ScientistPankaj: This Week In Space podcast: Episode 136

Dragon fires thrusters to boost ISS orbit for the 1st time | Space Quiz! What astronomical phenomenon dwells at the hearts of large galaxies? | This Week In Space: Episode 136 - SpaceX Ascendant

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November 11, 2024

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The Launchpad

Dragon fires thrusters to boost ISS orbit for the 1st time

(NASA/Don Pettit)

For the first time, Dragon performed an orbit-raising maneuver to stabilize the ISS's trajectory in low-Earth orbit. Such maneuvers are routine for the orbital lab, which requires periodic boosts to maintain its altitude above Earth and prevent its orbital decay into the planet's atmosphere. Historically, this has been accomplished using Russia's Soyuz and Progress vehicles, and other spacecraft, but, for the first time, it has been performed SpaceX's Dragon.

Full Story: Space (11/8)

Space Quiz! What astronomical phenomenon dwells at the hearts of large galaxies?

Learn the answer here!

Wormholes

Supermassive Black Holes

Red Giant Stars

Sha Ka Ree

This Week In Space: Episode 136 - SpaceX Ascendant

(TWiS)

On Episode 136 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with journalist and author Eric Berger about the rise of SpaceX and Elon Musk's future in US politics and the market. At this point, can anyone compete with SpaceX? Love him or hate him, Elon Musk and his cadre of very talented employees and partners have built the most remarkable launch service in history, increasing the US launch rate from a handful to over 100 per year in less than a decade. Eric Berger - Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of "Liftoff" and "Reentry," two books about Musk and SpaceX - joins us. We discuss what to expect from SpaceX in the next decade. We also look at the possible competitors to SpaceX's dominance in the market. Join us!

Full Story: Space (11/8)

Skywatching

Taurid meteor shower 2024: When, where and how to see it

(Orchidpoet via Getty Images)

The Taurid meteor shower, consisting of the Southern Taurids and Northern Taurids, is a highlight for stargazers each fall. This year, the Southern Taurids peaked on Nov. 5, and the Northern Taurids reach their peak on Nov. 12, as reported by the American Meteor Society. These showers, known for their slow-moving, long-lasting meteors, are linked to comet Encke, which has a nucleus approximately 2.98 miles (4.8 km) in diameter.

Full Story: Space (11/8)

Spaceflight

Gilmour Space gets Australia's 1st orbital launch license

Australia is poised to be the next country to take the giant leap into orbit. Aussie-based company Gilmour Space received the country's first orbital launch license this week, as it prepares for the first test flight of its Eris rocket. A specific launch date is expected within the next few weeks, according to a Gilmour Space press release, with a liftoff from the company's Bowen Orbital Spaceport, in northern Queensland.

Full Story: Space (11/9)

Science & Astronomy

Supermassive black holes prefer to eat from wobbly plates

(Robert Lea (created with Canva))

Astronomers know that dimmer accretion disks "wobble" like slowing, spinning tops around some black holes. But what hasn't been clear is whether incredibly bright, or "ultraluminous," accretion disks also wobble, or "process," as they spin. That is what researchers from the University of Tsukuba set out to discover.

Full Story: Space (11/11)

SpaceX

Falcon 9 launching KoreaSat-6A on record 23rd booster flight

(SpaceX)

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the KoreaSat-6A telecom satellite from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida today, during a four-hour window that opens at 12:07 p.m. EST (1607 GMT). It will be the 23rd mission for this rocket's first stage, according to SpaceX, equaling a mark set by two other Falcon 9 boosters.

Full Story: Space (11/11)

Technology

X-59 'quiet' supersonic jet test fires engine for 1st time

(NASA/Carla Thomas)

NASA's revolutionary X-59 jet is steadily progressing towards its first flight test. Starting on Oct. 30, engineers with NASA's X-59 Quesst program (Quiet SuperSonic Technology) have been conducting test runs of the jet's engines at the storied Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California.

Full Story: Space (11/7)

Search for Life

Roman space telescope gets ready to find alien planets

(NASA/Sydney Rohde)

In a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, scientists have successfully integrated a crucial component onto the Roman Space Telescope. This device, known as the Roman Coronagraph Instrument, is designed to block starlight, enabling scientists to detect the faint light from planets beyond our solar system.

Full Story: Space (11/10)