More Starship Hype, and Inflatable Space Stations

Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week’s newsletter is 689 words, a 5-minute read.

Table of Contents

• 1 Big Thing: SpaceX Prepares for Starship’s 4th Te …

• 2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

• 3. Max Space is Developing Inflatable Space Statio …

• 4. An Awesome Book (and Author) You Should Check O …

• 5. Upcoming Launches & Missions

1 Big Thing: SpaceX Prepares for Starship’s 4th Test Flight

SpaceX’s Next-Generation Rocket, Starship, has so far undergone 3 test flights, with each one being more successful than the last.

Number 4: SpaceX is preparing for Starship’s 4th test flight, with its 33-engine booster moved to the launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas.

Static Fire: The booster is getting ready for a “static fire” test, where it’ll be anchored to the launchpad and all 33 of its engines will fire for a few seconds to test their condition before Starship launches for real.

Looking Ahead: SpaceX is targeting early May for this next Starship launch. At this current pace of a launch every few months, we could start to see fully successful Starship launches by the end of this year, which is really exciting.

In the Loop: I’ll be covering any new developments with Starship, especially this 4th test launch, so be on the lookout for those in the next few newsletters leading up to SpaceX’s anticipated launch date.

2. Cool Stuff You Might Have Missed

1. Rocket Lab won a $14.4 million contract to launch military test satellites. (SpaceNews)

2. NASA is considering making a new time zone for the moon. (NPR)

3. Russian Soyuz brought back a crew of 3, including a NASA astronaut, to Earth on Saturday April 6. (CBS)

3. Max Space is Developing Inflatable Space Station Modules

Max Space is developing a series of inflatable space station modules for use on future commercial space stations and spacecraft.

Small but Mighty: Max Space says that its space station modules currently in development will be about 70 cubic feet at launch, and once in space will inflate and expand to over 700 cubic feet.

Unique Advantages: Inflatable space station modules are light, compact, and inexpensive compared to their rigid counterparts. These characteristics make them extremely promising for the space stations and spacecraft of the future.

Precedents: Bigelow Aerospace has successfully developed and launched inflatable modules before; there’s currently an inflatable Bigelow module on the International Space Station, and it’s functioned beautifully so far.

Max has already built a full-scale model of the inflatable module on earth - now, they’re working on a flight-ready model that they can launch into space.

Ambitious Goals: Max says that it plans to launch this module on a SpaceX rideshare mission some time in 2025. The company hopes to eventually launch massive inflatable modules, claiming it’ll one day be able to build and launch a module with the volume of the entire ISS in one mission for as little as $200 million.

4. An Awesome Book (and Author) You Should Check Out

Author Annie Jacobsen has written lots of books on a variety of topics, including Area 51, the CIA, assassins, and World War 2. Two weeks ago, she released a book about Nuclear War, including the history of Nuclear Weapons, where they stand today, and what would happen if a foreign adversary ever used one on an American city.

I’m about halfway through this brand-new book, and it’s fantastic. Jacobsen’s writing is easy to digest, yet contains tons of first-hand information from the dozens of interviews that she conducted with experts on the subject.

The book has 4.5/5 stars on Amazon and it already a #1 best seller. Check it out here:

5. Upcoming Launches & Missions

Don’t Forget: If you refer 5 friends to the newsletter, I’ll send you a free copy of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s A Brief Welcome to the Universe. Use the link below to share and get credit for your referrals!

Thanks as always,

-Michael