Fish and Wildlife Service has been busy around the Starbase orbital launch site all day! Hopefully getting things ticked off a checklist!https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5 pic.twitter.com/FYZgwc7iUE

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) October 19, 2023

(it's a fake)

Ax-3 Mission Patch

In other news, the ILRS continues to grow as a partnership of pariahs.
https://spacenews.com/china-adds-belarus-as-partner-for-ilrs-moon-base/

Starship and Super Heavy were loaded with more than 10 million pounds of propellant today in a flight-like rehearsal ahead of launch pic.twitter.com/VbBTdR5h9p

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 25, 2023

Giving the SLS a run for it's 70's tech:

Ariane 6 is a launch vehicle straight from the 90s lol https://t.co/pM9hWl4O8Y

— Truthful🛰️ (@Truthful_ast) October 25, 2023

A Notice to Mariners has been published advising of a possible launch opportunity November 6th.https://t.co/dh8PFCZZqf pic.twitter.com/y9q6IbaNwj

— Boca Chica Road Closures (@BocaRoad) October 25, 2023

Says backup dates start November 1st so that is exceedingly weird. I'm guessing the 6th is the correct date as it's a Monday but we will see.

SpaceX progressing while I hear the FAA and Fish and Wildlife are as well. Next launch attempt coming before too long, I’d think. https://t.co/I5dFbRpsD0

— Christian Davenport (@wapodavenport) October 25, 2023

Or maybe SpaceX is trying to keep the pressure on the FAA and F&W

Updated statement from the FWS regarding the Starship status:

- On Oct. 19, FWS reinitiated consultation with the FAA about the Endangered Species Act.
- While the FWS has 135 days to issue an amended opinion, they do not expect to take the full time.@NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/NN9HZAT4aa

— Adrian Beil (@BCCarCounters) October 26, 2023

Timelapse of Ship 25 destack via one of our cameras.

This destack is hopefully the final time ahead of launch, allowing for TPS (Thermal Protection System), and then shortly before the launch date, FTS (Flight Termination System) work prior to restack.https://t.co/e3xbqPnwZ5 pic.twitter.com/CoI1wjxG9r

— Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) October 26, 2023

PJYoung said:

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Updated statement from the FWS regarding the Starship status:

- On Oct. 19, FWS reinitiated consultation with the FAA about the Endangered Species Act.
- While the FWS has 135 days to issue an amended opinion, they do not expect to take the full time.@NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/NN9HZAT4aa

— Adrian Beil (@BCCarCounters) October 26, 2023

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Hopefully they expect to be done in a couple weeks?!?!

I suspect it has to do with the usual disinfectant chemicals present in the Brownsville municipal water supply that gets trucked in for the deluge system. Most likely chlorine and Chloramines that can affect microbe populations in the marshes.

This is not determining whether one deployment of the deluge system should be allowed. This is probably something in which they are running tests to determine the long-term effects and ways to mitigate any long term damage from a higher launch cadence. With that said, the FWS (the NSF Livestream guys call them the "Fish People") will probably submit recommendations or conditional approvals on the basis that SpaceX resolve the determined issues within a certain number of launches or a reasonable period of time. I don't think they will require mitigation prior to this next launch.

One thing is for sure. The FWS is not used to being pressured to work fast like this. If they have any experience in working on the regulations compliance with NASA in the past, this is probably a culture shock. I guess we will see.

Elon needs to build a desal plant and use fresh GOM water instead of municipal water sources.

This popped up as a suggested post on my Exchange-O-Gram feed this morning. The poster appears to be a fishing guide on SPI.

Centerpole90 said:

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This popped up as a suggested post on my Exchange-O-Gram feed this morning. The poster appears to be a fishing guide on SPI.

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This is so inflammatory and ignorant.

The launch tower is surrounded by sand. Most of the few hundred thousand gallons of fresh, potable water from the deluge system will soak right into the ground and won't even make it to the grassline, much less the actual marsh.

On top of that, 200,000 gallons compared to the entire Lower Laguna Madre is less than a single drop of water in an Olympic sized pool.

It's just another mindless way for the feds to control the game. If there was a way to regulate rainfall, they would go all in.

This isn't about the deluge system, as that's not wastewater, or really shouldn't be classified as such in this case.

There is a lot of push back from the environmentalist in the PI/SPI/LV area.

LNG galvanized the groups with SpaceX as their next target. I wouldn't call them radical, but close.

The gentrification will push out the riff raff soon enough...prices are going up everywhere there with all the developments.

Also, I maintain this is highly political due to Elon's take over of Twitter...when the Dems lost that they lost a lot of power.

This is retribution! I will try to be at the launch for a campaign rally if anyone wants to join!

Did anyone watch the Space Force tv show? Reminds me before each launch they had someone that has to pick up all endangered lizards in the launch area.

Astrobotic will be launching atop the first-flight of a ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket on Christmas Eve. Their prop load requires a longer mission timeline so they are looking at a mid-January landing.

https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/ula-christmas-eve-launch-date-vulcan-rocket

My company, Intuitive Machines, also has a lunch date locked down aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Launch window opens Jan 12, but our mission timeline is much shorter with our Methalox engine and large LCH4 and LOX tanks.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/10/27/intuitive-machines-targets-launch-to-the-moon-in-mid-january/

It will be a literal space race to see which American lander attempts the first landing! Although we have the advantage of launching on a proven rocket, and an engine that can make more drastic changes to flight dynamics and orbits.

Make sure and triple check your metric-standard unit calculations! (I think that's what the Japanese got wrong earlier this year, anyway.)

Looks like the HVAC system in my house.

Haha very true! A lot of that includes RBF dust bags covering payload cameras and equipment. We utilize a lot of specialized tapes and coatings to lock in heat in to reflect solar radiation while also emitting heat from electronics. It's pretty wild all the different types of coatings, tapes and MLI we have available to make this possible.

Very cool.

Kunkle for Congress TX-34 said:

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There is a lot of push back from the environmentalist in the PI/SPI/LV area.

LNG galvanized the groups with SpaceX as their next target. I wouldn't call them radical, but close.

The gentrification will push out the riff raff soon enough...prices are going up everywhere there with all the developments.

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Based on their "success" regarding the LNG terminal, I'd say Space X doesn't have much to worry about.

Getting closer. Nasa's WB-57 has scheduled a domestic mission for November 3rd through the 11th as well which might confirm that SpaceX expects to launch the week of the 6th.

The FAA has completed the safety review portion of Starship-Super Heavy today.

Main outstanding item is now the consultation with FWS, and the environmental section of the review. pic.twitter.com/RmPVlipfr7

— Adrian Beil (@BCCarCounters) October 31, 2023

Not sure if this graphic link is going to work. If not, I'll try to paste it directly and upload.

Quote:

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Our IM-1 mission launches into a translunar orbit. This means launch to lunar landing takes about a week, similar to Apollo missions. We call it, the Great Lunar Alley-oop.

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NASAg03 said:

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Astrobotic will be launching atop the first-flight of a ULA Vulcan Centaur rocket on Christmas Eve. Their prop load requires a longer mission timeline so they are looking at a mid-January landing.

https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/ula-christmas-eve-launch-date-vulcan-rocket

My company, Intuitive Machines, also has a lunch date locked down aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Launch window opens Jan 12, but our mission timeline is much shorter with our Methalox engine and large LCH4 and LOX tanks.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/10/27/intuitive-machines-targets-launch-to-the-moon-in-mid-january/

It will be a literal space race to see which American lander attempts the first landing! Although we have the advantage of launching on a proven rocket, and an engine that can make more drastic changes to flight dynamics and orbits.

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So are these test missions for different lunar landers? Will one of these landers be part of the Artemis landing?

An "updated BA" is extremely vague.

Could be looking at 2-4 weeks, could be looking at 2-4 months.

These are programs that are part of Artemis under NASA CLPS (commercial lunar payloads services).

They are gateway services that will help develop and plan the infrastructure necessary for a human presence on the moon.

This includes finding water, testing habitat building methods, scientific studies, lunar terrain vehicles, communications methods, location / positioning technologies, power generation tech, and other things.

Intuitive Machines is doing all those things. For IM-2 and IM-3, we are working on a communication systems with orbiting comms satellites that will help relay signals. Right now, comms is very dependent on positioning of the moon and earth, and antenna orientation. This results in a lot of mission constraints and drives con-ops significantly. It also makes navigation hard since there isn't any GPS on the moon, and a very weak magnetic field.