Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX external cargo manifest through 20th resupply mission revealed
As SpaceX nears completion of its investigation into the AMOS-6 pad conflagration on 1 September 2016, the company is firmly looking toward Return To Flight (RTF) of its Falcon 9 workhorse and realigning its contracted resupply missions to the International Space Station with NASA. With those flights looking to resume in January 2017, SpaceX’s external…
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Elon Musk holds forth on SolarCity, Tesla, SpaceX … and Donald Trump
Elon Musk is the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla. (Credit: AGU file) Today Elon Musk laid out his views on electricity-generating solar roofs, the Tesla-SolarCity merger, SpaceX’s return to flight and artificial intelligence during an extraordinary 30-minute telephone interview on CNBC. His timeliest comments may relate to next week’s presidential election: Musk gave a lukewarm endorsement to Democratic…
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SpaceX conducts Falcon 9 test; AMOS-6 investigation narrows
As SpaceX narrows on a second stage COPV (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel) as the cause of the AMOS-6 static fire pad failure on 1 September, the company is pressing ahead with hot fire operations on a new first stages at its McGregor, Texas, facility. The new booster is set to power what SpaceX hopes will…
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk geeks out over Mars interplanetary transport plan on Reddit
An artist’s conception shows SpaceX’s Interplanetary Transport System lifting off with a refueling tanker sitting beside it. (Credit: SpaceX) In the weeks ahead, SpaceX plans to pressure-test a prototype carbon fiber tank on an oceangoing barge, to gauge how well the technology will stand up to the oomph that’d be required for trips to Mars. The…
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SpaceX still expects to resume launches by the end of the year
An aerial reconnaissance plane surveyed damage from Hurricane Matthew along the U.S. East Coast, revealing exterior siding stripped from SpaceX’s payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral. Credit: NOAA Strong winds from Hurricane Matthew stripped exterior panels from SpaceX’s payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral last week, but the damage is not likely to affect the…
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Obama talks up NASA’s vision for sending astronauts on giant leap to Mars by 2030s
An artist’s conception shows one configuration for an orbital habitat complex suitable for Mars. (Credit: Lockheed Martin) President Barack Obama is throwing a spotlight on NASA’s plan for Mars exploration – and habitation – in advance of this week’s White House-backed conference on the frontiers of technology. “We have set a clear goal vital to the next chapter…
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ITS Propulsion – The evolution of the SpaceX Raptor engine
With the spaceflight community still in awe at the unveiling of the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), SpaceX has set itself some lofty long-term goals. However, while the realization of the plan is up for debate, the presentation has at least revealed some of the key specifications of the system, not least the Raptor engine. The…
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A million people on Mars? Explaining Elon Musk’s bold plan to colonize the Red Planet
Musk’s goal is to send 1 million settlers to Mars within 100 years. Photo: SpaceX. Colonies on Mars are no longer restricted to the pages of sci-fi classics and the imagination of ambitious space geeks. These settlements are not only possible, they are moving closer to reality with each passing year, and this week SpaceX founder and…
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Reality check: Elon Musk’s Mars plan will cost more, take longer. What else is new?
An artist’s conception shows a traveler looking out at Mars through the window of SpaceX’s future passenger spaceship. (Credit: SpaceX) GUADALAJARA, Mexico – In order to make the figures work for Elon Musk’s plan to put settlers on Mars, SpaceX will have to build boosters and interplanetary spaceships for less than the price of a Boeing 777x…
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SpaceX reveals ITS Mars game changer via colonization plan
SpaceX’s Elon Musk has made his landmark speech, finally revealing details of his plans to make humanity a multiplanetary species. In a keynote speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, Musk outlined a monster rocket and huge spacecraft capable of transporting at least 100 people to Mars – a planet Musk appears to have ambitions…