SpaceX's Starship sees fourth flight in 3-5 weeks, Musk says - SaltWire Halifax powered by The Chronicle Herald

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(Reuters) - SpaceX's Starship rocket, a futuristic vehicle designed to eventually carry astronauts to the moon and beyond, will probably have it's fourth flight in 3-5 weeks, the company's Chief Executive Elon Musk said in a post on social media platform X on Saturday.

(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru,Editing by Franklin Paul)

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2024-05-11 19:10:56Z
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Astrophysicist grew up in qathet and is returning to talk - Powell River Peak

To most people the universe surrounding Earth is a vast unknown entity we look at each night to spot Orion's Belt or maybe squint at the planets Jupiter or Venus.

For Chris Mann, who grew up in the qathet region, the universe and what's inside it has been a focus for many years of his studies. He is now a postdoctoral research fellow with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) at the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Victoria, BC.

Exoplanets and vastness of universe
Mann will be in the qathet region on May 16 to give a talk about the, "cosmos, exoplanets and the vast range of space, distance, and general weirdness that the universe encompasses," according to Malaspina Naturalists, who invited him as part of the group’s speaker series.

Mann was in Powell River Digital Film School during his last year at Brooks Secondary School and intended to pursue further studies in film but life took him on a different journey.

"I randomly took an Intro to Astronomy course and was immediately hooked," said Mann, in an interview with the Peak. "Since completing my doctorate, my wife and I have moved to Victoria, where I currently work."

Although Mann gave up his pursuit of making film, instead, in his current career, he has access to complex cameras that can detect exoplanets.

Complex cameras
Mann is part of a team working on the Subaru Pathfinder Instrument for Detecting Exoplanets and Retrieving Spectra, or, as it's more commonly known, SPIDERS.

"I study exoplanets, this is short for ‘extrasolar planets’ or planets that orbit stars other than our sun," said Mann. "We [astrophysicists and astronomers] did not know this until the last 10 years or so, but it turns out planets are more plentiful in our galaxy than stars."

Mann said this discovery means for any star we see in the sky, there could be a chance it has at least one planet around it, and likely a whole system of planets.

Life beyond Earth
"Studying these objects helps us to understand questions like how our own Earth and solar system formed, and also keeps probing the big question: does life exist beyond Earth?" emphasized Mann. "Within my lifetime it is completely feasible that we could find signatures [Earth's biosignatures] in an exoplanet’s atmosphere that indicate life is present there."

However, Mann said that doesn't necessarily mean what most people think of as extraterrestrial life, such as "little green men," will be found.

Earth's biosignatures, mentioned Mann, includes, "the specific mix of oxygen, ozone and methane in our atmosphere that wouldn’t be there if there weren't biological organisms creating it."

Lab in Victoria
Mann works under the supervision of Dr. Christian Marois in the NEW EARTH Laboratory (NEW EARTH stands for NRC Extreme Wavefront control for Exoplanet Adaptive optics Research Topics at Herzberg. The lab has access to a very complex camera that allows them to see faint exoplanets which sit beside stars that are millions or even billions times brighter than the sun.

"We're at a really exciting point in history where we are finally able to see exoplanets," stated Mann, in the NRC release.

He added that in the past researchers had to use indirect methods to study exoplanets but now they use precise instruments and modern techniques to take direct images of these planets. 

"During the talk for the Malaspina Naturalists Club, we’re going to take a greatest hits tour of the universe," Mann told the Peak. "I hope to give a sense of scale for things in our universe, and we’ll visit some of the most bizarre objects out there."

Informative and entertaining talk
He said he promises there will be no math or dry graphs, only pretty pictures, and audience members don't need a science background. He encourages those planning to attend to bring space questions.

"I love learning about space and even though my schooling is finished, that learning aspect certainly is not," said Mann.  "I can appreciate that there’s a certain level of impracticality in trying to understand something that is a bazillion light years away. Our world has real problems that need dealing with, but as a counterpoint, I would argue that basic research like astronomy has a role in keeping awe and wonder as a part of our lives and culture."

To find out how to attend the talk by Mann, titled Travel the Universe, visit the Malaspina Naturalists website at malanat.ca/invited-speakers. To find out more about his research, go to christopher-mann.github.io/christopher-mann.

Join the Peak’s email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.

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2024-05-11 12:45:00Z
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A once-in-a-lifetime celestial explosion may be near — and Canadians can see - Global News

A once-in-a-lifetime celestial event may be nearing  — and Canadians will be able to see when it does.

The binary star T Corona Borealis is set to go nova — which it does every 80 years — before September.

A NASA illustration of T Corona Borealis, which is set to undergo a nova explosion. Courtesy: NASA

The star is normally too faint to see with the naked eye but the explosion, when it occurs, will be nearly as bright as the North Star, according to NASA.

“This is a real, live stellar laboratory where we can look at… all sorts of astrophysical interesting processes,” York University professor emeritus of physics and astronomy Paul Delaney told Global News.

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It’s actually two stars — a younger and larger red giant and an older, smaller white dwarf — and its last nova occurred in 1946.

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“The stars are close enough that as the red giant becomes unstable from its increasing temperature and pressure and begins ejecting its outer layers, the white dwarf collects that matter onto its surface,” the NASA website states.

“The shallow, dense atmosphere of the white dwarf eventually heats enough to cause a runaway thermonuclear reaction, which produces the nova we see from Earth.”

Astronomers say T Corona Borealis will go nova. This map shows where in the eastern sky in Canada you can find it.Delaney clarified it’s the hydrogen around the white dwarf that undergoes a fusion explosion while the dwarf survives. Global News, Stellarium

He predicted every single NASA asset — and many amateur astronomers’ telescopes — will be pointed at the nova.

While scientists understand the process by which stars grow, function and die, he said T Corona Borealis’s nova will likely provide key insights that will show “the difference between theory and practice.”

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“To be able to examine what happens during those processes is really very important to our overall theoretical understanding of stellar evolution,” he said, speaking from Hillsdale, Ont., near Barrie.

2:48 Total solar eclipse mesmerizes millions in Canada

Having so many telescopes on the lookout will be helpful, because scientists don’t know exactly when it will go nova.

When it does, it will be just below the Corona Borealis, in the eastern sky.

To find it, face east and look up to find the Big Dipper (which is an asterism, meaning it’s not considered a true constellation), part of Ursa Minor (which is).

Follow the arc of the handle of the Dipper towards the horizon until you see the brightest star in the region. That’s Arcturus, and to the left you’ll see a crescent constellation, which is Corona Borealis.

When T Corona Borealis goes nova, it will be bright and just next to it.

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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The Latest in Boeing's Starliner Fiasco Is a Feud Over That 'Buzzing' Valve - Gizmodo

ULA’s Atlas V rocket was returned to its integration facility to replace a valve on the rocket’s upper stage.

Photo: ULA

Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse for Boeing’s attempt at launching a crew to orbit, in comes a longstanding industry feud over rocket valves for a shocking third act.

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A rival space company has come out of the woodwork to warn NASA of a “risk of a disaster occurring on the launchpad,” and advising the space agency to “immediately halt” the Starliner launch. The dramatic warning was issued on Wednesday by ValveTech, which recently lost a court battle over valve designs for Starliner’s propulsion system, according to Payload.

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Lego's New UCS TIE Interceptor Was Worth the 24 Year Wait

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Lego's New UCS TIE Interceptor Was Worth the 24-Year Wait

Okay, so here’s the tea.

Earlier this week, NASA and Boeing were forced to stand down from a launch attempt of the Starliner spacecraft due to a faulty valve that ground teams discovered just hours before liftoff.

Boeing’s crew capsule was fitted atop United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, ready to transport NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station (ISS) and back. A few hours before its scheduled liftoff on Monday, however, ULA announced that the launch had been scrubbed “due to an observation on a liquid oxygen self-regulating solenoid relief valve on the Centaur upper stage.”

The valve regulates the flow and pressure of liquid oxygen in the rocket’s upper stage. It employs a solenoid—a kind of electromagnet—to open and close as necessary, ensuring the safe release of excess pressure.

Following the scrubbed launch, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said the crew working at the launchpad heard an audible buzzing noise that was produced by the faulty valve. The company decided to replace the valve altogether rather than try to repair it, with the new launch date now scheduled for May 17.

“After evaluating the valve history, data signatures from the launch attempt, and assessing the risks relative to continued use, the ULA team determined the valve exceeded its qualification and mission managers agreed to remove and replace the valve,” NASA wrote in a statement.

That still wasn’t enough for some people. “NASA needs to re-double safety checks and re-examine safety protocols to make sure the Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens to the astronauts and to the people on the ground,” ValveTech President Erin Faville said in the statement.

Just to clarify, the valve is on the rocket carrying Starliner rather than the crewed spacecraft itself. ValveTech’s apparent beef, however, is with the company supplying Boeing with valves for its Starliner spacecraft.

In 2017, Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of defense company L3Harris, ended its relationship with ValveTech due to disputes over valve designs, Payload reported. Aerojet Rocketdyne had hired ValveTech to build valves for Starliner’s propulsion system (which is different from the pressure regulation valve on ULA’s rocket), and ValveTech later sued Aerojet Rocketdyne for allegedly misusing its trade secrets for new valve designs.

In November 2023, a jury found that Aerojet Rocketdyne breached two nondisclosure agreements with ValveTech and improperly retained and used its proprietary information. ValveTech sought further restrictions on Aerojet Rocketdyne, but the motion was denied.

The company is now claiming that the valve being used for Starliner’s propulsion system, which was provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne, is “not qualified to the right specifications and not evaluated to ensure safety protocols,” ValveTech wrote in its statement.

“ValveTech continues to question how NASA, Boeing and Aerojet could have qualified this valve for the mission without proper supporting data or previous history or legacy information, which in its experience, goes against aerospace-industry qualification protocols established by NASA,” the company added.

In response to ValveTech’s statement, ULA’s Bruno wrote on X, “Not sure what to say about this one. Close to none of it is correct...Remarkable that the particular person quoted doesn’t seem to know how this type of valve works.”

A Boeing spokesperson told Payload that ValveTech’s speculation about Monday’s scrubbed launch is “inaccurate and irresponsible.” Starliner has had its shortcomings in the past, but this time the crewed spacecraft is undeserving of the misdirected shade.

Gizmodo contacted ValveTech to request a comment; however, there was no response prior to publication.

Boeing’s Crewed Flight Test is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and is meant to transport crew and cargo to and from the ISS under a $4.3 billion contract. NASA’s other commercial partner, SpaceX, recently launched its eighth crew to the space station while Boeing can’t seem to shake off its curse.

The program has suffered from a slew of problems and delays, including a botched uncrewed test flight in 2019. Boeing’s crewed Starliner launch was initially set for February 2023, then postponed to late April, and finally rescheduled for July 21, 2023. A few weeks before liftoff, however, the company announced that it was standing down from the launch attempt to address newfound issues with the crew vehicle, including a mile’s worth of flammable tape that had to be manually removed. Following the scrub on May 6 due to the aforementioned buzzing valve issue, the crewed capsule will now launch no earlier than May 17.

The latest delay to the launch of Boeing’s Starliner may not have been the company’s own fault, but it did spark a hilarious, if not misguided, spat to continue the streak of misfortunes that has plagued the program from the start.

For more spaceflight in your life, follow us on X and bookmark Gizmodo’s dedicated Spaceflight page.

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2024-05-10 20:05:00Z
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Severe Solar Storm Threatens Power Grids and Navigation Systems - Financial Post

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A severe solar storm this weekend threatens to trigger blackouts, disrupt navigation systems and knock out high-frequency radios around the world.

This is the first time since January 2005 the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a G4 geomagnetic storm watch — the second-highest on a five-step scale — as multiple waves of solar energy bear down on the planet. Five eruptions of material from the sun’s atmosphere are forecast to arrive starting late on Friday and persist through Sunday.

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“Watches at this level are very rare,” the Space Weather Prediction Center said.

While people will be protected by Earth’s magnetic field, unprepared electric grids can be disrupted, pipelines can be charged with current and spacecraft can be knocked off course. The last time Earth was hit by a G5 storm – the worst on the scale – was October 2003, causing power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa.

The storm’s true power will be known about 60 to 90 minutes before it hits Earth as satellites measure inbound bursts of energy. Large parts of Asia, Europe and North America may be able to see an aurora, often called the Northern Lights, overnight where skies are dark and clear enough, the U.K. Met Office said. It is likely the aurora will be visible across the entire UK.

In addition, trans-polar flights between Europe, Asia and North America will likely be rerouted to avoid increased radiation exposure for passengers and crews.

The culprit is a sunspot cluster visible on the right side of the sun’s disc that is 16 times wider than Earth. The sun, which rolls through an 11-year cycle in which the number of spots waxes and wanes, is approaching the peak of the current one that began in December 2019.

Bloomberg.com

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2024-05-10 11:32:15Z
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Severe geomagnetic storm may spark widespread auroras over Canada on Friday - The Weather Network

If the expected timing holds up, folks in B.C. might struggle to see subtler colours given that sunset isn’t until after 8:30 p.m. for many communities.

Any change in this geomagnetic storm’s arrival time would affect Canada’s viewing. An earlier arrival might favour Europe over Canada, while a later arrival might allow for more widespread viewing opportunities across the country.

A geomagnetic storm of this caliber could produce visible auroras far south of the border, as well. NOAA says that the northern lights could be visible as far south as Alabama and northern California if the event peaks at the right time.

Clouds may obscure the view for some regions

Sunlight is only part of the equation when it comes to spotting the northern lights. Where might clouds obscure the view?

The latest forecast for Friday night paints a mixed picture across the country. Cloud cover may obscure the view for parts of the East Coast, including for folks in St. John's and Halifax.

A decent chance for plenty of clear skies could allow fantastic viewing for a wide swath of Quebec, including the Montreal area, as well as much of southern Ontario. You’ll want to get away from the bright lights of the Greater Toronto Area's for the best chance at seeing colours dance in the night sky.

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2024-05-10 03:57:00Z
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NASA Contractor Warns That Boeing Launch Must Be Stopped "Before Something Catastrophic Happens" - Futurism

"NASA needs to re-double safety checks and re-examine safety protocols to make sure the Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens to the astronauts and to the people on the ground."

Shut It Down

A NASA contractor is urging the space agency to suspend the upcoming Boeing Starliner launch over major safety concerns with the aerospace company's wares.

In a press release, the president of ValveTech, a NASA contractor that supplies the agency with parts, warned that the buzzing sound heard during the now-scrubbed Starliner launch could indicate something seriously wrong with the transport capsule.

"As a valued NASA partner and as valve experts, we strongly urge them not to attempt a second launch due to the risk of a disaster occurring on the launchpad," ValveTech president Erin Faville cautioned. "According to media reports, a buzzing sound indicating the leaking valve was noticed by someone walking by the Starliner minutes before launch. This sound could indicate that the valve has passed its lifecycle."

After the incident, which occurred just before Starliner was supposed to attempt its first crewed launch earlier in May, NASA has said that it won't try again until at least May 17. According to Faville, much needs to be be done between now and then to head off the worst possible outcomes.

"NASA needs to re-double safety checks and re-examine safety protocols," he said, "to make sure the Starliner is safe before something catastrophic happens to the astronauts and to the people on the ground."

Bad News Boeing

The CEO of United Launch Alliance, which is launching the craft into orbit, pushed back strongly on X-formerly-Twitter.

"Not sure what to say about this one," he wrote. "Close to none of it is correct: Not urgent. Not leaking. Etc. Remarkable that the particular person quoted doesn't seem to know how this type of valve works."

ValveTech's warnings come not just after the scrubbed Starliner launch, but also after months of terrible press for Boeing that have included parts falling off its planes, government investigations, and two dead whistleblowers.

As the company's press release notes, the launch scrub also occurred after a November 2023 ruling in which a federal court found that Boeing had used a valve from another aerospace company, Aerojet Rocketdyne, that copied ValveTech's designs. The part was not, according to a witness in that trial, equipped for the job it was meant to do, and as far as the company can tell, it hasn't been replaced.

"ValveTech continues to question how NASA, Boeing and Aerojet could have qualified this valve for the mission without proper supporting data or previous history or legacy information, which in its experience, goes against aerospace-industry qualification protocols established by NASA," the press release reads.

All told, these are some pretty serious claims, and Futurism has reached out to NASA to ask if the parts in question have been replaced.

More on Starliner: Commander of First Boeing Astronaut Launch Issues Warning

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2024-05-09 17:01:01Z
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