Twenty Starlink satellites were launched into space early Wednesday morning when a SpaceX rocket launched from the Santa Barbara County coast.
The rocket soared over the Southern California coast after the 5:07 a.m. launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Santa Barbara.
Halloween is on Thursday, Oct. 31 — but parts of the Treasure Coast may get a nice treat the night before.
SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, Oct. 30, to launch another payload of Starlink broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Depending on weather and visibility, parts of Indian River County might see a nice streak in the sky.
Below are suggestions on where to watch the rocket launch from this area and other things to know. If there are changes to the launch schedule, this story will be updated.
Dr. Lauren Schurmeier: “The methane clathrate crust warms Titan’s interior and causes surprisingly rapid topographic relaxation, which results in crater shallowing at a rate that is close to that of fast-moving warm glaciers on Earth.”
How does Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, have such a methane-rich atmosphere? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated how methane that resides with Titan’s crust could be responsible for the lack of depth in Titan’s impact craters, which could explain why Titan’s atmosphere has so much methane, as well. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the formation and evolution of Titan and whether it could host life as we know it.
For the study, the researchers used computer models to simulate the formation and evolution of impact craters on Titan, of which only approximately 90 have been identified via satellite imagery from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
“This was very surprising because, based on other moons, we expect to see many more impact craters on the surface and craters that are much deeper than what we observe on Titan,” said Dr. Lauren Schurmeier, who is a research associate in the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) and lead author of the study. “We realized something unique to Titan must be making them become shallower and disappear relatively quickly.”
This follows the failure of another satellite from the same series that may have been due to a meteoroid impact.
196K likes, — kallaway on October 10, 2024: This company lets you order sunlight from an app. Wild.
It’s like Uber Eats for the Sun.
The company is called Reflect Orbital.
These two guys figured out if they launch reflective satellites and position them in just the right constellation, at just the right angle, they can beam sunlight to any spot on Earth.
NASA and NOAA have declared the Sun’s solar maximum, noting increased sunspot activity and heightened solar events that influence Earth’s space weather.
This period is linked to significant geomagnetic storms and aurora displays, with potential disruptions to satellites and communication systems.
Solar maximum announced by NASA and NOAA.
So, does anyone thinks that perhaps there are too many sats in orbit? what will be when they all deploy? Earth Sky 1956 clear of any sat at least of human origin and after that mayor astronomy problem with sats in orbit.
International competition is intensifying for the deployment of satellite constellations into orbit, notes Statista’s Katharina Buchholz.
Satellite constellations — the most well-known being SpaceX’s Starlink — are designed to provide high-speed global Internet access.
Starlink, launched in 2019, had more than 6,300 satellites in service at the beginning of September, out of 12,000 eventually scheduled to be deployed (or even 40,000 according to an announcement of a possible extension of the project).
France and Germany are joining the coalition at a time of heightened tension in space, with both China and Russia demonstrating their ability to disrupt or destroy satellites. Operation Olympic Defender aims to deter such actions through collective defense, shared intelligence, and the promotion of international norms for responsible space activity.
Germany’s official entry into Operation Olympic Defender was marked by a formal ceremony in Berlin, where Whiting joined Lt. Gen. Gunter Schneider, director-general for military strategy and operations at the German Ministry of Defence, and representatives from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
“Space is truly a team sport. The addition of Germany to our roster of growing like-minded partners contributes to our collective ability to address the growing threats in the domain,” said Whiting.
WASHINGTON — A startup led by a founder of a financial services company is taking a new approach to space-based solar power intended to be more scalable and affordable than previous concepts.
Aetherflux announced Oct. 9 plans to develop and ultimately deploy a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit that will collect solar power and beam it to Earth using infrared lasers. The company is planning to demonstrate this technology with a small satellite launching by early 2026.
The concept is a departure from many previous concepts for space-based solar power (SBSP), which have involved large arrays in geostationary orbit. Those systems would transmit their power using microwaves to large rectennas on the ground. Such concepts have been studied for more than half a century but have not advanced beyond the drawing board.
