Posted: Jun 09, 2005 12:11 am EDT
They were scheduled for an October 2004 launch and then a next launch window was set for mid to late January 2005. Yet the Falcon I is still grounded on the SpaceX launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base (near Santa Barbara, California).
"I think Ive come to realize what makes orbital rocket development so tough. It is not that any particular element is all that difficult, but rather that you are forced to develop a very complex product that cant be fully tested in its real environment until launch and, when you do launch, there can be zero significant errors," said the chief back in January.
Yesterday Elon Musk, the 33-year-old South African who earned multi-millions from the sale of Web-software maker Zip2 to Compaq in 1999 and of PayPal to eBay in 2003, arrived with an update on the current state of things:
Feb 2005 through May 2005 Update - Fire on the Launch Pad!
"As you may have read, we test fired Falcon I on our launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Vandenberg, for those that dont know it, is the primary US launch site for polar or close to polar orbits and is located about a third of the way up the California coast. The five second test was picture perfect this time around, starting on schedule at 9:00:00 am and finishing at 9:00:05 am."
"The two prior attempts aborted with the first abort being due to an igniter sensor failure and the second due to an incorrectly closed helium ground supply valve. The igniter was actually working properly (we could see the puff of smoke it produced on camera), but without the computer being able to detect ignition, it would have been too risky to proceed. We have now changed the location of the sensor to make it less susceptible to damage from the ignition event and it is working flawlessly so far. "
Falcon I launch window in August
"The purpose of this firing was an overall systems check for the vehicle and the ground support equipment and it was really quite a smooth process, all things considered. One bug in the vehicle and one bug in the launch pad support system is pretty minimal for a new rocket from a new pad."
"Assuming that there are no further delays in the last Titan IV rocket, which is scheduled to depart from Vandenberg in July, we expect to receive a Falcon I launch window in the August timeframe. Our flight path poses a small, but non-zero hazard for the Titan IV, which is a multi-billion dollar mission."
Business is Good
Already in his last update, Elon showed a number of contracts for which he has already received deposits: US Defense Dept (OSD/NRL) Q1 2005 Falcon I Vandenberg, US Defense Dept (DARPA) Q2 2005 Falcon I Marshall Islands, Malaysia (ATSB) Q4 2005 Falcon I Marshall Islands, and Bigelow Aerospace Q2 2006 Falcon V Vandenberg. This time, even more money is rolling in:
"The Air Force awarded us a contract for Falcon I launch services valued at up to $100 million (depending on how many launch options are exercised), which is a pretty significant endorsement. This is independent of the DARPA/Air Force FALCON program, for which we are doing a launch later this year from our launch complex in the Marshall Islands."
"There are also a number of other customer discussions - one or two more launch contracts over the next few months. Given how strong demand is at this early stage of the game (we have three launches scheduled in the next six months), I think we will have no problem reaching our goal of an annual launch rate of 5+ per year in a few years. "
"Not yet mentioned on our manifest or in any press release is our classified launch business, for obvious reasons. There is not much I can say about this, except that the dollar value exceeds all unclassified business combined, excluding the AF $100M contract."
Triple in size
"We have tripled in size from a year ago and are now at about 130 employees. Real estate includes 80,000 sq. ft. of office & manufacturing space in the L.A. area, a 300 acre test facility in Texas and an office in Washington D.C., as well as launch complexes at Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg and the Marshall Islands. A number of new executives have joined the company, including Jackie Nesselroad, who was running Delta IV production for Boeing and Ray Miryekta, formerly Boeings chief weld engineer."
NASA Space Act Agreement
"Credit goes to the folks at the NASA Johnson Space Center for very quickly drafting and executing a Space Act Agreement with SpaceX. JSC is the primary NASA center for human spaceflight and, since human transportation is the primary long term goal of SpaceX, we are likely to be doing a lot of work in partnership."
Go to SpaxeX website for tech specs.
These guys are working on a 2 stage rocket that will undercut payload prices by two thirds when all glitches are worked out. An upgraded version of the rocket (Falcon V) will be the carrying vehicle for the prototype inflatable space hotel of Robert Bigelow, owner of Las Vegas-based Budget Suites of America Hotel Chain.
"I expect the Falcon V development to be considerably faster and easier than the Falcon I development, because it uses most of the same components. Unlike Falcon I, where we had to develop two complete engines from scratch, Falcon V in its initial version requires only minor adjustments to the existing Merlin engine.
The avionics are the same as Falcon I and the airframe architecture on Falcon V is just a wide body version of Falcon I. Also, most of our launch site infrastructure and the environmental permits already accommodate both vehicles," says Elon.
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