All things SpaceX - Updates and Discussion (04 2024 lands booster 301st time, 43 total launches this year)

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https://www.pcmag.com/news/starlinks-laser-system-is-beaming-42-million-gb-of-data-per-day

Starlink's Laser System Is Beaming 42 Million GB of Data Per Day​

A SpaceX engineer details how the company is using a fleet of 9,000 lasers over the Starlink constellation to deliver high-speed internet across the globe.

(Credit: SpaceX's Starlink)

SpaceX's laser system for Starlink is delivering over 42 petabytes of data for customers per day, an engineer revealed today. That translates into 42 million gigabytes.

“We're passing over terabits per second [of data] every day across 9,000 lasers,” SpaceX engineer Travis Brashears said today at SPIE Photonics West, an event in San Francisco focused on the latest advancements in optics and light. "We actually serve over lasers all of our users on Starlink at a given time in like a two-hour window.”

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

Although Starlink uses radio waves to beam high-speed internet to customers, SpaceX has also been outfitting the company’s satellites with a “laser link” system to help drive down latency and improve the system's global coverage. The lasers, which can sustain a 100Gbps connection per link, are especially crucial to helping the satellites fetch data when no SpaceX ground station is near, like over the ocean or Antarctic. Instead, the satellite can transmit the data to and from another Starlink satellite in Earth’s orbit, forming a mesh network in space.

Tuesday’s talk from Brashears revealed the laser system is quite robust, even as the equipment is flying onboard thousands of Starlink satellites constantly circling the Earth. Despite the technical challenges, the company has achieved a laser “link uptime” at over 99%.

The satellites are constantly forming laser links, resulting in about 266,141 “laser acquisitions” per day, according to Brashears' presentation. But in some cases, the links can also be maintained for weeks at a time, and even reach transmission rates at up to 200Gbps.

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

Brashears also said Starlink’s laser system was able to connect two satellites over 5,400 kilometers (3,355 miles) apart. The link was so long “it cut down through the atmosphere, all the way down to 30 kilometers above the surface of the Earth,” he said, before the connection broke

“Another really fun fact is that we held a link all the way down to 122 kilometers while we were de-orbiting a satellite,” he said. “And we were able to downstream the video.”

During his presentation, Brashears also showed a slide depicting how the laser system can deliver data to a Starlink dish in Antarctica through about seven different paths. “We can dynamically change those routes within milliseconds. So as long as we have some path to the ground [station], you’re going to have 99.99% uptime. That’s why it’s important to get as many nodes up there as possible,” he added.

(Credit: PCMag/Michael Kan)

Most Starlink satellites currently in orbit use a “Gen 3” laser link design. But recently the company upgraded the technology with a new “Gen 4” model. SpaceX can manufacture about 200 units per week, but to drive down costs, the company uses off-the-shelf components, including sensors and actuators. SpaceX also had to make sure all the components are “demisable” and will leave no trace behind for when a Starlink satellite retires and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere.

For the future, SpaceX plans on expanding its laser system so that it can be ported and installed on third-party satellites. The company has also explored beaming the satellite lasers directly to terminals on the Earth’s surface to deliver data. But Brashears said a “deeper study” is necessary to enable the technology.

 

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NASA Investigating Whether It Could Hire SpaceX for Mars Trip

NASA is debating whether to work with commercial partners to get to Mars, the first time the space agency has openly raised the possibility.

futurism.com

NASA INVESTIGATING WHETHER IT COULD HIRE SPACEX FOR MARS TRIP​

NASA is debating whether to work with commercial partners to get to Mars.

And while SpaceX is the "elephant in the room," as Ars Technica put it, NASA is keeping its options wide open.

It's a notable change, as the first time the space agency has openly raised the possibility of working with private space companies to reach Mars.

But it's not surprising either, with NASA having already tapped key industry players to get to the surface of the Moon.

And judging by the agency's existing collaborations, especially when it comes to landing a Starship spacecraft on the lunar surface during its upcoming Artemis 3 mission, it seems almost certain that SpaceX will throw its hat in the ring.

Commercial Planet​

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory put out a public solicitation in the form of a 496-page document for new ways to extend its existing commercial space program to the Red Planet this week, offering up $200,000 for a single study of one of its reference missions.

In other words, JPL is having companies bid on different ways of completing the missions outlined in the document.

The proposal assumes the possibility of leveraging "existing or soon-to-be-existing" commercial space systems to "accelerate Martian exploration." Unsurprisingly, JPL is also hoping for "substantially lower costs, while maintaining acceptable risk."

The missions range from "smaller payload delivery" with payload mass of up to 44 pounds, to "larger payload delivery," involving payloads of up to 2,750 pounds. JPL is also looking to find new ways to boost communications between Earth and Mars, as well as enhanced orbital imaging.

Given that the entire document only makes two mentions of SpaceX, it's clear that the space agency is intentionally trying to keep doors open for other players in the private space industry.

"I'm curious to see if this request brings many new players to the table, or if the unique challenges of Mars combined with the low commercial value will only attract the known players in the red planet," former NASA Mars scientist Tanya Harrison told Ars.

To be clear, given the small scale of the latest proposal, NASA is merely testing the waters to see whether collaborating with another private company — SpaceX or not — makes sense during future missions to Mars.

But given the space agency's already fruitful collaboration with the Elon Musk-led venture, it's an approach that could end up paying off in the long run.

 

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SpaceX launches NASAs PACE spacecraft; lands booster 270th time, 11th launch of year

 

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SpaceX launches another 22 Starlink satellites; lands booster 271st time, 12th launch of year

 

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SpaceX launches the USSF-124 mission; lands booster 272nd time, 13th launch of year

 

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SpaceX launches the Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander! IM will attempt to become the first private company to soft land on the Moon. This is SpaceXs 273rd booster landing, 14th launch of year.

 

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SpaceX launches another 22 Starlink satellites; lands booster 274th time, 15th launch of year

 

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SpaceX launches the Merah Putih 2 mission; lands booster 275th time, 16th launch of year

 

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SpaceX seeks a waiver to launch Starship “at least” nine times this year​

"They're looking at a pretty aggressive launch schedule this year."​

As SpaceX nears its first Starship launch of 2024—possibly as soon as within three weeks—from its Starbase facility in South Texas, the company is pressing regulators to increase its cadence of flights.

During a press availability this week, the administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the Federal Aviation Administration, Kelvin Coleman, said the agency is working with the company to try to facilitate the Starship launch-licensing process.

"They're looking at a pretty aggressive launch schedule this year," he said. "They're looking at, I believe, at least nine launches this year. That's a lot of launches. If you're doing modifications and doing them one by one, that's a lot of work. We've been talking to SpaceX constantly around the clock, coming together and trying to figure out how do we do this. We're invested with the company, and so we'll work with them to get them back going as soon as they can."

After SpaceX decided to launch and attempt to land its Starship vehicle in Texas about five years ago, the company had to undergo an enhanced environmental review of the site. As a part of this process, the FAA completed a Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment in June 2022. Following that review, SpaceX received approval to conduct up to five Starship launches from South Texas annually. An FAA official confirmed to Ars that the company is seeking a modification of this five-launch limit to accommodate a higher flight rate.

Next launch, next month?​

SpaceX launched its first Starship vehicle, which is the largest rocket ever built and is intended to eventually be fully reusable, in April 2023. That flight caused serious damage to the launch site near Boca Chica Beach and raised environmental concerns after it kicked up large chunks of concrete and dust into the surrounding wetlands. Coleman said the anomaly investigation and regulatory review process after that flight took about six months, which he believes is commensurate with the work involved.

The company's second launch attempt in November was more successful, as the first-stage booster, Super Heavy, had a mostly nominal flight, and the Starship upper stage managed to separate from the booster before it experienced an anomaly and was lost. There was no damage on the ground this time. The work entailed by the FAA for this anomaly review was about one-third as much, Coleman said.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said his company is now targeting early to mid-March for the third launch attempt of Starship. This flight of the highly experimental vehicle, Musk said, has a reasonably good chance of successfully reaching orbit. Coleman said that, from a regulatory standpoint, that timeline sounds "about right."

Staffing up​

During congressional testimony last October, SpaceX Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability Bill Gerstenmaier said he wanted to see the US House and Senate provide more resources to the FAA for its licensing review processes. The number of US launches has grown from a few dozen per year to more than 100, and there is a multiplicity of new companies seeking regulatory approval for spaceflight activities. The agency expects to license more than 150 launches and reentries this year. Its primary task is to protect people and property on the ground from spaceflight hazards.

"Well, I think Gerst was right," Coleman said, referring to Gerstenmaier by his commonly used sobriquet. "And I appreciated what he had to say so far as advocating for more resources."

Coleman said that when he joined the Commercial Space Transportation arm of the FAA in 1996, the organization had 40 employees. A decade ago, there were 73. Now there are 143, and the organization is "aggressively" seeking to grow to 157 staffers in Florida, California, Texas, and Washington, DC.

"Right now, we're at about 140 people, and they're pedaling as fast as they can," he said. "We're working on the weekends. We're working late into the night. We do need additional staff."

 

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SpaceX launches another 22 Starlink satellites; lands booster 276th time, 17th launch of year

 

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SpaceX seeks to boost Starlink speeds in recent FCC letter

Earlier this week, SpaceX filed a letter with the FCC seeking regulatory clearance to help boost Starlink speeds.

www.teslarati.com

In its FCC letter, SpaceX requested for regulatory clearance to orbit some of its Starlink satellites closer to Earth. The Elon Musk-led company seeks to operate some of the second-generation Starlink satellites between 340-360 km closer to Earth.

 

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SpaceX is expected to soon complete the Starfactory. The goal is one Starship rocket per day, which means SpaceX will need to build several more launch towers to be able to send all these rockets into space.
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SpaceX will soon have 6 launch towers for its rockets, 2 in Cali, 2 in Texas and 2 in Florida. However, SpaceX will need at least 10 additional launch towers for its rockets, especially if they're serious about sending up to 50 rockets a day into space.

Then there are other companies like ULA and Blue Origin that will need their own launch towers. The New Glenn rocket is already prepared. Once the infrastructure is set up it's going to be crazy to watch.

Just imagine all the stuff the Pentagon will be sending into space. Poor countries on the other side of all that, lol.

 

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SpaceX launches another 24 Starlink satellites; lands booster 277th time, 18 total launches this year

 

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SpaceX launches another 23 Starlink satellites; lands booster 278th time, 19 total launches this year