Facilities officer at Australian Catholic University and part time musician and part time amateur astronomer. Completed a Postgrad Cert in Astrophysics at ACU
Sydney
Joined November 2012
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Rick Faulkner retweeted
The Orionid meteor shower, created by tiny pieces of debris from Halley's Comet, peaks on the night of Oct. 21 - 22. Your best chance to see them comes a few hours before dawn, after the bright Moon sets. Find a dark location, give your eyes time to adjust, and look up.
Rick Faulkner retweeted
Amazing picture!
Spotted from orbit: Curiosity climbing Mont Mercou on the surface of Mars.
(Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona)
Rick Faulkner retweeted
Hidden deep in Venezuela’s jungle, Salto Duruhuaya is a striking waterfall known for curtain-like cascade over granite rock.
Far from the usual paths, it remains a quiet, lesser-known natural gem
📹 christpheer
Rick Faulkner retweeted
Some moments are worth floating back to. ✨
When @NASA’s @SpaceX Crew-13 launched on Oct. 1, they brought along a little extra company! 🚀 Meet Lucky, a hand-crocheted golden dragon and the crew’s zero-gravity indicator! These small companions float freely once a spacecraft reaches microgravity, giving astronauts a visual sign that they’re officially weightless.
Rick Faulkner retweeted
🇯🇵🇺🇸 Japan is going where no one has gone before: a moon of Mars... and back again with souvenirs
JAXA’s $350 million mission, with $87 million chipped in by NASA, launched Tuesday on a five-year round trip to Phobos, a 17-mile space potato that might be a captured asteroid or a chunk blasted off Mars itself.
Russia tried the same thing in 2011 and never left Earth orbit.
Japan’s Hayabusa probes already brought asteroid dust home twice, so the country with the thinnest headlines in space is about to answer a question NASA has been asking since the 1970s.
Source: WSJ / Writer: Daniel
Rick Faulkner retweeted
LAUNCH! JAXA's H3-24L launches MMX to Phobos.
Overview:
nasaspaceflight.com/2026/10/…
Live:
youtube.com/watch?v=Fn6gzuGa…
Rick Faulkner retweeted
🇺🇸 SpaceX is getting ready to attempt something absolutely INSANE: REFUELING TWO STARSHIPS IN ORBIT.
The company is targeting the first half of 2027, potentially as early as FEBRUARY, for its first orbital docking and refueling demonstration.
Two massive spacecraft will have to meet in space, dock, and transfer super-cold rocket propellant between them.
This is one of the BIGGEST technological hurdles standing between humanity and a return to the Moon, with enormous implications for future missions to Mars.
If SpaceX pulls this off, it could fundamentally change how humanity travels through space.
Writer: Sol
Rick Faulkner retweeted
Three sunspot groups, some magnetic flux is emerging; still a chance of isolated M-class flares…
Rick Faulkner retweeted
Based on what we know so far, here are a few predictions for Starship expansion:
KSC should be ready by early 2027. That part is pretty clear. The Gigabay and launch pad are almost finished, and Starship 16 could be the first Starship to fly from Florida. The Florida Gigafactory may take until 2029, so that is probably when local Starship production starts.
Louisiana should be ready to receive, process, and launch Starships built in Texas by 2029, which matches the timeline SpaceX gave when it announced the project. Its own Gigafactory probably comes online around 2030, with the first Louisiana-built Starships rolling out in 2031.
I mapped SpaceX’s newly submitted Starbase Louisiana layout onto satellite imagery, including the heavy-haul road and marine logistics infrastructure.
The plan already shows the Gulf wharf, marine access, inland wharf/laydown yard, temporary laydown area, and the heavy-haul road.
What stands out is that the road network still only covers part of the site. Most of the new infrastructure is on the eastern side.
My guess is Phase 1 could start with 2 launch complexes, 4 pads near the logistics hub and Gulf wharf
Rick Faulkner retweeted
Starbase Louisiana is set to break ground in 2027, with its first Starship launch planned for 2029.
And keep in mind, that first launch could already be Starship V4. Around 140 meters tall, with nine Raptor engines on the upper stage alone.
If that’s the plan, we should see V4 flight tests in 2028.
Based on what we know so far, here are a few predictions for Starship expansion:
KSC should be ready by early 2027. That part is pretty clear. The Gigabay and launch pad are almost finished, and Starship 16 could be the first Starship to fly from Florida. The Florida Gigafactory may take until 2029, so that is probably when local Starship production starts.
Louisiana should be ready to receive, process, and launch Starships built in Texas by 2029, which matches the timeline SpaceX gave when it announced the project. Its own Gigafactory probably comes online around 2030, with the first Louisiana-built Starships rolling out in 2031.
Rick Faulkner retweeted
The MMX spacecraft carries two pieces of NASA hardware: The MEGANE instrument will be key to revealing the origin of Mars’s moons by measuring their elemental composition.
The P-Sampler demonstration will advance capabilities for surface material acquisition in low gravity. ½
ALT An artist’s concept of JAXA’s MMX spacecraft at Mars. Credit: JAXA