SpaceX Archives

December 7, 2024December 7, 2024 by Matt Williams

NASA has Plans for More Cargo Deliveries to the Moon

Early conceptual renderings of cargo variants of human lunar landing systems from NASA’s providers SpaceX, left, and Blue Origin, right. Credit: SpaceX/Blue Origin

Through the Artemis Program, NASA hopes to lay the foundations for a program of “sustained lunar exploration and development.” This will include regular missions to the surface, the creation of infrastructure and habitats, and a long-term human presence. To facilitate this, NASA is teaming up with industry and international partners to develop Human Landing Systems (HLS) that can transport crews to and from the lunar surface and landers that can deliver payloads of equipment, vehicles, and supplies to the lunar surface.

In a recent statement, NASA indicated that it intends to award Blue Origin and SpaceX additional work under their existing contracts to develop landers that will deliver equipment and infrastructure to the lunar surface. NASA also plans to assign demonstration missions to these companies, in addition to design certification reviews, which will validate their concepts. This decision builds on NASA’s earlier request, made in 2023, that the two companies develop cargo versions of their HLS concepts, which are currently in development for the Artemis III, Artemis IV, and Artemis V missions.

November 25, 2024November 24, 2024 by Matt Williams

NASA, SpaceX Illustrate Key Moments of Artemis Lunar Lander Mission

Artist's rendering of the Starship HLS on the lunar surface. NASA has contracted with SpaceX to provide the lunar landing system. Credit: SpaceX — Artist's rendering of the Starship HLS on the Moon's surface. NASA has contracted with SpaceX to provide the lunar landing system. Credit: SpaceX

Before the decade is out, as part of the Artemis Program, NASA plans to send astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo Era. To realize this goal, they have contracted with commercial space industries to develop all the necessary components. This includes the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft that will take the Artemis astronauts to the Moon. There’s also the Lunar Gateway and the Artemis Base Camp, the infrastructure that will facilitate regular missions to the Moon after 2028.

In between, NASA has also partnered with companies to develop the Human Landing Systems (HLS) that will transport the Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface and back. This includes the Starship HLS SpaceX is currently developing for NASA, which will rendezvous with the Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit and allow the Artemis III astronauts to land on the Moon (which will take place no sooner than September 2026). In a series of newly-updated images, SpaceX has provided artistic renders of what key moments in this mission will look like.

November 19, 2024November 20, 2024 by Alan Boyle

Starship’s Booster (and Donald Trump) Make a Splash With Sixth Flight Test

SpaceX's Starship lifts off from its Texas pad for the launch system's sixth flight test. (Credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX’s Starship launch system went through its sixth flight test today, and although the Super Heavy booster missed out on being caught back at its launch pad, the mission checked off a key test objective with President-elect Donald Trump in the audience.

Trump attended the launch at SpaceX’s Starbase complex in the company of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has been serving as a close adviser to the once and future president over the past few months. In a pre-launch posting to his Truth Social media platform, Trump wished good luck to “Elon Musk and the Great Patriots involved in this incredible project.”

November 18, 2024November 23, 2024 by Nancy Atkinson

The New Mars Landing Approach: How We’ll Land Large Payloads on the Red Planet

Back in 2007, I talked with Rob Manning, engineer extraordinaire at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and he told me something shocking. Even though he had successfully led the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) teams for three Mars rover missions, he said the prospect of landing a human mission on the Red Planet might be impossible.

But now, after nearly 20 years of work and research — as well as more successful Mars rover landings — Manning says the outlook has vastly improved.

“We’ve made huge progress since 2007,” Manning told me when we chatted a few weeks ago in 2024. “It’s interesting how its evolved, but the fundamental challenges we had in 2007 haven’t gone away, they’ve just morphed.”

October 24, 2024October 24, 2024 by Matt Williams

Chinese Company is Taking Space Tourism Orders for 2027 Flights

Infographic publicizing Deep Blue Space's first commercial flight, scheduled for 2027. Credit: Deep Blue Space (via Weixin)

China has some bold plans for space research and exploration that will be taking place in the coming decades. This includes doubling the size of their Tiangong space station, sending additional robotic missions to the Moon, and building the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) around the lunar south pole. They also hope to begin sending crewed missions to Mars by 2033, becoming the first national space agency to do so. Not to be left behind in the commercial space sector, China is also looking to create a space tourism industry that offers suborbital flights for customers.

One of the companies offering these services is Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Technology, a private launch company founded in November 2016 by Chinese entrepreneur Huo Liang. On October 24th, at 6:00 pm local time (03:00 am PDT; 06:00 am EDT), during a “Make Friends” Taobao live broadcast, Huo shared the companies’ latest progress on their commercial spacecraft. He also announced the pre-sale of tickets for the first suborbital launch in 2027. The company also posted an infographic with the details of the flight on the Chinese social media platform Weixin (WeChat).

October 14, 2024October 14, 2024 by Alan Boyle

Europa Clipper Begins Odyssey to Assess Jovian Moon’s Habitability

Europa Clipper liftoff on Falcon Heavy rocket — SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket sends NASA's Europa Clipper into space from its Florida launch pad. (NASA Photo / Kim Shiflett)

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft today began its six-year cruise to the Jupiter system, with the goal of determining whether one of the giant planet’s moons has the right stuff in the right setting for life.

The van-sized probe was sent into space from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket at 12:06 p.m. ET (16:06 UTC). A little more than an hour after launch, the spacecraft separated from its launch vehicle to begin a roundabout journey of 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers) from Earth orbit to Europa.

For decades, scientists have been collecting evidence that Europa harbors a hidden ocean of salty water beneath its icy shell. Or are they hidden lakes? Europa Clipper is built to characterize the moon’s surface, and what’s beneath that surface, to an unprecedented degree.

October 13, 2024October 13, 2024 by Alan Boyle

SpaceX’s Mechazilla Catches a Starship Booster on First Try

Starship Super Heavy catch in Mechazilla cradle — SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy booster settles back into the arms of its launch-pad cradle in Texas. (Credit: SpaceX)

For the first time ever, SpaceX has followed through on a Starship test launch by bringing back the Super Heavy booster for an on-target catch in the arms of its “Mechazilla” launch-tower cradle in Texas.

“This is a day for the engineering history books,” SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice said.

Today’s successful catch marks a giant step toward using — and reusing — Starship for missions ranging from satellite deployments to NASA’s moon missions to migrations to Mars.

October 7, 2024October 7, 2024 by Alan Boyle

Hera Probe Heads Off to See Aftermath of DART’s Asteroid Impact

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with Hera probe — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sends the European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft into space from its Florida launch pad. (Credit: SpaceX)

The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft is on its way to do follow-up observations of Dimorphos, two years after an earlier probe knocked the mini-asteroid into a different orbital path around a bigger space rock.

Scientists say the close-up observations that Hera is due to make millions of miles from Earth, starting in 2026, will help them defend our planet from future threats posed by killer asteroids.

September 24, 2024September 24, 2024 by Matt Williams

SpaceX Recovers the Super Heavy Booster from Flight 4

The remains of the SpaceX Booster BN11 being retrieved from the Gulf of Mexico. Credit: SpaceX

On June 6th, 2024, the fourth orbital test flight of the Starship successfully lifted off at 07:50 a.m. CT (08:50 a.m. EDT; 06:50 PDT) from SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas. This test was the first time the Starship (SN29) and Super Heavy (BN11) prototypes reentered Earth’s atmosphere and landed successfully. While the SN29 conducted a powered vertical landing before splashing down in the Indian Ocean, the BN11 executed a similar powered landing before splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. In a recent tweet, Elon Musk shared a photo of the BN11 booster being pulled out of the sea.

September 20, 2024September 20, 2024 by Mark Thompson

Second Generation Starlinks are 32 Times Brighter in Radio Wavelengths

Illustration Starlink satellites over LOFAR. Credit: Daniëlle Futselaar

Global internet access does seem like a worthy enterprise yet the rise of satellite megaconstellations there is a danger of the night sky becoming ruined. Astronomers the world over are keeping an eye on the impact these satellites are having on the night sky. Until recently the concerns have been relating to the reflection of visible light against the sky hindering night time observations. A recent study shows that the second-generation Starlink satellites leak 32 times the radio signal than the previous models. Are their presence putting at risk the radio sky now too?