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SpaceX drops plans to make Falcon 9 rockets more reusable
For a while, SpaceX has dreamed of making its Falcon 9 rocket as reusable as possible, and not just the first stage. Now, though, it's having a change of heart. SpaceX has scrapped plans to make the rocket's second stage reusable. Instead, Elon Musk said, it's focused on "accelerating" development of the BFR. Musk also teased a significant design shake-up, calling it "delightfully counterintuitive" and a "radical change" compared to the previous design.
Watch SpaceX's first West Coast ground landing at 10:21PM ET (update: success)
SpaceX may be an old hand at rocket landings by this point, but there are still a few firsts left. The private spaceflight company is launching Argentina's SAOCOM 1A satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 10:21PM Eastern (7:21PM Pacific), and you'll want to watch what happens on the way down. If all goes according to plan, this will be SpaceX's first ground landing on the West Coast -- it used a drone ship for California missions until now. You can start watching live on YouTube (below) 15 minutes before takeoff.
SpaceX rocket survives an intentional water landing
Right now, SpaceX is only reusing rockets to a limited degree -- it's disposing of vehicles after a short while when they're unlikely to survive their next flight. With its latest launch, though, it got lucky. Elon Musk has confirmed that the Falcon 9 first stage from the GovSat-1 launch survived its intentional water landing. It was only meant to test a "very high retrothrust landing" for the sake of protecting the drone ship and was expected to meet an untimely end, but it appeared to have survived largely intact.
Watch SpaceX's second attempt at launching a US spy satellite
Yesterday morning, SpaceX had big plans for launching US spy satellite NROL-76 on the back of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral. Unfortunately, a sensor issue put paid to the idea, but just one day later, the company is back and attempting a do-over for the mission. At 7:15am ET, SpaceX will attempt to fire the secretive craft into the heavens and then, crucially, return the Falcon 9 to the ground.
Watch SpaceX try a picture-perfect rocket landing at 7AM ET (updated)
Many SpaceX rocket landings have gotchas for viewers. Drone ship landings frequently mean shaky satellite video feeds, and nighttime launches just aren't very photogenic. You're about to have a much better look, however. SpaceX is launching a US spy satellite (NROL-76) on April 30th in circumstances that are about as good as you could hope for. The 7AM Eastern launch window opening is definitely early (especially if you're on the West coast), but it guarantees daylight at Cape Canaveral. And more importantly, there will be a ground landing -- you should get unfettered, high-quality video of the whole affair.
SpaceX is launching one of its last disposable rockets
SpaceX won't have to intentionally crash some of its rockets going forward. Elon Musk has revealed that SpaceX's next flight, which has a Falcon 9 delivering an EchoStar satellite as soon as January 30th, should use the company's last expendable rocket. This rocket will burn too much fuel for its first stage to attempt a landing (the satellite is simply too heavy at 5.4 imperial tons), but future big-payload launches will use either the higher-performance Falcon 9 (Block 5) or Falcon Heavy and shouldn't have trouble coping with the weight. The new Falcon should lift off at the end of 2017, Musk says.
Blue Origin successfully tests its crew escape system
Blue Origin's escape system test went by without a hitch. Jeff Bezos' private spaceflight outfit successfully ejected the crew capsule from the New Shepherd rocket about 45 seconds after launch, shooting it away at about 400MPH before parachutes carried it safely to Earth. On top of this, Blue Origin landed New Shepherd again -- there were worries that the capsule's rocket would damage the booster and prevent it from landing safely. You can watch it yourself below, starting at the 1:05:58 mark.
Watch SpaceX try its second ground landing (update: success!)
Now that sea-based rocket landings are relatively commonplace for SpaceX, the company is hoping to achieve repeat success with ground landings. Elon Musk and crew are launching a Dragon capsule full of cargo to the International Space Station on July 18th at 12:45AM Eastern, and they're using this nighttime mission to attempt the second-ever ground landing of a Falcon 9 rocket. You can watch SpaceX's live stream below starting at 12:25AM.
Blue Origin lands its reusable rocket a fourth time
Blue Origin's reusable rocket is practically running like clockwork. The private spaceflight outfit has successfully landed its New Shepard rocket a fourth time (during its first-ever live stream), touching down with a seemingly effortless amount of grace. Jeff Bezos and company weren't just showing off, though. They also successfully tested the redundancy of the crew capsule's parachute system, showing that the capsule can survive even if one of the chutes fails. We're still a long way from testing a manned capsule (the windows are still painted on in this version), but it's an important step toward the goal of lower-cost space travel. You can watch the entire replay below -- if you want to cut to the chase, the launch starts around the 1h 2m mark.
SpaceX's next rocket launch and landing is just minutes away
Another sunny day in Florida, another launch and potential landing on a droneship for SpaceX. This time the company is launching the Thaicom 8 communications satellite, and the launch windows is just minutes away from opening. Naturally, you can watch the whole thing via livestream, either with hosts or without. SpaceX has a couple of successful missions under its belt now, but today's landing is said to be a "very hot and fast first-stage reentry." Update: And we have a successful liftoff! Update 2: And...yet another successful landing! The rocket is back on earth, standing on the I Still Love You droneship. The video feed dropped out just as the rocket came in, but came back just after the rocket touched down. That makes three successful sea landings in a row for SpaceX, while also launching cargo to orbit.
SpaceX give you three looks at its rocket's night landing
Last week SpaceX stuck a night landing on its droneship, and now (just after Blue Origin posted a ridealong view from its reusable rocket) we've got some video of the event. Three slightly different angles from the ship show the rocket coming down, a difficult event this time because it was the first landing after a "GTO-class" mission, meaning geostationary transfer orbit. Anyway, all's well that ends well, and we have some incredible night footage to show for it -- check it out below.
Watch Blue Origin's third landing from the rocket's point of view
Sure, you can watch reusable rocket landings from the ground as much as you want, but have you wondered what it'd be like if you were strapped to one of those rockets? Blue Origin sure has. Jeff Bezos' spaceflight outfit has released a video showing its third landing from the booster rocket's view (specifically, a vent), starting with the moment before it reenters the atmosphere. What's surprising is how the change in perspective underscores the speed of the whole operation -- you're looking at a dramatic view of Earth in one moment, and the American desert the next. This sort of camera angle will eventually become run-of-the-mill, of course, but it's worth watching while reusable rockets are still novelties.
Blue Origin posts video of its rocket's third flight
Another day, another suborbital spaceflight for Blue Origin's BE-3 rocket booster. The New Shepard reached an altitude of 103km during its third flight yesterday, before the capsule came home via parachute and its engine landed while restarting at about 3,600 feet above the ground. We're still waiting for those promised bigger rockets, but you can get your weekend's video dose of rocketry.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will launch its rocket a third time
Jeff Bezos' rocket company has already shown its product is reusable, but if it's going to launch "space" tourism, it will have to fly many times. As such, Blue Origin is working fly the New Shepard rocket for the third time on Saturday. According to Bezos, this time the engine will restart fast "just" 3,600 feet above the ground, leaving little room for error on its trip home from the edge of space. Plus, the company's previous tests have only been revealed after the fact, so that's another change. Still, we're not expecting any kind of SpaceX-style livestream, but Bezos says there will be drone cameras in place to get an aerial view of the flight. Whether or not it all works as planned, there should be some exciting footage to share so check back here tomorrow. Update: At least two microgravity science experiments will be along for the ride.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin sent its rocket to space... again
As Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos continue their battle to develop re-usable rocket technology first, the Amazon man's company has news to announce tonight. Its video shows its New Shepard rocket -- that previously flew to suborbital altitude of 100km -- doing it all over again. According to Blue Origin, instead of just being the first rocket to cross the Karman Line and then land vertically back on the Earth, it's now the first one to have done it twice. There are still arguments that what Blue Origin is doing is easier than SpaceX's attempts (not actually going into low-Earth orbit and it's moving slower), but it's still an amazing achievement.
SpaceX's first reusable rocket is back in its hangar
As a reminder of one of 2015's greatest accomplishments, SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted one more picture (embedded below) of the record setting Falcon 9 rocket it launched to space and then landed again at Cape Canaveral. Now the rocket is back in its hangar and after showing no damage from its trip, is "ready to fire again." That bodes well for future launches, but it's unlikely to happen for this unit. After the historic event, Musk told reporters "we will probably keep this one on the ground," and after testing will put it "somewhere." There's no word on which museum the rocket will end up in, but hopefully Musk knows our mantel is available.
Here's a close look at SpaceX's historic rocket landing
SpaceX's much-hyped rocket landing was impressive, but you didn't exactly get a good look at it if you were watching live. It seemed more like a matchstick putting itself out, really. Not to worry, though: SpaceX has delivered an ample supply of photos and video documenting every step of this milestone in private spaceflight. They help illustrate the challenge involved -- SpaceX had to bring a tall, fire-belching Falcon 9 down to Earth relatively quickly while keeping it stable. While this probably won't be the last time you see reusable rocket technology in action, it's certainly one of the more dramatic examples.
SpaceX will try to launch and land a rocket Monday night
SpaceX has been understandably quiet since its last rocket exploded right after launch, but it's hoping to make up for that failure in style. It's planning to not only launch a Falcon 9 rocket on December 21st at 8:29PM ET, but attempt its first-ever ground landing with that rocket -- no doubt in hopes of countering Blue Origin's landing from a few weeks ago. Even if the touchdown fails, it'll still be an important launch as ORBCOMM gets 11 communications satellites into orbit. Tune in to the live stream below (coverage should start at 8:05PM) and you'll see whether or not SpaceX has better success on terra firma than it did at sea.Update (12/21): You can watch the live stream of the launch attempt right here.[Image credit: SpaceX Photos, Flickr]
Can microwave-powered shuttles make space travel cheaper?
How much does it take to launch a satellite? According to Rocket Lab's Peter Beck "You pretty much have to write a check for a billion dollars." Beck, along with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are part of a new wave of inventors looking to make this cheaper by developing low cost or reusable rockets for launches. The folks at Escape Dynamics, however, have a very different idea about how to make trips to space economical for people who aren't multi-millionaires. The company claims that it's successfully tested the engine for a reusable spaceplane that, rather than being stuffed to the gills with expensive fuel, would glide into the stratosphere on a wave of microwave energy.
Airbus thinks it can trump SpaceX's reusable rockets
Airbus isn't done trying to beat SpaceX... in fact, it's going for the jugular. The German aerospace firm has unveiled Adeline, a reusable first-stage rocket engine that aims to one-up the efforts from its American rival. Rather than try to return the entire first stage to Earth, Adeline carries just the most expensive bits, the engine and avionics. The machine has an aerodynamic shield that reduces engine stress on the way down, and two winglets with rotary motors to guide the craft safely to the ground -- Airbus envisions the rocket segment landing on runways, not launchpads. This approach reportedly requires much less fuel than SpaceX's approach, and would lop as much as 30 percent off routine launch costs.
