Items tagged with SpaceX
Elon Musk and SpaceX have been doing some very cool things over the past decade with rockets. While the rockets SpaceX has been sending into space aren’t the sort capable of flying to the moon or Mars, they are capable of ferrying cargo safely to the ISS in Earth orbit and mostly returning to Earth in one piece. The big news this week was the unveiling of the SpaceX BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) spacecraft that can fly to the moon and beyond. During the unveiling of the rocket, Musk said that the BFR already has its first passenger booked, but during the event, no names were offered. When Musk...
Read more...
One lucky person is about to “boldly go where no [private passenger] has gone before”. SpaceX recently announced that they have booked the world’s first private flight to the moon. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk promised in early 2017 that two tourists would take to the stars by the end of of 2018. Musk hinted that the potential passengers had already paid significant deposits and would begin training for their flights later that year. The passengers were originally supposed to be aboard the Falcon Heavy carrying a Dragon capsule and take off from Kennedy Space Center’s historic Pad...
Read more...
Facebook has been embroiled in an almost obscene amount of controversy this past week, as governments begin to ask the social networking giant how a third-party firm managed to acquire comprehensive details on 50 million of its users. A year ago, the idea that Facebook was abused to steer the US election could have been considered a conspiracy, but now, it's widely believed to be likely. Not long after this story originally broke, there was an immediate uptick in the number of people deciding to close or delete their Facebook account. Before long, #DeleteFacebook became a trending hashtag, and...
Read more...
Fresh off the historic launch of Falcon Heavy earlier this year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is once again making big claims about what he wants to do next with his company. While speaking at the SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas over the weekend, Musk claimed that SpaceX will launch a spacecraft towards Mars as soon as next year. “I can tell you what I know currently is the case is that we are building the first ship, the first Mars interplanetary ship right now,” said Musk. “And I think we’ll be able to do short flights, sort of up-and-down flights, probably some time in the first...
Read more...
Just a little over a week after making history with the successful launch of Falcon Heavy, SpaceX is once again in the news. This time around, the company has gained FCC approval to lay the groundwork for a satellite-based internet service called Starlink. When we think of satellite internet, problems with latency often crop into our minds. This is because traditional satellites that are capable of delivering internet and TV service operate in a geostationary orbit (GEO) at an altitude of around 36,000 kilometers. However, the satellites that will form the backbone off Starlink will orbit the earth...
Read more...
Well, SpaceX has done it! The company's monstrous Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from the LC-39A launchpad at Cape Canaveral this afternoon, sending CEO Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster on an elliptical orbit around the Sun and Mars. There were many unanswered questions before the launch and skepticism, with Murk especially worried about vibrations and the interplay between the three boosters at launch. However, things apparently went off without a hitch. As scheduled, two of the Falcon 9 boosters performed boost back burns once separated from the central booster, and made perfect simultaneous...
Read more...
All eyes will be on Cape Canaveral early Tuesday afternoon when SpaceX will attempt to launch its long-awaited Falcon Heavy rocket. The company's existing Falcon 9 rocket is pretty much a known quantity at this point, and had a stellar record in 2017. However, strapping together what are essentially three Falcon 9 cores and launching the whole shebang into space is an incredible engineering feat that even SpaceX CEO Elon Musk isn't certain that his company can pull off tomorrow. However, if everything does go according to plan, SpaceX will attempt another first -- it will try to recover all three...
Read more...
We finally have an official launch date, and if all goes according to plan, Falcon Heavy will [hopefully] blast off from the LC-39A launchpad on February 6th, 2018. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the exciting news earlier today via Twitter. The first launch of Falcon Heavy has been in the works for years. SpaceX had originally hoped to get the heavy-lift vehicle off the ground in 2013, which was then later pushed to 2014. And now here we are in 2018 with the first flight less than two weeks away. Aiming for first flight of Falcon Heavy on Feb 6 from Apollo launchpad 39A at Cape Kennedy. Easy viewing...
Read more...
Falcon Heavy has passed another critical milestone on the way to its maiden flight. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter this afternoon that Falcon Heavy the static fire "was good" and that it generated "quite a thunderhead of steam" in the process. Falcon Heavy hold-down firing this morning was good. Generated quite a thunderhead of steam. Launching in a week or so. pic.twitter.com/npaqatbNir— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 24, 2018 The Falcon Heavy is a towering presence, sitting in all its monstrous glory on the LC-39A launchpad -- the very same launchpad that was used to send astronauts...
Read more...
SpaceX was sent into defense mode last week after the Zuma spy satellite, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, failed to achieve orbit. The satellite reportedly tumbled back to earth, breaking apart during re-entry. However, the U.S. Air Force this week is giving a vote of confidence to SpaceX, seemingly backing up the company's claims of not being at fault. Lieutenant General John Thompson, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center, providing the following statement to Bloomberg. “Based on the data available, our team did not identify any information that...
Read more...
Space enthusiasts have been waiting for SpaceX to "light up" its Falcon Heavy rocket. Once operational, the Falcon Heavy will be the world's most powerful rocket, capable of putting 120,000 pounds of cargo into low earth orbit. However, the ongoing government shutdown has put on the brakes with regards to SpaceX's race to the blast the rocket off into space. In order for SpaceX to accomplish static engines tests -- in which the Falcon Heavy fires its engines at full throttle while it is restrained on the launch pad -- the company needs support services from the US Air Force at the Kennedy Space...
Read more...
There's a brewing controversy surrounding SpaceX's recent launch from Cape Canaveral late Sunday night. The flight seemed to go off without a hitch, although we weren’t given full access to video throughout the entirety of the flight or detailed telemetry data considering that this was a classified mission for the U.S. Military. The Falcon 9 rocket was able to make a successful powered landing back on the ground after separating from the upper stage. However, SpaceX censored critical portions of the launch, including the separation of the nose cone surrounding the top-secret Zuma satellite,...
Read more...
It's happening! Some pessimists thought that Falcon Heavy would never see the light of day, but here we are in early January 2018 and the launch vehicle is looking in tip-top shape for its planned launch later this month. SpaceX today delivered pictures and video of Falcon Heavy standing upright on its LC-39A launchpad (the same pad that was used to launch the Saturn V rockets that help put men on the moon). While the Falcon Heavy looks like its primed for its maiden flight, it is actually being physically restrained on the pad for static fire tests. During these tests, the Falcon Heavy's 27 Merlin...
Read more...
A few weeks ago, Elon Musk announced his plans to launch a Tesla Roadster into space on the maiden flight of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. Musk stated in a tweet, "Payload will be my midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing Space Oddity. Destination is Mars orbit. Will be in deep space for a billion years or so if it doesn’t blow up on ascent." It seemed like an absurd thing for Musk to announce, and many took it to be a joke. After all, why would he want to send an electric car into orbit around Mars? But, given that Musk doesn't expect that Falcon Heavy's first launch to be a resounding success,...
Read more...
