SpaceX announced yesterday that the company has completed engine flight qualification the Merlin 1D engine. If SpaceX follows prior precedent with the Merlin 1C, the next step should be a buildup of multiple engine testing leading to a full length mission firing of the Falcon 9v1.1 first stage. Also presumably on the to do list, qualification […]
Trouble plagued Sea Launch AG has secured it first order following a February 1st launch failure which saw the complete loss of the Zenit 3-SL booster and Intelsat-27 satellite only seconds after liftoff. The failure, which has been blamed on a Ukrainian built pump which supplied on-board power, occured 4.5 seconds after liftoff and resulted in the automatic shut-down of […]
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg AFB California at 10:02 AM PST today, carrying the NASA / U.S. Geological Survey Landsat Data Continuity Mission. Launching into a near polar orbit, the LDCM, which will be officially named Landsat 8 pending a successful check out in orbit, will continue the long running earth […]
Sea Launch A G suffered a major, and possibly crippling setback in efforts to regain a meaningful market position in the early hours of Friday morning (EST) when its Zenit 3-SL launch vehicle veered off its course immediately following liftoff. 50 seconds later, the main engine shut down, terminating thrust and sending the rocket and its Intelsat -27 payload […]
On September 12, SpaceX announced an agreement with SES to launch an additional three satellites beyond the SES-8 launch scheduled for next year. Of particular note was the apparent provision that one or more launches, to begin in 2015, could be carried out on a Falcon Heavy. Immediately following its recent COTS 2/3 launch the company announced the first commercial agreement for […]
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