Eric Berger | |
---|---|
Born | April 19, 1973 |
Education | University of Texas at Austin (BA) University of Missouri (MA) |
Occupations |
Eric Berger (born April 19, 1973) [1] [2] is an American journalist and meteorologist who is the senior space editor at Ars Technica and the editor of Space City Weather, a website covering weather in Houston.
Berger, who was raised in Michigan, [3] graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in astronomy. [4] Berger then attended graduate school at the University of Missouri where he received a master's degree in journalism. [5] In 2014, Berger completed a distance learning program at Mississippi State University to become a certified meteorologist. [6] [3] Berger lives in League City, Texas, with his wife, Amanda, and two daughters. [3]
Berger began working at the Houston Chronicle in 1998. He started his career at the Chronicle as a general assignments reporter before transitioning to the science desk in late 2001. [7] In 2005, he launched a science and technology blog on the Houston Chronicle website called SciGuy, which focused primarily on chemistry, physics, and astronomy. [6] Berger also began writing about weather during his time at the Chronicle. [3] Berger's coverage of Hurricane Ike contributed to the staff of the Houston Chronicle becoming a nominated finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting in 2009. [8]
After leaving the Houston Chronicle and joining Ars Technica, Berger also started the Space City Weather blog in October 2015. [3] The blog, which is operated jointly by Berger and forecast meteorologist Matt Lanza, provides weather forecasts for the Greater Houston area. [9] The blog's readership increased drastically during Hurricane Harvey, with over one million visits to the site on August 27, 2017. [3] In recognition of Berger and Lanza's service to Houston as weather forecasters, the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, declared June 8, 2021, as "Space City Weather Day". [9]
In October 2015, Berger left the Houston Chronicle to write for Ars Technica . As the senior space editor at Ars, Berger's primary focus is on NASA and private aerospace companies. [3] [6] Berger authored Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days that Launched SpaceX, which was published by William Morrow and Company and released in March 2021. [10] [11] The book chronicles the early history of SpaceX and the protracted development program of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle. [12]
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and ultimately developing a sustainable colony on Mars. The company currently produces and operates the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Dragon and Starship spacecraft.
Falcon 1 was a small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009 by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. On 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to go into orbit around the Earth.
Elon Reeve Musk is a businessman and investor known for his key roles in space company SpaceX and automotive company Tesla, Inc. Other involvements include ownership of X Corp., formerly Twitter, and his role in the founding of The Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink and OpenAI. He is one of the wealthiest people in the world; as of June 2024, Forbes estimates his net worth to be US$210 billion.
Omelek Island is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease and is part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site.
The Global Forecast System (GFS) is a global numerical weather prediction system containing a global computer model and variational analysis run by the United States' National Weather Service (NWS).
RatSat or DemoSat is an aluminum mass simulator on the fourth flight of the Falcon 1 rocket, launched on 28 September 2008. Ratsat remained bolted to the second stage of the carrier rocket after reaching low Earth orbit. It is an aluminium alloy chamber in hexagonal prism shape with 1.5 m (5 ft) length.
Gwynne Shotwell is an American businesswoman and engineer. She is the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, an American space transportation company, where she is responsible for day-to-day operations and company growth.
Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo into Earth orbit, and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX.
SpaceX has privately funded the development of orbital launch systems that can be reused many times, similar to the reusability of aircraft. SpaceX has developed technologies over the last decade to facilitate full and rapid reuse of space launch vehicles. The project's long-term objectives include returning a launch vehicle first stage to the launch site within minutes and to return a second stage to the launch pad, following orbital realignment with the launch site and atmospheric reentry in up to 24 hours. SpaceX's long term goal would have been reusability of both stages of their orbital launch vehicle, and the first stage would be designed to allow reuse a few hours after return. Development of reusable second stages for Falcon 9 was later abandoned in favor of developing Starship, however, SpaceX developed reusable payload fairings for the Falcon 9.
SpaceX CRS-8, also known as SpX-8, was a Commercial Resupply Service mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was launched on April 8, 2016, at 20:43 UTC. It was the 23rd flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, the tenth flight of a Dragon cargo spacecraft and the eighth operational mission contracted to SpaceX by NASA under the Commercial Resupply Services program. The capsule carried over 3,100 kilograms (6,800 lb) of cargo to the ISS including the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), a prototype inflatable space habitat delivered in the vehicle's trunk, which was attached to the station and, as of May 2022, is expected to remain so for five more full years of in-orbit viability tests.
SpaceX has stated its ambition to facilitate the colonization of Mars via the development and mass manufacturing of the Starship launch vehicle. The company states that this is necessary for the long-term survival of the human species and for the expansion of the scope of human consciousness.
Boca Chica Village or Kopernik Shores, formerly Kennedy Shores, is a small unincorporated community in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It was formed in the late 1960s, and is still extant as of 2021, although the village proper has changed greatly since 2018 as SpaceX came to purchase much of the land of the village. It lies 20 miles (32 km) east of the City of Brownsville on the Boca Chica peninsula, and forms part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan areas. It is situated on Texas State Highway 4, immediately south of the South Bay lagoon, and is located about 2 mi (3.2 km) northwest of the mouth of the Rio Grande. Although the name Kopernik Shores is no longer in popular use, it remains its official name per the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, and is still occasionally used in official contexts.
A super heavy-lift launch vehicle is a rocket that can lift to low Earth orbit a "super heavy payload", which is defined as more than 50 metric tons (110,000 lb) by the United States and as more than 100 metric tons (220,000 lb) by Russia. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass to orbit, exceeding that of the heavy-lift launch vehicle classification.
The Mars race, race to Mars or race for Mars is the competitive environment between various national space agencies, "New Space" and aerospace manufacturers involving crewed missions to Mars, land on Mars, or set a crewed base there. Some of these efforts are part of a greater Mars colonization vision, while others are for glory, or scientific endeavours. Some of this competitiveness is part of the New Space race.
Starship is a two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX. As of June 2024, it is the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown. Starship's primary objective is to lower launch costs significantly via economies of scale. This is achieved by reusing both rocket stages, increasing payload mass to orbit, increasing launch frequency, creating a mass-manufacturing pipeline, and adapting it to a wide range of space missions. Starship is the latest project in SpaceX's decades-long reusable launch system development program and ambition of colonizing Mars.
SpaceX Starship flight tests include fifteen launches to date of prototype rockets during 2019–2024 for the SpaceX Starship launch vehicle development program. Eleven test flights were of single-stage Starship spacecraft flying low-altitude tests (2019–2021), while four were orbital trajectory flights of the entire Starship launch vehicle (2023–2024), consisting of a Starship spacecraft second-stage prototype atop a Super Heavy first-stage booster prototype. None of the flights to date has carried an operational payload. Additional flight tests are planned in 2024.
Starship HLS is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Landing System contract to NASA as a critical element of NASA's Artemis program to land a crew on the Moon.
On 13 August 2021, Blue Origin filed a complaint to the United States Court of Federal Claims about NASA's award of $2.9 billion to SpaceX. The award was used by the company to further develop Starship HLS, a lunar lander that NASA selected for the Artemis program. On 4 November 2021, the Court of Federal Claims dismissed the complaint, and the accompanying memorandum opinion was titled Blue Origin v. United States & Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Blue Origin's complaint and prior actions have received attention from the news media and spaceflight industries.
SpaceX Starship integrated flight test 1 (IFT-1) was the first integrated flight test of the SpaceX Starship launch vehicle. SpaceX performed the flight test on April 20, 2023. The prototype vehicle was destroyed less than four minutes after lifting off from the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. The vehicle became the most powerful rocket ever flown, breaking the half-century-old record held by the Soviet Union's N1 rocket.
Before settling on the 2018 Starship design, SpaceX successively presented a number of reusable super-heavy lift vehicle proposals. These preliminary spacecraft designs were known under various names.