Tag: SpaceX

science

SpaceX could be on its way to Mars sooner than you’d think

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View of SpaceX's Starship vehicle behind a Boca Chica Village home on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, in Boca Chica. The SpaceX's prototype, resembling an old sci-fi movie rocket of the '50s, will be fully reusable transportation system designed to service all Earth orbit needs as well as the Moon and Mars.

View of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle behind a Boca Chica Village home on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019, in Boca Chica. The SpaceX’s prototype, resembling an old sci-fi movie rocket of the ’50s, will be fully reusable transportation system designed to service all Earth orbit needs as well as the Moon and Mars.

Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

SpaceX could be headed to Mars sooner than expected.

In a Dec. 1 interview with Mathias Döpfner of Axel Springer SE, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said he’s “fairly confident” SpaceX will be on its way to Mars six years from now, but it could happen as early as 2024.

“If you say six years from now I think [I’m] highly confident, if we get lucky, maybe four years,” he said, adding that “we want to try and send a

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sci tech

SpaceX CRS-21 to Launch Multiple Life Science Investigations to International Space Station Under National Lab Sponsorship

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SpaceX CRS-21 to Launch Multiple Life Science Investigations to International Space Station Under National Lab Sponsorship

Press Release
From: Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)
Posted: Wednesday, December 2, 2020

SpaceX is slated to launch its 21st commercial resupply services (CRS) mission, contracted through NASA, to the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than December 5 at 11:39 a.m. EST. This is the first-time SpaceX will leverage an upgraded version of the Dragon cargo spacecraft to launch critical research and supplies to the orbiting laboratory. This launch comes on the heels of the successful launch and docking of SpaceX Crew-1, which delivered four astronauts and research to the space station for a six-month science mission. Over the coming months, the Crew-1 astronauts, along with NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, will work on many of the research investigations launching on SpaceX CRS-21 as part of Expedition 64.

Several investigations

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technology

‘Highly confident’ SpaceX will land humans on Mars by 2026

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Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Tesla Inc., speaks during an event at the SpaceX launch facility in Cameron County, Texas, U.S., on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019. Musk gave space fans an update Saturday evening on the status of “Starship,” the next-generation vehicle his SpaceX plans to use to eventually take humans to Mars. Photographer: Bronte Wittpenn/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bronte Wittpenn | Bloomberg | Getty Images

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remains “highly confident” that his company will land humans on Mars by 2026, saying on Tuesday that it’s an achievable goal “about six years from now.”

“If we get lucky, maybe four years,” Musk said, speaking on an award show webcast from Berlin, Germany. “We want to send an uncrewed vehicle there in two years.”

The ambitious 2026 goal matches with what Musk outlined at the International Astronautical Congress in September 2016, when

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science

Here’s how Earth looked to astronauts aboard the SpaceX capsule

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The view from space is just out of this world.



a screen shot of a computer: Victor Glover posted a video of Earth from space.

© Twitter
Victor Glover posted a video of Earth from space.

NASA astronaut Victor Glover, one of the four astronauts aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, posted a video on Twitter of the stunning view from Earth on his first-ever trip to space.

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“My first video from space! Looking at the Earth through the window of Dragon Resilience,” Glover said on Twitter. “The scale of detail and sensory inputs made this a breathtaking perspective!”

The video shows Glover sitting by a window soaking in the view from outer space. The astronaut, who is serving as a pilot and second-in-command on the Dragon, said the view was amazing but the video “doesn’t do it justice.”

NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins and Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi are also members of the mission, called Crew-1.

It marks the

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technology articles

SpaceX Prepares Starship SN8 For Launch, But Elon Musk Gives 1-in-3 Chance Of Landing Intact

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KEY POINTS

  • Starship prototypes SN5 and SN6 completed short hop tests in earlier this year
  • Elon Musk said a lot of things need to go right with this launch
  • Starship’s orbital launch will not be before 2021

Elon Musk revealed on Tuesday that SpaceX could launch its latest Starship prototype as early as “next week.” 

The Serial Number 8 Starship prototype, also called SN8, has already passed a test firing of its three engines. In its next launch, SpaceX is hoping the rocket will reach an altitude of around 50,000 feet, which would be quite a liftoff considering both the SN5 and SN6 flights only reached 500 feet.

For Musk, the Starship mission has become SpaceX’s main focus, following the successful launch of four astronauts into space in its Crew Dragon capsule earlier this month.

Musk has said that the Starship mission needs to be pushed forward “dramatically and immediately,” 

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technology articles

SpaceX is outsourcing Starlink satellite-dish production, insider says

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  • SpaceX recently launched a public beta test for Starlink, its growing network of internet-beaming satellites.
  • Test subscribers pay $100 per month for broadbandlike service, plus a $500 fee for a starter kit that includes a “UFO on a stick” user terminal, or satellite dish.
  • But each user terminal contains a phased-array antenna, which industry experts say can’t be made for less than $1,000.
  • SpaceX hired STMicroelectronics to manufacture Starlink user terminals, a person with knowledge of the agreement told Business Insider.
  • The contract with the Swiss-headquartered manufacturing giant calls for the production of 1 million terminals and may be worth billions of dollars, the person said.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

SpaceX is outsourcing a key element of its Starlink satellite-internet network with a manufacturing deal worth billions of dollars, an industry insider told Business Insider.

Job postings and statements by SpaceX officials — including founder Elon Musk

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science

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches for record 7th time, Starlink mission

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  • A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket delivered 60 Starlink satellites into orbit on Tuesday night, marking the rocket’s seventh successful launch.
  • The launch was also SpaceX’s 16th Starlink mission, its 100th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, and its 23rd flight in 2020 — the most flights it has ever achieved in one year.
  • SpaceX’s two-stage Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:13 p.m. on Tuesday. The booster then returned to Earth and landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone ship.
  • Elon Musk’s space company now has at least 830 Starlink satellites in orbit. It plans to surround the Earth with up to 42,000 satellites beaming down high-speed internet.
  • Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

SpaceX successfully launched one of its Falcon 9 rockets on Tuesday night for a record-breaking seventh time, delivering 60 satellites to orbit for its

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science

SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink internet satellites in 100th Falcon 9 launch

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112420-launch.jpg
A time exposure captures the fiery trajectory of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket climbing away from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying 60 Starlink internet relay satellites. It was the company’s 23rd launch so far this year, the 100th for the workhorse Falcon 9 since the rocket’s debut in 2010 and a record seventh flight for the booster’s first stage.

William Harwood/CBS News


SpaceX fired off a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida on Tuesday night, marking the company’s 100th overall and 23rd so far this year. The rocket boosted off another set of 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit using a first stage making a record seventh flight.

The latest batch of Starlinks pushed the total number launched to date to 955 as SpaceX continues building out a globe-spanning constellation of internet relay satellites designed to provide broadband services to subscribers anywhere on the planet. Thousands more satellites are

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technology articles

SpaceX uses booster seventh time on Starlink launch

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ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 24 (UPI) — SpaceX launched one of its Falcon 9 first-stage boosters for a record seventh time Tuesday night as the company launched more of its Starlink satellites from Florida.

The 16th batch of 60 satellites headed toward orbit at 9:13 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The launch marks the 100th such mission for a Falcon 9 rocket, and boosts the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 900.

A risk of rough seas in the Atlantic Ocean, where Elon Musk’s company wants to land the booster on a droneship, prevented the launch on Monday night. Rough seas remained a risk on Tuesday night, according to a U.S. Space Force forecast, but the launch took place as planned.

The rocket booster for the mission flew on four other Starlink launches, most recently in August, and two missions for

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science

Watch live @ 9 pm ET: SpaceX launching 60 Starlink internet satellites

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SpaceX will launch 60 new Starlink internet satellites into orbit on a used Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday night (Nov. 24) and you can watch it live online here, courtesy of SpaceX. Liftoff is set for 9:13 p.m. EST (0213 Nov. 25 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. 

Originally scheduled for Sunday (Nov. 22), the launch was scrubbed 30 minutes before liftoff to allow time for additional system checks. A backup launch window on Monday was again delayed to Tuesday due to bad weather. 

The Falcon 9 rocket on this flight is making its seventh flight to space in a milestone for SpaceX’s reusability effort. It launched the Telstar 18 VANTAGE satellite in September 2018,

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