The announcement by civilian supersonic startup Exosonic that it is going out of business due to its inability to acquire necessary funding is another illustration of the huge upheaval occurring in the cutting-edge aerospace industry.

Any technological field that experiences a boom goes through several stages, some of which can be quite unpleasant for individuals engaged. I had the good fortune to be writing contracts in Seattle, Washington, which was the core of the internet explosion in the late 1990s.

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In those days, businesses would appear like mushrooms in a park during an autumn rainstorm. Suddenly, a new firm would occupy every available office space, furnishing it with expensive furniture and paying even more to hire employees. It was highly intoxicating, akin to seeing a gold rush. But by 2000, the boom had turned to crash, with the startups disappearing as fast as the figurative mushrooms, leaving just the most resilient.

As the competitors to profit from new developments are pushed aside, a similar shakedown is presently taking place in the more inventive sectors of the aircraft industry. Exosonic, situated in Torrance, California, has joined the ranks of hypersonic engine manufacturer Reaction Engines and eVTOL taxi startup Lilium that have already filed for bankruptcy.

After the collapse of the Concorde, aerospace engineer Norris Tie founded Exospace in 2019 with the goal of creating the next generation of civilian supersonic aircraft. Tie had previously worked at Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. They were somewhat successful, obtaining contracts with the US Air Force to develop supersonic training drones and raising US$6.5 million in finance.

As the competitors to profit from new developments are pushed aside, a similar shakedown is presently taking place in the more inventive sectors of the aircraft industry. Exosonic, situated in Torrance, California, has joined the ranks of hypersonic engine manufacturer Reaction Engines and eVTOL taxi startup Lilium that have already filed for bankruptcy.

After the collapse of the Concorde, aerospace engineer Norris Tie founded Exospace in 2019 with the goal of creating the next generation of civilian supersonic aircraft. Tie had previously worked at Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. They were somewhat successful, obtaining contracts with the US Air Force to develop supersonic training drones and raising US$6.5 million in finance.

“To all that stayed updated on our journey, we thank you for your support and shared love for our company’s vision and mission,” stated Exosonic in a statement. “For those that continue to be in the race, such as Boom Supersonic, Hermeus, Destinus, Venus Aerospace, Spectre Aerospace, and others, we wish you the best on your super/hypersonic campaigns. We will be rooting for you from the sidelines.”

The primary priorities for the Expedition 72 crew on board the ISS on Tuesday were preparing cargo for a future voyage and safeguarding astronauts’ eyesight to maintain their health.

Microgravity Eye Health

Body fluids rise toward an astronaut’s head in the weightless atmosphere of space. This fluid movement puts pressure on the eyes, which may have an impact on vision and eye anatomy. NASA astronauts Commander Suni Williams and Flight Engineer Butch Wilmore tried a modified thigh cuff that stops these headward fluid movements in order to combat this. As NASA and its international partners prepare for lengthier journeys farther into space, researchers are keeping a careful eye on these changes to create strategies to safeguard eye health.

Getting Ready for Resupply

On Earth, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spaceship is preparing for the next resupply mission to the space station, which is scheduled to launch next week. NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit got ready for Dragon’s arrival, which will include a delivery of new station hardware and scientific equipment. After docking and then returning to Earth, Pettit started packing and arranging the goods that would be stored aboard Dragon. Hague received training on how to use instruments that will monitor Dragon’s autonomous approach and docking procedure.

Spacecraft Docking and Manoeuvre

However, Hague will take Williams, Wilmore, and Roscosmos astronaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on a brief ride onboard the SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft to a new docking site prior to the supply mission blasting out toward the space station. On Sunday, November 3, the four will board Dragon. They will undock from the forward port of the Harmony module at 6:35 a.m. EDT and then navigate the spaceship to Harmony’s space-facing port for a docking at 7:18 a.m. The Dragon cargo mission’s forward port is made available by the relocation.

Earth Observations and Maintenance at Night

Gorbunov installed and turned on equipment to observe Earth’s nighttime atmosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths following a training session on the exercise cycle of the Destiny laboratory module at the start of his shift. Ivan Vagner and Alexey Ovchinin, two of his fellow cosmonauts, collaborated on inspection and maintenance tasks in the Zvezda service module’s aft end.

On Friday night, SpaceX successfully completed its 99th flight of the year with a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

At 7:31 p.m. Eastern time, a Falcon 9 carrying 20 Starlink satellites blasted out from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40.

The Just Read the Instructions droneship’s first-stage rocket completed a downrange recovery touchdown in the Atlantic on its seventeenth flight.

It was the 71st flight from the Space Coast in 2024, just one less than the record-breaking 72 launches in 2023. United Launch Alliance has launched the remaining ones, while SpaceX has flown all but five of those.

There have only been two Falcon Heavy missions this year, with the remainder being Falcon 9 launches.

Along with the other 18 from KSC, this was the 53rd launch from Cape Canaveral.

Together with the two Falcon Heavy missions, SpaceX has performed 33 missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California this year, for a total of 97 Falcon 9 launches, including this one.

From its Starbase test site in Boca Chica, Texas, it has also launched three test flights of its in-development Starship and Super Heavy rocket, all of which have reached orbit.

Adding to the success of the March and June missions, last Sunday’s launch included the first on-target controlled landing of the second stage in the Indian Ocean and the first land capture of the Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower.

In 2023, SpaceX completed 98 operational missions, including 91 Falcon 9 and 5 Falcon Heavy missions. The company also attempted two Starship test flights, both of which ended explosively before reaching orbit, though one of them managed to reach space for a brief period of time before being destroyed by its flight termination system.

Officials from the business stated at the beginning of 2024 that it could reach 144 launches for the year, or 12 launches per month. However, weather and the three different groundings of its Falcon 9 rocket due to various problems have caused some obstacles to that pace.

This launch is only the sixth of October thus far. It flew nine times in September, eleven times in August, six times in July, ten times in June, thirteen times in May, twelve times in April, eleven times in March, nine times in February, and ten times in January.

Most of them have been for Starlink, which has launched over 7,100 versions since the first functional versions were sent up in 2019.

This marked SpaceX’s 67th Starlink launch in 2024.