SpaceX Updates (Thread 9)

[DocM]

Another 2019 lunar mission for SpaceX for former Google Lunar X-Prize entrants; SpaceIL (Israel) and now HAKUTO-R (Japan.)

 

https://ispace-inc.com/news/?p=713

 

Quote

Lunar Exploration Startup, ispace, Partners with SpaceX for 2020 & 2021 Moon Missions

 

ispace’s Google Lunar XPRIZE Team Reboots as “HAKUTO-R”, Releases New Spacecraft Designs

TOKYO – September 26, 2018 – ispace, a company developing robotics for lunar delivery and resource exploration, announced today that SpaceX will be the launch provider for its maiden voyages to the Moon scheduled for 2020 and 2021. The company's first two lunar missions will be carried out under the program name HAKUTO-R, standing for "Reboot", a reference to ispace’s management of HAKUTO, a Google Lunar XPRIZE competition finalist.

ispace contracted with SpaceX to carry its spacecraft—its Lunar Lander and Lunar Rovers—as secondary payloads on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Launches for the first and second missions for the HAKUTO-R program will occur in mid-2020 and mid-2021, respectively. ispace is the first lunar exploration company to purchase multiple launches.

■ Takeshi Hakamada, ispace Founder & CEO: "We share the vision with SpaceX of enabling humans to live in space, so we’re very glad they will join us in this first step of our journey."

■ Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President & COO: "We are entering a new era in space exploration and SpaceX is proud to have been selected by ispace to launch their first lunar missions. We are looking forward to delivering their innovative spacecraft to the Moon."

The decision to bring back the "HAKUTO" name—meaning “white rabbit” in Japanese, based on local folklore about a rabbit on the Moon—comes 6 months after the  Google Lunar XPRIZE ended. The HAKUTO-R program will be a technology demonstration for ispace. Success criteria for Mission 1 has been defined as an orbit around the Moon, while Mission 2 will perform a soft lunar landing and deployment of rovers to collect data from the lunar surface.

ispace released the latest designs of its spacecraft following the successful completion of a Preliminary Design Review (PDR), in which a panel of 26 external experts from Japan, Europe, and the US—including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)—reviewed both technical and programmatic status of HAKUTO-R. Key feedback from the PDR Board Report concluded that the PDR of the lunar orbit mission is "successful pending closure of key actions" and all aspects of the design were found to be feasible.
>

 

 

[DocM]

 

It is indeed a new era....

[DocM]

 

 

 

[+rdlenk Subscriber²]

That was way too easy... and they still messed it up. Overall, pretty cool though, I didn't know they did that.

[DocM]

Our local news (WJBK, Detoit) has done many SpaceX stories, usually related to major launches. Even during their morning show.

[Beittil]

Lol, so they used SpaceX as a theme to basically ask a bunch of NASA questions 😛

[DocM]

 

[+rdlenk Subscriber²]

3 hours ago, DocM said:

 

Sounds like a pretty typical day.

[DocM]

Boca Chica: clearing off the big surcharge mound, presumably so they can start the build

 

FB video 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1541938906124567/permalink/2148505072134611

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

We've all seen the "op eds" the last half year, trying to slam SpaceX....and it appears to be leading to the usual suspect(s).

 

Judge for yourself.

 

A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/a-shadowy-op-ed-campaign-is-now-smearing-spacex-in-space-cities/

 

and

 

Quote

Sources report that K Street lobbying & crisis management firm TDS Public Affairs http://www.tdspublicaffairs.com/ with blatant Republican roots is quietly trying to place favorable op-eds about @NASA_SLS and sow skepticism about commercial space @SpaceX @BoeingSpace #IAC2018

https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status/1047915939830947840

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

After this weekend with SAOCOM 1A at Vandy...it's back to 39A...

 

Quote

Next SpaceX launch after this weekend involves a return to KSC 39A (complete with its new Crew Access Arm of course!). 

Media accreditation is now open for the Es’hail-2 mission. "The launch is targeted for no earlier than November."
(Expected to be the second half of November).

https://twitter.com/NASASpaceflight/status/1047974017490214913

[DocM]

5 hours ago, Draggendrop said:

We've all seen the "op eds" the last half year, trying to slam SpaceX....and it appears to be leading to the usual suspect(s).

 

Judge for yourself.

 

A shadowy op-ed campaign is now smearing SpaceX in space cities

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/10/a-shadowy-op-ed-campaign-is-now-smearing-spacex-in-space-cities/

 

and

 

https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status/1047915939830947840

 

 

There's been a similar campaign throwing shade at SpaceX's StarLink satellite constellation. Space Intel Report (Peter B. de Selding, @pbdes) published a SpaceX denial of one such story. Paywalled, but gives the gist

 

https://www.spaceintelreport.com/spacex-whatever-youve-heard-our-starlink-test-satellites-are-healthy-in-the-right-orbit-and-sending-signals/

Edited October 5, 2018 by DocM

[TrevorLahey]

10 hours ago, Draggendrop said:

 

 

https://twitter.com/NASAWatch/status/1047915939830947840

 

It should be "republican" (with quotes) or RINOs.  Frustrating that there seem to be a lot of them that talk about being fiscally conservative, but have no problem over paying for space access.

[DocM]

It's less the politics than where NASA centers, Boeing, Lockheed etc. facilities are located. 

 

Major supporters of Commercial Crew are in both parties starting with House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California (home of SpaceX), a Republican. SLS supporters include Sen. Bll Nelson of Florida, a Democrat.

[DocM]

 

[DocM]

Heads up guys: we may soon see another first - the 3rd launch of a Block 5 core. Possibly B1046 B5

 

1046.1: Bangabandhu-1 ✓
1046.2: Merah Putih ✓
1046.3: SSO-A, the SmallSat Express (70+ smallsats) 

[DocM]

Cool pic of Elon Musk in his supervillain trenchcoat, inspecting his doomsday weapon  at Vandenberg AFB 😵 😉

 

 

[Beittil]

SpaceX lost out on the LSA contract. 

 

 

[IsItPluggedIn]

The Air Force has committed through 2024 a total of $500 million in OTA funds for Blue Origin, $792 million for Northrop Grumman and $967 million for ULA. SpaceX previously received an LSA award but did not make the cut this time

 

https://spacenews.com/air-force-awards-launch-vehicle-development-contracts-to-blue-origin-northrop-grumman-ula/

 

Obviously ULA gets the most funds.

[Blue-Vision]

Wow.  

 

Well, that's how things go sometimes, and the Government is required to do business with everyone ...

 

... however they're missing the effing motherlode with BFS/BFR and it's gonna bite 'em in the ass. Nobody in OldSpace -- and certainly BO -- are able to deliver what the BFR/BFS platform are going to do. NOBODY.

 

And this includes Falcon Heavy. Yes, I said that out loud. Fight me. 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Just my opinion here.....once one reads the contract fine print.....it makes sense.

 

1) These funds are a total for 6 years and include matched input from vendor.

 

2) This is a development program to help competition and was handled quite well in my view.

 

3) SpaceX is done with block 5....period...no development needed. (remove the upper stage and fairing dreams...they are done)

 

4) FH block5 will soon be certified....no development needed.

 

5) SpaceX will be concentrating on the 30 to 50  new cores over the life of the F9 program and that is it....the transition is to BFR/BFS.

 

6) SpaceX is not going to have major government involvement...particularly after the mess NASA has thrown their way over commercial crew.

 

7) SpaceX has no problem raising funds. It is a matter of SpaceX controlling their own design.....patience grasshoppers.

 

SpaceX lost nothing. Several commercial vendors received a welcoming hand today. This is needed and several rounds are still in play to help them.

 

SpaceX and BO will be the dominant carriers of the foreseeable future and it is very important to keep the others in business...competitive pricing is a must.

 

Overall, this was a development funding round...F9/FH are developed and it would be insane to put BFR/BFS in at this early stage ..as well as have design interference.

 

SpaceX did not loose anything...period.

 

We have reporters screwing this up......read the details.

 

 

[Blue-Vision]

After my post, I did .. and was rather amused with myself for not reading it before commenting.

 

What was it you once said, DD? Don't drink and derive? Pretty sure I need to re-read that ... 

[DocM]

As DD said,

 

The EELV 2 launcher development awards went to ULA Vulcan, Blue Origin New Glenn and N-G OmegA. 

 

SpaceX previously received two  development awards for the Raptor engine, and it has two operational and certified USAF launchers: Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. They can rejoin  EELV-2 and bid for launches later. 

 

N-G OmegA shouldn't be a surprise as it preserves the ability to build large monolithic solids, the segmented solids used for SLS boosters don't count, and a new ICBM procurement next decade will need this. 

 

Blue and ULA will both use BE-4 so funding both is risk reduction, and ULA's ACES upper stage will be needed for Vulcan heavy lift.

 

Defense News...

 

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WASHINGTON  The Air Force on Wednesday awarded contracts to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems  formerly known as Orbital ATK  and United Launch Alliance to continue developing next-generation rockets. The shocking decision leaves out SpaceX, although the company could rejoin the competition later.
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Ultimately, the Air Force will narrow the field from three to two developers, who will continually compete for national security rocket launch opportunities from fiscal year 2020 onward.
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"Beyond the offerors selected for award, the Air Force cannot comment on specific offerors proposal or whether the Air Force chose not to award to a specific company," the spokesman said. "It  is important to note that SpaceX is a valuable partner to the launch service community and the Phase 2 solicitation will be a full and open competition for all launch providers who have a low-risk proposal to achieve Air Force certification prior to initial launch."
>

[Draggendrop Veteran]

There is/was a lot of confusion...even with reporting.

 

This was the "development program"...not the EELV...which is now the National Security Space Launch program for March 2019.

 

The next NSSL info is due out next September. SpaceX is already qualified and can bid on what it wants at any time...no such thing as an opt in. The "opt ins" were mentioned for the development program,

 

People are going to be reporting bad data for months now....(shakes head)

[DocM]

Telerobotics for Moon/Mars surface work?