What "weed need" is a space mission!

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by xilman

May be .... this century.

But not likely before JWST, NGR, or VR come online. Nor likely before NASA's next attempt to land primates on the moon.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

But not likely before JWST, NGR, or VR come online. Nor likely before NASA's next attempt to land primates on the moon.

Completely agree. My guess is 2050 through 2080.

[Dr Sardonicus]

NASA confirms next Friday for Webb Space Telescope launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA is shooting for next Friday - Christmas Eve - to launch its newest space telescope.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson confirmed Friday that the James Webb Space Telescope will attempt to blast off on Dec. 24. A European Ariane rocket will provide the lift from South America's French Guiana.

The $10 billion Webb - considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope - was supposed to soar Saturday, but was jolted by a clamp during launch preparations, resulting in a four-day delay. Then a bad communication link on the rocket had to be fixed, postponing the launch another two days.

U.S. and European space officials signed off Friday on the launch date, following one last round of testing.
<snip>

[diep]

Launching James Webb telescope is indeed very exciting project. Hope it goes ok! Strictly spoken it's not a follow up of Hubble. Its mirrors work at a different frequency as they are gold plated. So it's really discovering in space into new territory i'd argue. Which makes it even more interesting.

Let's hope the complex mission to get it up and running far away from Earth works out well!

edit: as for mission cost of it - especially the NASA part - they need a new dude contracting companies there - though probably the original guy is already by now 90 years old, which might explain core of the problem :) (blindfolded putting a signature behind everything saying that pencil he signs with he still got it from Reagan)

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by diep

<snip>
edit: as for mission cost of it - especially the NASA part - they need a new dude contracting companies there - though probably the original guy is already by now 90 years old, which might explain core of the problem :) (blindfolded putting a signature behind everything saying that pencil he signs with he still got it from Reagan)

Who exactly are you referring to?

The top NASA official (NASA Administrator) is appointed by the President "with the advice and consent of the Senate" (i.e. requires Senate confirmation).

The NASA Administrator who signed the JWST agreements with the ESA (18 June 2007) was Dr. Michael D. Griffin, who was NASA Administrator from April 2005 to January 2009.

There have been six NASA Administrators since Dr. Griffin, including the current one.

[Dr Sardonicus]

China's space station maneuvered to avoid Starlink satellites

HELSINKI - China has informed the United Nations that its crewed space station twice maneuvered to avoid potential collisions with SpaceX Starlink satellites earlier this year.

A notification dated Dec. 6 by China under Article V of the Outer Space Treaty stated that the Tianhe space station module conducted preventive collision avoidance due to close approaches by the Starlink-1095 (2020-001BK) and Starlink-2305 (2021-024N) satellites on July 1 and Oct. 21 respectively.

Starlink satellites typically orbit at around 550 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, but the pair had lowered their altitudes, apparently as part of active deorbiting maneuvers at the end of the satellites' life.
<snip>
Satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, confirmed the two close approaches and avoidance burns using data published by U.S. space tracking. The October pass appears to have been within three kilometers.
<snip>

Jonathan McDowell's confirmatory tweet is here.

Hmm, perhaps the guy in charge of Starlink should have given a heads-up.

OTOH, China's sudden indignation about it over two months after the most recent incident - and almost six months after the first incident - does IMO ring a bit hollow.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

OTOH, China's sudden indignation about it over two months after the most recent incident - and almost six months after the first incident - does IMO ring a bit hollow.

Seconded.

What part of the Pauli Exclusion Principle isn't clear?

Extra fun when the incoming mass has a high velocity relative to the local frame of reference...

[retina]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Hmm, perhaps the guy in charge of Starlink should have given a heads-up.

Starlink publish the satellite positions publicly. So anyone can check the DB to see it their space station will be in close proximity soon. But that is still no excuse for littering LEO with rich man's toys.

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

OTOH, China's sudden indignation about it over two months after the most recent incident - and almost six months after the first incident - does IMO ring a bit hollow.

Maybe Starlink can complain about all the debris from China's recent display of deliberate satellite destruction creating uncontrolled junk with no tracking or control.

[Uncwilly]

Well we have one:
https://polarisprogram.com/

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by retina

<snip>
Maybe Starlink can complain about all the debris from China's recent display of deliberate satellite destruction creating uncontrolled junk with no tracking or control.

Who are they going to complain to about sunspots?

[Dr Sardonicus]

NASA's IXPE Sends First Science Image

NASA’s Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer, which launched into space Dec. 9, 2021, delivered its first imaging data since completing its month-long commissioning phase.

All instruments are functioning well aboard the observatory, which is on a quest to study some of the most mysterious and extreme objects in the universe.

IXPE first focused its X-ray eyes on Cassiopeia A (Cas A), an object consisting of the remains of a star that exploded in the 17th century. The shock waves from the explosion have swept up surrounding gas, heating it to high temperatures and accelerating cosmic ray particles to make a cloud that glows in X-ray light. Other telescopes, including Chandra, have studied Cas A before, but IXPE will allow researchers to examine it in a new way.