Tag: Fairing
-
Why did SpaceX give up on “catching” falling fairings? Its VP of launch explains
Amid much fanfare, SpaceX started landing its Falcon 9 rockets in 2015, and it began reusing them less than two years later. The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, with nine engines and the bulk of the mass, accounts for about half of the cost of manufacturing a rocket, so this represents a considerable…
-
SpaceX evolving fairing recovery plans, taking advantage of Octagrabber in pursuit of rapid reusability
SpaceX set a company record with 25 orbital launches in 2020. All but five of these missions utilized flight proven boosters, and 14 payload fairing halves were re-flown. As the company aims to almost double that cadence in 2021, they’ll continue to rely on their recovery fleet to bring boosters and fairings back to dry…
-
SpaceX launches Falcon 9 with PAZ, Starlink demo and new fairing
SpaceX has launched with the debuting of an upgraded payload fairing for the Falcon 9 rocket during Spain’s Paz satellite lofting from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Thursday. The launch, scrubbed on Wednesday due to Upper Level Winds, also carried the first demonstration satellites for SpaceX’s own satellite internet constellation. Launch occurred at an instantaneous…
-
SLS positioning for ARRM and Europa missions
Space Launch System (SLS) managers are conducting a feasibility study into the use of a 5.4 meter payload fairing, with a view to enabling the use of the HLV for the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) spacecraft – set to launch in 2019 – and even a robotic mission to Europa. The effort is part…
-
NASA interested in payload fairing options for multi-mission SLS capability
SLS managers have asked the aerospace industry for information about the potential use of existing payload fairings for the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV). It is hoped that differing fairing options will allow SLS to launch numerous missions outside of its role with the crewed exploration roadmap, missions that require the superior lift capability of…