SpaceX winning more commercial space launch business. Busy year ahead.

SpaceX continues to win commercial space launch business, such as this SpaceX/Boeing deal. Its competitive pricing and recent successes are bolstering its launch backlog.  And in a recent BBC interview, Elon Musk suggested that one of SpaceX's biggest competitors for commercial launches, Arianespace with its very reliable Ariane 5 rocket, would not be able to compete in the future (which he seems to have softened in a tweet that said that he was just implying that they need to move forward with their Ariane 6 vehicle).

So 2013 looks like a busy year, not only for ISS resupply missions and commercial launches (see the SpaceX launch manifest), but for R&D missions such as the Falcon Heavy launch as well.  The Falcon 9 platform is being improved with the introduction of the Merlin 1D engine (changing the rocket's designation to Falcon 9 v1.1), and other initiatives like Grasshopper and the Dragon certification for human flight will also continue full steam.

SpaceX Grasshopper takes another hop

Video of Grasshopper's newest hop.

Part of SpaceX's long term vision is increasing the reusability of its components.  This would allow SpaceX to reduce the all-important cost per pound to orbit even more.

As mentioned here, the Dragon capsule, unlike many other spacecraft, returns to earth to be reused.  But the 178 foot, 368 ton Falcon 9 rocket currently ends up in the Atlantic ocean.

The Grasshopper project is the R&D effort to change that.  The goal is to have the Falcon 9 return to earth using a autonomous, precision landing system.  This system would guide the rocket to make a precise landing at a specified site so that the rocket could be reused.

The first test of Grasshopper was September 21st of this year.  The new test was of Grasshopper occurred last week (November 1st).  The new test, at 17.7 feet, more than doubled the height of the first test which was only 6 feet.  The plan is conduct many tests, with increasingly larger "hops" over the next several years.

Wired did a nice write up of the test here.

Video of the first hop:

SpaceX's Secondary Payload, the Orbcomm satellite falls from orbit

As mentioned in a previous post, the Orbcomm satellite, which was a secondary payload on SpaceX's CRS-1 mission, failed to be placed into a good orbit because of the failure of the Falcon 9's number 1 engine.  While the failure did not impact the primary mission, as the Falcon 9 is able to achieve orbit with up to 2 engine failures, the failure prevented a secondary burn of the second stage required to deliver the Orbcomm satellite into the required orbit.

At the time Orbcomm was working with the satellite manufacturer to determine if the satellite's thrusters could be used to obtain a more stable orbit, but news today reports the satellite has lost orbit.  Despite the failure, usefull data has been obtained, which allowed Orbcomm to validate the satellite and clear the way for the launch of the entire constellation of satellites - for which SpaceX is the contracted launch provider.

Additionally, Orbcomm understood that the satellite was not the primary mission, and there was a possibility that the orbit rising second burn may not be able to be performed if it was in conflict with the primary mission.  NASA agreed to the secondary mission, but with strict parameters, which could not be met after the engine misshap.

SpaceX: All systems are "Go"

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is on a fiery upward trajectory. 

Please excuse the somewhat cheesy analogy, but they're certainly the current darling of the media and the public.  I visited Hawthorne, CA over the summer, and the local residents are both excited and proud of SpaceX.  It may end up being the biggest thing to come out of Hawthorne since the Beach Boys.  Their location - adjacent to the Hawthorne Municipal Airport, close to a major East-West freeway (the 105), and near the LA International Airport - is in a part of Hawthorne that is undergoing rejuvenation, with new retail businesses springing up in the surrounding area (I happened to be going to the Lowe's which turned out to be a pretty new store, just a block away from SpaceX).  I don't know if SpaceX has any thing to do with the localized boom, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it is helping lift Hawthorne's economy and housing values.

And business is up for the company.  In addition to their recent contract awards with NASA, they have just added several new commercial flight bookings to their backlog.  

Of course the biggest news at the moment is their first International Space Station resupply mission, CRS-1 (SpaceX press kit), scheduled for lift off tomorrow.  This mission comes just over 4 months after having proved their capability with their final COTS demo missions (NASA press kit, NASA COTS - Commercial Orbital Transportation Services).  If you're following SpaceX, or the space industry in general, you've heard the details already from dozens of sources.  But if not, the launch is scheduled for 8:35 pm tomorrow - Sunday, October 7th - from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 40.  Details can be found at this NASA mission page, and the launch will be telecast live from SpaceX as well as on NASA TV.

And while preparing to become the first commercial resupply mission to the ISS may be the current, and most visible initiative - it isn't the only iron the Hawthorne based company has in the fire.  Other projects that are being actively pursued include: 

• A new, more powerful, Merlin engine; 
• The Falcon Heavy launch vehicle; 
• Development of the SuperDraco engine;
• A human rated version of the Dragon spacecraft to provide "Space Taxi" services;
• The development of a new launch site at the Vandenberg Air Force base; 
• The Grasshopper VTVL which had it's initial test flight last week; 
• And DragonLab, an initiative to outfit the Dragon spacecraft as an orbiting laboratory.

In addition to these well defined initiatives, SpaceX (or at least Elon Musk) has loosely defined goals that are not yet in any concrete phase, such as the "Red Dragon" mission to mars.

Further reading (which I deliberately pulled from a variety of sources):
Comprehensive write up of SpaceX launch capabilities
Merlin 1D Engine
Falcon Heavy
SuperDraco
Human rated Dragon progress 
Vandenberg Launch Site
Falcon Grasshopper
DragonLab