SpaceX launched the first Falcon Heavy mission in over three years

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is back in business. It has now launched the first Falcon Heavy mission in over three years. This is a towering rocket and the most powerful one currently in operation. The rocket is carrying the classified USSF-44 mission for the U.S. Space Force. It is also the first operational national security mission for Falcon Heavy. The mission took off from a launchpad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Earlier, launch was the Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission in June 2019. At that time, it carried experimental satellites on a demonstration flight for the Pentagon. Falcon Heavy’s base is reusable. However, the company landed just the side pair of the three rocket boosters. Its central core dropped into the ocean as traditional rockets do. The purpose was to meet the Space Force’s high-performance requirement for this mission. The hiatus in Falcon Heavy launches is attributable to the readiness of customers on its schedule. Incidentally, the company has completed three since the rocket’s debut in February 2018. SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket, on Space Force mission.

This original schedule of USSF-44 mission was for late 2020. There was plan for two other Falcon Heavy missions for this year – one for the Space Force and the other for NASA. However, customer payloads are also not ready yet. In fact, there is a backlog of about a dozen missions for Falcon Heavy still to come. SpaceX continues to launch its Falcon series of rockets at a high rate. The latest mission was the company’s record 50th launch this year and the company continues to work on the even larger Starship rockets that could replace them.

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President Barack Obama vows to help send people to Mars in the next 15 years

Colonization of Red Planet Mars is being talked about and President Barack Obama has vowed to help send people to Mars within the next 15 years. He has indicated that the U.S. government would link up with private companies 'to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space.'
He has set a tentative goal of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth. The ultimate objective is to remain there for an extended time.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 11 October 2016.

President Obama also went on to say that the US is working with its commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration Mars mission in deep space. Such missions will help learn how humans can live far away from Earth - that is something that will be vital for the long journey to Mars.
Already the California-based SpaceX, headed by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, also has plans to send people to Mars in the coming years. But, it has recently faced an unsuccessful launch last month that cost the company a $200-million satellite.
anyway, a journey to Mars would take about nine months, depending on rocket velocity. A high-speed trip could take as little as 130 days. But, the issue of taking enough food and water into space to feed astronauts on a months or years-long mission to deep space is going to be a major logistical problem.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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SpaceX to land a robot Dragon on Mars in 2018

Mission Mars is set to happen earlier than expected because SpaceX has readied plans to send an unmanned Dragon spacecraft to Mars as early as 2018 and, it would be a first step in achieving founder Elon Musk's goal to fly people to another planet. If successful, SpaceX will beat all other world space agencies in landing a new robot on Mars.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 28 April 2016.

NASA aims to send human mission to Mars in the 2030s and it will provide technical support for SpaceX's first foray, known as Red Dragon. However, it will not extend any financial assistance to SpaceX's Mars mission. However, SpaceX is upgrading the capsules to carry astronauts, with test flights to the station scheduled for 2017, under a separate NASA contract worth up to $2.6 billion.
NASA has indicated that SpaceX could provide valuable entry, descent and landing data for NASAs journey to Mars. The SpaceX program is intended to develop technologies needed for human transportation to Mars, a long-term aim for Musk's privately held company. It will make available details of its Mars program at the International Astronautical Congress in September.
The Dragon 2 is designed to land anywhere in the solar system and the Red Dragon Mars mission is the first test flight. SpaceX, at present, transports cargo versions of its Dragon capsule to and from the International Space Station under a $2 billion resupply services contract with NASA.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is a revolution in space flight

Astronauts in the ISS will soon get their first ever inflatable room up there in space. Blow-up air mattresses will be a thing of the pat as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) takes over. It will be the first inflatable habitat to get attached to the International Space Station (ISS) and it is scheduled to launch by an unmanned SpaceX rocket.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 8 April 2016.

In the age of mission to Moon, Mars and distant planets, expendables like BEAM (also known as 'inflatables') will be useful because they are lightweight and take up minimal space on a rocket, they expand after being deployed in space and provide a comfortable area for astronauts to live and work. The first BEAM will remain there for two years.
The unmanned SpaceX Falcon rocket will carry a capsule full of supplies with the pioneering pod in its trunk. Bigelow Aerospace who is behind the experiment will get a ride to the International Space Station (ISS) with another private space company.
The inflatable pod demo is the first step towards paving the way for moon bases and Mars expeditions, as well as orbiting outposts that will cater to scientists and tourists in just a few more years.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Sir Richard Branson back with his Virgin Galactic to send men into space

Sir Richard Branson is back in business to relaunch his Virgin Galactic project and send passengers into space. Virgin will charge passengers $250,000 for a short journey into zero gravity and enjoy a glimpse of the planet Earth from the edge of space.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 19 February 2016.

Sir Branson's venture had suffered a devastating setback in 2014 after the death of one pilot and serious injury to a second after the spacecraft crashed on a powered test flight. It happened after SpaceShipTwo fired up its rocket following a high-altitude drop from Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo mothership.
It crashed over California's Mojave Desert and the accident was attributed to the co-pilot unlocking a braking system too early.
Therefore, the project's new SpaceShipTwo will now be unveiled by Sir Richard Branson - it is a six-passenger space plane and it will take thrill-seekers and commercial customers on five-minute hops into suborbital space, reaching altitudes of about 100-Km.
Incidentally, despite the setback Virgin Galactic is going ahead with plans to build its own space launchers, including the new passenger vehicle and LauncherOne rockets that will be designed to lift small satellites. These activities are expected to commence from next year.
Apart from Branson, there are others who are working on sending paying passengers into space. They are SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
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Elon Musk finally gets it right - SpaceX rocket lands back on Earth vertically

#InternationalSpaceStation #SpaceX #ElonMusk Billionaire Elon Musk has resons to cheer because aster the June's disaster his SpaceX has taken a huge step forward towards an era of far cheaper space launches. SpaceX has succeeded in landing its rocket vertically back on Earth after sending satellites into orbit. This is seen as a major achievement in developing cheaper, more accessible space travel.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 22 December 2015.

The three earlier attempts of SpaceX rockets to land on a platform at sea had failed. In fact, the June flight exploded while on its way to re-supply the International Space Station.
When the 15-storey Falcon 9 rocket touched down at Florida's Cape Canaveral, there was celebrations all around among the SpaceX people.
The first-stage booster landed on a giant X after successfully sending 11 satellites into orbit for US telecoms company OrbComm. The landing happened 10 minutes after lift-off and was six miles away on a reinforced concrete surface.
SpaceX is the brainchild of Elon Musk, the billionaire and founder of Tesla electric cars. He has hopes of dramatically reducing the launch costs by reusing rockets. This concept would revolutionize space travel and open the gate to more people. In return, its pioneers will make a lot of money.
The present practice is to jettison the rocket boosters after a couple of minutes and land in the sea from where they are recovered and eventually refurbished. This is a costly and time-consuming process.

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US astronauts onboard ISS have to work for their living – spacewalk is their routine

#spacewalk #ISS #NASA #AstroButch #AstroTerry #SpaceX #Boeing The US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Terry Virts who are onboard the ISS have to work hard for their living – these spacewalking astronauts have already routed more than 300 feet of cable outside the International Space Station. This is not an easy task but is tricky and tiring and they have to complete the task before the new American-made crew capsules arrive.
This has been reported on foxnews.com dated 21 February 2015.
Their latest spacewalk was the first of three such walks planned over the coming week. The total length of cable they have to run outside the ISS is 764 feet and they have already succeeded in completing the rigging of eight power and data lines, or roughly 340 feet.
In the opinion of NASA, the task ahead for Butch Wilmore and Terry Virts is the most complicated cable-routing job in the 16-year history of the space station and it would be equally difficult to run the cable on the inside of the complex. This extensive rewiring is necessary in order to get ready for NASA's next phase.
In 2017, it would be time for arrival of the first commercial spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the orbiting lab.
It may be recalled that NASA has contracted with Boeing and SpaceX to build the capsules and fly them from Cape Canaveral.
Once they arrive in the ISS, the docking ports must be ready hence, still more spacewalks would be necessary to set everything up.

SpaceX observatory DSCOVR to keep track of solar storms from one million miles away

#spacex #falcon9 #DSCOVR #solarstorm #NOAA #NASA It was third time lucky for SpaceX when it succeeded in launching a solar-storm lookout point a million miles away as envisaged by former Vice President Al Gore. This observatory blasted off on an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket, to hoist the spacecraft for NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Air Force.
It was the third try in four days as reported in foxnews.com dated 11 February 2015.
Al Gore had dreamed up the idea for an environmentally conscious, Earth-gazing satellite 17 years ago. He was present for the sunset launch. In fact, he was present at the two previous failed attempts since he was eager to see his brainchild finally soar.
In the opinion of Elon Musk, SpaceX's billionaire founder and chief executive, sending the observatory on its $340 million mission was the main event since it represented the first deep-space mission for SpaceX.
The intention of the observatory nicknamed DSCOVR (pronounced discover) is to provide advance warnings of solar outbursts that could disrupt life here on Earth.
It is understood that DSCOVR will take nearly four months to travel one million miles, four times farther than the moon, to the so-called Lagrange point. This is a gravity-neutral position in direct line with the sun and, being at this lookout location, 92 million miles from the sun, it will be able to provide advance warnings of incoming geomagnetic storms that could disrupt power and communications on Earth.

SpaceX Dragon berths with International Space Station

#dragonspacecraft #SpaceX #NASA #ISS #soyuzspacecraft With the berthing of the Dragon spacecraft, operated by California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), humans take yet another step into its venturing out into Space to conquer new barriers.
The Dragon is the first private spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station as reported in space.com dated 30 January 2015 – its duty and responsibility is to transport cargo to and from the ISS and it has commercial agreements with NASA.
SpaceX made its first demonstration flight to the station in May 2012, and then began commercial fights and is currently contracted with NASA to carry out 12 robotic supply flights to the station for a minimum of $1.6 billion.
Ferrying cargo to and from the station is one aspect of SpaceX because it is simultaneously working on a plan to put astronauts on the Dragon spacecraft. For this, the company has received in 2014 an amount of $2.6 billion from NASA for the latest phase of the Commercial Crew Program. The aim is to fly astronauts on American spacecraft by 2017.
For the Commercial Crew Program, Dragon would be modified to accommodate up to seven astronauts – this is three in the Soyuz spacecraft that is being used. SpaceX and NASA are hoping that this capability to carry more astronauts could allow International Space Station crews to expand from the current normal level of six people.

NASA eyes humans on Mars by 2024 – Boeing and SpaceX to ferry astronauts to ISS

#NASA #boeing #SpaceX #CST100 #ISS NASA plans to tie up with commercial companies like Boeing and SpaceX to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station ISS by 2017 and, subsequently, to send humans to Mars by 2024. It may be recalled that the announcement of US$4.2 billion for Boeing and US$2.6 billion for SpaceX was made in September 2014. However, things are gradually hotting up.
Following the end of its 30-year space shuttle program in 2011, NASA has to rely on Russia and its Soyuz capsules but the cost charged is $US70-million per seat but, with the entry of private contractors like Boeing and SpaceX, the cost would reduce to approximately $US58-million.
As indicated by Commercial crew program manager Kathy Lueders, the cost per seat in the new US commercial industry would be approximately $US58 million – this would be an average cost teased out over the course of a five-year mission plan. The goal is to have two robust providers.
The tentative plans are to send a NASA astronaut and a Boeing test pilot in the first crewed test flight on the spacecraft called Crew Space Transportation-100, or CST-100 for short, in July 2017. This has been informed by John Elbon, Boeing's vice president and general manager of space exploration.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden has clarified that the rise of private industry in reaching low-Earth orbit would translate into greater benefits because the US space agency will then be in a position to focus on sending humans to Mars by 2024.
Of course, another major benefit for the US would be to end its costly dependency on the Russian space agency.

International Space Station astronauts finally get their Christmas presents

#ISS #DragonCapsule #SpaceX It was a much belated shipment of Christmas presents for the astronauts on-board the International Space Station that finally arrived at the ISS along with much-needed groceries.
It was delivered by Dragon, the supply ship of SpaceX Company. It had taken off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday and arrived at the orbiting lab early on Monday. The astronauts working inside the station made use of a robotic crane to pluck the capsule from orbit and grab its precious cargo.
Station commander Butch Wilmore radioed to Mission Control in Houston about the safe arrival of the items because the six astronauts in ISS were getting a little low on supplies since, the previous supply ship was destroyed in an October launch explosion. That was owned by a different company and, NASA had to arrange and send replacement equipment aboard Dragon.
Incidentally, Butch Wilmore was waiting eagerly for fresh stock of mustard - the condiment cabinet of ISS is, reportedly, empty.
The Dragon capsule is believed to be loaded with over 2,313-Kg of food, clothing, equipment and science experiments for the six-member station crew and includes an instrument to measure clouds and aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere. The capsule will not return immediately but will remain docked to ISS for about four weeks and, then, would fly back to Earth.

SpaceX experiment with Falcon rocket soft landing fails

#SpaceX #Dragon #ElonMusk #Falcon9 The American SpaceX firm has revealed that its experiment with soft landing of its Falcon rocket on a floating sea platform was not successful. The vehicle was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on a mission to send a cargo capsule to the International Space Station.
However, once the first-stage of the rocket completed its part of this task, it tried to make a controlled return and hit the platform hard – this was confirmed by the company CEO Elon Musk via tweet.
SpaceX will keep trying in order to prove this type of capability because, it would be a method to reduce the costs dramatically because it would pave the way for normally disposable rockets to be recovered, refurbished and re-used. If successful it would mean tremendous savings in the cost of flights.
Moreover, it might also point to new ways of bringing spacecraft back down to Earth in general and change the way we look at space flight at present.
The present system is that rockets have an expendable architecture. Once airborne, they discard engines and empty propellant tanks to save the weight so that their upper-stage, including the satellite payload, can jump to orbit. The unwanted hardware is discarded and heads to Earth and disintegrates en-route and, hence, an expensive rocket is required for each launch – that is what SpaceX is aiming to do, to eliminate such wastages.