It will be fascinating to see what they come up with. $50 million for just the upper stage is so expensive compared to Falcon 9. According to the numbers in the article, SpaceX can launch 3 Falcon 9s for the price of that one upper stage.
I wasn’t expecting this. Looks like Blue is refocusing
That’s pretty remarkable. Hope it goes well.
It’s actually pretty well understood that a starlink satellite’s life span is approx. 5 years at which point it is intentionally deorbited, and any malfunctioning satellite’s orbit would naturally decay within a few years as well.
That being said, I agree that there should be regulations about this. Feels like we’re in a bit of a wild west situation.
It’s going to take a lot to change the agency culture, but I’m glad Jared seems to be taking the right steps.
Rough day
Some nice news to hear in time for the holidays!
I think their second stage design is so cool.
This was the first time any company besides SpaceX has propulsively landed an orbital-class rocket booster, coming nearly 10 years after SpaceX recovered its first Falcon 9 booster intact in December 2015.
^title is technically true, but is overblown
I think it’s safe to say that SLS is the boondoggle of the US space program.
I’m so glad they figured that situation out and got home safely.
I really hope they can get this to work!
And the spiciest answer:
Last year The Wall Street Journal reported, credibly, that SpaceX asked companies seeking launch services, including OneWeb and Kepler Communications, to share spectrum rights as a condition of flying on Falcon 9.
Probably the most striking thing about the new directive is that it seems to favor Vast over NASA’s original contractors…
“All the current players are going to have to do some kind of pivot, at least revisit their current configuration,” McAlister said. “Certain players are going to have to do a harder pivot.”
One industry official, speaking anonymously, put it more bluntly: “Only Haven-1 can succeed in this environment. That is our read.”
Do you guys think there’s been foul play or just a coincidence?
map the lunar surface for concentrations of water ice “that are large enough and with a high enough confidence to justify the expense and energy required to retrieve it,”
Wow, sounds like they’re pretty serious about this.
That thing really leaps off the pad!
Honestly can’t wait to see what the Chinese do. They move fast and I’m excited to see how they transform the industry.