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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Falcon 1: The World's Lowest Cost Rocket to Orbit

El Segundo, CA – November 18, 2005 – On Friday, November 25 at 1 p.m. (PST), the Falcon 1 countdown to launch is expected to reach T-Zero. At that point, the hold-down clamps will release and the Falcon 1 rocket will begin its journey to orbit, accelerating to 17,000 mph (twenty-five times the speed of sound) in less than ten minutes.

Designed from the ground up by SpaceX, Falcon 1 is a two stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and purified, rocket grade kerosene. On launch day, Falcon 1 will make history for several reasons:


It will be the first privately developed, liquid fueled rocket to reach orbit and the world's first all new orbital rocket in over a decade.


The main engine of Falcon 1 (Merlin) will be the first all new American hydrocarbon booster engine to be flown in forty years and only the second new American booster engine of any kind in twenty-five years.


The Falcon 1 is the only rocket flying 21 st century avionics, which require a small fraction of the power and mass of other systems.


It will be the world's only semi-reusable orbital rocket apart from the Shuttle (all other launch vehicles are completely expendable).


Most importantly, Falcon 1, priced at $6.7 million, will provide the lowest cost per flight to orbit of any launch vehicle in the world, despite receiving a design reliability rating equivalent to that of the best launch vehicles currently flying in the United States.

The maiden flight will take place from the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands. The customer for this mission is DARPA and the Air Force and the payload will be FalconSat-2, part of the Air Force Academy’s satellite program that will measure space plasma phenomena, which can adversely affect space-based communications, including GPS and other civil and military communications. The target orbit is 400 km X 500 km (just above the International Space Station) at an inclination of 39 degrees

More here: www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18353

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This is the way to go...NASA better watch out!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Historic SpaceX Launch Set for December 19: The World's Lowest Cost Rocket to Orbit

El Segundo, CA – December 15, 2005 – On Monday, December 19 at 11 a.m. PST (7 p.m. GMT), the Falcon 1 rocket will begin its journey to orbit, accelerating to 17,000 mph (25 times the speed of sound) in less than ten minutes. Designed from the ground up by SpaceX, Falcon 1 is a two stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and purified, rocket grade kerosene. On launch day, Falcon 1 will launch into the history books for several notable reasons:


It will be the first privately developed, liquid fueled rocket to reach orbit and the world's first all new orbital rocket in over a decade.
The main engine of Falcon 1 (Merlin) will be the first all new American hydrocarbon engine for an orbital booster to be flown in forty years and only the second new American booster engine of any kind in twenty-five years.

The Falcon 1 is the only rocket flying 21st century avionics, which require a small fraction of the power and mass of other systems.
It will be the world's only semi-reusable orbital rocket apart from the Shuttle.

Most importantly, Falcon 1, priced at $6.7 million, will provide the lowest cost per flight to orbit of any launch vehicle in the world, despite receiving a design reliability rating equivalent to that of the best launch vehicles currently flying in the United States.

Full story here: www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18536

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Falcon 1 Launch Scrubbed

At 2:25 pm EST SpaceX announced that a structural issue in the first stage fuel tank of the Falcon 1 launch vehicle had arisen and that the launch is off until at least next month.

Due to high winds, we placed the countdown on hold and began draining the fuel tank. As we drained fuel from the 1st stage tank, a faulty pressurization valve caused a vacuum condition in the tank. This caused a fuel tank barrel section to deform and suck inward. It is important to note that the root cause is an electrical fault with a valve, not structural design.

At this point, it appears that no other damage was sustained to the vehicle or the satellite. The rocket will be lowered down this afternoon and placed in its hangar for further inspection.

Story here: www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1083

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

SpaceX Scrubs 2nd Launch Attempt Following Structural Issue

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 21, 2005
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) scrubbed its second attempt to launch its Falcon 1 small launch vehicle December 19th when the ground crew noted a structural deformation of the first stage during a countdown hold. The vehicle will now not launch until late January at the earliest.
In a statement, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said, "Due to high winds, we placed the countdown on hold and began draining the fuel tank. As we drained fuel from the 1st stage tank, a faulty pressurization valve caused a vacuum condition in the tank. This caused a fuel tank barrel section to deform and suck inward."

The company said that repairs and analysis will be required before the next flight can be attempted at its launch site, which is located on Omelek Island in the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific.

Story here: www.spacedaily.com/news/rocketscience-05zzze.html

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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Falcon 1 Rocket Launch on Deck

After several delays and two scrubbed launch attempts, the first flight of a Falcon 1 rocket is once again approaching.

Built by the El Segundo, California-based firm SpaceX, the Falcon 1 rocket is set to make its launch debut from its Kwajalein Atoll on the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 Feb. 9 GMT). The space shot has been delayed twice, first due to computer and valve problems, then later to a structural issue.

SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket is set to orbit the small FalconSat-2 satellite built by cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The $800,000 spacecraft is designed to study the effect of space plasma on navigation and communications satellites.

The Falcon 1 rocket is the first in a family of launch vehicle planned for SpaceX. The firm also has a launch facility at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Story here: www.space.com/missionlaunches/launches/next_launch.html

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

SpaceX Scrubs Falcon 1 Launch Debut for Third Time

The FalconSat-2 satellite, the first payload for SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket, was built by cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) to measure space plasma. Credit: USAFA

A private launch firm has scrubbed its third attempt to make the inaugural launch of its Falcon 1 rocket after problems cropped up during a planned engine test, the company said late Thursday.

The El Segundo, California-based firm Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) hoped to debut its first Falcon 1 rocket in a Feb. 10 space shot from its equatorial launch site at Kwajalein Atoll on the Pacific Ocean. But after a day of system and vehicle tests, the firm stood down.

"It looks like we are scrubbed for two weeks,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk told SPACE.com late Thursday in an e-mail message. “However, we are going to try and static fire tomorrow, since we still have that day available from the range.”

SpaceX officials planned to test fire their rocket’s Merlin 1 engine and test other systems associated with launch Thursday, but those checks were apparently not satisfactory for a Friday launch. Over the next few weeks, SpaceX engineers will lower the Falcon 1 rocket from its launch stand give it a thorough systems check, Musk said in an update posted to the SpaceX website.

Thursday’s announcement marked the third launch scrub for SpaceX’s Falcon 1 debut.

Flight controllers scrubbed two previous launch attempts in late 2005 due first to computer and vent valve issues, then later to a pressurization valve glitch that allowed a portion of the rocket’s first stage to buckle. This week, the launch date was pushed back two days to allow additional time for checks and the engine firing test, SpaceX officials said.

Musk said such hiccups were to be expected with the debut of any new launch system.

The rocket’s payload is the $800,000 FalconSat-2, a cube-shaped satellite that measures about 12.5 inches (32 centimeters) per side. Built by U.S. Air Force Academy cadets, the 43-pound (19.5-kilogram) spacecraft is designed to measure space plasma and is part of a program sponsored by the USAF and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The inaugural Falcon 1 launch is expected to be the first of up to three planned SpaceX missions this year, Musk said. A second Falcon 1 rocket is slated to launch from the firm’s Vandenberg Air Force Base launch site in California, while a third is scheduled to launch from the firm’s Omelek Island pad on the Kwajalein Atoll, he added.

Full story here from Space.com: www.space.com/missionlaunches/060210_spacex_falcon1_scrub.html

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Just get it right, but three scrubs...I just don't know... #dunno#

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

SpaceX launches — and loses — first rocket

A frame taken from a SpaceX Webcast shows the Falcon 1 rocket firing its engine to rise from its Pacific island launch pad on Friday.

Updated: 7:14 p.m. ET March 24, 2006

After four years of work, three launch delays and $100 million in dot-com cash, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket rose from its Pacific launch pad on Friday, but was lost moments later.

Space enthusiasts around the world had looked forward to what SpaceX, also known as Space Exploration Technologies, billed as the world's first all-new orbital launch vehicle in more than a decade.

The two-stage, partially reusable rocket ascended from a launch complex on Omelek Island in Kwajalein Atoll, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as thousands watched via a Webcast. But moments after its fiery rise from the pad, the Webcast signal was lost. Then, SpaceX reported that the rocket and its satellite were destroyed during the ascent.

"We did lose the vehicle," Gwynne Shotwell, the company's vice president for business development, told reporters from SpaceX's headquarters in El Segundo, Calif. Shotwell could not provide details about the cause of the launch failure, but a brief shot from a camera mounted on the rocket itself showed a whirl of flame around the rocket's bottom just before contact was lost.

"Clearly this is a setback," Shotwell said, "but we're in this for the long haul."

SpaceX's founder and chief executive officer, Elon Musk, said the launch team was still analyzing the problem late into the day. "We had a successful liftoff and Falcon made it well clear of the launch pad, but unfortunately the vehicle was lost later in the first-stage burn," Musk reported on the SpaceX Web site.

It will probably take months for SpaceX to figure out exactly what went wrong this time and prepare for its next launch.

The second Falcon 1 launch already has been designated to carry the Pentagon's TacSat 1 communications satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. There would also be a more unusual secondary payload, arranged through Texas-based Space Services Inc.: memorial capsules containing the cremated remains of 187 people, including Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper and "Star Trek" actor James Doohan.

Full story here: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11997932

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Really too bad this rocket didn't make it. It was a grand project, but I hope the bugs get worked out before Gordon Cooper's ashes are scattered all over the launch area...maybe that's what he would have wanted...?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Fuel leak caused fire on first launch of SpaceX Falcon1

A fuel leak sparked a fire that destroyed a Falcon 1 rocket on its first attempted launch, its private owner SpaceX revealed.

The rocket was propelled normally through takeoff by its mix of liquid oxygen and kerosene, but high-definition images show that a fire broke out seconds after lift-off in the first stage of the vehicle, the company said Monday in a statement.

The 21-meter, two-stage rocket developed by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, burned up on Friday after launch at Kwajalein US military base in the Pacific Marshall Islands.

Story here: www.physorg.com/news12181.html