SpaceX Falcon 9

[Salo]

http://cybersecurity.ru/space/122636.html

Космическая компания SpaceX планирует IPO[/size]
(17:07) 12.05.2011
   
Частная американская космическая компания SpaceX планирует стать публичной, разместив акции на фондовой площадке. Об этом официально заявил глава SpaceX американский миллиардер Элон Маск. В то же время он отметил, что на рынок будет выставлен пакет меньше контрольного, так как минимум 51% акций Маск планирует сохранить за собой.

Накануне компания объявила о том, что на должность финансового директора SpaceX назначен Брет Джонсен, ранее управлявший финансами компании Broadcom. Глава SpaceX говорит, что у нового финансового директора уже есть опыт IPO и его экспертиза будет полезной и в SpaceX.

Компания SpaceX была основана в 2002 году и с тех пор ей удалось разработать полностью новый ракетный двигатель Merlin, работающий на керосине, а также ракеты Falcon 1 и Falcon 9 с пилотируемой капсулой Dragon. Сейчас в штате SpaceX числятся около 1300 человек.

Маск говорит, что сейчас SpaceX достигла финансовой устойчивости, а в будущем с ростом коммерческих контактов на вывод спутников компания прогнозирует стабильную чистую прибыль. Говоря об IPO, глава компании отметил, что деньги компании нужны для ведения новых разработок, связанных с пилотируемыми полетами.

CEO компании отметил, что конечной целью SpaceX является не просто разработка частных космических решений, а создание доступных решений, которые бы сделали космонавтику интересной для тысяч людей.

[Salo]

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2011/05/19/01.xml&headline=Panelist:%20SpaceX%20Costs%20Offer%20Hope%20For%20NASA

Panelist: SpaceX Costs Offer Hope For NASA[/size]

May 20, 2011
 
By Frank Morring, Jr.

A comparison of what it cost Space Exploration Technologies, Inc. (SpaceX) to develop the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, and the estimate of what it would cost NASA to do the same job, offers hope that NASA can focus on deep-space exploration and leave flights to low Earth orbit (LEO) to the private sector, according to a member of the outside panel that reviewed U.S. human spaceflight plans for President Barack Obama.

Christopher Chyba, a professor of astrophysics and international affairs at Princeton University, who played a key role in the 2009 deliberations of the panel headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, told the Senate Commerce Committee May 18 that the agency's confirmation of SpaceX costs are "encouraging about the future."

Chyba, who counseled against NASA trying to operate spaceflight vehicles and developing new ones simultaneously as a member of the Augustine panel subcommittee on exploration beyond low Earth orbit, said the SpaceX experience developing a launch vehicle that has successfully orbited its Dragon capsule for a splashdown recovery bodes well for NASA's plan to turn over cargo and crew transport to the International Space Station (ISS) to commercial operators.

He cited an analysis contained in NASA's report to Congress on the market for commercial crew and cargo services to LEO that found it would cost NASA between $1.7 billion and $4 billion to do the same job with Falcon 9 that cost SpaceX $390 million. In its analysis, which contained no cost estimates for the future cost of commercial transportation services to the ISS beyond those already under contract, NASA said it had verified the SpaceX cost figures.

For comparison, agency experts used the NASA-Air Force Cost Model – "a parametric cost estimating tool with a historical database of over 130 NASA and Air Force spaceflight hardware projects" – to generate estimates of what it would cost the civil space agency to match the SpaceX accomplishment. Using the "traditional NASA approach," the agency analysts found the cost would be $4 billion. That would drop to $1.7 billion with different assumptions representative of "a more commercial development approach," NASA said.

"If that difference is real, that's encouraging about the future," Chyba testified. "It would be good to learn as much as one can from that about how to do things differently in the future. It may mean that, alternately although not in the near term, the commercial sector could play a much more ambitious role."

Chyba repeated his 2009 warning that NASA has not been able to develop one vehicle and fly another at the same time, given historic budget constraints. But he said NASA may be able to learn from SpaceX as it develops the heavy-lift launch vehicle Congress has ordered it to build for missions beyond LEO.

"The other thing that I think one would want to understand in some detail would be why would it be between four and 10 times more expensive for NASA to do this, especially at a time when one of the issues facing NASA now is how to develop the heavy-lift launch vehicle within the budget profile that the committee has given it," Chyba said.

[Космос-3794]

Еще одно очко в копилку Маска. 31 мая Thaicom объявил что зарезервировал $160 млн. на постройку, запуск и страхование спутника Thaicom 6, массой около 3000 кг. Производство будет заказано Orbital Sciences, а запуск на ГПО планируется на середину 2013 с помощью форсированного Falcon 9.

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/110531-thaicom-order-sat-orbital-launch-spacex.html

[Salo]

Интересно, а почему для вывода 3 т на ГПО понадобилось форсировать двигатели первой ступени?

[hecata]

Однако, мне кажется, у Arianspace и ILS уже должны собираться чрезвычайные совещания.

[Петр Зайцев]

Интересно, а почему для вывода 3 т на ГПО понадобилось форсировать двигатели первой ступени?

По-моему, это просто совпадение. У SpaceX почему-то всегда так, как только новая модель появляется, старую выбрасывают. Типа как если бы Самара прикрыла Союз-У и Союз-ФГ как только залетал Союз-2-1б. Это кстати не всем нравится, особенно клиентам, которые рассчинывали на Falcon 1. Его ведь сняли а замену вообще не ввели.

[Salo]

Адам Харрис о SpaceX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JtjztdtCnw&feature=player_embedded

[ZOOR]

Однако, мне кажется, у Arianspace и ILS уже должны собираться чрезвычайные совещания.

Arianspace уже собирала совещание в январе - http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/content/numbers/339/02.shtml

Напомним, основной целью разработки нового носителя (НК №7, 2009; №7, 2010) является создание гибкого европейского средства выведения одиночных спутников при затратах на 40% ниже**, чем у Ariane-5ECA (16 млн евро за тонну ПГ): стоимость запуска КА массой 4500 кг на геопереходную орбиту должна составить 43.2 млн евро (или 56 млн $), то есть столько же, сколько сейчас просит американская компания SpaceX за Falcon-9. По плану, подготовительные работы по проекту пройдут в период 2010–2015 гг., этап разработки – 2015–2025 гг., эксплуатация носителя начнется с 2025 г. Во Франции работы над новой РН уже начались: в 2011 г. проект получит первые 250 млн евро.

Только чрезвычайщиной пока не пахнет - так они Ангару по срокам  переплюнуть рискуют

[Lev]

В последнем номере журнала "Новости космонавтики" очень хорошая статья про тяжелый Фалькон и про SpaceX вообще.

[Космос-3794]

Loral выигала у Thales Alenia Space конкурс на постройку спутника Thor 7 для оператора Telenor.
Носитель пока не определен, но самое интересное что в конкурсных предложениях обоих конкурентов были включены конкретные пусковые провайдеры: Loral - Falcon 9 (Space X), Thales Alenia (ITAR-free спутник) - Long March (китайцы).
Симптоматично...

http://www.spacenews.com/satellite_telecom/110610-loral-lands-thor7-contract.html

[hecata]

Скорее удивление здесь вызывает ITAR-free спутник, Талес Аления к этому 20 лет шла, а Астриум до сих пор вроде не пришел.

[Сторонний]

Интересно, а почему для вывода 3 т на ГПО понадобилось форсировать двигатели первой ступени?

По-моему, это просто совпадение. У SpaceX почему-то всегда так, как только новая модель появляется, старую выбрасывают. Типа как если бы Самара прикрыла Союз-У и Союз-ФГ как только залетал Союз-2-1б. Это кстати не всем нравится, особенно клиентам, которые рассчинывали на Falcon 1. Его ведь сняли а замену вообще не ввели.

Что значит "новое изделие появляется", пока появился только Falcon-9 и понятно почему он значительно выгоднее, чем Falcon-1.

 Остальные проекты, по всей видимости, существуют на уровне презентаций и бизнес-проектов в стадии разработки, так что слово "появляется" к ним применимо весьма условно.

[Bell]

Однако, мне кажется, у Arianspace и ILS уже должны собираться чрезвычайные совещания.

А СиЛонч - закрываться?

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1106/13spacex/

SpaceX collects contract to launch Thai satellite in 2013[/size]
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: June 13, 2011

TONBRIDGE, England -- SpaceX announced Monday it will launch a Thai television broadcasting satellite from Cape Canaveral in 2013, the second confirmed contract the company has secured this year for an international communications payload.

A Falcon 9 rocket will haul the Thaicom 6 communications satellite into orbit in the second quarter of 2013. In a separate announcement Monday, officials said the spacecraft will be built by Orbital Sciences Corp.

Thaicom Public Company Ltd. announced the new $160 million satellite project May 31. Thaicom 6 will expand the company's business in satellite television broadcasting over Southeast Asia and South Asia.

With a mix of C-band and Ku-band transponders, Thaicom 6 will operate in geosynchronous orbit along the equator at 78.5 degreees east longitude for up to 15 years.

The Thaicom 6 contract is the second communications satellite launch agreement SpaceX has bagged this year. In March, the start-up space company announced a contract with SES, a leading European-based communications satellite operator.

"The Falcon 9 will serve our unique needs at Thaicom," said Arak Chonlatanon, CEO of Thaicom. "This dedicated launch vehicle is both cost-effective and best-matched to our requirements. We look forward to working closely with the SpaceX team to ensure that the Thaicom 6 satellite will be successfully launched."

Another Falcon 9 rocket will boost the SES 8 direct broadcasting satellite to orbit in early 2013. SES 8 and Thaicom 6 will be the first commercial satellites launched to geosynchronous transfer orbit from U.S. soil since 2009.

Most communications satellites are stationed 22,300 miles above the equator in geosynchronous orbit, a position in which the craft appear to hover over a fixed position on Earth. This type of orbit allows dish receivers on the ground to remain pointed at the same place in the sky.

Arianespace of France and U.S.-based International Launch Services, which sells Russian Proton rockets, control the bulk of the market for communications satellite launch services. Chinese Long March boosters and Sea Launch, which flies Zenit rockets from an ocean-based vessel, also participate in the commercial launch business.

But U.S. Atlas and Delta rockets no longer regularly launch commercial communications satellites. Both launcher families commonly dispatched international payloads in the 1990s, but neither rocket has a commercial communications satellite in their backlog today.

SpaceX hopes to bring more commercial satellite launches to the United States, mixing communications payloads into a manifest that also includes cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station.

"This deal highlights the confidence that satellite operators have in SpaceX capabilities, and is the latest example of the effect SpaceX is having on the international commercial launch market," said Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO. "Asia is a critical market and SpaceX is honored to support its growing launch needs with a reliable U.S.-based solution."

SpaceX also has launch agreements with Spacecom, an Israeli satellite operator, and Space Systems/Loral, a California-based spacecraft manufacturer. A second launch option in 2015 was also part of the deal between SpaceX and SES announced in March.

None of those contracts have assigned specific payloads to a Falcon 9 launch.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/commentaries/110616-fromwires-spacex-sues-safety-expert.html

Thu, 16 June, 2011
SpaceX Sues Safety Expert for Defamation [Courthouse News Service]
[/size]
    Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is suing Herndon, Va.-based Valador Inc. and its vice president, Joe Fragola, in Fairfax County Court for making  what SpaceX says were defamatory allegations about the safety and reliability of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, Courthouse News Service reported June 16.

    At the heart of the suit is a June 8 email Fragola allegedly sent to NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance, Bryan O' Connor, saying he was trying to verify a rumor that the Falcon 9's first stage experienced a double engine failure during its December launch and blew up just after separation. SpaceX denied in its complaint that this occurred.

         "'Early in June 2011, on behalf of Valador Fragola attempted to obtain a consulting contract from SpaceX worth as much as $1 million,' the  SpaceX complaint states. 'He claimed that SpaceX needed an 'independent' analysis of its rocket to bolster its reputation with NASA based on what he called an unfair 'perception' about SpaceX. SpaceX did not respond favorably to Fragola's offer.

         "'SpaceX subsequently learned that Fragola — within the scope of his employment at Valador, and by using his email account at Valador — has been contacting officials in the United States Government to make disparaging remarks about SpaceX, which have created the very 'perception' that he claimed SpaceX needed his help to rectify.  

         "SpaceX then quotes an email that it claims Fragola sent to a NASA official in NASA's Washington headquarters, on June 8: 'I have just heard a rumor, and I am trying now to check its veracity, that the Falcon 9 experienced a double engine failure in the first stage and that the entire stage blew up just after the first stage separated. I also heard that this information was being held from NASA until SpaceX can 'verify' it.'

         "SpaceX adds: 'Fragola's statements are blatantly false, and as a purported 'expert' in the industry, he should have known that the statements were false'. SpaceX says 'there was not  "double-engine" failure, nor even a single engine failure,' and that Fragosa knew and expected that his statements to NASA would be forwarded within the Government to other persons and entities, including the Aerospace Advisory Panel ('ASAP'), which among other things investigates safety and design issues of rockets."

    Fragola, according to his Valador bio, was a member of the NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study team that in 2005 picked the Ares 1 and Ares 5 rockets that the agency set out to build under the Constellation program.

    See a copy of the court documents here.

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/launch/110617-spacex-sues-expert-questioned-falcon.html

Fri, 17 June, 2011
SpaceX Sues Expert Who Questioned Safety of Falcon 9 Rocket[/size]
By Brian Berger


    WASHINGTON — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is suing Herndon, Va.-based Valador Inc. and its vice president, Joe Fragola, for making what SpaceX says were defamatory allegations about the safety and reliability of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

    At the heart of the lawsuit is a June 8 email Fragola allegedly sent to NASA's chief of safety and mission assurance, Bryan D. O'Connor, saying he was trying to verify a rumor that the Falcon 9's first stage experienced a significant anomaly during its December launch of the Dragon space capsule. The suit was filed June 14 in Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court.

    "I have just heard a rumor, and I am trying now to check its veracity, that the Falcon 9 experienced a double engine failure in the first stage and that the entire stage blew up just after the first stage separated. I also heard that this information was being held from NASA until SpaceX can 'verify' it."

    SpaceX denies there were any such problems on the flight, the second of the medium-lift Falcon 9. "First, there was no 'double-engine' failure (nor even a single engine failure)," SpaceX says in its complaint. "As planned, two of the nine first-stage engines shut down automatically ten seconds before the first stage shut down.

    "Second, the first stage did not 'blow up' after separation from the second stage and spacecraft. The launch was broadcast by a camera on the Dragon spacecraft, which vividly showed the separation of the first stage — and no explosion occurred. Furthermore, the first stage was, at all times, tracked by ground telemetry including by NASA. No systems observed any "explosion" of the first stage. As an 'expert,' Fragola should have known the notion of the first stage 'blowing up' was abjectly untrue."

    O'Connor did not respond to a request for comment. Fragola, reached June 16 at Valador's Rockville Centre, New York, office, declined to comment, saying he had been advised not to talk about the case.

    SpaceX also declined to discuss the case. "It's still in the hands of counsel and we have no comment," SpaceX spokesman Bobby Block said June 17.

    Fragola is a safety expert and a core member of the NASA Exploration Systems Architecture Study team that in 2005 picked the Ares 1 and Ares 5 rockets the agency then set out to build under the now-defunct Constellation program. In December 2009, Fragola testified before the House Science and Technology space and aeronautics subcommittee about ensuring safety in human spaceflight.

    In its complaint, SpaceX says Fragola sought a consulting contract worth up to $1 million, claiming the company needed his independent analysis of the Falcon 9 "to bolster its reputation with NASA based on what he called an unfair 'perception' about SpaceX."

    "SpaceX subsequently learned that Fragola — within the scope of his employment at Valador, and using his email account at Valador — has been contacting officials in the United States Government to make disparaging remarks about SpaceX, which have created the very 'perception' that he claimed SpaceX needed his help to rectify," SpaceX's claim states.

    SpaceX also says that if anything went wrong during the flight, NASA would have known. "NASA officials were present with SpaceX controllers in the control center during the flight, and thus saw in real time all of the telemetry information SpaceX controllers saw," the complaint states. "SpaceX then provided extensive post-flight debriefings to NASA, including telemetry analysis. If any of the foregoing events claimed by Fragola had occurred, then NASA would have known as soon as SpaceX did."

    Asked whether the Falcon 9 experienced any type of first-stage anomaly in its last outing, Block said: "Any observance noted had no impact on this or future mission success."

    SpaceX, which holds a $1.6 billion contract to deliver supplies to the international space station using Falcon 9 and Dragon, is seeking at least $1 million in damages plus legal fees and is demanding that a jury hear the case.

    SpaceX's attorney in the suit, Douglas Lobel with the Cooley law firm of Reston, Va., did not respond to a request for comment.

[Петр Зайцев]

Обыкновенная коррупция в NASA. Там такой шушеры полно крутится, снизу доверху. Хоровиц вообще миллиардами ворочал, и никто его не судит.

[Космос-3794]

SES поет дифирамбы Falcon 9 и работает над снижением веса спутников с использованием ионников:

the SES contract was concluded for a price that industry officials said is unbeatable — well under $60 million for a satellite weighing a bit more than 3,000 kilograms.
Halliwell said only that SpaceX's current Falcon 9 pricing is "less than 60 percent of the price of other operators.
SES's work with Princeton on electric propulsion is designed to permit a large satellite to reduce its weight by up to 50 percent.That weight savings could be used to move from a heavy-lift to a less-expensive medium-lift rocket such as Falcon 9.

http://spacenews.com/launch/110613-ses-tech-chief-praises-falcon9.html

[Salo]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25597.msg759905#msg759905

Elon Musk:
"Our rough ball-park estimate is something on the order of 20 launches a year, of which roughly half are Falcon Heavy and roughly half are Falcon 9, and of those roughly 60%-70% going out of Cape Canaveral."

Comments above starting around 15:40.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25597.msg760192#msg760192

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25597.msg759970#msg759970

I get the impression from their launch manifest that 2013 is the first year of standard operations with the Falcon 9, and everything prior to that is preparatory work.

Next year (2012) they have manifested 3 CRS flights (4 if you include catchup for 2011 if that doesn't happen then) plus potentially a couple of commercials being ORBCOM and MDA Corp.  Don't know where those are at but anyway the CRS flights will definitely be operational flights for both F9 and Dragon Cargo and by definition, that means SpaceX will be in ongoing commercial mode.  Doesn't matter that the flights are for NASA.  There may be more oversight than for other non-gov't flights but the essentials will be the same.
Crunch time for SpaceX.  Will they be able to manifest 3 - 5 flights per year as promised?  

SpaceX has stated that the 7th Falcon 9 will use the Merlin 1D engine. That will likely be when they introduce the longer tanks with a strengthened structure.  That is supposedly two flights before the debut of the Falcon Heavy and includes at least one flight of the 5 meter fairing.  At that point, they will have the stable of rockets they have promised.

FWIW, and admittedly it's not much, my opinion is that they will be in "standard operations" when one can order a rocket that has flown, as opposed to a planned redesign.  Secondarily it will be when burning down the manifest no longer requires a step increse in their flight rate.

Exactly.

According to Max Vozoff, the Merlin 1d has a dramatically lower parts count:
http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/max-vozoff-friday-3-4-11/
(starting around 57:30 into the interview).

Also, IIRC, Elon said their assembly line should be capable of producing up to 800 Merlin 1d engines per year.

In other words, the Merlin 1d is designed for mass production.

[Lev]

Обыкновенная коррупция в NASA. Там такой шушеры полно крутится, снизу доверху. Хоровиц вообще миллиардами ворочал, и никто его не судит.

А с чего Вы взяли что где-то будет меньше коррупции?