Tag Archives: booster

SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers – Advanced Television

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SpaceX has received good news from Indias government with reports that its Starlink broadband service is to receive an expedited fast-track approval to operate in India ahead of Elon Musks visit to the country. Starlink was also authorised for use in Albania last week. However, there are doubts in some quarters over Starlinks profitability.

Bloomberg, in a report, talks about Starlink losing hundreds of dollars on each of the near-3 million costly antenna terminals it has supplied to users.

SpaceXs CFO Bret Johnsen, speaking at the Washington Satellite 2024 event in March, declined to elaborate on Elon Musks suggestions to investors that Starlink had achieved breakeven cashflow last year. Johnsen said he did not want to quantify numbers but that it was in positive cashflow and profitable territory for our satellite business now.

One the positive side of the ledger Bloomberg says that SpaceX itself, which holds the rocket and Starlink businesses, is likely see overall sales of around $15 billion this year from $4.7 billion a year ago. Bloomberg says that SpaceXs current investors expect the company to need to raise more cash or get a fresh infusion from Musk himself.

SpaceXs weekend launch was managed with the 20th use of a Falcon 9 booster stage, a worlds record for the company. The launch means that there has been a total of 6,212 Starlinks launched of which 5,809 are still in orbit and 5,744 are considered by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.

The 20th launch means that SpaceX is halfway to matching the Space Shuttles record 39 orbital flights for its Discovery vehicle. The difference is that SpaceX used its Booster #1062 twenty times in just three-and-a-half years, while NASAs most successful Space Shuttle flew for 27 years (from 1984 to 2011).

Booster #1062 during its lifetime which no doubt will continue launched a batch of satellites for OneWeb, Nilesat 301 as well as Arabsats BADR-8. It has also helped put eight astronauts and more than 261 metric tons into orbit. It last launched on March 16th, and therefore a turnaround from landing to re-flight in just 27 days.

These launch records tend only to last for a few weeks until they are surpassed! SpaceX has handled 38 orbital missions this year.

Meanwhile, SpaceX last week asked the FCC for an experimental licence to cover the testing of 840 Direct-To-Cell satellites covering Australia (Optus), New Zealand (One New Zealand), Japan (KDDI), and Canada (Rogers). SpaceX explained that it intends to use a portion of its mobile partners authorised frequencies.

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SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers - Advanced Television

SpaceX launches the first Falcon booster 20 times – Space Explored

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Image: SpaceX

Friday evening SpaceX launched a Starlink mission that while not newsworthy anymore, the booster it launched on was. B1062, first launched in 2020, has now reached the big 20 mission milestone.

While it took a bit longer than we expected after the destruction of B1058 on its return to port, SpaceX has hit that 20 mission milestone. Friday evening at 9:40 P.M. from SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, SpaceX launched B1062 with 23 Starlink Gen 2 mini satellites on top.

B1062 first lifted off on November 5, 2020 with GPS III SV04 Sacagawea. Since then it has flown 13 Starlink missions (including the one from last night), eight astronauts, and various other commercial payloads, including Starlinks competitor OneWeb. Bring it to a grand total of 20 flights, once the believed limit of Falcon 9 boosters.

The booster performed like it came right out the SpaceX factory in Hawthorne. B1062, lofted its second stage and Starlink satellites on their intended trajectory before returning for a perfect landing on droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

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When SpaceX first began reusing its first stage, many didnt think it was even possible. When it became possible, the hypothetical limits by Elon Musk was close to 10 or 15 launches. That was also at the time believed to be a big ask.

SpaceX is no longer advertising potential limits to how many times they can refly a booster before seeing any failures. There will be limits, and SpaceX intends to find them but dont have an idea as to when theyll show up.

Each booster goes through a rigorous refurbishment process before reflight. However, those process have come down in time it takes to finish, some boosters reflying in a matter of weeks. Its possible teams have already spotted failing points before flight and those booster see longer refurbishments but thats something well probably never hear about.

The knowledge gained with reusing Falcon is important for the companys new rocket, Starship. SpaceX hopes to launch Starship rockets on a near hourly bases, meaning those boosters and ships will quickly replace Falcon boosters in reflight records.

Starship may just be a few more flights away before beginning sending payloads to orbit. This will most likely begin with full size Starlink Gen 2 satellites, likely replacing the mini variations launch on Falcon 9s.

While it might be hard to believe, we could be reaching the conclusion of the Falcon 9s career (were talking years here not months), at least its commercial career. While its unknown how many customers will move from Falcons to Starship, the potential low cost for launch could mean the bulk switch over.

So does that mean well never know the limit of Falcon 9 boosters? Unsure, B1062 will probably fly a few more times this year, maybe its 21, or 25, or 50. Whatever it is, Starship will most likely be higher.

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SpaceX launches the first Falcon booster 20 times - Space Explored

SpaceX Planning Starlink 6-49 Launch Tonight, Which Will Make A Bit of History – Talk of Titusville

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Representative Starlink launch on a Falcon 9 Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT

I recently said that covering Starlink launches is almost like covering Southwest Airlines daily flights from Orlando International Airport to Austin, Texas. Its not that watching a rocket launch is boring, it never is, it is simply that SpaceX is flying missions to add to its Starlink constellation so regularly that it has become a reliable and routine service thats much like, well, airline flights departing from the airport.

Tonight is such a launch, but this one comes with a big twist: it is the 20th flight of one of the companys fleet of Falcon 9 boosters, and that is a first not only for SpaceX but also for spaceflight globally.

That this historic occasion is happening with little fanfare is a testament to the technical comptence of SpaceX generally, and the Falcon 9 teams that refurbish and launch them from the Cape specifically.

And while the booster and fairings are regularly reused, it must also be pointed out that their second stages are not, and that means that SpaceXs factory in Hawthorne, California is creating not only the second stages at a torrid pace, they are also building Merlin Vacuum engines to power them as well. It is a job extremely well done by everyone, and it should be acknowledged as such by the spaceflight community generally.

23 Starlink satellites, to be used in SpaceXs orbital-based Internet service.

The 45th Weather Squadron is forecasting all but perfect weather for a launch attempt tonight, with even better conditions tomorrow. Liftoff winds have less than a 5% chance of creating a Range Violation Friday, meaning a better than 95% chance of acceptable conditions. On Saturday, even that slight concern has been removed from the 45ths forecast.

Falcon 9 will take a southeasterly direction tonight, as is customary for Group 6 Starlink missions.

Given that the flight is immediately offshore with no return to launch site, there will be no sonic boom from the launch this evening on the Space Coast.

Tonight is slated to be the 20th flight of Booster B1062, a first for SpaceX and for spaceflight anywhere. We cover the record of this historic booster here: SpaceX Booster To Launch For 20th Time Friday Night.

That next flight is of interest because last May, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceXs vice president of build and flight reliability, said in May [2023] that engineers were in the process of certifying Falcon 9 boosters for up to 20 flights for Starlink missions, according to a report by Stephen Clark at Ars Technica.

Later in 2023, Nate Janzen, manager of launch pad systems and operations for SpaceX at Vandenberg told Santa Barbara, Californias Noozhaek that Next year, SpaceX will re-evaluate and conduct analysis with an eye toward certifying the first-stage boosters for 25 to 30 flights. Whether or not that certification has been achieved as of yet will be an interesting bit of news to follow.

Per SpaceX, Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

After touching down on A Shortfall of Gravitas, the booster will be returned to Port Canveral after a few days, where it will be offloaded and transported to SpaceXs Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center, where it will be inspected, refurbished and possibly prepared for another next flight.

1: this includes Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship Heavy Launches 2: Amos-6 is discounted due to a pad failure, not an in-flight anomoly

SpaceCoastLaunchCalendar.comwill have a livestream of the launch if youre not able to watch the launch in person:Livestream

SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: Starlink 6-49. This will also be available on the X platform.

Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link

This evenings planned launch is from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, which means that the best direct views of liftoff are: Banana River Bridge on FL-528 Wnear Port Canaveral, or the southern parks on US-1 / S. Washington Avenuein Titusville. Kennedy Point Park and,Rotary Riverview Park (among others) are your best bets.

Cocoa Beach, Cocoa Beach Pier, Jetty Park Pier will have indirect views, meaning that liftoff will not be visible, but after the rocket clears the pad and any ground obstructions, you will be able to see Falcon 9 ascending clearly assuming there are no clouds between you and the rocket.

Being that the launch is in the evening, if you plan to attend in person, dont forget mosquito spray. Be prepared for potential pushes in the launch schedule, and keep up by monitoring the live stream links mentioned above.

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SpaceX Planning Starlink 6-49 Launch Tonight, Which Will Make A Bit of History - Talk of Titusville

SpaceX stacks giant Starship rocket ahead of 3rd test flight (video, photos) – Space.com

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SpaceX's third Starship megarocket is standing tall ahead of its upcoming test flight.

SpaceX recently stacked the enormous vehicle on the orbital launch mount at its Starbase site in South Texas, placing the Ship 28 upper-stage prototype atop its Booster 10 first-stage partner.

"Starship team is preparing for a full launch rehearsal ahead of Flight 3," SpaceX wrote in a post on X today (Feb. 13) that shared photos of the milestone. In another post, the company published a short video of the stacking, which was performed by the "chopstick" arms of Starbase's launch tower.

Related:See stunning photos and video of Starship's 2nd launch

Flight 3 will likely occur about three weeks from now, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, provided the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration awards a launch license in time.

The first two test flights of Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, occurred in April and November of last year.

Both missions ended in the explosive death of Starship, though the vehicle notched some important milestones on Flight 2.

For example, the 33 Raptor engines of Starship's first stage aced their initial burn on the November missions, and the booster separated seamlessly from the upper-stage spacecraft.

Both of Starship's stainless-steel stages are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. SpaceX is developing the 400-foot-tall (122 meters) megarocket to take people and payloads to the moon and Mars, as well as conduct other operations closer to home including, potentially, carrying people on superfast trips here Earth.

SpaceX has already signed NASA up as a customer: The space agency picked Starship to be the first crewed lander for its Artemis program of moon exploration. If all goes according to plan, Starship will put NASA astronauts down near the lunar south pole for the first time in September 2026, on the Artemis 3 mission.

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SpaceX stacks giant Starship rocket ahead of 3rd test flight (video, photos) - Space.com

SpaceX’s Starship Selected to Launch Starlab Space Station – FLYING

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SpaceXs Starship rocket has been selected to launch Starlab, the commercial space station venture between Voyager Space and Airbus.

Standing nearly 400 feet tall, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, with two reusable components, the Super Heavy Booster and Starship spacecraft.

Its what will be needed to launch the commercial space station in a single mission, according to a Starlab official.

SpaceXs history of success and reliability led our team to select Starship to orbit Starlab, Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO of Voyager Space, said in a statement. SpaceX is the unmatched leader for high-cadence launches, and we are proud Starlab will be launched to orbit in a single flight by Starship.

Starlab, which will permanently host four crewmembers, is scheduled to launch prior to the International Space Stations (ISS) decommissioning before the end of the decade, heralding the U.S. transitioning to commercially owned and operated low-Earth orbit (LEO) destinations.

As a continuously crewed, free-flying space station, Starlab will serve a global customer base of space agencies, researchers, and companies, ensuring a continued human presence in LEO and a seamless transition of microgravity research from the [ISS] into the new commercial space station era, Voyager Space said.

NASA has committed to utilizing and operating ISS through 2030.

Starlabs single-launch solution continues to demonstrate not only what is possible but how the future of commercial space is happening now, said Tom Ochinero, senior vice president of commercial business at SpaceX.

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SpaceX's Starship Selected to Launch Starlab Space Station - FLYING

SpaceX sends 23 Starlink satellites to orbit on 90th Falcon launch of 2023 Spaceflight Now – Spaceflight Now

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A Falcon 9 rocket stands at the pad at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The rocket is supporting the Starlink 6-33 mission for SpaceX. Image: Adam Bernstein

Update 12:20 a.m. EST: SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and landed the booster on the droneship.

SpaceX hit another milestone with its overnight Starlink mission launch. The flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station marks the companys 90th orbital launch in 2023 and its 280th Falcon 9 launch to date. Liftoff of the Starlink 6-33 mission took place at 12:07 p.m. EST (0507 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40.

Weather for the mission was ideal at liftoff, but meteorologists kept their eye on the picture downrange as well. Liftoff winds were the only watch item in a forecast that predicts 95 percent favorable weather.

A secondary push of cold air will filter into the area [on Wednesday], bringing clear skies and a stronger pressure gradient over the Space Coast, the launch forecast stated. This will result in gusty surface winds through tomorrow evening which will slowly diminish through the launch window, so liftoff winds remain the only concern.

The forecast also noted that upper-level wind shear is considered low to moderate and was highlighted under the Additional Risk Criteria section.

The Starlink 6-33 mission marks the fourth fastest turnaround for SpaceXs workhorse launchpad, SLC-40, at four days, one hour, six minutes and 40 seconds since the last launch from here. This mission will be the 159th SpaceX orbital launch from this pad.

The first stage booster used for the launch was tail number 1077, which launched on its ninth flight with this mission. Notable previous launches include Crew-5 and GPS 3 Space Vehicle 06.

It landed on the drone ship, Just Read the Instructions, about eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The 23 satellites on board bring the total launched in 2023 up to 1,871.

Reposting an infographic from analytics firm BryceTech, SpaceX founder Elon Musk stated that the company is tracking to launch over 80 percent of all Earth payload to orbit this year. Its Q3 report states that out of the 63 orbital launches around the world, SpaceX accounted for 26 of them.

Broken down further, SpaceX launched significantly more to space than the rest of the world combined. It launched 519 spacecraft during Q3 compared to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the next closest, which launched 24 spacecraft.

The stat that Musk quoted from BryceTech was one that he often likes to hold up, which is spacecraft upmass to orbit. That chart shows in Q3, SpaceX launched 381,278 kg to orbit, followed by CASC at 24,560 kg and Roscosmos with 17,475 kg.

Meanwhile, over at Launch Complex 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center, teams continue to work towards what likely will end up being the final launch from that pad in 2023. The Falcon Heavy supporting the USSF-52 mission rolled back into the adjacent hanger Tuesday evening in anticipation of integrating the X-37B spaceplane onto the rocket.

Launch of the ninth Falcon Heavy to date continues to target Dec. 10.

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SpaceX sends 23 Starlink satellites to orbit on 90th Falcon launch of 2023 Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now