Revised USAF Launch Manifest Strategy

I think the new strategy–basically to match a spacecraft to a boosters six to twelve months out based on spacecraft readiness–is enabled by the studly to-orbit capabilities of the Delta IV and Atlas V EELV vehicles. I’m guessing both families of boosters have enough margin that they can wait until later in the scheduling process [...]

SpaceX Shocks The House With Iridium Win

How low can you go? SpaceX’s bid to serve as the Iridium Next launch agent was cheaper than the Indians and the Chinese. How low is it?  Shockingly low. “That $492 million figure would launch all 72 satellites in our constellation,” said Matt Desch, Iridium’s CEO. So will SpaceX make up in volume what they’re [...]

South Korean Launch Failure

South Korea lost contact with their launch vehicle a little over two minutes into its flight profile and during its first stage burn. It was to hoist a modest 100kg payload and the launch vehicle itself was similarly modest–we’ll call it old school–with a Russian supplied first stage that used the traditional ‘highly refined hydrocarbon [...]

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 A Mind-Boggling Success

Salute to the men and women associated with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 mission! Fantastic! FWIW, I have high confidence the cheering over the countdown, narration, and telemetry nets may have been edited out!

Expectations Management For Falcon 9

Watch the Falcon 9 webcast from here. Now onto SpaceX’s expectation for the launch –let’s describe them as modest–delivered from the SpaceX site: It’s important to note that since this is a test launch, our primary goal is to collect as much data as possible, with success being measured as a percentage of how many [...]

Showtime for Falcon 9

Now that the first GPS 2F-1 has left the rocket ranch, all eyes will be on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 which is set to launch Friday. I went through their plant in Hawthorne back in November 2009.  I have to say it was fantastic.  They were making structures, engines, fairings, and more there.  BTW, the Falcon [...]

USAF Plans For Reusable Booster

Groan.  Wasn’t the shuttle a reusable booster?  Didn’t EELV promise cost savings? Here’s the link to the Aviation Week article… When I read about savings of over 50%, I think about EELV and the cost savings it was asserted to create.  EELV was a massive ‘cost avoidance’ program, that is, by creating and using new [...]