Carnival of Space 548

1. Universe Today – 12,800 Years Ago, Earth Was Struck by a Disintegrating Comet, Setting Off Global Firestorms

2. A new study from the University of Kansas indicates a comet struck our planet and triggered massive wildfires. This impact also triggered a short glacial period that temporarily reversed the previous period of warming, which had a drastic effect on wildlife and human development.

3. Cosmoquest – CQ Science – Post 12: How Impacts Change the Rocks – Remote Sensing

4. Cosmoquest – What Did People Experience During The Total Solar Eclipse? Relive “Totality” on Feb. 10!

5. Universe Today – For the First Time, Planets Have Been Discovered in ANOTHER Galaxy!

6. Universe Today – SpaceX Performs an Experimental High Retrothrust and Survives a Water Landing

7. Chandra X-ray Space Telescope blog – Chandra Helps Track Stormy Weather Around Black Holes

8. Chandra X-ray Space Telescope blog – The Winter ‘AstrOlympics’ Kick Off

9. Nextbigfuture – ULA had a vision for $2.7 trillion space industry by 2045 which would be an expansion by eight times from the $330 billion industry today. The accelerated pace of SpaceX launch vehicles will accelerate space mining, high-speed internet satellites and space-based solar power and the development of a massive space industry.

SpaceX already has the Falcon Heavy flying years head of ULA Vulcan rocket or its Space Launch System.

SpaceX and its fully reusable BFR will accelerate the development of near-earth asteroid mining and space-based solar power.

10. Nextbigfuture – SpaceX is rapidly changing what is possible in space. Instead of taking 40 launches over a decade to build the 400-ton space station, we could have 1000 launches in a year from ten fully reusable SpaceX BFRs that would place 150,000 tons into space. The 1000 SpaceX BFR launches would cost $10 billion versus $40 billion for the space shuttle launches of the International space station.

We will be getting 1000 times the capability in space.

11. Nextbigfuture – Now that the SpaceX Heavy has succeeded. There will now be a public test of US government spending corruption.

We will now see if a clearly technically and economically superior alternative can kill $30 billion in waste for an inferior and delayed project over the next decade. We will also see if the US government will try to steal SpaceX intellectual property. The SpaceX Heavy not only cost $500 million to develop versus $11 billion already spent for no flights for the Space Launch System. Space Launch System will need another $5-10 billion to get close to where SpaceX Heavy is in launch capacity but still without reusability and for a system that will cost 10-20 times more to fly.

Space Launch System will now be an embarrassing poster child for government waste and corruption.

It is has been obvious for decades that the US government has corrupt and broken spending.

12. Nextbigfuture – Falcon Heavy proved computer software for designing Big Falcon Rocket

The SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket is undergoing detailed engineering design now. It is being designed with the same computer model designs and software that were used for the successful Falcon Heavy.

The successful first test of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy gives Elon Musk confidence in the computer design models.

In 2019, we should be seeing short hop testing of the Big Falcon Rocket and Big Falcon Ship.

13. Nextbigfuture – SpaceX engine production and rocket capacity

SpaceX is producing about 5 engines per week and has the factory capacity for 400 engines per year or about 8 engines per week.

The Falcon 9 has 10 engines. One nine-engine first stage and a single engine second stage.
The Falcon Heavy has 28 engines. Three nine-engine cores and a single engine second stage.

SpaceX should soon be pretty perfectly recovering the first stages and the fairing and other parts. Only the single-engine second stage will not be recovered.

If 2018 production was 400 engines. Then ten Falcon 9 and ten Falcon Heavy could be produced along with extra single-engine second stages.

In 2018 and 2019, SpaceX could produce twenty reusable Falcon 9 and ten Falcon Heavy’s along with 220 expendable second stages.

There are currently only a handful of Falcon Heavy launches on the manifest. Although Elon Musk has mentioned they have a dozen commercial customers for the Falcon Heavy.

The Raptor engines are the same size as the Merlin engines.

The SpaceX BFR has 31 engines in the first stage and 6 engines in the second stage. SpaceX should be able to produce ten BFR per year.

14. Nextbigfuture – Video of the simultaneous SpaceX Falcon Heavy sideboosters landing