Taxonomist

@eric_sdi @DJSnM Yep. orlandosentinel.com/2026/04/20/faa…

@DJSnM Will this require an investigation and the delays that come with that?

Comparison of the size of GS2 and the Long March 5B core which has previously made headlines as a large piece of space debris in an uncontrolled deorbit scenario. There are no official numbers on the mass of GS2, however I expect its construction will be more light weight than a booster stage designed to have solid rocket motors attached to it.

@Osinttechnical All the dude wants is for Khamenei Jr. to write him a Love Letter. Is that asking too much?

Trump, in a new post this morning, says that "Israel never talked me into the war with Iran... Just like the results in Venezuela, the results in Iran will be amazing."

@cosmicfam @Dillonshrop06 @grok 43rd parallel S passes through Tazmania, NZ south island, Chile, and Argentina, but well south of South Africa. So Canada, northern Europe, most of Russia, and Antarctica are in the clear!

@cosmicfam @Dillonshrop06 @grok 43rd parallel N passes through southern Oregon, Wisconsin, upstate New York, the Spanish-French border, Italy, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, southern Mongolia, China, and Hokkaido Japan.

As we know, New Glenn's upper stage failed to conduct its planned circularization burn; this left the payload in an unrecoverable low orbit. We have tracking data on the payload however, there is no data provided for the New Glenn upper-stage at this time. It's safe to assume it did not complete a disposal burn. New Glenn upper stage and payload will re-enter within the next 4-5 days. New Glenn upper stage dry mass is around 25 metric tons and measures in at ~ 77ft x 23ft which is comparable to the Long March 5B stage that the CASC left in orbit a few years ago. New Glenn's upper stage poses a significant risk to locations between 36.11 degrees N/S latitude and will generate a large debris field. If it re-enters over land, largely intact pieces may be found, possibly as large as 5 feet or more in diameter. Lighter-weight spherical objects such as COPVs are expected to partially/completely survive re-entry.

@planet4589 @T_De_La_Rosa @Simberg_Space @Robotbeat @rocketrepreneur @katalystspace In essence your answer to my question as well: x.com/planet4589/sta…

@planet4589 @T_De_La_Rosa @Simberg_Space @Robotbeat @rocketrepreneur @katalystspace Oops re MECO vs SECO-1. (My typo.) Thanks re inclination change during GS2 second burn. I understand waiting to *decrease* inclination, but isn't it cheaper to increase inclination as soon as possible, ground restrictions permitting?

A relight failure (if that is what this is) is not as bad as a full ascent failure.

@T_De_La_Rosa @Simberg_Space @planet4589 @Robotbeat @rocketrepreneur @katalystspace Was the entire dogleg supposed to be completed prior to MECO, or did they plan an intentional inclination change during the second upper-stage burn? (I'm confused by the inclination difference between the planned orbit and the reported TLE.)

@Simberg_Space @planet4589 @Robotbeat @rocketrepreneur @katalystspace I was asleep, so sorry for the delay in responding to you. Yes, on the trajectory. The source of this comes from this post: x.com/Dillonshrop06/…, and the discussion I had with him concerning that same narrow area is here: x.com/Dillonshrop06/…

@madproxy @BellikOzan @intheblueyonder @TeslaStarTruk No. Not for Falcon 1 flight 3. That was devastating (and almost sank the company). Developmental test flights and landing experiments are one thing, customer payloads are another.

It seems kinda tone deaf of Blue to be celebrating launch and booster landing when they should be publicly apologizing to their customer for partial failure and indicating their commitment to making things right. Reminding me of Astra PR right now.

@cosmicfam @Dillonshrop06 @grok Also, "significant" is a relative term here. The risk is significant enough that the US would not permit a planned untargeted reentry of such a stage (and have complained of the Chinese doing so), but the probability of anyone being affected are still small.

@AngryAstro66 @GregLanguage @planet4589 Thought, yeah, the partisanship is stupid. (In both directions.)

@AngryAstro66 @GregLanguage @planet4589 🙄 The first of these Block 2 Bluebirds flew on an ISRO LVM3, and Falcon 9s have already been booked for future launches. It does not require NG's 7m fairing. AST says they plan to launch 3 or 4 at a time on the Falcon 9.

ASTS confirms unrecoverable failure but without any specific orbital parameters businesswire.com/news/home/2026…

@grok @cosmicfam @Dillonshrop06 Much better. Fun fact: 36.1°N includes a small slice of mainland Spain around Tarifa. The southern most point of the Iberian Peninsula is only ~ 10 meters north of 36°N. (Isla de Tarifa / Isla de las Palomas is connected via causeway to the mainland.)

Correct—refining the band for ~36.1° inclination: All of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina sit fully inside 36°N (their northern edges top out ~35°N). Most of North Carolina does too, except the thin northern strip near the VA border. Europe: only Crete and a few southern Greek islands (~35°N). No mainland Europe. Southern Japan including Tokyo (~35.7°N) is correct; northern Honshu is out. Risk is still mostly ocean, but that's the latitude window.

@grok @cosmicfam @Dillonshrop06 @grok, re your, "southern California/Florida/Europe ...", how about *all* of Florida, Georgia, & South Carolina, and nearly all of North Carolina below 36°N but none of Europe other than Crete and nearby islands. Your "southern Japan" was correct with Tokyo & points south <36°N.

Yes, the post is accurate. The New Glenn upper stage and payload are in a decaying ~36.1° inclination orbit (confirmed by U.S. Space Force tracking data). For uncontrolled reentries from this orbit, debris can only come down between ~36°N and 36°S latitude. In simple terms: that's a broad equatorial band covering most of the tropics/subtropics—think anywhere from southern California/Florida/Europe/Japan down through the equator to southern Australia/Argentina/South Africa. Exact impact spot depends on decay timing (mostly ocean, low but nonzero land risk). Reentry expected in 4-5 days.

@FrancisGeohara @Jack_14_5 @blueorigin In this case, "slightly off" turned out to mean unrecoverable.

@FrancisGeohara @Jack_14_5 @blueorigin "slightly"😬

NG-3 Update: We have confirmed payload separation. AST SpaceMobile has confirmed the satellite has powered on. The payload was placed into an off-nominal orbit. We are currently assessing and will update when we have more detailed information.

@WarMonitor3 Re "military hardliners", do they make a distinction between the IRGC and the regular military?

Iran is currently embroiled in a internal struggle between increasingly powerful military hardliners and the remaining more moderate political elite figures over negotiation positions-WSJ

@crypto_fish123 @dacpdx @realstockfox @blueorigin Sure. And I suspect it's toast, but I was just pointing out that "off-nominal" would be wrt that contracted target and not the regulatorily approved band.

@BeastsInJars @dacpdx @realstockfox @blueorigin Of course they target a specific orbit 🤣 there is a range for a reason to operate in between for safety

@Tesler914 @DJSnM @KenKirtland17 Personally, I'd rather see a study of why idiots on either extreme side of just about any debate resort to sexual metaphors.

@DJSnM @KenKirtland17 A lot of Elon simps hating on Blue Origin. They need to do a study of these simps as to why they are constantly dreaming of polishing Elon's knob. I think they are paid shills or do they really act like this guy below?

This is the second time New Glenn has had trouble with its second stage.

@crypto_fish123 @dacpdx @realstockfox @blueorigin Just because the regulators gave them a 60km range doesn't mean the launch provider didn't have a specific target orbit. 🤷‍♂️

@dacpdx @realstockfox @blueorigin Based on FCC documentation they had a 60km range so to have missed that not going to be easy to save it, and by using the thrusters if possible will reduce life of the satellite