Monthly Archives: February 2018

Rockets, Space Systems

Video: Falcon Heavy launch a success. Two side boosters land in parallel

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The Falcon Heavy launch was a major success today. The rocket, which was developed by SpaceX with its own private money, is not only the most powerful launch system in operation in the world today, it is the most cost effective.

The two side boosters came back for a successful landings at Cape Canavera:

Two Falcon Heavy side boosters land simultaneously.

It appears the central core did not land successfully at sea but waiting word from SpaceX on exactly what happened with it.

In a few hours, the upper stage is to fire again and send the Tesla Roadster into its long orbit that will reach as far out as the Mars orbit. In the meantime, here are live views from the Roadster:

Yes, this is a screen capture of an actual Tesla Roadster in orbit with the earth in the background taken by a camera on the Falcon second stage:

A screen capture of the Tesla with the earth in the background.

Here is a video of the complete SpaceX webcast of the launch:

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Events, Rockets, Space Systems

Videos: SpaceX to attempt first launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket

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SpaceX hopes to launch its  Falcon Heavy rocket today from Kennedy Space Center. The 3 hour window for the launch opens at 1:30 pm EST  (1830 GMT). There are large crowds reported gathering in the Cape Canaveral area to watch the launch.

Falcon Heavy on Pad 39A on Monday evening, Feb.5, 2018

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk gives this test a 50/50 chance of success. Problems could range from an explosion on the pad due violent interactions of the exhausts of 27 engines firing simultaneously to problems with the two side boosters separating from the core. Here is a recording of a press briefing given by ELon yesterday:

With the high risks for the first launch of a new rocket, usually a boilerplate mock-up of a spacecraft or just plain ballast is used as a payload. Elon instead chose to fly his red Tesla Roadster.

Elon’s red Tesla Roadster set on an adapter before placement in the Falcon Heavy nosecone.

If the flight is a success, the roadster will be sent into an orbit that will see the roadster cycling out to the orbit of Mars and back near earth for the next billion years or so.

Here is a SpaceX animation of the mission. Note that the two side boosters are to return to the Cape for landing on ground pads while the center core will attempt to land on a platform at sea:

About 15-20 minutes before lift off, the SpaceX webcast will go live. You can also watch it here:

As of 12:10 pm EST, the target liftoff time is 2:20 pm EST (1920 UTC) . If the rocket does not get off the ground today, there will be another opportunity on Wednesday afternoon.

Updates and background info on the launch:

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Activism, Education, SpaceCasts

Videos: #AskAbby on The Space and Science Show

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Check out the Astronaut Abby YouTube channel where Abigail Harrison, aka Astronaut Abby, hosts The Space and Science Show #AskAbby series in which she answers questions about space travel topics. Here are the first three shows:

Abby founded The Mars Generation, a 501c3 nonprofit “with a mission to excite and educate kids & adults about STEM education & space exploration and the importance of both to humankind“. She is “currently a student at Wellesley College and aspires to be an astronaut & has a goal to be the first person to step on Mars in the 2030’s“.

Here is a video of a talk given by Abby “about the importance of human space exploration in giving hope to an upcoming generation of bright individuals. I’m helping spread the message about how young people’s access to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) education can contribute to the betterment of humankind“:

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Activism, Space Policy, SpaceCasts

The Space Show this week – Feb.5.2018

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The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, Feb. 5 , 2018: 2-3:30 pm PST (4-5:30 pm CST, 5-6:30 pm EST): We welcome back author Andy Weir to talk about his new book, Artemis.

2. Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018: 7-8:30 pm PST; 9-10:30 pm CST; 10-11:30 pm EST: We welcome the return of Dr. Ashwin Vasavada from JPL for Mars rover updates, the latest Mars findings, possible fossils and more.

3. Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018: Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, Feb. 9, 2018; 9:30 am -11 am PST, (12:30 -2 pm EST; 11:30 am -1 pm CST): We welcome back Frank White and a possible guest speaker to discuss the recently held Overview Effect Symposium from The Netherlands.

5. Sunday, Feb.11, 2018: 12-1:30 pm PST; 2-4:30 pm EST; 2-3:30 pm CST. We welcome back Jim Muncy for policy updates, commercial space news and much more.

See also:
* The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
* The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
* The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - David Livingston
David Livingston
Eyes in the Sky, Living in Space, SpaceCasts

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Feb.2.2018

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Here is NASA’s latest “Space to Ground” report on activities related to the International Space Station:

For finding when the station is flying over your location, click on the SpotTheStation.nasa.gov link mentioned in the program.

In this video, we see photos taken by NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik of spots on Earth, which he then matched up “with pictures he’d taken of the same locations when he’d visited them previously. ”

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