SPACE X: ultime news

[Amati75]

La Space X ha rotto il monopolio della ULA per i lanci della US Air Force:

SpaceX breaks Boeing-Lockheed monopoly on military space launches

The U.S. Air Force on Wednesday awarded billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX an $83 million contract to launch a GPS satellite, breaking the monopoly that Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Boeing Co (BA.N) have held on military space launches for more than a decade.
The Global Positioning System satellite will be launched in May 2018 from Florida, Air Force officials said.
The fixed-price award is the military's first competitively sourced launch service contract in more than a decade. It ends the exclusive relationship between the military and United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
ULA did not compete for the GPS launch contract, citing accounting issues, implications of trade sanctions limiting imports of its rockets' Russian-made engines and, according to a former ULA vice president, SpaceX's cut-rate pricing.
"This GPS III Launch Services contract award achieves a balance between mission success, meeting operational needs, lowering launch costs, and reintroducing competition for National Security Space missions," Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, who heads the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, said in a statement.
Between now and 2018, the Air Force plans to solicit bids for contracts covering eight more satellite launches.
ULA did not immediately respond to a request for comment about bidding on future launch contracts.
The $82.7 million fixed-price contract awarded to Space Exploration Technologies, as the company is officially known, covers production of a Falcon 9 rocket, spacecraft integration, launch operations and spaceflight certification.
Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur who helped found Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA.O) and PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O), started SpaceX in 2002 with the goal of slashing launch costs to make Mars travel affordable.
SpaceX also said on Wednesday it plans to send an unmanned Dragon spacecraft to Mars as early as 2018, a first step in achieving Musk's goal to fly people to another planet.
SpaceX holds more than $10 billion worth of launch service contracts for NASA and commercial customers. The company recently made spaceflight history by returning Falcon 9 rockets to landing pads on land and sea - a key step in Musk's ongoing quest to develop a relatively inexpensive, reusable launch vehicle.
SpaceX declined to comment about its first military launch contract until after an Air Force conference call with reporters on Thursday.

SpaceX breaks Boeing-Lockheed monopoly on military space launches | Reuters


La Space X ha vintoil contratto con un offerta per 82.7 milioni di $, la ULA faceva pagare alla USAF 164 milioni di $.....:


SpaceX's rockets start at $60 million, while the low-end cost of launching ULA's primary rocket, the Atlas V, is $164 million

http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/27/11521784/spacex-contract-us-air-force-gps-satellite-national-security-launch


Come indicato in precedenti occasioni, l' arrivo della Space X ha rotto le uova nel paniere alle aziende che non erano abbituate ad avere concorrenza nel settore, diminuzione dei costi, investimenti in nuovi motori (e quindi abbandono dei moroti Russi), la concorrenza e' la migliro sveglia che possa esserci.

[Amati75]

Space X annuncia missione dimostrativa della Dragon su Marte per il 2018:


SpaceX plans to debut Red Dragon with 2018 Mars mission


SpaceX has entered into an agreement with NASA for a Dragon mission to Mars, set to take place as early as 2018. Known as “Red Dragon”, the variant of the Dragon 2 spacecraft will be launched by the Falcon Heavy rocket, ahead of a soft landing on the surface of Mars. The mission is also part of an agreement with NASA to gain further data on Mars landings.


https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2016...-mars-mission/

[Amati75]

Ieri altro atterraggio sul drone marittimo, ed oggi, "gonfiamento: del modulo abitativo addizionale sperimentale della Bigalow Aerospace.

Dopo decenni di "calma" piatta in tema d'innovazione "spaziale", stiamo assistendo ad interessanti passi avanti.

[paulhowe]

Eccellente, la competizione Space X, LM, Boeing, NASA e Blue Origin portera ad un enorme avanzamento nei prossimi 10-15 anni.