SpaceX

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SpaceX

Type of Company	Private
Founded	2002
Headquarters	El Segundo, California
Key people	Elon Musk: CEO and CTO
Industry	Aerospace
Products	Orbital rocket launch
Revenue	unknown
Employees	205
Slogan	"Revolutionizing access to space" (?)
Website	spacex.com

The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) is a space-transportation startup company whose stated goal is to improve the cost and reliability of access to space "ultimately by a factor of ten". It is based in El Segundo, California, USA.

SpaceX is developing a family of partially reusable two-stage kerosene–liquid-oxygen launch vehicles.

1 Background
2 Launcher versions
3 Launches
- 3.1 Maiden flight
- 3.2 Upcoming launches
4 Future development
5 External links
- 5.1 Articles
6 References

[edit] Background

SpaceX was founded in June 2002 by CEO/CTO Elon Musk, who had also co-founded startup companies Zip2 and PayPal. As of March 2006 he had invested about $100,000,000 of his personal wealth in SpaceX. Although Musk has stated that he could financially handle two early-launch failures, he also has said "If we have three consecutive failures […] it's not clear to me that we know what we're doing and maybe we should go out of business."

As of November 2005, the company has approximately 160 employees.^[1] The launch crew in the Marshall Islands comprises 25 persons, with 6 in mission control. This small number of employees, when compared to other companies that produce similarly sized rockets, is part of the cost reduction that Musk is trying to achieve. He sees other rocket manufacturers as providing space-launch services at an unreasonably high price to support an unnecessary bureaucracy.

[edit] Launcher versions

Version	Falcon 1	Falcon 5	Falcon 9	Falcon 9	Falcon 9-S5	Falcon 9-S9
Stage 0	—	—	—	—	2 boosters with 5 × Merlins each	2 boosters with 9 × Merlins each
Stage 1	1 × Merlin	5 × Merlin	9 × Merlin	9 × Merlin	9 × Merlin	9 × Merlin
Stage 2	1 × Kestrel	1 × Merlin	1 × Merlin	1 × Merlin	1 × Merlin	1 × Merlin
Height (max; m)	21.3	47	47	53	53	53
Diameter (m)	1.7	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6	3.6
Initial thrust (kN)	318	1,890	3,400	3,400	?	?
Takeoff weight (tonnes)	27.2	154.5	?	290	?	?
Fairing diameter (Inner; m)	1.5	3.6	3.6	5.2	5.2	5.2
Payload (LEO; kg)	570	4,100	9,300	8,700	16,500	24,750
Payload (GTO; kg)	—	1,050	3,400	3,100	6,400	9,650
Price (Mil. USD)	6.7	18	27	35	51	78
Price/kg (LEO; USD)	11,754	4,390	2,903	4,023	3,091	3,152
Price/kg (GTO; USD)	—	17,143	7,941	11,290	7,969	8,083
Success ratio (successful/total)	0/1	—	—	—	—	—

[edit] Launches

Falcon 1 was developed and launched first.

[edit] Maiden flight

Falcon 1 prototype.

The first Falcon 1 at Space Launch Complex—Three West (SLC-3W), Vandenberg Air Force Base.

On November 26, 2005, the first launch attempt was scrubbed because of weather and ground-related holds. On December 19, 2005, a second scrub occurred when a faulty valve caused the first-stage kerosene tank to deform during an unfueling maneuver. Subsequently, the launch tower was redesigned to reduce liquid-oxygen boil-off and to avoid wind-related holds. On February 10, 2006, further static testing led to a delay for an unspecified cause.

On March 17 and March 22, before the maiden flight, two static firings were performed in order to validate the rocket hardware and launch procedures.

The Falcon 1 maiden flight was originally scheduled for 1:00 P.M. PST (4:00 P.M. EST, 9:00 P.M. GMT) on March 24. An unplanned hold of about 90 minutes occurred because a ship tasked with recovery of the first stage was in a restricted down-range zone.

The maiden launch of the Falcon 1 finally occurred on 24 March 2006, at 22:30 UTC (09:30 local time, 25 March), from Omelek Island, in the Kwajalein Atoll. After 29 seconds of flight, the main engine failed, leading to loss of the vehicle soon thereafter. High-resolution photography of the launch shows the engine on fire during ascent. An investigation of the cause of the propulsion failure conducted by SpaceX and DARPA determined that corrosion on an aluminum nut led to failure resulting in a fuel leak. Corrective actions being taken include replacing similar nuts with welds where possible and with stainless steel where welding is not possible.^[2] It should be noted that early failures for a space launch vehicle have been typical; the first two launches of the Ariane 5 did not succeed, for instance.

The company provided a live webcast of the flight from various launchpad cameras, with mission-control voiceover. The webcast showed water-dump, ignition, and pad liftoff. The view switched to an onboard camera, with the atoll clearly receding in the background. About 40 seconds into the flight, the webcast ceased.

The 19.5-kilogram (43-pound) United States DARPA payload FalconSAT-2 was built by United States Air Force Academy cadets to investigate the phenomenon known as "space weather", or plasma in the upper atmosphere. The planned orbit was 450 kilometers (280 miles).

[edit] Upcoming launches

The second Falcon 1 launch will loft an instrumented demonstration payload to return data on the booster's performance; this launch is currently scheduled for after January or Febuary 2007. ^[3]^[4] The third launch will carry a Naval Research Laboratory Optical Sciences Division Tacsat payload from Vandenberg Air Force Base's Pad 3W. This launch was originally scheduled for early 2006, and scheduled to carry a secondary payload, arranged through Texas-based Space Services, Inc.: memorial capsules containing the cremated remains of 187 persons, including Project Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and Star Trek actor James Doohan.

The maiden launch of the Falcon 9 is scheduled for late 2007, with a U.S. government payload, followed by a launch, in the first quarter of 2008, with a payload of a Bigelow Aerospace Genesis Pathfinder expandable space-station module.^[5]

On May 2, 2005, SpaceX announced that it had been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for Responsive Small Spacelift (RSS) launch services by the United States Air Force, which could allow the Air Force to purchase up to $100,000,000 worth of launches from the company. ^[6]

Elon Musk indicated at the International Space Development Conference that SpaceX has sold 11 contracts for flights on the various Falcon vehicles. ^[7]

[edit] Future development

[edit] Manned orbital spaceflight: SpaceX Dragon

Main article: SpaceX Dragon

While currently focused on the launch of unmanned spacecraft, SpaceX has announced that it plans to pursue a manned commercial space program through the end of the decade. ^[1] SpaceX seeks to win America's Space Prize, which will award $50,000,000 to the first US company that launches at least 5 astronauts on a privately financed and developed reusable spacecraft to low Earth orbit twice within 60 days before 10 January 2010.

On Friday 18th August 2006, it was announced that the company was one of two selected to provide crew and cargo resupply contracts to the International Space Station (ISS) under the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.

More details of the manned program were released on March 6, 2006.^[8] The SpaceX Dragon is a conventional blunt-cone ballistic capsule, capable of carrying 7 persons or a mixture of personnel and cargo, to and from low Earth orbit. It will be launched atop a Falcon 9 vehicle. The nosecone of the vehicle has a hinged cap, which opens to reveal a standard ISS Common Berthing Mechanism, which allows the Dragon to dock to the U.S. segment of the ISS.

[edit] Heavy lift launchers

On September 8, 2005, SpaceX announced the development of the Falcon 9, an upgrade to the Falcon 5, which would have nine Merlin engines in its first stage.^[9]^[10] The design is an EELV-class vehicle, intended to compete with the Delta IV and the Atlas V rockets. As in the Falcon 5, all stages will be designed to be reusable. The configuration of Falcon 5 has been changed, so that it is now a downscaled Falcon 9 with five Merlin engines in its first stage and not completely fueled tanks. According to the SpaceX updates webpage, the company has been working on the test stand for the Falcon 9, called the BFTS (Big Fucking Test Stand). This test stand will need to provide for the 350-metric-tons-force (3.4-meganewtons) of thrust that the 9 Merlin 1Bs are capable of delivering. The test stand has been built to withstand 1500 metric-tons-force (15 meganewtons) of thrust.

Additionally, SpaceX has announced plans for the development of the Merlin 2 engine, a scale version of a larger F-1-class engine to be developed in the future. The company is rumored to be working on a very large rocket to accompany the F-1-class engine, known as the BFR (Big Fucking Rocket).^[11] In the past, Musk has said "Long‐term plans call for development of a heavy‐lift product and even a super-heavy, if there is customer demand. We expect that each size increase would result in a meaningful decrease in cost per pound to orbit. For example, dollar cost per pound to orbit dropped from $4,000 to $1,300 ($8,800/kg to $2,900/kg) between Falcon 1 and Falcon 5. Ultimately, I believe $500 per pound ($1,100/kg) or less is very achievable." On other occasions, Musk has stated that he expects to be able to offer a price of $1,000 per kilogram by 2010.

[edit] Satellite systems

In January 2005, SpaceX bought a 10% stake in Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.

[edit] NASA launch partnership

On August 18, 2006, NASA announced that SpaceX has been chosen, along with Rocketplane Kistler, to develop crew and cargo launch services, aka Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), for the International Space Station. The plan using SpaceX's Dragon capsule calls for demonstration flights between 2008 and 2010. SpaceX may receive up to $278 million if they meet all NASA milestones.^[12]^[13]^[14]