Pallas, the origin of the Free Navy, in "The Expanse" TV series

Pallas, located in the Main Asteroid Belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, is the third-largest asteroid in the Solar System (~512km in diameter). It has 22% the mass of Ceres, the largest asteroid in the Solar System, and gravity of 0.021g (2,1% of the gravity force on Earth). With an orbital inclination of 34.8°, Pallas's orbit is unusually highly inclined to the plane of the Asteroid Belt, making Pallas harder to reach by spacecraft.

In the universe of The Expanse TV series (a political sci-fi drama set in mid-24th century when humans have colonized the entire Solar system) Pallas hosts one of the oldest stations, Pallas Station, in the outer planets, refinement stations for the mining operations in the Asteroid Belt and the largest fuel refinery in the Belt.

In The Expanse TV series Pallas has a population of 9 to 13 thousand, but is also known for its extremist Belter splinter groups among its colony. One of those splinter groups eventually form the core of the Free Navy. Pallas is the birthplace of Marco Inaros, Naomi Nagata and their son Filip.

In late season 5 of the show the acting Secretary-General of the United Nations David Paster orders an uncoordinated missile strike against the Pallas Station, destroying one of its habitation rings and killing thousands of Belters.

Here you can view some of the few shots of Pallas Station exteriors in the show:

Naomi Nagata's ship at Pallas Station docks:

Destruction of one of the habitation rings of the Pallas Station:

More content from The Expanse TV series:

• Destruction of Deimos
• Ganymede, the breadbasket of the Belt
• Ceres, the capital of the Belt
• Lunar colony in season 5
• Martian colonies in season 5
• Martian colonies in season 4
• Mars in season 2

SpaceX Starship orbital flight test 4 - infographic by Tony Bela

Australian space illustrator Tony Bela has created an infographic of the upcoming 4th integrated flight test of SpaceX's Starship rocket (booster B11, ship S29) on Thursday, June 6 (the 120-minute test window opens at 7:00 a.m. CT) from Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX: "The fourth flight test turns our focus from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy. The primary objectives will be executing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Super Heavy booster, and achieving a controlled entry of Starship. To accomplish this, several software and hardware upgrades have been made to increase overall reliability and address lessons learned from Flight 3. The SpaceX team will also implement operational changes, including the jettison of the Super Heavy’s hot-stage following boostback to reduce booster mass for the final phase of flight.

Flight 4 will fly a similar trajectory as the previous flight test, with Starship targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This flight path does not require a deorbit burn for reentry, maximizing public safety while still providing the opportunity to meet our primary objective of a controlled Starship reentry."

SpaceX livestream of the launch: