A Falcon 9 rocket taking flight. Photo: Bill Ingalis/NASA via Getty Images
SpaceX will launch its Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket on Sunday, which is the only model the company will be using for rocket launches moving forward, reports Loren Grush of The Verge.
The big picture: "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk claims that the Block 5s won’t need any major refurbishment for the first 10 flights or so, and could potentially fly up to 100 times before being retired," Grush writes. The company plans on being able to turn around Block 5 rockets in just 24 hours after a flight.
NASA solar probe is getting closer than ever to the Sun
Dr. Eugene Parker announcing plans for the solar probe. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
NASA is preparing to send a probe closer to the sun than ever before with August 6 as the targeted launch date, reports Reuters.
The details: The probe, called the Parker Solar Probe, is set to fly into the sun's corona and get within 3.8 million miles of the star's surface — seven times closer to the sun than any other spacecraft and the mission is projected to take seven years. It's goal is to study the part of the sun's atmosphere giving rise to solar wind.
Go deeper: Experts argue the Missouri boat tragedy was avoidable
A candlelight prayer vigil in Branson, Missouri. Photo: Michael Thomas/Getty Images
The fatal duck boat tragedy in Missouri that killed 17 on Thursday could have been prevented, director of the University of Georgia's Atmospheric Science Program, Dr. Marshall Shepherd, writes in Forbes.
The big picture: President of Ripley Entertainment Inc., which owns the duck boat tours, said that the storm responsible for capsizing the boat "came out of nowhere," per CNN. But a thunderstorm warning was issued around Branson, where the incident occurred, approximately 30 minutes before the boat sank.
Warning signs
The storm was traveling at 55 mph before it reached the lake, CNN reports. The highest wind gusts in the area clocked in at 63 mph.
The severe thunderstorm had been forecast for days. Shepherd points out that the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center warned of "thunderstorm clusters" and "severe wind risk" on Tuesday, two days before the incident.
There were life jackets on board, but Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader didn't confirm if passengers were wearing them, Reuters reports.
What they're saying
Shepherd writes: "It is 2018, not 1901. The meteorological community has advanced weather satellites, weather radar and models. Storms like this do not 'come out of nowhere.'"
Meteorologist at the University of Oklahoma, Kevin Kloesel, agreed that the storm did not come "out of nowhere."
Meteorologist Brian Monahan — from WSB-Atlanta, an ABC affiliate — tweeted: "Absolutely negligent to have put that boat in the water. This severe weather threat was forecast for DAYS."
