May 30, SpaceX Launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken lifts off during NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., Saturday May 30, 2020. It was to spend 24 hours in orbit before docking with the International Space Station which is roughly 250 miles above Earth. The astronauts are expecting to spend 1 to 3 months in space before returning home in Crew Dragon, which will land in the Atlantic Ocean. This event was extremely significant in history and in our lifetime. We congratulate Elon Musk and the team at SpaceX and we also congratulate NASA.
This historic event was over shadowed by the pandemic of COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd. Stats say, over 1,000 people are killed by police every year in America, and Black people are three times more likely to be killed than White people. President Obama is adamant that local governments have the ultimate responsibility when it comes to eliminating police brutality against Black people in U.S.A President Obama pushed some reforms during his time in office, and started the “My Brother’s Keeper” initiative in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death to break down barriers and expand opportunity for boys and young men of color. But those initiatives were reactive responses, U.S needs something which is more proactive and drastic if change is ever gonna be realized. Something more like a new constitution, yet no candidates are willing to touch this area. In South Africa thats what we did, a country cannot rebuild on an old constitution of slavery and apartheid! Relying on amendments is not efficient, instead doing so is like pouring new wine on old wine skins and expect good quality wine. A country’s constitution is a soul of the state: The ‘soul’ of a nation is the persona of its people, with a mind full of dreams and a past history of its efforts to keep it alive! Justice unfortunately is the hand of constitution and the hand executes only what the mind has called for. U.S justice system will change the day the constitution changes. As a people we must begin to entangle all those chains that kept us wrapped up in suffocation no matter where we find ourselves on earth, in Europe we must shift certain forces, in Africa we must shift redundant people in office and cut external fingers who extract our resources, in Americas or Asia; The time has arrived for the LightConeTheShift!
Take courage black woman, take courage black girl, take courage black boy, take courage black man, take courage international women and finally take courage our friends!
Red & Space.
This launch was initially scheduled for Wednesday, May 27, but about 15 minutes before take off, it was postponed due to weather. According to NASA, the issue was the “strength of electric fields in the atmosphere. Human spaceflights are far riskier than cargo-only trips, so weather conditions needed to be perfect. Clear skies and low winds are optimal for a successful launch – and even an emergency “mission abort” requires good weather forecast or a safe splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The worst thing is that many of our people didn’t draw from the energy of this magical moment; it is not too late though, if you are reading this paper you can still draw from that energy of May 30 event by checking the event video highlights via YouTube or NASA or SpaceX websites. We need more black unicorns too in this field of space. We encourage everyone not to be intimidated by space and rockets even if you are not inside the industry you can be up-to-date with what’s going on. To familiarize yourself with what’s happening in the space industry today does no longer require you to be an expect in engineering, manufacturing or astronomy 🔭 .
NASA chief Jim Bridenstine has said resuming launches of American astronauts on American-made rockets from U.S. soil is the space agency’s top priority. But when racists and white supremacists hear such announcements they think this is part of their defense system against other countries, they hear “opportunity” for colonizing other planets – as they call it – colonization or occupation of Mars, they also hear something else as well, that Elon Musk CEO of SpaceX is their savior against the awakening black race. It’s not clear if Musk himself incite such talks, but after his Twitter post on a dog studying the blade cyber surveillance on our home and our tech property by the French government was doubled. Musk can be controversial with his red pills and such comments and that’s sure but we know what motivates him; Musk is motivated by getting the opportunity to create, to invent, to innovate and of course to make money, but it isn’t politics. Musk does speak about preserving consciousness for whites as he should and as anyone would as long as one is going about it in the right way. Nonetheless space exploration shouldn’t be approached in silos, there is a team of people behind such programs. Space programs should not be approached either as a race egoistic competition of colonizing planets or other races (each another), or to escape our planet earth after destroying it, especially after we all saw how long it can take for a civilization to conquer space travel let alone setting up space infrastructure. Gone are the days where space is just part of a nation defense system even if Trump tried to go back in time by introducing space force, its lame, backwards and its predictable and it won’t work but instead will prove to be the biggest error ever committed by a governing president. The last time NASA launched astronauts into space aboard a space shuttle was 40 years ago, since than space shuttle program was scrapped in 2011. Hence this new approach of private companies tendering for contracts with different Space agencies around the world is the future.
Nasa says the mission – dubbed Demo-2 – will lay the groundwork for future manned flights to the Moon, Mars and beyond. This attempt was the first ever crewed space launch by a private company, the first time astronauts have flown into orbit using a spacecraft built by a private company. And the flight went as planned, with Falcon 9 rocket’s main stage having already returned to earth and landed on its sea pad in the Atlantic Ocean. The second stage of the launch, which sees the rocket light up its own engine and accelerate astronauts’s capsule to orbital velocity, was also successful. This successful mission began a new era of space exploration, taking it out of the hands of governments and the public sector and into the hands of private businesses.
Space exploration is now a business, and many of its biggest innovations are coming from the private sector, which is partially subsidized by public money. And NASA is just fine with this, as the new partnerships shifts some of the cost of developing and constructing spacecraft onto private industry. Boeing has developed its Starliner capsule, which has no launch date yet, and SpaceX built the Crew Dragon capsule, which was the star of last week’s crewed launch. Boeing Co, is producing its own launch system in competition with SpaceX, it is expected to fly its CST-100 Starliner vehicle with astronauts aboard for the first time next year. NASA has awarded nearly $8 billion combined to SpaceX and Boeing for development of their rival rockets. SpaceX has a $2.6 BILLION contract with NASA. SpaceX, by contrast with NASA is estimated to charge $55 million per astronaut for these round-trip flights.
The U.S government has learnt that the best way to infuse money into unicorn industries with less political backlash is to slide billions to private companies which also has turned out to boost momentum also in the space industry. According to RT’s report; “the way tech startups and shale firms operate, burning billions in cash every day, could be proof that they exist only as a part of a money-laundering operation on a countrywide scale. The report continued to say that, “you have 20 or 30 Silicon Valley unicorn startups, that are burning billions of dollars every day, but you, as the executive of those corporations, or as a fund holder or as an intermediary banker, are taking a cut. So this debt unicorn economy in Silicon Valley is the Fed’s money-laundering operation to get money into the hands of the billionaires”, which can only tell you one think, the chickens will eventually come beck to roost the day millions of people rise against a system built enrich a few with public money. The flip side of the coin is that there has been small rewards from this such as social media companies silencing the voices of many people and what we are witnessing now with the growth of SpaceX.
The way tech startups and shale firms operate, burning billions in cash every day, could be proof that they exist only as a part of a money-laundering operation on a countrywide scale, alleged by the RT’s Report. “You have 20 or 30 Silicon Valley unicorn startups, space dedicated startups which includes mall startups involved in 3D printing and laboratory oriented etc. Theses startup are allegedly burning billions of dollars every day, but you, as the executive of those corporations, or as a fund holder or as an intermediary banker, are taking a cut. So this debt unicorn economy in Silicon Valley is the Fed’s money-laundering operation to get money into the hands of the billionaires,” said RT’s report written 28 May.
France is trying to follow suite on the private company’s funding to boost France’s space industry, according to Reuters report French government and industry officials are negotiating a 1-billion-euro, privately led investment fund for small aerospace suppliers in which major manufacturers could invest 200 million euros. The scheme mirrors government-backed plans in France to help the automobile sector and comes as the aerospace industry seeks funding to help suppliers to overcome the coronavirus crisis. Aircraft production has virtually halted since the pandemic shut down most travel, and many suppliers urgently need cash. If adopted, the new “Aerofund 4” would follow on the heels of three similar packages for the industry dating back to 2004 and represent the largest effort to prop up one of France’s key export sectors. Under current proposals, four Aviation companies – Airbus and Dassault Aviation, engine maker Safran and avionics firm Thales would contribute a fifth of the fund’s 1-billion-euro target, the sources said. But there have been divisions over the best approach and no final sum has been agreed. One lawmaker said the fund could hold 1 billion euros ($1.12 billion), but that negotiations were ongoing. The proposed 200-million-euro industrial contribution could be matched by private equity fund Tikehau Capital, whose ACE Management unit managed earlier aerospace funds, though it has not yet been formally appointed. France’s BPI state bank could put up some 100 million euros with the rest to be raised externally, allegedly. Funds would be used to make investments in small firms or to support consolidation among small suppliers. But at least one of the big industrial companies is reluctant to encourage mergers in the supply chain, believing this is not its role. The space rush is here again!
Jeff Bezos space company Blue Origin partnered with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman & Draper to work on luna lander (Blue Moon) a vehicle which will deliver and return payloads which includes transportation of astronauts to and from the moon surface. Blue Origin is also into space tourism and they also wants to launch their own thousands of satellites internet so it can offer broadband internet from space of which another company called One-web is trying to do the same.
Virgin Group Virgin Orbit (space ship) and Virgin Galactic of Richard Branson are in space tourism and wants to do point to point travel and deliver satellites to orbit and they plan to launch mid air with their rocket strapped on Boeing 747 wing. Virgin Galactic the only publicly traded IPO are also focused on astronauts readiness program and space suits.
Space X leads in this field. Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX is a South African-born high-tech entrepreneur who made his fortune in Silicon Valley, is also chief executive of electric carmaker and battery manufacturer Tesla Inc. “America is still the land of opportunity more than any other place, for sure,”… “There is definitely no other country where I could have done this—immigrant or not,” says Musk during the interview with his biographer just before last Saturday’s launch. Elon Musk clearly has the grace for this, he has remained hungry, he is an innovator, inventor and a visionary who used his $100 million of his PayPal payout and founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies, back in 2002. Today SpaceX, is now valued at about $36 billion. Between 2006 and 2008, the first three launches of its privately funded Falcon 1 rocket failed. But the fourth SpaceX rocket succeeded later in 2008, and the fifth carried a satellite into orbit in 2009. With support from NASA — SpaceX accelerated development of the Falcon 9 which first took flight in 2010. This two-stage rocket powered by nine Merlin engines has now launched 83 times, carrying cargo including satellites into orbit and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). It’s failed twice: once in flight in 2015 and once on the launch pad in 2016. It’s the first and only orbital rocket that’s partially reusable, which significantly cuts down on operating costs.
SpaceX is also into space tourism with a moon fly-by project planned that is supposed to last 6 days to launch in 2023 partially funded by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.
The other SpacesX’s project, the SpaceX Starship, is currently underway. Intended to be a fully reusable, stainless steel, heavy-lift launch vehicle that would tower over the iconic Saturn V rocket developed for the NASA Apollo missions, the Starship is supposed to go to the Moon, Mars, “and beyond.” In fact, NASA has already included the Starship on its list of commercial launch systems for the Artemis missions which are scheduled to land a man and a woman on the moon by 2024. “Starship is the key to making life multiplanetary & protecting the light of consciousness…In another half billion years or so the sun will expand and probably evaporate the oceans & life would be impossible on earth. We need to either establish a multi-planetary society by then, or humanity will cease to exist”, said Musk.
Another SpacesX’s most ambitious project, is named Starlink, a multi-stage operation to launch satellites into space that can provide the world with high-speed internet. The satellite launching industry comprises of 77% of the $300 billion industry entirely which means that this SpaceX project is core to the future of the whole space industry. Elon Musk is literally creating his own high internet network that could net SpaceX with $30 to $50 billion per year whereas the completing the project is allegedly estimated cost at $10 billion about. Starlink, once complete, would consist of nearly 12,000 satellites — more than six times the number of all operational spacecraft now in orbit. The goal is to finish the project in 2027, thereby blanketing the Earth with high-speed, low-latency, and affordable internet access. Cables have a speed limit, too: Light moves through the vacuum of space about 47% faster than it can through solid fiber-optic glass. Even partial deployment of Starlink would benefit the financial sector and bring pervasive broadband internet to rural and remote areas and increase governments surveillance efforts on citizen.
A report by business insider explains why the population must support such a project as Starlink;…”To understand the motivation behind SpaceX’s Starlink project, you have to understand the current limitations of our internet infrastructure. The internet is, in its simplest form, a series of connected computers. We pay service providers for routing our data to and from a web of devices. A lot of our data is sent in pulses of light through fiber-optic cables. More packets of information can go farther with a stronger signal that way than they could via electrical signals sent through metal wires. Relying on ground cables also leaves many regions poorly connected. Data beamed over existing satellites is some of the laggiest. That’s because nearly all those spacecraft orbit from 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) up, where they can “float” above one location on Earth. That’s enough distance to cause a more than half-second of lag.”
SpaceX wants to cut that long-distance lag while also providing internet access almost anywhere in the world. From there, the satellites will use Hall thrusters (or ion engines) to rise to an altitude of about 342 miles (550 kilometers). This will be about 65 times closer to Earth than geostationary satellites — and that much less laggy. In the future, Musk says, users will connect to Starlink with terminals that cost about $200 and can steer an antenna beam without moving parts. “It basically looks like a sort of a small- to medium-size pizza,” Musk said. SpaceX has asked the FCC to build 1 million of the small ground stations. Musk said Starlink terminals would also easily fit on ships, airplanes, and other mobile devices, enabling these vehicles to have better broadband connections than what’s available today. Musk said just 1,000 satellites are required “for the system to be economically viable.” He noted that’s “obviously a lot of satellites, but it’s way less than 10,000 or 12,000.”Half of the maximum 4,400 low-Earth orbit satellites are supposed to be deployed by 2024, and the full constellation by 2027. If SpaceX doesn’t hit that deadline, the FCC can freeze the maximum number of satellites at the number the company already has in orbit.
But SpaceX is not stopping with 4,400 satellites in low-Earth orbit. It also plans to roll out 7,500 satellites in very-low-Earth orbits, or about 210 miles (338 kilometers) in altitude. With so many new satellites in orbit, spaceflight experts are also concerned about the potential to create space junk that could damage other spacecraft. Pieces of space debris can travel a dozen times faster than a bullet shot from a gun. At such speeds, even a small piece of metal can blow apart a satellite, leading to the creation of more high-speed debris. In addition, Musk said each Starlink satellite will be fed the latest NORAD tracking information for debris. The spacecraft will use artificial intelligence software and its thruster to avoid collisions with known hunks of space junk.”
Having completed a Master in Aeronautics (Aircraft Airworthiness) and another Master in Aerospace MBA in Toulouse France myself and a past career in Aerospace it’s clear that a single person or company cannot achieve significant results quickly in the space industry unless many others contribute, what’s required is more collaboration. During our AMBA we were grouped in multicultural groups where our group completed a collaborated thesis paper on space infrastructure and on orbit maintenance for space tourism purpose vehicles, and my individual research and thesis was on space regulations. This was back in 2012 and at the time it seemed like my thesis was talking of something far off the future and it’s amazing how fast things are going towards what was once just imagination.
Well, the future is here, the future is now!Space Exploration – the space Industry is the future and the future is now, now is 2020 and 2020 is the beginning of the long beautiful future of space exploration. Space is the only industry that will bring about peace in this world. Different nations and races working side by side towards achieving common goal. It is only the Space Industry that demands working together otherwise what can be achieve in a year takes 35-40years. The Space Industry demands high cost but its not only the cost but it demands thinkers something the old world of masculine didn’t want to reward and most all it demands grace which is the opposite of ego. Ego delayed past efforts and will continue to do so if white males still wants to use the Space industry as a weapon. The Space industry will be redefined by us the new age of Aquarius generation. We will redefined it to empower all people. Science defines space today as certain feet above the atmosphere or where gravity isn’t felt anymore but that is misleading and makes most people ignore the very air that we breath. What we say, is that space is all around us because the magnetic field is all around us. The focus should be limiting air pollution during combustion of takeoffs. If we think this way our vehicles will be disks like requiring no rockets or boosters. Rockets make too much pollution yet doesn’t reach very far. Together we will develop in this reasoning and together we can prove that space is here now, all around us!
As the space industry shifts from public to private sector it will be familiar and less intimidating. If you are not yet reading or following space news; you can start today gradually learning its jagon and terms and you can by magazines and follow space companies on social network and start getting used to the business aspect of it like you would the automobile industry. The Space Industry draws billionaires because its exclusive but another reason is also that when people become mega rich they want to invest to the future of humanity and the planet and by then its slightly too late to get into Space. The best is to read, to familiarize yourself and learn with your children so that when you become a billionaire you can contribute towards the space exploration area you really care about not to be a competitor for the sake of it. There is much to be done in this field, and its not easy the risk in this field are higher than most businesses and so the motives should be not about living white people behind, or living indian people behind, or competing with Asians on who has this or the other, we will get nowhere that way. We must work together!!