In May 2020, SpaceX requested a permit from the FCC to operate nearly 30,000 satellites in a new generation Starlink constellation they called “Gen2.” The Commission filed a series of questions to SpaceX last month, which the company has now addressed. The AP is solely responsible for all content.SpaceX has provided some interesting context into its plans to launch vast numbers of next-generation “Gen2” Starlink satellites on its Starship launch system, in response to questions from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. So far, Starship has only soared six miles (10 kilometers). The sci-fi-looking Starship would link up with Orion at the moon and take a pair of astronauts to the surface and back to the capsule for the ride home. Two other private companies are developing moonwalking suits. Orion doesn’t come with its own lunar lander like the Apollo spacecraft did, so NASA has hired Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide its Starship spacecraft for the first Artemis moon landing. A year or so later, NASA aims to send another four up, with two of them touching down at the lunar south pole. A second test flight will send four astronauts around the moon and back, perhaps as early as 2024. There’s a lot more to be done before astronauts step on the moon again. The goal is to create a long-term lunar presence that will grease the skids for sending people to Mars. For Artemis, NASA will draw from a diverse astronaut pool and is extending the time crews spend on the moon to at least a week. Twelve Apollo astronauts walked on the moon from 1969 through 1972, staying no longer than three days at a time. By contrast, Artemis already has dragged on for more than a decade, despite building on the short-lived moon exploration program Constellation. Using 1960s technology, NASA took just eight years to go from launching its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, and landing Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon. More than 50 years later, Apollo still stands as NASA’s greatest achievement. In a back-to-the-future salute, Orion carries a few slivers of moon rocks collected by Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969, and a bolt from one of their rocket engines, salvaged from the sea a decade ago. NASA expects some to fail, given the low-cost, high-risk nature of these mini satellites. Ten shoebox-size satellites pop off once Orion is hurtling toward the moon. HITCHHIKERSīesides three test dummies, the test flight includes a slew of stowaways for deep space research. But the advanced design anticipates the faster, hotter returns by future Mars crews. The heat shield uses the same material as the Apollo capsules to withstand reentry temperatures of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,750 degrees Celsius). The big test comes at mission’s end, as Orion hits the atmosphere at 25,000 mph (40,000 kph) on its way to a splashdown in the Pacific. That would put Orion about 270, 000 miles (435,000) from Earth, farther than Apollo. After whipping closely around the moon, the capsule enters a distant orbit with a far point of close to 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers). It takes nearly a week to reach the moon. Orion’s flight is set to last 25 days from its Florida liftoff to Pacific splashdown, about the same as astronaut trips. For the test flight, the European Space Agency’s service module was attached for propulsion and solar power via four wings. Unlike the rocket, Orion has launched before, making two laps around Earth in 2014. Two other mannequins made of material simulating human tissue - heads and female torsos, but no limbs - measure cosmic radiation, one of the biggest risks of spaceflight. For the test flight, a full-size dummy in an orange flight suit occupies the commander’s seat, rigged with vibration and acceleration sensors. At 11 feet (3 meters) tall, it’s roomier than Apollo’s capsule, seating four astronauts instead of three. NASA’s high-tech, automated Orion capsule is named after the constellation, among the night sky’s brightest. Less than two hours after liftoff, an upper stage sends the capsule, Orion, racing toward the moon. The core stage keeps firing before crashing into the Pacific. The boosters peel away after two minutes, just like the shuttle boosters. Unlike the streamlined Saturn V, the new rocket has a pair of side boosters refashioned from NASA’s space shuttles. It’s called the Space Launch System rocket, SLS for short, although a less clunky name is under discussion. But it’s mightier, packing 8.8 million pounds (4 million kilograms) of thrust. At 322 feet (98 meters), the new rocket is shorter and slimmer than the Saturn V rockets that hurled 24 Apollo astronauts to the moon a half-century ago.
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