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  Home arrow News arrow News from Space arrow angry sun; new Space X rocket

 
angry sun; new Space X rocket | Print |  E-mail
Written by staff   
Wednesday, 14 September 2005

>angry sun
A series of major solar flares have been erupting from sunspot 798, ranging in strength from X-1 to X-17. As of September 11, seven flares had been counted, according to space.com.

More may occur as the sunspot rotates past, but only until about mid-week.

This has been a significant storm which has affected some satellite and communication networks, but it pales next to the November 2003 flare which was estimated as being an X-40.

The sun is currently at a low point in its 11-year sunspot activity cycle.

>SpaceX 9
SpaceX has announced the impending release of a new rocket, the Falcon 9, according to a recent SpaceX press release. This is to be a massive rocket, capable of lifting 25-ton payloads into a variety of orbits, and is scheduled to be available for launch in 2008.

To put the extraordinary ambition of this company into perspective, they have yet to fly their premier rocket design, the Falcon 1. The Falcon 1 is scheduled for a Fall launch from SpaceX’s new launch pad in the Marshall Islands.

The Falcon 9 is the evolution of the Falcon 5, originally intended to be the company’s second space vehicle. However, according to a recent space.com article, SpaceX decided to skip ahead and focus on a much larger-capacity vehicle sooner rather than later.

Among the Falcon 9’s capabilities will be resupply of the International Space Station and crew transportation.

It is the long-term goal of SpaceX, according to CEO and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, to make Mars colonization affordable.

 
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