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The rest of the launch industry has much to he concerned about.
With Falcon 9 already upgraded, Orbital Sciences Antares launcher looking solid and headed for upgrades, the giant Falcon Heavy due to launch this year, and upstart India launching a new liquid hydrogen upper stage this week ULA, Arianespace, Russia and China have a problem.
And YES, India belongs in NewSpace as they are acting more like a lean & mean startup than a bloated national program.
India's been depending on low efficiency solid fuel upper stages, limiting payload mass, but now with this larger rocket and it's cryogenic liquid hydrogen upper stage they have a much heavier launcher option. It's just what they need for launching larger satellites, manned missions and larger planetary probes.
With Falcon 9 already upgraded, Orbital Sciences Antares launcher looking solid and headed for upgrades, the giant Falcon Heavy due to launch this year, and upstart India launching a new liquid hydrogen upper stage this week ULA, Arianespace, Russia and China have a problem.
And YES, India belongs in NewSpace as they are acting more like a lean & mean startup than a bloated national program.
Falcon 9 v1.1 Appears on Fast Track To Qualify for Air Force Missions
WASHINGTON — With its successful launch of the Thaicom-6 commercial telecommunications satellite Jan. 6, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) appears to have met the U.S. Air Force’s requirements to bid for national security launches and challenge the market incumbent, United Launch Alliance (ULA) of Denver.
While Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX has not received formal certification to launch operational national security satellites aboard its Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, told SpaceNews Jan. 7 he has not seen anything from the vehicle’s three flights to date to prevent that from happening.
SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin said via email that the company believes the Falcon 9 v1.1 has now met the three-flight certification requirement for the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
If the rocket is certified, SpaceX would become the first new competitive entrant in the EELV program, which is used to launch virtually all operational U.S. national security satellites. Today nearly all of those missions are launched aboard ULA’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, and, coupled with soaring costs, has made the EELV program a lightning rod for criticism.
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Shelton has said repeatedly he is pleased with ULA’s record, but thinks the price of launching rockets is too expensive. In a speech to students at George Washington University here Jan. 7, he praised Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive.
“I don’t doubt that guy anymore, by the way,†Shelton said. “What he says, he’s going to do.â€
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WASHINGTON — With its successful launch of the Thaicom-6 commercial telecommunications satellite Jan. 6, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) appears to have met the U.S. Air Force’s requirements to bid for national security launches and challenge the market incumbent, United Launch Alliance (ULA) of Denver.
While Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX has not received formal certification to launch operational national security satellites aboard its Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket, Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, told SpaceNews Jan. 7 he has not seen anything from the vehicle’s three flights to date to prevent that from happening.
SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin said via email that the company believes the Falcon 9 v1.1 has now met the three-flight certification requirement for the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
If the rocket is certified, SpaceX would become the first new competitive entrant in the EELV program, which is used to launch virtually all operational U.S. national security satellites. Today nearly all of those missions are launched aboard ULA’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, and, coupled with soaring costs, has made the EELV program a lightning rod for criticism.
>
Shelton has said repeatedly he is pleased with ULA’s record, but thinks the price of launching rockets is too expensive. In a speech to students at George Washington University here Jan. 7, he praised Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive.
“I don’t doubt that guy anymore, by the way,†Shelton said. “What he says, he’s going to do.â€
>
Antares lifts off with Cygnus cargo ship bound for station
A commercial cargo ship has lifted off on a mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the Orbital Sciences Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia occurred at 1:07 p.m. EST (1807 GMT), with arrival at the space station scheduled for Sunday.
A commercial cargo ship has lifted off on a mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the Orbital Sciences Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia occurred at 1:07 p.m. EST (1807 GMT), with arrival at the space station scheduled for Sunday.
India's been depending on low efficiency solid fuel upper stages, limiting payload mass, but now with this larger rocket and it's cryogenic liquid hydrogen upper stage they have a much heavier launcher option. It's just what they need for launching larger satellites, manned missions and larger planetary probes.
GSLV soars to space with Indian cryogenic engine
GSLV soars to space with Indian cryogenic engine
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle put a 2.1-ton communications satellite in orbit Sunday, boosting prospects for the medium-class launcher after a spate of mishaps in recent years.
Although it carried a costly communications satellite, India's space agency officially considered the launch a test flight for the GSLV and its indigenous hydrogen-fueled third stage.
The 161-foot-tall rocket blasted off at 1048 GMT (5:48 a.m. EST), darting through a clear afternoon sky over the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India's east coast, where it was 4:18 p.m. local time.
Depositing a plume of exhaust in its wake, the launcher soared into the upper atmosphere riding 1.5 million pounds of thrust in the first few minutes of the flight, before its solid-fueled core motor and liquid-fueled strap-on boosters consumed their propellant.
The GSLV's second stage assumed control of the flight for more than two minutes, then yielded to the rocket's Indian-built cryogenic engine, which failed at the moment of ignition during a previous demonstration launch in April 2010.
Only three of seven GSLV missions before Sunday were considered successful by the Indian Space Research Organization, drawing unfavorable comparisons to India's smaller Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which has amassed 24 straight successful flights.
No such anomalies occurred on Sunday's launch, and the third stage engine fired for 12 minutes before deploying India's GSAT 14 communications satellite.
"Some used to call the GSLV the naughty boy of ISRO," said K. Sivan, GSLV project director at ISRO. "The naughty boy has become obedient."
A raucous wave of applause erupted inside the GSLV control center at the launch base on Sriharikota Island about 50 miles north Chennai on the Bay of Bengal.
All of the rocket's systems seemed to function as designed, and ISRO heralded the mission as a success.
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GSLV soars to space with Indian cryogenic engine
India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle put a 2.1-ton communications satellite in orbit Sunday, boosting prospects for the medium-class launcher after a spate of mishaps in recent years.
Although it carried a costly communications satellite, India's space agency officially considered the launch a test flight for the GSLV and its indigenous hydrogen-fueled third stage.
The 161-foot-tall rocket blasted off at 1048 GMT (5:48 a.m. EST), darting through a clear afternoon sky over the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India's east coast, where it was 4:18 p.m. local time.
Depositing a plume of exhaust in its wake, the launcher soared into the upper atmosphere riding 1.5 million pounds of thrust in the first few minutes of the flight, before its solid-fueled core motor and liquid-fueled strap-on boosters consumed their propellant.
The GSLV's second stage assumed control of the flight for more than two minutes, then yielded to the rocket's Indian-built cryogenic engine, which failed at the moment of ignition during a previous demonstration launch in April 2010.
Only three of seven GSLV missions before Sunday were considered successful by the Indian Space Research Organization, drawing unfavorable comparisons to India's smaller Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, which has amassed 24 straight successful flights.
No such anomalies occurred on Sunday's launch, and the third stage engine fired for 12 minutes before deploying India's GSAT 14 communications satellite.
"Some used to call the GSLV the naughty boy of ISRO," said K. Sivan, GSLV project director at ISRO. "The naughty boy has become obedient."
A raucous wave of applause erupted inside the GSLV control center at the launch base on Sriharikota Island about 50 miles north Chennai on the Bay of Bengal.
All of the rocket's systems seemed to function as designed, and ISRO heralded the mission as a success.
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