SpaceX: Flight 4 Launch Update

Elon Musk of SpaceX released a short update yesterday about the possible liftoff starting today. The target window opens up in about an hour and a half from now.

"Falcon 1 is currently cleared for liftoff sometime between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. (California time) tomorrow, Sunday September 28th. Of course, if we see anything that requires investigation, the launch will be postponed, but we’ll let you know as soon as we know. As with prior flights, you can access the webcast from the SpaceX site: www.spacex.com" -Elon

Photo caption: Falcon 1 Flight 4 vehicle on the launch pad at Omelek island, Kwajalein Atoll.

SpaceX: Flight 4 of Falcon 1 Update

SpaceX completed a static fire of the launch vehicle on Saturday, and has said no major issues came up. However, after looking over the data, they have decided to replace a component. The "launch window estimate is now Sept 28th through Oct 1st [CA time]."

Click here for the full details

SpaceX: Flight 4 of Falcon 1

An update posted September 19th on the SpaceX website says the team is on schedule for a late September launch. If all goes according to plan, they could "launch sometime between Tuesday and Thursday (California time)". That means that the launch could take place as early as tomorrow.

I am sitting here in anticipation of the event (which hopefully will be live webcasted like last time). If they are unable to launch in the 3 day window, the next available target is in late October.

-Click here for the full details-

(from the SpaceX website) SpaceX's Falcon 1 Flight 4 on the launch pad at Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands (19 Sep 2008).

Google Ordered To Give User Data To Viacom

In an unbelievable ruling, a judge ruled that Google must turn over all Youtube records of videos watched, including the users' names and ip addresses.

I think it's a terrible ruling that must be immediately reversed. It surely puts many people's identities and privacy at risk (just think back to the AOL Search Data Leak.

To give credit to Google, they put up a huge fight, and are undoubtedly still trying to have the ruling reversed. There's really too much info to get into, but these two articles manage it wonderfully:

Wired
Electronic Frontier Foundation


UPDATE: Here is an article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation with new statements from Viacom and Google regarding the privacy issue.

Phoenix Mars Lander Successfully Lands On Mars

The Phoenix Mars Lander has successfully touched down on the Martian surface. Quoted from the Phoenix Lander Blog, "Phoenix is now on the surface of Mars, much to the joy of everyone here in Mission Control. As icing on the cake, we've found that the lander is tilted only one quarter of a degree, which means we've landed nearly perfectly level."

The 'Seven Minutes of Terror' are over, so from here on out, it should be a lot easier and less stressful for the team at NASA. Hopefully there will be some awesome discoveries made.

Happy Birthday to the Laser

On May 16th, 1960, the first laser was demonstrated. Google has a neat little image today for the laser, so if you haven't seen that yet, check it out. Wired has a collection of cool pictures and information of some lasers and uses of them, and a little background on the laser as well.