Monthly Archives: January 2020

Artwork shows the Axiom Segment connected to the International Space Station. (Axiom Space Illustration)

Houston-based Axiom Space has won NASAs nod to attach a commercial habitation module to the International Space Station by as early as 2024.

The Axiom Segment of the space station is designed to connect to the stations Harmony node and provide a crew habitat, a research and manufacturing facility and a large-windowed Earth observatory. When the International Space Station reaches retirement, Axiom plans to add a power platform and turn its hardware into a free-flying commercial space station.

Axioms team also include Boeing, Thales Alenia Space Italy, Intuitive Machines and Maxar Technologies.

NASA said it will now begin negotiations with Axiom on the terms and price of a firm-fixed-price contract with a five-year base performance period and a two-year extension option.

Axioms founders are space entrepreneur Kam Ghaffarian and Michael Suffredini, who served as NASAs space station program manager from 2005 to 2015. Ghaffarian is also the founder of Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, which provided engineering and training services for NASA and was acquired by KBR for $355 million in 2018. KBR has joined the Axiom team as a subcontractor.

We appreciate the bold decision on the part of NASA to open up a commercial future in low Earth orbit, Suffredini, who serves as Axiom Spaces CEO and president, said today in a news release. This selection is a recognition of the uniquely qualified nature of the Axiom team and our commercial plan to create and support a thriving, sustainable and American-led LEO ecosystem.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Axioms commercial platform represents a critical step for NASA to meet its long-term needs for astronaut training, scientific research and technology demonstrations in low Earth orbit.

The space agency said it selected Axiom from proposals that were submitted in response to a solicitation under the umbrella of NextSTEP-2s Appendix I, which offers private industry the use of the International Space Stations utilities and a port for attaching commercial facilities.

Therell be a separate opportunity for commercial partners to propose deals aimed at developing free-flying space destinations in low Earth orbit. Boeing and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Blue Origin space venture were among the companies laying out concepts for such outposts last year.

NASA doesnt envision being the only customer for services on commercial space stations, and neither does Axiom.

Axioms platform could also be used for zero-G additive manufacturing, fiber optic fabrication, protein crystal production for pharmaceutical applications, or other industrial applications of the sorts that space entrepreneurs have talked about for years. And then theres space tourism: In 2018, Axiom Space laid out a plan to offer 10-day stays on its space station facilities for a price of $55 million.

A commercial platform in Earth orbit is an opportunity to mark a shift in our society similar to that which astronauts undergo when they see the planet from above, said Ghaffarian, who is Axioms executive chairman.

Axioms plan calls for sending crewed missions to the International Space Station, and later to the free-flying orbital complex, at a rate of two or three flights per year. Shortly before the ISS is retired, perhaps in the 2030 time frame, Axiom would launch a platform to give the free-flier its own power and cooling capability.

Axiom says its agnostic on its choice of launch vehicles, but considering its array of partners, crewed transportation services could conceivably be provided by Boeings CST-100 Starliner space taxis, which could be sent to orbit atop United Launch Alliances rockets. Maxar Technologies has already been signed up to provide power and propulsion capability for NASAs moon-orbiting Gateway outpost, and theres a chance it could provide Axioms power platform as well.

Axiom isnt the only company aiming to create a commercial space outpost: Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace has its own grand plan for a habitation facility that could be attached to the International Space Station or operate as a standalone station.

Texas-based NanoRacks, meanwhile, is working on a commercial air lock for the ISS as well as a concept for free-flying orbital outposts. NanoRacks partners in the outpost effort include Seattle-based Olis Robotics and Stratolaunch.

Today NanoRacks CEO Jeffrey Manber offered his congratulations to Axiom and said he was looking forward to future business opportunities. Eager to see NASA offering on free-flyer, which is overdue, Manber tweeted.

Update for 10:40 a.m. PT Jan. 28: Weve corrected a reference to the corporate relationships involving Axiom, Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies and KBR.

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NASA clears Axiom Space to put commercial habitat on space station, with Boeing on the team - GeekWire

Nasa has selected a company to build a private hotel on board the International Space Station.

The new additions to the ISS will include acrew habitat that will serve as a home for future space tourists.

It will also have aresearch andmanufacturing facility and large-windowed Earth observatory, according to Axiom, the Texas-based company that is building the extension.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Axiom hopes the segment could one day serve as a self-contained space station that could replace the ISS when it is decommissioned.

It hopes to launch the new commercial hub in 2024, it said.

Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas flom fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telelscope in February 2010

Nasa/ESA/STScI

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust

Nasa

The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth

Getty

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas flom fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telelscope in February 2010

Nasa/ESA/STScI

The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012

Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy

Nasa

Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth

Getty

An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust

Nasa

The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth

Getty

Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015

Nasa/APL/SwRI

A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun

Nasa

Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand

Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona

Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015

Nasa/Scott Kelly

Nasaannounced last year that it would allow space tourists onto the ISS, as part of a broader effort to encourage commercial companies to become involved in US space exploration. Those first visitors were expected to arrive later this year.

Adding new segments to the ISS could allow more people to travel to the station by increasing the volume, Axiom said, as well as leaving space for new kinds of research "such as isolation studies and Earth observation".

Over time, Axiom hopes that the work currently being done on the International Space Station is gradually transferred to its new private segment, allowing for it to continue without interruption when the ISSis retired.

At that point it will be able to detach and serve as a self-contained space station. At that point, Nasa will no longer have to pay for the cost of running the ISS or launching a replacement, Axiom suggested.

In 2018, Axiom commissioned designer Philippe Starck to create interiors for the habitation module of a possible space station. He described the result as a "comfortable and friendly egg".

(Axiom/Philippe Starck)

"Starcks vision was to create a nest, a comfortable and friendly egg, which would feature materials and colors stemmed from a fetal universe," a press release at the time said. "The walls are sprinkled with hundreds of nano-Leds with changing colors as a continuation to the view on the universe through the large windows.

"Just as all the shades of lights and colors of day and night, the egg will also live to the mood and biorhythm of its osmotic inhabitant."

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Nasa to add hotel capsule to International Space Station as part of commercial plans - The Independent

Astronauts from both the American and European space agencies have teamed up to offer us earthlings a unique tour of the International Space Station (ISS).

Shot in one take, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Drew Morgan spend just over an hour showing us around pretty much the entirety of the orbiting outpost.

The tour (below), which was shot around the New Year, begins just inside the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft before moving into the main part of the space station.

At the time of recording, three supply vehicles were docked the Russian Progress MS-13, Space-Xs Dragon-19, and Northrup Grummans Cygnus-12 as well as two astronaut vehicles, namely the Soyuz MS-15 and Soyuz MS-13.

Along the way, Parmitano and Morgan bump into other crew members, among them Jessica Meir and Christina Koch, and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka. The journey through the space station takes us to the Cupola (an observatory module on the ISS), SpaceXs Dragon capsule, the treadmill, and no comprehensive tour of the ISS would be complete without it the bathroom.

A moving red dot on a graphic of the ISS that is overlaid at the bottom left of the screen lets you see the cameras location inside the space station as the tour proceeds, but take note, it erroneously shows the future Nauka module instead of Pirs. The Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module Nauka is planned for launch in the future and will replace Pirs, but its already showing on the map.

If you dont have time to sit through the entire video, youll find a handy breakdown of the different places visited during the tour on the videos YouTube page, with a link beside each one that takes you straight to that particular spot.

Described as the first tour of the International Space Station with two astronauts presenting and the first done in a single take, the 65-minute video offers a fascinating insight into what its like to spend time aboard the space station, which orbits Earth at an average altitude of 250 miles (402 km).

For a more cinematic look at the ISS, take a look at this gorgeously shot 18-minute piece, complete with a soothing soundtrack, that also takes us through the entire satellite.

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Take a tour of the space station from the comfort of your own sofa - Digital Trends

KAHULUI, Hawaii--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Mobile SpaceLab, a fully automated, microfluidic and imaging platform will perform biological experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). SCORPIO-V, the biological sciences division of HNu Photonics, designed the tissue and cell culturing facility, which can perform biology experiments in space without the need for crew operations for as long as a month. SCORPIO-Vs team of scientists will design and execute experiments to test the effects of microgravity on neurons and will control and monitor the experiments from Earth.

On Sunday, February 9, 2020, Northrop Grumman's 13th commercial resupply mission for NASA, a Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket, is scheduled to launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and carry the Mobile SpaceLab to the ISS.

As the U.S. and other nations and organizations around the world expand space exploration, it has become imperative to better understand what life in space does to the human body in order to mitigate potential health risks, SCORPIO-V Principal Investigator Caitlin O'Connell, Ph.D. remarked. Furthermore, the neuron studies performed on the ISS with the Mobile SpaceLab hope to lend additional insights into our understanding of earth-bound age-related cognition and decline.

Dr. O'Connell and SCORPIO-V Chief Biologist Devin Ridgley, Ph.D. will discuss the Mobile SpaceLab and mission in a NASA media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, January 29. Members of the media who wish to join the teleconference may request dial-in information. Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/live.

In 2019, HNu Photonics was the first instrument builder to successfully be awarded a grant from NASAs Space Biology Program to use the Mobile SpaceLab for its own biological experimentation during a roundtrip mission to the ISS. HNu Photonics was also previously awarded a grant from NASA to include its instrument on a Blue Origin launch and have a Space Act agreement with NASA.

About SCORPIO-V

SCORPIO-V is a division of space technology company HNu Photonics and based in Kahului, Hawaii.

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SCORPIO-V's Mobile SpaceLab to Study Human Biology on International Space Station (ISS) - Business Wire

|Published: Tuesday, January 28, 2020, 17:49 [IST]

NASA is working on a variety of projects for space exploration and recently began working on the 'robot hotel' at ISS. Now, NASA and Axiom Space, a startup in Houston, have partnered to build the first commercial habitat module for ISS. The habitable module will be used for commercial missions and also housing experiments.

Space travel is soon going to be an exciting thing to look forward to. A lot of companies are already working on this and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk plans to populate Mars by 2050. The new collaboration between NASA and Axiom Space could be the first step to making space travel a commercial possibility.

According to the new plan, NASA plans to develop new technology for commercial space travelers riding to ISS via human-rated spacecraft like the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the Boeing Starliner. Axiom Space was founded in 2016 and is led by co-founder and CEO Michael T. Suffredini. The CEO was previously a program manager for ISS at the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Axiom Space boasts about a lot of ex-NASA personnel on its team, which could be a good thing for the upcoming project. For now, NASA has extended the planned service life of the International Space Station. From the looks of it, NASA is keen to explore its plans for private orbital labs.

The current leadership at NASA is encouraging private and commercial facilities to space. Soon, ISS will wear a different facade. Although the ISS module isn't a full-fledged private space station, it's currently the stepping stone for NASA's goal of commercializing the space station completely. This will also lead to more commercial private space activity in the low Earth orbit.

The Axiom Space mandate with NASA includes "at least one habitable commercial module" and comes with the implication that it might get more extensions in the future. With this, NASA and the startup will negotiate terms and the funds for the contract for the module. Of course, it'll come with a timeline for delivery.

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NASA Ropes In Axiom Space To Develop Habitable Space Station - Gizbot

The Bartolomeo research platform, developed by Airbus for the International Space Station (ISS), has been delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The move marks a further step towards something never before seen in space: with its planned launch in March, the European-built Bartolomeo is set to become the first commercial research platform to be attached to the ISS.

Bartolomeo is funded by Airbus and will be operated with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA). The platform can host up to 12different payload slots, also providing them with a power supply and data transmission back to Earth.

With Bartolomeo, Airbus is offering fast and cost-efficient access to research in space, which can also be used by private data service providers. The platforms unique vantage point 400kilometres above the Earth offers unobstructed views of our planet. Not only does this provide opportunities for Earth observation, but also for carrying out measurements related to environmental and climate research for example the concentration of nitrogen oxide or CO2in the Earths atmosphere.

Bartolomeo will now be subject to further inspections and final functional tests with NASA at the Kennedy Space Center before being integrated into a Dragon space transporter. The launch is currently scheduled for 2March 2020.

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Bartolomeo Starts Its Journey to the International Space Station - I-Connect007

On January 28, 1986, at 11:39 EST, the space shuttle Challenger lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center. Her crew consisted of six NASA astronauts, Commander Francis R. Scobee, Pilot Michael J. Smith, mission specialists Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik and Gregory Jarvis, and teacher Christa McAuliffe, who had been chosen to become the first American civilian to go into space. No one cheering when the Challenger cleared the tower knew, but both shuttle and her gallant company were doomed.

Space shuttles at the time consisted of an orbiter, two solid rocket boosters and an external fuel tank. The SRBs and the fuel tank were designed to be discarded in flight while the shuttle flew on to orbit. When a shuttle mission was completed, it would reenter the Earths atmosphere and land much like an aircraft.

Seventy-three seconds into the flight of the Challenger, hot gasses from one of the SRBs broke through an O ring that had been made brittle by the cold air of that winter morning. The hot gasses ignited the fuel tank and transformed the shuttle into a fireball. The SRBs careened into the sky on their own, and the orbiter broke up from the aerodynamic pressures. The crew compartment, largely intact, hit the Atlantic Ocean. The exact timing of the crews deaths will never be known, but some are surmised to have lived long enough to have died on impact.

The Challenger disaster led to shock and no little amount of soul-searching. A presidential-appointed investigation panel soon discovered the problem with the O-rings. But behind that immediate cause was a culture of negligence. NASA managers knew about the O-ring problem but failed to fix it until it was too late.

But the real act of hubris surrounding the space shuttle program came at its very beginning. NASA and its political masters justified the shuttle because it would constitute a government space line. Because it would be reusable, it could deploy anything anyone cared to take into space.NASA, military and commercial payloads could be transported at a lower cost than with expendable rockets.

Reality proved to be short of expectations. While the shuttle was (mostly) reusable, the orbiters cost too much and required too much turn-around time between missions. NASA struggled to get the flight rates high enough for those promised cost savings to materialize. That struggle and the corner cutting that ensued led directly to the Challenger accident.

NASA eventually solved the O-ring problem, and the space shuttle returned to service in late 1988. But President Reagan signedan executive orderthat ended the shuttle program as a government space line. Henceforth, the military and commercial companies would be free to seek other space launchers to put their payloads into orbit. The shuttle would be used for NASA payloads and others that needed its ability to fly into orbit and then return. Thus, commercial space, moribund since the shuttle had started to fly, was born.

The shuttle fleet went on to do magnificent work. It deployed and then serviced the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttles did most of the work of launching and assembling the International Space Station. They flew numerous space lab missions and visited the Russian space station Mir after the Cold War ended.

But only after the second accident that destroyed a space shuttle and its crew, when Columbia broke up in the skies over Texas, did the United States take the next step. The George W. Bush administration decided that the shuttle fleet would be retired honorably when the International Space Station was completed. Commercially developed and operated spacecraft would take cargo and eventually crews to and from the ISS. Bush also announced an initiative to go back to the moon and on to Mars.

President Obama cancelled the Bush moon/Mars initiative but doubled down on the commercial space project. It has fallen to President TrumpDonald John TrumpWarren: Dershowitz presentation 'nonsensical,' 'could not follow it' Bolton told Barr he was concerned Trump did favors for autocrats: report Dershowitz: Bolton allegations would not constitute impeachable offense MORE to finish the development of commercial spacecraft. Sometime this year, the first Americans will fly into space from American soil on American spacecraft since 2011. These will not be spacecraft owned by NASA, but by SpaceX and Boeing. Trump has also restarted the moon/Mars initiative, but with commercial partners, especially in the building and operation of lunar landers.

The crew of the Challenger gave their lives for the exploration of space. Their sacrifice also led to the new era of commercial spaceflight and, it is hoped, a more sustainable opening of the high frontier.

Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitledWhy is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?as well asThe Moon, Mars and Beyond. He blogs atCurmudgeons Corner.

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The death of the Challenger and the birth of commercial space | TheHill - The Hill

Marcia Dunn, Associated Press Published 10:24 a.m. ET Jan. 28, 2020 | Updated 1:10 p.m. ET Jan. 28, 2020

Cape Canaveral, Fla. After nearly 11 months in orbit, the astronaut holding the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman cant wait to dig into some salsa and chips, and swim and surf in the Gulf of Mexico.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch told the Associated Press on Tuesday her 319th consecutive day in space that taking part in the first all-female spacewalk was the highlight of her mission. Shes been living on the International Space Station since March and returns to Earth on Feb. 6, landing in Kazakhstan with two colleagues aboard a Russian capsule.

Astronaut Christina Koch talks to family members March 14, 2019, before the launch of Soyuz MS-12 headed to the International Space Station. Koch set the record for longest single spaceflight by a woman and will be second only to astronaut Scott Kelly for longest mission by an American.(Photo: Dmitri Lovetsky, AP)

Koch, who was born in Grand Rapids, said she and fellow astronaut Jessica Meir appreciated that the Oct. 18 spacewalk could serve as an inspiration for future space explorers.

Read more:

>>Koch sets records in space

>>Astronaut talks about goals

We both drew a lot of inspiration from seeing people that were reflections of ourselves as we were growing up and developing our dreams to become astronauts, Koch told The Associated Press from the space station. So to recognize that maybe we could pay that forward and serve the same for those that are up and coming was just such a highlight.

Kochs astronaut class of 2013 was split equally between women and men, but NASAs astronaut corps as a whole is male-dominated. Right now, four men and two women are living at the space station.

Christina Koch, left, greets fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir in September when Meir joined Koch on the International Space Station. They paired up for an all-female spacewalk in October. Koch, who was born in Grand Rapids, will return to Earth on Feb. 6 after the second-longest space mission by an American.(Photo: AP)

Diversity is important, and I think it is something worth fighting for, said Koch, an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree.

Kochs 328-day mission will be the second-longest by an American, trailing Scott Kellys flight by 12 days. Shes already set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.

She took time out for a pair of news interviews Tuesday, the 34th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger accident that claimed all seven lives on board.

She said she loves her work she conducted five spacewalks and tended to science experiments but she also misses her friends and family.

If they could visit here, I would continue staying for a very long time, Koch, a first-time space flier, told the AP. For their sake, I think that its probably time to head home.

Her biggest surprise is how easily and quickly she adapted both mentally and physically to weightlessness.

I dont even really realize that Im floating any more, she said.

Why do chips and salsa top her most-missed food list? Crunchy food like chips are banned on the space station because the crumbs could float away and clog equipment. I havent had chips in about 10 1/2 months, she explained, but I have had a fresh apple thanks to regular cargo deliveries.

Another thing she misses: the ability to put things down and not have them float away.

Shes gotten used to using Velcro and tape to make things stay put, so I hope that when I go back to Earth, I dont accidentally drop things, especially when Im handing them to people.

Kelly, whose mission spanned 2015 and 2016, has given her advance notice of what to expect.

Its a great reminder to keep mentoring, Koch said. When her record is broken, I hope to mentor that person just as Ive been mentored.

Koch said it was crucial staying connected to loved ones through phone calls and video conferences. She watched as her nieces and nephews opened their Christmas presents. But its also special celebrating holidays in space, she noted, which kind of takes any sting off of missing your family.

Koch grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and now lives near the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas, with her husband, Bob. She said she cant wait for their next wedding anniversary, Christmas at home and his birthday.

Her 41st birthday is Wednesday. How does she plan to celebrate?

Playing Scrabble with her U.S., Italian and Russian crewmates, as challenging as that might be in weightlessness. She packed a travel version of the game and has been too busy to enjoy it.

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Mich. native craves salsa and surf after record 11 months in space - The Detroit News

Update for 6:30 p.m. ET: SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than Wednesday (Jan. 29) at 9:06 a.m. EST (1406 GMT) for this Starlink launch "due to poor weather in the recovery area," the company tweeted Monday night.

Update for 9:21 a.m. ET: SpaceX has delayed today's planned Starlink launch due to high upper level winds.

The private spaceflight company SpaceX will launch 60 new Starlink satellites to join its growing broadband internet megaconstellation in orbit today (Jan. 27), and you can watch it live online.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Starlink mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than 9:49 a.m. EST (1449 GMT).

You can watch SpaceX's Starlink launch webcast here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, beginning about 15 minutes before liftoff. You can also watch the launch directly from SpaceX here.

SpaceX has a 50% chance of good launch weather today, according to the 45th Weather Squadron of the U.S. Air Force, with thick clouds and "disturbed weather" as the chief concern.

If SpaceX is unable to launch the Starlink-3 mission today, the company has a backup launch opportunity on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 9:28 a.m. EST (1428 GMT). That launch day has an 80% chance of good weather.

Video: See SpaceX's 1st Starlink satellites in the night skyIn Photos: SpaceX launches third batch of 60 Starlink satellites to orbit

The goal of SpaceX's Starlink project is to provide constant, high-speed internet access to users around the world through a massive constellation of broadband internet satellites operating in low Earth orbit. Users on the ground would then only need a small terminal that's no bigger than a laptop to gain internet access.

"Starlink will provide fast, reliable internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable," the company wrote in its Starlink mission description.

The majority of SpaceX's missions in 2020 will consist of Starlink launches as the company works to expand its fleet of internet-beaming satellites, including at least one more batch of 60 Starlink satellites scheduled to launch before the end of January. SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has said the company will need at least 400 Starlink satellites in orbit to offer "minor" broadband coverage, and at least 800 to provide "moderate" coverage.

SpaceX plans to operate its initial batch of 1,584 satellites 341 miles (549 kilometers) above Earth, hovering much lower than traditional communications satellites that operate out of geostationary orbit. Those satellites are too far away to provide the kind of lower-cost coverage SpaceX aims to establish, Musk has said.

Related: SpaceX's 1st Starlink megaconstellation launch in photos!

According to the company, Starlink commercial internet services could debut in parts of the U.S. and Canada after about half a dozen more launches, with global coverage after 24 launches. SpaceX's president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell has said that coverage could begin sometime this year, but the company has not yet announced pricing for its new service.

However, not everyone is thrilled about the idea of SpaceX's new megaconstellation. Astronomers have voiced concerns that the satellites could interfere with crucial scientific observations. To help ease their concerns and mitigate the satellites' apparent brightness, SpaceX is experimenting with special coatings that are supposed to make the satellites appear darker in orbit.

Related: Why SpaceX's Starlink satellites caught astronomers off guard

During today's launch, SpaceX aims to recover the Falcon 9's first-stage booster with an offshore landing on its drone ship Of Course I Still Love You.

The company will also attempt to catch both halves of the rocket's payload fairing using the giant nets on its recovery boats Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Visit Space.com today for complete coverage of SpaceX's Starlink launch.

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

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SpaceX is launching 60 more Starlink satellites Wednesday. Here's how to watch live. - Space.com

Fallout 76s upcoming Wastelanders expansion will add two new faction settlements: settlers and raiders. One of these looks like a Lincoln Log fort while the other is made out of a crashed space station. Can you guess which one players are already gravitating towards?

Yesterday, Bethesda shared some screenshots of the two new locations and more information about the people living there. The settlers, led by Paige (the former head of the D.C. Construction Workers Union), are a hard-working, salt of the earth lot who have taken up refuge in Spruce Knob toward the southeastern part of the map. The raiders, meanwhile, have come back to Appalachia to take back territory theyve claimed for themselves before it falls into the hands of the settlers.

Their leader, Meg, looks like shes seen some shit out in the wasteland and probably isnt one for negotiating mutually beneficial deals. The crashed space station she and her gang call home is up in the northern edge of the map, and frankly it looks way more fun. Most raider camps tend to look like if your friend of a friends screamo band played their basement show inside of a scrapyard barbecue pit, but Megs looks like a sci-fi arcade.

In Wastelanders Im going to check out the settlers, wrote one person on Reddit. If they are blowing glass, making electronic components, making their own ceramics...Ill stay. But if its an entire camp of Sturges hammering at the same section of wall for months I think I have to go raider.

Sturges was a synth repairman from Fallout 4 who never did jack shit. Understandably, some players are worried that the big NPC update many are expecting to finally make Fallout 76 good will only repeat some of the last games more uninspired moments. Nothing beats protecting the innocent, but I do envy the raiders and their space station town, wrote another player.

The new characters, dialogue trees, quests, and romance options coming in the Wastelanders update will all be based in one of the two new settlements, with Bethesda heavily implying that a players reputation with one will hurt their reputation with the other, forcing them to choose one over the other.

Based on their sense of style and interior design, Im gonna have to go raiders on this one, despite my deep-rooted commitment to labour solidarity.

Link:
Which Fallout 76 Faction Is Cooler, The Crashed Space Station Or The Log Cabin? - Kotaku Australia