will25u said:

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Now that I did a little research, this is interesting way of tracking GEO satellites while keeping away from US GSSAP inspection.

Shijian-31: a satellite with an orbit we have never seen before

China launched Shijian-31 on June 16 from Xichang, officially described as a "space environment detection" mission. The orbital elements suggest more going on.

The inclination 63.46° sits at the value where perigee… pic.twitter.com/rxRPrkOEEm

— COMSPOC_OPS (@COMSPOC_OPS) July 21, 2026

AI said:

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In short, it's an orbital mechanics masterstroke: a roaming, high-altitude guard tower that can monitor the world's most valuable communications, early-warning, and military satellites, while remaining largely out of reach of reciprocal close-proximity inspection.

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And how the US handles what China is doing.

AI said:

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The United States Space Force utilizes a complementary two-tier satellite architecture to monitor the geostationary (GEO) belt, pairing the wide-area threat detection of SILENTBARKER with the precision inspection capabilities of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP). Jointly developed with the National Reconnaissance Office, the SILENTBARKER constellation orbits above the standard GEO belt to act as a continuous, wide-angle watchdog that detects incoming threats and maintains custody of space objects without coverage gaps. In contrast, GSSAP operates in near-geosynchronous orbits, allowing it to maneuver close to specific satellites to perform highly detailed physical characterizations and investigate anomalies. Together, they create a robust "tip-and-cue" system where SILENTBARKER identifies unusual activity across the domain, and GSSAP maneuvers in to conduct targeted, up-close intelligence gathering.

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Interesting

Fully stacked. I think a SPCX TSLA merger next year is not improbable at this point, based on the latter's earning call yesterday.

Tesla just finished their 2Q26 conference call. Here are my highlights.

A couple of times, Elon mentioned how Tesla is gearing up to produce solar panels. He said they were going to make everything, including silicon ingot growth, cells, and panels. So extreme vertical…

— Phil Trubey (@PTrubey) July 22, 2026

The odds that $TSLA and $SPCX come together just increased.

They got a question about the topic on the call, and I was surprised they even entertained it. Elon said they have a great relationship but couldn't comment on further integration, handing it off to legal.

After legal…

— Gene Munster (@munster_gene) July 22, 2026

Anyway, hopefully the weather holds out this afternoon.

JUST IN: Google now owns 5% of SpaceX

— Kalshi (@Kalshi) July 23, 2026

The tweet is true but the "now" usage is a bit of a misleading... They do own that now, but they have for quite some time so this isn't a new position. This is mostly a $900M investment about 10 years ago that is now worth nearly nearly $100B...

Launch is still a go as of now. Weather pending.

Was going to drive down for the launch, but the weather was just too iffy for a 13 hr drive.
Did go down there last week for the scrubbed attempt

On the way with my fishing pole.

Now targeting Friday, July 24 for Starship’s thirteenth flight test, due to weather.

A key objective for the flight test is to get clear imagery from the ground of Starship’s heatshield as it flies at a higher dynamic pressure during ascent, which won't be possible with today's… pic.twitter.com/O4qyJaXjVs

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 23, 2026

today's weather conditions. Visibility is forecast to be ideal for a Friday attempt

Tomorrow's weather looks really good.

Declassified spy satellite image of Florida's Space Coast

captured by KH-9 Hexagon on 1978-07-21 pic.twitter.com/wNslEeVW1w

— 🚀conspiracy_slayer🌕 (@conspiracyslyr) July 22, 2026

Does "higher dynamic pressure during ascent" mean even more thrust?

Not necessarily, but in a way yes.
Dynamic pressure is caused by the vehicles interaction with air. So I think you're looking at a flight profile that's going faster in thicker air. That's probably all related to thrust. You sure wouldn't start your down range turn until you're in thinner air.

Shooting for 5:45 again. Cool map of planned trajectory;

Hazard Map for Starship Flight 13
→https://t.co/w14uFlZiHV

NET Jul 23 2245 UTC pic.twitter.com/3Zv69ESR7i

— Dillon Shropshire (@Dillonshrop06) July 23, 2026

FarmerJohn said:

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Does "higher dynamic pressure during ascent" mean even more thrust?

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I think it just means at the particular altitude there is higher dynamic pressure.

Dynamic pressure on the rocket is a function of velocity and air density. During ascent it's flying through dense air. Velocity is a function of vehicle mass and thrust.

SpaceX has reportedly stopped accepting new commercial Falcon 9 satellite launch orders beyond 2028, signaling a full transition to Starship.

The reason is straightforward.

Starship can deliver 100+ metric tons to LEO—about 4.4× the payload of Falcon 9—while its estimated… https://t.co/FehTUGcJRN pic.twitter.com/k6R3kN2q5G

— Lunar Citizen (@LunarCitizens) July 24, 2026

So everything that is launched has to fit in a pez dispenser slot? Hopefully they're well into the design of other options.

TexAgs91 said:

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So everything that is launched has to fit in a pez dispenser slot? Hopefully they're well into the design of other options.

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No doubt they will offer other options at some point. I did read sat mfg's have already started adjusting to the pez dispenser size requirements/limits though.

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket got struck by lightning today and it’s the coolest shit ever pic.twitter.com/43G95lmcJ3

— Truthful🛰️ (@Truthful_ast) July 23, 2026

E o foguete da China que foi atingido por um raio quando subia.
⚡
🚀 pic.twitter.com/HWc80qvOwe

— Bruno Brezenski (@bbbrezenski) July 23, 2026

Apollo 12 was struck by lightning twice after liftoff. They had all sorts of voltage problems and a lot of telemetry made no sense, but luckily one engineer in mission control has seen something similar when he stayed late to watch some tests months earlier and they accidentally powered some stuff down they weren't supposed to. It caused similar voltage problems and readouts that were much different than what had been assumed.

SCE to AUX... Good job, John Aaron & Al Bean.

What I believe is at the core of the SCE to Aux story, combined a mission later with 13, is the importance of three simple instructions that cover the whole of aviation.
Aviate.
Navigate.
Communicate.
The data all went to hell, but they were still flying straight and true. The crew was reporting instrumentation issues, but equally important is what they weren't reporting. Unusual noises, a change in vibration, a change in acceleration, or telemetry changes (on their gyroscopic based instruments). Where mission rules might have dictated a quick decision to abort, the vehicle, despite what instrumentation was telling, was flying straight and true.

Then on 13, when controllers were thinking hey this has got to just be instrumentation, the crew reported hey there was a pretty good bang associated with all of this. Generally speaking instrumentation failures aren't accompanied by loud, spaceship rattling bangs.

On 12, it's a testament to the ship and it's hardware flying the pre-programmed profile. Those flight profiles were hard coded on physical wire rope memory so they weren't susceptible to electronic damage the way modern chip or disk based storage is.

BTW... If you're following space and haven't read this book then you need to change that. Immediately!

https://www.amazon.com/Apollo-Flew-Springer-Praxis-Books/dp/1441971785

nortex97 said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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So everything that is launched has to fit in a pez dispenser slot? Hopefully they're well into the design of other options.

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No doubt they will offer other options at some point. I did read sat mfg's have already started adjusting to the pez dispenser size requirements/limits though.

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Weather is right. NSF stream is live. Let's do this!

On track for Starship’s 13th flight test later today – the 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT. Live coverage starts ~30 minutes before launch https://t.co/yZzlYg3nnQ

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 24, 2026

normaleagle05 said:

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Weather is right. NSF stream is live. Let's do this!

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T-60. Godspeed Ship 13!

Let's go!

Still can't get over these SpaceX comms, Starlink, and cameras. My gracious.

These views are incredible. Just incredible.

Looks like they nailed the booster landing.

Nvm: saying it was too hot and didn't get all engines to relight

Not exactly… came in hot!

RED AG 98 said:

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Looks like they nailed the booster landing.

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Did they? NSF was acting like it went boom

RED AG 98 said:

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Looks like they nailed the booster landing.

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Huh? Sure looked like it came in hot with a lot of engines not burning