Showing posts with label rocket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rocket. Show all posts
Monday, October 28, 2013
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from California
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a small science satellite for Canada is seen as it is launched from a newly refurbished launch pad in Vandenberg Air Force Station September 29, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Gene BlevinsBy Irene KlotzVANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, California | Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:22pm EDT
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, California (Reuters) - An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Sunday to test upgrades before commercial satellite launch services begin later this year.
The 22-story rocket, built and flown by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, soared off a newly refurbished, leased launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Station at noon (1600 GMT).
The Falcon 9 blazed through clear blue skies out over the Pacific Ocean, its water vapor trail visible even as the rocket left the atmosphere.
"It went better than expected. It was incredibly smooth," SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk told Reuters after the launch.
Nestled inside the rocket's new 17-foot (5-meter) diameter nose cone was a small Canadian science satellite called Cassiope that initially was to fly on SpaceX's now-discontinued Falcon 1 launcher in 2008.
"It's certainly a huge relief to have successfully delivered Cassiope to orbit. It's been weighing on me quite heavily," Musk said.
Cassiope, which is designed to monitor the space environment around Earth and serve as a communications satellite, and five secondary payloads were delivered into their intended orbits, Musk told reporters on a conference call.
As an experiment, both of the rocket's two stages were restarted during flight.
Musk is particularly interested in developing the technology to fly the Falcon's first stage back to the launch site or have it gently splash down in the water so its motors can be recovered, refurbished and reflown. Currently, after delivering their payloads into orbit, the boosters tumble back toward Earth and essentially explode mid-air before crashing into the sea.
"The most revolutionary thing about the new Falcon 9 is the potential ability to recover the boost phase, which is almost three-quarters of the cost of the rocket," Musk said.
Neither engine restart test went perfectly, but engineers were able to get enough data to plan on a demonstration flight next year.
"The most important thing is we now believe we have all the pieces of the puzzle," Musk said.
The upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 has engines that are 60 percent more powerful than previous versions, longer fuel tanks, new avionics and software and other features intended to boost lift capacity and simplify operations for commercial service.
Privately-owned SpaceX has contracts for more than 50 launches of its new Falcon 9 and planned Falcon Heavy rockets.
Ten of those missions are to fly cargo to the International Space Station for NASA. The other customers are non-U.S. government agencies and commercial satellite operators.
SpaceX also has two contracts for small U.S. Air Force satellites but is looking to break the monopoly that United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has on flying big military satellites as well.
SpaceX already has flown three Dragon capsules to the station and made two other successful test flights with its older version Falcons.
Falcon 9's next mission is to put a communications satellite into orbit for SES World Skies. The launch is targeted for next month from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
"We accomplished a lot today," Musk said. "We have a little bit of work to do obviously, but all-in-all I think it's been a great day."
(Editing by Paul Simao)
Russia launches rocket after fiery crash in July
MOSCOW | Mon Sep 30, 2013 3:51am EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia successfully launched an unmanned Proton-M booster rocket on Monday, the first since the same type of rocket crashed in flames shortly after lift-off in July, the space agency said.
Carrying a communications satellite for Luxembourg-based SES, the rocket blasted off from the Russian-leased Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan at 3:38 a.m. (2138 GMT on Sunday), Roskosmos said.
The satellite reached orbit about nine hours later, state-run spacecraft maker Khrunichev, which built the Proton-M, said on its website.
The heavy-lift Proton-M is a workhorse of Russia's space program and the fiery crash on July 2 was one of several setbacks in recent years.
Officials have said velocity sensors that had been installed wrongly caused the crash, which generated tension between Russia and Kazakhstan because it spilled toxic rocket fuel.
The launch on Monday was conducted by International Launch Services, a U.S.-based subsidiary of Khrunichev.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Thursday, October 3, 2013
SpaceX ready to test-fly new Falcon rocket
By Irene Klotz
LOS ANGELES | Fri Sep 27, 2013 6:39pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Privately owned Space Exploration Technologies plans to test an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday from a site in California as part of its push into the satellite launch market.
Previous versions of the Falcon 9 have flown five times from the company's launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
If the new rocket's debut goes well, SpaceX plans to return to Florida for the Falcon 9's first commercial mission, an SES World Skies communications satellite, later this year.
Perched on top of the 22-story, beefed-up Falcon 9 will be Canada's Cassiope science satellite. Liftoff is targeted for 9 a.m. PDT (1600 GMT) from a newly refurbished launch site at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.
"This is essentially a development flight for the rocket," company founder and chief executive Elon Musk told Reuters.
The Falcon 9 has previously flown three missions for NASA to the International Space Station and two test flights.
In addition to work for NASA, private companies and foreign governments, SpaceX is looking to break the monopoly United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has on flying big U.S. military satellites.
All five Falcon 9 flights have been successful, though during the fourth mission on October 7, 2012, one of the rocket's engines shut down early. The other motors compensated for the loss of power and the rocket's payload - a Dragon cargo capsule - reached the space station as planned.
Engines on the new Falcon 9 have 60 percent more power than their predecessors. The rocket, known as Falcon 9 v1.1, also sports bigger propellant tanks, upgraded avionics and software and other improvements to boost performance and simplify operations.
The company has a backlog of more than 50 missions to fly on the new Falcon 9 and planned Falcon Heavy rockets, including 10 more cargo runs to the space station for NASA.
The company advertises Falcon 9 launch services for $56.5 million. Musk said he would like to discount that price by recycling and reusing the Falcon's first stage. Currently, the spent boosters splash down into the ocean and cannot be reused.
Toward that goal, SpaceX has been working on related program called Grasshopper to fly a booster back to its launch site. Engineers have not yet tested how the system would work over water, but they may get a trial run during Sunday's Falcon 9 flight.
"Just before we hit the ocean, we're going to relight the engine and see if we can mitigate the landing velocity to the point where the stage could potentially be recovered, but I give this maybe a 10 percent chance of success," Musk said.
Cassiope manufacturer, MDA Corp of Canada, originally contracted with SpaceX for a ride on its now-discontinued Falcon 1 rocket. Instead, SpaceX offered the firm a cut-rate price to fly on the new rocket's demonstration run.
"Cassiope is a very small satellite. It takes up just a tiny fraction of the volume of the fairing. They paid, I think, maybe 20 percent of the normal price of the mission," Musk said.
SpaceX has already won two U.S. Air Force contracts set aside for new launch service providers, but is eyeing the more lucrative missions currently flying on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets.
(Editing by Tom Brown and Andrew Hay)
Russia launches rocket after fiery crash in July
MOSCOW | Mon Sep 30, 2013 3:51am EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia successfully launched an unmanned Proton-M booster rocket on Monday, the first since the same type of rocket crashed in flames shortly after lift-off in July, the space agency said.
Carrying a communications satellite for Luxembourg-based SES, the rocket blasted off from the Russian-leased Baikonur facility in Kazakhstan at 3:38 a.m. (2138 GMT on Sunday), Roskosmos said.
The satellite reached orbit about nine hours later, state-run spacecraft maker Khrunichev, which built the Proton-M, said on its website.
The heavy-lift Proton-M is a workhorse of Russia's space program and the fiery crash on July 2 was one of several setbacks in recent years.
Officials have said velocity sensors that had been installed wrongly caused the crash, which generated tension between Russia and Kazakhstan because it spilled toxic rocket fuel.
The launch on Monday was conducted by International Launch Services, a U.S.-based subsidiary of Khrunichev.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from California
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a small science satellite for Canada is seen as it is launched from a newly refurbished launch pad in Vandenberg Air Force Station September 29, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Gene BlevinsBy Irene Klotz
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, California | Sun Sep 29, 2013 9:22pm EDT
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, California (Reuters) - An unmanned Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from California on Sunday to test upgrades before commercial satellite launch services begin later this year.
The 22-story rocket, built and flown by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, soared off a newly refurbished, leased launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Station at noon (1600 GMT).
The Falcon 9 blazed through clear blue skies out over the Pacific Ocean, its water vapor trail visible even as the rocket left the atmosphere.
"It went better than expected. It was incredibly smooth," SpaceX founder and Chief Executive Elon Musk told Reuters after the launch.
Nestled inside the rocket's new 17-foot (5-meter) diameter nose cone was a small Canadian science satellite called Cassiope that initially was to fly on SpaceX's now-discontinued Falcon 1 launcher in 2008.
"It's certainly a huge relief to have successfully delivered Cassiope to orbit. It's been weighing on me quite heavily," Musk said.
Cassiope, which is designed to monitor the space environment around Earth and serve as a communications satellite, and five secondary payloads were delivered into their intended orbits, Musk told reporters on a conference call.
As an experiment, both of the rocket's two stages were restarted during flight.
Musk is particularly interested in developing the technology to fly the Falcon's first stage back to the launch site or have it gently splash down in the water so its motors can be recovered, refurbished and reflown. Currently, after delivering their payloads into orbit, the boosters tumble back toward Earth and essentially explode mid-air before crashing into the sea.
"The most revolutionary thing about the new Falcon 9 is the potential ability to recover the boost phase, which is almost three-quarters of the cost of the rocket," Musk said.
Neither engine restart test went perfectly, but engineers were able to get enough data to plan on a demonstration flight next year.
"The most important thing is we now believe we have all the pieces of the puzzle," Musk said.
The upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 has engines that are 60 percent more powerful than previous versions, longer fuel tanks, new avionics and software and other features intended to boost lift capacity and simplify operations for commercial service.
Privately-owned SpaceX has contracts for more than 50 launches of its new Falcon 9 and planned Falcon Heavy rockets.
Ten of those missions are to fly cargo to the International Space Station for NASA. The other customers are non-U.S. government agencies and commercial satellite operators.
SpaceX also has two contracts for small U.S. Air Force satellites but is looking to break the monopoly that United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has on flying big military satellites as well.
SpaceX already has flown three Dragon capsules to the station and made two other successful test flights with its older version Falcons.
Falcon 9's next mission is to put a communications satellite into orbit for SES World Skies. The launch is targeted for next month from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
"We accomplished a lot today," Musk said. "We have a little bit of work to do obviously, but all-in-all I think it's been a great day."
(Editing by Paul Simao)
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Biggest U.S. rocket blasts off with spy satellite
1 of 7. An unmanned Delta 4 Heavy rocket, the largest booster in in the U.S. fleet, lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California August 28, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Gene BlevinsLOS ANGELES | Wed Aug 28, 2013 9:09pm EDT
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket, the largest in the U.S. fleet, blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Wednesday to put a classified spy satellite into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, officials said Wednesday.
The 23-story-tall rocket lifted off at 11:03 a.m. local time/1803 GMT from a launch pad originally built for, but never used by, NASA's now-retired space shuttles.
No details about the rocket's spy-satellite payload were released.
With three main booster-rocket cores, the Delta 4-Heavy is capable of putting a satellite the size of school bus into an orbit around Earth's poles.
Wednesday's launch was the second Delta 4-Heavy to fly from California. The rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., also has flown five times from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
"We are truly honored to deliver this critical asset to orbit," United Launch Alliance vice president Jim Sponnick said in a statement, praising the groups involved in the launch effort.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz from Cape Canaveral, Florida; Editing by Steve Gorman and Ken Wills)
Japan's newest rocket fails to lift off
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO | Tue Aug 27, 2013 9:25am EDT
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's first new rocket in 12 years failed to lift off on Tuesday, dealing a potential blow to hopes that Japan may be able to take a larger share of the growing, multi-billion dollar satellite launch industry.
It was the second setback for the Epsilon rocket this month.
An earlier launch was postponed because of a computer glitch. No word was immediately available on the cause of the problem on Tuesday or when the launch might be tried again.
The countdown at Japan's Uchinoura launch centre was broadcast live over the Internet, with commentary in English as well as Japanese. But nothing happened at the end of the countdown.
JAXA, Japan's space agency, later said the launch was halted with 19 seconds to go. Japanese media said an "irregularity" had been detected.
A three-stage rocket, the Epsilon - named for the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet - is 24.4 meters (80 feet) high, about half the size of Japan's workhorse H2A rocket. It weighs 91 tons and has been touted as a new, low-cost alternative.
The rocket was scheduled to carry a telescope into space for observation of the solar system.
Analysts said it was not immediately clear how much of an impact the failure would have on Japan's ambitions to cash in on the international satellite launch industry.
"This was the first flight and it was already postponed once and now will be postponed again," said Yukihiro Kumagai, an analyst at Jefferies & Co securities in Tokyo.
"Inevitably, this will raise some questions, but overall it is unlikely to have much influence," he added, noting that the Epsilon is not scheduled for another flight until 2015.
The rocket's smaller size and a computer system that allows it to perform its own system checks means it can be assembled quickly, which is expected to cut both personnel and equipment costs.
Launch control can be carried out using conventional desktop computers, greatly reducing costs and making the launches more mobile since they could take place at more sites.
U.S. companies had a monopoly on the commercial launch business 30 years ago, but its hold has steadily declined, with most of the business going to the France-based Arianespace, a public-private European partnership that in 2012 reported revenue of 1.3 billion euros.
The market has been shaken up by the recent entry of the California-based Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX.
Russia also markets a variety of rockets for space launches. Its workhorse Soyuz spaceships have been the only vehicles delivering crews to the ISS since the U.S. Space Shuttle fleet was retired from service in 2011.
India and China also provide launch services to some extent.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Robert Birsel and Ron Popeski)
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