SpaceX

The two are from Spacex

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On March 30, 2017, Spacex launched the European Ses-10 satellite with a rocket that had previously flown and landed with its own engines. It was the first time something similar happened, and it was a transcendental moment in history which has chealed access to space, leading to the megaconstellation of Starlink satellites. Eight years later, there is a second rocket capable of doing the same. The striking thing is that it also belongs to Spacex. From Falcon 9 to Starship. Since that historical moment of 2017, the early stages of the Falcon 9 rocket of Spacex have landed 434 times, taking off again 404 occasions. The propeller that has fly more times has the b1067 serial number. Last May 13 He successfully completed Its mission number 28. 17 of them have been launches of Starlink satellites. Unlike Falcon 9, The gigantic rocket starship It is designed to be totally reusable, but for now it has only demonstrated this capacity for its first stage, the Super Heavy propeller. It is just the second orbital rocket that, eight years after that transcendental mission of Falcon 9, has fly again after a propulsive landing. Goodbye Booster 14, you have made history. The first Super Heavy to reuse has been Booster 14, which first took off on January 16 as part of the Starship Test Flight 7. The 70 -meter high rocket stage returned to the launch tower after separating from the ship, maneuvering with its engines until they were caught by the arms of the tower itself. This May 27, after a restoration process, has flown for the second and last time during the Ninth Starship test flight. Its 33 engines worked perfectly in takeoff, despite the fact that 29 of them were used. Spacex did not plan to reuse the propeller a third time, and took the opportunity to test a new maneuver of stages separation, which went well, and a more aggressive attack angle in the descent, which came out regular. The rocket exploded after re -desencing 12 engines to stop on the Gulf of Mexico. Why it is an important milestone. Although Starship’s ninth mission did not achieve its objectives, the reuse of the super heavy is one more milestone in the program. Such a large rocket had never been reused, in the whole history of space flights, which brings us closer to a new cheaper of satellite throws, since Starship can put in orbit much more more load than a falcon 9 (when Spacex manages to fix the door). Of course, while the complete reuse of the propeller now seems a matter of time, the reuse of the ship remains a challenge for Spacex. The company has to continue it to the design of its thermal shield before it can also catch the starship with the tower. It is something that Spacex hoped to get on flight 10, but now he will have to wait. Special mention for Jeff Bezos. The first stage of Falcon 9 and the first stage of Starship, that is, the Super Heavy propeller, are the only “orbital rockets” with “propulsive landing” in reusing successfully. These dimensions are necessary because the first rocket capable of landing with its own engine that flew twice Little New Shepard from Blue Origin. It is a suborbital rocket, without the capacity to launch load to the terrestrial orbit. In addition to A patent struggle That Jeff Bezos with Elon Musk enhancing, Bezos was responsible for promoting that his rocket had been the first, congratulating Spacex in 2017 to achieve the “second suborbital rocket with reuse capacity”, referring to the fact that, although the Falcon 9 is orbital, its first stage does not reach the orbit before launching the second. Time has played against Blue Origin, whose orbital new Glenn obital debuted with years of delay and without having yet demonstrated its ability to land. The Rocket Lab company also deserves a separate mention, which “fish” its electron rockets in the sea after soft ametering with parachutes. NASA also used parachute to Recover solid accelerators rockets of the space ferry. But none of these technologies is comparable to the rapid and total recovery that Spacex seeks with Starship. Image | Spacex In Xataka | The race to become the “China Spacex”: who is who in their private space releases sector

Elon Musk asked Apple for 5,000 million for exclusive access to Spacex, according to The Information. They had 72 hours to answer

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The iPhone have been offering emergency satellite calls Since 2022, but in reality his ambition in that field began much earlier and went much further. Now we have known that there was a peak in that project. One in which Elon Musk offered an exclusive treatment to Apple, but that the company ended up rejecting. Exclusive access to Spacex. According to The Informationin 2022 Elon Musk learned that Apple I was going to launch a satellite connection service with iPhone 14and then contacted those responsible to make them a proposal. He offered Apple to have exclusive access to Spacex to offer satellite connectivity for 18 months if the company paid 5,000 million initial dollars. After that period, Apple could pay $ 1 billion a year for the service provided by Starlink. You have 72 hours. Elon Musk gave Apple only 72 hours to make a decision, and in fact threatened the company with launching their own service for the iPhone that would make the competition. The tycoon played with better letters: it already had a constellation of operational satellites and the technology necessary to do precisely what Apple had projected. Well, no. Apple ended up rejecting Musk’s offer. Of course: announced the support of SOS satellite emergency callsbut thanks to an alliance With GlobalStar. On the other hand, Elon fulfilled his threat: two weeks before the iPhone 14, Spacex were launched announced an agreement With the T-Mobile operator that allowed smartphones users to send and receive messages in areas without mobile coverage. Project Eagle. Apple’s ambition in this area was started before. In 2015 the engineers of the company They started working in Project Eaglean initiative that would create a satellite network with thousands of satellites to provide broadband Internet not only to iPhone, but also households. It was basically Apple’s Starlink. To carry out that Apple proposal allied with Boeing, and the deployment was scheduled for 2019. But he doesn’t want to be an operator. This project ended up canceling in 2016. In The Information it indicates how Apple spent 36 million dollars in the initial tests of Project Eagle, but there were two major problems that led to their cancellation. The first, doubts about economic viability. The second, even more important, that of fear about that launch could affect the crucial relationships that Apple maintains with telephone operators. AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile-like many others in the rest of the world-could be affected if the company offered this type of service. Apple still does not collect emergency calls. The company continues to offer the SOS satellite emergency call service in the iPhone, but the funny thing is that Still without charging for them. Some analysts believe that Apple fears that if you charge for the service you have to be subject to government regulations that affect operators. Moreover: some employees and managers of the company begin to question the viability of the long -term project. And meanwhile, Starlink extends its claws. What Apple prefers not to do is doing it big elon Musk. A year ago Spacex launched the First set of Starlink satellites with direct connection For smartphones. Today, the Starlink Direct To Cell constellation (DTC) is ready to start Offer LTE coverage from space. It is just an initial offer in beta phase, but still has 10 times more reach that the coverage of any other satellite operator with the same objective. Spacex’s absolute dominance is the great engine of a proposal that can make Starlink, that is already profitableeven more. Image | Fortune Ceo Initiative | Starlink | World Economic Forum In Xataka | The ‘satphones’ are a niche, but the phones with satellite calls will end everywhere

Starship has arrived in space, then has lost control. Spacex is costing horrors to get out of the bump

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Long faces once again in Spacex, despite the advances that Starship’s ninth flight has achieved with respect to its predecessors. And the thing has ended badly for the ship anyway. First Super Heavy. The highest rocket in the world took off seven minutes late at 18:37 of May 27, local time in Starbase. The takeoff was perfect, with 33 of the 33 Raptor engines roaring at the same time, which marks the first reuse of a super heavy propeller. Booster 14 had first flown on flight 7. Although they were restored between Misiones, 29 of their 33 Raptor engines were second hand. One of them, on 314, has taken off today for the third and last time, moving forward in the rapid reuse objective of the two starship stages. Raptor 2 Restored Motors for Flight 9, including 314 with the reference to the PI number Disintegrated in full return. Two and a half minutes after takeoff, the ship turned on its six engines and separated from the propeller. Spacex has tried for the first time a super heavy turn in a controlled direction to save fuel. It has gone well. Next, Booster 14 initiated a more aggressive return sequence, with a higher angle of attack. Six and a half minutes after takeoff, when the propeller had to turn on its engines, it exploded in the air. Due to the experiments in the return maneuver, an explosion was not out of the pools, but it was the worst scenario in this flight phase. The data that Spacex has collected will help to avoid being repeated. Starship has reached space. Meanwhile, the upper stage of the rocket, the Starship 35 ship, continued its trip, reaching for the first time in three attempts a suborbital trajectory that would take it from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean. Although the failure streak of the two previous missions has broken (7 due to a harmonic response that caused propellant leaks and 8 for a hardware failure in a Raptor engine), the ship ended up failing anyway. It is the third prototype of the second generation of Starship. All have failed. Starlink satellite models (center) that were left without going out for the gate (right) The gate has not opened. One of the objectives of this flight was the deployment of eight new generation Starlink satellite models, which would have meant the first time Starship released a useful load. Scheduled for about 18 and a half minutes after takeoff, the test could not be carried out because the cargo bay gate, a mechanism that Spacex knows as “fish dispenser”, did not finish opening, forcing the attempt to leave, as happened on flight 3 of Starship. The ship has lost control. The other similarity of flight 9 with flight 3 is that Starship lost control 30 minutes after launch. The ship began to rotate uncontrolled after Spacex detected a leak in some of the fuel tank systems, many of which are used for the attitude control of the vehicle. As on flight 3, Spacex had to cancel another of the important experiments of this mission: the redempted of one of the Raptor engines in the space flight. But the worst of the failure was not to prove, once again, the improvements and experiments related to the thermal shield and the new ailerons of the ship. Spacex lost contact with Starship 35 during the reentry, thus ending a mission with more shadows than lights. The third second generation starship It has ended like its two predecessors: disintegrating.

Spacex has finally made public why the last Starship exploded. All rumors were wrong

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White and in bottle? Milk. Two Consecutive starships that exploit In the same flight phase, practically in the same minute, in similar ways? Anyone would say that there was a common cause, but it was not so. Context. Spacex has shed light on the explosive loss of Starship During his eighth test flight on March 6. After successfully capturing the Super Heavy propeller, all expectations were set on the ship, which in the previous launch had failed during the ascent phase. After a successful separation and before reaching the necessary altitude to turn off, Spacex detected a flash near one of the central engines of the ship, followed by an “energy event” that made the engine disappear. Shortly after, two other central engines and one of the outer vacuum engines went out, which caused the ship to lose control nine and a half minutes after takeoff. The Starship 34 He disintegrated About the Caribbean. They were not the vibrations. After two consecutive explosions, everyone assumed that the problem had been the same. On flight 7, Starship 33 was lost eight minutes and 20 seconds after takeoff Because of stronger vibrations than expected, that had caused leaks of liquid oxygen and a fire In a non -pressurized area of ​​the lower part of the ship, which Spacex calls the “stern attic”. But it has not been so. “Although the ruling manifested himself at a point similar to that of the seventh flight, it is worth noting that they are clearly different,” Spacex wrote in a recent statement. “The mitigations implemented after flight 7 to solve the problems of harmonic response and flammability of the ship operated by design as planned,” added the company. What arose was a new problem. What happened on flight 8. According to the Spacex statement, the most likely cause of the loss of the ship during the eighth flight was “a hardware failure in one of the central raptor engines of the upper stage of the rocket, which resulted in a mixture and ignition not deliberate of propellents.” In essence, a engine component failed, causing a fuel leak and mixture (liquid methane) with oxidant (liquid oxygen). The consequent explosion destroyed the engine and committed the survival of the ship. Both problems originated in the lower part or stern of Starship, but the failure of flight 7 occurred in the “attic”, and that of flight 8 in the “basement”, the motor bay. All ready for flight 9. To address this new ruling for the ninth flight, Spacex has implemented reinforcements in key starship 35 joints, a new nitrogen purge system and improvements in the propellant drainage system. Later, he plans to introduce the new generation of Raptor 3 engines, with a complete redesign that addresses this type of problem. If there are no more delays, The ninth flight will take off this Tuesday, May 27 At 18:30, local time in Starbase (1:30 on Wednesday in Spain). It will be The first to reuse a super heavy propeller; Specifically, Booster 14, which flew in the seventh mission. The ship, on the other hand, will try again the objectives not achieved on flights 7 and 8, such as the deployment of eight Starlink satellit simulators and multiple reentry experiments. Image | Spacex In Xataka | “ELON, please, come back”: a week after the ninth launch of Starship, something is not going well at SpaceX headquarters

Spacex has been scratching his head for 11 weeks to relaunch Starship. Now he finally has green light to fly again

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After two consecutive explosions At the beginning of the year, Spacex has received permission from the US government for the ninth Starship test flight, which has just been announced for the night of Tuesday, May 27. The company has detailed the changes in the ship and the causes of the previous failure. To the third is the defeated? Starbase technicians have been working frantically to implement improvements in the prototype that will fly in the ninth proof mission of the Starship program. This attempt comes after two consecutive failures of a new version of the ship, known as Starship Block 2. Spacex has completed countless earth tests. After advancing in the investigation of the previous flight and with the authorization of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in hand, everything is ready for the world’s largest rocket to surf the skies again. If there are no setbacks, the launch window will open on Tuesday, May 27 at 18:30, local time of Texas (01:30 in the morning of Wednesday 28 on Spanish peninsular hours). Problem solved. In the two previous flights, which took place in January and March, Starship had a premature and explosive ending: the upper stage engines went out ahead, the ship lost control and ended up disintegrating itself into the upper atmosphere, spreading their remains near the Bahamas and the Turkish Islands and Caicos. A hard blow for Spacex, which had requested permission for 25 Starship test flights per year. The January flight investigation, supervised by the FAA, determined that the flight failure had originated from a liquid oxygen escape and the consequent fire in the ship’s motor compartment, caused by more intense vibrations than expected. Although Spacex made adjustments for the March flight, the ship failed again, giving rise to endless rumors about a design error In Starship version 2, slightly higher and with a new fuel feed system. The findings of the investigation, newly publishedThey reveal that the second incident was not related to the first, and that the vibrations problem had been solved before flight 8. What failed on the flight. According to the March flight investigation, supervised by the FAA, the most likely cause of the loss of the ship was a hardware failure in one of its three central raptor engines. The ruling caused an accidental mixture and ignition, which caused an explosion. Immediately after the explosion, the other two central engines and a vacuum raptor engine went out, causing Starship to lose control again. Spacex believes that the flight termination system was activated after he lost communications with the ship, ensuring its disintegration. The improvements. Since the vibrations problem had already been solved with the implemented mitigations for flight 8, Spacex has now focused on the upper stage of the upper Starship stage, which have received reinforcements in key joints, a new system of nitrogen purge and improvements in the propellente drainage system. It is a temporary solution that will cease to be necessary after the introduction of the raptor 3 engine, which has a more minimalist design with the integration of several components and includes reliability improvements to address this type of failures. Anyway, the FAA takes for good changes in the Raptor 2, highlighting that Spacex “has satisfactorily approached the causes of the mishap of flight 8”. Tuning. A few days ago, the company successfully completed a long -lasting static ignition of the six starship 35 engines, the prototype that it will use in the ninth flight. This test has been an important stumbling block for flight 9 because the ship needed several attempts to complete it. In a first attempt in early May, one of the engines issued a strong flash and part of its material came out. After the successful ignition, the Ship 35 returned to production facilities for final preparations; Presumably, the load of Starlink satellites and touch -up models in their thermal shield. How will flight 9 be. The flight profile of the next week will be very similar to that of failed attempts, but with several important milestones. The super heavy rocket that will boost the ship, the booster 14, will be The first to be reused After its previous January flight, in which it rose to the edge of the space, separated from the Starship ship and returned to the launch platform to be trapped in the air through its mechanical arms. 29 of the 33 propeller engines are “second -hand”, although they were performed exhaustive inspections and only one -use components were replaced (such as the ablative thermal shield). Of course, this time it will not be recovered: the booster 14 will maneuver directly on the sea to Try a flight profile More risky, with a quick turn after the separation of stages, a more aggressive angle in the descent and a deliberately off motor in the spareness maneuver. As for the Starship 35. The ship, on the other hand, will reach more than 160 kilometers of altitude and will demonstrate for the first time the load deployment, launching eight Starlink simulators with its system inspired by the caramels dispensers of fish. An hour after takeoff, it will resent the Indian Ocean to perform controlled ametering. Beyond overcoming the above problems, one of the pending objectives is to prove the improved thermal shield of the Starship Block 2, which will be crucial to reuse the ship. The previous failures prevented the rocket from reaching the point where this shield comes into play: the reentry. Spacex has eliminated a significant number of thermal tiles to test vulnerable areas. On flight 9 will try new metal tiles (One of them with active refrigeration) and new capture accessories for future landings. The new alerons of the ship will also be tested during the reentry. The planes will be further this time. Despite the vote of confidence in Spacex, FAA has imposed some conditions, as the expansion of aerial exclusion zonesboth in the United States and in other countries. The danger zone for aircraft will be extended … Read more

Blue Origin now has a golden opportunity to advance Spacex on trips to the moon. And he is taking advantage of it

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The Lunar exploration panorama has changed with the new US administration. Blue Origin, the Jeff Bezos space company, is strategically positioning to capitalize on the recent turbulence of the NASA Artemis program. Short. With Boeing and Lockheed Martin outside the future lunar missions after the Cancellation of the SLS Rocket and the Orion shiptwo companies are the clear favorite to reconfigure the NASA Artemis program. Although Spacex has led the commercial narrative so far, its focus centered on Mars and the Technological developments of competition They could offer Blue originated a window to, if not advance, at least equate forces in the race towards our natural satellite. First flight this year. John Couluris, the leader of Blue Origin’s lunar efforts, has revealed New details about architecture and The road map From the company’s missions to the moon. In a presentation of the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative Conference, Couluris said Blue Origin planned to do A demonstration flight without crew from its lunar module Blue Moon Mark I to the South Pole of the Moon before the end of the year. Blue Moon Mark I. Blue Origin’s first lunar module was designed to launch aboard the new Glenn rocket. Driven by a single be-7 engine of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, can transport up to 3.9 tons of load anywhere in the lunar surface with a precision in the alun of less than 100 meters, according to Blue Origin. The Mark I will not only serve as a test bench for technologies of the future Blue Moon Mark II ship, Yes with the ability to carry astronautsbut it will transport commercial and NASA useful charges to the Moon, including an experiment to measure the impact of the BE-7 engine on the lunar surface. Blue Moon Mark II. Blue’s true bet for dominating trips to the Moon is its Blue Moon Mark II, capable of taking four astronauts or between 20 and 30 tons of load to the Moon, depending on whether it is the reusable or disposable version. Here the newly announced Cislunar Transporter comes into play, a key piece that improves Blue Origin’s strategy with that of Spacex and its gigantic Starship ship. This vehicle, also driven by BE-7 engines, is designed to transport up to 100 tons of load from the low terrestrial orbit to a lunar orbit. Cislunar Transporter. Blue Origin’s lunar architecture begins with a New Glenn rocket by placing the transport in the low terrestrial orbit. Additional rocket launches would take advantage of the upper stage of the New Glenn to fill the liquid hydrogen and oxygen tug tanks. Once full, the Transporter southern would travel to an almost rectilinear halo (NRHO) next to the moon. The Blue Moon Mark II lunar module, thrown into another New Glenn, would go to that same orbit, where it would be attached to the transport to recharge its tanks, obtaining the necessary fuel to alunize and return to the NRHO. Simpler than Starship. Blue Origin’s architecture is easier than the HLS system of Spacex, in which a starship stays in terrestrial orbit and has to be coupled with several starship-cysterna (a maximum of eight, a maximum of eight, a maximum of eight, According to Elon Musk) Before recovering enough fuel to travel to the moon. On the other hand, Blue Origin is moving forward in the storage technology of cryogenic propellants without evaporation (“Zero Boil-Off”) that he hopes to demonstrate in June 2025 to solve one of the main problems of liquid fuels in long-term missions. An opportunity. These Blue Origin advances charge special relevance to the drastic cuts proposed for NASA. The 2026 budgets propose the cancellation of the SLS rocket and the Orion ship after the Artemis III mission, scheduled for 2027, which will use a Spacex starship to transport astronauts from the lunar orbit to the satellite surface. This dismantling of the Artemisa program As we know it leaves a vacuum that the White House intends to fill with rockets and commercial ships that allow more ambitious subsequent lunar missions. Although Spacex with Starship is an obvious candidate, Blue Origin is making it difficult. Images | Blue Origin In Xataka | The last eeuu slap to Europe has sounded up to space: NASA has just left ESA with Artemis

One week after the ninth launch of Starship, something is not going well at the Spacex headquarters

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There are few days left for the expected ninth test flight of Starship. Is scheduled, according to the Notice to navigatorsfor next Wednesday, May 21; And the tension is palpable. Not just because two previous starship will explode Before reaching its objective height, but because the situation in Starbase is quite similar to a pressure cooker. Morality in minimums. In recent days accusations have appeared on poor management of Starbase Since Elon Musk spends more time in the White House than at the company’s headquarters. A toxic work culture, serious security failures and managers’ behavior is undermining the moral of employees and putting the future of the company at risk, according to these complaints, published mainly on the social network X. The accusations, mainly poured by Morgan Wyatt Khan and Dylan Small, both ex -employed from Spacex, draw a bleak panorama in Starbase, the city that Elon Musk is building in Texas next to the factory and the starship launch facilities, the highest and most powerful rocket in the world. What should be a hotbed of enthusiasm seems to have become, for some, a hostile work environment. Risk situations. Morgan Wyatt Khan, who worked by installing engines in Starship, regrets having to leave a job he loved for the “disgusting and demoralizing behavior of the address.” In your messages, Ask for a Starbase audit and denounces the lack of knowledge and respect for the hardware from some workers. He also says he has seen robberies and risk situations, such as nitrogen exposure or the presence of “stones, screws, garbage and human waste” inside the rockets. He even mentions that the bosses ignored safety problems related to defective hydraulic systems and wonders if they are due to a negligent design or that “Elon has left Spacex in automatic pilot while dedicated to his adventures in the White House.” A “terrible” management. Dylan Small, who worked at Falcon 9 and later in Starship, describes the “terrible” Starbase management. Small recounts how he contracted tuberculosis during his stay in Starbase and the company handled the situation “unacceptable”, with “zero real support and a complete lack of attention.” Small denounces that Engineers attributed foreign ideasthat their requests to establish more efficient schedules were rejected and that I had never seen “so much personnel rotation and administrative dysfunction.” “Friends with more than 15 years in Spacex wonder what the hell has happened.” We need you, Elon. “Moral is low. People are burned and start feeling abandoned. Please come back and travel the plant,” Small writes in a message addressed to Elon Musk. “Talk to the technicians, the welders, the crane operators, the quality inspectors. Everyone continues to believe in the mission. They need you to help rekindle the spark.” The situation has reached such an extent that Musk himself responded to the accusations confirming that will be in Starbase next week To give a talk to employees before launch. Is Elon the solution? That is the big question. Elon Musk’s incursion into politics and his radical messages about immigration or gender ideology have led to, even within their companies, there is a growing division of opinions about his figure. Nor is it that Musk is known for promoting a healthy and pleasant work culture. His style tends more to micromanagement already exalt the overfoundputting as an example Your holiday aversion and the nights he has slept in his companies. As May water. At the moment of truth, morality will not improve unless Starship’s 9 flight is successful. To the explosions of flights 7 and 8 you have to add problems with an engine in a recent ignition test. Spacex needs, as May water, that the Starship 35 completes its objectives. But the most interesting thing will surely happen behind the scenes, where Elon Musk or some of their trusted people must take action on the matter to straighten the internal course of the company. Image | Spacex In Xataka | The most rocambolesque history of Spacex: an explosion, a sniper and enmity between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg

NOAA detected metals in the atmosphere mainly associated with Spacex. The White House has liquidated its research

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The United States Government has just truncated One of the most intriguing research on spatial pollution. A decision that, according to some suspicious voices, is beneficial for the commercial interests of Elon Musk. The latest Trump. In the absence of budgets being approved in Congress, the White House seeks to eliminate the financing of two key research projects on contamination caused by rockets and satellites. The plan is part of the drastic cuts that, along with NASAhas suffered the scientific arm of the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research of the United States: the NOAA. A striking finding. At the end of 2023, US atmospheric researchers discovered a growing accumulation of metals in the stratosphere. A team led by NOAA analyzed the sulfuric acid particles sampled by the NASA WB-57 plane on flights of great altitude over Alaska and the western media. He study He identified more than 20 different elements, including lithium, aluminum, copper and other more exotic metals, such as niobium and hafnium. These materials are not found naturally in the atmosphere. They are linked to the space industry, and therefore, they were associated with the increasingly frequent redeeme of rockets and satellites, which vaporize exorbiting. The scope of the problem is still unknown. It is feared, for example, that an exponential increase can damage the ozone layer, which acts as a shield against ultraviolet rays, further destabilizing the climate. Goodbye to research. NOAA’s efforts to solve these doubts were already underway. On the one hand, a continuity study to take new atmospheric samples. On the other, a workshop in which the private industry participated to explore possible solutions. Both remain without federal financing with the cuts, which will force them to cancel them if the budgets are approved. Although the White House has proposed all kinds of science cuts, the PUBLUEPLOYEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY Organization spokesman said The Guardian That in this case “there is a political motivation”, relating NOAA’s work with the commercial interests of Elon Musk. The Spacex factor. There had never been so many satellite releases because there had never been a rocket capable of landing on their legs. Elon Musk’s aerospace company puts more than 80% of the payload launched to space, in terms of mass. Almost all are satellites of the Starlink constellation, which has become a strategic asset for the United States. Spacex has launched about 8,400 Starlink satellitesof which 1,080 have already reentred. Although Starlink is the largest constellation, other companies have similar plans to launch tens of thousands of satellites to the low terrestrial orbit; Among them, several Chinese startup and the Amazon technological giant, with its satellite internet project Kuiper. In total, the number of satellites in orbit could grow up to 100,000 in the coming years. And with it, the number of atmospheric reentradas. And so every five years. Spacex satellites and the incipient Kuiper constellation orbit the land less than 600 km altitude. Due to the effect of atmospheric braking, they reduce their height and end up burning in the atmosphere five years after its launch. Also the rockets, including the upper stage of Falcon 9, exorbitita to disintegrate in the atmosphere. This is the desirable: that the Space garbage “recycle” in the shortest possible time. But the cadence of launches, headed by Starlink, is producing several resentments per day, that will soon become dozenand then in hundreds. The effect of these daily metal injections in the atmosphere is something that other countries will now have to investigate, at least with public funds. Image | Caribbean Astronomy Society In Xataka | Spacex rockets are opening red holes in the atmosphere. They call them “Spacex Auroras”

When Spacex suffered his worst incident, Elon Musk blamed a sniper of the competition. The FBI had to intervene

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On the morning of September 1, 2016, Spacex suffered one of the most cautious and controversial incidents in its history. A Falcon 9 rocket that was vertical on the launch platform Suddenly exploded With the Israeli satellite A Amos-6 aboard. Elon Musk accused the competition. A violent explosion. It was one of the first times that Spacex operated the Falcon 9 rocket with cryogenic propelants, a technique that consists in superfrging the fuel and oxidant to maximize its performance. Before the launch, Spacex had planned a static ignition test, a routine procedure in which engines are tested with the rocket anchored to the platform, but everything was twisted eight minutes before ignition. A violent explosion transformed what was a rocket into a huge fireball. The payload was shot. Mark Zuckerberg’s anger. The AMOS-6 satellite was not any load. With a cost of 200 million dollars, he had a powerful customer: Mark Zuckerberg. Goal, then Facebook, had reached an agreement to provide Free Internet Access in Africa Thanks to the satellite. After the explosion, Zuck He publicly expressed A “deep disappointment” for the rocket explosion, comments that did not sit well in Spacex, where morality was on the ground. According to Ars Techcnicathis incident was one of the points of origin of the bad relationship between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, which years later would lead the first to eliminate Spacex and Tesla’s Facebook pages. The theory of the sniper. The most trospid of the incident was, however, the theory promoted by Elon Musk about the possible intervention of a sniper. Theory in which Spacex insisted throughout the official investigation of the incident, According to documentation that has just become public. Although Spacex engineers shuffled hundreds of hypotheses, Elon Musk promoted the idea of ​​an external sabotage: the shot of a sniper. It sounds crazy, but Musk saw the two main indications convincing: the break began about 60 meters high, on the side of the rocket that looked towards a building leased by its main competitor, United Launch Alliance. An alleged ULA shot. The ULA building, a joint business of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, was a kilometer and a half of the Spacex launch platform, a reasonable distance for a sniper. Put to believe, even seemed to see a flash on the roof of the building, coinciding with the time it would take a projectile to reach the rocket. The rivalry between SpaceX and ULA had then reached its peak. Ul still dominated the market of military and government launches, the most lucrative, but Spacex had just won a battle in the courts to compete for these contracts. However, accusing a sabotage competitor without evidence was a serious accusation. The FBI came to intervene. Azuzados by Musk, Spacex engineers thoroughly investigated the sniper theory. They tried to access the ULA roof and performed shooting against pressurized helium tanks to see if they exploited similarly to Falcon 9. The insistence was such that the Federal Aviation Administration had to intervene with a letter that denied the involvement of third parties. There was no sniper, although, as the documentation of the journalist Eric Berger has revealed For your book Recentryeven the FBI investigated the case. The federal agents reviewed the Spacex analysis and the video material, but they concluded that “there were no indications that suggested that sabotage or any other criminal activity played a role in the explosion of Falcon 9”. With this, FAA considered the closed matter. What happened then. The real cause of the rocket explosion and, with it, of the AMOS-6 satellite, was the process of loading propellents. In its eagerness to accelerate the refueling process with super -refrained liquid oxygen, the Spacex equipment filled the helium tanks too fast, heating the aluminum coating of the rocket and causing its deformation and rupture. Spacex would put the hair of Punta to the NASA security office for its procedure “Load and Go”, which proposed to raise astronauts to the rocket before loading fuel. Over time, not only would demonstrate the reliability of Falcon 9 (Last year he completed 137 launches against the five of ULA), but would become the main supplier of NASA manned releases to the International Space Station. Images | And combinator, Uslaunchreport, CNN Money (YouTube) In Xataka | Texas has a new city. Until a few days ago, it was only Spacex’s base in Boca Chica

Starbase has acquired municipality status with a Spacex employee as mayor

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The residents of the small community that surrounds the Spacex headquarters in Boca Chica, southeast of Texas, have overwhelmingly voted in favor of constituting the city of Starbase. A step that gives Elon Musk’s company an unprecedented level of autonomy to develop the huge Starship rocket. Only six votes against. As We count in DecemberSpacex had initiated legal procedures to turn its growing Texan complex into an independent municipality. The movement followed Musk’s decision to transfer the official Head of California to Texas, in search of a more favorable regulatory and fiscal environment, and With explicit support From the state governor, Greg Abbott. Now, that plan has materialized. The vote took place on Saturday and resulted in 212 votes in favor and only six againstaccording to the Cameron County Elections Department. It is not a surprise, taking into account that the vast majority of the approximately 283 eligible voters within the territory of 3.9 square kilometers are employees of Spacex or their relatives. Who is the new mayor. The city of Starbase will be governed by a municipal commission of three members, composed, as expected, by three people linked to Spacex who presented themselves to the position without opposition. The mayor is Bobby Peden, current vice president of tests and releases in Texas de Spacex. Jenna Petrzelka, former Starbase Engineering Operations Manager, and Jordan Buss, current Senior Director of Environmental Health and Safety of Spacex, will be the other two councilors. Why does Spacex need your own city? The key is the control and agility that it gains with change. According to A letter to the authorities Signed at the end of 2024 by Kathryn Lueders (General Director of Starbase and former director of NASA manned flights), Starbase acquires greater autonomy to expedite the development of Starship and the colonization of Mars. With the city status, the Municipal Commission (Spacex controlled) has authority over zoning, construction projects and other aspects of local life. Although it is not a blank check to ignore state or federal regulations, it gives them considerable power to mark their own rhythm. Spacex was already de facto managing some infrastructure, such as the road (whose traffic frequently interrupts for evidence and rocket transfers). And already provided medical attention or education (the Astra Nova School of Elon Musk) to the families of employees. Starbase has a housing problem. Constituting the city of Starbase, Spacex has eliminated many bureaucratic friction to build the necessary infrastructure to attract and retain talent in its new headquarters. A critical point is housing. The company had no power to build enough houses for the hundreds of workers who would like to live near Starbase. Currently, some 260 employees live there with their families, almost 500 people. Other 3,100 move from Brownsville and nearby areas. In fact, a recent attempt to build more attached houses was rejected by the county. A controversial control over the beach. The creation of this “business city” is not exempt from criticism. Ecological groups and local residents have been expressing their concern for the growing control of Elon Musk about the area, especially with regard to access to the popular Beach of Boca Chica and the adjacent state park. For now, the closure of the road and the beach for the spacex launches and tests required the county authorization. However, there are legislative initiatives in Texas, promoted in parallel to the creation of the city, to transfer that closing authority directly to the Mayor and the City of Starbase. Spacex argues that this would speed up the releases now that they are looking for federal permission to increase the frequency of 5 to 25 per year. Following the steps of Toyota or Huawei. The creation of Starbase as a city follows a pattern that we already saw with Toyota City in Japan or the huge residential campus and R&D of Huawei in China. Also in urban projects such as the neighborhood Sidewalk Torontopromoted by Google in Canada. For Spacex, having its own city is another step to strengthen its mastery of space releases with Starship, whose ultimate goal is to take humans to Mars. Now, officially starbly on the map, Elon Musk has a little more control over his Texan fief to try to convert that vision into reality, although the controversy and scrutiny, without a doubt, will remain there. Image | Spacex In Xataka | Leaving California is just the first step: Spacex has started the procedures to create an independent city in Texas

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