SpaceX launches the last flight of its original Dragon cargo capsule

[Karlston]

SpaceX launches the last flight of its original Dragon cargo capsule

Don’t worry, Dragon 2 will be here soon

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, sending the final Dragon 1 spacecraft into orbit.

NASA/Kim Shiflett

Late last night, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket on the company’s 20th cargo mission to the International Space Station, sending more than 4,500 pounds of supplies and science experiments to the three crew members living in orbit. Following takeoff, SpaceX then landed its Falcon 9 on a landing pad in Florida — the 50th overall rocket landing for the company.

 

While it was a fairly routine launch for the company, it was also a significant one: the final resupply mission for NASA under SpaceX’s original contract with the space agency. That doesn’t mean SpaceX will be done launching supplies to the ISS, though. In 2016, NASA awarded SpaceX a second contract to continuing launching cargo missions to the station through 2024. And once this new round of launches begins, SpaceX’s hardware will get an upgrade too. The company has long used its Dragon 1 cargo capsule to carry all the supplies to the ISS, but now, SpaceX will begin using its new Dragon 2 capsule.

 

This new Dragon capsule is very similar to the one that SpaceX will use to send people to the space station later this year. It’s slightly bigger than its predecessor, able to carry about 20 percent more volume than before, and it can be re-used up to five times in space. Each Dragon 1 spacecraft could only be used up to three times. Plus it sports quite a few upgrades, including an entirely new parachute system. “We learned a lot on the Dragon 1 spacecraft,” Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, said during a press conference ahead of the launch. “We put all the lessons learned basically in Dragon 2 as much as we could.”

 

 

Perhaps the biggest new feature of Dragon 2 is that it will be able to dock all on its own with the International Space Station. All of the previous Dragon cargo capsules had to have some help to get to the ISS. Each vehicle approached the station and an astronaut on board had to capture the capsule with a robotic arm. The arm would then bring the Dragon closer to the ISS and attach it onto a docking port. But from now on, both crew and cargo versions of Dragon will be able to approach the station and dock by themselves, freeing up time for the astronauts on board the ISS.

 

SpaceX is expected to fly this new cargo Dragon capsule sometime in the fall. In the meantime, the final Dragon 1 launched last night is orbiting Earth and will meet up with the International Space Station early Monday morning. When it is attached to the ISS, it’ll bring various supplies and experiments, including a system to study organs on microchips. Dragon is also bringing a new European platform that will be attached on the outside of the ISS, allowing research institutions and companies to attach their own payloads on the exterior of the station.

 

This Dragon will stay attached to the ISS for about a month, before returning to Earth. When it leaves, it’ll be loaded up with 4,000 pounds of cargo to be returned to the ground. After the vehicle splashes down in the ocean, the era of Dragon 1 will be over. “Dragon 1 had a great career and we’re really proud at how it contributed to the important science aboard the ISS,” Koenigsmann said. In fact, SpaceX’s Dragon made history in 2012, by becoming the first private vehicle to attach the ISS ever.

 

“We’re grateful for NASA for the ongoing support, and we’re looking forward to the continued success of Dragon,” said Koenigsmann.

 

Correction March 7th, 11:30AM ET: A previous version of this story misstated the location of the Falcon 9 landing last night. It landed on a landing pad.

 

 

Source: SpaceX launches the last flight of its original Dragon cargo capsule  (The Verge)

[flash13]

The first SpaceX Dragon capsule is taking its final flight

 

 

Last night, SpaceX launched its first generation Dragon capsule on its twentieth — and final — resupply run to the International Space Station.

The launch marks the Dragon’s last mission as the capsule makes way for SpaceX’s updated and improved Dragon 2 capsule, which will begin making resupply runs to the space station in October.

Alongside cargo to resupply the ISS, the Dragon will be bringing along payloads for experimental research aboard the space station. Including an Adidas experiment to see how it can manufacture midsoles in space; a project from the faucet maker, Delta, to see how water droplets form in zero gravity; and Emulate is sending up an organ-on-a-chip to examine how microgravity affects intestinal immune cells and how heart tissue can be cultured in space.

It’s been twelve years since SpaceX first won a $1.6 billion contract to resupply the space station, and over that time, the space industry has changed dramatically.

The company’s technical innovations around manufacturing and reusing rocket components revolutionized the space industry and created an environment where entrepreneurs believed in the possibility of competing with industry giants like Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin.

Since SpaceX first emerged to challenge those longtime government contractors, which had a lock on government space missions, a wave of commercial activity has emerged around the International Space Station, supporting the creation of new industries.

Earlier this week, Axiom Space announced that it would be using SpaceX to ferry the first entirely private crew of passengers to the International Space Station for a ten-day trip (albeit at a cost of $55 million). Axiom’s vision of building a private orbiting space station off of the existing International Space Station is a bold step forward for the commercialization of space — and one which would be less likely if not for SpaceX’s work and the success of the first Dragon.

 

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[Karlston]

Similar topics merged.

[flash13]

SpaceX raising over $500 million, double what Elon Musk’s company planned to bring in

 

• SpaceX authorized $500.06 million in new funding at a price of $220 per share, documents obtained by CNBC show.
• The new funding round values SpaceX at around $36 billion, up from $33.3 billion last year.
• Notably, the round is about double the $250 million that SpaceX was looking to raise.

WASHINGTON — SpaceX is raising half a billion dollars in new funding, according to documents seen by CNBC on Monday, as the Elon Musk company continues work on three ambitious projects.

The company authorized $500.06 million at a price of $220 per share, the documents show, and values SpaceX at around $36 billion — up from $33.3 billion last year. Notably, the round is about double the $250 million that SpaceX was looking to raise, as CNBC reported previously.

 

SpaceX did not respond to CNBC requests for comment.

In 2019, SpaceX raised $1.33 billion across three funding rounds. It’s one of the most valuable private companies in the world and, with consistently oversubscribed capital raises, SpaceX shares rank among the most in demand of any pre-IPO companies.

The company’s steady fundraising comes as it continues development on three ambitious programs: Crew Dragon, Starlink and Starship. While NASA has awarded SpaceX over $3.1 billion to develop the Crew Dragon capsule, Musk has said SpaceX has spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” of its own funds to develop Crew Dragon.

Crew Dragon and Starship represent SpaceX’s efforts to fly people in space. But Starlink is an ambitious plan to create a global network of small satellites to provide high-speed internet to any place in the world. Known as a “megaconstellation,” Starlink is expected to consist of an interconnected system of about 12,000 satellites.

 

SpaceX’s sixth Starlink launch is scheduled for Sunday, vice president Jonathan Hofeller said at the Satellite 2020 conference in Washington, D.C. The company will launch another 60 Starlink satellites on this mission, adding to the 302 satellites its launched already.

 

Hofeller’s division of SpaceX has been ramping up its efforts in recent months, with Starlink production increasing so that the company can get the network up and running.

“We produce six satellites per day,” Hofeller said.

While SpaceX expects it will cost about $10 billion or more to build the Starlink network, Hofeller said the company’s fundraising so far has largely not been directed to the Starlink division, as “we’ve been able to fund the development of Starlink primarily from our internal businesses.” He declared the company is in a “different position” in how it raises funds compared to other companies that are building satellite networks.

“That’s why, in general, we’ve been very quiet about what we’re doing because we don’t need to go out and raise money for this particular venture,” Hofeller said.

 

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