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posted by janrinok on Wednesday May 08 2024, @05:13AM   Printer-friendly
from the spies-take-pretty-pictures dept.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 2 satellites on record-tying 20th flight (video):

SpaceX just tied its rocket-reuse record for the second time in less than a week.

A Falcon 9 rocket launched two Earth-observation satellites for the company Maxar today (May 2) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2:36 p.m. EDT (1836 GMT; 11:36 a.m. local California time).

It was the 20th mission for this rocket's first stage, tying a record that one Falcon 9 set last month and another one equaled on Saturday night (April 27).

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth safely yet again today, making a vertical touchdown back at Vandenberg about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.

The rocket's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying two of Maxar's WorldView Legion satellites to orbit. The first spacecraft will be deployed 13 minutes after launch, and the second will follow suit 3.5 minutes after that.

The WorldView Legion satellites are built by Maxar Space Systems and will be operated by Maxar Intelligence, both of which are divisions of Maxar Technologies. The spacecraft that went up today are the first two of a planned six-satellite network.

"When all six WorldView Legion satellites are launched, it will triple Maxar Intelligence's capacity to collect 30-centimeter-class [12 inches] and multispectral imagery," Maxar representatives wrote in a description of the network.

"The full Maxar constellation of 10 electro-optical satellites will image the most rapidly changing areas on Earth as frequently as every 20 to 30 minutes, from sunup to sundown," they added.


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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 08 2024, @01:32PM (3 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Wednesday May 08 2024, @01:32PM (#1356199) Journal

    SpaceX just tied its rocket-reuse record for the second time in less than a week.

    I really hope that SpaceX gets some competition at some point. Otherwise, eventually, SpaceX will end up doing things like Boeing. I.E. Cutting corners in all the wrong places while charging a premium for doing things the way they've always been done.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday May 08 2024, @02:40PM

      by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 08 2024, @02:40PM (#1356208) Journal

      It's a significant risk. The pattern is that innovation (and risk tolerance) decreases as companies mature, and it's hard to avoid.

      I've seen it happen to acquisitions too. A big company hoovers up a little one, the innovators get "managed", and it fizzles.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by SomeRandomGeek on Wednesday May 08 2024, @04:44PM (1 child)

      by SomeRandomGeek (856) on Wednesday May 08 2024, @04:44PM (#1356225)

      Or, ... More competition in the launch market any time soon could be tremendously damaging to the industry. Right now, about 60% of all artificial satellites in earth orbit are starlink satellites:
      https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+starlink+satellites+are+there&oq=how+many+starlink&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCggCEAAYsQMYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBggBEEUYOTIKCAIQABixAxiABDIKCAMQABixAxiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiABNIBCDcwMjRqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 [google.com]
      https://nanoavionics.com/blog/how-many-satellites-are-in-space/ [nanoavionics.com]
      So what, you ask? By building reusable launch vehicles, SpaceX more than doubled the world's launch capacity. But that did not more than double the number of people wanting to put satellites in orbit. They couldn't sell that much launch capacity. So, they started starlink and used that capacity internally. If two or three more SpaceX-like competitors entered the market, tripling or quadrupling the available launch capacity, they would get into a bidding war with each other and drive the price down to nothing. Then most of them would go bankrupt and no one new would get into the business again for decades.
      Rather, what the industry needs now is for new users of satellites to start putting lots more satellites into orbit using SpaceX, driving their profits up. Only at that point will it be healthy for new competitors to enter the market and take them down a peg.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 09 2024, @04:34AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 09 2024, @04:34AM (#1356285) Journal

        So what, you ask? By building reusable launch vehicles, SpaceX more than doubled the world's launch capacity. But that did not more than double the number of people wanting to put satellites in orbit. They couldn't sell that much launch capacity. So, they started starlink and used that capacity internally. If two or three more SpaceX-like competitors entered the market, tripling or quadrupling the available launch capacity, they would get into a bidding war with each other and drive the price down to nothing. Then most of them would go bankrupt and no one new would get into the business again for decades.

        In other words, better to create the undesired end state now rather than later? Keep in mind that all that cheap launch would create demand for that launch capacity. Probably not fully, but better than not having the cheap launch capacity first.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday May 08 2024, @02:37PM (1 child)

    by ElizabethGreene (6748) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 08 2024, @02:37PM (#1356207) Journal

    I believe I read that SpaceX is preparing paperwork to certify the Falcon 9 first stage for up to 40 flights. Early in the Falcon 9's career the peanut gallery spitball estimate was that the first stage cost 60 million. If they can get to 40 re-uses, I have to assume that makes the first stage no longer the largest cost driver for them. They're probably spending more on the second stages and flight operations (people, lawyers, facilities, and insurance) at that point.

    • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Thursday May 09 2024, @12:31PM

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Thursday May 09 2024, @12:31PM (#1356311)

      Fuel? Refitting between flights?

      > people, lawyers, facilities, and insurance

      When this stuff becomes the cost driver, expect cost cutting here (like Easyjet did in the late 90s)

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