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SpaceX Successfully Launches Its First Spy Satellite (arstechnica.com)
SpaceX successfully launched NROL-76, a classified U.S. intelligence mission, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center Monday. Sunday's launch attempt was scrubbed due to a sensor issue. From a report: Not much is known about the National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-76 satellite, a classified payload, which will liftoff into low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The 1st stage landed at LZ1 again. I believe this was a new booster on this launch (as opposed to a "flight proven" stage).
These landing are becoming so routine that it's almost boring. Almost.
Also,the live feed this time around showed a ground based view of the first stage from launch, to separation, to boost back burn, to landing. Some very long stretches of single shots. Clear weather made for a very interesting perspective!
You mightn't be aware, but ULA has been aggressively driving down the launch costs on the Atlas V. It's still not as cheap as Falcon 9, but it is a lot cheaper than it was a few years ago. Atlas V also has a much better reliability track record than F9 does and has fewer launch delays, which is worth something to the people with very expensive satellites.
They are also working on a new rocket named Vulcan to reduce costs even further. There is only so much they can do however because their profits are fed back into the 2 companies that own ULA, instead of being purely spent on R&D for their own improvement. They are making profit for the companies that own them, effectively trying to swim with an anchor around their neck.
I would say that's kind of stupid, but there are plenty of complacent, "nothing to hide" kind of people that don't care about privacy anyway.
As with anything else, launch costs are driven down by free application of technology in a competitive market, not by whoever happens to be ahead at the moment.
Atlas has a great record, but then it's the result of decades of experience and government contracts. SpaceX have under a decade of launch experience.
And Boeing and Lockheed are really struggling due to the military being so careful about defence spending. Yeah, that business must be a real millstone...
spy satellites are only a problem if you go outdoors. So this affects 0 people on slashdot.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
yeah, they will. Because the government pays good money and once you get into the circle of trust it's a nice flow of cash to build the business
They only recovered the first stage. All the rest wasted. SAD!
Funny, but the truth is that everybody at SpaceX agrees with this!
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
OK I was going to write something funny and stupid, but when I looked up the Wiki page for some additional information I found something much more interesting. They make a launch patch seemingly for every single launch, of which there have been a lot! Some are hilarious, others sort of menacingly inappropriate, others just cool artwork. Honestly some of them could be a bit more ambiguous if they are supposed to be "classified" spy satellites... I mean when your patch is a sailing ship with an angry looking eye over top, I mean people can guess the purpose... Also did they all go to evil art school? Apparently not all of them, because some look like they were designed by a 10 year old and MS paint. Interesting to look at anyway!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...