June 18, 2024

June 18, 2024

Three months ago after prepping for the March Presidential Preference Election we noticed a strange eerie cloud in the western sky. We later learned it was the setting sun reflecting off the vapor trail of a SpaceX rocket launch out of Vandenberg Space Force Base on the California coast. I was surprised we could see it from 640 miles away! That sparked a mild interest in actually seeing it launch real time.

Last night Aimee and I and our next-door neighbor drove to a high spot in the neighborhood and waited at the expected launch time. This time the Falcon-9 rocket launched on-time with 20 satellites aboard and what a spectacle it was. It started as a flare rising from the western horizon. The rocket's exhaust plume expanded as it rose into the sky while the long tail drifted in the wind still reflecting the sunset. Incredibly the first stage rocket booster landed upright on a drone-ship in the Pacific Ocean minutes later to be reused again for a future launch. What a remarkable age we live in.

While Vandenberg polar orbit launches are not as frequent as Canaveral equatorial ones, they are becoming quite common. Last night was the 20th this year. SpaceX has put over 6000 satellites into orbit already to support their Starlink Internet program. This is a huge percentage of the total 9000 functioning satellites. While this program will advance Internet availability around the world, its negative effect on space junk, astronomy, and earth atmospheric chemistry remain to be seen.