Tag: Falcon Heavy

SpaceX Shoots For The Moon

SpaceX Shoots For The Moon

When Donald J. Trump won the U.S. Presidency, it was a pretty fair bet that America’s space program would soon be setting its sights on the Moon once again. What few saw coming however, was the bombshell that SpaceX dropped on Monday, as the company announced that it is in the advanced stages of mounting […]

Posted in: Space Tourism, SpaceX
SpaceX Falcon 9 Returns to Flight  (And Lands Again)

SpaceX Falcon 9 Returns to Flight (And Lands Again)

After working through a four month stand-down as it sought to understand and address the cause of the September 1st, 2016 explosion that destroyed a Falcon 9 booster and its payload during a pre-launch wet dress rehearsal at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX returned to flight in typically dramatic fashion on Saturday, successfully launching 10 Iridium Next […]

Posted in: SpaceX
The Rapidly Receding Rationale for NASA’s Space Launch System

The Rapidly Receding Rationale for NASA’s Space Launch System

Opinion As he neared the end of the Tuesday presentation in which he introduced the world to SpaceX’s Interplanetary Transport System, Elon Musk was asked the inevitable question regarding what his plans meant for NASA. The answer was both polite and encouraging, as Musk rightly pointed out that there is no one sure path to […]

Posted in: Blue Origin, NASA, SpaceX
Jeff Bezos Introduces New Glenn, Blue Origin’s Massive New Rocket

Jeff Bezos Introduces New Glenn, Blue Origin’s Massive New Rocket

If there were any possibility that SpaceX founder Elon Musk would step back from a highly anticipated announcement of his company’s next big booster in September in deference to the current Falcon 9 investigation, it has likely been erased by the bombshell dropped by Jeff Bezos on Monday. It came in the form of a […]

SpaceX Red Dragon Mars Mission Will Cost NASA Less than 10 Days Expenditure on Orion

SpaceX Red Dragon Mars Mission Will Cost NASA Less than 10 Days Expenditure on Orion

A few more details regarding SpaceX’s Red Dragon mission to Mars emerged during a quarterly meeting of the NASA Advisory Council, which was held in Cleveland on July 26th. As reported in SpaceNews, NASA estimates that it will spend roughly $32 million over four years supporting the mission, which SpaceX hopes to launch in 2018. SpaceX […]

Posted in: Mars, SpaceX
Affordable Science May Power Spacex’s Red Dragon to Mars; Again and Again, and Again

Affordable Science May Power Spacex’s Red Dragon to Mars; Again and Again, and Again

As much of the space community waits for September and the promised big reveal of SpaceX’s Mars colonization plans, company founder Elon Musk is finding it difficult to keep from spilling the beans about what is coming. In this interview in the Washington Post, an interesting venue considering the paper’s owner,  Musk shares a bit […]

Posted in: Mars, SpaceX
SLS, Falcon Heavy and Rockets “Worthy of a Great Nation” : Time for an Independent Review

SLS, Falcon Heavy and Rockets “Worthy of a Great Nation” : Time for an Independent Review

There is an interesting division taking place in the media as it relates to how NASA and the Space Launch System are being covered.  On the one hand, NASA itself has done an excellent, if not overly enthusiastic job of promoting SLS/Orion and the “Journey to Mars” despite the fact that there is no such […]

Posted in: SLS / Orion, SpaceX
Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Opinionated Analysis The ping pong match between the House and the Senate over ULA’s request for more RD-180 engines for the Atlas V was in the hands of the latter yesterday, where the Senate Armed Services Committee once again insisted that the number be limited to 9 engines beyond tbose already ordered as part of […]

Read’em and Weep: New Falcon 9 Performance Numbers Are Bad News for ULA, Arianespace

Read’em and Weep: New Falcon 9 Performance Numbers Are Bad News for ULA, Arianespace

Over the weekend, SpaceX updated the maximum performance numbers for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, helpfully including payload to Mars capability, (and Pluto) along with standard LEO and GTO numbers supplied by most launch vehicle providers. While the Falcon Heavy showed a somewhat surprisingly small increase, from 53,000 kg to 54,400 kg to […]

Posted in: SpaceX
SpaceX Announces First Mars Mission

SpaceX Announces First Mars Mission

In a surprising series of tweets on Wednesday, SpaceX announced that with the help of NASA, it is making good on its promise to “Occupy Mars” by launching its first, uncrewed mission to the Red Planet, possibly as soon as 2018. The mission, which has been in the public domain for several years, is the […]

Posted in: Mars, SpaceX
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