The tussle between Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and SpaceX has always been in news. Is FAA causing trouble and slowing things down? or Is SpaceX doing the mischief?
Falcon Heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two. With the ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb) Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy. Falcon Heavy is composed of three Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. Falcon Heavy…
Falcon 9 rocket family; from left to right: Falcon 9 v1.0, v1.1, Full Thrust, Block 5, and Falcon Heavy. Photo credits: Lucabon/SpaceX Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket. Reusability allows SpaceX to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access. A…
Falcon 1 was the first rocket developed by SpaceX. It is a two-stage launch vehicle capable of putting a metric ton (1000 kg) into low Earth orbit. Falcon 1 uses a single Merlin, a SpaceX-developed, LOX-kerosene rocket engine producing ~570,000 newtons of thrust (for comparison, a single Shuttle main engine burns LOX-hydrogen fuel and produces about 2,300,000 newtons of thrust). The Falcon 1 was designed to put relatively small satellites into low earth orbit. With such payload capacity, it is also…
Autonomous Spacecraft Drone Ship (ASDS) are ocean-going vessels derived from a deck barge, equipped with station-keeping engines and a large landing platform controlled by an autonomous robot. This allows for the recovery of the launch vehicle's first stages at sea for missions that do not carry enough fuel to return to the launch site after boosting spacecraft onto an orbital or interplanetary trajectory. As of 12 December 2020, 57 Falcon 9 flights have attempted to land on a drone ship, with…
Falcon 9's first stage recovery is a beautiful maneuver in itself. Requiring three precisely timed re-entry burns to orient, control, stabilize and land the rocket successfully with precision. Depiction of Falcon 9 landing trajectory in floating-platform recovery tests. Credits: SpaceX Please refer to the above (beautiful) illustration to understand the Falcon 9 recovery process. Immediately after stage separation, the Falcon 9's first stage or booster goes through, what is called a "flip maneuver". This is done by using cold gas thrusters…
Currently, SpaceX utilizes 4 launch pads for their orbital rocket launches and two suborbital test launch facilities as well. SpaceX South Texas / Boca Chica launch site This site is also referred to as "Starbase" by SpaceX. It is SpaceX's fourth active launch facility, and its first private facility. Initially, the plan was to use this launch site for meeting tight launch windows, but in early 2018, SpaceX announced a change of plans, stating that the launch site would be used…
The payload fairing is the equipment used to protect the spacecraft and the third stage during the early portion of the boost phase when the aerodynamic forces from the atmosphere could affect the rocket. It is almost always in form of the nose cone at the top of the rocket that protects the spacecraft payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additional function on some flights is to maintain a cleanroom environment…
The Dragon spacecraft or capsule, also known as the pressurized section, allows for the transport of people as well as environmentally sensitive cargo. The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station. The SpaceX Dragon approaching the ISS during the C2+…
The Falcon 9's first stage is equipped with hypersonic grid fins, and not planar fins, as shown in the diagram below. Grid fins are used during the re-entry and landing of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. It helps in guiding the first stage return back to the ground location after accomplishing primary mission requirements. Grid fins located near the top of the first stage of Falcon 9 rocket Photo credits: SpaceX Originally it was made from aluminum, but…