Eric Ralph – Page 128 – Sidevalve EV News

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy secures second commercial launch contract in 9 days

October 25, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

Major broadband satellite operator Viasat has officially committed to launching one of its powerful next-generation Viasat-3 satellites on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, set to occur sometime between 2020 and 2022. Nine days after Swedish satellite communications company OvZon made its own announcement of a Falcon Heavy launch contract, Viasat’s Falcon Heavy selection marks SpaceX’s third […]

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SpaceX nears big US govt. missions as ULA handwaves about risks of competition

October 25, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

Speaking at the 2018 Von Braun Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, ULA COO John Elbon expressed worries that the US National Security Space (NSS) apparatus could be put at significant risk if it comes to rely too heavily on the commercial launch industry to assure access to space. Given that the US military’s launch capabilities rest […]

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SpaceX ships another huge propellant tank to South Texas BFR test site

October 24, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

Captured by NASASpaceflight.com forum user “bocachicagal”, the second of several massive liquid methane tanks has arrived at SpaceX’s prospective Boca Chica, Texas facilities, to be dedicated to integrated testing of BFR’s spaceship/upper stage. If there was any doubt beforehand, the arrival of a second ~100,000 gallon vacuum-insulated tank all but guarantees that SpaceX is planning a […]

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SpaceX ships another huge propellant tank to South Texas BFR test site

October 24, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

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SpaceX targets Falcon 9 reusability milestone on first dedicated rideshare launch

October 23, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

SpaceX’s first dedicated rideshare – a collection of small satellites manifested for launch and organized by a third party – is into the final stretches of prelaunch preparations, readying for a ride to orbit on a flight-proven Falcon 9 no earlier than (NET) November 19th. While unconfirmed, it appears that SpaceX is working to make […]

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Tesla, SpaceX, Elon Musk ventures cleared by SEC for private fundraising after tweet controversy

October 22, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company (TBC), and Neuralink have all been granted waivers allowing them to continue raising capital by privately selling restricted securities (typically private equity or debt), heading off potential barriers that would increase the difficulty of raising capital through the sale of securities. Cued by the commission’s settled suit over CEO Elon […]

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SpaceX plans Falcon 9 satellite launch from Pad 39A prior to Crew Dragon, Falcon Heavy

October 22, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

SpaceX plans to launch one final commercial Falcon 9 mission from Pad 39A before much of the historic facility’s availability is taken over Crew Dragon and Falcon Heavy launch needs, perhaps as soon as December 2018. The reason for the decision to launch a routine Falcon 9 mission from 39A – while Launch Complex-40 (LC-40) […]

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SpaceX’s Mr. Steven highlights ambiguity of Falcon fairing catches with port return

October 19, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

SpaceX’s fairing recovery vessel Mr. Steven highlighted the maddening and exhilarating uncertainty of unpublicized fairing recovery attempts with a return to Port of San Pedro on October 18th, the morning after spending a day at sea for the second Falcon fairing drop-and-catch test. Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin was on site to watch Mr. Steven’s 1AM […]

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SpaceX’s next West Coast launches line up with flight-proven Falcon 9 rockets

October 18, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

Major SpaceX customer Iridium has set an official target date for its eighth and final Iridium NEXT launch, expected to fly on a flight-proven Falcon 9 Block 5 booster as early as December 30th. With Iridium-8 now tentatively on SpaceX’s launch manifest, the company’s West Coast schedule appears to have stabilized with two more orbital […]

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SpaceX attempts second Falcon fairing drop test with a helicopter and Mr. Steven

October 18, 2018 Eric Ralph Syndicated Comments Off

Following a few days of rest in port, SpaceX fairing recovery vessel Mr. Steven has continued a likely campaign of controlled drop tests with a second fairing recovery attempt, using a helicopter, spotter plane, and support vessel to pick up a Falcon fairing and drop it, theoretically allowing it to paraglide into Mr. Steven’s net. […]

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