SpaceX has installed Starship serial number 11’s (SN11) steel nosecone, effectively completing the rocket and marking the end of production for a series of four virtually identical prototypes.
SpaceX has soared through a limited production run of four full-height Starship prototypes with a more or less frozen design, simultaneously serving as a pilot run for a nascent Starship assembly line while also producing high-fidelity prototypes for the program’s first high-altitude flight testing. Work on Starship SN8 – the first of those four prototypes – began around July 2020 when labeled hardware was first spotted.
Parts of SN9, SN10, SN11, and SN12 gradually started to appear over the next few months. Less than four months after production began, (half of) Starship SN8 rolled to the launch pad in late October to kick off a series of acceptance tests.
After an unusually long ~6 weeks of testing, SpaceX declared Starship SN8 ready for flight and ultimately pulled off a high-altitude launch that made it just a dozen or so seconds (~5%) away from a complete success – far further than anyone really expected. That surprising level of success appeared to lead SpaceX to reevaluate its plans and the strategic design of its test plans.
One result was observed in publicly-visible labels SpaceX uses to identify the dozens of Starship parts in work at any given moment: after SN12, only a few minor unfinished parts of SN13 and SN14 were ever spotted, departing from the flood of activity observed while building SN8 through SN11. In November, CEO Elon Musk revealed that “major upgrades” were planned for Starship SN15 and all subsequent prototypes.
The implication was that SpaceX had already written off no fewer than three Starships (SN8-SN10) to prove that a new, exotic approach to rocket landings could work as planned. If those three failed, SpaceX could likely use Starships SN11 through SN14 – likely enough prototypes to either succeed or conclude that a redesign is necessary. Ultimately, after Starship SN8’s spectacular success and last-second failure, SpaceX seemingly concluded that it was unlikely to need a full seven prototypes to achieve the first soft landing(s) and effectively killed Starships SN12, SN13, and SN14 in the cradle.
On January 23rd, Starship SN12’s completed engine section was rather decisively scrapped before stacking had even begun. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
SpaceX likely concluded that SN8 had demonstrated that a vast majority of Starship’s existing design was already sound, reducing enough risk to confidently begin major upgrades – akin to building a more permanent structure only after ensuring that the foundation is stable. Indicating exactly that, SpaceX has already begun stacking Starship SN15 and has been churning out hardware for SN16, SN17, and SN18 for the last few months.
That ultimately means that one or more upgraded Starships will likely be ready to carry the torch forward as soon as SN10 and SN11 flight testing comes to an end – whether that means continuing recovery attempts or pushing the envelope higher and faster after the first successful soft landing(s).
The nature of those “upgrades” remains unclear beyond apparent fit-and-finish improvements and the possibility of a more easily manufacturable nosecone design, but it’s clear that things will become clearer far sooner than later at SpaceX’s current rate of progress.
SpaceX rolls Starship SN11 to the high bay for nose installation, February 5th.(NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)A worker prepares the top of SN11’s tank section for nose installation. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)Starship SN11’s assembly is effectively complete, likely meaning that the prototype will be ready to take over immediately if/when SN10 lands in less than one piece. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
The United Nations said Tuesday that it had indefinitely delayed an expedition to avert an ecological disaster from a crippled Yemeni tanker holding roughly 48 million gallons of oil, citing what the organization called a failure by Yemen’s Houthi insurgents to guarantee the salvage team’s safety in writing.
The announcement came weeks after the team was supposed to have begun technical operations aboard the tanker, the FSO Safer, which has been moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast for many years. The 1,188-foot vessel is regarded by maritime environmental experts as a floating bomb, within easy range of the shooting war between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states trying to defeat them in a protracted war in Yemen.
After many months, the Houthis granted the United Nations formal permission in November to undertake a salvage operation of the Safer, which has basically been used as a storage vessel and holds four times the oil that spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. The vessel’s rusting hull and lack of maintenance have only raised the risks of a leak.
Stéphane Dujarric, the chief U.N. spokesman, said the organization had committed $3.35 million to procure the equipment and personnel needed and had requested that the Houthis provide a letter with security assurances so it could lease service vessels. The operation will require emptying the Safer’s tanks before it is methodically dismantled and scrapped.
“We regret that, to date, we have not received a response to our multiple requests for this letter, the lack of which would increase the cost of the mission by hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Mr. Dujarric said in a statement.
“We are also very concerned by indications that the Houthi de facto authorities are considering a ‘review’ of their formal approval of the mission to deploy,” he said. “Houthi officials have advised the U.N. to pause certain preparations pending the outcome of such process, which would create further delays to the mission.”
As a result, Mr. Dujarric said, “the timeline of deployment of the mission remains uncertain and dependent on the continued facilitation of all stakeholders involved.”
There was no immediate comment from the Houthis, who remain in control of large portions of Yemen despite a Saudi-led military campaign that began nearly six years ago.
The U.N. announcement came less than a month after the Trump administration, in one of its final acts, declared the Houthis to be a foreign terrorist organization. That designation means that individuals and companies doing business with the United States could face big penalties under American law if they engage with the Houthis.
Although the United Nations and other humanitarian groups were granted exemptions, the designation was widely criticized as a new impediment to providing assistance to the 30 million people in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country. Eighty percent of the population requires emergency aid, the U.N. has said, and the threat of famine has increased.
Biden administration officials have indicated that they are reviewing the designation.
Millions across the Northeast are waking up Monday to the year’s first major winter storm with up to 2 feet of snow projected and blizzard-like conditions expected across the region.
The National Weather Service warned that widespread heavy snow of one to two feet is forecast from Pennsylvania into New England including Philadelphia, New York City and Boston through Tuesday, with snowfall rates reaching up to two inches an hour.
NBC News meteorologist Bill Karins said the Tri-State area could see its biggest snowstorm in five years, while New York City could get between 12 and 16 inches of snow, with up to 20 inches possible if one of the heavy snow bands sits over the city Monday afternoon.
Karins said the National Weather Service’s New York office forecast has called for 21 inches in Central Park, which would tie it for the fourth largest snowstorm in New York City’s history.
So just to be clear, the new forecast for NYC of 21″ would equal the snow that fell in the Blizzard of 1888 and tie the 4th largest snowfall in NYC history! pic.twitter.com/FddGvzAxKU
— Bill Karins (@BillKarins) January 31, 2021
Periods of light snow will continue on and off through early Tuesday, he added.
The National Weather Service warned that travel conditions will be “difficult to impossible” across the northeast.
The Maryland State Patrol said Monday morning they answered almost 900 calls and responded to 330 crashes and about 150 disabled or unattended vehicles on Sunday.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a Sunday news conference that schools would be closed on Monday and that officials are rescheduling appointments for coronavirus vaccinations.
“The last thing we want to do is urge our seniors to come out in the middle of a storm like this,” de Blasio said, warning residents not to underestimate weather conditions.
The mayor also tweeted that nonessential travel will be restricted in New York City starting at 6 a.m. Monday as part of a local state of emergency.
“This winter storm will be dangerous with heavy snowfall and strong winds,” de Blasio said. “If you can stay home, stay home.”
Among other states that closed major coronavirus vaccine sites are Rhode Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The John F. Kennedy Airport and the Newark Liberty International Airport have canceled a total of more than 300 flights, or about 75 percent. LaGuardia Airport topped the list with 90 percent of its flights canceled on Monday.
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The storm had already blanketed parts of the Midwest in the most snow some places had seen in several years. Chicago got almost 7 inches of snow by Sunday morning. In Wisconsin, snow depths in some counties near Lake Michigan had reached more than 15 inches.
Snow also hit the Washington metropolitan area, with over two inches reported in several areas, but another round of snow is possible Monday morning. The city’s inclement weather prompted President Joe Biden to postpone a visit to the State Department that had been planned for Monday, a White House official told NBC News.
Yuliya Talmazan
Yuliya Talmazan is a London-based journalist.
Wilson Wong
Wilson Wong is a breaking news reporter with NBC News.
A new PlayStation leak has revealed that a major PS4 game is getting re-released on the PS5. When the PS4 released, it felt like every PS3 game and their brother was remastered and re-released on the PS4. And if this didn’t happen, the game was remade for the PS4. However, a big reason this happened is because the PS4 wasn’t backwards compatible with the PS3. On PS5 this isn’t an issue because it plays virtually every PS4 game. However, this won’t stop every game from the re-release route.
Right now, one of the PS4’s most popular games, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, is playable on PS5, but only via backward compatibility. In other words, a proper PS5 version of the game doesn’t exist, but it looks like that’s about to change.
Over on Twitter, Gematsu reveals that retailer 365games recently listed Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Deluxe Edition for the PS5, seemingly leaking the announcement before Ubisoft could make it. Right now, there’s no listing for an Xbox Series X version, but it’s safe to assume a similar re-release is in the works for Microsoft’s new console.
It’s also safe to assume the PS5 (and Xbox Series X) version will come with a variety of visual and performance upgrades, but for now, it remains to be seen just how many resources Ubisoft will pour into the ports. And of course, it’s worth remembering that for now, nothing here is official. The listing could be an error or it could the retailer looking for traffic. And it could also be a placeholder. However, you know what else it could be? A genuine leak. If this is true, expect an announcement soon.
At the moment of publishing, Ubisoft has not commented on this leak in any capacity, and it’s unlikely this will change, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story with whatever the French games maker says. In the meantime, for more coverage on the Rainbow Six Siege and all things gaming — including all of the latest news, rumors, leaks, reviews, previews, guides, deals, and more — click here or check out the relevant links listed below:
Scientists have resolved a controversial but key climate change mystery, bolstering climate models and confirming that Earth is hotter than it’s been in at least 12,000 years, and perhaps even the last 128,000 years, according to the most recent annual global temperature data.
This mystery is known as the “Holocene temperature conundrum,” and it describes a debate that has gone on over how temperatures have changed during the Holocene, an epoch that describes the last 11,700 years of our planet’s history. While some previous proxy reconstructions suggest that average Holocene temperatures peaked between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago and the planet cooled after this, climate models suggest that global temperatures have actually risen over the past 12,000 years, with the help of factors like rising greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
This “conundrum” has “cast doubts among skeptics about the efficacy of current climate models to accurately predict our future,” lead author Samantha Bova, a postdoctoral researcher associate at Rutgers University, told Space.com in an email.
The new research puts this uncertainty to rest, however, demonstrating that current climate projections are right on the money.
The study “eliminates any doubts about the key role of carbon dioxide in global warming and confirms climate model simulations that show global mean annual temperature warming, rather than cooling, across the Holocene period,” Bova said.
Related: New climate study shows that we need to be patient
Specifically, the team demonstrated “that late Holocene cooling as reconstructed by proxies is a seasonal signal,” Bova told Space.com.
To do this, the team developed a new method that allowed them to “use seasonal temperatures to come up with annual averages. Using our new method, we demonstrate that Holocene mean annual temperatures have been steadily rising,” Bova added.
The scientists analyzed previously published sea surface temperature data, which used information about the fossils of foraminifera — single-celled organisms that live on the surface of the ocean —and other biomarkers from marine algae. This allowed them to reconstruct temperatures through history.
With this data, “we show that the post-industrial increase in global temperature rose from the warmest mean annual temperature recorded over the past 12,000 years,” Bova said, adding that this is contrary to recent research. “Earth’s global temperatures have therefore reached uncharted territory that has not been observed over at least the past 12,000 and perhaps the past 128,000 years.”
“Given that 2020 is tied for the warmest year on record based on the new NASA/NOAA data release, our results demonstrate that average annual temperatures in 2020 were the warmest of the last 12,000 years and possibly the last 128,000 years,” Bova concluded. (NOAA is the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
By confirming temperature records throughout this time period, the team didn’t just provide additional evidence for “the efficacy of current climate models in accurately simulating climate over the past 12,000 years,” Bova said. The work also “gives confidence in their ability to predict the future.”
This work was published Jan. 27 in the journal Nature.
Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
KCCI Storm Team 8 continues to track the winter storm moving through central Iowa. Interactive Radar | Weather Alerts | Closings | Road ConditionsWinter storm warnings and winter weather advisories issued by the National Weather Service remain in effect and are expected to continue through Tuesday afternoon.Heavy snowfall is expected to continue at rates of up to 2 inches per hour are expected to continue into the night, resulting in accumulations up to 13 inches in the Des Moines metro. Iowa Department of Transportation reports completely covered roads across central Iowa, with travel not advised west of Clive.Most cities around the metro have announced snow emergency parking bans. Check your city website or Facebook page for the latest. Share your snow photos with us through ulocal. HAZARDS: Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 7 to 12 inches, with locally greater amounts possible. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph.AREAS IMPACTED: Central and southern Iowa. IMPACTS: Plan on snow-covered roads and low visibilities, especially overnight. Travel may become near impossible at times. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility and cause blowing and drifting of snow. Near blizzard and whiteout conditions are possible with travel not recommended in many locations.Futurecast shows latest winter storm track, expected snow totals
DES MOINES, Iowa —
KCCI Storm Team 8 continues to track the winter storm moving through central Iowa.
Winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories issued by the National Weather Service remain in effect and are expected to continue through Tuesday afternoon.
Heavy snowfall is expected to continue at rates of up to 2 inches per hour are expected to continue into the night, resulting in accumulations up to 13 inches in the Des Moines metro.
Iowa Department of Transportation reports completely covered roads across central Iowa, with travel not advised west of Clive.
Most cities around the metro have announced snow emergency parking bans. Check your city website or Facebook page for the latest.
Share your snow photos with us through ulocal.
HAZARDS: Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 7 to 12 inches, with locally greater amounts possible. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph.
AREAS IMPACTED: Central and southern Iowa.
IMPACTS: Plan on snow-covered roads and low visibilities, especially overnight. Travel may become near impossible at times. Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility and cause blowing and drifting of snow. Near blizzard and whiteout conditions are possible with travel not recommended in many locations.
After a series of successful space missions during the past year, 2021 promises some exciting new international exploration projects.
Three nations have launched spacecraft designed to begin exploring Mars in 2021.
The U.S. space agency, NASA, is expecting its explorer, called Perseverance, to land on the Red Planet on February 18. The explorer, or rover, is on a mission to “search for signs of life and collect rock and soil samples,” NASA says.
Perseverance is NASA’s fifth Mars explorer. It is carrying a small experimental helicopter, called Ingenuity. The device would be the first to test the abilities of such a craft on another planet. One important experiment will test a device designed to capture carbon dioxide from Mars’ atmosphere and turn it into oxygen.
This illustration made available by NASA depicts the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on the red planet’s surface near the Perseverance rover, left. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft launched last July on a mission to search Mars for signs of water. It is also expected to reach Mars in February. The spacecraft will attempt to land at Utopia Planitia, a large flat area in the northern half of the planet. Once there, Tianwen-1 will deploy a rover for exploration.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched its Hope Probe in July 2020. The explorer is also to reach the Red Planet next month. The country describes Hope as “the first probe to provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere and its layers.”
An H-2A rocket carrying the Hope Probe, developed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to explore Mars, lifts off from the launching pad at Tanegashima Space Center on the island of Tanegashima, Japan. (Reuters)
The mission will study climate and weather activity on the lower atmosphere of Mars. Hope will also observe and study hydrogen and oxygen in the Martian upper atmosphere, the UAE’s space agency said.
New space vehicles to be tested
Boeing is expected to carry out another unpiloted flight test of its Starliner spacecraft. The company was chosen by NASA – along with America’s SpaceX – for its Commercial Crew Program. The program uses private spacecraft to transport U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has already completed two successful crewed missions to the ISS.
One of Boeing Co’s CST-100 Starliner astronaut capsules is seen at a production facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., January 15, 2019. Picture taken on January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Eric M. Johnson
If Boeing’s unpiloted test goes well, the company is expected to move ahead with its first crewed test flight of Starliner.
NASA said it plans to complete final preparations for the first flight of its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft for a possible launch sometime in the autumn. The flight would be the first unpiloted test flight for SLS and Orion. The goal is to complete a month-long mission around the moon.
The test is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. The program’s long-term goal is to establish a continued human presence on the moon.
NASA tests planetary defense
In late July, NASA says it will launch its first “test for planetary defense” against asteroids. The mission is called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART). It will send a spacecraft to purposely crash into an asteroid at a high speed in an attempt to change the asteroid’s orbit in space. The target is a near-Earth asteroid called Didymos. The operation will only be a test of defensive capability, since Didymos represents no threat to Earth.
In October, NASA plans to launch its Lucy space mission. The operation aims to study a population of unusual objects orbiting Jupiter known as the Trojan asteroids. The space agency says the mission will involve a 12-year trip to eight different asteroids.
Also in October, NASA plans to launch its James Webb Space Telescope which has been delayed several times. It is NASA’s replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in operation for 30 years.
The James Webb is a large infrared telescope that has a nearly seven-meter mirror for observing space. NASA says the mission is designed to look deeper into space and offer more answers about the past of the universe than any other spacecraft.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters and NASA. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.
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Hundreds in phase 1B line up to receive COVID vaccine at Delaware City DMV Friday
Delaware News Journal
Bonnie and Bob Siley followed the instructions. They registered online to be vaccinated, filled out all the forms and waited for their time slot.
Bob, 83, has cancer and is a higher priority than his wife, so he was among the 11,500 older adults selected to be vaccinated through state-run events this weekend in Delaware City and Georgetown.
The Sileys received a response from the state that Bob was approved for an appointment, and they scheduled one for the 11 to 11:30 a.m. slot Saturday at the Delaware City Division of Motor Vehicles.
They left their suburban Wilmington home at 10:15 a.m. Saturday and returned just before 2 p.m.
They never got close to entering the DMV’s grounds near where Route 1 meets Route 72 and Wrangle Hill Road.
“It was a nightmare,” said Bonnie, 80.
She said they moved about 150 feet while waiting for more than 1½ hours. With no idea how long it would take to get close to the DMV, they decided to leave.
“Thank God we got out of line,” Bonnie said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Bonnie said she spoke with another friend who had a scheduled time slot between 11:30 a.m. and noon who also left before being vaccinated.
So, too, did Evan Winslow’s grandfather.
Winslow said his father and grandfather also had an appointment in the 11:30 to noon time slot. He said they had heard from another person who was scheduled for 9 a.m. and didn’t reach the front of the line until 1:30 p.m.
Unsure how much longer it would take until they reached the front, they decided to leave, though they later returned.
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In a Facebook post after 2 p.m., the Department of Health and Social Services said: “If you have an appointment, you will receive a vaccine today, so please stay in line if you can. We apologize for the delay caused by technical issues.”
Division of Public Health spokeswoman Jen Brestel said in an email: “For those with appointments Saturday and Sunday, it is important that you fill out the medical history information in the VAMS account you created so it does not have to be added at the vaccination event. Please use the username and password you created to make the appointment to go back to VAMS and add the Medical History information before you reach the vaccination event.”
The state planned on vaccinating 11,500 older adults and 2,000 phase 1A health care workers this weekend in Delaware City and Georgetown. The vaccinations were by appointment only. Traffic near the Georgetown DMV was snarled in the area of Route 113 and North Bedford Street/Shortly Road, where long lines of people waited.
The Georgetown facility could hold about 400 cars on the DMV property, a Delaware Department of Transportation worker said. People at that facility were reporting wait times of three hours on Facebook.
Tens of thousands of Delawareans in phase 1B registered this week to be vaccinated through the state’s online system. From that group, 11,500 were selected based on priority for this weekend’s event. On Friday, 500 people were vaccinated at the Delaware City DMV, and thousands more were expected to be vaccinated Saturday and Sunday at both locations.
For some, the long wait was expected.
Elizabeth Monaghan, a former emergency medicine nurse, said she and her husband were expecting a long day getting vaccinated at the Georgetown site.
“We have friends like us in many other states who aren’t even hopeful for a vaccine soon,” she wrote in an email.
Monaghan said while “there is always room for improvement,” the people – volunteers, public health employees, first responders – should be commended.
“Finally in the holding area for a short 15 minutes to wait out any immediate unexpected reaction… we looked at each other thankful that we were fortunate to have come to this point after 10 long months,” she said.
“What has to be remembered is that we are all in this mess together. Patience and understanding for the tasks at hand is required. Along with kindness – deep breaths help too –will get us all through this.”
Monaghan said the round-trip time was around three hours.
Others at Delaware City experienced longer waits.
Like the Sileys, another Hockessin couple left their house around 10 a.m. for their 11 a.m. appointment. The couple, who did not want to be named, spoke to Delaware Online/The News Journal by cell phone around 3 p.m. and said the car’s trip odometer had yet to hit 15 miles. They had been on Route 1 south sitting in traffic for around five hours.
“I’ve never, ever, seen traffic like this in Delaware,” said the man, 77. “This is absolutely abysmal.”
But unlike the Sileys, the couple said they were going to wait it out.
“We need these vaccines,” the man said, because his wife has underlying health issues.
They, too, had preregistered online and received appointment confirmations.
“We did everything right,” said the woman, 73.
The couple had phoned police in an effort to get traffic controlled. They were concerned about some older adults not being able to wait in the long lines without access to a bathroom or food.
The photo gallery below is from the Friday evening event. The story continues after
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They later called The News Journal back after they were vaccinated at 5:15 p.m., seven hours after they left their Hockessin home. Once they got inside the DMV complex, they said it was much more organized.
“We heard these horror stores from Florida, but we never thought we were going to have this kind of thing in Delaware,” the man said.
What’s worse, Bonnie Siley said, is that the people being vaccinated this weekend have to get a second shot in a matter of weeks.
“Are you going to be back in this line like this?”
After leaving without her husband getting a shot, she said they would try to get vaccinated through a pharmacy instead.
“I’m just so frustrated and disappointed,” she said.
Shannon Marvel McNaught contributed to this story.
Contact Jeff Neiburg at jneiburg@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.
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