RFA Static Fire | Trouble on the way to Mercury | This Week In Spaceflight

This Week in Spaceflight, we cover the latest developments in the space industry. RFA's historic UK Static Fire. Starship is fully stacked and ready for its wet dress rehearsal, the BepiColombo mission to Mercury faces challenges, and we experienced the most intense geomagnetic storm in the past 20 years, resulting in stunning aurora displays worldwide. Stay tuned for all these updates and more!
🔴 Highlights:
Starship Stacked: Full stack testing at Starbase with recent liquid nitrogen and oxygen tank updates.
BepiColombo Snag: ESA's mission to Mercury encounters thruster issues.
Geomagnetic Storm: The strongest in 20 years, causing widespread auroras.
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🤵 Hosted by Elysia Segal (@elysiasegal).
🖋️ Written by Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera (@alexphysics13) with Justin Davenport.
🎥 Footage from: BocaChicaGal, Jack Beyer, Ryan Caton, Max Evans, Brady Kenniston, D Wise, Starbase Live, Space Coast Live, Nasir Shadravan (@n4Cr on X), ESA, ESA-U, JAXA, NASA Goddard, NOAA, NASA, Rocket Factory Augsburg, The Exploration Company, Space Pioneer, CCTV, SpaceX, Russian Aerospace Forces, Blue Origin, ULA, Rocket Lab.
✂️ Edited by Ryan Caton (@DPodDolphinPro).
💼 Produced by Kevin Michael Reed (@kmreed).
🔍 If you are interested in using footage from this video, please review our content use policy: www.nasaspaceflight.com/conte...
00:00 Intro
00:33 BepiColombo hits a snag on its way to Mercury
03:01 May 2024 Geomagnetic storm
06:33 Starship fully stacked for launch rehearsal
09:16 Europa Clipper ready to ship to the launch site
10:00 RFA ticks off major milestone for maiden RFA One launch
10:36 Latest developments at The Exploration Company
11:44 Space Pioneer adjusts plans for Tianlong-3 maiden flight
12:39 Chang Zheng 4C launch of Shiyan 23
13:10 Falcon 9 launch of Starlink Group 6-58
13:51 Falcon 9 launch of Starlink Group 8-7
14:26 Soyuz 2.1b launch
14:46 May 18th: First Falcon 9 booster to fly 21 times
15:05 May 19th: First operational launch of Starshield satellites
15:24 May 19th: New Shepard's return to human spaceflight
15:40 May TBD: Atlas V N22 launch of Starliner CFT
16:10 May 22nd: Electron launch of Ready, Aim, PREFIRE
16:24 May 23rd: Falcon 9 launch of Starlink Group 6-62
16:36 Outro
#Spaceflight #Starship #SpaceX #BepiColombo #ESA #JAXA #MercuryMission #GeomagneticStorm #Auroras #SolarFlare #SpaceNews #RocketLaunch #Astronomy #SpaceExploration #ScienceNews #SpaceTechnology #SpaceMissions #ElonMusk #NASA #Starlink #SatelliteLaunch #SolarMaximum #SpaceEvents #Spacecraft #ISS #SpaceProbes #SpaceIndustry #SpaceUpdates

[@MickRonald]

Thank you for the fantastic photos of the Aurora Lights, Max, Ryan C., and Brady.

[@Lopez_rc]

0:07 I live in a very vast place in Holland and it’s really dark here at night, I have never seen such beautiful aurora. It was an unreal experience to see it move and change colour with my naked eye

[@marconieuwenhuis7711]

You got so lucky. I'm trying so hard to see them here. But still have seen one

[@michaeldemarco9950]

When the Columbo Probe cycles back around to Mercury the second time, it’ll say, “Sir . . . Sir . . . Just one more thing . . . “

[@fwd79]

The jewelry from Elysia are one of the highlights of the week LOL but overall a great coverage of space news. Keep up the good work 👍👍

[@Twingo_lover]

I was at presentation here in Czech Republic and I held part of heatshield. It was icredible how light it was it was like popcorn. I hope it will get back in one piece. 🚀

[@fredpryde8555]

thank you for keeping us updated

[@DebraJean196]

Nothing like a good dose of Elysia, TWIS and of course, EARRINGS!!!!

[@smarttoys407]

Thanks NSF team.

[@jameswilson5165]

"Push it back. Push it back. Waaaaay Back!" The unofficial slogan for Starliner.

[@knerdlyknight4696]

Thanks guys, keep it up!

[@Tmccreight25Gaming]

More than likey the plan for BepiColumbo will be to maintain the current trajectory and to fire the thrusters at lower thrust for longer.

[@SeaScienceFilmLabs]

_“Mercury?”_ Very Nice! 👍

[@jack4socal]

Thank you Elysia! Great show.

[@EMANUELMANINGAT]

IFT-4 LET'S GO!!

[@00kt86]

Thanks for the updates! 🐄🐄

[@RangerAvL]

Thanks!

[@jonesjoyce1215]

Thank you very much, I love the beautiful images, and your precise explanation of the entire process of each operation. Thank you very much, have a good weekend and work.❤️🌹🌟🚀

[@adriangillies6037]

AWESOME SHOW ! . Thank you Elysia, you doing a suburb job . I look forward to your show every week.

[@samfromportadown]

One of the possible advantages of an oversized but relatively cheap launch architecture like Superheavy / Starship is that probes to other places in the solar system, such as the BepiColumbo mission to Mercury for example, can have a much larger kick stage, or at least much more fuel for their kick stage, giving them much higher isp and nixing the requirement for so many gravity-assist flybys. This could cut the cruise phase from multiple years down to one year or less (for inner solar system objects like Mercury) or down to only 2 or 3 years, rather than decades, for outer solar system objects.

[@sergiomg8500]

Thank you ❤

[@MrKellymcilrath]

Thank you Elysia for yet another great This Week In Space Flight!!!

[@juliefizpatrick513]

👍👍👍Looking forward to the next launch 🚀 💕

[@JGS123WRPTP]

Woo. A mention for a UK space port.

[@basilcurrie8138]

Mercury needs more exploration. Its poles are temperate, have constant sunlight and water ice in the craters.

[@CaptainQ2607]

How long can they keep that docking port free on the ISS?

[@StephenTSchuler]

If i remember correctly, the starlinks that were lost in during the last solar flair thing reentered becauae the aptmosphere expanded a little. I have pretty bad ADHD so i probably dont.

[@DebraJean196]

Actually I think you’re right. It was just bad timing. They didn’t have time to maneuver themselves into their higher orbits before the flare hit. If all facts had been known SpaceX could have postponed the launch a bit and saved the satellites. Won’t make that mistake again!

[@kooboos89]

Perfect enunciation

[@dhl1544]

Really love listening to your reports. Great job.

[@nicholaslowe3658]

Can't wait for the launch also update on the boeing starliner. The boeing starliner has been rescheduled yet again due to more issues and delays the new target launch is may 25th

[@DebraJean196]

Technically No Earlier Than (NET) the 25th. No promises on that date, just that it won’t happen before then…☹️

[@nicholaslowe3658]

​@@DebraJean196 hopefully not

[@boomerbits2297]

The sunspot cycle is 11 years, not 12. The current cycle is enhancing amateur radio propagation except these EMEs and Flares tend to cause short term radio blackouts.

[@iandennis1]

Great update as ever.

[@rogeremberson6464]

Blue Origin has put bugger all into orbit. They are just charging millions for a fairground ride that goes straight up, gives the mugs that paid for the ride a minute or two of zero G, then comes straight back down, if they're lucky.

[@TroyRubert]

Im going to miss the GSE tanks.

[@czarnick123]

Life on this planet must go to Mars. It is so refreshing we are finally making a concerted effort.

[@clementine_awesomeness]

why mars? what does mars offer that the moon dosent i honestly think we should forgo permanently living on mars for at least 40 years theres just no point in sending a small number of people to the harshest environment possible for absolutely no economic incentive and for knowledge that can be much more safely and cheaply obtained with robots or short term visits especially when if something actually does happen the only people going to mars will be the incredibly rich

[@GabroPlayz]

Stopping kids from saying first

[@felipericketts]

A LOT going on and the cadence is increasing! Wow! Could space exploration be something humanity coalesces around? We need a common goal to help us overcome our differences. Wishful thinking, I know, but maybe, just maybe, a glimmer of hope. 🙂

[@AnameSomeonesDadSurname]

I wonder, do those rockets pass emissions or just my truck?

[@arkiefyler]

Really appreciate these weekly updates! 👍Elysia has a great voice and is very easy to understand, unlike one particular NSF commentator who I forces me to have Closed Captions running. 😮

[@BradAkersphotography]

Fantastic video! Your eyes and earrings continue to dazzle me🫶

[@johnfisher7143]

You poor simp

[@savethedeveloper]

9:00 they have tried for 3 flights in a row to have the ship survive reentry.

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

And it may take a couple more as this is a complex problem. Making starship rapidly reusable is a tough engineering problem

[@rjswas]

The first 2 flights were just to try and get to orbit, 3rd flight got to orbit but failed re-entry, so i am not sure where you got 3 flights in a row trying to survive re-entry.

[@emerybayoptics]

👍🏼 😊 🙏

[@daved4547]

The 'not so nice' bit is, what hit us should not have gone above a G2, maybe pushing a G3, tops. With the magnetic field down in strength, If a repeat of the 2003 event hit us at the moment, it would not be good for us. 😕🖖

[@VasylRabokucma]

🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤

[@DarioushAryan]

great

[@alexlabs4858]

Of course up here in upstate New York just like for the eclipse, we missed another rare astronomical event due to clouds 😢 We never know exactly where SpaceX and FAA are with paperwork, Angry Astronaut always freaks out, then the FAA and SpaceX are always ready at the same time, it’s like a broken record!

[@dancingdog2790]

"Work continues on the Orbital Launch Mount" lol

[@dissaid]

😎😎😎

[@raytribble8075]

Oh great… the Mercury Probe is in retrograde…

[@larrybliss8330]

Elysia is such a great presenter.

[@johnfisher7143]

God, so many simps here in the comments

[@user-rx7hv3zi9g]

👏👍✔🚀💯

[@Root1896]

15th

[@Artist452]

Robot🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖!

[@BlueDragonX]

Josh

[@romec3435]

🚀👀👍👾👾👾👾

[@hiiamherethesimpleplanesgu8648]

First

[@user-pb5bu5pj7y]

Hehehehe 😂

[@ironspider9280]

You guys should consider changing your name and rebranding now that you cover space flight and oppositions from around the world and not just nasa space flight

[@NASASpaceflight]

We're NSF. 👍 -Das

[@S1nwar]

it wouldnt surprise me if elon is lying again and like half of starlink is lost now

[@ale131296]

We would find out within a few weeks so let's see what happens

[@stevehevener]

After years of Starship development, I’ve become highly skeptical that it will ever become rapidly reusable. It’s just way too complex. No flame trench for such a powerful rocket is ridiculous. Tiles are a nightmare. The chopstick thing…just crazy.

[@davidmclean357]

I feel like we heard that before with Falcon. I also suspect Starship v2 or V3 might use a alternative to the tile system if they plan on rapid reuse

[@JGS123WRPTP]

@@davidmclean357It’s definitely needed. I hope it works but those tiles are going to cause a headache far into the near future.

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

The armchair engineers with their usual level of expertise!? 🙄

[@johnfisher7143]

The Shuttle had lots of tile problems as well. If there was a better option for reuse of starship they’d be using it. But by all means if you have a better idea I’m sure they’d like to hear from you 😂

[@emariocamin5179]

WHEN will there be a Plan to CLEAN-up the Space around EARTH'S ORBIT ??!!! Sooo Much Trash🤢

[@michaeldeierhoi4096]

There is a plan by Japan for a test to grab dead satellites and deorbit them. The problem is grabbing one sat at a time would be a prolonged process.

[@WiilyDerbbinphlatte]

Yawn............... Big deal

[@corrinastanley125]

Thanks NSF team.