SpaceX

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

The US wants to build an unprecedented antimisile shield called “Golden Dome”. And Spacex has suitable technology

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The idea of ​​an antimile shield that protects the United States from enemy attacks is not even original. Already in the era reagan, The country fantasized with an initiative nicknamed “Star Wars” That never saw the light. Now, the Trump administration wants to dust off the project with technology of the 21st century and a more intimidating name: “Golden Dome” (the golden dome). With Spacex technology. A technological consortium headed by Spacex, the Aerospace Company of Elon Musk, leads the race to develop part of the Golden Dome, Publish Reuters. Its proposal consists of a constellation of between 400 and more than a thousand satellites dedicated to detecting enemy missiles, following its trajectory and determining if they suppose a threat to the territory of the United States. Other separate fleet of about 200 satellites (armed with missiles or lasers) would be responsible for intercepting missiles; Although the group led by Spacex would not be, according to Reuters, involved in the offensive part of the system. Old acquaintances. In addition to Spacex, two other technology companies are part of the initiative: Palantir Technologies and Anduril Industries. Palantir is a government software co -founded by Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, old acquaintances of Musk. Anduril specializes in military drones and Autonomous Defense Technologies; Its most famous founder is Palmer Lukey, the creator of the Virtual Virtual Rift helmets. All of them, very aligned entrepreneurs and Donald Trump’s millionaire donors. If you liked, subscribe. The approach proposed by Spacex, Palantir and Anduril has an unorthodox turn for a defense contract for this magnitude: a subscription model. Instead buy and own satellite infrastructure, the Pentagon would pay a fee to access its services. This model, always according to reuters, could expedite the implementation by dodging the conventional procurement protocols of the Pentagon, but would also tie the government to a supplier and limit its control over the development and future prices of technology. After the publication of Reuters, which generated comments on possible conflicts of interest and worse things, Elon Musk responded in his X profile: “This is not true”, without giving more details. From Iron Dome to Golden Dome. The inspiration in the name seems clear: the Israeli iron dome. But the differences also appear in sight: Israel is a small country, with short -range threats. The United States is a continental country exposed to attacks from multiple vectors and with new threats, as the hypersonic missiles developed by Russia and Chinawhose erratic trajectories and extreme speed challenge current systems. Replicating the iron dome on an American scale is technical and economically unfeasible. Hence, the alternative that right now has more ballots is a solution based on the Starlink satellite constellation, which would cost between 6,000 and 10,000 million dollars. More politics than defense, for now. Although Spacex and its technological partners seem to be in the lead, traditional defense giants such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX or Boeing are not far behind and also bid on the part of the cake. The Pentagon has received proposals from more than 180 companies. The big question is whether Golden Dome will really be a defensive revolution against real threats (such as hypersonic weapons or orbital bombing systems) or If it’s just an electoral promise closer to the science fiction of Star Wars than to a pragmatic military strategy. If something has taught us the current administration is that nothing they are going to do tomorrow is predictable. Images | Peter Thiel and Elon Musk (PayPal), Starlink Stelas (Lowell) In Xataka | Space energy never worked. A military escalation in orbit is making it come true

12 years after making fun of Spacex and his idea of ​​landing rockets, Arianegroup is creating a European mini-falcon 9

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Year 2013. An Arianespace manager gives his opinion on Spacex in a symposium in Singapore. His statements still resonate in the European space industry as a summary of the 10 or 20 years lost that now, Arianegroup and the European New Space They are trying recover. “They will wake up.” The question was: how Arianespace will compete, the French company that has been launching all the rockets of Europe for 40 years, with the launch of 15 million dollars that Spacex promises. This was what Richard Bowles repliedDirector of Arianespace in Southeast Asia: “They are progressing incredibly well, but what I see in the market is that Spacex seems to be selling mainly a dream. We should all dream, but the releases of 5 million or 15 million dollars are a dream. And personally I think that reuse is a dream.” “I feel that the question is how I am going to answer a dream. And my answer to answer a dream is’ do not wake up people, they have to wake up on their own.” “They are not superhombres, whatever they can do, we can do it too.” The awakening. Breaking a spear in favor of Bowles, very few would have opted for Spacex in 2013, much less a corporation with the European launch monopoly. By nature, large companies have risk aversion and cannot maneuver with the agility of a startup. However, time gave Elon Musk reason. In 2024, Arianespace launched three rockets: A Ariane 6, A Vega and a Vega-C. Spacex, meanwhile, launched 132 Falcon 9 and two Falcon Heavy. He also beat the reuse record with 26 launches and landings for the first stage of a Falcon 9. Themis project. Arianegroup began to maneuver in 2019 at the request of the French space agency CNES. ARIANEWORKSa collaboration between the two entities, announced the development of a multipurpose rocket of low cost and reusable, known as theomis project. The project received 33 million euros of initial financing. Although the first jump test (a vertical flight of low altitude) was scheduled for 2023, It has been delaying. Themis will merge with another rocket that has ended up being more promising. A rocket called Maia. In 2022, Arianegroup founded Maiaspace, a subsidiary that, this time, would work as a startup. His Maia rocket, competition of Miura 5 of Pld Space and the Spectrum by Isar Aerospacecan put up to 500 kg in Heliosíncrona orbit in its reusable version. Its first stage is essentially the lake that, of methane and liquid oxygen, with the ability to land in a barge in the ocean shortly after taking off from the Space Center of the French Guiana. Skyhopper project. While Maiaspace continues with the disposable version of his rocket (he already has a first client, Exotrails satellites), A newly announced project will develop the necessary modifications so that the first stage of Maia can land. He Skyhopper project It will focus that the propeller can recover, restore and reuse within 12 months since its launch. The first stage could be used again at least five times. CNES has awarded a contract of at least 20 million euros to Maiaspace to lead this advance. The first landing is planned for 2028. Image | Maiaspace In Xataka | “Elon Musk can monopolize everything,” says Arianespace, who has been launching all Europe’s satellites for 40 years

Gwynne Shotwell, the chief of Spacex in the shadow of Elon Musk

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Gwynne Shotwell has appeared for the first time on the list of Forbes billionaires, with a fortune that the magazine estimates at 1.2 billion dollars. Billionaire The Spacex President It only has a 0.3% participation in the Aerospace Company of Elon Musk, but the company’s last investment round, which does not quote on the stock market, fired its valuation to 350,000 million dollarswhich has given a good push to Shotwell’s heritage. According to Forbes, Gwynne Shotwell’s fortune, 61, It is now 1.2 billion dollarshis first “billion” on the American short scale. As the data is not public, the figure is based on the compensation on actions received by the first Spacex employees. Faith jump. Shotwell joined Spacex in 2002 as employee number 11, changing a safe job in Microcosm for a company that had everything to demonstrate, at a time when Boeing and Lockheed Martin had no competition and Shotwell was divorcing with two young children. Mechanical training engineer, he told Musk “I’m a complete idiot” when he asked why he wanted to change a company established to Spacex. His first big challenge in the company was to sell to customers the Falcon 1 rocket and obtain permits for its launch. When the first three attempts failed, Shotwell had the difficult task of maintaining investors. Path. In 2007, Shotwell managed to convince Iridium, another consolidated company, to sign a contract with Spacex, despite the fact that at that time their rockets had not yet been successful. After three failures, Falcon 1 first reached orbit in 2008, which promoted a decisive contract with NASA to develop the Dragon ship, which would begin to transport load to the International Space Station. That same year, Musk amounted to Shotwell to President and Operations Director. Since then, Gwynne Shotwell has achieved key contracts with NASA, Pentagon and many commercial companies. Orchestra Director. In addition to the boss in Musk’s shadow, Shotwell is the only executive who has been working with the complicated entrepreneur for more than two decades. Musk is the visionary, but Shotwell contributes almost everything: stability, operational efficiency and diplomatic management. Shotwell has managed to accelerate the Rhythm of Development of Spacex, keeping in balance the many elements of a company that designs and manufactures its own rockets and satellites, and operates its own releases. There are no two spacex. In 2024, Spacex completed 134 orbital launches, almost triple that its closest competitor: the state company China Casc with 48 launches. Thanks to Starlink, Spacex puts in orbit 83% of all world’s satellitesself -confinction with its satellite Internet service the development of Starship, which will allow you to launch Starlink at an even greater pace. The constellation Starlink grew up to 7,000 satellitesreaching 5 million users (90% more than in 2023). Morgan Stanley estimates that Starlink generated 900 million dollars of operational benefit on revenues of 9.3 billion last year. Pragmatic and effective, Shotwell has been key in all these operations, an effort that now sees rewarded with his first “Billón”. Images | NASA, Spacex In Xataka | Who is Gwynne Shotwell, the shadow engineer who has taken Spacex and Elon Musk to space

After two catastrophic failures, we believed that Spacex would not risk with the next starship. We were wrong

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Starship’s next flight will be one of the most tense in the history of the rocket. Not only because the last two releases will end in paths explosions and with deviated airplanes to avoid the rain of rubble. Also because it will be the first time that Spacex reuse a rocket. Zero-Touch reflight. In addition to a 123 meters high mole, Starship is the first rocket designed to be quickly reusable. Spacex’s idea is that Starship takes off, lands and throws himself again after a few hours, as if it were a commercial plane. The company has partially advanced in this Objective of “Zero-Touch Desflight” or relaunch without intervention. The first stage of the rocket, the 33 -engines Super Heavy propeller, has landed in the arms of the launch tower three times: Booster 12 in flight test 5, Booster 14 in flight test 7 and Booster 15 in flight test 8. It was planned that the second stage of the rocket, the six -engines Starship ship, would make its first landing attempt during flight 9. To do this, the earth would orbit and re -enter the atmosphere until they perch on the arms of the second launch tower; Already finished in Starbase, Texas. However, the last two starship exploded at 8 minutes of takeoff For a defect in a redesign recent. A second -hand super heavy. The expected thing was that Spacex was taken calmly to flight 9 to compensate for the last failures, but the company has just announced a surprising decision. The next launch, scheduled for mid -April (if the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States is approved), will be done reusing the booster 14 of flight 7. This propeller first took off on January 16, 2025 and, after separating from the Starship ship, returned to the launch base to become the second Super Heavy that Spacex has captured with the arms of the Mechazilla tower. Of the 33 Raptor engines that you will wear during your second launch, 29 are already used engines. Another rocket that lands and takes off. The only orbital rocket with demonstrated capacity for propulsive landing is the Falcon 9 of Spacex. Specifically, its first stage, which usually lands in an autonomous barge in the ocean after throwing satellites or spacecraft. A few weeks later, you are ready to reuse (Generally, in Starlink missions). The second rocket to get it could be Starship, also from Spacex. Not in the “Zero-Touch reflight” mode, but after a restoration process and changing some engines, but it is a first step. And in fact, it is a step that nobody else has achieved apart from Spacex. The company that is closest is Blue Origin, who tried unsuccessfully on the opening flight of the New Glenn rocket. In China, Landspace is also achieved with his Zhuque 3 rocket. There will be no second capture. The bad news is that Spacex will not try to capture the Booster 14. The rocket, which has just passed some ignition tests on land, will merit in a controlled way in the Gulf of Mexico to test a more pronounced attack angle during the re -entry, which in the future will allow you to perform other flight profiles. Anyway, all eyes will be put in the Starship 35the third ship of the “Block 2” version. Its two predecessors exploded shortly after separating from the Super Heavy propeller, both for a flight of propellents due to excessive vibrations in the engines area. Starship 33 disintegrated after a fire and Starship 34 lost control after the explosion of an engine. The investigation of flight 8 is still open, so FAA has not yet given its authorization for flight 9. Even so, we should not take long to see it, taking into account that the rocket is almost ready and the renewed political power of Elon Musk It has already allowed accelerating the procedures in the previous releases. Image | Spacex In Xataka | Elon Musk has said that Mars will be part of the United States. It is an unusual affront to the outdoor space treaty

This Bitcoin millionaire paid Spacex to make the first space flight around the poles: he has achieved it

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The Fram2 mission images They do not disappoint. For the first time in history, there are humans flying over the earth from space in polar orbit. And not because a space agency such as NASA or ESA has financed it. It’s about A private mission of Spacex For a cryptocurrency customer. The first manned flight in polar orbit. The mission Fram2 He took off during the early morning of March 31 from Cabo Cañaveral, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The first stage of the rocket returned to the earth to land in a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. The second stage went south to place the Crew Dragon ship in a polar orbit. FRAM2 is the first manned space flight in history with a 90 degree inclination, which means that Its four crew They are the first people who fly over the north and south poles of the earth from space. A Bitcoin tycoon. None of the crew had gone to space before. The commander and patron of the mission is a Chinese millionaire of Maltese nationality called Chun Wang. Wang made fortune as founder of F2POOL, one of the biggest Bitcoin mining platforms that exist. Next to him travel Jannicke Mikkelsen, Norway Cinematographer, ship’s commander and responsible for documenting the mission. Rabea Rogge, expert in robotics and pilot of the mission. And Eric Philips, doctor and mission specialist, who brings his experience as a tanning explorer of the poles. 22 experiments. Even if they are financed by Wang, the four travelers will collaborate with Spacex and NASA with A series of experiments in flight. Among them, the first radiography taken in space and a mushroom culture in microgravity. In addition to a multitude of images of the polar caps taken through the dome, the Module with panoramic views of the Crew Dragon ship. But perhaps the most interesting happens on your return. When Americann, they will be in charge of opening the hatch and leaving the ship, without the help of Spacex rescue equipment, demonstrating this possibility for the first time. A new era. Chun Wang has become the Person number 722 In crossing the line of karm, the official “border” of the space. Characters such as the television presenter Jesús Callejaand will follow him shortly Katy Perry or Lauren SanchezJeff Bezos’s fiancee. Private spatial flights have come to stay and, when there is enough money at the table, the border between space tourism and space exploration is blurred. The Fram2 mission is the first one that flies in polar orbit, but the mission Polaris Dawn, financed by Millionaire Jared IsaacmanIt was the first private mission in which two people carried out an extravehicular activity. Images | Spacex In Xataka | Of the 719 people who have traveled to space, only one has done so without revealing their name. Now we know who it is

A huge blue spiral appeared in the sky of Europe at 9 at night. It was the wake of a spacex rocket

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It is hard to believe, but the last night were not aliens either. If you were looking at the sky at 20:55, European central time, you could see a bright blue spiral illuminating the night. It was a Spacex rocket. A strange show. In United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland either Ukraine. From The clean skies of Sierra Nevadain Granada. Virtually all of Europe has managed to capture the spiral light that crossed the sky last night. They soon appeared photos on social networks. People asked what that strange phenomenon was. It is not a usual show, although it has already been seen in Hawaii, Alaska either Iceland. A Falcon 9 of Spacex. Neither a missile, nor a satellite, nor a galaxy about to swallow us. Nor a UFO. The object had a name and surname because it was a Falcon 9 rocket of Spacex by recentrating in the earth’s atmosphere. He had taken off from Cabo Cañaveral, east of the United States, two hours before. The Spy Nrol-69 satellite of the American National Recognition Office (NRO) had put in orbit. And he was returning to the earth to disintegrate in the atmosphere in a controlled way. What caused the spiral. Before a controlled reentry, the 13.8 -meter length rocket rotates to get rid of the fuel that is still in its deposits; A process called passivity. The low temperatures instantly froze the propellants released by the rocket, which added to the turn movement and the position of the sun caused the light show over Europe. The turn is what made it look like a spiral, and the sunlight was what illuminated the frozen wake. Nothing to do with the incident of Poland. In February, the second stage of a Falcon 9 rented without control over Europe. Several pieces of the rocket fell into populated areas of Poland, without causing damage (except the dismissal of the president of the Polish Space Agencyfor its management of the incident). In this case, and as is usually the case, the second stage of Falcon 9 successfully turned on its engine to fall controlled in the atmosphere, far from populated areas. They were the light conditions and the flight profile that made its wake visible in the European night sky, without further consequences than the scare of some European spectators. Images | Jay in Kyiv, High Calar Observatory In Xataka | Elon Musk has revealed the plan after Starship explosions: v3 earlier than expected, but with half a capacity

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