Tag: competition

SpaceX launches 23 Starlink with a 1st stage flying for a record-setting 18th time

5:46 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched 23 Starlink, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral and using a first stage flying for a record-setting 18th time.

The first stage landed successfully on its drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

79 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 91 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 91 to 79. SpaceX by itself is once again tied the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 79 to 79.

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China launches military satellite

12:13 pm

China today successfully launched a military satellite, its Long March 7 rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport.

As this launch was on the coast, the rocket’s lower stages likely landed in the ocean harmlessly.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

78 SpaceX
50 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise still leads China 90 to 50 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 90 to 79. SpaceX by itself is trails the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 78 to 79.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the link.

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Sierra Space: Tenacity is complete and ready for ground testing

9:50 am

Sierra Space announced yesterday that its reuseable Tenacity cargo freighter, the first of its Dream Chaser mini-shuttles, is now complete and ready shipment to NASA’s test facilities in Ohio for ground testing.

The spacecraft hopefully will fly next year. Though this is four years behind schedule, it signals an important milestone for the company, and suggests its operational pace will pick up afterward. Though its arrival comes very late in ISS’s lifespan, the coming arrival of many private space stations, including Sierra’s own, will likely provide it many customers.

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Musk: Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow”

9:45 am

In a tweet yesterday, Elon Musk revealed that Starlink “has achieved breakeven cash flow,” adding that “Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year.”

This means that SpaceX achieved this goal using only its Falcon 9 rocket. Originally the company thought it had to have Starship to get enough satellites into orbit to operate the constellation. Because of delays in developing Starship (right now mostly caused by red tape in the federal government), the company ramped up the launch pace using just Falcon 9, and apparently got the job done.

The profits from Starlink can now be used to further develop Starship and Superheavy, assuming the federal government ever gets out of the way.

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Norway inaugurates its Andoya spaceport

9:39 am

Map of Norway showing Andoya

Norway yesterday announced the opening its new Andoya spaceport in the far north of the country, where it hopes will become a hub for the emerging new commercial launch industry.

The location is indicated by the map to the right, in the Arctic and farther north than any other planned spaceport, making it excellent for satellites going into polar orbit.

The launch base, which eventually will have several launch pads, was built by Norwegian public company Andoya Space, on a site which until now has only been used for firing suborbital scientific experiment rockets.

Spectrum, a two-stage craft capable of carrying up to one tonne and developed by the German start-up Isar Aerospace, is scheduled to be the first rocket to be launched from island which is located near the idyllic Lofoten archipelago.

If Norway’s government works better than Great Britain’s in issuing launch permits, this spaceport will steal all business from the UK’s own two spaceports being built in Scotland.

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Iceland signs Artemis Accords

9:29 am

Though no press announcement was ever released, it appears that Iceland signed the Artemis Accords sometime in October, according to small mention in the the press release announcing the signing of the Netherlands.

The mention was so small I missed it. In fact, so apparently did NASA, as Iceland did not issue its own press release. The U.S. likely found out about the signing through private diplomatic communications.

This brings the total number of nations now part of this American space alliance to thirty-one, as follows: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, and the United States.

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During landing Shenzhou’s single parachute appeared damaged

10:01 am

A closer look at imagery during the descent by parachute of China’s manned Shenzhou capsule, bringing three astronauts back from Tiangong-3 after a five month mission on October 31, 2023, shows that the capsule’s single parachute had a ripped hole.

In some of the footage, a patch of blue sky can be seen through the red-and-white-banded parachute. Inside the capsule were Shenzhou 16 mission commander Jing Haipeng and crewmates Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao — the latter pair returning to Earth after their first mission to space.

Such a sizable hole, which was visible before a white cloud of vented propellant left the Shenzhou capsule, has not been reported during earlier missions. It did not, however, seem to affect operations.

The landing however was very rough, with the capsule tumbling several times after hitting the ground.

Considering that China presently as three astronauts on Tiangong-3 that have to come home in their own Shenzhou capsule, using this same parachute system, finding out what happened seems imperative. Developing its next generation larger capsule, which will return using three parachutes, also appears essential.

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Space Force awards SpaceX and ULA new launch contracts worth $2.5 billion

8:37 am

Space Force yesterday awarded both SpaceX and ULA new launch contracts worth $2.5 billion and totaling 21 launches over the next two to three years.

The final batch of assignments were split almost evenly, according to Col. Doug Pentecost, the deputy program executive officer of the Space Force’s Space Systems Command. ULA received 11 missions, valued at $1.3 billion, and SpaceX received 10 missions, valued at $1.23 billion.

Space Systems Command said the missions are scheduled to launch over the next two to three years. ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, will use its soon-to-debut Vulcan rocket for the 11 missions, while SpaceX will fly seven missions with its Falcon 9 rocket and three missions with its Falcon Heavy rocket.

For SpaceX this award is no surprise. The ULA contract is more puzzling. Supposedly the Space Force was not going to award any launch contracts for ULA’s new Vulcan rocket until it successfully launched twice and was certified by the military as operational. Yet, it has now awarded ULA this contract for Vulcan launches. Has the military awarded the contract on a contingency basis? What happens if Vulcan has a failure on one of its first two launches?

The Space Force’s present arrangement limits bidding for launches to just these two companies. If Vulcan fails will it open bidding to other companies, or will it transfer launches to SpaceX?

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The Netherlands signs Artemis Accords

8:26 am

Confirming what it announced in early October, the Netherlands yesterday officially signed the Artemis Accords, becoming the thirtieth nations to join.

The full list of signatories to the Artemis Accords is now as follows: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, and the United States.

We now have the rough outline of the national alliances that will compete with each other in space. On one hand are the nations above, generally from the west with a larger focus on private enterprise and ownership. On the other hand are the authoritarian nations, led by China and Russia with a few failed communist nations like Venezuela.

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China successfully launches classified satellite

10:27 pm

China tonight (November 1, 2023 in China) successfully launched a classified satellite, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in the north part of the country.

No video of the launch was released. Nor were any pictures. In addition, no information was released describing where the rocket’s first and second stages crashed. Both use kerosene and oxygen, so neither is as toxic as China’s other older rockets using hypergolic fuels, but China also does not make any apparent effort to control these crash landings.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

78 SpaceX
49 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise still leads China 90 to 49 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 90 to 78. SpaceX by itself is now tied with the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 78 to 78.

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Chinese crew completes five-month mission on Tiangong-3 after return to Earth

8:32 am

The new colonial movement: A three-man Chinese crew successfully landed today in north China in their Shenzhou capsule, completing a five-month mission on the Tiangong-3 space station.

The full mission length was 154 days. China claims that one of the astronauts was a civilian, but that really means nothing considering the security required to participate in these missions.

The crew that has taken over on Tiangong-3 are expected to do a mission of comparable length, probably pushing the length to six-months.

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SpaceX successfully launches another 22 Starlink satellites

9:27 am

SpaceX early this morning successfully launched another 22 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its seventh flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

The company has another Starlink launch scheduled for later today, taking off from Cape Canaveral. UPDATE: Aborted at T-30 seconds for a technical issue, and rescheduled for October 30, 2023.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

77 SpaceX
48 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 89 to 48 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 89 to 77. SpaceX by itself is now tied with the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 77 to 77.

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