SpaceX
manufacturer, spacecraft
| SpaceX link () Twitter Website | |
|---|---|
| File:SpaceX Starship.webp FAA warns of SpaceX Starship launch delay | |
| Founder | Elon Musk |
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launch service provider and satellite communications company headquartered in Hawthorne, California.[1] The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and to colonise Mars.
SpaceX currently operates the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets along with the Dragon spacecraft.[2]
Communications
SpaceX offers internet service via its Starlink satellites, which became the largest-ever satellite constellation in January 2020 and as of June 2023 comprised more than 4,300 small satellites in orbit.[3]
Space travel
The company is developing Starship, a human-rated, fully-reusable, super heavy-lift launch system for interplanetary and orbital spaceflight. On its failed first flight in April 2023, Starship became the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown.
Launch delay
In September 2023, A statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned of a launch delay for Starship, just hours after SpaceX boss Elon Musk said the craft was “ready to launch” on Wednesday 6 September:
- “The SpaceX Starship mishap investigation remains open,” the FAA said in a statement.
- “The FAA will not authorise another Starship launch until SpaceX implements the corrective actions identified during the mishap investigation and demonstrates compliance with all the regulatory requirements of the licence modification process.”
SpaceX firsts
SpaceX is the first private company to develop a liquid-propellant rocket that has reached orbit; to launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft; to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station; and to send astronauts to the International Space Station. It is also the first organisation of any type to achieve a vertical propulsive landing of an orbital rocket booster and the first to reuse such a booster. The company's Falcon 9 rockets have landed and reflown more than 200 times.
Moon and Mars
NASA has already awarded SpaceX a multi-billion dollar contract to develop Starship for its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
Elon Musk also plans to use the rockets for more ambitious longer term goals, including establishing a permanent human colony on Mars before 2050:[4]
- “As the most powerful launch system ever developed, Starship will be able to carry up to 100 people on long-duration, interplanetary flights,” SpaceX notes on its website.
References
- ↑ "A Rare Look Into the Finances of Elon Musk’s Secretive SpaceX"
- ↑ "Falcon 9 launches 21 Starlink satellites to orbit from California"
- ↑ "After SpaceX Starlink Launch, a Fear of Satellites That Outnumber All Visible Stars"
- ↑ "The wild physics of Elon Musk's methane-guzzling super-rocket"
- ↑ "SpaceX launch of Starship rocket on hold amid ‘mishap investigation’"
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