{"id":18530,"date":"2018-05-11T20:19:34","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T12:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacexs-upgraded-falcon-9-debuts-with-launch-for-bangladesh-and-rocket-landing\/"},"modified":"2018-05-11T20:19:34","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T12:19:34","slug":"spacexs-upgraded-falcon-9-debuts-with-launch-for-bangladesh-and-rocket-landing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacexs-upgraded-falcon-9-debuts-with-launch-for-bangladesh-and-rocket-landing\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s upgraded Falcon 9 debuts with launch for Bangladesh (and rocket landing)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_419292\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-419292\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-419292\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-spacex-630x437.jpg\" alt=\"Falcon 9 launch\" width=\"630\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-spacex-630x437.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-spacex-768x533.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-spacex.jpg 972w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-419292\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket lifts off from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (SpaceX via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SpaceX sent a Bangladeshi telecommunications satellite into orbit today atop what CEO Elon Musk calls the \u201clast major version\u201d of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n<p>But Musk has yet more tweaks up his sleeve: He\u2019s aiming to make the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket&nbsp;\u2014 including its nose cone and second stage&nbsp;\u2014 fully reusable, with a turnaround time of as little as 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor those that know rockets, this is a ridiculously hard thing,\u201d he told reporters during a pre-launch briefing. \u201cIt\u2019s taken us, man, since 2002 \u2014 16 years of extreme effort and many, many iterations and thousands of small but important development changes to get to where we think this is even possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Block 5 era began with today\u2019s liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:14 p.m. ET (1:14 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/16932871\/300x250_top_mobile_0\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_\/16932871\/300x250_top_mobile_0\" title=\"\u7b2c\u4e09\u65b9\u5e7f\u544a\u5185\u5bb9\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\" aria-label=\"\u5e7f\u544a\" tabindex=\"0\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-google-container-id=\"2\" style=\"border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Launch had originally been scheduled for the day before, but SpaceX\u2019s flight control computer triggered an abort sequence with less than a minute left in Thursday\u2019s countdown. SpaceX said the problem had to do with a software setting that was left over from a previous test sequence and hadn\u2019t been properly reset.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s countdown, in contrast, went as smooth as silk all the way to liftoff.<\/p>\n<p>Minutes after launch, the rocket\u2019s first-stage booster flew itself to a touchdown on an oceangoing platform known as \u201cOf Course I Still Love You.\u201d Meanwhile, the second stage successfully sent the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Both those developments drew cheers from SpaceX employees watching the webcast from the company\u2019s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Falcon 9 Block 5 first launch &amp; landing\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IBEH4t05AvM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Bangabandhu-1 will be Bangladesh\u2019s first geostationary communications satellite, and will provide satellite TV services as well as broadband connectivity and emergency communications services to the South Asian nation and the surrounding region.<\/p>\n<p>As important as the payload is, proving out the Block 5 design is arguably just as important: The rocket has been upgraded with a more powerful version of SpaceX\u2019s Merlin engine, more resilient thermal protection and more streamlined landing legs. One of its trademark identifying features is a black interstage section in the middle, which is made of unpainted carbon composite material.<\/p>\n<p>Many more upgrades from Block 4 are under the hood, Musk said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/16932871\/300x250_mid_0\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_\/16932871\/300x250_mid_0\" title=\"\u7b2c\u4e09\u65b9\u5e7f\u544a\u5185\u5bb9\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\" aria-label=\"\u5e7f\u544a\" tabindex=\"0\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-google-container-id=\"3\" style=\"border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe key to Block 5 is, it\u2019s designed to do 10 or more flights with no refurbishment between each flight,\u201d he told reporters. With periodic refurbishment, a single first-stage booster could be capable of executing on the order of 100 flights before its retirement, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Quick turnaround is another SpaceX goal. By the end of next year, Musk aims to demonstrate that a single Falcon 9 booster could be used for two orbital launches within 24 hours. \u201cThat will be a very, very exciting outcome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Musk said this first Block 5 rocket would be brought back to shore, taken apart and inspected to verify its rapid reusability. \u201cIronically, we need to take it apart to prove that it does not need to be taken apart,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n<p>The Block 5 model is designed to satisfy NASA\u2019s requirements for launching astronauts as well as the Air Force\u2019s requirements for national security payloads. If all goes according to plan, Block 5 rockets will start sending test crews to the International Space Station for NASA later this year.<\/p>\n<p>Musk said there\u2019ll be no Block 6. Instead, SpaceX\u2019s rocket design team will focus on the BFR, the \u201cBig Frickin\u2019 Rocket\u201d that\u2019s meant to be capable of carrying payloads and people to the moon and Mars within the next decade. The spaceship portion of the BFR system could begin short-hop testing, similar to the Falcon 9\u2019s early Grasshopper test flights, as early as next year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_419303\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-419303\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-419303\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-landing-630x364.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX Falcon 9 landing\" width=\"630\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-landing-630x364.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-landing-768x444.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180511-landing.jpg 1096w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-419303\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A video feed from SpaceX\u2019s autonomous drone landing ship, \u201cOf Course I Still Love You,\u201d shows the Falcon 9\u2019s first-stage booster safely landed. (SpaceX via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/16932871\/300x250_mobile_article_bottom_0\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_\/16932871\/300x250_mobile_article_bottom_0\" title=\"\u7b2c\u4e09\u65b9\u5e7f\u544a\u5185\u5bb9\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\" aria-label=\"\u5e7f\u544a\" tabindex=\"0\" data-load-complete=\"true\" data-google-container-id=\"4\" style=\"border: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There will be additional \u201cminor refinements\u201d in Block 5, Musk said. SpaceX aims to recover the Falcon 9\u2019s nose cone, or fairing, by having it deploy a parafoil and sail into a giant net deployed from a ship. Even the second stage could be recovered from orbit, Musk said, but the requisite thermal protection system still has to be developed.<\/p>\n<p>Reusing rockets is key to Musk\u2019s grand strategy of lowering the cost of access to space and eventually making it possible to send thousands of settlers to Mars, thus turning humanity into a multiplanetary species. He compared his future vision for spaceflight to the current business model for commercial aviation, which relies on using the same flying vehicle for thousands of flights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWould you rather fly in an aircraft that has never had a test flight before, or do you want to fly on an aircraft that has flown many times successfully?\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Musk said greater reusability is already having an impact on SpaceX\u2019s famously low pricing for rocket launches. While the base price for a launch that uses a brand-new Falcon 9 is $60 million, the equivalent price for a previously flown Falcon 9 is $50 million, he said.<\/p>\n<p>He said the marginal cost of a orbital rocket launch could eventually fall to a slim fraction of that figure, but he cautioned that SpaceX still had to cover fixed costs. The company will also have to cover the not-inconsequential development costs for the BFR and for SpaceX\u2019s Starlink broadband satellite constellation.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s facilities in Redmond, Wash., are taking the lead role in the Starlink effort. The constellation\u2019s first prototype satellites were sent into orbit in February, and within the next few years, Starlink is expected to become a major contributor to SpaceX\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket lifts off from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (SpaceX via YouTube) SpaceX sent a Bangladeshi telecommunications satellite into orbit today atop what CEO Elon Musk calls the \u201clast major version\u201d of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. But Musk has yet more tweaks up his sleeve: He\u2019s aiming [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[479,316],"class_list":["post-18530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-falcon-9","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}