Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX test-fires rocket ahead of record-setting Starlink launch
The Falcon 9 rocket slated to launch SpaceX’s third batch of Starlink broadband satellites was test-fired Jan. 4 at Cape Canaveral. Credit: Steven Young/Spaceflight Now SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday at Cape Canaveral, two days before a scheduled launch Monday with 60 Starlink broadband relay stations that will make SpaceX the owner of…
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Good weather predicted for Cape Canaveral’s first launch of 2020
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Forecasters predict near-ideal weather conditions Monday night for the first launch at Cape Canaveral this year, when SpaceX plans to send another 60 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The 60 small satellites…
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SpaceX set for record-breaking 2020 manifest
SpaceX completed its final mission of the year on Dec. 16 with the successful launch of JCSAT-18/Kacific1 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It was the company’s 13th launch of 2019, SpaceX’s lowest yearly launch total since 2016. However, the Falcon manifest for 2020 promises to be far busier. The slump in launches this year was a…
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SpaceX seeks to block Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite broadband program from skipping a regulatory hurdle
SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) A space battle is brewing over access to a limited slice of radiowaves between several companies that want to launch thousands of satellites into orbit to blanket the planet with high-speed internet. SpaceX and several other companies that went through a complex process to get…
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Map of water ice on Mars shows where NASA (and SpaceX) are likely to send their first astronauts
The area of Mars outlined by the white box, in Arcadia Planitia, is considered a tempting target for human settlement due to the availability of water ice. (NASA / JPL-Caltech Graphic) A newly published survey pinpointing where Martian water ice is likely to lie close to the surface could serve as a roadmap for establishing…
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SpaceX launches a double-duty telecom satellite and doubles down on rocket reusability
SpaceX sent a dual-payload telecommunications satellite to orbit today, recovered the Falcon 9 rocket’s first-stage booster at sea, and narrowly missed catching the rocket’s nose cone components as they fell. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida came at 7:10 p.m. ET (4:10 p.m. PT) at the end of a trouble-free countdown. A…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 launches JCSAT-18/Kacific-1
SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket with JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 on Monday. The launch, the 77th for the Falcon 9, saw the commercial communications satellite lofted to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The 1-hour 28-minute launch window opened at 7:10 PM EST on December 16, with an on-time liftoff. Falcon 9 Launch: This mission represented the quickest…
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SpaceX set to activate additional test stands ahead of busy 2020
SpaceX’s McGregor test facility is about to open two new test stands to accommodate increased Raptor engine production and a busy Falcon 9 manifest in 2020. Recent aerial images of the McGregor Texas-based facility show that both of the test stands are nearly ready for activation – with the first firings expected to occur this…
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Rocket Lab’s Virginia launch pad opens for business, with Air Force as first customer
With Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck at center, dignitaries gather at Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Wallops Island. (NASA Wallops Photo) Rocket Lab today celebrated the opening of a launch complex on the Virginia coast, half a world away from its first launch pad in New Zealand. The California-based company’s…
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SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions droneship arrives in Florida following upgrades
SpaceX’s drone ship Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) has arrived in Port Canaveral, Fla. after undergoing refurbishment in Louisiana. The droneship joins Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) at the port, bringing SpaceX’s tally of east coast-based droneships to two. The additional droneship will help SpaceX’s execute its busy 2020 manifest. (Lead Photo by…