Prof. Sam Lawler
Prof. Sam LawlerWell, all the assorted yellow warnings coalesced into an orange blizzard warning. Fuck.
Prof. Sam LawlerThe blizzard is going to start with a few hours of "freezing rain mixed with snow." It just keeps getting better and better! Going to try to get a lot done outside before it gets terrible... (edited to add a screenshot of the gross mess that's coming)
Prof. Sam LawlerOh apparently this awful mess happening today is called an "Alberta Clipper"
Which invites the age-old Canadian joke I've shared way too many times: Why is it so windy in Saskatchewan?
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Because Alberta blows and Manitoba sucks!
Prof. Sam LawlerWell, all the assorted yellow warnings coalesced into an orange blizzard warning. Fuck.
Prof. Sam LawlerA single Falcon 9 rideshare launch had 115 satellites in it, several of which were tugs that will deploy additional satellites. So, 126 sats deployed from that one launch. On the one hand, great, because rocket launches pollute a lot. On the other hand, holy crap that's a lot of satellites at once.
42 rocket bodies in orbit from all these launches (rocket bodies are often bus-sized or larger, so this is scary). 23 were promptly deorbited, 19 left for uncontrolled reentry later.
Prof. Sam Lawler131 catalogued objects reentered, 41 were Starlinks. (Still a bit more than 1 Starlink per day reentering on average). Not many reentries were observed, no new debris reported on the ground. We had a bit of discussion about whether or not this is observation bias (northern hemisphere winter so it's cloudier, and people aren't outside as much, maybe?)
With more than 600 new objects in orbit in just over a month, the CRASH Clock is not going to go down anytime soon. https://outerspaceinstitute.ca/crashclock/
Prof. Sam LawlerRelatedly, one of the Chinese-launched satellites had a 200 meter close approach with a Starlink satellite 2 days after deployment https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/spacecraft-from-chinese-launch-nearly-slammed-into-starlink-satellite-spacex-says
China (and every single other entity launching satellites) really really really has to share their orbital data with everyone else.
Prof. Sam LawlerA single Falcon 9 rideshare launch had 115 satellites in it, several of which were tugs that will deploy additional satellites. So, 126 sats deployed from that one launch. On the one hand, great, because rocket launches pollute a lot. On the other hand, holy crap that's a lot of satellites at once.
42 rocket bodies in orbit from all these launches (rocket bodies are often bus-sized or larger, so this is scary). 23 were promptly deorbited, 19 left for uncontrolled reentry later.
Prof. Sam LawlerJonathan's traffic report for yesterday included the 35 days since our previous subcommittee meeting. A few highlights:
There were 42 launches in the last 35 days, 16 of which were Starlink.
There were 617 new objects catalogued in orbit, 455 of them Starlinks (all V2 "mini", which are like 800kg, scares me that they consider that "mini"). The next largest batch addition after Starlink was 32 of China's Guowang megaconstellation.
Prof. Sam LawlerRelatedly, one of the Chinese-launched satellites had a 200 meter close approach with a Starlink satellite 2 days after deployment https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/spacecraft-from-chinese-launch-nearly-slammed-into-starlink-satellite-spacex-says
China (and every single other entity launching satellites) really really really has to share their orbital data with everyone else.
Prof. Sam LawlerOne of my million meetings yesterday was the space debris subcommittee of the AAS Committee on the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (yeah, it's a long name). But the very very best part of that meeting is always getting the orbital traffic report from Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy
He has been writing Jonathan's Space Report for decades with details on what has launched and reentered and what is happening in orbit around Earth. https://planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html
Prof. Sam LawlerJonathan's traffic report for yesterday included the 35 days since our previous subcommittee meeting. A few highlights:
There were 42 launches in the last 35 days, 16 of which were Starlink.
There were 617 new objects catalogued in orbit, 455 of them Starlinks (all V2 "mini", which are like 800kg, scares me that they consider that "mini"). The next largest batch addition after Starlink was 32 of China's Guowang megaconstellation.
Prof. Sam LawlerOne of my million meetings yesterday was the space debris subcommittee of the AAS Committee on the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment (yeah, it's a long name). But the very very best part of that meeting is always getting the orbital traffic report from Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy
He has been writing Jonathan's Space Report for decades with details on what has launched and reentered and what is happening in orbit around Earth. https://planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html
Prof. Sam LawlerWHAT is even happening with the weather today yikes
When I went out to the barn just now it looked like spring thaw. It's +2C, there are giant puddles, and in a lot of places (like the entire driveway) there's a layer of water on top of ice. It's about to drop back to way below freezing and then we're supposed to get 15 cm of snow tomorrow.
Wheeeeee
Prof. Sam LawlerOh apparently this awful mess happening today is called an "Alberta Clipper"
Which invites the age-old Canadian joke I've shared way too many times: Why is it so windy in Saskatchewan?
.
.
.
.
.
Because Alberta blows and Manitoba sucks!
Prof. Sam LawlerWHAT is even happening with the weather today yikes
When I went out to the barn just now it looked like spring thaw. It's +2C, there are giant puddles, and in a lot of places (like the entire driveway) there's a layer of water on top of ice. It's about to drop back to way below freezing and then we're supposed to get 15 cm of snow tomorrow.
Wheeeeee
Prof. Sam LawlerWhat is "Meltwater" and why do they think I'm a journalist and want me to join them? (I'm almost certainly not joining something like this, even if it's not a scam, just curious if anybody knows more about them than their confusing Wikipedia article)