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Montreal, Quebec - Canada
Joined February 2012
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Friends of NASA retweeted
Feet dangling over Earth at 28000 km/hr. Don’t look down! (Kidding - definitely look down, because Earth is stunningly beautiful).
Friends of NASA retweeted
For the first time since July, a launch occurred out of Xichang as a Long March 2C completed the debut deployment of the Yaogan-51 series for its electromagnetic environment detection tasks
Details -> china-in-space.com/p/new-yao…
Friends of NASA retweeted
One interesting detail in the spec: it lists the LVM3 core variants as L110 / SC120 / SC200.
SC120 is the semicryo stage ISRO is building right now. It carries ~120 t of LOX-kerosene and will replace the L110.
SC200 is a bigger version of the same idea, with ~200 t of propellant on the same SE2000 engine. It showed up in an ISRO tender back in 2019 as a future upgrade, but ISRO hasn't talked about it recently.
The drawings only have covers for the L110 and SC120 openings, so SC120 is what's actually designed for. But the spec still keeps SC200 on the table.
(Not to be confused with SCE-200, which was just the old name of the SE2000 engine.)
#ISRO #LVM3 #SC120 #SC200 #Semicryo #SE2000 #Sriharikota
ISRO's SDSC SHAR has issued a tender for a second LVM3 Mobile Launch Pedestal.
Tender: SH202600152501
Vehicle: LVM3, with L110 / SC120 / SC200 core variants and two S200 strap-ons
Project: Augmentation of Second Launch Pad (ASLP)
Every LVM3 is stacked on a Mobile Launch Pedestal (MLP) inside an assembly building and then rolled ~1 km to the Second Launch Pad (SLP). PSLV/GSLV use their own pedestal. LVM3 has had just one, until now.
Why two pedestals if there's only one pad?
A rocket is at the pad for only a few days, but it sits on its pedestal for weeks while it's being stacked. With one pedestal, the next LVM3 can't start until the last one has launched and the pedestal has been refurbished.
With two pedestals and two assembly buildings (VAB + SVAB):
> One LVM3 can be stacked while another heads to the pad
> If one pedestal is damaged in a launch, the other is a backup
> That means more LVM3 launches a year from the same pad
Specs:
> 19.2 m × 19.2 m deck, 3.6 m deep, with a service walkway inside
> Central opening with swappable covers for the L110 and SC120 cores, so it's semi-cryo ready
> 2 Strap-on Support Rings, each rated for 500 t
> Hydraulics shift each loaded ring ±50 mm, to ±0.1 mm accuracy, to align the S200s
> Ring seating surfaces held to 30 arc seconds
> Load test with 2 × 250 t dummy loads
> Rolls on the existing bogie, plus a new parking spot on the SVAB–SLP track
Steel: ~803 t
Design: Tata Consulting Engineers, who also designed the existing LVM3 pedestal. The builder will be whoever wins the bid.
Timeline: 12 months to supply + 4 months to erect
Bids due: 30 Nov 2026
One pad, two pedestals, more LVM3 launches a year.
#ISRO #LVM3 #Sriharikota
ALT Representative image: LVM3-M6 / BlueBird Block-2 rolling out to the Second Launch Pad on the existing LVM3 Mobile Launch Pedestal.
Friends of NASA retweeted
The Government of Canada announced that Alexander MacDonald has been appointed President of the Canadian Space Agency and will join us on November 16, 2026. We look forward to welcoming him!🚀 canada.ca/en/innovation-scie…
ALT Aerial view of the CSA building.
Friends of NASA retweeted
🚨 BREAKING: Introducing X-70 Fractal, @NASA's newest experimental aircraft!
This crewed, modular aircraft will allow the agency to rapidly swap out internal & external payloads to help keep pushing the frontiers of aviation technology! @nasaadmin
Details: go.nasa.gov/4kAeM0d
ALT Generated image of NASA’s new X-70 Fractal experimental aircraft, a crewed, rapidly reconfigurable research platform for advanced aviation technologies.
Friends of NASA retweeted
[Subaru Gallery] Arp 323, an interacting galaxy pair in Pisces, imaged with the #SubaruTelescope’s HSC. A long tidal stream, an interacting feature resembling a tadpole’s tail, stretches toward the lower left.
subarutelescope.org/en/galle…
Friends of NASA retweeted
If you were born after November 2, 2000, people have been living in space the entire time you've been alive. 🤯
Expedition 1 docked at the International Space Station on this day in 2000.
📷: ISS in September 2000.
ALT International Space Station orbits Earth, with expansive solar panels outstretched, set against a backdrop of clouds and ocean visible below.
Friends of NASA retweeted
HiPOD: Irregular Circular Depressions around Naar Crater
Our objective is to analyze a new unknown feature dubbed “irregular circular depressions.” The features are located directly on the outer rim of the crater.
uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_06534…
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
Friends of NASA retweeted
26 years ago, today, Expedition 1 began our continuous habitation of space with NASA astronaut Bill Shepard and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. Earth is just as stunning and station is still a platform that opens the doors to our future on the moon and, eventually, Mars. In this orbit, on this day, we passed by the blue fishing boats and, in the end, even a little aurora. See if you can spot the landmarks from the map. You’re looking out of the port window of the cupola, so to the left of the line.
Friends of NASA retweeted
A #Lijian2 Y2 rocket lifted off at 8:15am BJT on Nov. 3 from #Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China, delivering the Qianfan polar group 21 into the planned orbit. It's the model's 1st large-scale satellite internet constellation deployment mission.
Friends of NASA retweeted
For the second time this year and ever, CAS Space's Kinetica-2 has successfully flown into orbit to deliver a group of eighteen Qianfan connectivity satellites for only its third commercial sector outing
Details -> china-in-space.com/p/cas-spa…
Friends of NASA retweeted
Seen through the Japanese module window: The newly installed solar arrays are rollin’ as they provide 45% more power than previously. We are using that power to perform science, manufacture pharmaceuticals, and pave the way to the moon and, eventually, Mars.
Friends of NASA retweeted
Night time lapse, Indonesia to North of Japan. A very lively atmosphere up high, with dizzying human activity down low. Blue lights are fishing trawlers hard at work.
Friends of NASA retweeted
Yesterday, China provided some details on the precursor missions that will take place ahead of its crewed lunar landing in 2029, as well as what the program's future may look like using eight supposed Lanyue variants
Details -> china-in-space.com/p/china-d…
Friends of NASA retweeted
Leaked slide confirms the four-mission progression toward China’s crewed lunar landing:
🚀2027: Maiden flight of Long March 10A carrying Mengzhou CSS cargo resupply mission, to validate the new human-rated vehicle and Mengzhou’s orbital operations in LEO.
🚀2028: First flight of the heavier CZ-10 with an uncrewed Lanyue lander performing a lunar descent and ascent test, exercising the lander’s propulsion and guidance.
🚀🚀2029: Dual CZ-10 launches of Mengzhou and Lanyue for a full-scale lunar-orbit rehearsal, demonstrating rendezvous, docking, and integrated operations.
🚀🚀Before the end of 2030: Dual CZ-10 crewed lunar landing mission.
