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SES will launch a satellite using one of SpaceX's "flight-proven" rockets, or in other words, used goods:
The telecommunications giant SES is boldly going where no company has gone before by making history in inking a deal today, Aug. 30, to fly the expensive SES-10 commercial satellite on the first ever launch of a 'Flight-Proven' SpaceX booster.
Luxembourg-based SES and Hawthrone, CA-based SpaceX today jointly announced the agreement to "launch SES-10 on a flight-proven Falcon 9 orbital rocket booster" before the end of this year. "The satellite, which will be in a geostationary orbit and expand SES's capabilities across Latin America, is scheduled for launch in Q4 2016. SES-10 will be the first-ever satellite to launch on a SpaceX flight-proven rocket booster," according to a joint statement.
That first launch of a flight-proven Falcon 9 first stage will use the CRS-8 booster that delivered a SpaceX Dragon to the International Space Station in April 2016. The reflight could happen as soon as October 2016.
-- OriginalOwner_ adds The Register.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JNCF on Thursday September 01 2016, @12:08AM
One of the questions is, what is Elon Musk trying to do? SpaceX isn't publicly traded, but some sources claim that Musk provided 50% of the initial investment and has options to buy more stocks if SpaceX meets certain milestones in the coming years. He has stated that he doesn't want to trust the company to be run by profit-seeking investors until after he has accomplished some goals that he has. SpaceX is going to provide private flights for rich people, but that's not the end goal. Elon Musk is trying to colonize Mars. It might sound crazy, but that is his goal. When an interviewer asked him if he was going to be the king of Mars, he responded that he thought Mars should be run by direct democracy. He wasn't clear about how soon Mars should be run direct democracy, or how many direct democracies there should be on Mars -- the answer could be one. And he could, of course, pull the rug of Democracy out from under the Martian people and claim the right of prima nocta as our resident Musky troll fears. [soylentnews.org] And it could be a very terrifying thing to live on a Martian colony that relied on biennial cargo launches from a private corporation; I'm not sure how independent a colony could really be without having local supply lines for the necessities of life. But fundamentally, I think this is why people are excited about SpaceX: they have their eye set on interplanetary colonization, which NASA has failed to make any serious progress towards since the Apollo program ended. There are a bunch of nerds who look back on those squandered decades and wonder why we don't have any Martian pilgrims yet. SpaceX is talking about launching permanent human residents to Mars in 2024. That date might get pushed back a little bit, but it sounds like Elon Musk thinks it's a likely target. They're going to be using a rocket bigger than the Saturn V. We're supposed to learn more in a presentation he'll be giving in the next month or two (I forget exactly when). I can't say that this won't end up horribly, but I'm glad that somebody is willing to roll the dice and get the process of colonization started.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @12:16AM
It's totally not the fault of Musky that all the male colonists were assigned defective seats which irradiated their nuts and left them all sterile. Musky wasn't wearing a lead codpiece on purpose either. Musky always wears a lead codpiece. It's coincidence the only surviving sperm on Mars is inside Musky's manly balls. Now are we going to start this colonization effort or what.
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday September 01 2016, @12:21AM
Musky always wears a lead codpiece.
It's to keep Superman from getting jealous.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @12:26AM
SpaceX is talking about launching permanent human residents to Mars in 2024.
You'll be lucky to have the Bell Riots [wikia.com] in 2024 and not be living in a Trump Housing Camp wondering when America was going to become great again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 01 2016, @01:45PM
Elon Musk will choose Democracy for Mars in order to foster both a Population Boom and a Golden Age.