Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 26m

SpaceX has confirmed a successful deployment of the Starlink satellites. The telemetry during the stream had cut off on the upper stage unexpectedly near the end of its first burn as shown in the video below prompting some questions of the missions success.

A SpaceX twitter post saying "Falcon 9 completes a double-header launch day, taking 56 @Starlink
satellites to orbit from Florida and California"

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 1h

During today's Starlink launch from Vandenberg, the Upper Stage telemetry showed the stage stop accelerating roughly 1 minute early and with a nearly 2000 km/h underspeed.

The telemetry continued to update the altitude after acceleration stopped with the altitude dropping by 1km

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 4h

Yup. Even more damning with the news coming out now that it was likely a disabled fishing boat...

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 16h

If it ain't clear that the guy doesn't have NASA's best interests in mind, let alone a spine to stand up for them when the executive branch threatens to cut missions, then I don't know what to show you.

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 16h

When people ask me why I think Isaacman would be a shit NASA admin, this is one of many reasons why.

Jared Isaacman responding with "💪🇺🇸" to Donald Trump's illegal bombings of boats in the Atlantic ocean.

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 19h

How have I never seen this before now...

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 1d

Wow I missed Sheppard's Album from last year and it is a BANGER

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 2d

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy shared some photos this morning of Orion capsule 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 rolling to the Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking atop the Artemis II SLS rocket.

This will be the first spacecraft since Apollo 17 to carry humans to the Moon.

The Orion Capsule on its transport outside of the Launch Abort System Facility in Florida.

A close up view showing the Orion capsule atop its transporter with a "LET'S GO" banner signed by the Artemis Program's workforce

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 2d

An update on the in progress Samuel Oschin air and Space museum! The Museum is nearing completion ahead of an opening expected next year.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour will be displayed in a launch configuration with flown SRBs and a leftover External Tank.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqMo...

EndeavourLA - Join The Mission

YouTube video by California Science Center

www.youtube.com

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 7d

This is a handheld 1/2 second shot I took of the #64 Ford Multimatic Mustang GTD Pro going into Turn 6 during the final hours of yesterday’s IMSA Motul Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 7d

The War Horse

A long exposure tracking shot of a Mustang GTD car at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 7d

Zoom

A GTD Pro Ford Mustang climbs put of Road Atlanta’s Esses

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 8d

Heehoo

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 11d

As of writing ViaSat-3 FM2 is still slated for an October launch.

Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 11d

The sense of scale for the rocket’s flying today is pretty hard to convey…

This is the second New Glenn first stage and is currently expected to fly in Early November following pad testing in a week or so.

📸 Blue Origin via Dave Limp

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 12d

Seriously I don’t get to do racecar photography enough, I can’t wait for Saturday!

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 12d

Hope yall are ready for a break from space posting this weekend

It’s Petit Le Mans time 😎

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 13d

The 24/yr figure was actually designed around single lane operations with two lanes being brought online to reduce load and have more flexibility around launch delays (weather, technical, etc.)

Hitting that 11 day figure immediately would be tough but a 14-20 day one is achievable.

Vulcan Payload Users guide page showing the Launch to Launch processing plan for a standard Vulcan launch campaign.

Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 14d

Atlas can and has done quicker turnarounds at 41 before, Vulcan is still a new system so there is a lot of room for improvement but even USSF-106 had the vehicle stacked in 8 days.

Pulling off 5 more launches this year may be tight using a single lane for 4 of them, but it isn’t impossible.

Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 14d

Some important notes:

USSF-106 had a post stack inspection period as the first NSSL Vulcan that wont be present on SV09 or 87 and will run closer to the standard Vulcan integration timeline of 11 days LVOS to Launch.

KA-03 only took 8 days to stack Atlas before waiting 11 days for the payload.

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 14d

KA-04 has already started payload stacking at the Kuiper facility and is expected in November following GPS-III SV09 on Vulcan early-mid Nov.

KV-01 is looking like December as the first vehicle out of VIF-A, with USSF-87 being in a similar timeline out of VIF-G depending on payload readiness.

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 14d

This ultimately changed the course of ULA’s 2025 launch schedule, originally intending to fly 18 missions this year alternating between Vulcan and Atlas V.

So far ULA has flown 3 Atlas Vs and 1 Vulcan this year, with 2 more Atlas Vs scheduled and 3 more Vulcan launches currently slated.

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 14d

A year ago today, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Rocket narrowly avoided disaster when one of the two GEM-63XL boosters lost its nozzle and aft dome.

While the rocket did complete the flight as planned, the investigation into the booster anomaly delayed certification for USSF missions for 6 months

Vulcan V-002 in flight during the Cert-2 mission, below the rocket is a shower of sparks and debris from when one of the two GEM-63XL boosters blew out its nozzle and aft dome.

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 18d

Some more photos from last weeks launch of KA-3.

Was an absolutely gorgeous day at Cape Canaveral for an Atlas launch, gonna miss this rocket when it’s gone.

A side on shot of Atlas V partially pitched during the KA-3 mission.

Atlas V climbs away from the camera during the KA-3 mission.

The plume behind the Atlas V on the KA-3 mission

A “No Vehicles Beyond This Point” sign in front of the Atlas V rocket at SLC-41

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Derek Newsome @derekdotspace.bsky.social · 19d

I cannot recommend going to your local film festivals more in my life right now. Many of them have AI bans in place and it leads to many artists shining bright.

Steven Santos @stevensantos.bsky.social · 19d

“I have seen movies, short films, completely created by artificial intelligence,” Herzog said. “Story and acting and everything, they look completely dead. There are stories, but they have no soul. They are empty and soulless.”

Get their ass, Werner.

Werner Herzog gazed upon the "empty and soulless" abyss of AI-generated movies

www.avclub.com

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