#spaceflight

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One Agency Tried to Regulate SpaceX. Now Its Fate Could Be in Elon Musk’s Hands.
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The Trump ally and DOGE chief is expected to turn his budget-slashing sights on the FAA’s little-known commercial spaceflight office, which has proposed fines and grounded SpaceX after explosions and other incidents.

https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-spacex-doge-faa-ast-regulation-spaceflight-trump?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

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Mission PLATO startet Ende 2026 mit Ariane-6-Trägerrakete
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".. PLATO wird ab Ende 2026 mit 26 Kameras nach erdähnlichen Planeten an über 200.000 Sternen in der Milchstraße suchen
DLR leitet das Nutzlastkonsortium von PLATO und liefert Auslese-Elektronik und Elektronik zur Datenverarbeitung .."

https://www.dlr.de/de/aktuelles/nachrichten/2025/mission-plato-startet-ende-2026-mit-ariane-6-traegerrakete

30.1.2025

Chuck Yeager was famously first to fly over Mach 1. Less well-known are Scott Crossfield being the first to Mach 2 & Mel Apt to Mach 3.

Yuri Gagarin was first to Mach 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 & 22—Vostok 1 hit 28,260 kph, or Mach 22.9.

This pic shows the ship's control panel with the the Globus device that is its core at upper left. It's a mechanical computer that bucked the digital trend until *2002*. (1/2)

Source: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/vostok-1-control-panel/

A rectangular brushed metal control box, something like the top of a table but thicker. It is indented in an angular way at the bottom, possibly to make it easier for a seated operator to lean over it. There are three banks of lights coloured red yellow and green (with a mix of two or more colours in each bank) on down its right side and three clock-style readouts along the bottom. Taking up most of the upper left and centre is the Globus, which is removable from the main panel due to a seam all the way around it. Apart from that detail It is described completely in the second part of this toot.

HOLY SHIT, 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀

Unbelievable, that booster catch was an absolutely astonishing feat of engineering and computing and everything, fucking crazy 🤯

Also, I'm certain that in about 5 years time, everyone will be like "Why wouldn't it work, it's routine by now"

Before anyone comes at me, remember that EM didn't build that thing but thousands of skilled and hardworking humans did (who aren't ethical trashfires). I'm in awe of them.

https://mastodon.green/@christineburns/113300153048498076

Poetry in motion 🌕🛰️🌏

A week ago today, ESA's Jupiter-bound JUICE mission was approaching Earth, a day after its close flyby of the Moon.

You'll have seen some of the monitoring camera shots that @stim3on & I processed, & here's the chaser: a timelapse of both flybys that I set to some brilliant music by Gautier Acher 🎶

The full 4K version has been released by ESA here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2024/08/Juice_s_lunar-Earth_flyby_the_movie/?1

Credit: ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

A timelapse video showing images taken by the two monitoring cameras on ESA's JUICE spacecraft during the Moon and Earth gravity assist flybys that took place on 19-21 August 2024. The Moon and Earth are visible at different distances with the spacecraft also in view.

SpaceX is having a trash issue: Specifically, multiple pieces of debris have landed across North American as a result of Crew Dragon re-entries. No one's been hurt, but it's a serious issue.

https://youtu.be/Ndqzl6zUw4Q

Newsletter at 11 am et: adastraspace.com