back to Earth after launching. He added SpaceX would ultimately need to launch 1,000 to 2,000 rockets to Mars in every two-year window to carry the cargo needed to set up a colony. Mr Musk is known for his bold claims and ambitious timelines, including his vision of sending humans to Mars by 2029. He said its first mission could include landing an Optimus robot on Mars. On Tuesday night, Mr Musk's company undertook a ninth test flight of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket. The test saw the first re-use of its Super Heavy booster, recycling a rocket body that had previously returned to Earth and been caught by a pair of 'chopsticks' on its landing tower. However, the Starship second stage went into a spin as it returned to Earth, breaking up over the Indian Ocean. Mr Musk has promised to launch another Starship test mission within a few weeks. Nasa is planning to use SpaceX's megarocket for a manned mission to the Moon as soon as 2027, returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. On Thursday, Mr Musk revealed new designs for SpaceX's Starship, which he said would be 'taller' and have a redesigned separation mechanism. He said future generations of its Starship would be 465ft tall and have twice the payload capacity of the Saturn V rocket that conducted the original Moon missions. The billionaire added that his ambition was that 'anyone who wants to move to Mars can do so', which he said would be the 'best adventure that anyone could possibly do'. He added there was a '50/50' chance SpaceX would launch an uncrewed Starship mission at the end of 2026, when Mars is at the closest point in its orbit to Earth. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk to build enormous Texas ‘gigabay' to store 1,000 Starships
This embedded content is not available in your region. Credit: X/SpaceX SpaceX will build the 'biggest structure in the world' to house up to 1,000 of its 400ft-tall Starship rockets per year, Elon Musk has claimed. The Tesla billionaire and world's richest man laid out his vision for 'making life multiplanetary' in an update at SpaceX's Starbase in Texas. Speaking to staff last night, Mr Musk said the company planned to build a 'gigabay', which he said would be 'a truly enormous structure'. He said the building, designed for 1,000 Starships per year, would be 'by some measures the biggest structure in the world'. The first so-called gigabay would be built in Texas, with a further facility in Florida as SpaceX seeks to launch multiple rockets per day in order to reach and colonise Mars. Mr Musk has said humans must colonise the Red Planet to avoid potential extinction risks, such as nuclear war or an asteroid strike, and that the colony would need to become self-sustaining. He said: 'Having two strong, self-sustaining planets will be critical for the long-term survival of civilisation.' The billionaire further claimed the company's Super Heavy booster rockets would one day be able to fly missions 'every hour, maybe every two hours give a bit of extra time'. The Super Heavy boosters are the first stage of the Starship rocket. They are designed to be reusable, falling back to Earth after launching. He added SpaceX would ultimately need to launch 1,000 to 2,000 rockets to Mars in every two-year window to carry the cargo needed to set up a colony. Mr Musk is known for his bold claims and ambitious timelines, including his vision of sending humans to Mars by 2029. He said its first mission could include landing an Optimus robot on Mars. On Tuesday night, Mr Musk's company undertook a ninth test flight of Starship, the world's most powerful rocket. The test saw the first re-use of its Super Heavy booster, recycling a rocket body that had previously returned to Earth and been caught by a pair of 'chopsticks' on its landing tower. However, the Starship second stage went into a spin as it returned to Earth, breaking up over the Indian Ocean. Mr Musk has promised to launch another Starship test mission within a few weeks. Nasa is planning to use SpaceX's megarocket for a manned mission to the Moon as soon as 2027, returning humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. On Thursday, Mr Musk revealed new designs for SpaceX's Starship, which he said would be 'taller' and have a redesigned separation mechanism. He said future generations of its Starship would be 465ft tall and have twice the payload capacity of the Saturn V rocket that conducted the original Moon missions. The billionaire added that his ambition was that 'anyone who wants to move to Mars can do so', which he said would be the 'best adventure that anyone could possibly do'. He added there was a '50/50' chance SpaceX would launch an uncrewed Starship mission at the end of 2026, when Mars is at the closest point in its orbit to Earth. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
The B-1 Bomber: ‘Listen, Hear My Engines Roar'
A B-1 engine at full throttle as Forbes writer Jim Clash looks on in the test chamber, Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas, March 28, 2025. In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series about Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, we covered my recent supersonic B-1 flight with the 9th Bomb Squadron - and my immersion into the base's Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit, complete with bomb suit. Here, in Part 3, we focus on maintenance of the B-1 bomber's formidable engines. As reported earlier, four General Electric F101-GE-102 turbofan engines power the aircraft. During takeoff and supersonic runs, the afterburners typically are lit. At that level, each engine puts out more than 30,000 lbs. of thrust, and, collectively, the four gulp more than 240,000 lbs. of fuel per hour. Given such high demands, engines occasionally break down. To prevent that, they must pass regularly scheduled inspections after 200 flying hours, with full-engine teardowns every 4,000 hours. For the inspections, engines are carefully removed from the aircraft and to a special Dyess maintenance area. There, they are rebuilt and refurbished accordingly. During full-throttle B-1 engine testing, all personnel must wear sufficient ear protection, among other things, Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas, March 28, 2025. The last step before returning the engines to planes is testing them at full throttle. My photographer, Art Harman, and I were invited to watch this procedure from the chamber where it is done. We were met at Building 5111 by MSgt Nathanael Rehburg, CRF Assistant Flight Chief, 7th CMS. Mind you, there is nothing in that chamber to protect us if something goes awry. Say an engine malfunctioned during a full power test and coughed up a blade or two, or if it exploded - or if the thing came out of its confines and the jet nozzle sprayed in our direction - we would be helpless, basically toast. To prevent this nearly impossible occurrence, the engine we encountered had already been run at full power several times prior to our arrival. First, we watched a full test run in the control room. Even from there, it's impressive. A 30-foot focused yellow/blue flame roared from the back of the engine into a narrow concrete tunnel, then vented to the outside air. The spectacle reminded me of the launching of a Saturn V rocket. A B-1 bomber engine sits idle in the Dyess AFB test chamber, Abilene, Texas, March 28, 2025. Once the engine rpm dropped back to idle, and everything was deemed safe, we carefully made our way in to the chamber to watch from there, hugging the near wall as we moved along. For noise, we were given simple earplugs, plus headphones to cover them. All jewelry, cell phones, tape-recorders, watches - anything loose - was left in the control room. As the engine began to rev, we hung on to metal scaffolding along the wall to prevent us from being sucked toward it. First, there was a significant amount of building noise and hurricane-force winds blowing through the chamber. Once the afterburners kicked in, though, it got wild, including palpable rumblings in your chest, plus the added element of heat. I was upfront, closest to the flame. My bare arms and face gradually got hotter and hotter, as if I were in an oven. There was nothing I could do to address the discomfort. I couldn't cover my face with my hands, as I was holding on to the scaffolding for dear life, and I certainly couldn't move back in the line, further from the flames. I guess if there is such a thing as Hades, this is it. View from control room during B-1 engine testing, Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas, March 28, 2025. After 30 seconds of full afterburner, which seemed twice as long, everything thankfully was shut down, and it became eerily quiet in the chamber. The engine was ready to go back into service. I knew these monsters were powerful, having been in the B-1 when they kicked in, but being so up close and personal, well… A bit stunned, we politely thanked the maintenance group and continued our tour to the next functional Dyess area. There are many. And no, my hair did not catch on fire, but it had come close. What an experience!
WIRED
25-03-2025
- Science
- WIRED
It's Looking More Likely NASA Will Fly the Artemis II Mission
Late Saturday night, technicians at Kennedy Space Center in Florida moved the core stage for NASA's second Space Launch System rocket into position between the vehicle's two solid-fueled boosters. Working inside the iconic 52-story-tall Vehicle Assembly Building, ground teams used heavy-duty cranes to first lift the butterscotch-orange core stage from its cradle in the VAB's cavernous transfer aisle, the central passageway between the building's four rocket assembly bays. The cranes then rotated the structure vertically, allowing workers to disconnect one of the cranes from the bottom of the rocket. That left the rocket hanging on a 325-ton overhead crane, which would lift it over the transom into the building's northeast high bay. The Boeing-built core stage weighs about 94 tons (85 metric tons), measures about 212 feet (65 meters) tall, and will contain 730,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant at liftoff. It is the single largest element for NASA's Artemis II mission, slated to ferry a crew of astronauts around the far side of the moon as soon as next year. Finally, ground crews lowered the rocket between the Space Launch System's twin solid rocket boosters already stacked on a mobile launch platform inside High Bay 3, where NASA assembled Space Shuttles and Saturn V rockets for Apollo lunar missions. Ars Technica This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast. On Sunday, teams inside the VAB connected the core stage to each booster at forward and aft load-bearing attach points. After completing electrical and data connections, engineers will stack a cone-shaped adapter on top of the core stage, followed by the rocket's upper stage, another adapter ring, and finally the Orion spacecraft that will be home to the four-person Artemis II crew for their 10-day journey through deep space.
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
A French university is offering ‘scientific asylum' for US talent. The brain drain has started
In six weeks, the Trump administration's 'rapid scheduled disassembly' of American science has been as sharp and deep as its trashing of the US's alliances and goodwill; Earth science, weather forecasting and early warning systems, medical research (including cancer research), Nasa. Academic grants more broadly have been cut, paused and subject to review for a long list of banned words (including such contentious terms as 'political' and 'women'). This has caused universities across the country to reduce their intake of PhD students, medical students and other graduate students, introduce hiring freezes and even rescind some offers of admission. More than 12,500 US citizens currently in other countries on Fulbright research grants recently had their funding paused, along with 7,400 foreign scholars currently hosted in the US, leaving them financially stranded. And, when it came to one foreign academic visiting the US, detaining them and refusing them entry. Even more worryingly, the administration is specifically targeting some universities, including pulling $400m in funding from Columbia University, and $800m from Johns Hopkins, forcing it to lay off 2,000 people. Furthermore, the legally dubious arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, and the cancelling of his green card, is sure to have a chilling effect on foreign students and researchers already in the US – and on the desire of others to go there in the future. As Christina Pagel, a German-British professor at University College London, writes: 'This isn't chaos.' Instead, the attacks on research appear to follow a three-pronged objective: to forcibly align science with state ideology; undermine academic independence and suppress dissent; and maintain geopolitical and economic goals. The Saturn V rockets that took US astronauts to space – and eventually the moon – in the 1960s owed their existence to Operation Paperclip, which brought 1,500 former Nazi scientists (such as Wernher von Braun, the former director of Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center) to the US. In the week after Donald Trump's election, I wondered whether the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas may inadvertently get his wish (of a Europe that unified through opposition to the US) and suggested that Europe position itself to reverse the decades-long transatlantic brain drain by welcoming highly educated American researchers and scientists who were sure to find themselves under attack. This time, there is no moral quandary about it, no Nazi pasts to ignore; only as much advantage to be gained as can be in a world where the EU must hold the ground for liberal democratic society, joined by Canada to the west, and Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to the east. To some extent, EU governments and institutions are already picking up on the opportunity. For example, on 7 March, the University of Aix-Marseille announced Safe Place for Science, a three-year, €15m programme to bring 15 American scientists working in climate, health and astrophysics to its campus. According to a university spokesperson, more than 60 applications have been received, 30 of them coming within the first 24 hours. The university indicated that it has been in contact with other universities and the French government about expanding 'scientific asylum' on both a national and European level, and to help coordinate welcoming and relocating different researchers. US federal government spending on all research and development (R&D) totalled roughly $195bn in 2024. That sounds imposing, but let's put it into greater context. As of 2023, US GDP was $27.7tn and EU GDP was $26.5tn, when adjusted for purchasing power parity. Taken as a whole, both polities are roughly the same economic size. Let's imagine that the EU were to put real money on the table to lure science of all kinds out of the US and to the continent. It wouldn't need to match $195bn, euro for dollar, in part because more than half the US total is defence R&D, and the EU is already boosting defence spending … bigly. So, say it just picked a bold, round number that lends itself well to narrative, storytelling and headlines, and is enough to rope in the cuts happening in the US. A sum of €25bn a year would represent just under 0.1% of the EU's GDP, and even less if the UK, Norway and Switzerland (all of which participate in the Horizon Europe research funding programme) were included. As it is, R&D spending in the EU lags behind the US – and a report ordered by the European Commission's research department recently recommended more than doubling Horizon Europe's €95bn, seven-year budget. What I'm suggesting goes further, yes. But not only is it well within the EU's ability to afford, it would ultimately pay for itself: research found that non-defence R&D spending returned 200% for the US during the postwar period. But let me push the boundary of fantastical again, and suggest that the EU may lure not just American researchers, but American universities themselves. According to the Cross Border Education Research Team, US universities maintain 29 actual campuses in Europe (and far more if you include 'centres' and study abroad programmes). There are dozens of American colleges and universities with enormous endowments that regularly splash out hundreds of millions of dollars at a time on new buildings. If US crackdowns (like the recent demands made of Columbia) on academic freedom, funding, and foreign students and faculties become more frequent, they may find the idea of second campuses in Europe tempting indeed. Alexander Hurst is a Guardian Europe columnist
