Space X

La société privée américaine Space X pourrait devenir un nouvel entrant dans le domaine des lancements commerciaux. En effet, créée il ya sept ans par un millionnaire ayant fait fortune dans l’informatique, elle a déjà réussi à placer deux satellites en orbite basse grâce à sa fusée Falcon-1. : une maquette et le satellite malaisien Razaksat-1 de 150 kg.

A l’origine la société avait déclaré qu’elle allait faire ce lanceur en 18 mois pour un coût de 100 M$ et qu’il permettrait de placer 650 kg en orbite basse pour 6 M$. Qu’en est-il 7 and après : 3 échecs et deux succès (40 % de taux de réussite). Le Falcon-1, qui peut placer 900 Kg en orbite base coûte 8,96 M$ et le Falcon-9 qui peut lancer 10 t vers l’ISS ou 4,5 t en orbite de transfert géostationnaire vaut 41,64 Ms

Vol inaugural. En 2010, Space X prévoit de faire le vol inaugural du lanceur lourd Falcon-9 avec un modèle de qualification de la capsule Dragon, puis trois vols de démonstration avec le Falcon-9 et enfin, au dernier trimestre, le premier vol du Falcon-1^e, version à premier étage allongé. Cependant, le vol inaugural de Falcon-9 a pris du retard. Initialement annoncé pour l’été, puis pour le 29 novembre, il est désormais fixé au 2 février 2010. La baie de propulsion du premier étage, qui comprend neuf moteurs Merlin, a été testée avec succès au banc le 1^ier août 2008. L’étage est arrivé à Cap Canaveral. Mais le second étage termine toujours ses essais au Texas. Lorsqu’il sera livré, il pourra être monté sur le lanceur. Ce Falcon-9 doit, dans le cadre du contrat Cots de la Nasa, effectuer 3 vols de démonstration, puis 12 vols opérationnels en 2011-2015. En plus, Space X a deux contrats commerciaux : un avec le canadien MDA pour 2010 et l’autre avec l’argentin Conae pur deux vols (Saocom-1A et 1B), en 2012-2013. Quand au satcom britannique Hylas, il a préféré changer de lanceur : il est passé sur Arianespace, qui le lancera sur premier Soyouz de Guyane en juin 2010.

Pour sa part le Falcon-1^e a deux contrats dans son carnet de commandes : cinq lanceurs pour le déploiement de la constellation Orbocomm (18 satellites) entre 2010 et 2014 pour un montant de 46,6 M$ puis un satellite d’observation de la Terre construit par Astrium ou SSTL.

Like Falcon 1, Falcon 9 is a two stage, liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene (RP-1) powered launch vehicle. It uses the same engines, structural architecture (with a wider diameter), avionics and launch system.

Length:	54.9 m (180 ft)
Width:	3.6 m (12 ft)
Mass (LEO, 5.2m fairing):	333,400 kg (735,000 lb)
Mass (GTO, 5.2m fairing):	332,800 kg (733,800 lb)
Thrust (vacuum):	4.94 MN (1,110,000 lbf)

Engine Reliability

Falcon 9 has nine Merlin engines clustered together. This vehicle will be capable of sustaining an engine failure at any point in flight and still successfully completing its mission. This actually results in an even higher level of reliability than a single engine stage. The SpaceX nine engine architecture is an improved version of the architecture employed by the Saturn V and Saturn I rockets of the Apollo Program, which had flawless flight records despite losing engines on a number of missions.
Another notable point is the SpaceX hold-before-release system – a capability required by commercial airplanes, but not implemented on many launch vehicles. After first stage engine start, the Falcon is held down and not released for flight until all propulsion and vehicle systems are confirmed to be operating normally. An automatic safe shut-down and unloading of propellant occurs if any off nominal conditions are detected

NASA's Choice to Resupply the Space Station

In December 2008, NASA announced the selection of SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon Spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) when the Space Shuttle retires in 2010. The $1.6 billion contract represents a minimum of 12 flights, with an option to order additional missions for a cumulative total contract value of up to $3.1 billion.

NASA cited SpaceX’s significant strengths as follows:

• First stage engine-out capability
  
• Dual redundant avionics system
  
• Structural safety factor in excess of industry standards
  
• Enhanced schedule efficiencies
  
• Reduced overall technical risk to ISS cargo supply

Three NASA astronauts who are scheduled to be aboard the International Space Station in the second half of next year have gotten "preliminary training" on the Space Exploration
Technologies (SpaceX) Dragon cargo vehicle.
Arrival of the first Dragon at the ISS is planned during the onboard tenure of astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Shannon Walker and Douglas Wheelock.

The trio - members of ISS Expeditions 24 and 25 - were among a group of astronauts and other NASA personnel who were briefed on Dragon operations, including ingress, habitability and payload handling, during a visit to the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, Calif., on Dec. 3.
"This was the first time the NASA astronauts who will interact with Dragon during its early missions were actually inside a Dragon flight vehicle" said SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.
The first Dragon at the station will be the third of three demonstration flights under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) development-seed-money program. The company also holds a $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract for 12 cargo-delivery missions to the station with Dragons.
All of those flights will require the station crew to grapple the arriving Dragon vehicle from a free-flying position with the station's robotic arm, and use the arm to berth it to one of the pressurized nodes. SpaceX personnel also briefed the astronauts on the SpaceX UHF Communications Unit they will use to command the Dragon.
"SpaceX was honored to host the ISS crew for this preliminary training exercise, and we look forward to serving NASA further under the COTS program and CRS contracts," Musk said.
Veteran astronauts Marsha Ivins and Megan McArthur also attending the briefings, along with personnel from NASA's Astronaut Office and Mission Operations Directorate.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has moved a step closer to the first flight of its Falcon 9 medium-lift launch vehicle with a 329-second test of its single-engine upper stage, mimicking the burn that will be required to put the company’s planned Dragon cargo vehicle in orbit.
That clears the way for the stage to be shipped from the SpaceX test site in Texas to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., by the end of January for integration with the nine-engine Falcon 9 first stage on the path to a launch.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s Web site that integration could be finished in time for a February liftoff — in keeping with the most optimistic current plan — or it could move back as late as the end of April.
The Merlin engine generated 92,500 pounds of thrust during the static test Jan. 2, according to SpaceX. The company also has tested the staging mechanism on the composite interstage structure, using a mass-simulated upper stage atop the mechanical device, and has integrated the interstage with the first stage.
Work on the first Dragon flight vehicle also is progressing, the company said, with the pressurized portion of the qualification Dragon mated to its unpressurized “trunk.” After testing in Texas, that vehicle will be shipped to Cape Canaveral for integration with the Falcon 9, the company said.

Space Exploration Technologies (better known as SpaceX) recently conducted a three-day demonstration of cargo loading and unloading procedures for its Dragon spacecraft, which NASA has contracted to haul cargo to the International Space Station starting this year, the company announced Thursday.
The tests, at the company's Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters, covered a range of procedures using an actual flight Dragon spacecraft and actual NASA cargo modules, in a variety of standard sizes, including powered modules providing temperature control for sensitive items such as medical and biological samples.
"We look forward to the day when the first of many Dragons arrive at the ISS delivering actual cargo in support of continued ISS operations," John Couluris, SpaceX director of mission operations, said in a news release.
Under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, SpaceX is scheduled to perform three Dragon demonstration flights to the space station before starting resupply missions. Its contract calls for at least 12 cargo flights between 2010 and 2015 with a guaranteed minimum of 20,000 kilograms to be carried to the station.
The Dragon uses a SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage rocket, which can lift approximately 11 tons to low Earth orbit and more than 4.5 tons to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

SpaceX assembling Falcon 9 rocket

Space Exploration Technologies (better known as SpaceX) has collected all flight hardware for the debut launch of the Falcon 9 rocket at its Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch site and started assembly, the company announced Thursday.
Final delivery included the Falcon 9 second stage, which recently completed testing at SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas. The rocket is 154 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter, and will carry a demonstration unit of the Dragon spacecraft.
Following full integration, SpaceX will conduct a static firing to demonstrate flight readiness and confirm operation of ground control systems in preparation for actual launch.
"We expect to launch in one to three months after completing full vehicle integration," Brian Mosdell, director of Florida launch operations for SpaceX, said in a news release. "Our primary objective is a successful first launch and we are taking whatever time necessary to work through the data to our satisfaction before moving forward."
NASA has contracted SpaceX to haul cargo to the International Space Station on the Dragon starting this year. SpaceX said the Falcon 9 is "designed from the beginning to transport crew."

Engineers at Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) are reviewing data after an automatic abort of its nine-engine Falcon 9 launch vehicle on the pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on March 9.
The engines did not ignite for a planned 3.5-second static test, although flames appeared briefly beneath the rocket on the pad at Launch Complex 40, and a cloud of black smoke drifted away from the kerosene-fueled launch vehicle.
“The brief flames seen on the video are burn-off of LOX and kerosene on the pad,” the company said in a statement. “The engines did not ignite and there was no engine fire.” The company said the abort went nominally after an unspecified problem with the spin start system two seconds before ignition. All other systems were go for ignition, the company said, and all other pad systems worked as planned.
SpaceX is preparing to launch the Falcon 9 with a mock-up Dragon capsule in the first demonstration of its ability to fly cargo — and perhaps eventually crew — to the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA’s private-sector launch champions move closer to lift-off

Successful rocket engine ground-test firings have taken Space Exploration Technologies and Orbital Sciences a step closer to filling their roles as key private-sector launch contractors to NASA.
SpaceX achieved a 3.5s firing of its Falcon 9 rocket's nine Merlin first-stage engines in preparation for an April maiden flight. Orbital is looking forward to verification and acceptance testing of its Taurus II rocket's AJ26 engines at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi beginning in April, paving the way to a first flight in 2011.
Falcon 9 and Taurus II are both crucial elements in NASA's plan to sustain service to the ISS following its retirement later this year of the Space Shuttle fleet.

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The 13 March test at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 site followed an aborted attempt four days earlier in which a ground-based helium feed valve for the engines' start-up routine did not activate, leading to a shutdown at T-2s.
For the 13 March test, the pad water deluge system was activated just before engine ignition to provide acoustic suppression to keep vibration levels within acceptable limits. The test validated the launch pad propellant and pneumatic systems as well as the ground and flight-control software.
SpaceX founder and chief technology officer Elon Musk said of the aborted test: "What we are going through is the equivalent of beta testing. Problems are expected to occur, as they have throughout the development phase. The beta phase only ends when a rocket has done at least one, but arguably two or three, consecutive flights to orbit."
Orbital's milestone came in Samarra, Russia, where testing of the Energomash NK-33 engine - which was the engine design for Russia's N-1 Moon rocket and on which Taurus II's AJ26 first-stage engine is based - demonstrated a "hot-fire" duration equal to two times a normal Taurus II acceptance testing and launch profile duty cycle.
The engines are being supplied to Orbital by Aerojet and its Russian partner, United Engine/SNTK, which achieved more than 600s cumulative burn duration in three tests.
The first Falcon 9 flight will orbit a qualification example of the Dragon capsule designed by SpaceX to carry cargo and crew under a $1.6 billion NASA contract. SpaceX plans three ISS cargo transport-related demonstration flights this year.