Space News for Monday, October 14, 2024

French startup gets state-backed seed funds for VLEO broadband constellation

Original Publication Date: 2024-10-14 07:00

France's state-backed Expansion Ventures fund has invested about $10 million in Constellation Technologies & Operations. The startup has plans for 1500 small 5G broadband satellites in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) The first two satellites are slated to launch in 2026.

SpaceX’s successful Sunday Starship launch — lucky 13, and on first try Mechazilla caught the booster – SatNews

Original Publication Date: 2024-10-13 00:00

SpaceX’s Starship ready for fifth flight test on Sunday including sonic booms Starship’s fifth flight test is targeted to launch on Sunday, October 13. The 30-minute launch window opens at 7 a.m. CT. A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 35 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX.

infiniDome launches their new GPSdome-SunStone anti-jamming solution – SatNews

Original Publication Date: 2024-10-13 00:00

InfiniDome has launched GPSdome-SunStone. This state-of-the-art anti-jamming module marks a significant milestone in the company’s journey of delivering next-generation navigation resiliency solutions. The SunStone delivers comprehensive protection based on infiniDome’s “future-proof” SW-defined anti-jamming core.

NASA’s Hubble Watches Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Behave Like a Stress Ball

"As far as we know, it's not been identified before," Said Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "This is really the first time we've had the proper imaging cadence of the GRS," She said. "That was very unexpected, and at present there are no hydrodynamic explanations"

Journey to a Water World: NASA’s Europa Clipper Is Ready to Launch

Scientists suspect that the ingredients for life — water, chemistry, and energy — could exist at the moon Europa right now. Europa may be home to organic compounds, which are essential chemical building blocks for life. Europa Clipper will help scientists confirm whether organics are there, and also help them look for evidence of energy sources.

Does Distant Planet Host Volcanic Moon Like Jupiter’s Io?

A sodium cloud around WASP-49 b was first detected in 2017. It's likely these planetary companions have gone undetected because they are too small and dim for current telescopes to detect. It's possible that astronomers looking at another star system could detect a gas cloud like Io’s even if the moon itself were too small to see.

NASA-Funded Study Assesses Pollution Near Los Angeles-Area Warehouses

Researchers mined a real estate database for the square footage as well as the number of loading docks and parking spaces at nearly 11,000 warehouses across portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. ZIP codes in the 75th percentile of warehouse square footage had 0.16 micrograms per cubic meter more PM2.5 than those in the 25th percentile.

SpaceX Catches a Super Heavy Booster During a Milestone Flight 5

Original Publication Date: 2024-10-12 17:52

SpaceX launched Flight 5 Ship 30 and Booster 12 at 7:25 am Central Time on Oct 13, 2024. Liftoff and ascent was flawless with all 33 engine running on Booster 12 all the way to hot-staging. Ship 30 then coasted to reentry to test its new heat shield configuration. Ship 30 made it to flip and landing burn and a soft splashdown in the Indian ocean before exploding after tipping over captured by a buoy.