Apparently that's a common misconception. "Nebel" is the German word for fog, and the name was given to that particular mortar as a disinformation tactic to make spies think they were designing a new smokescreen. ******** Another countdown for United Launch Alliance's next Delta 4-Heavy rocket mission ended without a liftoff Wednesday after a computer sequencer detected a potential problem just before engine ignition.Full story: https://t.co/r44RNZ5LAM pic.twitter.com/bcg0yKEMG4— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) October 1, 2020 And yeah, Boeing just can't seem to do anything right. Although ULA CEO Tory Bruno swears the igniters didn't fire, they do not have an immediate plan for their next launch attempt. This should keep the manifest clear for SpaceX. Hours after rival ULA aborted a Delta 4-Heavy launch from Cape Canaveral just before engine start, SpaceX is counting down to launch of a Falcon 9 rocket a few miles up the coast at 9:17am EDT (1317 GMT) with 60 Starlink broadband satellites.Updates: https://t.co/I0aLt9FqRS pic.twitter.com/gp0b2kyUah— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) October 1, 2020 The Starlink launch is currently planned for 9:17am EDT this morning. And the GPS launch is planned for 9:43pm EDT tomorrow night. In between, the next Cygnus is scheduled to launch tonight from Pad 0A, Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, at 9:38pm EDT tonight.
One does not simply scrub a Falcon 9. They're usually too dirty to ever come clean. I haven't seen if they've figured out the ground sensor issue at Pad 39A, but they have already put in for a weather readiness report for Starlink aiming for a launch at 8:34am on Saturday morning. The Friday night launch for the next GPS Block IIIA satellite out of Pad 40 is still a go, with 70% weather favorability. ******** And I knew the moment I mentioned Boeing, we'd get more SHTF regarding Starliner. "We continue to worry and show a source of concern of whether or not [Boeing's] progress and proposed solutions will meet the defined schedule," McErlean said. "Additional problems," besides Starliner's known software issues, were discovered during the joint NASA-Boeing reviews.— Joey Roulette (@joroulette) October 1, 2020 Apparently, more problems are being found as they resolve the 100+ issues already on the list in preparation for their uncrewed OFT reflight, which they hope to complete before the end of 2020. Of note is that it is currently not on the manifest for 2020. Hardware is just as important. The software needs good hardware to effect any change in the real world.The problem with Starliner is that BOTH were bad. Bad software, weak hardware. That comm problem happened because nobody checked the system with actual real-world testing.— Marc (@Marc_Topaz) October 1, 2020 While some pundits are saying everything is okay, the writing appears to be on the wall. This has called into question Boeing's processes. And it is affecting its other space projects, including the Space Launch System. Starliner problems found during post-OFT reviews have reverberated around NASA and prompted reviews in other Boeing-involved programs like SLS. Safety panel member Paul Hill says it was an engineering “gift," (or wakeup call).— Joey Roulette (@joroulette) October 1, 2020 Personally, I think referring to it as a "wake-up call" is far more apt. But better for it to happen on an uncrewed flight instead of losing astronauts because of Military-Industrial Complex complacency again.
An acquaintance of mine said that SpaceX was getting a case of "the Delta IV Heavies", given their scrubs yesterday. And that may yet be spreading beyond Cape Canaveral, because the Cygnus launch scrubbed last night as well. They have said the issue is with ground support equipment as well. Hopefully these issues don't continue to compound. The Starlink launch isn't yet officially on the manifest. The GPS launch is still on for 9:43pm EDT tonight. EDIT: Cygnus is now up tonight at 9:16pm EDT.
Cygnus actually launched Friday night. They are looking to be captured and berthed early tomorrow morning. SpaceX decided to stand down for the weekend. The GPS launch isn't back on the manifest yet after another scrub Friday night. The Starlink launch, however, is back on for tomorrow morning at 7:51am EDT. It has a 60% chance of favorable weather tomorrow, and a 70% chance on Tuesday morning. There are reports that Elon Musk went to Cape Canaveral to personally oversee troubleshooting on the scrubs. pic.twitter.com/HyfszSrm6m— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2020
Happy 62nd birthday to NASA astronaut Brent Jett. Born in suburban Detroit, but raised in Fort Lauderdale, he graduated from Navy with a bachelor's in aerospace engineering in 1981. He deployed in the 80s in the Med and the Indian Ocean aboard the carrier USS Saratoga, flying the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, and would attend TOPGUN before becoming a test pilot. Brent was selected to NASA in the pilot track of Group 14 in 1992. He flew as pilot in STS-72 (Endeavour, January 1996) and STS-81 (Atlantis visit to Mir, January 1997). He would then work as NASA's Director of Operations at the Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow for a year before commanding STS-97 (Endeavour, P6 truss install at ISS, December 2000) and STS-115 (Atlantis, P3/P4 truss install, September 2006). Brent retired from the Navy (final rank Colonel) in 2007. He spent some time as Deputy Manager of the Commercial Crew Program before retiring from NASA in 2013. He is currently an aerospace consultant, and spent several years advising the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. He is married, and has no children.
The Starlink-12 mission finally got off the ground this morning. It launched at 7:29am EDT. Everything has gone well so far, and B1058.3 successfully landed on Of Course I Still Love You. They even caught one of the fairing halves on one of the fairing drones.
Someone in a chat about space exploration that I frequent brought up a good point: If NASA did fake the Moon landings, then why didn't the Soviet Union say anything about it? Both sides kept close tabs on each other's space exploration developments during the Space Race. If the landings were indeed being faked, the Soviet Union would've known, and they would've had no reason to keep evidence of such under wraps. In fact, they'd have every reason to spill the beans. Because they once tried to fake space footage themselves. When Alexei Leonov completed the first extravehicular activity with Voskhod 2 in March 1965, NASA found something amiss with the aired footage. It turns out, the Soviets mixed in some staged clips with the real footage to cover up some of the difficulties that Leonov had during his spacewalk. For years afterward, claims would be made that the entire spacewalk never took place, and that Ed White was really the first spacewalker. I think the issue was officially resolved by the time we got to Apollo-Soyuz. But they said not a word about the Apollo Moon landings being faked. They didn't even try to falsely accuse NASA of faking them. As far as the Soviets were concerned, they really happened. Not a word otherwise to this day. They didn't even try to fake a Moon landing themselves. NASA certainly has never claimed that they did. That would've been another way they could've undermined NASA: by faking their own Moon landing. If they were exposed, it would cast doubt on whether or not NASA really did it.
Walter Williams was born on July 30, 1919, in New Orleans. A scientific prodigy, he graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering from LSU before he turned 20. He spent a year working for Martin at their Baltimore plant before joining the NACA in 1940, initially working at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. During World War II, he was a key project engineer who helped design the fighter aircraft that won the war: the North American P-51 Mustang, the Grumman F-6F Hellcat, and the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt. After the war, he founded the NACA office at Muroc Army Air Field, which would eventually become Dryden (and later Armstrong) Flight Research Center. He had his hands on early supersonic research, with the Bell XS-1 and the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket. He also worked on other wing geometries, like the variable-sweep wings of the Bell X-5 (which led to the F-111 and F-14), and the delta wings of the Convair XF-92 (which led to the F-102, F-106, and B-58). He would also be part of the Flight Test Steering Committee for the X-15. A year after the NACA became NASA, he returned to Langley, then became Director of Operations at the Launch Operations Center in Florida, overseeing Project Mercury. In 1964, Walt left NASA and spent a decade at the nonprofit Aerospace Corporation, directing research that supported adaptation of Martin Marietta's Titan II ICBM for spaceflight, including its evolution into the Titan III rocket series. He returned to NASA in 1975 as their Chief Engineer, and retired for good in 1982. He died in his sleep 25 years ago today at his home in the San Fernando Valley of LA, aged 76. He left a wife and three children.
Interesting. Chris Ferguson has stepped down as commander of the Crewed Starliner Flight Test. We’re welcoming @NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore to the #Starliner team as spacecraft commander of the Crew Flight Test. pic.twitter.com/GQrnGiBl6k— Boeing Space (@BoeingSpace) October 7, 2020 He is being replaced by Barry Whitmore. Barry was the pilot for STS-129, and also served on ISS Expeditions 41 and 42. Chris only cited family reasons for his decision to step down from the flight. He will remain with the Astronaut Office and Commercial Crew. The flight is currently penciled in for June 2021. Of course, that depends on how OFT-2, currently penciled in for January 2021, goes. Only Nicole Mann remains from the original manifest, which also included Eric Boe, previously removed for presumed medical reasons. ******** I feel like this isn't entirely unrelated, but not long before, a report came out calling into question integrated software testing for Orion and the Space Launch System. Boeing has a hand in this, since they produce the Orion spacecraft and the SLS core stage, in addition to Starliner. The hits just keep on coming for Boeing. ******** It's looking like ULA has reserved Thursday, October 15, at 10pm EDT (0200 UTC next Friday) for a launch for the Delta IV Heavy carrying NROL-44. They must've finally figured out their launch tower issue.
This is from a few days ago about Wallops Island. I believe this is a New Zealand firm. I know New Zealand is where they started launching from. https://www.washingtonpost.com/tech...ow-with-most-successful-startup-since-spacex/
Rocket Lab is the Electron rocket. They are actually an American firm, they just chose to put their prime rocket launch facility in New Zealand. ******** BepiColombo, the European Space Agency probe headed to Mercury, is set for its first fly-by of Venus next Wednesday. It will take a second fly-by of Venus next year, before six fly-bys of Mercury over the next four years, culminating with orbital insertion at Mercury in December 2025. The probe is actually three probes in one: the Mercury Planetary Orbiter, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter, and a cruise bus, the Mercury Transfer Module. When they enter orbit around Mercury, the MMO will assume a polar orbit of roughly 600 x 11,600 km, while the MPO will take an orbit of roughly 500 x 1,500 km. I haven't seen exactly what will happen to the MTM. The MMO will examine Mercury's weak magnetic field, while the MPO will examine the physical planet, including its tenuous atmosphere, and especially the permanently-shadowed polar craters, where they have found water ice in the past. Next week's Venus fly-by, however, will come with a hastily-prepared test. Mission scientists at ESA want to see if BepiColombo's experiments are strong enough to detect the phosphine that Akatsuki found. Specifically, they are using the probe's infrared spectrometer to see if they can find phosphine. They don't know if the instrument is powerful enough to detect anything specific at Venus on a fly-by. It will certainly be a good test of the probe's capabilities. And they'll have two shots at it.
Robert Rushworth was born on October 9, 1924, in Madison, Maine. After graduating from high school in 1942, he spent a year doing community college work at Hebron Academy, before enlisting in the Army, and joining the Army Air Force as a flight cadet. Another year of flight training was followed by service in World War II, flying transport aircraft to support the United Nations in Burma and China. After the war, he returned home and switched to the Air Force Reserve. He used the GI Bill of Rights to earn a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from Maine in 1951. After earning his degree, he was recalled to active duty. He flew the Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star fighter/interceptor, one of the earliest American military jets, over Korea. Bob spent the middle of the 1950s in Dayton, earning another bachelor's in aeronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1954, and assisting in the creation of automated flight control systems. He would eventually move to Edwards AFB and train as a test pilot. He flew early supersonic fighter jets, then was selected to fly the North American X-15 rocket plane. In 1958, Bob was among the selectees for the Man in Space Soonest program. I do not know if he was a candidate for the Mercury Seven, but would've been too old for subsequent astronaut training groups. He did, however, fly an X-15 beyond the USAF standard of 50 statute miles altitude for astronaut qualification on June 27, 1963. He completed a total of 34 flights with the X-15, including three of the fastest ten. In 1965, he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross after successfully landing an X-15 that had spontaneously deployed its landing gear while flying at around Mach 5. Bob left the test pilot life behind to return to combat and command duty. He spent a year in Vietnam, flying the F-4 Phantom II on 183 combat missions while also serving as a deputy wing commander. In 1969, he began 18 months as program manager in charge of the Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile. In 1976, he became a commanding officer with Air Force Systems Command, overseeing modern Air Force programs, including the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and B-1 Spirit. He retired from the Air Force in June 1981 with the rank of major general. Bob suffered a heart attack and died in Camarillo, California, on March 18, 1993, aged 68. He left a wife and one child.
USCV-1 is off the manifest for the moment. "additional time for SpaceX to complete hardware testing and data reviews as the company evaluates off-nominal behavior of Falcon 9 first stage engine gas generators observed during a recent non-NASA mission launch attempt."That would be the GPS III-4 abort. https://t.co/8cfagvPmGf— Michael Baylor (@MichaelBaylor_) October 10, 2020 The most recent abort associated with the waiting GPS Block IIIA mission gave some engine readings in first stage B1062.1 that caused SpaceX to look back at their most recently-built first stages. They want to make sure there's not a similar issue in USCV-1's first stage, B1061.1. They are aiming for the first half of November. This has pushed back CRS-21 as well; it's now set for November 22. But better the due diligence than an in-flight abort.
There are rumors floating around, stoked by TMZ, that Tom Cruise might fly to the International Space Station to shoot scenes for a film next fall. Lacking a credible space news corroboration (like NASASpaceFlight.com or SpaceFlightNow.com), I have no interest in peddling mere rumor. ******** But what is true is NASA making plans for a possible mission extension for Juno. The science team at the Southwest Research Institute seems to believe they have discovered what the core of Jupiter really is. It was originally believed to have a small rocky core at its center; Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are also believed to be like this. But analysis from Juno seems to point to Jupiter being liquid through and through. They don't know how it's like this. One potential theory is a collision with another planetary object with around 10 Earth masses worth of matter, which disrupted its original rocky core, as early as a few tens of millions of years after its initial formation. Anyway, the mission is currently set to end in July. But SwRI and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are asking NASA to extend the mission through September 2025. As part of the extended mission, the probe would be able to conduct fly-bys of Ganymede, Europa, and Io. It will be interesting to see how the radiation around Io and Europa affects its solar panels. This mission will be possible because Juno never lowered its orbit as originally planned for 2018. The lower orbits would've precluded reaching the moons. If the extension is granted, Juno's microwave radiometer would permit it to get the first measures of the thickness and composition of Europa's crust, and its pre-supposed internal ocean. This is one of the plans for the future Europa Clipper mission, currently planned to launch in 2024.
Happy 42nd birthday to NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, and raised in Napa Valley, she got her bachelor's in molecular biology from UC-San Diego in 1999, and a doctorate in cancer biology from Stanford in 2005. She is also a researcher in virology, known for studying integration of HIV-1, and working on mapping the genomes of smallpox and ebolavirus. Kate was chosen to NASA as the youngest member of Group 20 in 2009. She would take part in Expeditions 48 and 49 on the International Space Station in the second half of 2016. During Expedition 48, she took part in two EVAs, one of which involved installing the International Docking Adapter on PMA-2 at Harmony forward. She also engaged in DNA and mRNA sequencing in microgravity. She was launched on Soyuz MS-17 today as part of Expeditions 63 and 64.
91 years ago today, the silent film Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon) was released in Germany. The film was about an entrepreneur who commissions a rocket to travel to the far side of the Moon and mine it for resources. The mission goes awry when a stowaway kills one of the passengers, damaging the rocket's oxygen supply. Only one of the travelers survives to return. The film was written and directed by Fritz Lang, whose magnum opus was 1927's Metropolis. It was based on a book by one of his collaborators, Thea von Harbou. Lang signed on German rocket scientist Hermann Oberth as a technical consultant. It predicted many things that would be used in modern rocketry, such as multi-stage rockets, the necessary velocities to reach orbit and the Moon, and techniques for rocket construction and launch. The originally-released film was 156 minutes long. Cuts as long as 200 minutes exist. When it was first released in the United States, it was pared down to 95 minutes. A 91-minute cut was re-released in West Germany in 1970. Oberth tried to build a rocket to be launched as part of promoting the film, but failed. The film was originally distributed by Universum Film (UFA). The company took ownership of Oberth's rocket parts created as part of his failed promotions. It's unclear what happened to them. UFA would later be nationalized by Nazi Germany, and would not survive the aftermath of World War II. The modern UFA was resurrected in 1956, and passed through media company Bertlesmann, now owned by FremantleMedia. As for Lang... Joseph Goebbels banned one of his films in 1933. Goebbels nevertheless wanted Lang to head UFA personally, but so he could produce Nazi propaganda. Instead, Lang fled for Paris. He was in Hollywood by 1936, and an American citizen by 1939. His second American film, 1937's You Only Live Once, was one of the first cinematic tellings of the story of Bonnie and Clyde, and is cited as a genesis of the film noir genre. But he struggled with ratings limitations in American cinema, and began working with West German cinema in 1957, while still making his home in Hollywood. The last film he directed revived the character that got him banned by Nazi Germany: the horror villain Doctor Mabuse. Lang has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died of a stroke at his home in Hollywood on August 2, 1976, aged 85.
SpaceX is planning two Starlink missions in the next week:- 14th Starlink (Starlink V1.0 L13) 10/18 @ ~8:25 a.m. Eastern (~12:25 UTC) from LC-39A- 15th Starlink (Starlink V1.0 L14) 10/21 @ ~12:36 p.m. Eastern (~16:36 UTC) from SLC-40https://t.co/aNOCZNoSdp— Michael Baylor (@MichaelBaylor_) October 15, 2020 SpaceX has put their next two Starlink launches on the manifest. They will take place Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon next week. Both Of Course I Still Love You and Just Read the Instructions will be sent out to retrieve them. Mission 13 will be on B1051.6. ******** The European Space Agency has three different Twitter accounts for BepiColombo: the main mission accounts, and personified component accounts for the Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Transfer Module. The satellite completed its first fly-by of Venus last night, and started sending data from the fly-by this morning, 🛰🛰🛰🟠🤳😬#BepiColomboVenusFlyby#SpaceSelfie 📸https://t.co/9t7mNsdWeL pic.twitter.com/9Pvdey7d7A— MTM (@ESA_MTM) October 15, 2020 Wait, no, that's not the right one. Here it is! Beautiful #Venus as we made closest approach today! Watch how we swing by the planet from day to nightside during #BepiColomboVenusFlyby https://t.co/0AVrP2zKoy #ExploreFarther pic.twitter.com/nASSN35Y8U— Bepi (@ESA_Bepi) October 15, 2020 A total of 64 images were taken in the fly-by. Oh, in addition, JAXA runs a personified account for the Mars Magnetospheric Orbiter. 10月15日12時58分（日本時間）、金星スイングバイ最接近！地面は見えないけれど、明るく輝いていてとってもキレイだったよ！https://t.co/9hicH8A59o#BepiColomboVenusFlyby #みお #金星スイングバイ pic.twitter.com/Uh97YVWPP7— みお (MIO) (@JAXA_MMO) October 15, 2020 We'll find out soon if they were able to detect phosphine. That seems to be the only scientific thing they could've done at Venus. The fly-by was at a distance of 10,720km from the planet.
20 years ago today, Progress M-43 was launched atop a Soyuz-U rocket from Site 1/5, Baikonur Cosmodrome. It docked with Mir two days later and boosted its orbit to preserve the old space station. It also carried some supplies in preparation for a potential MirCorp private expedition. The funding from MirCorp never materialized. It undocked on January 27, and Progress M1-5 docked with the station literally 15 minutes later to prepare Mir for de-orbit. Progress M-43 de-orbited two days later. What it carried, in addition to its fuel, is lost to history.
Oh FFS, Boeing... The #NROL44 launch date is now indefinite on the range. With continued emphasis on mission success, our team will continue to test and evaluate the swing arm retraction system prior to the launch of the #DeltaIVHeavy. We will confirm a launch date as soon as possible.— ULA (@ulalaunch) October 16, 2020 The issues with the pneumatics in the service structure at Pad 37B continue to confound the United Launch Alliance. As a result, the NROL-44 Delta IV Heavy launch is now entirely off the manifest. USCV-1 has been penciled back in for November 11, but the GPS Block IIIA launch is not yet back on the manifest. I think SpaceX might be focusing on making sure the engines on B1061.1 are right first. It makes sense that the two Starlink launches are going forward more solidly, since they'll be launching on flight-proven first stages. ******** And Roscosmos has an even bigger problem. A new leak was detected on the ISS recently, and a couple weeks ago Expedition 63 stayed in their capsule while they sealed all the module hatches off to determine where it was coming from. They traced the leak to Zvezda. The crew ultimately discovered a small crack in the module. After the cosmonauts found a crack in the #Zvezda module yesterday and made a temporary sealing with foam and tape, the rate of air leakage dropped from 7 to 4 mm Hg per hour. Anatoly suggested to use the American sealing, but he was told not to rush. https://t.co/fEj7Ju1JWY pic.twitter.com/QpqaYURuRT— Katya Pavlushchenko (@katlinegrey) October 16, 2020 They put some tape on the crack, and it cut the leak rate in half. Roscosmos is not in a hurry to put a more effective fix in place, but the Americans do have one ready.
The next Starlink launch is still a go for tomorrow at 12:29pm EDT (1629 UTC). The 45th Weather Squadron gives it a 60% chance of favorable weather, and the same for Thursday as well. Rocket Lab delayed their launch for the "In Focus" mission, originally scheduled for this afternoon, due to weather issues with the opening of their launch window. They are now targeting tomorrow at 5:14pm EDT (2114 UTC). ******** Flying on autopilot more than 200 million miles from Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is on track for a daring touch and go landing on an asteroid Tuesday to grab a sample for return to scientists eager for clues about the history of the solar system.https://t.co/mDbJx4Jk53 pic.twitter.com/wEAOOnYJ9T— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) October 20, 2020 Meanwhile, OSIRIS-REx is preparing to complete its sample collection on the asteroid 101955 Bennu. NASA conducted a dress rehearsal for the touch-and-go maneuver back in April. The probe will slowly descend on one of four originally-pinpointed sites, and an attached robotic arm, TAGSAM (touch-and-go-sample acquisition mechanism), will use nitrogen to dislodge some material for collection. They hope to get at least 2 ounces of material. Bennu was discovered back in 1999, and OSIRIS-REx has been in orbit around it for nearly two years. It's not planned to depart until next March. It is named after one of the ancient Egyptian gods, a sentient heron associated with their creation myth. It's believed to be an inspiration for the Greek mythology of the phoenix. The asteroid itself is like a rounded-off quadrahedron of some sort, roughly 510x540x560 metres in dimensions. It's a near-Earth asteroid currently calculated to have a window to strike Earth in the second half of the 22nd century. Help us, Jonathan Archer. You're our only hope. Or maybe that's a job for his dog, Porthos.
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of Roscosmos will return to Earth from the International Space Station on Wed., Oct. 21, 2020. Tune in for deorbit burn and landing coverage as their Soyuz spacecraft descends to a parachute-assisted landing, set for 10:55 p.m. EDT southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.
OSIRIS-REx's sample collection at asteroid 101955 Bennu was successful. In fact, it may have taken too much. The collection bin in TAGSAM is so full, there are large rocks jamming the lid from fully closing. This has raised concerns that they might lose the sample. They have canceled the mass measurement maneuver, which would put OSIRIS-REx on a slight spin so they could determine the difference in mass following the collection, and are focusing on transferring the sample to the return module first. If they have to, they have more than enough fuel, and plenty of nitrogen gas, to make two more sample collection attempts. ******** SpaceX has put an NRO flight, NROL-108, on the manifest for the morning of Halloween. There will be a three-hour-long launch window opening at 9:55am EDT. I think I've vaguely seen possibilities that this might be another polar orbit launch. It will be launched by B1059.5, which launched SAOCOM-1B into polar orbit on its last flight. It will definitely feature a landing back at the Cape. It's too early for an official weather prediction from the 45th Weather Squadron, but less formal long-range forecasts suggest nice conditions.
NROL-108 has been pushed back to next month, but the two new Falcon 9's have been put back on, with three launches now set for the first half of November. The next GPS Block IIIA satellite is situated, and is now set to launch next Thursday at 6:24pm EST. USCV-1 Resilience has also been put back on, and is set for an instantaneous window of 7:49pm EST on Saturday, November 14. Between those, SiriusXM's next satellite, SXM 7, is penciled in for next Friday. In addition, NROL-101 is finally penned in for the maiden flight of the GEM 63 SRMs on an Atlas V 531 rocket. It's set for next Tuesday, with a 100-minute launch window opening at 5:30pm EST. "In Focus" is still set to launch tomorrow afternoon. ******** It turns out the Moon may be a lot more hydrated than we ever realized. Which would explain why they found rust far more widespread than they expected. Observation of the Moon by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), an infrared telescope mounted in a Boeing 747SP aircraft run by NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), found a lot more water than what is visible in the permanently-shadowed parts of polar craters. It's still nowhere near as much as even in the driest parts of Earth; the Sahara is believed to contain 100 times as much water per area as what was detected by SOFIA in the sunlit portions of Clavius crater. Clavius is the second-largest crater on the Near Side, located at 58°S latitude. It's been believed for a long time that there may be more water waiting on the Moon, particularly in smaller permashadows in high latitudes that have not yet been explored. But a more general accumulation in lit portions like this changes the game. It might permit exploitation of lunar water to lower the requirements to bring water for human expeditions.