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The SpaceX Crew Dragon crews prepare to fly again and the spaceship gets its wings. How is Musk’s Tesla Roadster doing in space? Their Musk Readings: SpaceX Edition # 205.
A version of this article appeared in the “Musk Reads” newsletter. Sign up for free here.
Musk Quote of the Week
“Starship SN8 with back flaps”
Spacex
It was a great week for the SpaceX spacecraft. The company shared a video of the Raptor vacuum engine completing a full-length litmus test, the first time the company has released a video of the vacuum variant in action. Musk also shared an image of the prototype “SN8” starship with motorized tail fins. The team plans to add a nose cone and front fins to the prototype next week before moving on to complete a prototype “SN9” next month. Now the next flight is expected to reach about 50,000 feet in the air. Images of the Super Heavy prototype also emerged, which will act as a reinforcement for the final ship. Starship and Super Heavy are expected to power SpaceX’s most ambitious missions, including a trip around the Moon and a city on Mars. read more.
NASA is set to work with SpaceX to launch the interstellar mapping and acceleration probe, which will be used to study the solar system’s heliosphere that shields it from external radiation. The mission is expected to launch in October 2024 on a Falcon 9 rocket, which could be replaced at that time by Starship. read more.
What’s next for SpaceX?: SpaceX is set to launch the 13th batch of Starlink satellites at an as-yet-undetermined time after the company pulled from Monday’s release due to weather. The mission is scheduled to take off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
In other Musk news …
- Tom Cruise is expected to launch into space in October 2021 as part of Axiom Space’s Crew Dragon mission. NME reported last week. He will be joined by director Doug Liman and NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. Liman and Cruise are expected to use the trip to film a movie aboard the International Space Station. The mission has one seat left.
- The “Crew-1” team has received its license to fly, NASA astronaut Victor Glover wrote on Twitter last week. Glover will be joined by NASA astronauts Shannon Walker and Michael Hopkins, as well as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The mission will become the first untested crewed mission for SpaceX Crew Dragon, and is expected to launch no earlier than October 23.
- The United States Air Force has authorized SpaceX to fly two GPS satellites on Falcon 9 rockets previously flown. Aviation week Reporter Irene Klotz wrote on Twitter last week. The measure is expected to save $ 26 million for each flight.
Musk readings mail room
Charles Cleveland writes:
It seems that in March and April 2021 Starman and his Roadster will be close to Earth. It wouldn’t be great if Elons Starspace could be dispatched, retrieved, and brought back to Earth. It could charge the battery and move it away, which could be a bigger announcement for Tesla and his company SpaceX.
It would be fascinating to see what condition the car is in now! The website Where is Roadster? He estimates the car is about 6 million miles from Mars and 42 million miles from Earth right now. There are many unknowns about the condition of the car: is it relatively intact? Is it still ongoing? Is “Starman” still in the driver’s seat? The car has likely been wrecked by radiation in the time since launch, but a Starship mission to capture the wreckage would make for an impressive display.
Victor Sasson writes:
Is there really an idea to get wifi to everyone on the planet?
Not quite, although a question from last week Musk readings may have given that impression. SpaceX’s Starlink would transmit a connection to a specially designed ground terminal, which would connect to a Wi-Fi router to provide Internet access. A direct Wi-Fi signal would not be practical for a number of reasons, the main one being distance. Researcher Ermanno Pietrosemoli set a world record in 2007 for transmitting Wi-Fi over 382 kilometers, which would not yet reach Starlink satellites 550 kilometers in the sky.
Do you have any comments or questions? Don’t forget to send them to [email protected].
Photo of the week
Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency is pictured training with the rest of the “Crew-2” team, which will fly the second non-test mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon in spring 2021. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will send to Akihiko Hoshide, while NASA will send astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur.
Do you have photos or videos that you would like to share? Feel free to send them to [email protected].
The ultra-fine print
This has been Musk Readings: SpaceX Edition # 205, the weekly summary of essential reading on entrepreneur and futurist Elon Musk. I’m Mike Brown, innovation journalist from Reverse.
What did you think of the stories today? Click Reply to this email to let us know. Thank you for reading!
A version of this article appeared in the “Musk Reads” newsletter. Sign up for free here.
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