SpaceChampion Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 (edited) Rumours of an exoplanet with biosignatures remain rumours while scientists collect and discuss the evidence.... Quote But is it a hard no? That's a more difficult question. The Spectator featured comments by some serious British scientists, including astrophysicist Rebecca Smethurst, who said, "I think we are going to get a paper that has strong evidence for a biosignature on an exoplanet very, very soon." Additionally, there was British astronaut Tim Peake fanning the flames with this comment: "Potentially, the James Webb telescope may have already found [alien life]… it’s just that they don’t want to release or confirm those results until they can be entirely sure, but we found a planet that seems to be giving off strong signals of biological life." Sounds like a pretty hefty planet: Quote K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth that is 120 light years from our Solar System. Astronomers believe this may be a "hycean" exoplanet, meaning it has water oceans on its surface and a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. Both methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reported too. But also dimethyl sulfide. Quote So what is dimethyl sulfide? It's an organic compound that you may have smelled if you've ever cooked cabbage. It is emitted by phytoplankton in the Earth's oceans as part of their metabolism process. Critically, on Earth, dimethyl sulfide is only produced by life. That does not prove the existence of life on K2-18 b—but if dimethyl sulfide exists there, it is certainly a hair-raising clue. So maybe an Algae Planet. Hopefully not with cylons. Someone in the comments pointed out an interesting fact. Since it's only 120 light years away, our radio broadcasts would be reaching it around now. Edited January 17 by SpaceChampion Tears of Lys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 meanwhile, Axiom Space was hoping to launch a private human crew on a Falcon 9 / Dragon today to the ISS, but it's been delayed at least a day for additional safety checks. Quote All four members of the crew have backgrounds as military pilots. Michael López-Alegría will be the commander as an employee of Axiom; Walter Villadei from the Italian Air Force will be the mission pilot. The mission specialists are Alper Gezeravcı who will be the first astronaut from Turkey; and Swedish Marcus Wandt is the first member of the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group to receive a spaceflight mission. It is also "the first commercial spaceflight mission for an ESA-sponsored astronaut". Wandt's component of the mission is called "Muninn" as it will overlap with fellow-Scandinavian ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen's mission – "Huginn". This will be the first orbital spaceflight mission where all crew members have European citizenship. Erik of Hazelfield 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 ArsTechnica also did a long writeup on SpaceX and how well they're doing: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/01/elon-musks-recent-all-hands-meeting-at-spacex-was-full-of-interesting-news/ Quote Perhaps the most interesting part of Musk's presentation centered on Starship. Starship's second full-scale test flight on November 18 surpassed SpaceX's goals going into the launch. Musk said the primary objective was to get the rocket past staging, a milestone just shy of three minutes into the flight when Starship's upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster. Getting to that point, the Super Heavy booster's 33 Raptor engines all worked, apparently flawlessly, then Starship's upper stage lit its six Raptor engines to continue the climb into space. The Super Heavy booster exploded moments later as it began a boost-back burn to guide itself toward a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. This was a secondary objective, but SpaceX engineers will have to correct this issue before it can recover and reuse a Super Heavy booster. Starship—the rocket's upper stage—continued flying until around eight minutes into the flight, when it broke apart in space over the Gulf of Mexico. This happened less than 30 seconds before Starship's engines were supposed to cut off, when the vehicle would have accumulated enough velocity to reach its planned trajectory, taking it most of the way around the world. If everything went perfectly, the ship would have reentered the atmosphere and splashed down near Hawaii. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maarsen Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 3 hours ago, SpaceChampion said: Rumours of an exoplanet with biosignatures remain rumours while scientists collect and discuss the evidence.... Sounds like a pretty hefty planet: Both methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reported too. But also dimethyl sulfide. So maybe an Algae Planet. Hopefully not with cylons. Someone in the comments pointed out an interesting fact. Since it's only 120 light years away, our radio broadcasts would be reaching it around now. Dr. Becky does a great YouTube channel and is an active astrophysicist who knows her stuff. If she is hearing this it could well be true. SpaceChampion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 Quote So in the immediate aftermath, someone at NASA, probably within the crew office, initiated the capability of a commander to lock the hatch if he or she felt uncomfortable about a crew member. It was used frequently in subsequent missions involving payload specialists. Tears of Lys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 Jace, Extat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 Japanese Lunar lander SLIM landed wrong way up.... Corvinus85 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 9 hours ago, SpaceChampion said: Japanese Lunar lander SLIM landed wrong way up.... I’m impressed they got the rover out. That is why the solar panels couldn’t deploy… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 1 Author Share Posted February 1 Many plans to put commercial space stations in LEO, this one appears to be the only one intending to put a whole space station in a single launch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 It used to be you'd have to wait years for the next robotic lander to launch to the Moon. Seven weeks into 2024 and now the 3rd lander of the year is on it's way. It's going to the south pole On schedule for a February 22 landing. Remarkably, Intuitive Machines has two more lunar landers to launch this year. Tears of Lys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 18 Author Share Posted February 18 (edited) A friend is trying to figure where to put his next documentary out. He's had them on National Geographic channel, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and elsewhere. A teaser and a clip: Edited February 18 by SpaceChampion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tears of Lys Posted February 18 Share Posted February 18 2 hours ago, SpaceChampion said: A friend is trying to figure where to put his next documentary out. He's had them on National Geographic channel, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and elsewhere. A teaser and a clip: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 good thread, covering the history of the military space industry and their cost-plus gorging on the public dollar. Tears of Lys 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted February 23 Author Share Posted February 23 Fascinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Theres imbedded in this article a very nice pannel discussion with Int Mach and NASA specialists discussing Intuitive Machines current lunar landing mission. The entirety of the international supply chain and internation governing agencies that cooperate and contribute to this private sector mission is quite inspirational for future achievement. https://mashable.com/article/intuitive-machines-us-moon-landing-pictures SpaceChampion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Crew 8 launch on Dragon to ISS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 Tentative date March 14th (7:30am ET) for the 3rd Starship flight, mission IFT-3. This one has it's trajectory changed to splashdown in the Indian Ocean, I assume to loop at least once around the Earth and give the flight team more time to do tests in orbit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 (edited) FAA lists flight dates for next Starship launch, so I assume that launch license is imminent. Edited March 11 by SpaceChampion Mudguard and Ser Scot A Ellison 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 Quick review of the IFT-3 mission's changes in flight path, upgrades to the rocket and launch pad, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceChampion Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 (edited) Starship IFT-3 attempt launch today, propellants loading, countdown aiming for about 8:25 CT / 1:25 UTC. Everyday Astronaut's livestream NASASpaceFlight's stream: Ellie In Space's stream from the top of one of SpaceX"s high bays. Edited March 14 by SpaceChampion Corvinus85 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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