The FAA continues its Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the proposed @SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy project in Boca Chica, Texas. The new target date for issuing the Final PEA is February 28. Learn more at https://t.co/CZy1jVb5qM. #FAASpace pic.twitter.com/NjNyUsgF4I

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) December 28, 2021

FAA environmental assessment of SpaceX launch site in South Texas is pushed out two months. pic.twitter.com/ALQ0Sc7E1w

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) December 28, 2021

lb3 said:

---

Elon needs to just launch anyway and deduct the fine from his 2021 tax bill.

---

**** it, I'd move just across the Rio Grande.

SpaceX will get through this. The amount of DoD work and national defense payloads are predicated on it.

It looks like both fore and aft sub shields deployed on the Webb. So far so good.

Elon Musk was on the Lex Fridman Podcast for a third time.

Looking @ 40 commercial launches in 2022 (teslarati);

Quote:

---

In general, short of a major launch failure grounding a given rocket or some other unforeseen catastrophe (2021's semiconductor supply issues, for example), unofficial manifests have been maybe 60-80% accurate. In the case of 2022, two such well-maintained manifests agree that SpaceX has approximately 40 launches currently scheduled next year including up to 5 Falcon Heavy missions and at least 35 Falcon 9 launches. SpaceX has never had more launches scheduled in a single year. Simultaneously, after SpaceX's 2021 performance, 2022 is the first time it's been possible to seriously believe that the company might actually be able to complete 40 commercial launches in one year. And even then, that figure is still only part of the story.

---

However, that excludes likely a dozen or two dozen Starlink launches;

Quote:

---

In 2021, SpaceX completed 17 successful dedicated Starlink missions, launching just shy of 1000 satellites 989 to be exact in a single year. 976 of which are still in good working order. In the first five months of 2021, before unknown issues caused an unintended Starlink launch hiatus, SpaceX completed 13 of those dedicated Starlink launches. In other words, if satellite production had kept up with SpaceX's Falcon fleet, the company was technically on track to complete more than 30 Starlink launches in a single year, which combined with all other missions would have amounted to a total of 43 launches in 2021.

That specificity is important because save for a single Starlink mission the ~40 commercial launches on SpaceX's 2022 manifest entirely exclude Starlink launches. Given that skipping or intentionally throttling a full year of Starlink launches is simply out of the question for SpaceX, that means that the company has approximately 40 commercial missions to launch on top of one or two dozen potential Starlink V1.5 missions. Assuming that Starlink V1.5 production remains somewhat constrained relative to Starlink V1.0, which peaked at an implied average of more than 1800 satellites per year, it might be reasonable to expect up to 20 (rather than 30) Starlink V1.5 launches in 2022 if production remains steady.

---

So, 60 launches are possible for Falcon/FH, and then there is the possibility the FAA actually lets them launch Starship (NET March right now).

I love the idea of a launch per week in 2022!

PJYoung said:

---

The FAA continues its Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the proposed @SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy project in Boca Chica, Texas. The new target date for issuing the Final PEA is February 28. Learn more at https://t.co/CZy1jVb5qM. #FAASpace pic.twitter.com/NjNyUsgF4I

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) December 28, 2021

---

Ok, I call BS. I know it's the government, but how can their estimates to complete their assessment be off by that much. They're going to drag this on as much as possible.

Part of it is SaveRGV's efforts to overload the review process with thousands of comments to slow SpaceX down.

TexAgs91 said:

---

PJYoung said:

---

The FAA continues its Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for the proposed @SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy project in Boca Chica, Texas. The new target date for issuing the Final PEA is February 28. Learn more at https://t.co/CZy1jVb5qM. #FAASpace pic.twitter.com/NjNyUsgF4I

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) December 28, 2021

---

Ok, I call BS. I know it's the government, but how can their estimates to complete their assessment be off by that much. They're going to drag this on as much as possible.

---

Retribution for Elon's position on Vax mandates, etc...

bthotugigem05 said:

---

Part of it is SaveRGV's efforts to overload the review process with thousands of comments to slow SpaceX down.

---

They knew they had 18K comments when they gave the Dec 31 target date.

Take it with a grain of salt, but I expect these sort of complaints will be on the uptick from various sources. I imagine there'll be an element of truth to it, but also parties are wanting to slow SpaceX's Starlink down for commercial reasons.

For China it's also a bit of tit for tat regarding our scolding.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/dec/28/china-complains-to-un-after-space-station-is-forced-to-move-to-avoid-starlink-satellites
(12/28/21)

Quote:

---

. . .
China has accused the US of ignoring international treaty obligations and engaging in irresponsible and unsafe conduct in outer space after two near misses between the Chinese space station and satellites operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX company.

Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Tuesday that China "urges the US to act responsibly" after incidents involving SpaceX's Starlink satellites, which he said had posed a serious threat to the lives and safety of astronauts.

In a note to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space earlier this month, China said Tiangong, its new space station, had to manoeuvre to avoid one Starlink satellite in July and another in October.

Tiangong had to take "preventive collision avoidance control" during the two "close encounters" after the Starlink satellites had moved into orbits that obliged Tiangong's operators to change its course, the document said.

"The manoeuvre strategy was unknown and orbital errors were hard to assess," Beijing said of the satellite involved in the October incident, adding that it took action to "ensure the safety and lives of in-orbit astronauts".
. . .
Starlink, a division of Musk's private company SpaceX, has launched more than 1,600 satellites. It has permission from US authorities to launch a total of up to 12,000 in a programme aiming to provide internet access to most of the planet.

China's note to the UN space agency in Vienna said state parties to the outer space treaty, which is the foundation of international space law, "bear international responsibility" for activities carried out by both government and non-governmental bodies in space.

Evasive manoeuvres to reduce the risk of collisions in space were becoming more frequent owing to the number and speed at which satellites were being launched, said Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"Starlink is a big part of that," McDowell said, adding that it was "highly unusual" for a country to lodge a complaint through an "informational bulletin". Any collision would be likely to "completely demolish" the Chinese space station, he said.

McDowell added that China was also a big contributor to space junk. The International Space Station "has several times over the past 10 years had to dodge pieces from the Chinese military anti-satellite test of 2007", he said. "It's not like the Chinese had a clean record here. The biggest debris event ever was the Chinese anti-satellite test."
. . .
The core module of China's station Tiangong whose name means "heavenly palace" entered orbit this year and is expected to become fully operational in 2022.

Beijing's complaint prompted heavy criticism on Chinese social media of Musk, whose electric car firm Tesla sells tens of thousands of vehicles in China each month. Musk is widely admired in China, although Tesla's reputation has been tarnished after a rash of recent crashes and scandals.

One hashtag on the Weibo social networking platform recorded 90m views on Tuesday. "How ironic that Chinese people buy Tesla, contributing large sums of money so Musk can launch Starlink, and then he (nearly) crashes into China's space station," one user said.

"Prepare to boycott Tesla," said another Weibo user, echoing a common response in China to foreign brands perceived to be acting contrary to national interests.

Some speculated that Washington would have imposed sanctions if the roles were reversed. "Why don't we just do what they do?" one wrote.
. . .

---

Did not know that, thanks. One of the many reasons I love this thread.

Ship 20 static fire! 🤩🚀🔥
⁦@NASASpaceflight⁩ pic.twitter.com/aLRvNWXEW1

— Mary (@BocaChicaGal) December 29, 2021

So between SN20 and BN4 they have something like 40 raptors. All ready to get wasted on a single test flight. Which is something like 40 more raptors than BO had delivered BE-4s.

The JWST status page now has temperatures displayed.

And 8 days to primary mirror deploy.

Don't they have to deploy the shields first? When is that?

And what's the difference between a,b, c, and d on the temps?

Totally agree, but as per the poster above I do think we will see more of this. Remember, the UN is basically a group of anti-American states running the show anyway so I could see this kind of blocking being useful. Notably, SpaceX has collision avoidance technology built in etc. but the CCP doesn't care (and is highly dishonest, like all commies). They also plan to eventually go to 42K starlink sats.

There is an argument to be made that a real treaty about NEO limits (density, basically) for launches and a governing body is needed (I surely wouldn't trust the Xiden administration to negotiate such a thing). Some of this is sort of like the early days of ATT, where there is a race to be the first ones with the infrastructure in place.

No comment @LabPadre #Rovercam2 pic.twitter.com/TSnavgiLxE

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) December 29, 2021

Off to a good start:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2021/12/29/nasa-says-webbs-excess-fuel-likely-to-extend-its-lifetime-expectations/?fbclid=IwAR0Lo00q_1DCFg4kVFm7lt3XRTSbj0XAxpYO_1LNGzy38SH3RIiOQks1soQ

aTmAg said:

---

Don't they have to deploy the shields first? When is that?

And what's the difference between a,b, c, and d on the temps?

---

Different points on the shield/instrument;

And we have Webb temperature data ! #Webb #JWST pic.twitter.com/4BQgmK8elY

— DutchSpace (@DutchSpace) December 29, 2021

Here's another question for those in the know:


I always assumed the head of JWST could pivot in one axis. I have since found out that is fixed and that the whole thing has to turn to aim the dish. But it can only do so 45 degrees up (away from the sun) and 5 degrees down (towards the sun). So that basically means that if they want to look "up" by more than that, they basically have to wait 3 or so months for the orbit to rotate around the sun. So my question is this: Why didn't they make the dish point normal to the shield? Why parallel to it? Seems like they could turn a lot more and keep it all in the shade if they had done it that way.

Scott gets into that around 5:50.

nortex97 said:

---

Scott gets into that around 5:50.

---

Thanks.. That didn't directly answer my question, but I figured it out. They have access to a larger percentage of the sky at any given time.

7 days to primary mirror deploy.

Both port and starboard shield booms deployed today. Tomorrow they tension the shield.

Mathguy64 said:

---

Both port and starboard shield booms deployed today. Tomorrow they tension the shield.

---

That will be a massive stepping stone, the shield is probably the most delicate and risk prone deployment in the origami looking thing.

Awesome.



Modified/stretched starship takes 57% more than Saturn V (estimates).

They're gonna need a bigger launch tower

Could be more of why they're thinking about opening the Florida facility, if they're going to have to work on the tower.