<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Head shaped nebula<br>Hubble <a href="https://t.co/z2fgcHwAwy">pic.twitter.com/z2fgcHwAwy</a></p>&mdash; Black Hole (@konstructivizm) <a href="https://twitter.com/konstructivizm/status/1457806379490713602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 8, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Surprisingly, this is actually real. It's known as the Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49) is about 5,000 light-years distance from Earth, 130 light-years wide, & has a mass ~10,000 × the Sun

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Falcon 9 and Dragon are looking good for tonight’s launch of Crew-3 astronauts at 9:03 p.m. EST. Webcast will go live ~4 hours before liftoff → <a href="https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK">https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK</a> <a href="https://t.co/m1Ww2iuOJG">pic.twitter.com/m1Ww2iuOJG</a></p>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1458476859310559234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

T-10 minutes

Sometimes I think Russia's space program is run by a bunch of half-trained chimpanzees.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NASA Administrator Nelson statement on the Russian ASAT test and fallout: <a href="https://t.co/UQz4TNNLrr">pic.twitter.com/UQz4TNNLrr</a></p>&mdash; Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1460393088891953162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It is, but my understanding is that this was the Russian military and not Roscosmos. Would not surprise me if Roscosmos learned of it the same time NASA did. :(

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">STATIC FIRE and wow! Ship 20 fires up, with thrust this time, for a multi-engine test at SpaceX Starbase. <br><br>(Ship 20 has three sea-level Raptors and three RVacs. Hopefully, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@elonmusk</a> will tweet some info!)<a href="https://t.co/zCIrgzb0oI">https://t.co/zCIrgzb0oI</a> <a href="https://t.co/h7IGZI0Y8g">pic.twitter.com/h7IGZI0Y8g</a></p>&mdash; Chris Bergin - NSF (@NASASpaceflight) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1459223181684838403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Astra made it to orbit!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Astra just reached orbit! 7.61km/sec at our targeted 86.0 degree inclination at an altitude of 500km. The team worked hard for this. We’re just getting started, folks. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AdAstra?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AdAstra</a> <a href="https://t.co/NiMhCEsuCI">pic.twitter.com/NiMhCEsuCI</a></p>— Chris Kemp (@Kemp) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kemp/status/1461960864391598088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I read about this the other day and thought it was interesting.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/09/spin...ve-rocket.html

It essentially puts a payload in an enormous vertical centrifuge, spins it to hypersonic speeds, and then throws it up into space. I'm curious how something like a satellite could hold up to those forces, and I'd think that's a hard sell. But if you want to move a bunch of steel or uranium into orbit, this seems like a good way to do it.

You really want to be sure this baby releases on the vertical part of the spin cycle, though, or you're going to rip a big swath through Albuquerque.

Yeah, the accuracy requirements for angle of release must be insane. I pretty much dismissed this tech due to that, the satellite hardening required to survive the stresses, and the price of launch continuing to drop as SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Astra, and others push for more/cheaper launches, The idea of launching raw materials (like a chunk of steel for in-orbit manufacturing) seems like a good use case though. I'm curious to know how fast the projectile is moving as it leaves the centrifuge and if it's fast enough to have to deal with the heat from friction that things entering the atmosphere deal with.

So the first few tests might go like this?

https://media.giphy.com/media/QRvekRcYCV79u/giphy.gif

Or this?

https://cdn.acidcow.com/pics/2014053...pitches_11.gif

Or this?

https://media2.giphy.com/media/JOYFI...8S3/source.gif

Elon Musk tells SpaceX employees that Starship engine crisis is creating a ‘risk of bankruptcy’

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/30/elon...ankruptcy.html

Musk being Musk?

His Assburgers is acting up again.

Probably. He likes to be a bit dramatic in order to motivate his employees. Still not a great sign that they're having production issues with Raptor, but hopefully they'll get it worked out.

It's hard to believe, but there's actually a good chance that JWST gets off the ground in a few weeks. Definitely one of the highest-impact (and highest-risk) missions we've seen in a while.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The James Webb Space Telescope is on track for a launch date of Dec. 22.<br><br>Additional testing, which was conducted due to an incident in launch preparations, concluded no observatory components were damaged. Observatory fueling operations begin on Nov. 25: <a href="https://t.co/3E4UopkVZG">https://t.co/3E4UopkVZG</a> <a href="https://t.co/aPZJPIBtCQ">pic.twitter.com/aPZJPIBtCQ</a></p>&mdash; NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) <a href="https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1463664164660994048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...cember-launch/