SpaceX – Page 104 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX postpones Starlink launch to update satellite software

May 17, 2019 Stephen Clark

For the second consecutive day, SpaceX called off a Falcon 9 launch attempt at Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening, this time to complete a software update on the first 60 satellites for the company’s Starlink network to provide high-speed Internet service from orbit.

SpaceX releases new details on Starlink satellite design

May 15, 2019 Stephen Clark

The 60 satellites SpaceX is set to launch Wednesday night, beginning the build-out of a broadband network of orbiting spacecraft that could eventually number thousands, are based on a new flat-panel design, with krypton-fueled plasma thrusters, high-power antennas, and a capability to autonomously steer away from other objects in space.

Falcon 9 launch timeline for the Starlink 1 mission

May 15, 2019 Stephen Clark

Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit 60 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket

May 15, 2019 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 10:30 p.m. EDT Thursday (0230 GMT Friday). The 229-foot-tall launch vehicle delivered 60 satellites to orbit to begin the deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink Internet network, a fleet of spacecraft that may eventually number thousands.

Falcon 9 rocket rolled out for first dedicated Starlink launch

May 13, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX ground teams at Cape Canaveral transferred a Falcon 9 rocket to launch pad 40 and rotated the booster vertical Monday for a preflight hold-down firing, ahead of a liftoff scheduled for Wednesday night carrying 60 satellites into orbit for the company’s planned Starlink broadband constellation.

X-ray communications experiment delivered to space station

May 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

A novel communications experiment developed by NASA and the Naval Research Laboratory has arrived at the International Space Station to prove data can be transmitted in space using X-ray signals, a breakthrough that could have uses in deep space exploration and military technology on Earth.

Commercial crew capsules still beset by parachute problems

May 9, 2019 Stephen Clark

A malfunction during a drop test over Nevada last month for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon program has engineers re-examining the crew capsule’s parachutes, and Boeing has also encountered parachute failures during testing for its commercial crew capsule, a senior NASA official confirmed Wednesday.

SpaceX plans to launch “dozens” of Starlink test satellites this month

May 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next launch, scheduled for no earlier than May 15, will loft dozens of small test satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral for the company’s planned Starlink broadband network, with fully operational Starlink spacecraft to follow on future missions, a senior SpaceX official said Tuesday.

Q&A with Keith Gendreau, principal investigator of the first X-ray space communications experiment (members only)

May 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

Keith Gendreau, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, recently spoke with Spaceflight Now about a new experiment on the International Space Station to demonstrate X-ray communications in space for the first time.

SpaceX cargo ship reaches space station

May 6, 2019 William Harwood

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship caught up with the International Space Station early Monday and then stood by while Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques, operating the lab’s robot arm, locked onto the spacecraft to wrap up a two-day rendezvous.