SpaceX: Starship - SN15 - High-Altitude Flight Test

As early as Wednesday, May 5, the SpaceX team will attempt a high-altitude flight test of Starship serial number 15 (SN15). For SpaceX, this is the 5th high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from Starbase in Texas. SN15 has vehicle improvements across structures, avionics and software, and the engines that will allow more speed and efficiency throughout production and flight: specifically, a new enhanced avionics suite, updated propellant architecture in the aft skirt, and a new Raptor engine design and configuration.

Similar to previous high-altitude flight tests of Starship, SN15 will be powered through ascent by 3 Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee - approximately 10 km in altitude. SN15 will perform a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.

Take a look at the SpaceX Channel on Youtube to stay tuned for more updates.

Chinese rocket debris to cause limited damage, expert predicts

Global News shows that the remnants of China's largest rocket launched last week are expected to plunge back through the atmosphere - this will be dropping the equivalent of 3 pickup trucks or a small plane late Saturday or early Sunday, an expert said. 

Long March 5B, the Chinese rocket, is equivalent in size to an unloaded semi-truck and weighs roughly 22 tons (as much as nine tons of material) and is expected to survive, Ted Muelhaupt, principal director of The Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (Cords) at the Aerospace Corporation, said.

The space debris will likely fall into the ocean. However, China has had 2 uncontrolled re-entries in the space of a year.

"There was enough reaction to the last one last May - most people thought they (China) would have learned their lesson and not done it again, but apparently they have," Muelhaupt said.

The Long March 5B is one of the largest pieces of space debris to return to Earth. The core stage of the first Long March 5B that returned to Earth last year weighed nearly 20 tons, surpassed only by debris from the Columbia space shuttle in 2003, the Soviet Union's Salyut 7 space station in 1991, and NASA's Skylab in 1979.

The so-called Long March 5 (LM-5; Chinese: 长征五号 ) is also known as Chang Zheng 5 (CZ-5). This is a Chinese heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). It is the first Chinese launch vehicle designed to use exclusively non-hypergolic liquid propellants. It is the 5th iteration of the Long March rocket family, named for the Chinese Red Army's 1934-35 Long March, during the Chinese Civil War.

Canada’s economy lost 270,000 jobs last month

CBC News shows that Canada lost 270,000 jobs in April as new lockdowns hit a lot of young people and service workers, just a month after the country had gained 300,000 jobs. A look at the people caught on the so-called "see-saw" driven by lockdowns.

Canada: Federal Transport Minister explains Canadian travel restrictions

See news about Canada travel restrictions. Federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra clears up the confusion surrounding travel restrictions. Sid shares his thoughts on the matter and he’s not happy.

Canada: Alberta’s oil sands a hot spot for COVID-19 outbreaks

Global News shows the news about COVID-19 in Canada. The good news is the progress on vaccines with more doses arriving and in the pipeline, provinces are ramping up their rollout to younger Canadians. The bad news is the virus is still spreading faster in some provinces than vaccines are arriving. One of Canada's COVID-19 hotspots is Alberta's oil sands, where more than a dozen outbreaks have made hundreds of workers sick. Heather Yourex-West looks at the vaccination efforts underway, since the problem goes beyond that province's borders.

Canada's 3rd COVID-19 wave creates “zigzag” economy

Global News shows that Canada's economy is zigzagging through the third COVID-19 wave. Statistics Canada says the country lost 207,000 jobs in April, reversing substantial progress made in March. 

A spike in COVID-19 variant cases led to renewed public health restrictions and raised concerns about longer-term economic consequences from the pandemic.

The unemployment rate rose to 8.1 per cent from 7.5 per cent in March, Statistics Canada reported. It would have been 10.5 per cent had it included in calculations Canadians who wanted to work but didn’t search for a job.

Canada not yet waiving COVID-19 vaccine patents

CBC News shows the vaccine patents situations in Canada. Vaccine patents are a hot topic at the World Trade Organization. Some countries, including the USA, argue patents should be waived in the pandemic to increase vaccine supply for the world at a faster pace. Canada is not actively supporting that idea.

The USA has reversed its stance on vaccine patents. President Joe Biden on Wednesday supported waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines. More than 100 other countries also support this decision. It seems this move is angering pharmaceutical companies.

Biden voiced his support for a waiver (a sharp reversal of the previous USA position).