NEW - India launches rocket to land a rover on the Moon.pic.twitter.com/syyjO3dtTu

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 14, 2023

That is cool.

Some pretty good Starship updates and speculation from Felix at What About It?

Return of Buzz Aldrin's Mars Cycler with starship?

NEWS 🚨: U.S. Space Command has confirmed that fragments of an interstellar meteor have been recovered in the Pacific Ocean

This is the first time humans have come in contact with something from another Solar System 😳 pic.twitter.com/va9ZM5LifO

— Latest in space (@latestinspace) July 15, 2023

Sea Speed said:

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will25u said:

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JUST IN: Elon Musk’s SpaceX nears $150 billion valuation after secondary share sale

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 13, 2023

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Wow I would have freaking loved to be able to invest in SpaceX

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I wonder what the minimum buy in was. $25-$50 million?

No, it's not. Literally everything we are made of beside helium/hydrogen are from another solar system, more specifically a super nova.

nortex97 said:

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No, it's not. Literally everything we are made of beside helium/hydrogen are from another solar system, more specifically a super nova.

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Here's something interesting... Magnesium, which is plentiful on rocky planets in the solar system, comes from the decay of radioactive aluminum.

Radioactive aluminum comes from supernovas.

The half life of radioactive aluminum is 717,000 years.

So based on the amount of magnesium found on rocky planets in the solar system, planetary geologists estimate that there must have been a supernova about 2 million years before the collapse of the gas cloud that created our solar system. It was peppered with all kinds of elements from the supernova.

Yes there are a lot of questions about how/what happened right after the Big Bang, specifically how there are so many big galaxies so quickly etc. I sure don't have those answers, and I'm not even real sure who to believe is providing the 'best informed' analyses/asking the right questions about it at this point.

I'm still pretty skeptical about some of the claims about that meteorite.

2/ Cosmochemists need to study the material including not just the elements but the isotopes in those elements to identify their origin. I’ve read some speculation about the low nickel content suggesting it isn’t meteoritic from our solar system. Also,…

— Dr. Phil Metzger (@DrPhiltill) July 16, 2023

4/ …that it may be a naturally occurring mineral deposit from a planetary crust, not an intentional alloy made for technology (though I could be wrong). Also, you don’t build spaceships from iron since it is too heavy for the strength it provides.

— Dr. Phil Metzger (@DrPhiltill) July 16, 2023

6/ And then we have to admit that the tiny amount of metal might have nothing to do with the mostly-rock meteorite that came from space. They could be metal from terrestrial sources unrelated to the fireball.

— Dr. Phil Metzger (@DrPhiltill) July 16, 2023

In my geology class, the prof showed us various samples from times that were from million of years ago to hundreds of millions of years ago, to billions (from the earth's original crust) and then ended with a sample of diamond dust that they dated at 10 billion years old. Way older than the solar system. Pretty cool holding that in your hand.

Pretty massive liquid nitrogen or liquid oxygen dump going on. Tough to tell which it is.

I can't remember ever seeing this occur before outside of a testing event.

Initially thought this was some sort of clean out process but the volume appears to be a bit excessive for that. pic.twitter.com/ybSNxPiX05

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) July 16, 2023

WOW! OLM Water Deluge System conducts its first full test! That was super impressive. No more rock tornados, I'd say!https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5 pic.twitter.com/jgviOwUX3U

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) July 17, 2023

Bregxit said:

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I can't believe how fast they got that in place...and testing already!

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Would have taken NASA 6x the money and 20x the time to complete. Not b/c NASA engineers aren't as good but b/c of all the insane red tape from Administrators.

I wonder if the rock tornado made it easier or harder to upgrade to the deluge system.

Next Super Heavy launch we will be having a campaign rally!

Sea Speed said:

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will25u said:

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JUST IN: Elon Musk’s SpaceX nears $150 billion valuation after secondary share sale

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 13, 2023

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Wow I would have freaking loved to be able to invest in SpaceX

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Investing In SpaceX Stock: 4 Indirect Ways | Seeking Alpha

Not a BMA? but if you were, you could, but you'd have to jump through some hoops.

From the Seekingalpha article, not sure if behind pay wall, but I am a registered Seekingalpha subscriber...

How To Buy SpaceX With Private Shares:

SpaceX is still a private company and has not yet announced when it will go public. At some point, the venture and private equity backers will be looking for an exit and will likely nudge the company in that direction but there is no way to know when that might happen. Right now, the company doesn't appear to be having any problem raising capital through venture and private equity funds (they've raised a total of $6.7 billion so far).
In the meantime, the only way for an investor to participate directly is to obtain some of the private shares. That won't be easy or cheap, but it's not impossible.
To begin with, an investor will need to be accredited to be legally eligible to purchase private shares. According to the SEC, that means having either a:

• Net worth of more than $1 million (excluding residence)
• Income of $200,000 per year (or $300,000 with a spouse)
• Valid securities license (FINRA Series 7, 65, or 82).

The next task is to identify shares for sale. Shares in private companies will generally be held by insiders, angel investors, venture capital firms, private equity funds, and other corporations. Your best bet would be to obtain shares from any insiders wishing to sell and there are now some firms that specialize in connecting private company insiders with potential investors.
One such firm is EquityZen. EquityZen is a registered securities firm that specializes in connecting accredited investors with private company shareholders looking to sell shares. Their process will involve the following:

[ol]

Sign up online with EquityZen

Verify your accreditation and complete a suitability profile

Browse companies that have shares available and reserve an investment

Complete investment documents and funding

[/ol]SpaceX is listed on the EquityZen site as a possible offering but there is no way to how long it might take, whether any shares are currently available, or what the asking price would be.

Quote:

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Tip: When verifying your accreditation status, some firms will require proof, while others may simply work on the honor system. Either way, you should be prepared to provide proof to prevent any problems with the legality of your transaction later.

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Other companies that offer access to private company shares include Forge Global and InvestX, though neither currently indicates on their websites that SpaceX shares are available.

ETA, you can invest in one of Cathie Wood's ETF's, she and Elon are good buds.

• ARK Space Exploration & Innovation ETF (ARKX)

PJYoung said:

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WOW! OLM Water Deluge System conducts its first full test! That was super impressive. No more rock tornados, I'd say!https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5 pic.twitter.com/jgviOwUX3U

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) July 17, 2023

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The noise of that thing sounds like a rocket engine. SpaceX is just so freaking cool.

Love the water jets, but can someone explain the math behind it?

Will the water cool it down fast enough or hold the flames high enough for the amount of time needed?

Seems the water might be blowing out the side and not upwards. Also, would it perhaps damage the engines shooting up hard enough?

I think the water is being diverted by a plate that will take the brunt of the engine exhaust. The plate will get hot and conduct heat to the water that will become steam.

When the water changes phase, it doesn't change temperature. It takes up a lot of energy (heat) going from liquid to vapor phase. The energy comes from the exhaust gas which will lose the same amount of heat dropping its temperature. Once the water is fully vapor phase, its temperature will rise while the exhaust gas temperatures will drop because of heat transfer. All of the water will be heated to steam so when this launches there will just be a giant white cloud.

Also, the water will dampen a lot of the noise.

To add to this explanation, this mechanism prevents the weakening and destruction brought by extreme temperatures coupled with the pressures applied to the pad.

It does this by keeping the temperature of the steel plate low enough to not compromise its rigidity. The challenge was to build a system that operates above the stagnation pressure of 33 Raptor engines @100% power, and has enough flow to prevent accumulation of thermal energy compromising the pad material during a test flight.

OKCAg2002 said:

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PJYoung said:

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WOW! OLM Water Deluge System conducts its first full test! That was super impressive. No more rock tornados, I'd say!https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5 pic.twitter.com/jgviOwUX3U

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) July 17, 2023

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The noise of that thing sounds like a rocket engine. SpaceX is just so freaking cool.

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That was my first thought. It kind of sounds like a launch all by itself.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/the-senate-just-lobbed-a-tactical-nuke-at-nasas-mars-sample-return-program/

Nothing particularly earth-shattering (pun intended). This program is JWST-level costs, but less return for the science community. As such, there's little support beyond a few people that really care about Mars research.

Quote:

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NASA had asked for $949 million to support its Mars Sample Return mission, or MSR, in fiscal year 2024. In its proposed budget for the space agency, released Thursday, the Senate offered just $300 million and threatened to take that amount away.

....

Further, the report states that the $300 million allocated to the Mars mission will be rescinded if NASA cannot provide Congress with a guarantee that the mission's overall costs will not exceed $5.3 billion. In that case, most of the $300 million would be reallocated to the Artemis program to land humans on the Moon.

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The Senate cites a budgetary cost of $5.3 billion, which was the mission's estimate in the planetary science community's influential "decadal" survey published last year. This survey listed Mars Sample Return as its top priority but added a caveat on costs. If the total price exceeded $5.3 billion by 20 percent or more, NASA should not take that money from other planetary programs. Instead, the agency should ask Congress for a "budget augmentation."

The US Senate appears to not have liked the sound of this. It has now told NASA that if the mission cannot be done for $5.3 billion, it effectively should not be done. That is a significant escalation of the stakes for NASA's highest-profile science mission of the 2020s.

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To top off the drastic upgrades to the Orbital Launch Mount foundation, SpaceX will be pouring a layer of Fondag RS surrounding the steel plates.

This will ensure the area outside of the pad is far more protected than it was previously.

And yes, it will go on the opposite… pic.twitter.com/05HScWf3MN

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) July 20, 2023

SpaceX "has told some investors it expects to bring in about $8 billion in revenue in 2023, roughly doubling its revenue from the previous year," reports @beckpeterson & @coryweinberg: https://t.co/MQHWxrSKal

— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) July 17, 2023

Find out everything from Starbase the week including the Orbital Launch Mount returning to life with your host @thejackbeyer.

📺: https://t.co/0uyE46cC5C pic.twitter.com/xhRKEK7gND

— Patrick Colquhoun (@Patrick_Colqu) July 17, 2023

I guess it took a rock tornado to get SpaceX to reinforce the launch site as much as they are now. They probably wouldn't have reinforced the launch area as much as they have if they waited for the steel plates before the first launch.

OKCAg2002 said:

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PJYoung said:

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WOW! OLM Water Deluge System conducts its first full test! That was super impressive. No more rock tornados, I'd say!https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5 pic.twitter.com/jgviOwUX3U

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) July 17, 2023

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The noise of that thing sounds like a rocket engine. SpaceX is just so freaking cool.

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I just heard that the test was at partial pressure. Nowhere near 100%.

Starship Super Heavy Booster 9 transported to the orbital launch pad at Starbase for testing ahead of flight pic.twitter.com/fF6U13thzs

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 20, 2023

The design concept for that mission is very complicated. Perseverance is already on Mars and has a design which allows it to take core samples and put them in storage containers on the surface.

A lander would land near the samples, release a rover that would collect the samples and bring them back to the lander. They would be robotically placed in a launch vehicle that would attempt, for the first time, to exit the Martian atmosphere from the surface. It would rendezvous with an orbiter that would carry the samples back to Earth. Once close enough to Earth the orbiter would release a protective container which would fall to the surface.

If I'm not mistaken this mission actually requires two separate launches from Earth on heavy rockets.

The Chinese have a much simpler concept in development that would allow the surface lander to drill the samples itself and launch back off the surface. This eliminates the need for a high precision landing and an expensive rover system. Fewer things to build and fewer things to potentially break.

will25u said:

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Starship Super Heavy Booster 9 transported to the orbital launch pad at Starbase for testing ahead of flight pic.twitter.com/fF6U13thzs

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 20, 2023

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Timelapse of Booster 9's Frosty Sunday. The first time a vehicle has been loaded on the launch site since Booster 7's launch.https://t.co/egokHukppr pic.twitter.com/rXFbA2StCT

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) July 23, 2023

What's the most likely launch dates?