falcon 9

Artist’s conception of SUSIE performing a vertical landing (video sped 2.5 times). Gif: ArianeGroup/GizmodoFrench aerospace company ArianeGroup has revealed a concept for a reusable upper stage spacecraft that would be capable of delivering heavy payloads to space and carry out crewed missions before landing vertically back on Earth. SUSIE, short for Smart Upper Stage for Innovative Exploration, was introduced to the world at the International Astronautical Congress held in Paris from September 18 to 22. The fully…

A streak of SpaceX StarLink satellites passes over an old stone house in Kansas.Photo: Reed Hoffmann (AP)Starlink internet users experienced an outage on Tuesday that spanned across different parts of the world, from the U.S. to New Zealand, Mexico and the Netherlands.The global outage lasted for a few hours for most users, but connectivity returned with a “Degraded Service” message that meant it wasn’t fully operational. Some users on Reddit also reported that their connection kept going from degraded to offline. “Our…

A SpaceX Falcon 9 during launch.Photo: SpaceXThe next generation of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites will be heavier and larger than their predecessors, which is why SpaceX has said they’ll need to launch aboard the upcoming Starship rocket. But the company now wants to use its existing Falcon 9 for Starlink 2.0 launches—a decision that will come at a cost.It appears that SpaceX will be using its Falcon 9 rockets, as well as its upcoming Starship rocket, to launch Starlink 2.0 satellites to orbit. In a letter to the…

Billionaire tycoon Elon Musk-led SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit on Friday.Taking to his official Twitter account, Musk, the founder of American spacecraft manufacturer, and satellite communications corporation SpaceX shared the details about the new satellite launch.According to the SpaceX reports, Falcon 9 launched 46 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.Nine minutes after the launch, the rocket first…

SpaceX is there to pick up the pieces following the sanctions imposed against Russia. Photo: SpaceXThe European Space Agency is currently in a bit of a bind when it comes to launching its cargo to space, as Europe and Russia aren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye these days. But with Soyuz rockets no longer available, the space agency is contemplating a partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. As reported in Reuters, ESA is in preliminary discussions with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to procure the company’s services, a relationship the…

The static fire test of Booster 7, in which one of the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines was ignited. Photo: SpaceXEngineers at SpaceX have performed the first static fire test of Booster 7, a prototype of the Super Heavy first stage. The test, in which just one of the booster’s 33 Raptor engines was ignited, movesthe company closer to its first orbital test of the revolutionary Starship system. The test happened on August 8 at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, according to a company tweet. Ground teams completed…

South Korea's first lunar orbiter successfully launched on a year-long mission to observe the Moon, Seoul said Friday, with the payload including a new disruption-tolerant network for sending data from space.Danuri — a portmanteau of the Korean words for "Moon" and "enjoy" — was on a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida by Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX. It aims to reach the Moon by mid-December."South Korea's first lunar orbiter 'Danuri' left for space at 8:08am on August 5, 2022," Seoul's…

A Falcon 9 rocket during launch this past July. Photo: SpaceXSouth Korea is embarking on its first lunar mission,and SpaceX has been brought in to help. You can catch this historic launch live right here.Hard to believe, but the upcoming launch marks the first time that SpaceX will directly send a payload to a ballistic lunar transfer orbit. And as for South Korea, this marks its first mission to the Moon, adding itself (fingers crossed) to a very small list of nations to do so. The payload du jour is the Korea…

A Falcon 9 rocket during a Starlink mission. Photo: SpaceXElon Musk’s private space company broke its own record for most launches in a single calendar year—and 2022 isn’t even close to being over yet. The company completed its 32nd successful launch of the year, beating its 31 successful launches in 2021.Like it or not, SpaceX’s outpouring of launches into space is impressive. On Friday July 22, the company successfully launched 46 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit using its Falcon 9 reusable rocket, which…

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Friday broke its record for the number of rockets launched in a calendar year, topping last year's slate of 31 missions amid a whirlwind campaign to launch its own internet satellites into orbit.SpaceX's 32nd launch of 2022 using its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket comes as the company races to build a constellation of broadband satellites called Starlink, a largely consumer-based service with hundreds of thousands of internet users."Congrats to SpaceX team on record number of launches!" Musk, SpaceX's…