SpaceX shows NASA how it's done...

in the 21st century with a historic launch and capture of the largest object ever put into space early this morning. It’s unfortunate that this incredible accomplishment isn’t receiving more news coverage.

I’m not so sure that Elon Musk isn’t an alien.

Images below are screenshots from the live stream provided by SpaceX.

One minute before launch the Super Heavy Booster and Starship are fully fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid methane.

Liftoff as 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster generate twice the thrust of the Saturn V, capable of placing 150 tons into Earth orbit.

Super Heavy Booster hovering at the launch tower after return from flight. Entirely unprecedented. Wow!

The captured Super Heavy Booster hanging from the “chopsticks” post flight as the vehicle undergoes depressurization.

Glowing plasma during controlled re-entry of Starship during peak heating prior to a successful soft landing on target in the Indian Ocean. Hi-res images provided by Starlink.

Video: Drone’s-eye-view of the liftoff.

Video: The tower catching the returning Booster!

Video: The landing burn and soft touchdown of Starship.

It’s pretty clear that NASA needs SpaceX more than SpaceX needs NASA. Per aspera ad astra.

The Thiokol rocket garden...

in remote northern Utah displays all the rocket engines and missiles they manufacture at full scale, now under corporate ownership by Northrop-Grumman. I have an enormous case of rocket envy.

The rocket garden is free and open daily to the public and includes interpretive signs and related displays. Well worth a visit if you’re heading to the Golden Spike National Historical Park which is nearby.

The submarine-launched ballistic Trident (center) with the three-stage land-based Minuteman ICBM (left of center). The enormous solid rocket booster for the Space Shuttle lays in the background.

The business end of the Space Shuttle’s solid rocket booster. When ignited, a pair of these provided 85% of the thrust at liftoff for the first two minutes of ascent. Unfortunately there are no demonstrations.

Location on Google Maps: 41.65892098884914, -112.44084106450782

T-minus five days until Sod Blaster VI...

in southeastern Washington where I hope to earn my Level 1 certification in order to purchase and launch bigger rocket engines in my larger/heavier model rockets. I will fly the 56 inch (142 cm) tall Aerotech HV Arcas for the certification flight, a 60% scale replica of the actual high velocity Arcas sounding rocket historically used for atmospheric research.

The Aerotech HV Arcas and the Aerotech Arreaux model rockets. The smaller and sporty Arreaux should reach 3,000 feet on a "G" engine according to computer simulations.

Based on simulations using OpenRocket software that utilizes basic physics, aerodynamic principles and the standard atmospheric model, the HV Arcas model rocket should soar to a half-mile high apogee in a flight lasting two minutes long on a “H” rocket engine. A Jolly Logic Altimeter Two will be onboard during the cert flight in order to record flight data.

Design rendering of the HV Arcas from OpenRocket software showing internal structure and components, as well as the center of gravity and center of pressure on the airframe.

Simulated flight profile of the HV Arcas flying on a “H” engine from OpenRocket software showing a predicted apogee of 2,456 feet (~750 meters) for a flight lasting 129 seconds.

Links: Sod Blaster VI and OpenRocket software.

Model rocket descending under chute...

after an early launch on a calm, clear and sunny morning. This one flew to 501 feet on a “C” engine and pulled 9.4 Gs at peak acceleration, softly landing less than 20 feet from the pad.

Estes Red Max model rocket with a tethered altimeter (black object near nose cone) and Nomex chute protector (orange fabric attached to shock cord).

Still frame from the upward-looking GoPro at the pad.

Who needs a drone...

when you can launch a camera on a rocket?! I’m anticipating that the Castle Valley Town Council will prohibit such activities in three…two…one…

Self portrait microseconds after launch.

A view towards the snowy La Sal Mountains, plus Round Mountain and Adobe Mesa, caught at apogee.

UPDATE: Added this wide view taken on descent under parachute. That’s me and my shadow in the driveway, next to the launch pad.

Lift-off...

of several model rockets this afternoon, with a digital flight recorder onboard. The rocket engines have gotten a lot bigger, and the gadgets have gotten a lot cooler, since I was a kid. Fun beyond words.

Red Max launching on a C6-5 engine.

Red Nova lift-off on a D12-5 engine.

Arcas soaring on a E12-6 engine, achieving more than 1,600 feet in altitude at apogee!

Flight data as recorded by a Jolly Logic digital altimeter. Data is the new bacon.

A Christmas launch...

of a model rocket, my first in 55 years, went off with a satisfying woooooosh! Just as I remembered it as a fledgling rocketeer in my youth. Priceless.

Second launch of the day, on a C6-5 rocket engine, lofting it to more than 1,000 feet in altitude. Recovery was by parachute, landing 305 feet away from the launch site.

A third launch, on Boxing Day. Woooooooooooooooosh!

Excitement guaranteed for the second flight test...

of the largest rocket ever launched, brought to humanity by SpaceX early this morning from south Texas. (Images below from the SpaceX webcast on X.)

Propellant loading underway of the Super Heavy Booster and Starship 25 with super-chilled liquid oxygen and liquid methane.

Successful liftoff! All 33 Raptor engines ignited with the capability of lifting 150 tons into Earth orbit.

Excellent slow-motion high resolution video of the launch: NASASpaceflight.

A clever and simple early warning system...

was in use by the operators of the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Company in the early 1900s to guard against rockfalls spilling onto the tracks and causing an accident. A series of electrified wires were strung along the more unstable sections of the rock cuts in the columnar basalts that are prone to toppling. Should the circuit be cut it would potentially indicate that a rock had severed the wire. Some relics of this system remain along the paved trail in the form of standing poles, some with insulators. The line was abandoned by the railroad in 1987 and eventually incorporated into the Columbia Plateau State Park Trail.

Location of a recent rockfall onto the paved trail. The vertical spacing of the insulators suggests a series of parallel wires, strung pole to pole, along the length of a cut.

Evolving wireless broadband technology...

has enabled a faster and more reliable connection to the Internet from my rural residence in eastern Washington. I can highly recommend T-Mobile’s 5G Wi-Fi Gateway device if it is available in your area, where I am enjoying two orders of magnitude increase in both upload and download speeds over my previous provider. And at only $50/month (with no contract and no data caps) it’s half the cost of my previously lousy service. Zoom zoom!

 
 

Typical results of a speed test with the new T-Mobile 5G device on my home network.

Analysis of pictographs...

is greatly assisted with DStretch software, allowing researchers to peer through centuries of weathering, fading and vandalism. The program uses a method called decorrelation stretch, which was originally used by NASA to improve remote sensing images of Mars, but DStretch optimizes it for rock art.

Image of a vandalized (chalked) pictograph in Black Dragon Canyon, Utah, taken under ordinary daylight (shaded) conditions.

The false color images below are screenshots from DStretch on my Samsung smartphone, illustrating several of the filters available in the software that are designed to highlight hidden details.

Learn more: DStretch website.

The enigmatic Black Dragon pictograph...

has long been misinterpreted as a depiction of a flying phantasm, however, it actually consists of several individual pictographs as revealed by recent studies utilizing photographic and x-ray fluorescence techniques.

Screenshot of DStretch image of the Black Dragon pictograph captured on my Samsung smartphone that uses a decorrelation algorithm to reveal hidden details. Once the bias of the chalked outline on the pictograph is removed, separate elements are easily recognizable.

Fifty-three years ago today...

humans first landed on the Moon, with Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin being the first men to walk on another body in the solar system. It was only 66 years from Kitty Hawk to Tranquility Base, and now, sadly, 50 years since man last walked on the Moon with Apollo 17.

Apollo 11 Hasselblad photo AS11-40-5875 showing astronaut Buzz Aldrin at Tranquility Base.

In case of fire...

this 6,000 gallon tanker truck is loaded, locked and ready to rock. Let’s hope it’s not needed this fire season but it’s ready to go, positioned at the Castle Valley Fire Station 1 on the Castleton Road.