Spacex

Spacex Eyes January 8th Return To Flight After Finishing Up Accident Investigation

... Falcon 9 exploded in a huge fireball, leading to the destruction of the rocket and the communications satellite it was supposed to carry into space. Video of the event revealed that the explosion began toward the top of the rocket, and Space X later narrowed down the source of the problem to the vehicle’s upper oxygen tank. That’s the tank that stores the super cold liquid oxygen propellant needed for the engine in the second stage, or the top portion of the vehicle. Along with liquid oxygen, the tank also houses three smaller vessels that store really cold helium. They’re called COPVs, for composite overwrapped pressure vessels, and they’re responsible for pressurizing the tank during flight; the helium from these vessels fills the empty space left behind by the oxygen when it leaves the tank. It seems that the materials used for these helium pressure vessels ...

Spacex Is Ready To Fly Rockets Again. An Expert Talks About The Reason A Falcon 9 Blew Up Last Year

... of it," Lindy said, noting she could only draw on publicly available information. "The aluminum may have shrunk more than expected relative to the carbon overwrap. Its CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) is much lower than aluminum. I mean, it's not even in the same ballpark.". According to Space X, supercool liquid oxygen may have seeped into the gaps that formed between the two liners. Helium doesn't liquify until -269 degrees Celsius—just four degrees warmer than absolute zero. That means the gaseous helium inside the COPV could have chilled the liquid oxygen trapped in the liner gaps even further—enough to solidify it, which occurs at -219 degrees Celsius. At that point, Space X believes either friction or the snapping of a carbon fiber strand near the gap started the explosion that destroyed the rocket. Lindy told me she thought the explanation was credible—it doesn't take much to start a catastrophic conflagration in a liquid oxygen environment. And Space X said tests showed the colder the oxygen, the more likely this scenario was to occur. "I think the general concept is ...

Nasa Orders More Flights From Boeing, Spacex

... holes and other energetic phenomena by measuring how the X-rays they emit are polarized. The mission won out over two other finalists. The $188 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2020. [Space News]. The James Webb Space Telescope remains on track to resume vibration testing later this month, NASA confirmed Tuesday.  A Dec. 3 test, designed to mimic the vibrations encountered during launch, shut down after instruments detected a “higher-than-expected response” at one frequency. Tests of the telescope structure have found no evidence of any damage. Reviews of the anomaly are in progress, and JWST’s program manager said plans continue to call for resuming vibration tests later this month. [NASA]. China plans to conduct nearly 30 launches in 2017.  The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation told state-run media in China Tuesdaythat those launches ...

One Of Elon Musk's Rockets Spectacularly, Mysteriously Exploded. Now He Thinks He Knows Why

... 28/30 Expedition 39 Landing. A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11 M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. 29/30 Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere. 30/30 Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness. This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region. But the company ...

Spacex’s Return To Spaceflight Pushed Back To January 14th

... Falcon 9 at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images. Space X’s first rocket launch since August has been pushed back to January 14 th , due to rain and heavy winds that are expected near the launch site in California over the next week. Prior to the delay, Space X had been aiming to launch on January 9 th , after receiving a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration. On Friday, the FAA announced it had accepted Space X’s explanation for what caused one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets to explode on a Florida launch pad. “The FAA accepted the investigation report on the Amos 6.”. Space X has been grounded since the accident, which occurred on the morning of September 1 st. The Falcon 9 was being fueled in preparation for a pre-flight test, when it exploded in a fireball, destroying both the rocket and the Amos 6 satellite it was supposed to carry into space. The company has spent the past four months trying to figure out ...

Fired Spacex Employee Can Depose Company's President In Lawsuit, Judge Rules

... test technicians to ignore risks of explosions and approve tests of rocket parts can take the deposition of the company's president. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William Fahey said 53-year-old Gwynne Shotwell must attend the deposition by the end of March and that she may be questioned for a maximum of three hours by attorneys for plaintiff Jason Blasdell. He said that any further time will not be granted without a substantial showing it is needed. Blasdell worked at the rocket and spacecraft manufacturer's Hawthorne headquarters as an avionics test technician from 2010 until his 2014 firing, according to his lawsuit filed last April 1. Blasdell received consistently positive reviews from management for his work, his lawsuit states. However, he began seeing safety issues related to the testing procedures of rocket parts, leading him to question the quality of the testing and the risks it posed for not just the rockets potentially exploding, but for the potential loss of human life as well, according to his attorneys' court papers. Blasdell complained to Shotwell, to Space X founder Elon Musk and to the company's human resources department that there were ...

Spacex Details Its Plans For Landing Three Falcon Heavy Boosters At Once

... says Space X could launch 6 Falcon Heavy rockets a year. Jan 11, 2017 8:49 pm UTC. Enlarge / A recent satellite view of Space X's Landing Zone 1 shows the single, large landing pad. Apple Maps. reader comments 69. Share this story. As part of the process to gain federal approval for the simultaneous landing of its Falcon Heavy rocket boosters in Florida, Space X has prepared an environmental assessment of the construction of two additional landing pads alongside its existing site. The report considers noise and other effects from landing up to three first stages at the same time. After undergoing a preliminary review by the US Air Force, the document has been released for public comment. First reported by NASASpace __link__, the document offers some interesting details about the proposed launch and landing of Space X's heavy lift rocket, which the company hopes to fly for the first time in the spring or early summer of 2017. After previously demonstrating the ability to land a single Falcon 9 booster, Space X also hopes to land the three first-stage boosters that will power the Falcon Heavy for potential re-use. Further Reading. Space X just teased a ...

Spacex In Google Earth

... of their rocket carrying the Amos-6 mission. As fans of Space X, we thought this would be a good time to have a look at some Space X related sights in Google Earth. Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, Florida, location of the launchpad explosion. Image captured one month after the explosion. If you switch to ‘historical imagery’ with the 3 D buildings layer turned on, you can see a 3 D model of a Space X rocket on the launch pad. Space X is noted for being able to (some of the time) land the first stage of their rockets either on land or on an autonomous spaceport drone ship. Space Launch Complex 1, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Space X’s east coast landing site. One of Space X’s autonomous spaceport drone ships named ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in Port of Jacksonville, Florida. One of the drone ships in Port of Jacksonville, Florida as seen in 3 D imagery. We are not ...

A Year Of Highs And Lows

... launched satellites for SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (Japan) and THAICOM 8 and, in both instances, landed perfectly on ASDS Of Course I Still Love You. On June 15, however, after launching Falcon 9 to send the EUTELSAT and ABS satellite into orbit and successfully detaching stage 2, stage 1 experienced some issues and ended up getting destroyed again. Third Quarter. As always, Musk and Space X were not deterred and, on July 18, Falcon 9 and Dragon were launched once again for another resupply mission to the ISS and, luckily, stage 1 was unharmed during landing this time. On August 14, Space X sent another communications satellite into orbit for SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation and all was well. Just when things seemed to be on the upswing, Space X was hit with an anomaly  that many considered to be an epic failure. On September 1, during Falcon 9's static fire test for the Amos-6 communications satellite launch mission, an "anomaly" occurred on the launch pad and resulted in the loss of both the vehicle and its payload. ...

Spacex Resumes Space Flights, Xenocs Buys Saxslab, Snolab Bags C$26m

... NASA and commercial customers. Xenocs buys X-ray-scattering specialist SAXSLAB. Two become one: Xenocs chief executive Peter Høghøj. Xenocs , a nanomaterials analysis company based in France, has bought SAXSLAB , which produces X-ray-scattering equipment. Both companies specialize in small- and wide-angle X-ray-scattering equipment. Peter Høghøj, chief executive of Xenocs, said that the acquisition will "strengthen our [Xenocs] ability to provide innovative solutions". SAXSLAB was founded in 2004 and has bases in both Denmark and the US, thereby broadening Xenocs' global presence. SAXSLAB founder Karsten Joensen and former director Søren Skou will manage Xenocs' US and Denmark offices, respectively. Meanwhile, Scott Barton will become responsible for sales in North America as SAXLAB transfers its business from US-distributor Molmex Scientific to the Xenocs' US office. The acquisition ...

Would New Port Canaveral Railroad Help Spacex

... Port Canaveral railroad help Space X. A spent Falcon 9 rocket gets transported through the streets of Port Canaveral on Monday. Paul Brinkmann Contact Reporter. Are Space X, Blue Origin, and One Web supporting a new Port Canaveral railroad. Port Canaveral officials never said the word Space X on Tuesday, but they hinted that the “commercial space industry” is “supportive” of a new railroad linking the port with Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center. The port wants the new rail route for many reasons, mostly for a cargo link to the Florida East Coast Railway. But Space X could benefit, because it has started bringing rockets into the port regularly this year, and moving those rockets on trucks via the highway is a slow process requiring escort vehicles. Other space companies that have a growing presence in the region include Blue Origin, which is building a rocket plant near Kennedy Space Center; and One Web, which plans to start building satellites there too. Both of those companies will need plenty of supplies and raw materials for manufacturing, which could also come into Port Canaveral. ...