SpaceX: everything you need to know

SpaceX has changed what we all think about space. Its reusable rockets that fall back on the launch pad are a marvel, but now they are relatively routine. Its massive rocket Falcon Heavy has recently completed its first smooth trade mission. Space is now about to lead US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Add information about moon missions and, finally, Mars colonization. It is therefore not surprising that SpaceX has credited itself with reviving humanity's interest in space exploration.

What is SpaceX, who does it belong to and where is it based?

Founded in 2002, SpaceX is the creation of technological entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is now the chief executive officer and chief designer. Musk, who founded what has become PayPal, is also the CEO of Tesla.

SpaceX employs 6,000 people and is headquartered in Hawthorne, California. He owns a plant and launch site in South Texas, as well as launch facilities at the NASA Kennedy Space Center (where he launches his reusable rockets) and at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base (where he launches his rockets reusable) in Florida. It also has a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

What are the long-term goals of SpaceX?

The colonization of Mars. How can a company help achieve this goal? How to significantly reduce space transportation costs? Cue a project of more than 15 years to create a reusable rocket launch system where the first physical stage of the rocket falls back onto the launch pad once the payload has been dropped into orbit.

Musk thinks that reusability is the key to making human life multi-planetary, which is necessary for our species because the Earth could be hit by an asteroid or become uninhabitable after a third world war. Musk thinks we need a backup plan and his idea is to create an autonomous colony of a million people on Mars over the next 40 to 100 years.

However, the fundamental part of the equation, although surprising in itself, was completed in December 2015. Since then, SpaceX has been trying to make more components recoverable and reusable. much more often. It is now developed a first step that can be reused up to 10 times. Next step: the second step.

All this is for Mars. "It is important to have an autonomous base on Mars, because it is far enough away from Earth to survive. [after a massive war] that's a moon base, "Musk told SXSW 2018.

"I said I wanted to die on Mars, but not by impact," he joked, although it remains to be seen if he will fulfill his wish.

Does SpaceX work with NASA?

Oh yes. In April 2019, NASA confirmed that it would spend $ 69 million (about £ 53 million, $ A97 million) on SpaceX to crush a Falcon 9 rocket into an asteroid as part of NASA's DART mission in 2022.

Aside from wacky science projects, the US National Space Agency and SpaceX have been working closely together for nearly a decade. SpaceX has contracted NASA for commercial replenishment services (CRS) since 2008 and generated more than US $ 1.6 billion (about £ 1.2 billion) in cargo shipments. ISS from the American soil in its Dragon capsules launched at the top of Falcon 9. These flights began in December 2010 and are underway.

However, that's not where the lion's share comes from. SpaceX has earned more than $ 12 billion (about 9 billion pounds, $ 17 billion) in orbiting large satellites and military loads, and has made more than 100 launches, including a record 19 launches in the world. 2018.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 Reusable Rocket

Do not confuse the reusable rockets of Blue Origin with those of SpaceX. While Blue Origin's New Shepherd rocket lands on the launch pad, it is only an under-orbital rocket. The SpaceX Falcon 9 (and the Falcon Heavy, see below) is an orbital class and regularly takes satellites and cargo into orbit. Soon, it could take astronauts. Each Falcon 9 costs $ 62 million (about £ 48 million).

SpaceX Crew Dragon Reusable Capsule

SpaceX will not accomplish what Musk wants before he can prove that he is able to safely transport astronauts into orbit and back. NASA (as well as Boeing) has entrusted NASA with the mandate to end its dependence on Russia for the transportation of astronauts to the International Space Station (which is the case since 2011, year of removal of the last space shuttle).

As part of NASA's commercial crew development program, SpaceX has developed a version adapted to the astronauts' situation from its Dragon 2 capsule, which has already visited the ISS as an unmanned freight carrier, called Crew Dragon. .

Designed to carry six or seven astronauts, Crew Dragon is an ultramodern version of the old Apollo capsules. A successful flight test of Crew Dragon, called mission SpX-DM-1, took place on March 2, 2019, at the launch of Crew Dragon on a Falcon 9 rocket. It successfully docked at ISS, then came back to Earth. The next appointment, scheduled for July 2019, is SpX-DM-2, when two former space shuttle astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, will be inside Crew Dragon for a 14-day trip to the ISS and back. However, an unexplained explosion during tests conducted by Crew Dragon in April 2019 could delay things.

For now, Crew Dragon has to land on the water and be salvaged by boat, much like these Apollo capsules. In the future, expect to see a redesigned version of Crew Dragon that will land on the dashboard.

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Reusable Rocket

If you think the Falcon 9 Reusable Rocket is impressive, try to watch three of them land at once. This is what is happening with Falcon Heavy, SpaceX's largest launch system and the world's most powerful operational rocket, twice as many. The Arabsat-6A mission of April 11, 2019 saw the first commercial use of its Falcon Heavy rocket, which was tested for the first time on February 6, 2018, when it broke through the Earth from Musk's Tesla Roadster and a astronaut model, Starman. -Mars in orbit.

With a maximum thrust of 2550 tonnes, the Falcon Heavy consists of essentially three Falcon 9 boosters. The two side boosters return to land simultaneously on the launch pad approximately 10 minutes after launch, while the central core lands on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean a few minutes later. It's all a show. Each Falcon Heavy costs $ 90 million (about 69 million pounds, 126 million Australian dollars).

SpaceX and space tourism

Although it is the most prominent name in the space industry, and probably also in space tourism (although he has never made trips in this area), SpaceX is not really focused on transporting normal people into space.

Yes, there is sometimes mention of strange missions on the moon and on Mars for ordinary citizens, but only because the company is now focusing on the laser on the development of a larger and expensive rocket called Super Heavy. If anyone wants to spend huge amounts of money to help test this rocket, SpaceX will be happy to take it.

SpaceX and orbital space tourism

If you want to see the curvature of the Earth for a few minutes and experience weightlessness before returning to Earth, look elsewhere. SpaceX only has orbital launch systems and any future space tourism offer from the company will involve Crew Dragon, long missions and astronomical price tags. In-orbit travel is the second phase of space tourism. Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are only able to get people to the edge of space, not in orbit.

It is therefore likely that SpaceX consists of unique and extremely expensive private orbital and / or lunar expeditions, rather than space tourism. However, if the Bigelow Aerospace Private Space Station is launched in 2021, SpaceX will at least be able to find a place to take tourists from space (NASA does not like ordinary people to stay on the spot. ISS). Until then, there's only one place where SpaceX could potentially draw tourists from space … around the moon and vice versa.

SpaceX and lunar tourism

In 2017, Japanese online fashion billionaire Yusaku Maezawa wanted to replenish the first-ever spectacular Apollo 8 mission in orbit around the moon, 50 years after this historic mission of December 1968. That would have required the 39; use of a Falcon Heavy rocket. However, with the mission canceled in early 2018, Maezawa could wait for SpaceX to develop a larger rocket, now called Super Heavy.

When it's ready, Maezawa and six artists (and probably some astronauts) will want to fly over the moon in 2023. This mission, Dear Moon, will last six days. However, SpaceX must build a new rocket and a new spaceship …

SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy

Formerly known as Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS), and Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), Starship and a 387-foot rocket called Super Heavy is a reusable launch system on which SpaceX is currently working. In the end, they are designed to carry 100 tons of freight and between 100 and 200 passengers to the Moon and Mars.

From rockets reusable to a schedule laden with commercial satellite launches, NASA astronauts, and ultimately the creation of interplanetary transport, it's fair to say that Elon Musk's plans for SpaceX are extremely ambitious. For now, we have no reason to doubt its resolve, and SpaceX is, for now, the most exciting company in the booming space industry.