Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy center core booster falls over on ship amid heavy seas
The Falcon Heavy center core booster lands on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. (SpaceX via YouTube) Mother Nature has splashed cold water over SpaceX’s triumphant triple booster landing in the wake of last week’s Falcon Heavy rocket launch. Literally. After sending the Arabsat-6 telecommunications satellite on the first leg of its journey to…
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Falcon Heavy soars; SpaceX lands critical NASA double asteroid redirect launch
To say 11 April 2019 was a banner day for SpaceX would be an understatement. The private space company that has soared into the public’s imagination and trust not only succeeded in launching its Falcon Heavy rocket – the most powerful currently operational rocket in the world – on its first commercial flight, but also…
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SpaceX Falcon Heavy launches Arabsat-6A
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket has conducted its second flight on Thursday, carrying its first customer payload – the Arabsat-6A communications satellite into space. Following a delay on Wednesday due to unacceptable Upper Level winds, Falcon Heavy lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at the start of a one hour, 57-minute window that opened at…
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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket launches its first commercial payload — then aces a triple landing
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. (SpaceX via YouTube) More than a year after SpaceX sent its Falcon Heavy rocket on a majestic test launch, the second Falcon Heavy put a satellite in orbit today for its first customer. Then, for the first time, all three…
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Meow! Elon Musk calls Jeff Bezos a satellite copycat — and gets called out
The rivalry between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has surfaced on Twitter. Again. (Musk Photo: TED via YouTube; Bezos Photo: GeekWire / Kevin Lisota) The fur is flying in the broadband internet satellite race. It all started when we found out that Amazon was planning its own 3,236-satellite constellation to provide…
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SpaceX Starlink satellite veterans join Amazon’s competing Project Kuiper team
SpaceX’s two prototype Starlink satellites are seen on either side of their carrier in advance of their launch last year. Industry sources say some of the engineers who were involved in developing those prototypes will be playing leadership roles in Amazon’s Project Kuiper. (SpaceX via YouTube) The leadership team for Amazon’s newly revealed broadband satellite…
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SpaceX conducts Static Fire on Falcon Heavy ahead of Arabsat 6A launch
Over a year after its previous flight, SpaceX conducted the Static Fire test on its second Falcon Heavy. This rocket – the first Block 5 Falcon Heavy – will launch Arabsat 6A to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) from LC-39A. The static fire took place on Friday, with the test occurring at 12 pm local…
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Starhopper conducts Raptor Static Fire tests
Testing of SpaceX’s Starhopper suborbital vehicle in Boca Chica, Texas, achieved a new milestone on Wednesday evening with a Static Fire test of its Raptor engine. The test comes after over a week of Wet Dress Rehearsals (WDR) and pre-burner tests. Thursday would have technically resulted in its first hop, albeit by just inches due…
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SpaceX’s Starhopper takes its first rocket hop, marking another step toward Mars
After weeks of preparation, the prototype test vehicle for SpaceX’s monster spaceship, known as Starhopper, fired up its methane-powered Raptor rocket engine for the first time today and lifted ever so slightly off its Texas launch pad. “Starhopper completed tethered hop,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported in a tweet. “All systems green.” The round-topped rocket…
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SpaceX proves higher than necessary safety of Starlink constellation
In an electronic filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), SpaceX has demonstrated a higher than necessary safety for their Starlink constellation satellites in terms of collision risk with other objects in orbit in the scenario that a Starlink satellite becomes uncontrollable after launch. The filing, in response to FCC questions, reveals SpaceX’s upcoming space-based…