The delays in SpaceX’s commercial launch schedule appear caused by a series of problems testing the first stage’s upgraded engines.
The delays in SpaceX’s commercial launch schedule appear caused by a series of problems testing the first stage’s upgraded engines.
The article also provides this updated scheduling information:
A successful test will be key for several of SpaceX’s future ambitions, not least their upcoming increase in launch frequency, with the next Falcon 9 – the debut of the v1.1 – set to loft Canada’s space weather satellite, CASSIOPE, out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. This mission has officially slipped to August, with the likelihood it will be re-targeted to September. Focus will then switch to Cape Canaveral, with two satellite missions, the first carrying SES-8, to be followed by the Thaicom 6 launch.
I had suspected the delays were related to the upgrades to Falcon 9. This article confirms this.
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The delays in SpaceX’s commercial launch schedule appear caused by a series of problems testing the first stage’s upgraded engines.
The article also provides this updated scheduling information:
A successful test will be key for several of SpaceX’s future ambitions, not least their upcoming increase in launch frequency, with the next Falcon 9 – the debut of the v1.1 – set to loft Canada’s space weather satellite, CASSIOPE, out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. This mission has officially slipped to August, with the likelihood it will be re-targeted to September. Focus will then switch to Cape Canaveral, with two satellite missions, the first carrying SES-8, to be followed by the Thaicom 6 launch.
I had suspected the delays were related to the upgrades to Falcon 9. This article confirms this.
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.
It is a little surprising that NASA let them do the earlier missions without their final engine.
The delays are understandable but there will be some drama for the first launch with the new engines.
The Merlin 1C was a more mature engine. I hear there’s annoyance at NASA that SpaceX have slipped in the Falcon 9 v1.1 for contracts they won with the Falcon 9 v1.0.
SpaceX has never made a secret of their aggressive engineering schedule. If SpaceX did indeed ‘slip in’ an unproven engine on contracted flights, then, yes, there’s cause for concern. But I’m inclined to give SpaceX the benefit of the doubt, as NASA has become increasingly the moribund, hidebound legacy agency.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit up front that I’m a fan of SpaceX. You’d think it would NOT be in SpaceX’s interest to begin using an engine they haven’t thoroughly tested & have full confidence in. If there’s a failure, they’re gonna end up with egg on their face – or worse. But I guess that hasn’t stopped people before – the engineers who were concerned about the Shuttle’s o-rings were ignored so NASA could keep to its launch schedule. Does anyone know if SpaceX is planning a test launch of the full Falcon 9 w/uprated engines before a contracted misson takes place ??
SpaceX should have kept flying the original version for NASA until the new one had been proven. From what I know, NASA is requiring SpaceX to fly two or three successful missions with the new rocket (yes, new rocket -not just engines) before allowing it to dock with the ISS. I can understand why NASA was upset.
About the only things the same between the two versions are the construction techniques and materials. The new version has different engines, different stage separation mechanism, different engine controllers, different size (and strength) tanks, and different thrust structure.
Delays in getting a new rocket off the ground are understandable. Delays in NASA’s launch schedule because SpaceX chose to deploy a new rocket instead of using their existing, proven one aren’t!