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On the eve of SpaceX launching astronauts, a preview of a forthcoming book from Lori Garver, former NASA deputy administrator, and Michael Sheetz, CNBC space reporter. //
The following is a preview of a forthcoming book from Lori Garver, former NASA deputy administrator, and Michael Sheetz, CNBC space reporter. "Bureaucrats and Billionaires: The Race to Save NASA" will tell the story of how a handful of revolutionaries helped pave the way for a new era at NASA. Lori's first-hand accounts include the decades leading up to the final negotiations that closed the deal for the commercial crew program as well as her collaboration with key players such as President Obama, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
The company's main rocket has been supporting missions since 2010, and it's now set another impressive record. //
On Thursday, SpaceX announced via Twitter that the Falcon 9 is now the most-flown operational rocket in the United States, having undertaken 85 flights. //
It marks a key milestone for the Falcon 9, which on Thursday also marked the 10th anniversary of its first flight. //
The Falcon 9 set the stage for SpaceX to move further. It measures 230 feet tall, 12 feet in diameter, and weighs 1.2 million pounds. It's capable of transporting over 50,000 pounds to low Earth orbit. As the name suggests, the rocket uses nine Merlin engines versus the single Merlin engine used with the Falcon 1. That gives it more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust at sea level. //
But perhaps Falcon 9's most important improvement was its reusability. That enables SpaceX to recuperate around $46.5 million of the estimated $62 million price tag associated with these flights. SpaceX first attempted to land a Falcon 9 booster in 2013, but only succeeded for the first time the following year. By 2017 it was landing 15 cores per year. It has landed the Falcon 9 booster 46 times, and reflown it 31 times.
Ahead of the latest Falcon 9 mission, SpaceX has conducted six launches of the operational Starlink v1.0 design, for a total of 360 satellites.
With SpaceX planning to launch another set of Starlink internet satellites on Wednesday, the company will continue the deployment of the initial constellation of approximately 1500 satellites, on the way to building their 4400 satellite Ku-/Ka-band network. //
A handful of these suffered problems on orbit, with three being actively deorbited so far and SpaceX noting in an FCC filing that six more have had propulsion problems after they began orbit raising. The current number of functional Starlink satellites for providing service to customers is around 350, not all of which have reached their operational position yet.
Each launch of 60 satellites that have been carried so far has aimed to populate three planes of 20 satellites, each plane spaced 20 degrees apart at the equator. Once they get 18 evenly spaced planes into position, they should be able to test the system with continuous service in the northern United States.
As it takes about four months for the satellites to all reach their operational positions from launch, it appears SpaceX decided to speed up the process a little by using the seventh launch on June 3 to populate the 18th plane.
Moving forward, subsequent launches will be used to create more planes in between the existing ones until there are 72 planes spaced five degrees apart.
A handful of these suffered problems on orbit, with three being actively deorbited so far and SpaceX noting in an FCC filing that six more have had propulsion problems after they began orbit raising. //
It is understood that one of the test objectives of the May 29 static fire was to test disconnecting the umbilicals ahead of a planned 150-meter test flight scheduled for the following week. The umbilicals must be able to quickly detach when the launch vehicle leaves the pad.
During the testing of the quick disconnects, the system malfunctioned – spilling large amounts of propellant. This could be seen during NASASpaceflight’s live stream of the test.
The propellant eventually ignited, leading to a large explosion. It is not entirely clear what the ignition source was, but a still frame from the NASASpaceflight broadcast shows that the ignition occurred near the base of the vehicle.
Notably, the structural integrity of Starship is not believed to be the cause of the accident. SpaceX has had issues with the prototypes collapsing under high pressure in the past. All of the previous full-scale prototypes failed cryogenic pressurization testing.
Including the May 29 test, SpaceX completed five static fires with Starship SN4. No previous Starship had even gotten far enough to have an engine installed. The Raptor engines performed well throughout testing, and the vehicle’s primary structure held strong.
“I've done crazier things than dry out a radio antenna.” //
Demo-2, the first orbital human spaceflight to launch from the United States since NASA's space shuttle fleet retired in 2011, is a joint SpaceX-NASA effort. The company holds a $2.6 billion contract with NASA's Commercial Crew Program to fly six operational crewed missions to the ISS, and Demo-2 is designed to fully validate Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 for those flights. //
Approximately two-thirds of the global launch market is effectively closed to competition because these are national payloads. For example, Russia and other space-faring countries will typically launch their military and science satellites on domestic rockets. Only about one-third of the overall launch market—consisting of satellite constellations, communications and imaging satellites for nations without launch programs, and other payloads—is truly open to competition.
Decades ago, US launch companies ceded this commercial market as they began to focus on winning more lucrative contracts to launch payloads for the US military. By 2006, when Boeing and Lockheed Martin consolidated their rocket businesses into a single company, United Launch Alliance, America essentially captured zero percent of the competitive launch market. Customers in the United States and abroad turned to more economical launchers in Europe, Russia, and elsewhere to reach orbit. Meanwhile, with a monopoly on launching missions for NASA and the US Department of Defense, United Launch Alliance’s prices steadily rose.
The success of the Falcon 9 rocket reversed this trend dramatically. Seeking lower cost delivery of supplies to the International Space Station, NASA invested $396 million in SpaceX from 2006 to 2010 to develop its Cargo Dragon spacecraft, the Falcon 9 rocket, and a launch pad at the Cape. This investment, which precipitated the June 4, 2010 launch from Florida, delivered not just value for NASA, but for the country. //
“Because of the investments that NASA has made into SpaceX we now have, the United States of America now has about 70 percent of the commercial launch market,” said the space agency’s administrator, Jim Bridenstine. “That is a big change from 2012 when we had exactly zero percent.” //
Most visibly, the company demonstrated reuse of the first stage booster. On its very next mission following the CRS-7 failure, in fact, SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time. The next April, the company nailed its first drone ship landing. Then, in March 2017, the company successfully re-flew a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time. In the three years since, SpaceX has landed more than 50 rockets and flown the same booster five or more times.
Carissa Christensen, founder of Bryce Space and Technology, an analytics firm, said the reuse of vertically launched and landed rockets had been discussed in the aerospace community for decades. "This was always something that would make a difference, and it was desirable, but it never happened," she said. "Then SpaceX made it happen."
Moreover, she said, the company did this on its own initiative. Typically in spaceflight, a government agency will offer a contract for some type of project and pick a contractor to do the work. Although SpaceX received a substantial amount of NASA funding for cargo and crew delivery to the space station, it got no money for reuse. Instead, Christensen said, the company invested its own funds to clear a "very, very high" technical hurdle that others had aspired to. In return for chancing its own funds on reuse, SpaceX now has the world's only reusable, orbital rocket, and it has just furthered its ability to dominate the commercial satellite market. //
"It's clear that the space industry is on a path toward next-generation launch vehicles," she said. "But SpaceX is 10 years ahead of those next-generation launch vehicles. SpaceX had its first launch of its next-generation launch vehicle 10 years ago." The world of launch, she marveled, has tilted almost beyond recognition from a decade ago. Then, SpaceX was the upstart. Now the Falcon 9 is considered the old, reliable launch vehicle. //
Falcon 9 lifts SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. It currently carries cargo, but could one day bring humans to space as well.
An astronaut on the International Space Station snapped an image of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida showing the SpaceX Demo-2 rocket and capsule just a day before the mission's scheduled launch.
SpaceX had just conducted yet another static fire test of the Raptor engine in its Starship SN4 prototype launch vehicle on Friday when the test vehicle exploded on the test stand in Boca Chica, Texas. This was the fourth static fire test of this engine on this prototype, so it’s unclear what…
Crew Dragon has arrived at launchpad 39A ahead of next week's launch.
SpaceX's internet connectivity constellation is forming, and it looks set to make a big impact.
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule will be only the fifth American craft to be rated for human spaceflight in history. Clearing NASA’s certification process takes years.
Earlier this month, SpaceX engineers completed the 27th and final test of the parachute system that will soon be responsible for carrying astronauts back to Earth. When the four parachute canopies successfully unfurled over the Mojave Desert, it indicated that the company was finally ready to start sending humans to space after nearly a decade of relentless testing and dramatic setbacks. Now SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is on the cusp of becoming only the fifth American spacecraft to ever be certified by NASA for human spaceflight. But before that happens, the company has to pass a final high-stakes test: sending a pair of astronauts into orbit and bringing them safely back home.
On May 27, SpaceX is expected to launch NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The astronauts will be doing critical scientific work on the space station, but the upcoming Demo-2 mission is first and foremost about certifying Crew Dragon for human spaceflight. “Most of our human certification is being completed with this mission,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said during a press conference earlier this month. “We’re doing this to wring out the system. This is a test mission.” She estimated that the Demo-2 mission would account for about 95 percent of the human-rating certification process for the Crew Dragon capsule. //
The last time NASA certified a new spacecraft for humans was in 1981, during the maiden flight of the space shuttle. The shuttle program came to an end in 2011, which was the last time American astronauts launched to space from US soil. For the past decade, all astronauts bound for the space station have hitched a ride on Russian rockets. NASA awarded SpaceX and Boeing contracts to certify their own crewed vehicles only a year after the last shuttle flight, but building a human-rated spacecraft has proven to be a long journey. //
all human-rated spacecraft must be capable of being manually and remotely controlled, even if the spacecraft is usually almost entirely automated. //
Both companies successfully completed pad abort tests, which involve firing the escape thrusters on a crew capsule while it’s still on the launch pad. But only SpaceX conducted an in-flight abort test and jettisoned its capsule from a rocket during flight. Boeing opted to do simulations of an in-flight abort test based on its data.
SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has shared more details about when in 2020 we can expect the company’s Starlink low-latency, high-bandwidth satellite internet service to actually be available to customers. He said on Twitter that a private beta for Starlink would begin in around three months…
As SpaceX continues its steady march of Starlink internet satellite launches, the company reaches... //
The seventh flight of Starlink satellites is set to launch Wednesday, 22 April at 15:30 EDT (19:30 UTC) from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
The U.S.’s most flown, active rocket:
This flight marks a major point in U.S. launch operations, as Falcon 9 reaches 84 flights to its name and officially takes the mantle from Atlas V as the most flown, currently operational U.S. rocket.
Atlas V began flying on 21 August 2002 and has 83 flights to its name after 18 years — for an annual rate of 4.6 launches.
Falcon 9 began flying on 4 June 2010 and will reach 84 flights in just under 10 years with a flight rate of 8.4 launches per year. //
The changing of the guard — so to speak — is made all the more impressive by the fact that in its first three years, Falcon 9 only flew five times.
By June 2015, the rocket had 19 flights to its name — 14 flights in two years compared to 5 flights in the first three years.
In the second five years of operation, Falcon 9 amassed an impressive 65 flights (counting the seventh flight of Starlink on Wednesday) — an average of 13 missions a year. //
Moreover, the impressive rise of Falcon 9 occurred while SpaceX actively redesigned — in some cases, radically — the rocket through numerous changes, culminating more or less in the Block 5 design flying today.
Meanwhile, the company implemented reusability with the Falcon 9 to a scale that sent U.S. and global competitors scrambling to design lower-cost and/or reusable rocket systems. //
With the seventh flight of Starlink on Wednesday, SpaceX will make its 92nd orbital launch attempt.
At this rate, the company will likely achieve its 100th orbital launch attempt in the summer or autumn months this year.
The new document does not include pricing information for Starship, alas.
“This is another critical piece of our plan to return to the Moon sustainably." //
Last summer, NASA put out a call for companies who would be willing to deliver cargo to a proposed station in orbit around the Moon, called the Lunar Gateway. On Friday, NASA announced that the first award under this "Gateway Logistics" contract would go to SpaceX.
The company has proposed using its Falcon Heavy rocket to deliver a modified version of its Dragon spacecraft, called Dragon XL, to the Lunar Gateway. After delivering cargo, experiments and other supplies, the spacecraft would be required to remain docked at the Gateway for a year before "autonomous" disposal.
Weather was fine for a Sunday morning launch attempt, rocket was not. //
9:30am ET Sunday update: The flight computers stopped the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday morning at T-0. There was apparently a power issue with at least one of the rocket's nine engines that caused an automatic shutdown after ignition occurred. The company will not make a second attempt on Sunday.
SpaceX has a backup opportunity for Monday morning, likely around 9am ET (13:00 UTC), but it is not clear whether they will utilize it. This will be determined after engineers analyze the cause of Sunday morning's abort and determine the best path forward toward a safe launch. Weather is similarly favorable for Monday.
Weather looks fine for the Sunday morning launch attempt. //
JustAnotherSchmoeSmack-Fu Master, in trainingreplyabout 22 hours agoReader Fav
corscan wrote:
On a slight tangent, has there been any more to explain why the booster failed to land last month? SpaceX is usually pretty open, so maybe I've just missed something. Googling just brings up the initial reporting for me.
Here you go, from the man himself: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/12361174359057858561
Quote:
Recent missed landing (at sea) was due to incorrect wind data. If this (land) landing fails, it will most likely be for a different reason.
They then corrected that on the next launch:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/12361166002452561922
Quote:
Rocket will land in highest winds ever at Cape Canaveral tonight. This is intentional envelope expansion.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1236156567449305089?lang=en
Quote:
Envelope expanded
A similar challenge two decades ago boosted a nascent SpaceX.
Featured Image Source: SpaceX SpaceX plans to fund future missions to the moon and Mars by offering Starlink internet services. SpaceX officials stated that Starlink broadband internet network will be affordable enough that areas in the world where internet is non-existent, or unreliable will benefit from their service
No word on pricing or when the company plans to fly.