The report also suggested that NASA could increase its number of planned missions to low Earth orbit and the ISS precisely because of the lower price tag. While NASA has struggled to develop its Space Launch System, an analysis from NASA’s Ames Research Center found that the dramatically lower launch costs SpaceX made possible offered “greatly expanded opportunities to exploit space” for many users including NASA. Critics objected to budget cuts to NASA as well as concerns about whether the private sector would be able to follow through on providing launch services. For missions closer to home, NASA would purchase services from companies like SpaceX for access to low Earth orbit. The administration chose to reorient the program to focus solely on deep space. In 2010, then-President Barack Obama toured Kennedy Space Center and even met with Elon Musk to get a firsthand look at SpaceX’s facilities. SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy first stage falls back to Earth and is reused to boost cost savings. With NASA falling significantly behind schedule, because of technological difficulties and budget cuts, the Obama administration was left with a choice of whether to boost funds for NASA or change direction. In 2010, the Obama administration moved away from NASA’s Constellation program, which called for the development of a family of rockets that could reach low Earth orbit and be used for long-distance spaceflight. SpaceX’s technical advances and cost reductions have changed the direction of U.S. Musk has also suggested that the Starship could serve as the foundation for a lunar base. In addition to the crewed Dragon tests this year, SpaceX is continuing development of its Starship, which will be designed to travel through the solar system and carry up to 100 passengers sometime in the 2020s. The test payload was Musk’s own red Tesla Roadster, with a mannequin named Starman in the driver’s seat. This rocket can lift 63,800 kilograms, equivalent to more than 27 Asian elephants, to low Earth orbit and 16,800 kilograms to Mars for just $90 million. The new Falcon Heavy rocket – a more powerful version of the Falcon 9 – launched in February. In 2018 alone, SpaceX made 21 successful launches. This includes the Falcon 9’s first stage which, once it expends its fuel, falls back through the atmosphere reaching speeds of 5,200 miles per hour before reigniting its engines to land on a drone recovery ship. SpaceX has since focused on recovering key parts of the Falcon 9 to enhance reusability and reduce costs. Falcon 9 flew for the first time the next year, and in 2012, the Dragon capsule became the first privately funded spacecraft to dock with the ISS. Though it suffered several setbacks, in 2008 it launched the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket, the Falcon 1. AP Photo/John Raouxįrustrated with NASA and influenced by science fiction writers, Elon Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. And while SpaceX is not the only private company providing launch services – Orbital ATK, recently purchased by Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin are also players – it has emerged as the most significant.Įlon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, speaks at a news conference after the Falcon 9 SpaceX heavy rocket launched successfully from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Today, state and private actors alike have ready access to space. Since the 1950s, the high cost of a space program has traditionally put it beyond the reach of most countries. I’m a space policy analyst, and I’ve observed that cost has been a major hurdle limiting access to space. For a SpaceX Falcon 9, the rocket used to access the ISS, the cost is just $2,720 per kilogram. When the space shuttle was in operation, it could launch a payload of 27,500 kilograms for $1.5 billion, or $54,500 per kilogram. While making several modifications to the fuel and engines, SpaceX’s major breakthroughs have come through recovering and reusing as much of the rocket and launch vehicle as possible.īetween 19, the cost to launch a kilogram to space remained fairly steady, with an average of US$18,500 per kilogram. While a major milestone for a private company, SpaceX’s most significant achievement has been in lowering the launch costs that have limited many space activities. If the test is successful, later this year, SpaceX plans to launch American astronauts from United States soil for the first time since 2011. On March 2, SpaceX plans to launch its first test of an unmanned Dragon vehicle which is designed to carry humans into low Earth orbit and to the International Space Station.
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