SpaceX launches two Galileo satellites, part of Europe’s GPS-type satellite constellation
SpaceX today successfully launched two satellites of Europe’s Galileo GPS-type satellite constellation, the first of a two-launch contract awarded to SpaceX when the Soyuz rocket was no longer available because of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and Arianespace’s Ariane-6 rocket was not yet operational.
The first stage completed its 20th flight, tying the record set by another booster only a few weeks ago. Because of the high orbit required by both satellites, that stage was not recovered, the first time SpaceX has expended a first stage since November 2022. SpaceX however also announced that the company is now working to upgrade its Falcon 9 first stages and fairings to fly as many as 40 missions. The two fairings also completed their fourth flight, which brought the total of fairings SpaceX has recovered to 200.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
43 SpaceX
17 China
6 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 50 to 29, while SpaceX by itself still leads the rest of the world, including other American companies, 43 to 36.
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Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
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SpaceX today successfully launched two satellites of Europe’s Galileo GPS-type satellite constellation, the first of a two-launch contract awarded to SpaceX when the Soyuz rocket was no longer available because of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine and Arianespace’s Ariane-6 rocket was not yet operational.
The first stage completed its 20th flight, tying the record set by another booster only a few weeks ago. Because of the high orbit required by both satellites, that stage was not recovered, the first time SpaceX has expended a first stage since November 2022. SpaceX however also announced that the company is now working to upgrade its Falcon 9 first stages and fairings to fly as many as 40 missions. The two fairings also completed their fourth flight, which brought the total of fairings SpaceX has recovered to 200.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
43 SpaceX
17 China
6 Russia
5 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 50 to 29, while SpaceX by itself still leads the rest of the world, including other American companies, 43 to 36.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Now Russia thinks to have a DC-X
Interesting translation
https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/ekonomicheskie-aspekty-perehoda-k-mnogorazovym-sredstvam-vyvedeniya
Um…
Eric Berger on X: “Really hard to overstate the fact that not only are some of Europe’s most valuable satellites (Galileo navigation) launching on a Falcon 9 rocket today, but they’re doing so on the 20th mission. Unimaginable even two or three years ago.”
https://twitter.com/SciGuySpace/status/1784316700604670282
Indeed. This really is a remarkable development.
SpaceX launch history in one minute.
https://youtu.be/vXrloxt4DaM
What was the thinking behind SpaceX expending an F9 on its 20th mission? I can understand that this might make financial sense, compared to using an F9 with the potential to fly many more times, but the “fleet leaders” also have a unique value in gaining an understanding of the ultimate lifespan of the system. Thoughts?
Ray Van Dune: SpaceX made it clear, and I note it in the post, that the requirements of the satellites in orbit, inclination, etc required the Falcon 9 to expend all its fuel. No landing was possible.
I should add that expending this booster makes engineering and financial sense. They have gotten full value from it, and also have another 20-flight booster to test their engineering.
Perhaps I did not make it sufficiently clear that I did not question the need to expend a booster, only that I sought constructive discussion about the selection of a 20-flight booster.
Ray Van Dune: I think the decision to use of this 20-flight booster is because they have amortized its cost completely at this point. Though they could fly it more times as they work to upgrade the boosters for that new 40 flight goal, they probably don’t think it worthwhile to have more than one. As they fly that other 20-flight booster additional times, they can then apply what they learn to all their other boosters.
“Though they could fly it more times as they work to upgrade the boosters for that new 40 flight goal, they probably don’t think it worthwhile to have more than one.”
I wonder what company will be the next to have that “problem”?! My guess… nobody in this decade!
And by the time they do, SpaceX will have AI-based self-refurbishing rockets that schedule themselves, and walk on their legs from the landing pad to the launch pad! Only half kidding here.
The other option might have been Falcon Heavy, but I imagine SpaceX did their sums and figured that even with all the first-stage cores reused, it would still have been more expensive. Also there’s only LC-39A available for Heavy at present, complicating the scheduling.
It will be amusing to see these 1000kg-class payloads as “rideshares” on future Starship missions. While MEO is not a hugely popular orbit, it’s the legacy orbit for GNSS. Presently the GPS constellation is 32 satellites (ish). That could use another zero.
Those who pay more than likely choose.
Anything from a brand new one for X amount to this fine 20 times used one for just 1 tenth the price. Twice the cost to not recover it. Fuel, second stages and launch costs are all the same.
They come in white but you can order it in any other color you like. your logo of choice.
Pick your orbit.
We have many open dates and a few open launch areas. Please choose.
We hope you are happy with our service and will think of us in the future for all your orbital needs.
“Anything from a brand new one for X amount to this fine 20 times used one for just 1 tenth the price. ”
Eventually it may be the other way around. “You can use this proven, reliable stage for X, or you can try one fresh off the assembly line for a 20% discount.”
“Presently the GPS constellation is 32 satellites (ish). That could use another zero.”
Ten times as many is overkill. There is also the possibility that future Starlinks and other low altitude comsats can be used for navigation. This has in fact been done even without SpaceX help.
For civilian uses, providing we avoid World War 3 (there seem to be an alarming number of enthusiasts for having WW3) you can easily use a 4 constellation receiver. Right now in eastern Australia I have 59 navsats visible. In Los Angeles I have 43 navsats visible. Both cases with 5 degree mask angle on the horizon. We have more sats at the longitudes around China as they have a number of Beidou sats in figure 8 orbits and we also see the Japanese QZSS sats.
Insurance cost for what must be a very expensive payload must figure in the customer decision. That would rule out F9 Heavy which has 3x the booster risk. There must also be an optimum for number of previous flights a F9 booster has had.
> Ten times as many is overkill.
Yes, for the baseline PNT service. GPS is vulnerable, though, and more satellites would make it more robust; lower launch costs could help with this.
> There is also the possibility that future Starlinks and other low altitude comsats can be used for navigation. This has in fact been done even without SpaceX help.
Certainly, as we see with Iridium/Satelles or the work on opportunistic signals from Starlink and OneWeb. Not yet widely deployed, but encouraging. I’m not sure why we don’t see DoD proposals for dedicated LEO constellations to augment GPS.
Robert wrote: “The first stage completed its 20th flight … The two fairings also completed their fourth flight, which brought the total of fairings SpaceX has recovered to 200.”
200 fairings at $3 million per fairing (or is it per pair, I keep forgetting), saves the company or the customers $600 million (or $300 million, depending), over the years.
If the engines are able to perform for 20 missions, then the hope for 148 Falcon launches suggests that about 8 new Falcon boosters need to be made, thus 72 new Merlin engines, and 148 upper stages have to be built, thus an additional 148 Merlin vacuum engines. That is quite a production rate for any rocket and for any engine type.
“SpaceX however also announced that the company is now working to upgrade its Falcon 9 first stages and fairings to fly as many as 40 missions.”
This is quite a learning experience (one that comes not from disaster or disappointment, as with most learning experiences). Blue Origin hopes that its New Glenn can fly 100 times, each, similar to SpaceX’s hopes for Starship and Super Heavy. Whether 20 is the maximum these rockets can launch, 40 is, or 100, it suggests that the launch companies are expecting a large number of customers.
This does not surprise me, because back in the 1990s the launch customers were trying to convince the launch companies that there would be a great demand for launch services if the price of a launch came down to only $2,000 per pound (from the general price of $10,000 per pound) in 1990s dollars. Falcon 9 has reached that point, explaining why it is wildly popular for customers other than Starlink. New Glenn is another attempt to reach that low cost range. Perhaps Vulcan can do the same, if it can reuse its engine compartment. The Ariane 6 did not reach that point, and it is not so popular with low preorders.