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NASA plans for space station’s demise with new SpaceX “Deorbit Vehicle”
SpaceX is building a souped-up version of its cargo Dragon spacecraft to drive the International Space Station out of orbit for a controlled re-entry and breakup over an uninhabited stretch of ocean when the lab is finally retired in the 2030 timeframe, NASA and company officials said Wednesday.
The ISS Deorbit Vehicle, or DV, will be a custom-built, one-of-a-kind spacecraft needed to make sure the space station re-enters the atmosphere at the precise place and in the proper orientation to insure any wreckage that survives the 3,000-degree heat of re-entry will crash harmlessly into the sea.
SpaceX
In late June, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract valued at up to $843 million to build the deorbit vehicle, which will be owned and operated by the space agency. The heavy-lift rocket needed to launch it has not yet been selected, but NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has asked Congress for a total of about $1.5 billion to carry out the entire de-orbit operation.
And it is no trivial matter. The long axis of the space station, made up of multiple pressurized modules where visiting crews live and work, measures 218 feet long. The lab’s solar array power and cooling truss, mounted at right angles to the long axis, stretches 310 feet from end to end, longer than a U.S. football field.
The entire lab complex has a combined mass of 925,000 pounds and it’s moving through space at some 17,100 mph, or 84 football fields per second.
To carefully lower its altitude for a controlled re-entry, the DV will carry some 35,000 pounds of propellant powering 46 Draco rocket engines, 30 of which will be mounted in an extended trunk section to carry out the bulk of the deorbit maneuvers.
“When we do make the decision to deorbit station, we’ll launch the U.S. DV about one-and-a-half years before the final re-entry burn,” said Dana Weigel, the ISS program manager at the Johnson Space Center.
“We’ll dock it to the forward port, we will do a series of checkouts and then once we’re convinced that everything looks healthy and we’re ready, we’ll allow ISS to begin drifting down.”
The final space station crew will remain on board until periodic thruster firings and ever increasing “drag” in the extreme upper atmosphere combine to lower the lab to an altitude of about 205 miles. That milestone will be reached about six months before the final re-entry procedure.
As the by-then-uncrewed ISS reaches an altitude of about 140 miles, the DV “will perform a series of burns to set us up for that final deorbit,” Weigel said. “And then four days later, it will do the final re-entry burn.”
The space station’s large but relatively flimsy solar arrays will break off and burn up first, along with antennas, radiator panels and other appendages.
Maxar
More massive components — modules and the lab’s huge power truss — also will break apart in the hellish high-speed descent, but chunks as large as a small car are expected to survive all the way to ocean splashdown along a narrow 1,200-mile-long “footprint.”
Remote areas of the South Pacific Ocean offer unpopulated splashdown zones, although a final target has not yet been specified.
To achieve a precisely targeted entry, “the deorbit vehicle will need six times the usable propellant and three to four times the power generation and storage of today’s Dragon spacecraft,” said Sarah Walker, a senior manager at SpaceX.
“It needs enough fuel on board not just to complete the primary mission but also to operate in orbit in partnership with the space station for about 18 months. Then at the right time, it will perform a complex series of actions over several days to deorbit the International Space Station.”
A deorbit spacecraft of some sort is needed because even at the space station’s current altitude of 260 miles, trace amounts of the atmosphere still exist. As the station flies through that tenuous material at nearly 5 miles per second, collisions with those particles act to slow the craft every so slightly in a phenomenon known as atmospheric drag.
Over the life of the program, periodic thruster firings have been carried out by engines in Russian modules or attached Progress cargo ships to boost the lab’s altitude as needed to offset the effects of drag. More recently, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo ships have added modest reboost capability.
Without those carefully planned firings, the station eventually would crash back into the lower atmosphere on its own.
The station flies over every point on Earth between 51.6 degrees north and south latitude, covering the entire planet between London and the tip of South America. In an uncontrolled re-entry, station debris that survived entry heating could hit the surface anywhere in that area.
While the odds of impacts in a populated area are relatively small, nothing as massive as the space station has ever re-entered and fallen to Earth, and NASA is taking no chances.
NASA and its station partners — the European, Russian, Canadian and Japanese space agencies — planned from the beginning to deliberately drive the lab into the atmosphere at the end of its life to ensure breakup over an uninhabited stretch of ocean.
The original plan was to use thrusters in multiple Russian Progress cargo ships to lower the lab’s altitude and set up a targeted fall to Earth.
“Early on in the station planning, we had considered doing the deorbit through the use of three Progress vehicles,” Weigel said. “But the Roscosmos segment was not designed to control three Progress vehicles at one time. So that presented a bit of a challenge.
“And also, the capability wasn’t quite what we really needed for the size of station. So we jointly agreed together to go have U.S. industry take a look at what we could do on our side for the deorbit.”
Last year, NASA sought industry proposals and two companies responded: SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. The agency announced last week that SpaceX had won the contract.
Rich Homie Quan, the Atlanta rapper who gained mainstream fame through the trap singles “Type of Way” and “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh),” has died. He was 33.
Quan, whose legal name is Dequantes Devontay Lamar, died at an Atlanta hospital, the Fulton County Medical Examiner confirmed to The Associated Press. The medical examiner was informed of his death Thursday, said Jimmy Sadler, senior medical examiner investigator. The cause of death was not immediately available, with an autopsy scheduled for Friday.
Quan was one of the biggest names in hip-hop in the mid-2010s. He released a slew of mixtapes before he broke through in 2013 with the infectious “Type of Way.” The song became such a success that several other rappers jumped on the remix, including Jeezy and Meek Mill. He maintained his momentum, appearing on a YG track with Jeezy and releasing the London on da Track-produced song “Lifestyle” through his Rich Gang rap collective that included Young Thug and Birdman.
Quan followed up with “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh),” a song produced by DJ Spinz and Nitti Beatz. It became his highest charting solo single at No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also featured on Lil Dicky’s viral “$ave Dat Money.”
/ Getty Images
In 2018, Quan debuted his first and only studio album “Rich as in Spirit,” which mostly went without any features — except for “Think About It,” a single with Rick Ross.
Quavo, Lil Boosie and Playboi Carti are some of the music artists who paid tribute to Quan on social media.
“Rest in Peace my brother Rich Homie Quan,” said singer Jacquees, who also called him a “legend” on X. “I love you for Life.”
Quan spoke with The Associated Press in 2022 about returning to music after an abrupt hiatus. At the time, the rapper said he was going through litigation with independent label T.I.G. (Think It’s a Game Record), but was prepared to make a comeback.
During that time, Quan ended up in a feud with his old collaborator Young Thug – who along with rapper Gunna – were among a group indicted on charges of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO Act and also accused of participation in a criminal street gang.
Quan said there was no beef between him Young Thug and was open to having a conversation with him if the opportunity presented itself. He said he hated to see Young Thug locked up, adding that rappers were being targeted by law enforcement.
“I wouldn’t say unfairly targeted because at the same time, some of these rappers are putting guns in videos and, you know, it’s like social media – it goes back to the social media thing,” he said.
“I think we showing too much, I think they’re showing too much, you know what I mean. Like that’s the difference in my music, I’ma tell a story but I ain’t going to tell you how I did it,” he added. “It’s still Black art, but we’re definitely being targeted. So that’s why I’m mindful of what I say in my music.”
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GoPro
The new GoPro Hero 13 Black action camera is now available for preorder from Best Buy for just $400, and it’s full of new features. This new camera can be described in just one word — versatile. It looks to be a great still image and video camera for any type of creator, from novice to pro, or anyone in between.
It begins shipping on September 10.
Is the new GoPro Hero 13 Black worth it?
GoPro
Dimensions: 2.83 x 2 x 1.32 inches | Weight: 4.27 ounces | Displays: 2.27″ touchscreen (rear), 1.4″ display (front) | Waterproof rating: 33 feet | Image sensor: 1/1.9″ CMOS | Max. video resolution: 5.3K (30fps) | Video aspect ratio: 8:7 or 16:9 | Photo resolution: 27MP | Microphones: 3 | Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, USB Type-C | Lenses: Interchangeable | Battery: 1900 mAh Enduro | Memory card support: microSD v30
With all of the new advancements in the GoPro Hero 13 Black compact camera, referring to it as just an action camera is a misnomer. Yes, the GoPro Hero 13 Black is small, lightweight, waterproof, temperature-proof and durable — all of the key features you’d want from an action camera. There are also dozens of mounts, mods and accessories that allow you to attach the camera to your body or equipment so you can capture content from a stunning, first-person perspective.
However, this new GoPro camera model is an easy-to-use, point-and-shoot still image and broadcast-quality video camera, too, so it can also be used as an everyday point-and-shoot camera, vacation camera, vlogging camera and more, even if you’re a total amateur. It also works as a webcam or live streaming camera.
The GoPro Hero 13 Pro can capture still images at 27MP resolution. It can also capture video at up to 5.3K (60fps) resolution using a variety of shooting modes, lenses and field-of-view options. The image stabilization built into the camera is better than ever, as is its low-light and nighttime shooting capabilities. There’s even a new 400fps slow-motion feature.
GoPro
The most exciting additions to this year’s model are the interchangeable, HB-Series lenses. To keep things super-simple, regardless of which lens you attach to the camera, it automatically identifies the lens and adjusts the camera’s settings accordingly.
Available lenses include a macro lens mod, ultra wide lens mod, and a Smart Motion Blur ND filter 4-pack. Plus, an anamorphic lens mod will be released in early-2025. It will allow you to capture undistorted, 21:9 cinematic aspect ratio with lens flares when shooting video.
Other notable enhancements include extended battery life for GoPro’s Enduro interchangeable and rechargeable batteries. There’s also a new magnetic door and power cable kit that makes it easier to keep the camera going using an external power source. Plus, GoPro has made some tweaks to the camera’s mounting system. It now offers a new magnetic mount add-on that makes it easy to attach and detach the camera from various stands, tripods and mounts in mere seconds, without having to tinker with a thumbscrew.
Everything people love about the GoPro cameras continues to be offered by the GoPro Hero 13 Black, including the re-introduction of a GPS feature that tracks the time, date, location, speed and altitude of what you shoot. You can now use more voice commands to control the camera and pair it with Apple AirPods, any Bluetooth earbuds, or wireless microphones to capture narration or specialized audio. The new voice mode automatically prioritizes voice audio when recording video and eliminates unwanted ambient sounds. This is particularly useful to vloggers and live streamers.
The GoPro ecosystem continues to grow with new optional camera accessories, too. Plus, GoPro has made some impressive improvements to the GoPro Quik app, which now uses more advanced AI to help you quickly view, edit and share your photos and video directly from your mobile device. And since the camera now supports Wi-Fi 6, wireless content transfers between the camera and your smartphone or tablet happen faster than ever, although a USB Type-C cable can also be used for that, too.
Best Buy
Whether you’re an adventurer who wants to capture your next ski trip, sky dive, scuba diving excursion, or mountain bike ride from a stunning first-person perspective, or you want a durable camera you can take on your next vacation or use to capture home videos with ease, the GoPro Hero 13 Black offers the versatility to handle all of these tasks and so much more.
And best of all, when the camera is set on easy mode, it becomes an idiot-proof point-and-shoot camera that’s ready for anything. So just about anyone can capture great content without having to tinker with complex settings. Pros can switch to advance mode and get manual control over the camera’s many settings and features.
The GoPro Hero 13 Black camera comes with one Enduro battery, USB cable, a curved adhesive mount, a mounting buckle and a thumb screw. A required microSD memory card is sold separately.
The GoPro Hero 13 Black Creator Edition includes the GoPro Hero 13 Black camera, a carrying case, one Enduro battery, a curved adhesive mount, one mounting buckle, a thumb screw, a USB Type-C cable, the Volta (battery grip / tripod / remote combo), a USB pass-through door, lanyard, the GoPro media mod, a removable mic windscreen, the GoPro light mod, a light diffuser, a two-finger adapter, and a magnetic latch mount. It too is available right now for preorder.
If you want to save some money, you can still purchase the GoPro Hero 12 Black, which is on sale for $350. Be sure to check out our in-depth review of this bestselling action camera. It was our top pick in our coverage of the best action cameras of 2024, although once we get our hands on the new GoPro Hero 13 Black to review, this new edition of the camera will likely take its place.