SpaceX’s loses launch contract due to scheduling delays
Because of SpaceX’s decision to delay its next launch into early January, Inmarsat today decided to switch launch companies for a mid-2017 satellite, dropping SpaceX and signing a contract with Arianespace.
Inmarsat is not abandoning SpaceX, only switching to Arianespace for one satellite. Nonetheless, this decision, coming only one day after SpaceX confirmed the delay, explains to me why SpaceX has been saying for months it intended to resume launches before the end of 2017. Inmarsat had probably told the company that if they delayed into January, they would lose this launch. When SpaceX finally admitted they couldn’t meet the 2016 launch deadline, Inmarsat made the switch.
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Because of SpaceX’s decision to delay its next launch into early January, Inmarsat today decided to switch launch companies for a mid-2017 satellite, dropping SpaceX and signing a contract with Arianespace.
Inmarsat is not abandoning SpaceX, only switching to Arianespace for one satellite. Nonetheless, this decision, coming only one day after SpaceX confirmed the delay, explains to me why SpaceX has been saying for months it intended to resume launches before the end of 2017. Inmarsat had probably told the company that if they delayed into January, they would lose this launch. When SpaceX finally admitted they couldn’t meet the 2016 launch deadline, Inmarsat made the switch.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
That’s what competition is about. If you can’t meet the buyer’s needs, he goes elsewhere. In the private sector, failure has consequences.
The good news is that SpaceX is demonstrating seriousness about reliability. They seem to be willing to lose a payload in order to assure that they have fixed their problem and will consistently launch safely. This may be a short-term setback, but if the next many launches go well, it is likely a long-term victory.
True or not (I think “not”), many people blamed pressure to launch for the Challenger disaster. SpaceX seems to be telling the world that they would rather lose a payload to a competitor than fold from such pressure.
Although this is not the one that went to Arianespace, EchoStar 23 has some pressure to get on orbit and be operational by the middle of next year, otherwise the Brazilian license may expire for some of the frequencies the satellite is built to use. This may merely be an additional financial cost to EchoStar, as I am guessing that they could maintain these frequencies by paying a fine to Brazil, should they end up missing the deadline.
Selenium boondocks has a good take on this.
ken anthony,
It would be a good take, except that it assumes that SpaceX could have been flying for a couple of months.
So far, I have seen no evidence that SpaceX yet has confidence in the new procedures that they have said should solve the problem, and with this latest delay, I see evidence that they still do not have enough confidence to fly and may even be considering tweaking or testing the procedure some more.
Having been on the problem solving side of faulty or misbehaving spaceflight hardware, I know that these things are not rushed. Rushing is how other problems are missed and how accidents happen.
A company or team that does not fully understand the process can end up with a rocket exploding on the pad due to unexpected reactions, and oh!, that’s just what happened to SpaceX. I think it is likely that they are being especially cautious, this time.
Since their site is announced as “Random Musings from the Warped Minds of …,” I suspect that Selenian Boondocks does not want us to take their musings too seriously.