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| Science & Technology |
| SpaceX Launches Second Commercial Satellite |
| 2014-01-08 |
| [An Nahar] U.S. company SpaceX said Monday it had deployed a commercial Thai satellite, in its second successful launch in weeks. The private firm's two-stage Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 2206 GMT, carrying with it the Thaicom 6 telecommunications satellite. Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, confirmed on Twitter that Thaicom 6 had been delivered "to a perfect orbit." Thaicom 6, which belongs to satellite operator Thaicom, will provide services to Southeast Asia and parts of Africa. SpaceX successfully launched its first commercial satellite on December 3pp for Luxembourg company SES, which had previously used European Ariane rockets or the Russian Proton for its launches. The SES-8 satellite was due to provide television, cable TV and other services to countries including Thailand, India and Vietnam. With Monday's second successful launch, SpaceX seems to be making its mark in the commercial satellite launch business, estimated to be worth $190 billion. Its orders amount to $4 billion for 50 launches, 75 percent of which are for commercial satellites. This second successful launch is also important as SpaceX seeks to be considered a serious candidate by the Pentagon for launching large military satellites. These launches are currently reserved for the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing. It takes at least three successful launches to qualify. Both Monday's and last month's launches used an improved version of the Falcon 9. The Falcon 9 has already succeeded in sending its Dragon capsules to the International Space Station under a $1.6 billion contract with the U.S. space agency, NASA. The Dragon capsule takes cargo into space and brings back material from scientific experiments. The Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,-based SpaceX is owned by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 Shipman - if he gets his reuse working... even the Chinese can't get close to him in launch costs. Full re-use would put him 15-20 times cheaper than China or Russia. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-01-08 17:39 |
| #8 Walter.... I sense an interest in this. :) |
| Posted by: Shipman 2014-01-08 15:51 |
| #7 This Link: Elon Musk tweet showing a Super Draco Inconel rocket chamber with regen cooling jacket emerging from an EOS 3D metal printer (for the capsules engines) |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-01-08 11:04 |
| #6 The Raptor engines have shapes it is not possible to weld or machine. These parts are made by 3D printing with Inconel alloy. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-01-08 10:57 |
| #5 For comparison the largest SLS super rocket NASA is considering for the 2030 timeframe and currently wasting billions and billions of dollars developing will only lift 150Mt. The Falcon XX with commercial development money is projected to lift 286.39Mt not to Low Earth Orbit but Mars. (Mt = Metric Tons) |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-01-08 10:45 |
| #4 Kerbal Space Program |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2014-01-08 08:05 |
| #3 Note the Specifications of the Falcon Heavy. First launch of this craft is expected this year. SpaceX Falcon Heavy sales specs Note LEO payload comparison: more than 2X that of the Shuttle. Only bigger rocket was the Saturn 5 moon rocket. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-01-08 07:53 |
| #2 The next generation Methane burning Raptor engines will start testing this year. Methane has much less coking problems (making an engine dirty and requiring more rebuilds before reuse) than the current kerosene oxygen engines and Musk has plans for a methane generation plant on Mars to refuel his the MCT (Mars Colony Transport) in his corporate long term plan. The Falcon Heavy looks to be an interim product between the Falcon R and Raptor based super heavy rockets. From one of the discussions: So per information made available on 10/23, we now think that a) Raptor is a Methane-burning 300-ton-force engine b) Raptor will be tested at Stennis in "Early 2014" Largest projected rocket with Raptor engines:   |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-01-08 07:28 |
| #1 images of first stage powered return to earth on Cassiope launch Concept Video: Discussion of SpaceX and its concepts Topics of interest for first stage return (expected to be testing on next ISS launch): F9v1.1 Stage 1 (and FH booster) recovery trajectory, burns, drag evaluation. SpaceX Reusable Falcon 9 (Grasshopper) UPDATE Thread (1..3) Grasshopper test article flight and landing: It is hoped that first stage reuse alone can pull launch costs below $10,000,000. Full F9R reuse is projected by SpaceX to be profitable at $2,900,000 per launch. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2014-01-08 06:46 |