Lifeboat Foundation

SpaceX launched a pair of four-ton Intelsat communications spacecraft from Cape Canaveral at twilight Saturday evening, two days later than planned after back-to-back scrubs, on the third flight of a Falcon 9 rocket this week.

The Falcon 9 rocket lit nine kerosene-fueled Merlin 1D engines and thundered away from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 GMT) Saturday. Thrust vector controls pivoted nine main engines to steer the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket due east from pad 40, and the Falcon 9 raced through the speed of sound in less than a minute.

Saturday’s mission, carrying Intelsat’s Galaxy 33 and 34 video relay satellites, marked the third Falcon 9 flight in a little more than three days, following back-to-back launches Wednesday.

Research could help protect satellites and astronauts from the solar wind.

Millennium will deliver the ground and on-orbit segments of the program and Firefly will provide the responsive launch service.

There was more to this launch than met the eye.

Earth’s first-ever artificial satellite Sputnik launched on October 4, 1957. In that moment, which occurred sixty-five years ago, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union transformed into a race to dominate not only Earth but also space.

But there was more to the launch than met the eye — behind the development of satellites to orbit Earth was a more nefarious purpose.

Continue reading “65 years ago, ‘simple satellite’ Sputnik redefined space science — and sent a sinister message” »

Known for its electric vehicles, Tesla Inc TSLA also has a solar power division. Customers who bought solar roofs in Florida might be thanking the company after the lingering damage of Hurricane Ian.

What Happened: Hurricane Ian hit landfall in Florida and has caused severe damage to the region. Benzinga previously reported the impact could be $258 billion in replacement costs in one region and another $149 billion in the area of Tampa Bay.

The impact could be hundreds of millions of dollars for insurance companies as well.

The rocket managed to make to the orbit and deliver all three of its payloads.

There was much to celebrate on Saturday as Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket successfully delivered a few tiny satellites to Earth orbit for the first time ever, according to an article by Space.com

Continue reading “Firefly’s Alpha rocket earns its wings with first successful launch” »

It offers services on all seven continents of the world.

SpaceX has crossed the milestone of producing a million Starlink terminals, the company’s CEO Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter earlier today. It is a significant boost for the satellite internet business of the space company, which began accepting preorders only 19 months ago.

Miss Vosk/Flickr.

Continue reading “SpaceX has produced a landmark number of Starlink terminals, Elon Musk reveals” »

Russia’s war on Ukraine has turned a lot of assumptions about the fundamental nature and trajectory of how wars are fought, on its head.

For one thing, Ukraine’s strong defense has upended conventional wisdom about big powers being able to violate at will the sovereignty of little powers.

Continue reading “How drones, crypto, and satellites are changing the face of war / Thomas Frey & Trent Fowler” »

A solar flare erupted from a departing sunspot on September 16, releasing a pulse of X-rays and extreme UV radiation which caused a shortwave radio blackout in Africa and the Middle East. Frequencies below 25 MHz were affected for up to an hour after the flare.

Solar flare strength is measured much like the Richter scale which measures earthquakes. Solar flares are classed A, B, C, M or X where each successive letter corresponds to a 10-fold increase in energy output. A-class solar flares are barely above background radiation emission from the sun.

Spaceweather.com reports that the September 16 solar flare, exploding out of sunspot AR3098, was an M8-class, meaning it was nearly an X-flare, the most powerful kind.