Tag: Falcon Heavy
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SpaceX looks to future with new pad, USAF contract, and boost for Falcon
Following a banner week for what was once the new kid on the block, SpaceX has secured a coveted US Air Force launch contract in the same week the company announced a joint venture with NASA to send its Red Dragon human rated spacecraft to Mars in 2018 while also announcing new maximum performance margins…
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SpaceX undecided on payload for first Falcon Heavy flight
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. Credit: SpaceX As SpaceX engineers put together the first model of the company’s new Falcon Heavy rocket, officials have not ruled out flying a paying customer’s satellite aboard the maiden flight of the humongous launcher scheduled later this year, the company’s president told Spaceflight Now. The long-awaited Falcon Heavy rocket…
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SpaceX announces plan to send mission to Mars in 2018
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Red Dragon spacecraft landing on Mars. Credit: SpaceX Elon Musk’s space transport company — chartered with a long-term goal of colonizing Mars — plans to send the first commercial mission to the red planet as soon as 2018 with assistance from NASA, SpaceX announced Wednesday. Measuring about 20 feet tall and…
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Telesat launch agreements awarded to SpaceX
Updated Feb. 29 with confirmation Telstar 18V and 19V will launch on Falcon 9s. File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch. Credit: SpaceX The Canadian telecom satellite operator Telesat plans to launch two multipurpose communications spacecraft aboard SpaceX Falcon rockets in 2018, the company disclosed this week in a quarterly earnings announcement. A…
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ViaSat trades in Falcon Heavy launch for Ariane 5
Artist’s concept of a Falcon Heavy rocket at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX Delays in the debut of SpaceX’s huge Falcon Heavy rocket have prompted ViaSat to move the launch of a high-speed Internet communications satellite from the new privately-developed booster to an Ariane 5 flight in early…
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Canaveral and KSC pads: New designs for space access
For the past several years, the historic launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, have undergone sweeping changes as the conclusion of the Space Shuttle program brought a new vision to the spaceport. Those changes have now spread across the lagoon to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where pad modifications are underway for…
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First flight of Falcon Heavy delayed again
Artist’s concept of the Falcon Heavy rocket, which will lift off powered by 27 Merlin main engines, generating nearly 4 million pounds of thrust. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX has slowed development of the Falcon Heavy rocket, a mega-booster made of three Falcon 9 booster cores strapped together, as the company recovers from a launch failure last…
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Falcon Heavy enabler for Dragon solar system explorer
SpaceX head Elon Musk has revealed plans to utilize the Falcon Heavy and Dragon 2 vehicles for science missions throughout the solar system. Citing Dragon 2’s capability as a “science delivery platform”, Mr. Musk claimed the crew-capable spacecraft could also be tasked with landing scientific payloads at destinations ranging from the Moon and Mars –…
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Arabsat contracts go to Lockheed Martin, Arianespace and SpaceX
Artist’s concept of the Lockheed Martin-built Arabsat 6A and HellasSat 4/SaudiGeoSat 1 satellites. Credit: Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin will build two communications satellites for Saudi Arabia’s Arabsat, and Arianespace and SpaceX will launch the commercial relay platforms under contracts valued at $650 million announced Wednesday. Riyadh-based Arabsat said in a press release that it had…
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KSC Pads continue preparations for future vehicles
Both of the iconic pads at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) are being revamped for their roles with new launch vehicles. Pad 39B is set to receive additional Catacomb Roof reinforcements to cope with the massive SLS Block 1B rocket, while Pad 39A’s landscape continues to change with modifications at the pad and the construction of…