Double sonic booms sounded through the Space Coast Tuesday afternoon as not one, but two Falcon 9 side boosters landed. GOES-U, the latest weather satellite by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, was headed to geostationary orbit, 22.236 miles above Earth. Its science should help to revolutionize not only weather imaging here on Earth but look at space weather that could impact our planet.

NOAA’s GOES-U satellite rose into space atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A. The two-hour launch window opened at 5:16 p.m. EDT, but only an additional 10 minutes was needed to work around weather.

Launching atop a core Falcon 9 booster, supported by two shiny white Falcon 9s — the triple-core Falcon Heavy had given off a blinding five million pounds of thrust at liftoff. After boosting the satellite off the pad, the two new side boosters separated and landed at SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The core booster, which was also new, was discarded over the ocean after doing its job.

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Even though the rocket launched on Tuesday, the rocket was a bit late to the launch pad − not arriving until late Monday. SpaceX said an environmental control system, which keeps the satellite free of humidity and protected before launch, had been malfunctioning. This delayed the roll out of the rocket, as SpaceX teams opted to keep the spacecraft in the hanger to protect it until the system was fixed.

What is the GOES-U satellite?

This new weather satellite will not only enable earlier storm detection, but it will give forecasters more time to warn the public of approaching threats. GOES-U will also provide observation of the sun − which has been very active this year − to alert those who need to know about approaching solar flares.

Looking both down at Earth and out at the sun, GOES-U is set to join two other satellites, which are already in orbit as part of the GOES-R series. It will be the last of the GOES satellites, as a new generation of weather satellites is on the horizon.

The first of this series, GOES-R, was launched back in 2016 atop an Atlas V rocket. GOES-U will be the first − and the last − of the GOES satellites to be launched atop a Falcon Heavy.

This satellite will monitor much of the Western Hemisphere, including the Americas, the Caribbean, and Atlantic Ocean.

“National Weather Service colleagues tell us this technology has changed the game for weather prediction and forecasting,” Steve Volz, assistant administrator of NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, said during a NASA press briefing.

“It is the bridge that connects today’s geostationary satellite technology with the technology of tomorrow, that promises to be more sophisticated and more impactful than what the GOES satellite series currently provides,” he said.

Like Earth technology, satellite technology can only be relevant for so long. GeoXO will be the series of satellites which will follow beginning in the 2030s. Development is currently in process.

SpaceX launch statistics

• The launch of GOES-U brought SpaceX’s ninth launch for the NASA launch services program.
• With the launch vehicle first flying in 2018, this was the 10th Falcon Heavy launch to date.
• As SpaceX is launching Falcon 9 rockets from both coasts, this marked the company’s 65th mission of the year.

Upcoming Falcon Heavy Flights

The next Falcon Heavy launch scheduled is NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which will be no earlier than October.

As for the next Florida launch, a Falcon 9 rocket will carry a Starlink mission on Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40. SpaceX has not announced a launch time, yet the Geospatial Navigational Warning and FAA Advisory states the launch window opens at 7 a.m. EDT.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.

If I see a message scrawled on a car, it’s usually something dumb like “clean me” or “my other car is a Porsche.” However, one budding artist in Florida has taken their vehicular vandalism up a notch by writing “Fuck Elon” on more than 30 Tesla Cybertrucks in storage.

A parking lot filled with 34 shiny new Cybertrucks was hit last Friday. The collection of Cybertrucks was being stored at a lot in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when they were, hit reports Futurism.

The trucks were being stored at the parking lot with little security, Futurism reports, before Tesla shipped the Cybertrucks out to their new owners. Because of the open storage location, the messages were spotted by a passing local who reported the incident to police. As Futurism reports:

“Vandalism is not acceptable,” the passerby, Yasser Rabello, told the local TV news outlet, stating the obvious. “It is illegal.”

Later that day, all the Cybertrucks — which are collectively worth around $2.7 million — were wiped clean and started attracting local residents and the curious who had gotten wind of the curse-laden graffiti job on the Tesla vehicles.

“It was just one row and then it was a second row, and then a third row and a fourth row,” Adam Docktor, who works in the neighborhood, told WPLG Local 10 about when he first say the tagged vehicles.

The spray paint might have been wiped off almost as quickly as it appeared, but that hasn’t brought an end to the issue, as police are now scrambling to find out who wrote the messages. No arrests have yet been made, but police told NBC News in South Florida that an investigation into the spray painting is ongoing.

The spray painting was carried out while the trucks were safely parked up in storage, before they could get out onto America’s roads and terrorize people with their sticky pedals, ridiculously sharp bodywork and openings that are hungry for limbs.

Six alleged fraudsters were arrested in Florida for stealing nearly $250,000 from senior citizens in the state through “grandparent scams,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced Monday.

The suspects reached out to seniors claiming to be one of their grandchildren’s lawyers and told the victims that the grandchild needed bail money after being arrested for hitting a pregnant woman with a vehicle, Moody said. The suspects then arranged for the victim to send them money.

All six suspects – Jairo Izquierdo, Gennesis Castro, Wendy Angelina Ortiz, Ada Tido, Wandy Castro and Olfa Cornielle – are charged with multiple first-degree felonies, including organized scheme to defraud, grand theft and criminal use of personal identification.

“These fraudsters know that most grandparents would do anything to help a grandchild in need, and through a convincing imposter scheme they used fear and family to extort Florida seniors—stealing nearly a quarter of a million dollars,” Moody said in a news release. “Working with our great law enforcement partners in South Florida, we were able to shut down this far-reaching grandparent scheme and now six fraudsters will have to answer for their crimes.”

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After telling the victims the fabricated story about the grandchildren, the alleged fraudsters would pressure the seniors to provide bail money.

The suspects instructed the victims to produce the bail amount in cash and place it in a box that would be picked up by couriers – unknowing ride-share drivers requested by the suspects – who then transported the cash to an arranged location, according to investigators.

“I am immensely proud of the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Vice Intelligence Squad, for their exceptional collaboration with the Florida Attorney General, and federal agencies in successfully apprehending individuals involved in extorting the elderly population,” Miami-Dade Police Department Director Stephanie V. Daniels said in the release. “Their dedication, expertise, and unwavering commitment to protecting our community’s most vulnerable population are truly commendable.”

The suspects contacted the seniors claiming to be the lawyer of a grandchild and told them that the grandchild needed bail money after getting arrested for hitting a pregnant woman with a car. (Matthias Balk/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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In some instances, the suspects contacted the same victim multiple times to demand more cash.

In one case, one of the seniors paid $9,000 before later being told that the pregnant woman miscarried her baby and an additional $18,000 was needed due to upgraded charges. 

The suspects then told the same victim that the baby’s father attacked the victim’s grandson for causing the miscarriage and that the grandchild elbowed a police officer during the attack, prompting a need for another $20,000 for bail, as well as $7,500 in court fees. The alleged fraudsters received more than $54,000.

A similar situation happened to another senior, who paid the scammers $53,000.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said investigators “were able to shut down this far-reaching grandparent scheme and now six fraudsters will have to answer for their crimes.” (Getty Images)

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In another instance, a victim paid $8,000 and the suspects reached out again the following day asking for another $4,000 for the grandson’s bail after claiming the pregnant woman lost her baby. The next day, the suspects claimed the grandson owed medical bills because of the incident and requested another $1,700.

Another victim paid $30,000 for bail and later sent an additional $7,000 after the fraudsters claimed the pregnant woman died, causing the bond to increase.

The suspects targeted seniors in multiple counties, including Brevard, Broward, Lee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach and Sarasota.