SpaceX Updates (Thread 6)

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Twitter.....

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Price Cuts Part of Multipronged Strategy To Win Back Proton Customers

The Proton rocket has suffered failures in each of the last four years. The most recent one, in May, destroyed the Mexican government's Centenario telecommunications satellite (above) insured for $300 million.

PARIS — Managers of Russia’s Proton rocket said they are slashing prices for commercial launches and restructuring contracts with big customers to win back their loyalty after the rocket’s recent failures.

The contract modifications include schedule priority on Proton’s launch manifest for commercial missions and other benefits not directly related to prices, they said.

The first success of the new policy is the recent win of a launch contract from satellite fleet operator Hispasat of Spain, which purchased a launch from Proton commercial sales manager International Launch Services and another from SpaceX of Hawthorne, California.

 

 

Industry officials said ILS and its owner — Proton builder Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center of Moscow — priced the contract at around $65 million, which is close to what SpaceX customarily offers for launches aboard its Falcon 9 rocket.

The Hispasat contract, announced Sept. 14, was the first for Reston, Virginia-based ILS in over two years, a period during which Europe’s Arianespace and SpaceX have effectively divided the commercial market between them.

In a briefing here during the World Satellite Business Week conference organized by Euroconsult, Khrunichev General Director Andrey V. Kalinovsky said the Hispasat win was an example of the new face Proton is presenting to fleet operators whose size makes them potentially regular users of Proton.

“What happened with this customer is just an occasional thing,” Kalinovsky said. “It was done as part of the program we developed with ILS. It is not all about pricing. A portion of our customers lost confidence in us and this is much more scary than a pricing issue.”

 http://spacenews.com/price-cuts-part-of-multipronged-strategy-to-win-back-proton-customers/

It's good to see ILS doing this. It keeps the competition healthy...keeps Arianespace in line and puts the pressure on ULA to conform. 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Enhanced Falcon 9 Booster Raises Excitement, Concern, As Return to Flight Date Nears

 

The performance enhancements which have enabled the Falcon 9 v1.2 (internally known as the Falcon 9 v1.1 Full Thrust) are expected to support larger payloads to orbit and will also permit the landing of the first-stage hardware on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS). Photo Credit: SpaceX

Three months after the catastrophic loss of its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)-7 Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS)—which appeared to have fallen victim to a failed helium tank strut, provided by an external supplier—SpaceX stands ready to resume launches of its workhorse Falcon 9, albeit in a heavily modified form, perhaps as soon as mid-November. Last week, a successful 15-second static firing of the upgraded “Merlin 1D+” engines, destined for the Falcon v1.2 (internally known as the “Falcon 9 v1.1 Full Thrust”) variant of the vehicle, shook the ground of the new Falcon Booster Test Stand at SpaceX’s facility in McGregor, Texas, for the first time.Although SpaceX previously stressed that no provisional date had been released for the Falcon 9’s Return to Flight (RTF) mission, recent comments by CEO Elon Musk in Berlin indicate that another launch might be attempted within six to eight weeks.

The flight—which will likely transport the SES-9 communications satellite into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) on behalf of the Luxembourg-headquartered SES satellite services provider and operator—is expected to use the v1.2, whose first-stage Merlin 1D+ and second-stage Merlin 1D+ Vacuum engines will run at their full, 100-percent power level. This is in contrast to the 80 percent of rated performance seen on previous v1.1 missions. A further 13 percent of additional performance will be accrued through a range of structural enhancements to the vehicle’s airframe and a process of “densifying” and thereby increasing the liquid oxygen propellant load. All told, this is expected to yield a performance “gain” of 33 percent over the earlier v1.1.

 

By this point, and even with only a relatively small number of v1.1 vehicles actually having flown, the effort to bring an enhanced Falcon—variously described as the “v1.2” or the “Full Thrust” (FT)—to operational status steadily gained momentum. It is understood that the v1.1 utilized the Merlin 1D engine at 80 percent of its rated capability, with 20 percent held in reserve, in order to afford maximum flexibility for the payload to achieve its correct orbital location. In contrast, the v1.2/FT centers around an upgraded “Merlin 1D+” engine, which reportedly generates 1.53 million pounds (694,000 kg) of thrust at liftoff, effectively operating at “full” (100-percent) capacity. This will increase to around 1.7 million pounds (771,100 kg) as the vehicle travels higher into the rarefied upper atmosphere. Similarly, the Merlin 1D Vacuum engine of the second stage will see a corresponding increase in propulsive yield from 180,000 pounds (81,600 kg) in the v1.1 to 210,000 pounds (95,250 kg) in the v1.2/FT. According to a source close to SpaceX, “FT” is the internal code name for calculating the Merlin 1D’s output at 100 percent, adding that “this improves the Falcon 9’s performance by 20 percent, although this “improvement” was not really new: it was always there, but never utilized.” At the time of the CRS-7 failure, it is understood that SpaceX intended to stage its first v1.2/FT launch in July 2015, delivering SES-9 to GTO.

However, the 20-percent performance hike achieved by throttling the engines from their 80-percent to 100-percent power levels has been expanded yet further to reach an overall 33-percent “performance gain” over the v1.1. This gain has been met in part through structural enhancements to the vehicle’s airframe, including a 10-percent increase in propellant tank volumes, a lengthened second stage with extended Merlin 1D Vacuum engine, upgraded landing legs and grid fins, an improved “Octaweb” support structure for the first-stage engine suite, a strengthened “interstage” between the two stages, and a central “pusher” to ensure a smooth stage-separation process. All told, these enhancements increase the height of the v1.2/FT vehicle to 229.6 feet (70 meters), about 5.6 feet (1.6 meters) taller than the v1.1.

 

 

Additionally, the 33-percent performance gain has been met through “super-cooling” the liquid oxygen load—in what Musk described as “deep cryo oxygen”—below its normal saturation condition, in order to increase its density and permit the carriage of a larger load of propellants in the Falcon 9’s tanks. “Propellant densification,” noted engineers Ke Nguyen and Timothy Knowles in an American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) paper, “is one of the key technologies needed to meet the challenges of future reusable launch vehicles.” The densification process, AmericaSpace understands, has required the installation of specialized cooling stations at SpaceX’s dedicated Falcon 9 pads of Space Launch Complex (SLC)-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Space Launch Complex (SLC)-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The additional performance gained from the structural modifications and the liquid oxygen densification is expected to be of assistance to SpaceX at it aims to deliver larger and heavier communications satellites to GTO and seeks lucrative Department of Defense contracts for major classified payloads. However, this stance has caused a measure of consternation and serious doubts have been raised over the frequency of major enhancements to SpaceX’s vehicles in a relatively short span of time. “The launch industry tends to be very conservative,” a Parabolic Arc article highlighted last July. “Changes are made very carefully and only after thorough testing. Experience has shown that while upgrades can improve a rocket’s performance, they can also cause problems.” The article quoted Gen. William Shelton, former commander of Air Force Space Command, who expressed concern that the upcoming v1.2/FT—which is believed to be the vehicle that SpaceX will use to bid for Department of Defense contracts—has yet to complete a single mission, much less pass through a full certification process. “In other words, the Air Force will be launching on yet another version of the Falcon 9, with an even shorter launch history than the one that just failed,” Parabolic Arc noted. “That can be handled with some additional certification work. However, it’s an unnerving prospect for an organization whose primary focus is on mission assurance, not cost.”

 

 

 

Notwithstanding these concerns, Musk expects that the v1.2/FT improvements will allow SpaceX to soft-land its first-stage hardware on the ASDS, even during high-energy launches to the 22,300-mile (35,900-km) altitude of GTO. Previously, only comparatively low-energy launches to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) had seen soft-landing attempts, although SpaceX originally intended to bring the first stage from NASA’s L1-bound Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) back to the ASDS in February 2015, but was ultimately thwarted by rough seas. “It’s always a trade-off between height and payload weight when the capacity is fixed,” AmericaSpace was told by a source close to SpaceX. “The higher the orbit, the less weight could get up there, with any given thrust capacity. LEO is relatively close, compared to GTO, so SpaceX was able to save some of the liquid oxygen for the landing attempts. With GTO, they needed to launch as high as possible and did not want to risk trying to save liquid oxygen for the landing attempts, as that could jeopardize their ability to get a client’s satellite as high as it needed to get.”

The weeks ahead are expected to see significant progress as SpaceX readies for an upcoming salvo of launches. The original CRS contract with NASA, signed back in December 2008, calls for 12 dedicated ISS cargo missions, of which six have been satisfactorily completed, and major payloads destined to fly aboard future Dragons include the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) and the second International Docking Adapter (IDA-2). There also exists a backlog of commercial payloads—including 11 Orbcomm OG-2 satellites—and NASA’s Jason-3 ocean surface topography mission, with the latter expected to ride an old-style v1.1, due to its LEO destination.

http://www.americaspace.com/?p=86711#more-86711

Later...

 

[DocM]

Just a minor upgrade

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Launched by SpaceX, almost 7 months ago......

EUTELSAT 115 West B arrives in geostationary orbit

París, 28 September 2015 – EUTELSAT 115 West B, the first all-electric satellite of the Eutelsat Communications’ (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL) global fleet, has completed the ascent to geostationary orbit and today began in orbit tests. Eutelsat’s new satellite is scheduled to enter full commercial service in mid-October, one month ahead of schedule.

EUTELSAT 115 West B is equipped with 24 C-band and 41.5 Ku-band equivalent transponders connected to beams covering Alaska, Canada, Mexico and South America, and will operate with exceptional elevation angles and coverage performances (EIRP) throughout the region. The satellite will take Eutelsat’s coverage of the Americas to new levels to offer cost-effective solutions for clients providing services that include broadband access, cellular backhaul, VSAT solutions and social connectivity.

Patricio Northland, CEO Eutelsat Americas, said: “I am delighted to announce that EUTELSAT 115 West B is now in geostationary orbit and will start commercial service one month ahead of schedule. This first all-electric satellite of our fleet is an important milestone towards our enhanced coverage of the Americas and a new example of how Eutelsat’s commitment to innovation allows us to provide superior solutions to customers.”

EUTELSAT 115 West B will be followed into orbit in early 2016 by the all-electric EUTELSAT 117 West B satellite that will be located at 117° West to boost capacity for Latin America broadcast markets. EUTELSAT 65 West A, the third satellite in the expansion roadmap of Eutelsat Americas, is scheduled for launch in 2016 and will feature high-power coverage of Brazil and Latin America in C, Ku and Ka-bands.

http://news.eutelsat.com/pressreleases/eutelsat-115-west-b-arrives-in-geostationary-orbit-1224568

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Schweiss Doors delivers bifold doors to Cape Canaveral

Schweiss Doors

Prior to attaching the exterior sheeting and insulation, the large door is put through a test run from top to bottom to ensure it is in working order. (

The COTS 2 Demo Dragon sits alongside a Schweiss Bifold liftstrap/autolatch door as it undergoes launch prep at the SpaceX hangar in Cape Canaveral, Florida. These doors were ordered for the Cape in 2008 and since then others have been installed in Waco, Texas and Vandenburg AFB, California.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL -- You'll probably never be called on to install a bifold door that weighs more than 50,000 pounds, but wouldn't you want to work with the manufacturer that can boast such an incredible accomplishment?

Schweiss Doors recently produced two bifold doors for a new steel hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fla. One door was 40 feet wide and 69 feet tall. The larger door was 90 feet wide and 61 feet tall. Both were equipped with automatic latches and are wind-rated to 150 mph. Upon delivery to Florida, both doors were clad in 26-gauge sheeting and feature 4-inch blanket insulation. Bottom-drive 480-volt 3-phase motors and patented Schweiss liftstraps do the lifting of these doors that exceed 53,000 pounds!

These doors are similar in size and requirements to prior Schweiss bifold doors installed at SpaceX sites in Waco, Texas and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. SpaceX has developed expendable rockets able to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and is working on providing satellite launch services, passenger tourist flights and cargo delivery to orbit … sooner than you think.

"SpaceX is like Special Forces," says Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO & Chief Designer. "We do the missions that others think are impossible. We have goals that are absurdly ambitious by any reasonable standard, but we're going to make them happen. We have the potential here at SpaceX to have an incredible effect on the future of humanity and life itself."

SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, is a space transport company headquartered in Hawthorne, Calif. The SpaceX launch manifest is populated by a diverse customer base, including space station resupply missions, commercial satellite launch missions and U.S. Government science and national security missions. With the elimination of NASA funding, SpaceX has moved to the forefront of space exploration.

Cape Canaveral, on the southeast coast of Florida, provides access to a wide range of low and medium inclination orbits frequently used by communications and earth-observing satellites and by supply missions to the International Space Station. The site also allows access to geostationary orbits as well as departures to the moon and interplanetary destinations.

Schweiss Doors is happy to be a part of the innovation. Doors ordered by SpaceX are not run-of-the mill doors. These doors had plenty of specialized requirements that Schweiss Doors had to conform to.

SpaceX maintains launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vandenberg AFB and Boca Chica, Texas. Each location offers key benefits to support customers' missions. SpaceX tests its engines and structures at a 4,000-acre development facility in McGregor, Texas.

Schweiss Doors is the premier manufacturer of hydraulic and bi-fold lift-strap doors. Doors are custom made to any size for any type of new or existing building for architects and builders determined to do amazing things with their buildings, including the doors. For more information, visit www.bifold.com.

http://www.farmersadvance.com/story/news/2015/09/29/schweiss-doors-delivers-bifold-doors-to-cape-canaveral/73037918/

 

[DocM]

Using Spaceflight's SHERPA space tug.

Spaceflight Purchases SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket to Provide More Frequent, Cost-Effective Rideshare Availability for Small Satellite Industry

Company expands launch services to meet growing demand for routine, predictable access to space, removing cost and access barriers for commercial and governmental organizations

SEATTLE (September 30, 2015)— Spaceflight, the company reinventing the model for launching small satellites into space, today announced the purchase of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the expansion of its launch services to include dedicated rideshare missions. Spaceflight’s first dedicated rideshare mission, named the “2017 Sun Synch Express,” will launch in the second half of 2017 to a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit which is popular for earth imaging satellites.

Dedicated rideshare is a new launch alternative that blends cost-effective rideshare pricing with first-class service typically associated with buying a private rocket. Spaceflight’s dedicated rideshare missions will deliver customer spacecraft to popular destinations, such as sun-synchronous and geosynchronous transfer orbits, and provide a new solution for smaller satellites that cannot afford a complete launch vehicle. 

“By purchasing and manifesting the entire SpaceX rocket, Spaceflight is well positioned to meet the smallsat industry’s growing demand for routine, reliable access to space,” said Curt Blake, President of Spaceflight’s launch business. “Our purchase of a private rocket further continues our mission of providing a customer-focused, full-service launch experience.”

Spaceflight’s dedicated rideshare routes are not tied to any particular primary satellite mission, so commercial and non-commercial smallsat operators using the service will benefit from the certainty of set launch schedules that were not previously available to rideshare customers, and can thereby avoid delays resulting from geo-political issues or primary satellite schedule changes. This enables customers with spacecraft that range in mass from 5 to 2500 kg to create long-range mission plans to Sun Synch and GTO with more dependable launch dates. Spaceflight is creating steady access to space with yearly dedicated rideshare missions planned beginning in 2017.

Spaceflight’s 2017 Sun Synch Express mission manifest includes satellites as small as 5 kg 3U CubeSat up to 575 kg satellite. Over 20 satellites will be deployed during the mission, with commercial customers pursuing a range of endeavors and government-sponsored scientific research originating from six different countries. The manifest is nearly at capacity.

“Dedicated missions for Rideshare-class payloads are an excellent way to promote space enterprise and research,” said Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX. “We are pleased that Spaceflight has successfully brought this multi-faceted partnership together.”

Spaceflight has launched 81 satellites to date and has over 135 satellites to deploy through 2018. The frequency of satellite launches, combined with Spaceflight’s cross-section of customers and variety of mission-applications, is a strong indicator of the growing capabilities of small satellites and the need for more timely and cost-effective access to space.

In addition to the new dedicated rideshare service, Spaceflight will continue to manifest small satellites as secondary payloads aboard several launch vehicles around the world to a variety of orbit destinations. Spaceflight is the only rideshare launch provider that publishes launch pricing and schedules online (http://www.spaceflightindustries.com/schedule-pricing/), aiming to make access to space as easy as booking an airline ticket.

About Spaceflight

Spaceflight is a next-generation, integrated space services and solutions company that is fundamentally changing how small satellites are built, launched and operated to improve access to space and enable persistent global awareness. Through its market-leading subsidiaries and service lines, including Spaceflight Systems, Spaceflight Services and Spaceflight Networks, the company provides cost-effective, comprehensive small-satellite products and services from development to launch, communications and operations. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Spaceflight provides its services worldwide through its global network of partners, ground stations and launch vehicle providers. For more information, please visit http://www.spaceflightindustries.com.

[Blue-Vision]

Ohhhh-ho-ho YEAH! Now we're talking! 

"Hey, fellas, let's all chip in and buy ourselves a ride uphill!"

LOVE IT. Think ULA would have done something like this? Space Ridesharing?! No way, Jose.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Ohhhh-ho-ho YEAH! Now we're talking! 

"Hey, fellas, let's all chip in and buy ourselves a ride uphill!"

LOVE IT. Think ULA would have done something like this? Space Ridesharing?! No way, Jose.

Space transportation brokerage.....buy the "container", and fill it with customer orders.....excellent.....

[Blue-Vision]

Yep .. and when Dragon is flying Manned Missions out to Cislunar L1/L2, the prices will go down ever further. 

Gotta love efficiency.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Yep .. and when Dragon is flying Manned Missions out to Cislunar L1/L2, the prices will go down ever further. 

Gotta love efficiency.

I would also think, that by the mid 2030's, we will have shipments going to a soon to be, lunar multi national hamlet.The site build up, is the easy part. Landing and lift-off will require the proper ships, manned and automated.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

GPS 3 Launch Contract Gives SpaceX First Shot at National Security Market 

The U.S. Air Force contract for a GPS 3 launch is expected to be the first battle between SpaceX United Launch Alliance. Credit: SpaceX/ULA 

WASHINGTON — Newcomer SpaceX and incumbent United Launch Alliance are expected to square off for the first time for the right to launch a GPS 3 satellite in an acquisition that is being driven in part by the U.S. Air Force’s desire to reintroduce competition in the national security launch market.

The Air Force released the final request for proposals for the launch Sept. 30, with proposals due no later than Nov. 16, the service said in a press release. The winner will be awarded a firm-fixed price contract for a launch that is expected to take place in 2018, the Air Force said.

“The Air Force’s acquisition strategy for this solicitation achieves a balance between mission success, meeting operational needs, lowering launch costs, and reintroducing competition for National Security Space missions,” the service said.

ULA, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture, has had a monopoly on the U.S. national security launch market since its establishment in 2006. However, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 was certified by the Air Force in May to launch military satellites, thereby giving ULA its first taste of competition in that market.

The Falcon 9 that won certification is an older variant of the vehicle that is being phased out after the upcoming launch of a satellite for NASA. SpaceX will be introducing a new Falcon 9 variant, boasting a performance increase by one-third, later this year.

The satellite that is the subject of the competition is one of the new generation of GPS navigation, positioning and timing satellites being built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The Air Force typically maintains a constellation of more than 30 such satellites in medium Earth orbit, replacing older ones at a rate of a few launches each year.

 

 http://spacenews.com/gps-3-launch-contract-gives-spacex-first-shot-at-national-security-market/

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Good news for SpaceX cargo....field narrowed by one...

Lockheed Martin quietly eliminated from NASA ISS cargo competition

This rendering depicts Lockheed Martin's Jupiter spacecraft and Exoliner cargo carrier connected to the International Space Station. (Steve Hartman)

Littleton-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems has been quietly eliminated from NASA's multibillion-dollar competition to ferry cargo to and from the International Space Station, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The decision, which hasn't been disclosed publicly, nixes the company's bid for a piece of the $14 billion Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract, according to people familiar with the details.

Lockheed Martin submitted its CRS-2 bid design in March: a three-part system consisting of the Jupiter reusable spacecraft, Exoliner cargo container and a long robotic arm inspired by a similar appendage on the space shuttle.

The contract would have directly impacted Colorado. Engineering, production and testing would have been done in Littleton, said company spokeswoman Allison Rakes in March.

About 5,500 people work at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, making it Jefferson County's largest employer, according to data from the county's Economic Development Corporation.

Engineers at the Waterton Canyon facility would also have led mission operations for the Jupiter spacecraft, Rakes said.

NASA made its decision on Lockheed Martin's bid over the summer, according to the people familiar with the matter. Since then it has been a topic of discussion in industry circles. One of these people said NASA made the call largely on the basis of price.

Picking the contract winners, which NASA is expected to award in November, has been postponed three times since fall 2014 while officials weighed price and reliability issues. NASA might issue multiple CRS-2 awards for a maximum of $14 billion.

The CRS-2 contracts, which run from 2018 to 2024, are the next phase of the cargo-delivery contracts totaling as much as $6 billion that NASA issued years ago to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Orbital Sciences, predecessor company to Orbital ATK Inc.

Both Orbital ATK and SpaceX remain in the running for the latest commercial cargo awards. Both companies operate rockets and capsules designed to serve as bare-bones space resupply systems.

Lockheed Martin's bid proposal was more complex and technically challenging.

Also in the running are Boeing Co. and Louisville-based Sierra Nevada Space Systems, with its folding-wing reusable spaceship design called the Dream Chaser Cargo System, or DCCS.

The CRS-2 award would have given Lockheed Martin the technical stepping stones and financial boost to accelerate development of the Jupiter and Exoliner, with the eventual goal being a spacecraft and cargo container for enhanced use.

In other words, the company wants to create durable habitats for astronauts, in-orbit servicing vehicles and pre-positioned interstellar mini-marts that provide fuel, equipment, food and, ultimately, parts that could be assembled to build a spacecraft in zero gravity.

Rakes said Thursday that the company's proposal was designed to be forward-thinking and advance humanity's reach into space while also serving the space station's needs.

"We feel that our proposal offers value today through affordable, high-capacity space station resupply, and a path forward for tomorrow through technologies that will power future human deep-space missions," Rakes said Thursday. "Those missions will need crew habitats, servicing vehicles, and autonomous in-space robotic operations. Our CRS-2 solution is designed to lay the groundwork for all of those important capabilities."

Such technologies are expected to take decades to become operational. Of the capabilities under development, the one most likely to be adopted first is a space tug to keep aging satellites in their proper orbits after their fuel is depleted.

At a conference in Pasadena, Calif., in August, a high-ranking Lockheed Martin space official stressed the long-term implications of such ambitious technologies.

"We're now on the threshold," said David Markham, vice president of advanced programs for the company's space systems unit.

Industry officials said Lockheed Martin is expected to continue pursuing many of its long-term goals, though probably at a slower pace, while it seeks other federal dollars or related commercial business.

NASA has said it might need contractors to eventually transport more than 20 tons of cargo annually. A NASA spokeswoman on Thursday said the agency is in "procurement blackout" and could not comment on the bid or on Lockheed Martin's elimination.

Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28908355/lockheed-martin-quietly-eliminated-from-nasa-iss-cargo

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2015/10/lockheed-martin-2.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/lockheed-martin-eliminated-from-nasas-cargo-competition-1443725840

 

[DocM]

Lockheed being eliminated from CRS2 was reported in the NASASpaceFlight.com thread and by Charles Lurio last May. Those papers need better sources

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Lockheed being eliminated from CRS2 was reported in the NASASpaceFlight.com thread and by Charles Lurio last May. Those papers need better sources

They just got the memo?.......

[DocM]

We may need a new updates thread soon

 

[TrevorLahey]

We may need a new updates thread soon

 

Why do you post stuff like this?  We can't wait!!!!!  What a tease!!

[Blue-Vision]

Ohhh, two guesses what it is.  I'm not gonna speculate and ruin the surprise. If it is what I think it is, we're in for a treat. Ahead of schedule. WAY ahead of schedule. 

[DocM]

ISTM Raptor test fires wouldn't elicit such a response, we've known it was coming for almost 2 years. To get that big a rise from Chris it must be something else, likely details about MCT and/or BFR.  That or a very aggressive mission.

[malenfant]

My wild-arse guess. A Mars flight. A technology demonstrator. Falcon Heavy, Dragon 2.0, integrated ISRU testbed etc. 

[TrevorLahey]

Would it be a Mars flight, or a Moon flight?  Musk has said that he might do that just to prove the technology.  I'm not sure it will be a mars or a moon flight. 

Didn't they just push back the Falcon Heavy Launch too?  Was that because of delay's to the Falcon v1 or because Falcon Heavy is taking longer than Musk wanted to develop?

[DocM]

FH was delayed by the CRS-7 accident, which delayed F9 Full Thrust which is the FH boosters and most of center core. They also need to finish 39A.

[Blue-Vision]

If it's BFR/MCT then the announcement is coming almost a year earlier then expected. It wasn't expected to be announced until late 2016. 

[DocM]

I always took that date as strongly dependant on Raptor development. OTOH, an unmanned circumlunar Dragon 2 mission would be a helluva maiden flight.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

My guess...lunar test lap....with a chance of deploying a "moonspike probe".......

[DocM]

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=38593.0