IO Group: https://groups.io/g/DARCskynet/topics
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Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
Bill Byrom N5BB:
Giant Satellite Outshines Most Stars in the Sky
Scientific American – reprinted from Nature
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History – Skip for Tonight
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish, and Grus, the crane.
Space Launches For This Week
Space Coast Launches
https://www.spacecoastlaunches.com/blog/launch-list/
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
October 8/9 Falcon 9 • Starlink 6-22
Launch time: 9:06 p.m. EDT (0106 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of second-generation Starlink V2 Mini internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean.
Updated: October 06
October 9 Falcon 9 • Starlink 7-4
Launch time: 12:23 a.m. PDT (3:23 a.m. EDT / 0723 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of 21 second-generation Starlink V2 Mini internet satellites from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E). The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on the drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Pacific Ocean.
Updated: October 07
October 12 Falcon Heavy • Psyche
Launch time: 10:16 a.m. EDT (1416 UTC)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission. The Maxar-built spacecraft will travel to the metallic asteroid Psyche, where it will enter orbit in 2029. This is the first spacecraft to explore a metal-rich asteroid, which may be the leftover core of a protoplanet that began forming in the early solar system more than 4 billion years ago. The Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will return to Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for recovery. The center core will be expended. Delayed from 2022 due to payload software issues. Moved forward from Oct. 10, 2023. Delayed from Oct. 5.
Updated: October 05
October Falcon 9 • O3b mPOWER 5 & 6
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the third pair of O3b mPOWER broadband internet satellites into Medium Earth Orbit for SES of Luxembourg. The satellites, built by Boeing, will provide internet services over most of the populated world, building on SES’s O3b network. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from March, June 9 and Aug. 27.
Updated: August 22
TBD Falcon 9 • USSF-124
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch a mission for the U.S. Space Force and Missile Defense Agency.
Updated: September 28
November 3/4 Falcon 9 • SpaceX CRS 29
Launch time: 11:49 p.m. EDT (0349 UTC)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Dragon 2 spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. The flight is the 29th mission by SpaceX conducted under a Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. Delayed from Nov. 1.
Updated: October 04
Nov. 15 Falcon 9 • IM-1
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the IM-1 mission with the Nova-C lander built and owned by Intuitive Machines. The IM-1 mission will attempt to deliver a suite of science payloads to the surface of the moon for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Delayed from 3rd Quarter of 2022, December 2022, January 2023, March 2023, and June 2023.
Updated: August 17
November Long March 2F • Shenzhou 17
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Jiuquan, China
A Chinese Long March 2F rocket will launch the Shenzhou 17 spacecraft with three Chinese astronauts to rendezvous and dock with the Chinese space station in low Earth orbit. This is China’s 12th crewed space mission, and the sixth to the Chinese space station. The crew members have not been announced by China.
Updated: March 22
4th Quarter Falcon 9 • ASBM
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission, consisting of two satellites owned by Space Norway. The Falcon 9 will launch the two Northrop Grumman-built satellites into a highly elliptical orbit that lingers over the Arctic region. The satellites carry communications payloads for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Space Force, and Inmarsat.
Updated: March 22
Check-ins or comments
At this point we should be reaching our 90 minute cut-off point, so NCS can decide whether to cut any of these topics due to lack of time.
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
Pulsars May Make Dark Matter
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/10/231006104524.htm
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
You can use the http://www.heavens-above.com website to find out what’s in orbit and
where to look during fly-overs
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
Tiangong
Oct. 10
Oct. 11
Oct. 12
Hubble Space Telescope
Oct. 10
Oct. 11
Oct. 12
Oct. 13