Whether it be in dating, the space industry or beyond, 2023 will be the year of Exploration in Dating. From the first orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Starship to the first deep space tourism launch, here are a few things to look out for in the coming year.
GIOCs are having tremendous success finding gas as they adapt to the energy transition, whilst smaller independents are also making an impression with a few successful discoveries this year alone. TotalEnergies leads the way with its findings in Namibia, followed closely by QatarEnergy.
The first orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Starship
This year is set to be the year of exploration in dating, with SpaceX preparing to send its massive Starship vehicle into orbit for the first time. The reusable vehicle is a crucial component in NASA’s Artemis program, aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon by 2025.
But much work still needs to be done before that goal is achieved. And that means SpaceX will be conducting a flurry of test flights in 2023 to make sure Starship is ready for a launch attempt.
For the past few weeks, both Super Heavy prototypes known as Booster 7 and Ship 24 have undergone a series of critical tests at SpaceX’s facility in Boca Chica, Texas. In the latest of these, Ship 24 completed a “wet dress rehearsal” in January, where it was loaded with more than 10 million pounds of liquid oxygen and methane propellant.
Now, Booster 7 has completed a series of static fire tests that have ignited 14 of its 33 Raptor engines. These are the next-generation engines that SpaceX plans to use in Starship’s upper stage.
The Raptor engines can use methane and oxygen as fuel, which will help Starship travel even further than the Falcon Heavy. That means it will be able to carry a more vast space telescope giant than James Webb.
If everything goes well, a Starship launch could happen in March of next year. That would be a significant step toward SpaceX’s goal of sending humans to Mars and back to Earth.
After the test flight, SpaceX will be able to begin planning for more Starship launches as it prepares to assist NASA and its Artemis program by eventually sending cargo and astronauts to the Moon later this decade. In the meantime, the company has several other missions in the pipeline that will keep it busy.
During this year, the company also plans to complete multiple deep space tourism launches. The most notable of these will be the world’s first private passenger mission to fly by the Moon aboard Starship. In this way, SpaceX will demonstrate to a broader audience that commercial spaceflight isn’t just about bringing passengers to the International Space Station, but it can be an immersive experience for everyone.
The first deep space tourism launch
Throughout history, people from all walks of life have dreamed about travelling into space. Until now, only astronauts selected according to stringent criteria have been able to venture into deep space and observe the Earth from a new perspective.
In 2023, we’ll see a significant shift in how we view space tourism. Business tycoon Yusaku Maezawa is planning to send eight people on a six-day trip around the Moon as part of his Starship project, which will be the first genuine deep space tourism launch in history. The success or failure of this mission will determine whether deep space tourism becomes a viable option in the future and how much progress we have made towards it so far.
It’s not just about the thrill of travelling into space; it could also help us improve our understanding of other worlds. A successful deep space tourism mission could inspire interest in science and space exploration among a wider group of people, which might lead to increased funding for these fields. In addition, it might be a stepping stone towards colonizing other planets.
As we mentioned earlier, one of the big missions of 2023 will be a robotic mission to a near-Earth asteroid called OSIRIS-REx, which will acquire samples of the rocky object and return them to Earth for analysis. The success of this mission will help scientists better understand the origins of asteroids and how they can become potentially dangerous.
Other missions to watch in 2023 include the European Space Agency’s JUICE, which will be the agency’s first robotic mission to Jupiter. The spacecraft will be equipped with ten scientific instruments to study the three icy moons of Jupiter (Callisto, Europa and Ganymede), which are thought to have significant masses of water beneath their frozen surface.
Another exciting launch is China’s Xuntian telescope, which will survey 40% of the sky with its 6.6-foot-diameter mirror and will dock with the country’s Tiangong space station. It’s scheduled to launch from China’s coastal Wenchang spaceport in late 2023.
The first orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy
The first orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy will take place in 2023, the company’s president recently said. The company has already launched a lot of payloads into low-Earth orbit with the help of its Falcon 9 rockets, and it’s also getting ready to start sending people and cargo to the Moon and Mars on its giant Starship spacecraft.
The Falcon Heavy is designed to be reusable and able to fly in a variety of orbits, with the boosters belly-flopping through the atmosphere before pivoting to a vertical orientation for landing on the ground. But it’s still a work in progress and needs a lot of testing, including a static fire test on Thursday.
But a successful test of the rocket could make it much easier to fly cargo and crewed missions to the International Space Station, a big boost for NASA research. Since 2011, the agency has been using Russian rockets to bring people and cargo to the station, but those flights are expensive.
With the new Falcon Heavy, SpaceX hopes to launch up to five missions a year, according to its president, Elon Musk. And in addition to launching commercial satellites into low-Earth orbit, the company has signed a contract to begin delivering Intelsat 35e into geosynchronous transfer orbit as part of its GTO program.
This contract gives Intelsat a deal to fly a Falcon Heavy on a regular basis for just $8 million a time, about two-thirds the price of a rocket from U.S. rival United Launch Alliance.
During the company’s first mission with the Falcon Heavy in 2018, a Tesla roadster acted as the test payload. The side boosters also gave off a spectacular display, giving off a so-called “space jellyfish” effect when they decelerated. They landed back at the same spot on the coast of Florida where they launched, creating an impressive scene from miles away.
Falcon Heavy’s debut was a significant milestone for the company, which has become dominant in the commercial space launch industry. It now handles about two-thirds of NASA’s launches, including many research payloads. It’s Falcon 9s have helped propel a host of Earth-watching satellites into space. Its next big move is Starship, a giant spacecraft that would be the most powerful vehicle ever built.
The first orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy
The first orbital test flight of the super-heavy Starship will take place in 2023, and it is expected to be a significant milestone for SpaceX. The company’s Falcon Heavy is a reusable, three-core rocket that can lift up to 140,000 pounds of payload into low Earth orbit. It is a massive leap forward for the company, which hopes to sell Falcon Heavy launches at a fraction of the cost of its single-core Falcon 9 missions.
But the first test launch of a Falcon Heavy is a harrowing experience, and there is a real chance it could go badly wrong. While Musk has reassured us that the Heavy is entirely safe, there are many technical challenges to overcome before it can be used for commercial missions.
In the meantime, SpaceX will continue to build its Starship and make strides in other space programs as well as deep-space tourism missions. The company also has a contract to launch a group of private citizens around the Moon in 2024 and is working on a lunar lander variant of Starship for NASA’s Artemis III mission.
It is also making good on lucrative military launch contracts it signed years ago for the Falcon Heavy. The last flight was in November, when it successfully launched the U.S. military’s USSF-44 mission. The launch included six payloads on one satellite that advanced communications, space weather sensing, and other technologies into near-geosynchronous orbits, according to Space Force.
The Falcon Heavy will eventually be used to ferry cargo to the International Space Station, with a crewed version of Starship for space tourists on the first flight scheduled for 2025. It will also be used to transport astronauts to and from the Moon, though this is still in the planning stages.
But until then, we will continue to see more space launches and space tourism flights in the coming years. And with a Starship that can reach the far side of the Moon, there will be even more opportunities to explore the universe in an entirely new way.
In the meantime, we’ll still see plenty of Falcon 9 rocket launches launching everything from satellites to Dragon spacecraft carrying cargo to and from the International Space Station. The company is already making a lot of progress and has set a goal to launch 100 Falcon 9s in 2023.
Exploration in Dating
