Elon Musk's SpaceX Offers Low-Cost Rockets

HobbySpacer writes "The cover article of the latest issue of Aviation Week looks at SpaceX and how its Falcon line of rockets threatens to shake up the space launch industry. Founded by Elon Musk, who also started PayPal, SpaceX is developing the Falcon I (first flight this summer) and Falcon V (first flight in 2005) that will cost as little as 20-30% of what competitors like Orbital Sciences and Boeing charge for comparable vehicles."

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All the news, minus the pretty picture

[Nomihn0]

In case it gets /.ed, here is the body of the article "In a move to attack the "high-cost culture" of the U.S. launch industry, the aggressive new SpaceX commercial rocket company is enlisting the help of Pratt & Whitney to take market share away from Boeing for commercial and military geosynchronous orbit missions. The SpaceX Falcon rocket project will specifically target Boeing, by offering the SpaceX Falcon V booster for 60-70% less than Boeing can fly its Delta II and newer Delta IV Medium Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, said Elon Musk, SpaceX chairman and CEO. SpaceX plans to pursue Boeing by using existing technology in innovative ways on its Falcon V first stage, combined with a powerful and proven Pratt & Whitney RL10 hydrogen/oxygen-powered second stage. As two Falcon V designs move forward, the smaller Falcon I proof-of-concept launcher (see cover) is making progress in ground tests and moving toward first flight as early as May at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The Falcon I development is funded in part by the Defense Dept.'s Office of Force Transformation because the Pentagon believes if SpaceX is successful, it could have a major "transformational effect" on how military space operations are launched. SpaceX wants to fly up to three Falcon I missions in 2004 at a $5.9-million list price per flight to compete directly against Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) in the small-payload market as it develops the heavier capability to take on Boeing. As the Falcon I moves into service, the first launch of the initial Falcon V, with oxygen/kerosene engines in both stages (below), is set for 2005, followed in 2006 by the geosynchronous transfer version of the RL10 upper stage. Falcon I will demonstrate innovative technologies like a "pressure-assisted stabilization" tank design, a unique common tank bulkhead to save weight and a lithium-aluminum upper stage, along with in-house-built engines to separate the company from the traditional higher cost contractor pool. SpaceX is "attacking the culture" of the entrenched launcher contracting structure, which at times has resisted even simple innovative changes, said Michael Griffin, who has just been appointed head of the Space Dept. at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. "The importance of a successful effort on Musk's part is that the space industry needs 'existence proof' that cheaper, more efficient launch vehicle design and operation is possible," Griffin said. He is noted for championing innovation at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and was previously NASA's chief engineer. He has also headed the In-Q-Tel Inc. technology company. Starting with the first flight this summer, the vehicle's first stage will be reusable. After propelling the second stage and payload to 56 mi. and Mach 9, a 75-ft. parachute will be blasted out of the first stage nose by a 10,000-lb.-thrust mortar. The chute will lower the vehicle to a splashdown 500 mi. off Baja California, where it will be recovered for $50,000 by the crew of the salvage tug Aahu. The parachute system has been designed by Irvin Aerospace, the same company that builds the shuttle solid rocket booster recovery system. With Boeing in its sights, SpaceX ironically wanted to validate its own Falcon I calculations against high-quality Boeing Delta hardware and found a Boeing-discarded Delta II interstage section in a Hollywood, Calif., junkyard on which to make those calculations. The Falcon is California's "other" space program, the first being Burt Rutan's quest to propel a human crew at about Mach 3 to the lowest edge of space (about 60 mi.) and then fall back to Earth for a safe landing. Rutan may take the X-Prize by sending a privately funded piloted reusable spacecraft into suborbital space and has already captured the attention of news media looking for stick-and-rudder analogies. But Musk is out to capture market share while making direct space-related technological progress toward reduced launch costs. Musk believes Rutan is not solving many technologic

mr paypal

[Anonymous Coward]

Will he be taking paypal payments?