Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX set to debut upgraded Falcon 9 rocket
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) to correct schedule for first Crew Dragon mission. File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket standing at launch pad 39A in Florida before a previous mission. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX technicians at Cape Canaveral are readying for the first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket configuration…
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After “terrific” launch, TESS nears first major orbit-raising burn
Artist’s concept of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite in orbit. Credit: Orbital ATK NASA’s new planet-hunting TESS observatory completed its first post-launch thruster firing Saturday, setting up for a big boost Wednesday that will send the spacecraft toward the moon for a flyby next month, the next maneuvers in a two-month process to reach the…
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Funding round raises $214 million for SpaceX so far — and it’s far from finished
News Brief: Last week we learned that SpaceX is looking to raise more than $500 million in a new Series I investment round, giving Elon Musk’s space company an estimated valuation of $23.7 billion. Today, SpaceX says it’s brought in $214 million so far, less than two weeks after the round opened. That leaves $286…
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SpaceX launches NASA’s TESS spacecraft on mission to seek out alien planets
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lofts NASA’s TESS probe into space. (NASA via YouTube) SpaceX has launched NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, kicking off a mission aimed at surveying nearly the entire sky for exoplanets. The probe rose into space atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, sent up from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in…
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SpaceX successfully launches TESS on a mission to search for near-Earth exoplanets
SpaceX has launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS – with the launch on the Falcon 9 rocket taking place at 18:51:31 EDT (22:51:31 UTC). The planet-hunting observatory was lofted by a new Block 4 Falcon 9 rocket from SLC-40 into an orbital resonance with the moon that will allow it to perform a…
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SpaceX and NASA delay launch of TESS planet hunter to check guidance analysis
An artist’s conception shows the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. (NASA Illustration) NASA and SpaceX say they’ll take more time to launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey System, or TESS, just to make sure the $337 million mission will be on the right track to hunt for planets beyond our solar system. TESS’ liftoff aboard a SpaceX…
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX aims to raise $500M as it makes progress on its Big F’n Rocket
Liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. (GeekWire Photo/Kevin Lisota) Elon Musk’s SpaceX is aiming to raise up to $507 million in a new funding round, according to documents filed with the state of Delaware last week. SpaceX has authorized 3 million shares of stock for this Series I round, valued at $169 each, according to…
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Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says that humans could get to Mars within a decade*
Politico’s Robert Albritton (left) chats with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg (right) during a space conference. (Politico Live via Facebook) Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg says it’s possible that humans will set foot on Mars in the next decade, and he’s convinced the first people will get there on a Boeing-built rocket. Muilenburg’s comments, made today during…
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Report: Probe blames Zuma spy satellite’s loss on Northrop Grumman, not SpaceX
News Brief: Investigators have tentatively concluded that January’s loss of a U.S. spy satellite code-named Zuma was due to problems with a payload adapter that was provided by the satellite’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, rather than the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, The Wall Street Journal reported today. One unnamed source told the Journal that the…
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Investigation into Zuma failure reportedly lays blame on Northrop Grumman
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Jan. 7 from Cape Canaveral with the Zuma mission. Credit: SpaceX Government investigators have exonerated SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in the loss of a top secret space mission known as Zuma in January, blaming a malfunction in a component modified by Northrop Grumman that connected the launcher with its…