The Overview — Solstice
Fueling the next generation of aerospace engineers.
Solstice
When the sun is at its greatest angular distance from the celestial equator, marking the change of seasons.
Welcome to the eighth edition of The Overview, the Solstice edition. Our editors are on a quick summer break this week, so in this short edition we have:
Some exciting news from industry 🚀
A quick update from the The Overview team and our plans going forward 📖
Read on to find out more…
🗞️ Aerospace News
Just a day after our previous newsletter, Ascent, was sent to readers, we witnessed an absolutely incredible launch from Starbase, TX as SpaceX’s Starship took flight for its fourth integrated test. This test went much further than any previous test flight, with a successful booster landing (check out the amazing third person footage here) and even more amazingly, an incredible second-stage re-entry using its ceramic heat shield.
SpaceX streamed beautiful on-board footage that showed Starship falling through a rainbow of plasma that was reminiscent of CGI footage from Interstellar. Near the end, the plasma managed to cut through the heat shield near the hinge of the forward flap, but it managed to stay on and help Starship perform a successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Honestly, the images speak for themselves. Starship is one step closer to reusability!
On the topic of really cool photos, a space debris recovery company from Japan, Astroscale, shared images of its probe maneuvering close to a piece of debris in orbit.
With an exponential increase in the number of satellites in orbit, the probabilty of in-orbit collisions has also been increasing. This may be bringing us closer to Kessler syndrome, where we see a cascading set of collisions that only create more debris and result in a vicious cycle. Clearly, space debris is an imminent problem and many “space-tug” companies have come up to solve this issue. It seems like Astroscale is making positive strides!
This is another image that acts as a reminder that more and more aerospace concepts are coming closer to reality every week. It’s exciting times we live in! Source: Private space-junk-inspection probe spots discarded rocket in orbit up close (photo) | Space
⌛Looking Back, Looking Forward
The Overview has had a great first few months! Together, we’ve:
Learned about Space Origami, getting internships, and much more through 10+ original articles.
Started The Overview Podcast, where we plan on interviewing our contributors and other industry professionals. The first episode, featuring the Overview editors, is out on our website now, with the next one coming out very soon (you won’t want to miss it).
Built a community of hundreds of space professionals, enthusiasts, and future aerospace engineers!
As we move forward, we plan on continuing to provide readers with high quality articles from accomplished guest authors, while building our podcast catalog with great audio/video content. Thanks for being part of our journey so far, and we hope you’re as excited for more of The Overview as we are!
This summer, whether you’re settling into a new location or staying at home, working or getting some rest and relaxation, we encourage you to check out some of the existing articles on our website to learn more about the various fascinating fields you could explore as a space enthusiast.
As per usual, feel free to reach out to us at admin@theoverview.org to 1) ask questions and provide feedback, 2) apply to be a guest author, 3) just say hi!
💬 Quote of the Week
“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” — Henry James
Thanks for reading The Overview—Solstice edition.
Wishing you have a stellar summer,
— Tagg, Anshuk, Maggie, Isaac ✨