11

SpaceX Falcon Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9/Crew Dragon : Crew-12 : CCSFS SLC-40 : 13 February 2026 (10:15 UTC)

« Last post by Targeteer on Today at 11:42 am »

go for close burn in 18 minutes

12

Commercial Space Flight General / Re: Lynk Global (formerly Ubiquitilink)

« Last post by StraumliBlight on Today at 11:27 am »

Link is supposedly merging with Omnispace.

0008-EX-TU-2026 [Feb 13]

Pursuant to the Federal Communications Commission’s rules, Lynk Global, Inc.; Omnispace LLC; and Lunar Holdco, Inc. request Commission consent to the transfer of control of the FCC licenses held by Lynk and Omnispace to a new parent company, Holdco.

As discussed more fully herein, grant of the requested transfer of control is consistent with the Commission’s rules and will serve the public interest.

13

SpaceX Falcon Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9/Crew Dragon : Crew-12 : CCSFS SLC-40 : 13 February 2026 (10:15 UTC)

« Last post by Targeteer on Today at 11:24 am »

boost burn complete.  next burn 37 minutes

14

SpaceX Falcon Missions Section / Re: SpaceX F9/Crew Dragon : Crew-12 : CCSFS SLC-40 : 13 February 2026 (10:15 UTC)

« Last post by Targeteer on Today at 11:14 am »

boost burn imminent

15

Space Science Coverage / Re: NASA - Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO)

« Last post by Dizzy_RHESSI on Today at 11:00 am »

My guess is that x-rays and far infra-red are each about 10-20% as important as the UV-Vis-NearIR range.

I don't really think you can put objective numbers on something like this. An x-ray astronomer will tell you something different to people who work in the optical. Someone who works on exoplanets will disagree with Galactic astronomers. What is essential depends on who you ask, and what you want to accomplish.

It's also a rather narrow set of options. The four large studies were rather arbitrarily preselected, but there is much to study about the universe which does not fall into these bins. Gamma rays, cosmic rays, gravitational waves, surveys, time domain... If you want to (e.g.) image habitable exoplanets then neither x-rays or far infrared is very useful. The key complimentary mission to HWO would be a mid-infrared interferometer, like ESA is studying with LIFE. But it doesn't fit in these options anywhere.

So having spent about $10 billion on JWST we should now be spending about $1-2 billion on x-ray and FIR telescopes. However, it would be interesting to see what numbers professional astronomers would come up with.

That isn't how the decadals get implemented. They don't get to decide that habitable exoplanets gets some fraction of the budget. The top priority gets done first, and when NASA feel they have money for the next priority they will start that. There have been reviews were many large missions were prioritised across the spectrum (2000, 2010), and yet only the first actually happened. If a mission doesn't start by the next decadal it has to be reprioritised, and usually that means it has to be top ranked to actually happen.

The probe is the way for a 1-2 billion dollar mission. But historically the bottom ranked priority has been doomed. NASA has begun the selection, so maybe they will move forward with it. Ranking different proposals with a fixed cost cap is a much more objective choice than trying to give weights to each field. It would be better if the next opportunity is opened up to concepts beyond the x-ray and far infrared.

16

Advanced Concepts / Re: low mass inflatable habitats on Moon, Mars, asteroids etc.

« Last post by redneck on Today at 10:23 am »

In previous threads, people worked out that something like a metre wide hole in a 200 metre wide dome/oblate-spheroid, would take hours to reach half pressure. As long as people inside are less than an hour away from a pressurisable shelter, no-one dies unless they were standing right by the failure.

It's really counter-intuitive.

That is counter intuitive. My first reaction was BS before doing any numbers. But then with speed of sound letting air out at 300m/s, it would be 300 cubic meters per second. It would take over 3 hours to remove 4,000,000 cubic meters of air if it stayed at full pressure. Hadn't seen the previous threads on this detail and didn't try to figure acual time with decreasing air pressure.. Thanks for mentioning this.

17

Commercial Space Flight General / Re: Amazon LEO (formerly Project Kuiper) Broadband Constellation

« Last post by TrevorMonty on Today at 10:21 am »

Seems like Arianespace is making the most out of Amazon Leo.
Without it they would launch only three to four this year.

It shows how much launch providers are constrained at times by the lack of payloads

10-12 missions a year may make A6 profitable at very not need few €100m of annual subsidies.

18

Commercial Space Flight General / Re: Amazon LEO (formerly Project Kuiper) Broadband Constellation

« Last post by Starship_SpaceX on Today at 10:16 am »

Seems like Arianespace is making the most out of Amazon Leo.
Without it they would launch only three to four this year.

It shows how much launch providers are constrained at times by the lack of payloads

Despite this, Ariane 6 still receives funding subsidies from Europe.

19

General Discussion / Re: Musk: Moon Over Mars

« Last post by redneck on Today at 10:11 am »

I suspect that an early structure on the moon will be an AG facility. Probably the often-suggested train on a circular track. (bus, RV, truck, maglev???)

I suspect that the first permanent residents will be service workers/owners. The rotating scientists, minors, prospectors, and construction workers being separated from their pay.  Bartender/bar owner. Cook/restaurant owner. Housekeeper/motel owner. The real data on long term low gravity coming from people that choose to go and stay to operate their business opportunity.

20

Rocket Lab / Re: Rocket Lab launch schedule

« Last post by TrevorMonty on Today at 10:04 am »

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7209/

Rocket Lab/That's Not A Knife

Liftoff Time (UTC)
08:00:00 PM

Monday February 23, 2026

Planned Liftoff

08:00 PM
Window Open

00:45 AM
Window Close

Mission Details
Launch Notes

Part of Rocket Lab's HASTE Program.

DART AE
Wiki

DART AE, produced by Hypersonix, is a three-metre-long, single-use, high-temperature alloy, hydrogen-fuelled, scramjet technology demonstrator. DART AE (Additive Engineering) makes significant use of 3D printing and is powered by a single patented 3D printed SPARTAN scramjet engine.

The HASTE rocket will safely bring DART AE to its initial operating speed, allowing DART AE to demonstrate its non-ballistic flight patterns, acceleration, flexible engine burns, and up to 1000 km range, and collect valuable flight data from its journey at hypersonic speed.

Suborbital
1 Payload
300 kilograms
...
Electron
...
Rocket Lab LC-2 (LP-0C)

I assume Electron pad now supports LH for fuelling this payload.