All-Encompassing

The universe is so vast and old that we can't possibly fathom it all. But we can make some pretty admirable efforts.

Take this stunning new map, put together by astronomers at Johns Hopkins University, that displays the entire known universe in all its glory, showcasing some 200,000 galaxies as tiny dots that span all the way to the cosmos' observable limits.

Using data gathered over 20 years by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, it shows the real positions and colors of the galaxies in a densely packed celestial slice which lets users easily scroll through billions of years.

You've probably seen other maps of the universe before, but likely none this impressive. Excitingly, it uses data previously unreleased to the public, and it might be the most comprehensive cosmic map made for the average Joe yet.

"Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries." said the map's creator and John Hopkins professor Brice Ménard, in a press release.

"But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists," he continued. "Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."

Cosmic Cartography

The map's narrowest point originates from our home, the Milky Way, surrounded by light blue dots of spiral galaxies up to two billion light years away from Earth. Further away, yellow briefly takes over, where elliptical galaxies outshine the dimmer spiral ones.

Then the map takes us into a vibrant gradient of red. These are also elliptical galaxies, but thanks to the phenomenon aptly known as redshifting, their yellow light gets stretched into red.

Lurking behind is a tremendous ocean of blue, where the dots represent quasars, the luminous supermassive black holes at the center of distant galaxies.

Even a few errant red dots, depicting redshifted quasars, are speckled across the universe's penultimate boundary that's shrouded in hydrogen gas.

Finally, the map terminates at 13.7 billion light years away, or years ago, where all that can be discerned is the cosmic microwave background.

More on the universe: NASA Releases Hubble Images of Star Right as It Explodes

The post Amazing Map Lets You Scroll Through the Entire Known Universe appeared first on Futurism.

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Amazing Map Lets You Scroll Through the Entire Known Universe

At this point, it's likely that Ozempic has somehow come into your personal zeitgeist. The expensive, name-brand version of semaglutide — which, importantly, was originally developed to manage type 2 diabetes — has been in high demand after going viral on TikTok, where it's picking up a reputation as an effective weight loss aid.

"It's the most common medication that I get asked about," Dr. Sudeep Singh, a medical director at a concierge medical practice in Miami, told The Cut. "Everybody knows. Everyone's asking about it. My mom's asking. My neighbors are asking about it. The news is out."

Per a number of reports, Ozempic has been a celeb-guarded secret for some time now, oft-used by starlets who might feel the need to fit into a certain dress for a red carpet. Now the drug is becoming so popular that Novo Nordisk, its creator, has declared a shortage. Tragically, this is all starting to wreak havoc on the lives of actual diabetics, who don't just need the drug to lose a few pounds. They need it to live, and doctors are saying that they're starting to see panic from diabetic patients.

"We're getting calls from our patients who can't find it," Dr. Jonathan Fialkow, chief of cardiology at Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, told the Sun Sentinel. Per the paper, Fialkow works with a number of diabetic patients with heart conditions.

"People need it for medical conditions, and pharmacies are out of it," he continued. "The manufacturers aren't able to keep up."

Ozempic, which first went to market in 2017, is what's called a "GLP-1 receptor agonist," which means that it stimulates insulin production and inhibits excess glucose from entering the bloodstream. In other words, it manages blood sugar. And while it's certainly a necessary medication for a lot of type 2 diabetics, there are a lot of very not fun side effects including diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

But shedding a few pounds is one of those side effects too, and for a lot of consumers out there, it seems that the lure of drug-assisted pound-shedding is enough to outweigh the diarrhea and vomiting of it all — not to mention the reality that the drug, and now others like it, is in short supply for those with the illnesses that Ozempic actually intended to treat. (Last year, Novo Nordisk also started selling a version of semaglutide known as WeGovy that's specifically intended for weight loss, but that one is experiencing shortages as well.)

"Ozempic is not a weight-loss medication," Fialkow continued, adding that "these medications need to be monitored by your doctor."

To that note, while it's possible for weight loss hopefuls to buy Ozempic out-of-pocket, the long term effects still aren't known because nobody has been taking it for very long.

"These medications have been studied in certain populations of people with certain medical conditions," Fialkow additionally told Axios. "When we start using medications and other populations that haven't been studied, while they may be safe, we don't know."

Diet culture is insidious, and it creates immense pressure to slim down. But clearly, the price tag on Ozempic isn't just its extremely high literal price tag, or even the potential "puking your brains out" thing. If you're trying to get your hands on it for the sake of a few pounds gone, maybe, for the sake of those who need it to manage their chronic illness, consider putting it back on the shelf.

READ MORE: Florida diabetics scramble to find drugs suddenly popular for non-intended use: weight loss [Sun Sentinel]

The post So Many People Are Using a Diabetes Drug for Weight Loss That Actual Diabetics Are Having Trouble Getting It appeared first on Futurism.

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So Many People Are Using a Diabetes Drug for Weight Loss That Actual Diabetics Are Having Trouble Getting It

Nice Rocket

Revenge porn is a horrible thing, and Twitter should definitely continue to ban anyone who attempts to post it on the app. That being said, a video of a rocket taking off — an actual rocket, you pervs — does not revenge porn make, and shouldn't be flagged as such.

It seems like a silly thing to have to say, but such is the exact situation that spaceflight photographer John Kraus found himself in earlier this week. Kraus, who was on site to photograph the historic Artemis I launch, took to Twitter to post a mesmerizing video of the liftoff — only to find himself kicked off of the app shortly thereafter, due to the fact that his post, for whatever inexplicable reason, had been marked as revenge porn.

"I’d like to acknowledge that our good friend and rocket photography extraordinaire, [John Kraus], has been completely locked out of twitter since yesterday, for an arbitrary and silly reason, the day of the biggest launch of his career," read an angry tweet from the Tim "Everyday Astronaut" Dodd. "Worst possible timing."

I’d like to acknowledge that our good friend and rocket photography extraordinaire @johnkrausphotos has been completely locked out of twitter since yesterday, for an arbitrary and silly reason, the day of the biggest launch of his career. Worst possible timing pic.twitter.com/USNUajwPJ4

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) November 17, 2022

Let Freedom Ring

Twitter finally let Kraus back online today. But for a rocket photographer, getting kicked off of Twitter on the day of the Artemis I launch really is a nightmare scenario.

"Almost two days later, I'm back. Twitter just acknowledged that they falsely locked my account instantly after I posted a benign video/caption of the Artemis I launch," he tweeted upon his return. "This was an unfortunate error after one of the biggest launches of my career."

While there was some speculation that new Twitter owner Elon Musk — who fired waves of employees, then effectively forced a mass exodus of quitters, and has reportedly been begging employees to come back so the ship that is Twitter doesn't fully sink beneath the digital waves — was to blame for Kraus' unfortunately-timed ban, given the chaos that's ensued on the tech side since Musk's takeover. Kraus, however, denied that Musk had anything to do with it.

"Anyone speculating it had to do with [Elon Musk] / new Twitter policy / not wanting NASA content instead of SpaceX, or that it was an ITAR violation — you are WRONG," he clarified. "It was falsely auto-flagged by software/AI."

So, maybe not Musk's fault, but a screwup that now falls directly on his presumably still-full plate. Anyway. We're glad that Kraus is free. And, for the record, here's the video that led to the whole debacle:

For reference, this was the original, exact tweet that got my account falsely locked for almost two days. It is now visible. Enjoy! https://t.co/Rpnaqfw6yX

— John Kraus (@johnkrausphotos) November 18, 2022

More on Artemis I: Experts Baffled by Why Nasa's "Red Crew" Wear Blue Shirts

The post Twitter Claims Video of Moon Rocket Launch Is Revenge Porn appeared first on Futurism.

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Twitter Claims Video of Moon Rocket Launch Is Revenge Porn

NASA says it can't find any record that James Webb, the State Department and NASA leader for whom the agency's groundbreaking new space telescope is named, was aware of homophobic government purges — but a bunch of astronomers are clapping back at the agency's claims.

"After an exhaustive search of U.S. government and Truman library archives," administrator Bill Nelson was quoted as saying in the agency's press release about its decision, "NASA’s historical investigation found, ‘To date, no available evidence directly links Webb to any actions or follow-up related to the firing of individuals for their sexual orientation.'"

In their own statement — which follows a 2021 Scientific American editorial and numerous other calls urging NASA to rename the telescope — astronomy experts Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Lucianne Walkowicz, Sarah Tuttle and Brian Nord are calling shenanigans in the strictest terms.

"NASA’s press release utilizes a practice of selective historical reading," the open letter reads, pointing to the agency's insistence that the original Webb was unaware of the firing of Clifford Norton, a NASA budget analyst who was canned in 1963 after being arrested for making a "homosexual advance" on someone. At the time, Webb was head of NASA.

The argument — which makes sense, if you think about it — is basically that Webb was either aware of the institutionalized homophobia in a way that didn't survive in existing documentation, or unaware of a key dynamic at the workplace he was in charge of. Neither option is flattering.

"Because we do not know of a piece of paper that explicitly says, 'James Webb knew about this,' they assume it means he did not," the experts wrote. "In such a scenario, we have to assume he was relatively incompetent as a leader: the administrator of NASA should know if his chief of security is extrajudicially interrogating people."

"We are deeply concerned by the implication that managers are not responsible for homophobia or other forms of discrimination that happens on their watch," they continued, noting that such a stance is "explicitly anti-equity, diversity and inclusion" that puts "responsibility on the most marginalized people to fend for ourselves, and it is in conflict with legal norms in many US jurisdictions."

It's "deeply unscientific," the astronomy luminaries added, that "NASA is engaging in historical cherry picking" with a figure who was, along with the state-sanctioned homophobia that occurred on his watch, accused of engaging in Cold War-era "psychological warfare," in which, as The Atlantic noted in 2018, then-Undersecretary of State Webb assembled a team of hard and soft scientists to figure out the best ways to conduct anti-Soviet propaganda.

NASA and the scientific community at large should, the astronomers wrote in Scientific American, "name telescopes out of love for those who came before us and led the way to freedom."

More on Webb: NASA Drops Stunning New James Webb Image of a Star Being Born

The post Experts Excoriate NASA Report Claiming James Webb Wasn't Homophobic appeared first on Futurism.

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Experts Excoriate NASA Report Claiming James Webb Wasn't Homophobic

1. SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, world's most powerful rocket, launches after three-year hiatus  CNN
2. SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy, the world's most powerful rocket, on Space Force mission  CNBC
3. SpaceX launches first Falcon Heavy mission since 2019 from Florida  Reuters
4. SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launches for the First Time in Over Three Years Most Powerful Operational Rocket in the World  SciTechDaily
5. With The SpaceX Falcon Heavy Launch A Success, Can You Invest In Elon Musk's Mission To Mars?  Forbes
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, world's most powerful rocket, launches after three-year hiatus - CNN

Branding matters for businesses, and in particular, to SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who revealed over the weekend that he "agonized" over his choices for both his businesses.

In response to a tweet asking, 'where have all the serifs gone?' Musk said it was maybe 'times for new roman', which was followed up by an individual commenting on Tesla's font, describing it as "pretty sweet". Musk replied to the comment and said that he "somewhat agonized" over the fonts for both Tesla and SpaceX, saying that he "loves fonts tbh". Musk said that there are some similarities between Tesla and SpaceX fonts, in particular, the decision to implement negative space.

Another of Musk's followers replied to the thread and complimented the 'X' in SpaceX, with sparked a reply from Musk, who wrote that the swoop of the X is "meant to represent the rocket's arc to orbit". BusinessInsider reports that the Tesla logo is meant to resemble a cross-section of an electric motor. In other Elon Musk news, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has warned that there is a bigger threat to humanity than global warming.

"Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming", wrote Musk. The Tesla CEO also acknowledged that global warming is an issue, but not as big as declining birthrates. In other news, NASA is about to launch a rocket on a journey around the Moon, in its first step to getting humans back on the lunar surface.

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Elon Musk reveals hidden meaning behind the swooping 'X' in SpaceX - TweakTown

A month ago, Elon Musks fight with Twitter Inc. was a merger dispute. Musk signed a merger agreement with Twitter in April, in which he agreed to buy Twitter for about $44 billion. Then the stock market went down, and Musk decided that he didnt want to pay $44 billion for Twitter anymore. And so, like lots of other regretful acquirers before him, he tried to find an excuse to get out of the deal. There is a standard set of ways to do this. The merger agreement is 73 pages long, full of representations and covenants and conditions. You read through the merger agreement, you find some places where you think Twitter has not lived up to its obligations or met its conditions, you send Twitter a letter saying that and terminating the deal, Twitter sues you, and you meet up in Delaware Chancery Court to argue over what the merger agreement requires.

This is in fact what Musk did. Frankly I did not think that he did a very good job of it. His main excuse is that the merger agreement contained a representation that no more than 5% of Twitters monetizable daily active users are spam or bot accounts, but in fact vastly more than 5% are bots, so he can get out of the deal. No part of this excuse is true in any way: The merger agreement doesnotcontain that representation, there is no evidence that itswrong, and even if it existed and was wrong it would not be a reason to get out of the deal unless it caused a material adverse effect on Twitters business, which seems unlikely. Nonetheless, this is how you play the game.Musk is trying to prove that the merger agreement doesnot require him to buy Twitter; Twitter is trying to prove that it does. Like most observers, I think that it clearly does, so this is an uphill fight for Musk, but you never know.

Read more:

Musk Tries a New Way Out of Twitter - Bloomberg

Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources.Please support it with a subscription here.

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Update: Liftoff! SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 at 7:08 p.m. ET from Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying a satellite to lunar orbit for South Korea. Read our full post-launch story here.

Watch live above and see real-time updates below as SpaceX targets 7:08p.m. ET Thursday, August4, for the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida forSouth Korea's first lunar mission.

After liftoff, the Falcon 9 will fly an easterntrajectory with the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, or KPLO,a satellite designed to orbit the moon with a suite of South Korean experiments and one U.S.-built instrument,according to NASA.

The Falcon 9 first stage willtarget a drone ship landing in the Atlantic Ocean about nine minutes after liftoff.

Best tweets, photos from social: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch, South Korea's first lunar mission

Thismarks SpaceX's first launch of August and the company's34thoverall mission of the year. Following this morning's successful sunrise liftoff of aUnited Launch Alliance Atlas V for the U.S. Space Force, it will also be the 34th overall launch to take place from Florida'sSpace Coast this year.

If successful this evening it will bethe quickest turnaround between rocket launches from the Space Coast sinceJames Lovell and Buzz Aldrin's Gemini 12mission lifted off on November 11, 1966, just 90 minutes after the launch of theAgena Target Vehicle.

Should SpaceX be unable to launch this evening there is a backup opportunityavailable about 24 hours later on Friday, August 5 at7:00 p.m. ET.

See real-time updates and ask questions below (give the module a few seconds to load; if it doesn't work,try thislink):

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Updates: Watch as SpaceX launches a South Korean mission to the moon from Florida - Florida Today

The servicewhich advertises download speeds of 50 to 200 Mbps and uploads of 10 to 20 Mbps, and touts its absence of data capswas nearing 500,000 users worldwide in June, per a presentation that CEO Musk shared on Twitter. Among the more inspiring users: Ukrainians defending their country from Russian invaders, and rural Americans who would otherwise be bereft of broadband.

Its honestly life-changing for people like my family, emails Christina Deese, a work-from-home office manager in Cusseta, Georgia, who had previously limped along with slower broadband from a geostationary satellite that had more stringent data caps. I can now video conference with my team, my supervisors and participate in company remote functions, which I had to pass on before.

But Starlink has also seemed to struggle with demand since exiting its public beta test. Users have spent months waiting for receiver hardware to ship and reported performance slowdowns. Meanwhile, Starlink has hiked pricesin March, raising its monthly rate from $99 to $110 and bumping its hardware charge from $499 to $599also, moved to diversify its business by lining up a more lucrative customer base.

But while such clients as airlines and cruise lines may do more to cover capital costs in the billions of dollars, they also complicate SpaceXs math as it tries to balance demand with satellite capacity. Which may lead to even more rural would-be customers waiting for a Starlink box to arrive.

Deese, for example, put down a $99 deposit for Starlink in June of 2021 but did not have a Starlink kit shipped until February.

Jack Mangold, a retiree in Collettsville, North Carolina, waited even longer, having placed an order in February of 2021 that shipped this past April. He says service has been reliable but not particularly fast, writing in an email that hes only getting 25 to 50 Mbps downloads.

It can be all over the place if I test several times a day, Mangold said.

That, however, still represents a major improvement over his previous connectivity: an antiquated digital-subscriber-line service from AT&T.

In June, the network-measurement firm Ooklas Speedtest app showed that Starlinks median U.S. downloads in the first quarter of 2022 hit 90.55 Mbpsa big increase from a year ago, when Starlink downloads sat at 65.72 Mbps, but a drop from the prior quarters 104.97 Mbps. (SpaceX did not return an emailed request for comment.)

Ookla also found Starlink offered faster downloads in every other country tested, topping out at 160.08 Mbps in Lithuania. The likeliest explanation: Demand in the U.S. is outpacing demand in other countries. Its that constant race between capacity and consumption, says analyst Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics.

Consistency at any one location can be an issue too: The Starlink connection must be handed off from one satellite to another, and nearby obstacles can block the signals. For example, Deese says tree foliage can sometimes interrupt the connection for several seconds.

Peggy Schaffer, executive director of the ConnectMaine Authority, says Starlink users in her state often need a backup connection, such as a smartphones mobile-hotspot function.

Schaffer adds that some rural Mainers have reported an extra complication: The equipment uses more power than most off-the-grid homes with solar can manage.

With all of these obstacles to adoption in mindand with last years infrastructure law providing some $42 billion in federal funds to build out wired broadbandindustry analysts dont expect Starlink to do more than fill in gaps in coverage. For example, the market-research firm GlobalData predicts that low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband wont exceed 1% of the U.S. residential market through 2027, with fiber-optic broadband taking the biggest bite out of cables market share.

But while Starlinks most enthusiastic early adopters could resent that forecast, Musk himself might not. He has stayed uncharacteristically conservative about Starlinks possible reach, saying in June of 2021 that its really meant for sparsely populated regions.

Starlinks recent move to start selling service to recreational vehicles at much higher pricesand without a wait for hardware to shiprisks embittering the customers who need Starlink the most.

They threw a wrench in their whole effort, Entner commented, adding this option is open to queue jumping by people placing orders for Starlink RV service who dont own RVs.

In a June filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging the agency to deny Starlinks bid to offer service to moving vehicles, ships, and aircraft, Harold Felt, senior vice president of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, griped thatSpaceX has decided to give customers in rural America a back seat to gamers on mountain tops and luxury RVs.

The FCC granted Starlinks request for mobile service anyway, leading to the companys announcement of a $5,000/month maritime service for large boats. Its also signed up Hawaiian Airlines and the small regional-jet carrier JSX to start using Starlink for inflight Wi-Fi, which each airline says will be free to use.

In order to build out its constellation, it seems clear that SpaceX will need multiple revenue streams to cover costs that, according to Musks own prediction, could hit $30 billion. SpaceXs current FCC authorization allows a first-generation deployment of 4,408 satellites, but an August 2021 FCC filing envisages a second-generation system of 29,988 satellites.

That volume of satellites raises concerns over orbital congestion and interference with Earth-based astronomy, but it will also require a bigger rocket: SpaceXs not-yet-flown Starship. That two-stage, fully reusable transport could deploy many more Starlinks per launch than the 60 its Falcon 9 can deliver today.

Falcon 9 isnt going to do it, says Marco Cceres, an analyst with the Teal Group.

SpaceX also needs Starship to loft its version 2.0 Starlink satellites (larger, heavier and higher-capacity successors to the current model).

We need Starship to work and to fly frequently, or Starlink 2 will be stuck on the ground, Musk told Everyday Astronaut host Tim Dodd in a May YouTube interview in which he called those next-gen satellites much more capable.

Unlike those other providers, SpaceX builds its own rockets. And its boss has a motivation beyond money to make them work.

Ultimately, his goal is to get Starlink up, but the bigger goal is to colonize Mars, says Cceres. And for that, he needs Starship.

Read more:

SpaceX's Starlink has soared, but a course correction may be on the horizon - Fast Company

Starship prototype 20 is stacked on top of Super Heavy Booster 4 on August 6, 2021.

SpaceX

Elon Musk's SpaceX has become one of the world's most valuable private companies, and Morgan Stanley believes the Starship rockets the venture is developing will have wide-reaching implications.

Starship is the massive, next-generation rocketSpaceX is developing to be fully reusable, to launch cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars. The company is testing prototypes at a facility in southern Texas and has flown multiple short test flights.

"This technological development has the potential to transform investor expectations around the space industry," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to investors on Monday.

"As one client put it: 'talking about space before Starship is like talking about the internet before Google,'" Jonas added.

Morgan Stanley noted that its latest views on SpaceX come in response to CNBC reporting that the company's valuation has hit $100 billion.

"What SpaceX is doing on the shores of South Texas is challenging any preconceived notion of what was possible and the time frame possible, in terms of rockets, launch vehicles and supporting infrastructure," Jonas said.

In Morgan Stanley's view, Musk's company has created a "double flywheel" of technology development with its reusable rockets and Starlink satellites. The firm bases the majority of SpaceX's valuation on the earning potential of the Starlink satellite internet network, which Musk has previously said could bring in as much as $30 billion in revenue a year.

"We view SpaceX's launch capabilities and Starlink as inextricably linked whereby improvements in launch capacity/bandwidth (both in frequency and payload per flight) and cost of launch improve the economics and path to scale of Starlink's LEO constellation," Jonas said. "At the same time, development of Starlink's commercial opportunity provides a thriving 'captive customer' for the launch business, enabling a symbiotic development."

Notably, Morgan Stanley expects Starlink to burn about $33 billion this decade and turn cash flow positive in 2031.

Morgan Stanley last year forecast that SpaceX would become a $100 billion company at a time when SpaceX's valuation was nearing $44 billion.

"More than one client has told us if Elon Musk were to become the first Trillionaire... it won't be because of Tesla. Others have said SpaceX may eventually be the most highly valued company in the world in any industry," Jonas said.

Become a smarter investor withCNBC Pro.Get stock picks, analyst calls, exclusive interviews and access to CNBC TV.Sign up to start afree trial today.

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Morgan Stanley says SpaceX's Starship may 'transform investor expectations' about space - CNBC

Enlarge / Rendering of SpaceX's Boca Chica launch site with FAA annotations.

FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration convened the first of two virtual public hearings on Monday evening to solicit public comments on SpaceX's plan to launch its Starship rocket from South Texas.

The hearing, which lasted nearly four hours, drew passionate support for SpaceX's plans to expand its Starbase facility as well as heated opposition. Limited to comments of threeminutes or less, nearly five dozen people spoke during the hearing over Zoom.

By my informal counting, the comments tallied 39 in favor of the project and 18 against. The comments in favor of SpaceX were more likely to come from out of state, from people generally appreciative of the company's efforts to make humanity a "multiplanetary species." However, there were plenty of local supporters as well.

Most of those who spoke against the project said they lived near Brownsville, or in the state of Texas. They cited a mix of environmental concerns, including wildlife habitat destruction, and impacts on the South Texas community, such as gentrification.

Several proponents of SpaceX said they had grown up near Cape Canaveral, in Florida, or other launch sites around the planet and had not seen environmental degradation in the vicinity. Rohan Joseph, who identified himself as an aerospace engineer, "lifelong environmentalist," and birder, cited the protection of sea turtles at launch sites in India as an example of the positive effects of a launch site on an area.

He also wondered why SpaceX appeared to be receiving so much scrutiny for its launch site when there was a former oil drilling site in the vicinity, or, if the environment was so pristine, why nearby South Padre Island had been allowed to be built up. "If SpaceX were an oil exploration company, there would be no questions asked," Joseph said.

A number of supporters also cited the project's ability to inspire a new generation of Texans. Gail Afar, a registered nurse in Texas, works with children in schools, and she said their eyes light up when the topic of SpaceX is raised.

Austin Barnard, who said he has lived in Brownsville his entire life, recalled growing up in South Texas without any sense of hope for the future. "The community is now embracing the idea that there is a new dawn for humanity," Barnard said. "I find it awe-inspiring and beautiful."

A city commissioner from Brownsville, Jessica Tetreau-Kalifa, noted that before SpaceX's decision to move to South Texas in 2013, the area was "the poorest community in the United States." By coming to the region, she said, SpaceX has changed everything, from the perception of the region to its economic outlook. The company now employs more than 2,000 people locally, she said.

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Supporters and opponents of SpaceX launch site air their concerns - Ars Technica

Enlarge / The Boeing Starliner spacecraft to be flown on Orbital Flight Test-2 is seen at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 2, 2021.

NASA

NASA and Boeing officials said Tuesday that they have successfully removed two valves from the Starliner spacecraft and have shipped them to Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama for further analysis.

The forensic examinationthe two valves will be inspected with a variety of techniques, including a CT scanis part of Boeing's ongoing effort to diagnose the "stuck" valve issue that caused an abort of Starliner's uncrewed test flight on August 3. With less than five hours remaining in the countdown to launch, during a routine procedure, 13 of the 24 valves that control the flow of dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer through the service module of the spacecraft would not cycle between closed and open.

An initial diagnostic effort at the launch pad yielded no results, so the Atlas V rocket and spacecraft were rolled back to an integration facility. After more inspection and testing there, engineers decided to "de-stack" the spacecraft and return it to Boeing's spacecraft processing building at Kennedy Space Center. This eventually led to further dissection of the vehicle and removal of several valves.

Boeing's chief engineer for space and launch, Michelle Parker, said during a news conference with reporters Tuesday that the company has a pretty solid hypothesis for what went wrong. At some point during the 46-day period when the vehicle was fueledand when the valves were found to be stuckhumidity must have gotten into the spacecraft. This moisture combined with the oxidizer and created nitric acid, beginning the process of corrosion.

Parker said dew points at the launch site were high in August, and while the vehicle was designed to operate in Florida's humidity, there is physical evidence that humidity is nonetheless the culprit. Boeing and NASA engineers now want to try to recreate the corrosive reaction in similar test conditions so that they can be confident of the root cause and any countermeasures they implement.

The company and NASA will press ahead with work in Florida, Alabama, and at Boeing's test site in White Sands, New Mexico. All of this will take time, acknowledged Boeing's program manager for commercial crew, John Vollmer. He said Boeing is now targeting the "first half" of 2022 for the uncrewed test flight of Starliner. (One source told Ars the "no earlier than" date is May 2022).

This mission is formally named Orbital Flight Test-2, or OFT-2. The company is flying OFT-2at its own expense, $410 million, following an uncrewed Starliner mission in December 2019 that went awry due to software issues. The company's technicians and engineers worked long and hard after the OFT-1 flight to fix the software, only to have these new hardware problems crop up during launch-day checks on the pad in early August.

NASA is hoping that Boeing can get Starliner up and flying so that it can have a second launch system, alongside SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle, to get its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Assuming that Boeing safely completes OFT-2, Vollmer said the company and NASA would like to have about six months to review data and prepare for a crewed test flight. That would put the earliest possible launch date for Starliner's first mission carrying astronauts toward the end of 2022. More realistically, the mission may not fly until early 2023.

After this flight, NASA will certify that Starliner is ready for regular, operational astronaut flights.

As part of its commercial crew program, NASA ordered six "post-certification" missions from SpaceX and Boeing. SpaceX successfully completed its demonstration crewed mission in 2020 and is set to launch its third certified crew mission, Crew-3, to the International Space Station on October 31. A fourth and fifth mission are scheduled to follow in 2022.

During Tuesday's news conference, NASA's commercial crew program manager, Steve Stich, said the agency is negotiating additional flights for SpaceXand possibly Boeing. He said details about those contract extensions could be announced within the next few months. Given the issues discussed Tuesday, It now seems possible that SpaceX could complete its initial six-mission contract before Boeing flies its first certified mission. But Stich is confident that Boeing will get there.

"I have no reason to believe that Boeing wont be successful in getting Starliner operational," Stich said. "We'll get this problem solved, and then we'll have two space transportation systems like we want."

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Its not the heat, its the humidity that grounded Boeings Starliner - Ars Technica

Cathie Wood-led Ark Investment Management on Friday bought 126,360 shares estimated to be worth about $994,453 in Velo3D Inc (NYSE:VLD), on the dip.

Shares of the 3D company, which went public last month via a merger with special purpose acquisition company Jaws Spitfire Acquisition Corp, closed 1.75% lower at $7.87 on Friday.

The Ark Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF (BATS:ARKQ) bought the shares in Velo3D, a 3D printer supplier for SpaceX. Besides ARKQ, the Ark Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (BATS:ARKX) also owns shares in Velo3D.

Together the two ETFs held 4.41 million shares, worth $35.39 million, in Velo3D ahead of Friday's trade.

SpaceX is a space exploration company led byTesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.

See Also: Cathie Wood Just Bought Another $402K In This Supplier Of Elon Musk-Led SpaceX

Here are a few of the other key trades for Ark on Friday:

Bought 48,448 shares estimated to be worth $6.55 million in Teladoc Health Inc (NYSE:TDOC). Shares of the telemedicine healthcare company closed 1.08% lower at $135.40 a share on Friday.

Sold 153,997 shares estimated to be worth $6.75 million in NanoString Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NSTG). Shares of the biotech company closed 1.42% lower at $43.82 a share on Friday.

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Cathie Wood Piled Up Another $994K In This Company Linked With Elon Musk's SpaceX On Friday - Benzinga - Benzinga

The startup Radiant was founded by ex-SpaceX engineers who recently secured funding of $1.2 million to develop these portable nuclear reactors. Radiants nuclear reactors can deliver over 1 MegaWatt of electricity and they can operate for up to eight years. This makes it possible for one reactor to power over 1,000 homes.

Whats different with these nuclear reactorsThe nuclear reactors developed by Radiant use helium instead of water for cooling. This method, according to the company greatly reduces corrosion, boiling and contamination risks. The particle fuel used in these reactors does not melt according to Radiant and is also said to be capable of handling higher temperatures than traditional nuclear fuels. The company is also working around ways to refuel the reactors and also efficiently transport heat out of the reactor core.

Small nuclear reactorsSmall nuclear reactors are being developed by several countries including NASA who is making one the size of a garbage can. According to the World Nuclear Association, small nuclear reactors are convenient as they can be efficiently built in a controlled factory. Their small size and safety features also make it possible for them to be lent to countries with smaller grids. It can also help with easier financing as compared to larger nuclear plants.

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Ex-SpaceX engineers are working on portable nuclear reactors that can power over 1,000 homes - Business Insider India

An artist's rendition of a Terran R rocket launching to orbit.

Relativity Space

3D-printing specialist Relativity Space raised $650 million to step up work on a fully reusable rocket that will attempt to challenge Elon Musk's SpaceX in less than three years, the company announced on Tuesday.

The money will be used "to accelerate some of the production ramp rate and get to a higher launch cadence as quickly as we can, because the demand is certainly there for it," Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis told CNBC.

Relativity's new capital will be focused on its Terran R rocket, a launch vehicle that would be similar in size and power to SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

Terran R will carry 20 times more to orbit than Relativity's Terran 1 rocket, the latter of which the company is on track to launch for the first time by the end of this year. Additionally, Ellis said Terran 1's backlog of customer orders makes it "the most pre-sold rocket in history before launch."

The raise, which Ellis described as "war chest doubled," was led by Fidelity and comes eight months after Relativity brought in $500 million in a round led by Tiger Global. The $650 million in equity added BlackRock, Centricus, Coatue and Soroban Capital as new Relativity investors, with a host of existing investors including Fidelity, Tiger, Baillie Gifford, K5 Global, Tribe Capital, XN, Brad Buss, Mark Cuban, Jared Leto and Spencer Rascoff building on prior stakes.

Relativity has now raised $1.34 billion in capital since its founding in 2015, with its valuation climbing to $4.2 billion from $2.3 billion in November. Its headcount has grown to 400 people, with Ellis saying the company plans to "add several more hundred this year."

"We've signed up to create a lot of value, certainly remaining the second most highly valued space company in the world," Ellis said, as SpaceX commands an industry-leading $74 billion valuation.

A timelapse from inside of a 3D-printing bay shows the manufacturing process for a Terran 1 second stage flight tank:

Relativity Space

Relativity is building the first iteration of its Terran 1 rocket and has manufactured 85% of the vehicle for the inaugural launch. It uses multiple 3D-printers, all developed in-house, to build Terran 1 and will do the same for Terran R.

The rockets are designed to be almost entirely 3D-printed, an approach which Relativity says makes it less complex, and faster to build or modify, than traditional rockets. Additionally, Relativity says its simpler process will eventually be capable of turning raw material into a rocket on the launchpad in under 60 days.

"We're just seeing in the market that there needs to be another quickly-moving, disruptive launch company that's actually skating to where the puck is going," Ellis said.

He added that Relativity "never seriously considered the SPAC path," believing his company doesn't yet need to go public and can tap "almost limitless capital" in the private markets. A SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, is a blank-check company that raises funding from investors to finance a merger with a private company to take it public.

Ellis noted that Relativity received higher fundraising offers than the one it accepted from Fidelity, but went with the firm as the lead due to its prestige and reputation.

Relativity Spaceranked No. 23on this year'sCNBC Disruptor 50list.

The row of two-story tall 3D printer bays at the company's headquarters.

Relativity Space

Relativity's Terran 1 rocket is designed to carry 1,250 kilograms to low Earth orbit. That puts Terran 1 in the middle of the U.S. launch market, in the "medium-lift" section betweenRocket Lab's ElectronandSpaceX's Falcon 9in capability.

But Terran R would go head-to-head with Falcon 9: Targeting a capability of more than 20,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit, almost as tall at 216 feet in length, slightly wider with a 16-foot diameter, and a similarly sized nosecone to carry satellites to space.

SpaceX's rocket features nine Merlin engines in the booster, each capable of about 190,000 pounds of thrust, while Relativity's Terran R booster will feature seven Aeon R engines that it says will be capable of 302,000 pounds of thrust each. Earlier this year Relativity completed a full duration test firing of a pathfinder engine, using liquid oxygen and liquid methane as its fuel.

Musk's company ships its Falcon 9 boosters via highways from its headquarters in California, and Ellis said Relativity will similarly send its Terran R boosters over land to the coast of Texas, before putting them on a barge to its engine testing facility in Mississippi and then on another barge to Florida.

Relativity is aiming to launch the first Terran R mission in 2024 from Cape Canaveral's LC-16 launchpad, where its first Terran 1 missions will also launch. While Relativity is "nearly out of physical space" in the headquarters it moved into last summer, Ellis said the company has the core infrastructure in place needed to manufacturing Terran R. It has five large scale 3D-printers and five smaller "development" printers, and plans to add two more development bays in the near future. But Ellis noted that the company completed work on a new 3D-printer head, which more than doubles its print speed.

"It's not just adding more printer hardware. We're also continuously using the data and learning of printing to actually speed up the process and also make changes to the printer design themselves," Ellis said.

Ellis emphasized that Terran R has been a part of the plan since Relativity's early days, as the company has seen strong "market interest and demand for creating this vehicle." Although he declined to disclose the name of the customer, Relativity has a "prominent" initial buyer for Terran R launches.

"We've actually been developing [Terran R] this the whole time, so in many ways I feel like this is a weight off my shoulders, a big reveal," Ellis said. "We just needed to get enough traction and resources to be in the spot where now we're going big."

An illustration of a Terran 1 rocket, left, next to a Terran R rocket and a silhouette of a person.

Relativity Space

Ellis said he is a "huge fan" of SpaceX's next-generation Starship rocket, which Musk's company is developing to be fully reusable hoping to make space travel more akin to air travel.

"We need a vehicle that's going to take people to Mars," Ellis said. "[Starship] is huge and I think that capability is necessary."

As Terran R aims to be fully reusable, Ellis described it as "more a miniature Starship than a Falcon 9 rocket." While SpaceX reuses the boosters of its Falcon 9 rockets, it has not been able to reuse the upper stages that carry satellites on to orbit. Relativity wants Terran R to be a "fresh look at what is the best possible" rocket by designing it to be fully reusable from the beginning.

Terran R's booster, or first stage, will use its engines to land standing upright and has features "that would be nearly impossible to produce without 3D-printing." Ellis said Relativity's long-term goal is to "get to hundreds to thousands of reuses" per rocket. Reusing the second stage will be the next challenge, with Relativity building it "out of a more exotic 3D-printed metal" to make it lighter and able to endure the intense temperatures of reentering the Earth's atmosphere.

"First stage reuse or even second stage may not work perfectly on the very first try, but every single launch attempt that we're bringing in revenue we're able to continue to develop reusability further," Ellis said.

A fully reusable rocket would also be able to deliver cargo quickly from one point on the Earth to another, a use the U.S. military has shown great interest in already with SpaceX's Starship.

"I think point-to-point space transportation is an interesting market that we're looking at" with Terran R, Ellis said.

More broadly, Ellis remains focused on helping to "build an industrial base on Mars" and believes both 3D-printing and fully reusable rockets are key to making that happen.

"No one else is doing full reusability and I think that that's a bit depressing there needs to be more companies actually trying to make the future happen in a big way," Ellis said. "What we're doing is extremely hard ,but we also have the best and most experienced team in the industry."

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Relativity Space raises $650 million for 3D-printed SpaceX ...

The team behind SpaceXs growing satellite internet network Starlink is in talks with several airlines to beam internet to their airplanes, the projects vice president said during a conference panel on Wednesday. Expanding Starlink from rural homes and onto airlines is an expected move for Elon Musks space company as it races to open the broadband network commercially later this year.

Were in talks with several of the airlines, Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceXs VP of Starlink and commercial sales, told a panel at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit on Wednesday. We have our own aviation product in development weve already done some demonstrations to date, and looking to get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the very near future.

Since 2018, SpaceX has launched nearly 1,800 Starlink satellites out of the roughly 4,400 it needs to provide global coverage of broadband internet, primarily for rural homes where fiber connections arent available. The company is in the midst of a Starlink beta phase that promises up to 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload speeds, with tens of thousands of users so far. Most are paying $99 per month for internet under that beta, using a $499 bundle of a self-aligning Starlink dish and Wi-Fi router.

Last year, SpaceX filed plans to test Starlink on five Gulfstream jets. And in March, SpaceX sought FCC approval to use Starlink with so-called Earth Stations in Motion industry jargon to refer to basically any vehicle that would receive a signal, including cars, trucks, maritime vessels, and aircraft. Musk clarified on Twitter at the time: Not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink, as our terminal is much too big. This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & RVs. Another FCC filing from last Friday requested approval for testing across five US states of an updated receiver with a square-shaped antenna, a basic design commonly associated with aircraft antennae.

Hofeller said the design for SpaceXs airline antennas will be very similar to the technology inside its consumer terminals, but with obvious enhancements for aviation connectivity. Like those consumer antennas, the aviation hardware will be designed and built by SpaceX, he said. The airborne antennas could link with ground stations to communicate with Starlink satellites.

For Starlink to provide connectivity to airplanes flying over remote parts of the ocean, far from ground stations, will require inter-satellite links a capability in which satellites talk to each other using laser links without first bouncing signals off ground stations. The next generation of our constellation, which is in work, will have this inter-satellite connectivity, Hofeller said.

Competition is fierce between Musks Starlink network and the growing industry of low-orbit satellite internet providers. New competitors include so-called mega-constellations from Jeff Bezos Amazon, which has yet to launch any of its planned 3,000 satellites, and the UKs OneWeb, which has launched 182 satellites of roughly 640 planned. All of those satellites will be in low-Earth orbit, a domain below the more distant geostationary orbits of larger internet satellites that currently provide internet services to commercial aircraft.

Established US competitors for in-flight internet are Intelsat and ViaSat, which operate networks of satellites in geostationary orbit. ViaSat recently announced plans to use its next-generation satellite network on Deltas mainline fleet. The California-based company is planning a 300-satellite low-orbit network of its own as well as a new geostationary trio that will start launching early next year. It is already a diehard competitor to SpaceX. ViaSat has threatened to sue the Federal Communications Commission for not doing an environmental review on a recent Starlink modification.

SpaceX appears confident that it can outlast the more established competition. All in all, passengers and customers want a great experience that [geostationary] systems simply cannot provide, Hofeller said on the panel. So its going to be up to the individual airline whether they want to be responsive to that, or if theyre okay with having a system that is not as responsive to their customers demand.

OneWeb, which was pulled out of bankruptcy last year by the UK government and Indian telecom giant Bharti Global, is also targeting in-flight internet services with its constellation and has been far more public with its plans than SpaceX. Asked by the panel moderator when customers can expect to use in-flight internet with any of the competing satellite networks currently expanding in low-Earth orbit, OneWebs VP of mobility services Ben Griffin estimated the middle part of next year maybe sooner. Airlines want to see developed hardware and services that work first, he added.

We have been talking to airlines for quite some time, so theres no lack of interest, Griffin said during the same panel. SpaceXs Hofeller was cagey when the question turned to him What Ben said is correct. People want to see the hardware, they wanna see the constellation, and so were driving that hard as fast as we can. When the announcement will be? To be determined. Dont know. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

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SpaceXs Starlink is in talks with several airlines for in-flight Wi-Fi - The Verge

SpaceX is building an offshore launch pad for its Starship rocket in Mississippi, The Sun Herald first reported on Thursday.

Elon Musk's space company bought two oil rigs off the coast of Texas earlier this year with the intention of converting them into ocean spaceports. One of the rigs, Phobos, is now located in Pascagoula, a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, according to The Sun Herald.

It's unclear where the other launch pad, Deimos, will be situated. The ocean platforms, where Starship will blast off from, have been named after Mars' moons.

Shipbuilding and repair company ST Engineering Halter Marine & Offshore Inc. is working on a six-month project to remove drilling equipment from the Phobus oil rig.

"SpaceX is here in Pascagoula," Jeffrey Gehrmann, ST Engineering's senior vice president of operations, told The Sun Herald.

Gehrmann said the oil rig was towed in from Galveston, Texas, after SpaceX called ST Engineering to ask how much the company would charge to remove the drilling equipment from the oil rig.

"Apparently, our number was better than our competitors', and they brought it to us," he said.

Gehrmann couldn't go into further details about the project due to a nondisclosure agreement with SpaceX, The Sun Herald reported.

"This has the potential of being huge," Gehrmann said.

Musk said on May 30 that that Deimos is under construction and could begin launch operations next year.

Both Deimos and Phobus will serve as alaunch and landing platform for SpaceX's Starship, a spacecraft that Musk wants to send to Mars. This will be the first time that Starship takes off from an ocean launch pad.

These Starship offshore spaceports follow the success of SpaceX's ocean droneships, including "Just Read the Instructions" and "Of Course I Still Love You," which allow the recovery of Falcon 9 first stages in the Atlantic Ocean.

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SpaceX Converts Oil Rig Into a Launch Pad for Starship in ...

(Credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX is testing a new version of Starlink that operates via two satellite dishes instead of one.

The company revealed the experimental dish in an FCC filing last week, which was spotted by Wccftech. The document indicates the dish separates the transmitting and receiving antennas into two squares thatll communicate with SpaceXs satellite internet network. Each square measures 12.2 inches by 12.2 inches.

The design is notably different from the circular satellite dish design on a standard Starlink terminal, which the company has been distributing to thousands of eager customers. That dish, which measures 23 inches in diameter, contains both the transmitting and receiving antennas.

SpaceXs application to the FCC doesnt reveal much about the experimental dish or its purpose. The document merely says the company is seeking a six-month license to test the dish starting on July 10 in five states: California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and Washington.

The tests requested here are designed to demonstrate the ability to transmit to and receive information from a fixed location on the ground, the application adds. SpaceX will test antenna equipment functionality and analyze data link performance of the user terminal.

The application was filed as SpaceX is rolling out Starlink across the globe to potentially millions of users in need of high-speed internet. To reach the goal, the company is trying to reduce the $499 upfront cost of each Starlink terminal, which includes the dish and a Wi-Fi modem.

The experimental dish could also represent SpaceXs attempt to upgrade speeds on the Starlink network. At the same time, the company is working to offer Starlink on moving vehicles, including boats and cars.

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station today (June 5) to deliver new solar arrays along with tons of fresh research experiments and NASA supplies as part of the company's 22nd cargo resupply mission.

The uncrewed Dragon autonomously linked up with the orbiting laboratory at 5:09 a.m. EDT (0909 GMT), parking at the zenith, or space-facing, side of the station's Harmony module. Docking occurred approximately 40 hours after the Dragon's launch on a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday (June 3) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At the time of docking, both spacecraft were sailing about 258 miles (415 kilometers) over the South Pacific Ocean.

"It was a great approach and was awesome watching it come on in, and we're glad it's here," NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough told flight controllers after docking. "Looking forward to all the science and other goodies that it brought up along with our EVA solar arrays. It's going to be a great few weeks as we get into Dragon and get things out."

Video: See SpaceX's 1st automated uncrewed docking at space stationRelated: SpaceX launches upgraded Cargo Dragon to space station for NASA

SpaceX's Dragon CRS-22 mission is the second upgraded supply ship to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) without the help of astronauts, who typically use the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple incoming cargo vessels and manually attach them to the station. However, two Expedition 65 crewmembers Kimbrough and fellow NASA astronaut Megan McArthur did monitor the docking from inside the station's Cupola observatory.

The arrival of this upgraded Dragon CRS-22 cargo spacecraft will bring the total number of SpaceX vehicles to two. A different Crew Dragon spacecraft, which brought four astronauts to the space station in April on the Crew-2 mission, is also currently docked at the Harmony module.

"Hard capture is complete and it's a great day seeing another Dragon on ISS [International Space Station]," spacecraft communicator Leslie Ringo radioed the station crew after docking from NASA's Mission Control in Houston.

Related: SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsule explained (infographic)

This Cargo Dragon is SpaceX's second supply-toting vehicle to autonomously dock itself with the space station. That is a new feature thanks to some redesigns that SpaceX has made to its workhorse Dragon cargo spacecraft. The upgrades allow the vehicle to not only dock with the station (its predecessor was grappled by the station's robotic arm and berthed to the station with the help of astronauts on board) but also increased the craft's cargo capacity by about 20%, enabling more science.

This Dragon will be the second to splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean following a month-long stay attached to the ISS. This change allows researchers to receive their precious cargo shipments much faster than before.

On board the Dragon CRS-22 spacecraft is 7,300 lbs. (3,311 kilograms) of supplies and science investigations, including two brand new roll-out solar arrays that will help boost the space station's power supply. Built by RedWire and Boeing, the arrays are the first two in a set of six that will be installed on the station in the coming months.

Dubbed iROSA (ISS Roll-Out Solar Array), the first set of flexible solar panels will be installed this month as part of a series of spacewalks performed by Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet, on June 16 and 20. The design was first tested as part of a technology demonstration on a previous resupply mission.

In addition to the ISS, the solar arrays will be used on future missions, such as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (or DART), which is set to launch on a SpaceX rocket later this year. It will also be used on NASA's planned Lunar Gateway, a part of the agency's Artemis moon program.

Also on board the Dragon CRS-21 spacecraft is more than 2,000-lbs. (907 kilograms) of scientific experiments, including some interesting organisms like tardigrades (also known as "water bears") and Bobtail squid.

The Dragon CRS-22 mission marks the second cargo mission the company has flown under its second Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, called CRS-2.

SpaceX signed its first such contract with NASA in 2008, originally agreeing to launch 12 cargo missions to the space station between 2012 and 2016. NASA extended that contract to include a total of 20 Dragon cargo flights, for a total cost of about $700 million in 2015. (Northrop Grumman, formerly known as Orbital ATK, also received a contract to fly NASA cargo on its Cygnus cargo spacecraft.)

According to Montalbano, the cargo Dragon will remain docked with the space station until July. Once Cargo Dragon departs, the Crew Dragon currently docked with the station will switch parking spots, opening up a port on the ISS for an uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch on its OFT-2 test flight to the station on July 30.

Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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SpaceX Dragon docks at space station to deliver new solar ...

[The livestream has ended. A replay is available above.]

SpaceX sent the latest cargo mission for NASA to the space station on Thursday, with Elon Musk's company completing its 17th launch this year.

The company's Falcon 9 rocket took off at 1:29 p.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, called CRS-22, has SpaceX's Cargo Dragon spacecraft carrying more than 7,300 pounds of research and supplies to the International Space Station.

A few minutes after the launch, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 booster the largest, bottom portion of the rocket on an autonomous ship in the Atlantic Ocean. The Cargo Dragon capsule separated from the rocket about 12 minutes after liftoff, with the spacecraft expected to dock with the ISS on Saturday.

During a pre-launch press conference, SpaceX director of Dragon mission management Sarah Walker noted that CRS-22 is the fifth Dragon capsule the company has sent to the International Space Station in the past 12 months. The company has launched multiple crew and cargo missions in the past year, with a full slate in the year ahead as well.

Additionally, CRS-22 is SpaceX's 17th mission of 2021. The company is on a blistering launch pace, as missions are going up an average of every nine days since 2021 began.

SpaceX's current pace puts it on track to conduct about 40 launches this year, which would easily top its annual record of 26 launches set last year. It has launched 119 of its Falcon 9 rockets to date, landed 79 of the Falcon 9's boosters, and reused boosters for 61 missions.

The company's Cargo Dragon spacecraft rolls out to the launchpad in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX

Walker also pointed out that CRS-22 is the first mission of this year to launch on a new Falcon 9 rocket booster, as the company has been reusing boosters for all its recent missions.

"We're actually surprised when we get to a mission [in which we're] flying a new booster," Walker said.

CRS-22 carries dozens of research investigations for the astronauts on the ISS, including experiments about the survival of tardigrades in space, a portable ultrasound device, robotic operations demonstrations and more. Cargo Dragon is also bringing the first two of six new solar arrays called iROSA, built through Boeing and space infrastructure conglomerate Redwire Space. The new solar arrays are expected to improve the ISS' power generation by 20% to 30%.

This Cargo Dragon spacecraft is expected to return to Earth in July, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida with 5,300 pounds of experiments and cargo.

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SpaceX sends cargo to the space station, with the company on a record launch pace for 2021 - CNBC