Exotrail’s Post

Fully recoverable rocket to orbit 320th successful landing of a first stage by SpaceX. go to 23:50 https://lnkd.in/gewvTw34 (how many of these has Boeing done? asking for a friend) And of course with all the serious engineering and hard work to make this fully reusable orbital launch system routine they're still room for a little levity... The names of the drone ships that recover these first stages are: "Just Read the Instructions" (Marmac 300) "Of Course I Still Love You" (Marmac 304) "A Shortfall of Gravitas" (Marmac 302) SpaceX also used two former platform supply vessels, *Ms. Tree* and *Ms. Chief*, between 2018–2021 to recover rocket fairings. (The ships were modified with large nets to catch the fairings and prevent them from entering the water. Today they use contracted ships Shelia Bordelon and Hos Briarwood (need better names) to recover parachute-descended payload fairings that reached the sea surface, with minimal time in the water, still in good condition using ship mounted cranes.) #spacex #fullyreusablerocketships

Adding new satellites to the fleet. Improving already stellar global revisit times. Developing new ways to serve the user. ICEYE is achieving and providing what was once thought to be impossible: persistent global monitoring. #GOICEYE

Pretty incredible news from the Space industry this week as SpaceX successfully launches the most powerful rocket ever made. The Starship is a fully reusable platform, and this fourth major flight test saw both parts of the rocket return to Earth for the first time, with the Super Heavy booster splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico and the main Starship making it all the way to the Indian Ocean. With the next Starship test mission coming soon, what does this mean for the future of space? With every step forward, Space becomes increasingly within our reach, with commercial space travel and interplanetary exploration becoming more attainable. By significantly reducing the cost of access to space and increasing payload capacity, Starship could enable new business models and make existing ones more financially viable. From space tourism to interplanetary missions, the spacecraft has the potential to redefine what is possible in the commercial space sector. This is HUGE!🚀🚀 https://lnkd.in/epF3ig3s

Exciting news from the frontier of space exploration! 🚀 #SpaceX has received FAA authorization for the third launch of its monumental Starship Super Heavy vehicle from Boca Chica Village, Texas. This 400-foot-tall marvel is setting the stage for groundbreaking achievements in space travel. 🌌 The third flight test is not just another launch; it's a leap towards some ambitious milestones: -         A successful ascent burn of both stages. -         A propellant transfer demonstration in orbit. -         The first re-light of a Raptor engine in the vacuum of space. A controlled reentry, aiming for a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This mission paves the way for innovative in-space maneuvers and engine burns, all while ensuring public safety remains a top priority. The FAA's green light signifies that #SpaceX has met stringent safety, environmental, policy, and financial responsibility criteria, marking a significant step forward in our journey to the stars. Stay tuned as we witness history in the making with #Starship's third launch. The future of space travel is here, and it's filled with ambitious objectives that promise to expand our horizons like never before. 🌠   Congratulations to everyone involved with us, and be sure to check your emails for more good news. If you're interested in a behind-the-scenes look, visit BrahminPartners.com to subscribe to our exclusive newsletter for member families.   https://lnkd.in/eGqnh5Dj #spaceexploration #innovation #spacetravel #futuretech #spacetech #aerospaceengineering #spaceindustry #technews #faa #environmentalsafety

**Introducing SpaceX’s Rocket’s-Eye View: A Game-Changing Innovation** SpaceX has just released a video capturing breathtaking footage of a recent mission, giving viewers a unique perspective on the entire journey from launch to landing. Have you seen it yet? #SpaceX #innovation #Falcon9 Join the conversation and share your thoughts on this groundbreaking technology! #rocket, #space, #technology, #innovation, #spaceexploration

The #Starship #TestFlight on March 14th achieved partial success: Positives: - Liftoff and initial flight were successful. - Starship upper stage reached its planned suborbital trajectory. - Completed maneuvers like payload bay door opening and in-space propellant transfer. Negatives: - Super Heavy booster landing failed, impacting the water at high speed. Therefore, while the Starship upper stage performed well, the overall test wasn't entirely successful due to the booster's failed landing. #SpaceX #SpaceIndustry https://lnkd.in/eqA6Nkzv

How to watch SpaceX's 3rd Starship launch test live online SpaceX is set to perform the third orbital test of its Starship rocket on Thursday (March 14), and you can watch the event online. Standing over 400 feet (122 meters) tall, this huge rocket consists of two parts. The first is a stainless steel, reusable upper stage that's known also as "Starship," and the second is a Super Heavy first-stage booster. Starship is currently the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Its ultimate aim is to help astronauts journey to the moon, and eventually Mars, as they embark on more sustained space missions and perhaps start creating settlements on the alien worlds. SpaceX announced the launch on its X feed, saying its stream of Starship's third flight would begin on Thursday at 7:30 a.m EDT (1130 GMT). The company also said the stream would begin 30 minutes before launch, which suggests a tentative liftoff time of around 8 a.m EDT (1200 GMT). A livestream of the rocket's test will also be available to watch on Space.com's YouTube channel just here. "The third flight test aims to build on what we've learned from previous flights while attempting a number of ambitious objectives, including the successful ascent burn of both stages, opening and closing Starship's payload door, a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage’s coast phase, the first ever re-light of a Raptor engine while in space, and a controlled reentry of Starship," SpaceX wrote on its Starship mission website. "It will also fly a new trajectory, with Starship targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This new flight path enables us to attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns while maximizing public safety." These objectives make this third flight of Starship more ambitious than the rocket's previous two flights. https://lnkd.in/eGAAVZh2

BandWagon-1, SpaceX's first dedicated rideshare mission to mid inclined orbit, is poised to launch this week-end. Beyond the obvious attempt to sterilize the small launch vehicle market even further, complementing the highly successful Transporter series of rideshare launches to SSO, a few comments are worth making. 1. It is not quite a dedicated rideshare as originally announced, rather a piggyback offering on a primary mission for Korea military - it remains to be seen whether demand will justify regular dedicated mid-inclined launches for a rocket the size of Falcon 9. 2. Constellations on mid inclined orbit are a reality though - post BandWagon-1 launch, HawkEye 360 will already have one third of its fleet on mid inclined orbit and iQPS almost two thirds. 3. BandWagon missions have the potential to displace Rocket Lab's near exclusive business to LEO - while both operators have booked recurring flights on Electron, next launch procurements will be telling. 4. New small launch vehicle entrants have been betting big on non-SSO and/or constellations play, as a differentiator from SpaceX - the presence of not one but two clusters of HawkEye 360 on the same Falcon 9 launch hints at deployment on two distinct orbital planes without necessarily using a small launcher, further shrinking the addressable market for small launchers. 5. Last but not least, the presence of Tata's satellite on a U.S. launcher instead of flying domestically is symptomatic of the difficulties of the Indian launch industry to provide economical alternatives, stuck by the delays in fielding both SSLV and new players. I am curious to see the full launch manifest on BandWagon-1 - in case not all would have been made fully public yet - as well as future missions and how the small launch industry will react to this new threat.