SpaceX

Message
Author
Karearea
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5438
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2015 5:47 am
Location: The South Island, New Zealand

Re: SpaceX

#981 Post by Karearea »

SpaceX Launches Polaris Dawn - First Commercial Spacewalk Crew - live - NASASpaceflight channel

Around the world thoughts shall fly In the twinkling of an eye
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#982 Post by Boac »

In orbit and booster landed on drone ship
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#983 Post by Boac »

Polaris Dawn EVA in progress - quite fantastic for a private company!
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#984 Post by Boac »

Has anyone in the White House noticed? ^!
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#985 Post by Boac »

They are down. Fantastic.
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#986 Post by Boac »

The SpaxeX 'bicycle made for two' is scheduled to launch at 1717Z today to the ISS.
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#987 Post by Boac »

A small wrinkle for SpaceX to sort, and hopefully not an FAA 'stopper' again - the de-orbit burn of the Dragon capsule service module second stage did not proceed 'as planned' and it splashed down outside the planned oceanic target area.
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#988 Post by Boac »

hopefully not an FAA 'stopper' again
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/30/ ... 9_grounded
PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 9325
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 70

Re: SpaceX

#989 Post by PHXPhlyer »

I am wondering if the FAA is the proper entity to investigate space operations incidents and accidents since they are not exactly rocket scientists.
Maybe NASA might be a better choice to investigate such occurrences.

PP
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#990 Post by Boac »

It is the FAA's responsibility.
PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 9325
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 70

Re: SpaceX

#991 Post by PHXPhlyer »

FAA grounds SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket after a malfunction on its return to Earth
The mishap caused the rocket booster to fall into a region of the Pacific Ocean outside the designated safety zone. It's the third grounding of SpaceX rockets in the past three months.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/s ... rcna171568

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Monday said SpaceX must investigate why the second stage of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket malfunctioned after a NASA astronaut mission on Saturday, grounding the rocket for the third time in three months.

After SpaceX on Saturday launched two astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, the rocket body that had boosted the crew further into space failed to properly re-light its engine for its “deorbit burn,” a routine procedure that discards the booster into the ocean after completing its flight.

The astronaut crew carried on to the ISS safely, docking on Sunday as planned. The FAA said there were no injuries or property damage linked to the booster mishap.

The malfunction caused the booster to fall into a region of the Pacific Ocean outside of the designated safety zone that the FAA approved for the mission.

SpaceX said the booster “experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn. As a result, the second stage safely landed in the ocean, but outside of the targeted area.”

“We will resume launching after we better understand root cause,” SpaceX wrote in a post on X.

Saturday’s mishap was the third to trigger an FAA grounding in the past three months. Before that, groundings were rare for Falcon 9, SpaceX’s centerpiece rocket, which much of the Western world relies on for accessing space.

The rocket was grounded in July after a second-stage issue sent a batch of SpaceX-built Starlink satellites on an orbital path to destruction, marking SpaceX’s first mission failure in more than seven years. SpaceX resumed Falcon 9 flights 15 days later.

In August, another grounding was triggered by the failure of a Falcon 9 first stage to land back on Earth, a mishap that did not affect mission success. The company returned to flight three days later.

SpaceX is likely to seek FAA approval to resume flights in a similar manner, while its engineering investigation continues with oversight by the FAA. The agency regulates rocket launches and rocket re-entries to the extent they may affect public safety.

SpaceX has launched an average of two to three rockets a week since the beginning of 2024, far outpacing its rivals in the launch industry. Falcon 9’s first stage is reusable, but its second stage is not.

The grounding comes at a testy time for SpaceX and the FAA — the two have been feuding openly over the pace of launch licensing regulations and a pair of fines the FAA imposed on SpaceX for allegedly violating its Falcon launch licenses in 2023.

The Falcon 9 grounding does not directly affect Starship, SpaceX’s giant, next-generation rocket system that it has tested four times since 2023.

SpaceX has complained publicly that the FAA has been slow to approve the license for Starship’s fifth flight test, which involves far more ambitious testing objectives than the previous flight.

PP
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#992 Post by Boac »

Getting interesting on the Starship launch. As interested readers will know, the FAA appear to be doing everything possible to screw the pooch for Musk by 'finding' reasons to delay the issue of a launch licence. (Nothing to do with Nov 5th, of course....) HOWEVER, SpaceX have just published provisional launch warnings for Oct 12th to 18th.

?????

Yes, confusing it is. The 'rumour' is that either the FAA have relented and are going to approve this OR it is said that if SpaceX re-launch using the profile for SS4 (ie no booster catch) they actually effectively already have launch approval!

Answers on BM's postcard please?
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#993 Post by Boac »

Falcon9 launches now 'OK' again, and one planned today. The 'confusion' over Starship still remains.
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#994 Post by Boac »

Well, SpaceX are pressing ahead with the launch with or without FAA 'licence' for Flt 5. FTS installed and much pre-launch testing done. I assume if they do not get it they will launch on a Flt 4 profile, ie a booster landing in the og. It is planned for 13/10/1200Z. A busy day for SpaceX as Crew Dragon 8 is planned to splash down that day and I think they are launching another Falcon. Amazing!
PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 9325
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 70

Re: SpaceX

#995 Post by PHXPhlyer »

SpaceX gets approval for Starship launch amid standoff with FAA

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/12/science/ ... index.html

Federal regulators granted SpaceX its long-awaited license to move forward with a fifth uncrewed test launch of Starship, the most powerful rocket system ever constructed.

The US Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, announced Saturday that SpaceX had “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight.”

The Super Heavy rocket booster, topped with the Starship spacecraft, is set to lift off from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, during a 30-minute launch window that starts at 8 a.m. ET Sunday, according to the SpaceX website.

The demonstration mission is on track to include an ambitious attempt to maneuver Starship’s 232-foot-tall (71-meter) rocket booster back to a gargantuan landing structure after it burns through most of its fuel and breaks away from the upper Starship spacecraft. If successful, the Super Heavy will be caught midair with a pair of massive metal pincers that SpaceX refers to as the “chopsticks.”

Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft will continue flying on its own, using its six onboard engines, before practicing a landing maneuver over the Indian Ocean about one hour after launch.

The goal for each milestone is to hash out how SpaceX might one day recover and rapidly refly Super Heavy boosters and Starship spacecraft for future missions. Quickly reusing rocket parts is considered essential to SpaceX’s goal of drastically reducing the time and cost of getting cargo — or ships of people — to Earth’s orbit and deep space.


Ultimately, SpaceX plans to use the Starship capsule as the landing vehicle that will ferry NASA astronauts to the lunar surface as soon as 2026 as part of the Artemis III mission — and eventually put the first humans on Mars.

SpaceX’s feud with FAA
The FAA’s approval for this mission comes as SpaceX — and in particular its combative CEO Elon Musk — and the federal agency have been publicly sparring.

The FAA had been expected to hand down a license for this test launch weeks ago. SpaceX has said that the Starship vehicle has been ready to launch “since the first week of August.”

But the agency delayed the license because SpaceX had filed the application without “disclosing that they were in violation of Texas and federal law on some matters,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker during a September 24 appearance before Congress.

Whitaker said a 30-day delay was triggered when SpaceX failed to give the FAA an updated “sonic boom report.” Sonic booms are the loud noises that a rocket can emit as it begins traveling faster than the speed of sound.

Another delay was caused by SpaceX’s “failure to comply with Texas law,” Whitaker said, apparently referring to accusations that SpaceX did not have proper permits for operating a water deluge system in Texas that is used to tamper the blow from the Super Heavy rocket booster as it lifts off.

“Additionally, his assertion that SpaceX violated state law is simply wrong. SpaceX did not violate state law — SpaceX had a permit for deluge operations from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ),” the company said in a September 24 statement. (The commission didn’t immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.)

SpaceX has also publicly denied reports that the company violated wastewater regulations with the deluge system, which SpaceX says uses potable water.

In a September blog post, SpaceX also said that outgoing “water has been sampled after every use of the system and consistently shows negligible traces of any contaminants, and specifically, that all levels have remained below standards for all state permits that would authorize discharge.”

In a statement regarding the water deluge system, the FAA said Friday that it does consider SpaceX in compliance with the Clean Water Act.

That determination came after the FAA received confirmation from Texas regulators and the federal Environmental Protection Agency in August and September, respectively, that SpaceX had agreed “to obtain a Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, pay civil penalties, and comply with various monitoring and reporting requirements,” according to a statement from the FAA.

The EPA deferred questions to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

SpaceX is also facing a lawsuit from environmentalists over the issue, which the company has called “unwarranted and frivolous.”

Waiting to fly
SpaceX had indicated as recently as late September that it expected to receive approval for the latest Starship test flight in November. That time frame was unexpectedly moved up in early October.

It’s unclear what prompted the change.

Musk has repeatedly used X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that he purchased two years ago for $44 billion, to blast the FAA.

In a September 17 post, he threatened to sue the agency for “regulatory overreach.” Musk — who has taken an increasingly vocal stance on politics, voicing distaste for the Biden administration and his support for former President Donald Trump — also posted on September 25 that he believes Whitaker “should resign.” Musk has also alleged the agency’s activities have been “politically motivated.”

Musk’s declarations came after the FAA proposed $633,009 in civil penalties against SpaceX over violating launch license requirements twice during flights of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX has denied wrongdoing related to those requirements, saying none of the allegations related to public safety. In a September 18 letter, the company said that it also gave FAA advance notice of changes to its launch operations and the agency failed to act in a timely manner.

During his appearance before the US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in September, Whitaker said he supported SpaceX’s goals but hoped to hold the company accountable.

“I agree that this is a vital mission,” Whitaker told Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Republican from California, about SpaceX’s Starship development. “I think SpaceX has been a very innovative company — but I think they’re also a mature company. … And I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety.”

SpaceX has previously run afoul of the FAA in Starship testing. Notably, the company launched a 2020 test flight of a prototype rocket, called Starship SN8, without obtaining prior approval from the FAA for a public safety waiver. At the time, the FAA said it had denied the waiver, though it did not plan to take further enforcement actions against SpaceX.

Musk’s tone about the FAA has routinely shifted. At one point in 2023, for example, he said that he did not blame the FAA for holding up Starship launches.

“In fairness to the FAA, it is rare for them to cause significant delays in launch,” Musk said at the time. “Overwhelmingly, the responsibility is ours.”

PP
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#996 Post by Boac »

Incredible! So pleased to be able to witness that. What an achievement.
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#997 Post by Boac »

....and a soft'ish water landing for the Starship on target!

Speechless.
PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 9325
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 70

Re: SpaceX

#998 Post by PHXPhlyer »

Boac wrote:
Sun Oct 13, 2024 12:39 pm
Incredible! So pleased to be able to witness that. What an achievement.
Hope to see a replay.
I didn't pay attention to the timing of the launch and even though I was up way too early I saw news about the launch on a news site and went to SpaceX's coverage just after the booster was caught in the "chop sticks about T+8 minutes after the launch.
Even though Elon is a massive a$$hole his stuff mostly works.

PP
Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17702
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: SpaceX

#999 Post by Boac »

4 hrs-worth, but pick it up around 2:24
PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 9325
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 70

Re: SpaceX

#1000 Post by PHXPhlyer »

Successful launch of Falcon Heavy mission to Europa.

PP
Post Reply