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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2020 3:09:00 GMT
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Post by swamprat on Apr 24, 2020 15:27:17 GMT
NASA chief to space fans: Don't travel to Florida to watch SpaceX's 1st astronaut launch
By Chelsea Gohd 15 hours ago
"We are asking people to join us in this launch, but to do so from home."
As NASA tackles the coronavirus pandemic with the rest of the nation, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine urges and warns space enthusiasts to stay home next month during SpaceX's historic first astronaut launch.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and other agency leaders made the public plea Thursday (April 23) during an hour-long video conference on the agency's response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Bridenstine spoke candidly about the SpaceX's upcoming Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch, which will be NASA's first mission to launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil since the agency's space shuttle program ended in 2011.
"Yes, we are moving forward [with Demo-2]," Bridenstine said. "We are very excited about launching commercial crew." The mission , he added, will restore NASA's access to the International Space Station aboard American spacecraft, which "is a mission-essential function."
But, Bridenstine said, the crowds of space fans that normally turn out for such a launch should stay at home due to social distancing concerns related to the coronavirus.
"We are asking people to join us in this launch, but to do so from home. We're asking people not to travel to the Kennedy Space Center."
"We're trying to make sure we have access to the International Space Station without drawing the massive amount of crowds that we usually would," Bridenstine added.
SpaceX is one of two companies (Boeing is the other) with multi-billion-dollar NASA contracts to launch astronauts to the space station on a commercial spacecraft. Both companies flew uncrewed test flights in 2019, but SpaceX is the first to launch American astronauts into orbit on an U.S.-built rocket from U.S. soil since the shuttles retired. The Demo-2 mission will launch NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the station.
With such an historic spaceflight, Bridenstine said NASA expects crowds would be even larger than an average launch if there was no pandemic underway. But despite that excitement, Bridenstine stressed that people should "watch from a place that's not the Kennedy Space Center."
The space center will actually be closed to the public during the launch, so typical viewing tickets won't be available, Bridenstine said. Local and state authorities will have to take their own measures for the spectators that flock to nearby public roads and beaches for a launch, he added.
NASA is also taking precautions with its own workforce.
The agency is at "Stage 4" of its "response framework." This means that all agency facilities are completely shut down and all personnel are working remotely with the exception of mission-critical personnel whose work protects lives or is critical to maintain infrastructure. NASA employees are even controlling NASA's Curiosity Mars rover from home right now.
In addition to those measures, Bridenstine said, any NASA employees who feel uncomfortable working on the project can request to be reassigned to another position or role that can be done home with absolutely no retribution. However, he added, very few have requested reassignment as "this is a very exciting project and the NASA workforce is very excited about it."
With these measures in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, NASA is continuing to make progress both in science and spaceflight missions, as well as with technology developments designed explicitly to fight the disease.
While NASA has had to put some science missions on hold, Bridenstine said, the agency is still doing science with data collected by probes already in space and is still planning to launch the Mars Perseverance rover in July.
"We are, in fact, persevering and we're going to launch this robot to Mars," Bridenstine said in response to a Space.com question during Thursday's briefing.
"We are very proud of staying on schedule," added David Gallagher, the associate director for strategic integration at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Putting the robot in storage would be extremely expensive and they want to avoid putting off the mission, he said.
Tackling coronavirus head-on
In addition to shifting mission timelines and working to ensure the safety of their staff, NASA is also working to develop technologies to be used to treat COVID-19 patients.
NASA engineers have stepped up to the plate and developed a unique COVID-19 specific ventilator that uses one-seventh the parts of a multi-purpose ventilator that would typically be used in an intensive care unit, NASA's Chief Health and Medical Officer Dr. J.D. Polk shared during the briefing. They are additionally developing a CPAP (or Continuous positive airway pressure) hood to treat patients who do not yet need ventilators, Mike Buttigieg, an engineer at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, who is working on the new hood, added.
Both of these novel technologies have been submitted to the FDA for emergency use authorization so that they can pass more quickly through testing and get to patients in need faster, NASA officials said.
www.space.com/nasa-spacex-crew-dragon-demo-2-travel-advisory-coronavirus.html
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Post by swamprat on May 5, 2020 0:10:33 GMT
Elon Musk shows off Starship prototype's rocket engine ahead of test fire
By Mike Wall 4 hours ago
The single Raptor engine looks pretty lonely.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk posted this image of the SN4 Starship prototype, with its single Raptor engine, on the test stand in South Texas on May 3, 2020. (Image: © Elon Musk via Twitter)
A new photo shows just how big SpaceX's Starship Mars-colonizing vehicle will be.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted an image Sunday (May 3) looking up at the belly of the latest Starship prototype, the SN4, which is on the test stand at the company's South Texas site. The shot shows the SN4's single Raptor engine, looking extremely lonely in the center of a 30-foot-wide (9 meters) expanse.
As Musk noted, the Raptor will get a workout soon, in the form of a "static fire" test, during which the engine will blaze while the rocket is tied down. Indeed, SpaceX aimed to perform the engine test Sunday night but called it off because the Raptor's liquid methane propellant got too warm, Musk explained in another tweet. The next attempt will come soon, likely sometime today (May 4).
If the static fire goes well, SpaceX will start gearing up for an uncrewed test flight with the SN4, taking the prototype about 500 feet (150 m) into the South Texas skies.
Future prototypes will go much higher. For instance, the SN5 will have three Raptors, and SpaceX wants to send that vehicle about 12 miles (20 kilometers) up, Musk has said.
The final Starship will be more powerful still, boasting six engines. The 165-foot-tall (50 m), 100-passenger craft will be capable of blasting itself off the surface of the moon and Mars, Musk has said.
But Starship will need help breaking free of our planet's gravitational grip. So it will launch off Earth atop a giant rocket called Super Heavy, which will be powered by dozens of Raptors. (In earlier designs, Super Heavy could boast 37 engines. But Musk recently tweeted that the rocket will be powered by "only" 31 Raptors.)
Both Super Heavy and Starship will be fully reusable, potentially slashing the cost of spaceflight enough to enable the colonization of Mars, Musk has said. And the Red Planet isn't the pair's only exploration target; the moon is also in play. For example, NASA just awarded SpaceX a contract to develop Starship as a lunar lander, to ferry astronauts to the moon's surface for the agency's Artemis program, which aims to land humans in 2024.
Two other industry groups got similar human-lander contracts: Alabama-based Dynetics and a team headed by Blue Origin, the spaceflight company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Not all of the privately developed landers will necessarily end up flying NASA astronauts; the agency will assess the designs and decide which ones to continue funding. Ultimately, NASA will choose from among the vehicles that make it through to operational flight, purchasing landing missions as transportation services.
www.space.com/starship-sn4-rocket-engine-elon-musk-photo.html
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2020 16:12:16 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2020 13:05:45 GMT
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Post by swamprat on May 23, 2020 16:53:21 GMT
Today's winning Facebook post:
by Kyle Nordberg, Space-X
I don't know if this will get approved, but I have to say it.
I've worked for SpaceX for 5 years on Tuesday.
My stomach is in knots. In a good way.
I was there for our first landing. This feeling is that feeling x10.
I have all confidence that we will do this. We are badass people doing badass things. Everyone I work with has done everything we can to make this successful.
To my fellow coworkers...let's do this.
To Doug and Bob...let's do this. I promise you that I have done the best work I can do to make this happen. I'm confident my colleagues have as well.
I cannot wait for Wednesday.
Crew Dragon FTW.
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Post by swamprat on May 25, 2020 22:39:34 GMT
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Post by plutronus on May 27, 2020 15:59:41 GMT
The two NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley both flew on a Space Shuttle mission and both are slated to dock with the InterNational Space Station around 19 hours after launch. There have been no known manned US launches since President Obama grounded the Space Shuttle in 2011, in doing so President Obama laid off 115,000 people nationwide, but one can't pay for the Free Meal for everyone and the Illegal Hispanic Foreign Nationals pouring into the US and have a costly space plane at the same time. This SpaceX launch is a big deal!! Remember what the Russian ambassador said to us when the US started crossing swords with them? "How are you gonna get your astronauts into orbit, use a trampoline?" Our mutual space missions may be the only reason we are not at war with them?! The Soyuz while are almost just a tin can with a hatch, it has been very reliable and it lands, rather roughly and abruptly, on land!!! SpaceX space vehicles will eventually take-off and land at airports.
(what ya know, what a surprise 'the 'NY Times' can actually do news aside from bad mouthing President Trump)
Scheduled Launch Time (if weather permits):
1:30 PM PST 2:30 PM MST 3:30 PM CST
4:30 PM EST
10:30 PM UK Time? 5:30 AM Australia (Perth) Time? (check it not certain)
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Post by plutronus on May 27, 2020 20:18:49 GMT
Launch Control scrubbed SpaceX launch at 1:13 PST due to non-compliant weather!
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Post by plutronus on May 27, 2020 20:27:48 GMT
Hmm so much for **LIVE** video, about a 45 second delay between Spectrum Cable NASA Channel TV and NASA 'LIVE' at URL: www.nasa.gov/nasalive
To clarify, NASA 'LIVE' TV exhibits the 45 second delay, whereas cable TV is apparently real-time...maybe its also delayed before it is broadcast?
Can't trust anything seen on TV or stated by government agencies....
plutronus
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Post by swamprat on May 27, 2020 21:44:47 GMT
The next launch attempt is Saturday, May 30, at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT)
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Post by Deleted on May 30, 2020 18:50:46 GMT
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Post by SysConfig on May 30, 2020 20:59:51 GMT
Russians not happy losing a good customer..I am very impressed with Elon..and have a renewed sense of optimism America is back on track
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Post by swamprat on May 31, 2020 13:24:52 GMT
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Post by swamprat on May 31, 2020 16:19:10 GMT
The SpaceX Crew Dragon makes five spaceships parked at the station.
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