SpaceX launches commercial satellite
Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched a commercial communications satellite, only two weeks after its previous launch.
They hope to launch again in two weeks, and then two weeks after that, and then two weeks after that, again. In fact, they presently have four launches listed for June. If they succeed, they will be well on the way to clearing their launch backlog.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched a commercial communications satellite, only two weeks after its previous launch.
They hope to launch again in two weeks, and then two weeks after that, and then two weeks after that, again. In fact, they presently have four launches listed for June. If they succeed, they will be well on the way to clearing their launch backlog.
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
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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.
I count 14 planned SpaceX payload launches for the rest of the year plus one Falcon Heavy (payload-less) demonstration flight. Add that to the six Falcon launches so far this year, and SpaceX will have 20 or 21 launches for the year. Wikipedia reports that the Wall Street Journal (at one time) expected 27 launches for this year and that SpaceX president Shotwell hopes for at least 20.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches#Future_launches
I remain hopeful that SpaceX will soon reach their desired launch cadence. Perhaps Blue Origin will develop a similar cadence with New Glenn.
Edward: If SpaceX manages more than 20 flights, which has been their goal this year, they will more or less match what both the entire U.S. as well as China each accomplished last year. With the other U.S. launches, this would likely make the U.S. lead in yearly launches well ahead of every other nation for the first time since the late 1990s.
83 orbital launches last year, weren’t there? SpaceX could almost match that alone next year if they do it every other week, since the Falcon 9 is the largest launcher around except for the rare Delta IV Heavy and the once launched Long March 5. Soyuz for example only takes a quarter the mass of an F9. India’s rockets are even smaller. And 9 of last years launches were F9.
A single company almost achieving a majority of the mass to orbit per year. In competition with all shadowy military projects with unlimited budgets. And making a profit off of it!
Amazing feats of rocketry. The turnaround kills the competition. Good job reporting.
No first stage landing?
“No first stage landing?”
The GSO orbit for the Inmarsat satellite demanded too much fuel to make recovery an option. It demanded nearly every last ounce of performance an F9 can deliver now.
In fact, this flight was originally slated for a Falcon Heavy. It’s a mark of how much SpaceX has been able to increase the F9 performance that it can now take on a payload like this.
@Richard M: Unbelievable, SpaceX achieved a payload mass fraction (of total launch mass) for its F9, which is comparable to a launcher which use liquid hydrogen (at least) in its upper stages (as Saturn V or Delta IV heavy for example). This for an all kerosene fueled launcher not yet seen, very high value of 4.1 % is achieved by extreme large propellant mass fraction (=extreme light weight stage structures).
Imagine what they’ll do when they have more operational launch facilities?
I still worry they will leave their competition in the dust. That could be very unhealthy long term and they are building momentum now. The deep pockets of their rivals may allow them to compete if they get their acts together. Opening up a growing mars colony will greatly expand the need for more launches with a huge potential return. It’s time to expand the economic sphere to solar system proportions (or at least get a start. Opportunity cost is huge.)
ken anthony wrote: “I still worry they will leave their competition in the dust. That could be very unhealthy long term”
I think that this would be healthy long term, but a problem for the competition short term. The competition would have to adapt or quit, and Blue Origin is already adapting to the reusable rocket paradigm. India is working on their own reusable launch vehicle (RLV). Others are adapting to reusable engines in order to compete.
It is generally believed that as launch prices fall, more companies, countries, and universities will have greater incentive to launch satellites, probes, space laboratories, and people. It makes sense from a basic economics viewpoint, and it is good in the long term.
The UK’s Skylon, if it works as intended, may leave SpaceX, Blue Origin, India, and the others in the dust, but that will drive companies into yet another direction of more efficiency. In the long run, even Skylon is good for the industry.
The RLV is undergoing a revival, after the failure of the RLV in the 1990s.
http://spacenews.com/reviving-the-aerospace-plane-program/