SpaceX | Common News Update

Jun42018 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX launches SES-12 communications satellite

June 3 (UPI) -- [embedded content] SpaceX launched a communications satellite early Monday morning. The company's Falcon 9 rocket, with a used first stage, launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force at 12:29 a.m. Monday. The rocket will carry the SES-12 satellite to orbit for the Luxembourg-based telecom company SES. The satellite is headed for geostationary orbit, about 22,300 miles above Earth's surface, and will provide video and data services to customers across the Asia-Pacific region, SES representatives said. The launch was originally scheduled for early Wednesday morning, and then postponed again to early Friday. But the company announced the need for additional tests to the rocket's upper stage. The first stage has flown once before, in September 2017, carrying the robotic...

May112018 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX flies 'lessons learned' rocket

Science

The California rocket company SpaceX has conducted what is arguably its most important launch to date. Flying out of Florida, the firm’s Falcon-9 vehicle lifted a standard telecommunications satellite for Bangladesh into orbit. But the booster incorporated everything SpaceX has so far learnt about reusability. This "Block 5" version of the Falcon is designed to launch and land at least 10 times without any servicing. Earlier iterations of the rocket have not flown more than twice and required some level of refurbishment between missions."It's taken us 16 years of extreme effort, many iterations and thousands of small but important development changes to get to where we think this is even possible. Crazy hard," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in a pre-flig...

May62018 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX Dragon successfully splashes down in Pacific Ocean

Science

May 6 (UPI) -- The unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo ship successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, the company said.SpaceX confirmed the reusable ship completed the company's third resupply mission to and from the International Space Station at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.After spending a month on the space station, Dragon detached and was sent back to earth to deliver 4,000 pounds of NASA cargo and research material.The cargo included science samples from a variety of technological and biological studies about the space station."Some of the science returning on this flight includes samples from the Metabolic Tracking study that could lead to more effective, less expensive drugs, the APEX-06 investigation examining how to effectively grow crops in space, and the Fruit Fly Lab-03 investigat...

Mar272018 by adminNo Comments

NASA: SpaceX rocket 'too small for our missions'

Technology

SpaceX launched the most powerful rocket in the world back in February when its Falcon Heavy sent Elon Musk's car into space - but it still isn't powerful enough for NASA.Following the successful launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket, NASA has come under increased scrutiny over its decision not to save money by pursuing it as a commercial option for launches.NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle is currently being developed to fulfil the space agency's planned deep space exploration missions - including a manned mission to Mars.However, according to online tech publication Ars Technica, its development has been slow and very expensive.On Monday, this prompted questions about whether it might be better for the agency to use SpaceX's commercially available craft instead of spending billions d...

Mar132018 by adminNo Comments

Design error may have caused SpaceX rocket explosion in 2015: NASA

Technology

A design error may have caused a SpaceX rocket to explode mid-air in June of 2015, according to a NASA report that was released Monday. The unmanned rocket was headed to the International Space Station to deliver 4,000 pounds of supplies. It burst into flames above Cape Canaveral in Florida just 139 seconds after its launch, and SpaceX concluded that the explosion was most likely due to a faulty steel part called a strut. "SpaceX chose to use an industrial grade (as opposed to aerospace grade) 17-4 PH SS (precipitation-hardening stainless steel) cast part (the 'Rod End') in a critical load path under cryogenic conditions and strenuous flight environments," NASA said in its report. NASA also concluded the steel strut was implemented without sufficient testing. "The implementation was d...