Tag: SpaceX

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Universe Today

Europa Clipper starts odyssey to mysterious Jovian moon

Europa Clipper liftoff on SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket sends NASA's Europa Clipper into space from its Florida launch pad. (NASA Photo / Kim Shiflett)

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft today began its six-year cruise to the Jupiter system, with the goal of determining whether one of the giant planet’s moons has the right stuff in the right setting for life.

The van-sized probe was sent into space from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 12:06 p.m. ET (9:06 a.m. PT). A little more than an hour after launch, the spacecraft separated from its launch vehicle to begin a roundabout journey of 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from Earth orbit to Europa.

For decades, scientists have been collecting evidence that Europa harbors a hidden ocean of salty water beneath its icy shell. Or are they hidden lakes? Europa Clipper is built to characterize the moon’s surface, and what’s beneath that surface, to an unprecedented degree.

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Universe Today

SpaceX catches a Starship booster on the first try

Starship SuperHeavy booster catch
SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy booster settles back into the arms of its launch-pad cradle in Texas. (Credit: SpaceX)

For the first time ever, SpaceX has followed through on a Starship test launch by bringing back the Super Heavy booster for an on-target catch in the arms of its “Mechazilla” launch-tower cradle in Texas.

“This is a day for the engineering history books,” SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice said.

Today’s successful catch marks a giant step toward using — and reusing — Starship for missions ranging from satellite deployments to NASA’s moon missions to migrations to Mars.

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GeekWire

One way to get samples on Mars: Send in the Cybertrucks

Six AI-generated images of "Cybertruck on Mars" from Tesla AI Day presentation
These AI-generated images of a “Cybertruck on Mars” were shown during Tesla's AI Day 2022. (Tesla via YouTube)

Tesla’s Cybertruck may look ungainly on Earth, but a pressurized version of the vehicle might be just the thing for gathering up samples of Martian rock and soil for return to Earth. That’s one of the way-out concepts that was discussed in Seattle during the past week’s convention of the Mars Society, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Robotically controlled Cybertrucks could be part of a Mars exploration system that also includes SpaceX’s Starship super-rocket as well as spaceworthy versions of all-terrain vehicles and humanoid robots built by Tesla, according to mission plans suggested by Mars Society co-founder Robert Zubrin, retired NASA engineer Tony Muscatello and business analyst Kent Nebergall.

Zubrin said the Starship-based concept could even accelerate progress toward crewed missions to Mars.

“We use Starship to deliver a robotic expedition that has already examined thousands of samples on Mars, gathered from hundreds of kilometers away by helicopters, and tens of kilometers away gathered by rovers, and then we land the crew to do follow-up exploration, including drilling in well-characterized sites to bring up water and see what the life on Mars is,” he said during an Aug. 8 session.

How way out is that? It sounds like science fiction, but theoretically, at least some elements of the plan could show up in SpaceX’s proposal for reworking NASA’s Mars sample return strategy.

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GeekWire

Starliner crew might have to return in a Dragon in 2025

View of Boeing Starliner craft docked to International Space Station
An image captured through the window of a SpaceX capsule shows Boeing’s Starliner capsule at the International Space Station. (NASA Photo)

Continuing concerns about the thruster system on Boeing’s Starliner space capsule may lead NASA to decide against letting astronauts take the craft back down to Earth from the International Space Station, mission managers said today.

In such a scenario, the two astronauts who rode to the ISS in Starliner for the capsule’s first crewed test mission in June would fly back down in a SpaceX Dragon capsule next February.

“We haven’t approved this plan,” Steve Stich, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, told journalists during a teleconference. “In other words, we’ve done all the work to make sure this plan is there.”

Going ahead with the contingency plan would require shuffling arrangements for the next crew that’s due to take a Dragon to the ISS, known as Crew-9.

That crew would be cut back from four to two astronauts. Starliner’s test pilots, Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, would remain on the station for Crew-9’s tour of duty and return to Earth with Crew-9 as part of the regular rotation.

This week NASA pushed back Crew-9’s scheduled launch to no earlier than Sept. 24 to accommodate potential changes. Because of the parking arrangements at the station, the Starliner capsule would have to undock from the station before the Crew-9 launch and make an uncrewed, robotically controlled descent and landing.

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Universe Today

SpaceX resumes Falcon 9 launches after FAA go-ahead

SpaceX Falcon 9 liftoff at night
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Credit: SpaceX via X)

SpaceX is flying again after the Federal Aviation Administration ruled that the company can resume Falcon 9 rocket launches while the investigation into a failed July 11 mission continues.

The FAA’s go-ahead came on July 25 after SpaceX reported that the failure was caused by a crack in a sense line for a pressure sensor attached to the upper stage’s liquid-oxygen system. That resulted in an oxygen leak that degraded the performance of the upper-stage engine. As a near-term fix, SpaceX is removing the sense line and the sensors for upcoming Falcon 9 launches.

It didn’t take long for SpaceX to get back to its flight schedule. The company launched a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:45 a.m. ET July 27 (10:45 p.m. PT July 26). Like the July 11 mission, this one sent a batch of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.

The launch appeared to proceed without incident. After stage separation, the first-stage booster descended to a landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, while the second stage proceeded to orbit and deployed 23 satellites for the Starlink high-speed internet network.

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Universe Today

SpaceX rocket failure could delay lots of launches

View of Falcon 9 second-stage engine from rocket-cam
A view from the Falcon 9 upper stage's rocket-cam shows ice forming around engine hardware. (Credit: SpaceX via YouTube)

After going eight years and more than 300 launches without a failure, SpaceX had a Falcon 9 rocket launch go awry, resulting in the expected loss of 20 Starlink satellites.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it would oversee an investigation into the anomaly, raising the prospect that dozens of launches could be delayed until the problem is identified and rectified. Update for July 27: SpaceX was able to resume Falcon 9 launches after the FAA ruled that no public safety issues were involved in the anomaly.

As many as 40 Falcon 9 launches are on tap between now and the end of the year — potentially including missions that would carry astronauts to the International Space Station and send the privately funded Polaris Dawn crew into orbit for the world’s first commercial spacewalk.

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Cosmic Space

NASA picks SpaceX to create a space station killer

Illustration: U.S. Deorbit Vehicle
An artist's conception shows SpaceX's Deorbit Vehicle in action. (Credit: SpaceX)

Spacecraft built by SpaceX have been servicing the International Space Station since 2012, and now NASA has chosen SpaceX to build the spacecraft that’ll take the station down to its doom in 2030.

The space agency announced today that SpaceX has been selected to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will provide the capability to push the station into a fiery but controlled descent through the atmosphere. The deed will have to be done in a way that makes sure any debris falls harmlessly in an unpopulated area — for example, a remote part of the Pacific Ocean known as Point Nemo.

NASA laid out its plan for deorbiting the space station at the end of its operating life two years ago. At the time, mission planners suggested that Russian Progress supply ships or Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft might play a part in the denouement.

Today’s announcement makes clear that a SpaceX craft will take on the curtain-closing role. However, NASA will take ownership of the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle once it’s developed, and operate it through the final mission. No astronauts will be aboard the station during the robotically guided re-entry, and the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle is expected to break up along with the rest of the space station.

NASA said the single-award contract has a total potential value of $843 million. Launch service will be covered in a future procurement.

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GeekWire

Pentagon adds Blue Origin to $5.6B launch list

Illustration: New Glenn launch
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on the rise. (Blue Origin Illustration)

The Department of Defense has put Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin in the running for a share of up to $5.6 billion in national security space launch contracts, marking a first for Jeff Bezos’ space venture.

The decision means Blue Origin’s orbital-class New Glenn rocket is now eligible to be selected for the Pentagon’s most sensitive launches, joining rockets offered by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

The ordering period for what’s known as the Phase 3 Lane 1 procurement process runs through mid-2029, with an optional five-year extension. “This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, and seven offers were received,” the Department of Defense said in today’s contract award announcement.

“We’re honored by the opportunity to compete for these National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 missions with New Glenn,” a Blue Origin spokesperson told me in an email.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, named after the late NASA astronaut John Glenn, is still under development at the company’s facilities in Florida. New Glenn’s first launch is currently set for no earlier than September. It’s expected to send a pair of robotic probes to study Mars’ magnetosphere for NASA’s EscaPADE mission.

The amounts going to each of the three launch providers in the Phase 3 Lane 1 program will be determined by the task orders that go out for specific launches over the next five years.

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Universe Today

SpaceX’s Starship makes a splash in its best flight test yet

SpaceX's Starship lifts off from its Texas launch pad.
SpaceX's Starship lifts off from its Texas launch pad. (SpaceX Photo)

SpaceX’s Starship earned high marks today in its fourth uncrewed flight test, making significant progress in the development of a launch system that’s tasked with putting NASA astronauts on the moon by as early as 2026.

The Super Heavy booster blasted off from SpaceX’s Starbase complex in South Texas at 7:50 a.m. CT (5:50 a.m. PT), rising into the sky with 32 of its 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines blazing. Super Heavy is considered the world’s most powerful launch vehicle, with 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

Minutes after launch, the rocket’s upper stage — known as the Ship — separated from the first stage, firing up its own set of six Raptor engines. Meanwhile, Super Heavy flew itself to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

The soft splashdown marked a new achievement for Starship. During the third flight test, which took place in March, only a few of Super Heavy’s engines were able to light up again for a crucial landing burn. As a result, the booster hit the water with an uncontrolled splat.

Eventually, SpaceX plans to have the Super Heavy booster fly itself back to its base after doing its job.

The upper stage reached orbital-scale altitudes in excess of 200 kilometers (125 miles), but completing a full orbit wasn’t part of today’s plan. Instead, SpaceX aimed to have Ship make its own soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Streaming video, relayed via SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, showed the rocket’s protective skin glowing with the heat of atmospheric re-entry. Burning debris broke off from one of Ship’s control fins, damaging the camera’s lens — but the fuzzy view nevertheless confirmed that the spacecraft successfully hit the mark. That represented another advance over the third test, when the Ship broke up during its descent to the ocean.

“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk exulted in a posting to his X social-media platform.

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Universe Today

Japanese billionaire calls off his trip around the moon

Illustration: SpaceX Starship flying over moon
An artist's conception shows SpaceX's Starship flying over the moon. (Illustration via dearMoon)

Six years after he announced a grand plan to fly around the moon with a crew of artists in SpaceX’s Starship rocket, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said he was canceling the project due to delays in Starship’s development.

In a series of postings to the X social-media platform, Maezawa said he signed his contract with SpaceX “based on the assumption that dearMoon would launch by the end of 2023.”

“It’s a developmental project, so it is what it is, but it is still uncertain as to when Starship can launch,” he wrote. “I can’t plan my future in this situation, and I feel terrible making the crew members wait longer, hence the difficult decision to cancel at this point in time. I apologize to those who were excited for this project to happen.”

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