Category Archives: Spacex

For the second time ever, SpaceX has used Starbases Mechazilla tower and arms to stack a Starship upper stage on top of a Super Heavy booster.

This time around, though, SpaceX clearly learned a great deal from its second February 9th Starship stack and was able to complete the stacking process several times faster on March 15th. During the second attempt, depending on how one measures it, it took SpaceX around three and a half hours from the start of the lift to Starship fully resting on Super Heavy. With Stack #3, however, SpaceX was able to lift, translate, lower, and attach Starship to Super Heavy in just over an hour.

Oddly, SpaceX managed that feat without a claw-like device meant to grab and stabilize Super Heavy during stacking operations. For Stack #2, all three arms were fully in play. First, a pair of chopsticks giant arms meant to grab, lift, and even recover Starships and boosters grabbed Ship 20, lifted it close to 100 meters (~300 ft) above the ground, rotated it over top of Super Heavy, and briefly paused. A third arm known as the ship quick-disconnect or umbilical arm swung in and extended its claw to grab onto hardpoints located near the top of Super Heavy. Once the booster was secured, the chopsticks slowly lowered Ship 20 onto Booster 4s interstage and six clamps joined the two stages together.

A few hours after the two were clamped together, an umbilical device located on the swing arm extended and connected to Ship 20. Its unclear if the panel was actually used in any way but the umbilical is designed to connect Starship to ground systems to supply propellant, power, communications, and other consumables. Regardless, the device did appear to connect to Starship. Prior to Stack #3, however, SpaceX removed both of the swing arms claws, meaning that it had no way to grab onto Super Heavy. That diminished capability clearly appeared to have zero impact on the ease or speed of the stacking process given that it was completed a full three times faster than Stack #2.

That could imply that the claw is either completely unnecessary or only needed when attempting stacking operations in extreme winds. What is clear is that the claw removal likely only shaved a handful of minutes off of the full stacking process. What really saved time on Stack #3 was a faster lift and fewer pauses throughout especially while lowering Starship the last several meters onto Super Heavy. During Stack #2, SpaceX took close to an hour and a half to fully lower Ship 20. The same sequence took just ~20 minutes during Stack #3.

Still, after the impressively rapid one-hour stack, it then took SpaceX close to two hours to connect the swing arms umbilical to Starship, leaving plenty of room for improvement. Ultimately, assuming SpaceX can speed up the start of the stacking process and replicate its Starship success with Super Heavy, which will also need to be grabbed and installed on an even more complex launch mount, its possible that Starbases orbital launch integration system is already capable of supporting multiple Starship launches per day. Of course, SpaceX has yet to demonstrate that the orbital launch site can be turned around in a matter of hours after being subjected to the violence and stresses of a Starship launch.

More significantly, SpaceX has never even attempted an orbital Starship launch, recovery, or reuse. That leaves the company in the unusual position of building and testing expensive, specialized support equipment before it actually knows that the rocket that equipment is designed to support is in any way capable of taking advantage of it. For an orbital spacecraft the size of Starship, only the Space Shuttle comes anywhere close and NASAs all-time record for orbiter turnaround was 54 days. SpaceX has technically flown two Falcon 9 boosters twice in 27 days but no matter how impressive that feat is, reusing a far smaller suborbital booster is vastly easier than reusing a massive orbital spacecraft.

At the end of the day, its not really SpaceXs fault that its still waiting for permission to attempt orbital test flights. Nonetheless, the growing gap in maturity between Starship and Super Heavy and the orbital launch site designed to support them continuously raises the risk that SpaceX will have to extensively redesign the rocket, its support equipment, or both if significant problems arise during orbital test flights.

Up next, theres a chance that SpaceX could attempt to cryoproof Starship while on top of Super Heavy or perhaps both stages at once. While SpaceX has performed more than half a dozen cryoproofs of Ship 20 and Booster 4 using the orbital launch sites propellant storage and distribution system, it hasnt fully tested the hardware needed to route hundreds of tons of propellant hundreds of feet into the air essential for full-stack testing and launch operations.

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SpaceX rapidly stacks Starship and Super Heavy with Mechazilla - Teslarati

Basic tasks such as drinking water can be a challenge in space, due to the effects of microgravity. So imagine what it would be like performing surgery.

In a bid to start tackling that issue head on,SpaceX has partnered with the University of Arizona and Banner Health to host the first-ever Aerospace Surgery Fellowship starting this July, a press statement reveals.

It will be the first-ever fellowship training program in the U.S. to go beyond medical oversight for astronauts, delving into the field of aerospace surgery. Essentially, it aims to train future astronaut surgeons, who will travel to space with the express goal of keeping their fellow space explorers alive.

The APEX Aerospace Surgery Fellowship will bring expert surgeons and physicians together in the U.S., helping them prepare to work in the commercial aerospace medical field. The first-of-its-kind training fellowship will "prepare physicians to work in the commercial aerospace medical field and provide surgical and critical care support in extreme environments," the statement,from the University of Arizona's Health Sciences department, reads. They will form a part of the medical teams serving upcoming missions launched by SpaceX, NASA, and other space programs.

What's more, "graduates will be eligible for board certification in aerospace medicine with the designation as a flight surgeon." Together, the statement explains, the three partners collaborating on the fellowship willsoon go "where no one has gone before."

Starting in July, the APEX fellowship will last for a year and it will offer focus on several different topics, including the delivery of medical care in "extreme and resource-constrained environments."

"Individuals who train in this program will not only be qualified to support the space program personally," saidNathanial Soper,executive director for general surgery at Banner, "they will also be on the leading edge of developing the necessary tools and procedures to facilitate this exciting next phase in space exploration. I am truly excited and enthusiastic about our institution being involved in this novel undertaking."

Fellows will also have the opportunity to spend six months conducting research with SpaceX, the world's leading launch provider. They will be able to train at one or more of three SpaceX locations: its headquarters near Los Angeles, the Starship construction and launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, and Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The fellowship is "groundbreaking," saysAnil Menon, MD, a former SpaceX medical director who is now a NASA astronaut. "In the next 10 years, I suspect one of these fellows will be doing the first surgery in space, and hopefully, on Mars." With the backing of SpaceX, which aims to reach the red planet in the 2030s, we may soon breach a new frontier with the world's first space surgery.

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SpaceX is hosting a new fellowship on space-based surgery. It could save lives - Interesting Engineering

It's no secret that the SpaceX CEO Elon Musk loves to share his thoughts on microblogging site Twitter where he enjoys overs 78 million followers. He is pretty active and also straightforward with his tweets.

But did you know that he is also friends with a Pune-based man whom he met and befriended on Twitter?

Yes, this is the story about how a tweet led to a unique friendship between one of the world's richest men and a software developer from India.

Within a few minutes of his tweet, Musk replied to Pathole saying that the issue will be "fixed in next release" and thus started a friendship between the two.

Their bond is quite visible on Twitter, the reason why many keep requesting Pathole to convey their thoughts to Musk himself.

So how does it feel to have the wealthiest man in the world popping up in your DMs? Pathole, in an interview with Hindustan Times, shares that Musk is "super friendly" and has no airs about himself.

For the 23-year-old, talking with Musk on Twitter just feels like hanging out with a friend.

He is super friendly. It doesnt feel like you are interacting with the worlds richest person. To me, it feels like you are just hanging out with another buddy of yours. Thats what it feels like, honestly. He is very frank and straightforward," he says.

Musk is also very quick with his replies and almost always responds within minutes of texting him, Pathole reveals.

"He is very active on Twitter apparently because whenever I DM him, I get a reply within a couple of minutes, he adds.

So, What's On The Chat Menu? Pathole shares that their conversations on Twitter range from Mars and humanity to turning life multi-planetary. In one of the conversations, Musk also told his 23-year-old Twitter friend how he flew from South Africa to Canada with just $2,000 and a suitcase full of books.

Our DM conversations range from topics like making life multi-planetary, why going to Mars is very essential for the core survival of humanity. We have also spoken about his past, his upbringing. He told me about how he flew from South Africa to Canada with just 2,000 dollars, and a suitcase full of books, Pathole says.

Pathole, who is Musk's biggest fan (by his own admission), has been applying to a Masters programs in the United States in the hope to work with the man himself one day.

"He (Musk) is super intelligent and his heart is very much at the right place. I really believe that. And a lot of people can sense that. He is trying to do these big, crazy, ambitious things for the right reasons. It would definitely be an amazing learning opportunity for a young guy like me. Thats what I aspire and think of doing in future, he adds.

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Why is Elon Musk in this 23-year-old Indian's Twitter DMs? A breakdown of their unique friendship - Economic Times

Heading into a new trading week, here is a quick roundup of the top five stories from the economic, corporate, and cryptocurrency sectors that investors would not want to miss out on from the weekend.

1.NATO Warns Russia About War Crime:NATO Secretary-GeneralJens Stoltenbergwarnedon Sunday that Russias potential use of chemical weapons against Ukraine would be a war crime.

2. Elon Musk Says Tesla, SpaceX Seeing Inflationary Pressure: Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEOElon Musksaidthat his electric vehicle company, as well asSpaceX,are seeing significant inflationary pressure for raw materials and logistics after commodity prices spiked to the highest level since 2008 over Russia supply fears.

3. Bitcoin Ban In Europe?Bitcoin(CRYPTO:BTC) mayeffectively be banned in Europeas a European parliamentary committee is set to hold a vote on the final version of a draft for governing cryptocurrency assets in the European Union on Monday.

4.Foxconn Suspends iPhone Production In Shenzhen:Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplierHon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd.(OTC:HNHPF) popularly known as Foxconn hashalted production of iPhonesat its site in the Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen due to a government-imposed COVID-19 lockdown.

5. Warren Buffett Raises Stake In Occidental Petroleum:Even as activist investorCarl Icahnexited his stake inOccidental Petroleum(NYSE:OXY),Berkshire HathawayInc.(NYSE:BRK-A) (NYSE:BRK-B) CEOWarren Buffetthasraised his stakein the oil company to 12.7% after purchasing an additional 27.1 million shares worth about $1.6 billion last week.

What Else:Among other stories from the weekend, investors would want to check out theEV week in review, Musksfulfillment of his pledgeto own no house in California andWalt Disney Co.s(NYSE:DIS)potential acquisitionin the non fungible token (NFT) space.

Meanwhile, NFL legendTom Brady regarded as the best quarterback of all time has changed his mind about retirement and willreturn to playfor Tampa Bay Buccaneers next season.

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NATO Warns Russia, Tesla And SpaceX's Inflation Woes, Bitcoin's Fate In Europe And More: 5 Key Headlines - Benzinga

SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket exceeds the speed of sound Thursday, about minute after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center with 47 Starlink internet satellites. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now

Another batch of 47 internet satellites launched Thursday on a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, heading into the sky to join SpaceXs Starlink broadband network on the companys ninth mission in nine weeks, keeping pace with a goal of around 50 Falcon flights this year.

Under a clear sky with calm winds, the Falcon 9 rocket lit its nine Merlin 1D main engines and climbed away from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 9:25 a.m. EST (1425 GMT) Thursday.

Heading southeast, the engines generated more than 20 million horsepower to propel the Falcon 9 rocket through most of the Earths atmosphere in two-and-a-half minutes, before shutting down falling away to reveal the rockets second stage engine to take over the mission.

The first stage, flying on its 11th mission, used control thrusters to re-orient itself at the edge of space, then extended four titanium grid fins for stability during descent back to Earth. Braking burns by the rockets main engines guided the booster toward SpaceXs drone ship Just Read the Instructions parked downrange in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas.

SpaceX confirmed the rocket designated B1060 in SpaceXs inventory landed on the platform nearly nine minutes after liftoff, just as the second stage engine switched off after placing its satellite payloads into a parking orbit.

A second burn by the upper stage engine delivered the 47 satellites to a near circular orbit at an altitude of almost 200 miles (320 kilometers). The flat-packed, quarter-ton satellites released from the rocket all at once just shy of the 66-minute mark in the mission.

The Starlink deployment completed the 118th consecutive successful mission by SpaceXs Falcon rocket family since September 2016, when a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad and destroyed the Israeli Amos 6 communications satellite.

Elon Musk, SpaceXs founder CEO, said last month that the company plans around 50 launches this year. SpaceX launched Falcon 9 rockets on 31 missions in 2021, a record number for a U.S. company in a calendar year. The Falcon boosters successfully landed on all but one flight last year.

I have launch PTSD every time a rocket takes off, he said. Im like, agh! I just see all the ways that it could fail.This year were actually aiming to have around 50 launches, so its about a launch per week on average. So its a hell of a year weve got ahead of us.

Launches for the Starlink network will take the largest share of SpaceXs missions this year, but there are numerous commercial and military missions on the schedule. There are approximately 30 missions for external customers on SpaceXs schedule that could launch before the end of 2022.

Up to five Falcon Heavy missions could launch this year for the U.S. Space Force, NASA, and Viasat.

Once free of the rocket Thursday, the 47 new Starlink spacecraft built by SpaceX in Redmond, Washington were expected to extend their solar panels and turn on ion engines to begin climbing to an operational altitude of 335 miles (540 kilometers). They will also activate their communications payloads, including antennas, transmitters, receivers, and laser cross-links to pass data between the satellites in orbit.

With the fresh satellites deployed Thursday, SpaceX has launched 2,234 Starlink spacecraft to date, including prototypes and older models no longer in service. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who regularly tracks spaceflight activity, estimated SpaceX had 1,945 functioning Starlink satellites in orbit, as of Wednesday.

SpaceX doesnt release information on the health and status of its Starlink satellites.

The launch Thursday occurred just six days after SpaceXs previous Starlink mission from California. SpaceX plans another Starlink launch on a Falcon 9 rocket March 8 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, putting the company closer to reaching a goal of deploying roughly 4,400 Starlink satellites to beam high-speed, low-latency internet services around the world.

Eventually, SpaceX has signaled in regulatory filings it wants to operate as many as 42,000 internet satellites, all flying in low Earth orbit a few hundred miles above the planet.

The number of satellites planned by SpaceX and other companies have raised questions about the safety of operations in low Earth orbit, including how the fleets might create more space debris and cause problems in managing the ever-growing number of objects circling the planet.

Astronomers have also criticized the Starlink program for ruining some telescope observations, but SpaceX has mitigated the problem by making their satellites less reflective of sunlight.

But the upside of space-based internet services was on display in recent days after SpaceX shipped Starlink antennas to Ukraine to help citizens remain connected amid Russias military attack, which began Feb. 24.

Two days later, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraines vice prime minister, asked Elon Musk for help on Twitter.

While you try to colonize Mars Russia try to occupy Ukraine! Fedorov tweeted in a public message to Musk. While your rockets successfully land from space Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.

Musk responded the same day that Starlink service was activated in Ukraine. A shipment of Starlink user terminals arrived in Ukraine Monday, according to Fedorov.

Starlink keeps our cities connected and emergency services saving lives! Fedorov tweeted Wednesday, adding that Ukraine needs electrical generators to keep Starlink and other life-saving services online after Russian attacks on local infrastructure.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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After another Starlink mission, SpaceX on pace for one launch per week this year Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Elon Musk took a jab at Russia's recent suggestion the US would have to get to space on broomsticks after the sale of Russian rocket engines was halted.

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said on Thursday that Russia would no longer supply rocket engines to the US after President Joe Biden's sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

"In a situation like this, we can't supply the United States with our world's best rocket engines," Rogozin said on state-run TV. "Let them fly on something else, their broomsticks, I don't know what."

Hours after Rogozin's comments, SpaceX launched 47 of its own Starlink satellites into orbit using the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

Musk responded to a video of SpaceX's launch on Twitter with a screenshot of Rogozin's comments highlighted along with the words "American Broomstick" and four US flags.

It's not the first time Musk has confronted Rogozin.

When Rogozin criticized Musk for offering Starlink internet in Ukraine, Musk tweeted: "Ukraine civilian Internet was experiencing strange outages bad weather perhaps? so SpaceX is helping fix it."

After Starlink went live in Ukraine over the weekend, one engineer told Insider that he was using the system for emergencies in case his regular internet connection was cut off.

Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service, now has more than 2,000 satellites in orbit. Musk warned Starlink users in Ukraine to turn on the system "only when needed" because they could be targeted amid the invasion.

Are you a Starlink user in Ukraine? What's your story? Get in touch with this reporter via email (kduffy@insider.com) or Twitter (kate__duffy).

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Elon Musk points to recent SpaceX launch to mock Russia's suggestion the US might have to fly into space on 'broomsticks' after rocket sales stop -...

Deutsche Bank Space Technology Analyst Edison Yu joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss Europe's dependency on the Russian space industry and how potential sanctions could affect SpaceX and other space companies.

JULIE HYMAN: All we have talked at length and at breadth about the various effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia-- affect on commodities, on different industries. Let's talk about the effect on the space industry, because it is not insubstantial. Edison Yu is joining us now.

He's a space technology analyst at Deutsche Bank and was just out with a note on this very subject. Edison, before we ask about what's happening now, to take a step back and set the scene-- what role does Russia play in the space industry?

EDISON YU: Thank you for having me on. And it's actually quite a large role. And it's somewhat similar to energy, I would say. The Europeans in particular, the European Space apparatus, is very dependent on Russian rockets and Russian rocket technology. If you look at, for example, OneWeb, which is a competitor of Starlink, all of their launches have occurred on Soyuz rockets.

Soyuz is considered the workhorse rocket for, basically, most European launches. And if you subtract that from the equation, they don't really have any viable alternatives for, basically, the next year, with the exception of SpaceX. And part of our analysis basically indicates that the biggest beneficiary of any sort of exclusion or sanctioning of Rockets is SpaceX with the Falcon 9 and, to a lesser extent, maybe the Falcon Heavy.

BRIAN SOZZI: Edison, what does this turbulent time mean for those companies that have tried to launch space exploration businesses?

EDISON YU: Yes. So in terms of the impact on new space, there's not too much I would say immediate negative implications. The reason is because, in particular the US, has already decoupled a lot from Russia. If you think about 20 or 30 years ago, there was this huge reliance on rocket engines. If you look at, for example, the Boeing Lockheed joint venture ULA, they were using rocket engines for a very long time until fairly recently when they fully phased out the dependence with the next generation of vehicles.

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So for the traditional space industry in the US, it's basically just kind of getting around phasing that out. For new space, it's basically been all home grown and not very reliant-- I mean, there's a few exceptions, but, for example, a Rocket Lab would not be impacted. Someone like an Axiom Space would be doing stuff with space infrastructure that's not impacted. It's mainly the legacy, I would say, space apparatus and also, to, obviously, a greater extent, as I mentioned earlier, the European Space Agency.

JULIE HYMAN: Let's talk about the International Space Station too. I believe there are seven astronauts up on the ISS right now. And this is a project that is a cooperative one between the US and Russia. So what happens to it-- what happens to those folks who are up there?

EDISON YU: Yeah. So this is an extremely complex topic. I think there's people who have probably been discussing for days on exactly what could occur. My base case is that you would not see the Russians go up there and take a chunk of it and try to do something with it. It's just too interconnected.

It's just too much cooperation over the years that it would not make very logical sense just to walk away. Ultimately, the progress on it will go on. But the Russian involvement likely becomes less, and less, and less. And how that exactly manifests itself would be probably a series of fixes involving SpaceX, involving some of the other commercial partners. And my sense is that Russia would probably work closer with China on their new space station that they're putting up at the moment.

BRIAN SOZZI: Many experts have said, Edison, that this situation highlights how far behind the US is in space. Just given where things are, do you do expect more spending from US companies, from the US government on space just to catch up with some rivals?

EDISON YU: Yeah. So, actually, I would actually take the other end of that. I don't think it's so much that the US is necessarily behind. If you look at the entire US space industry-- private public put together-- it's, I think, generally well ahead of the latest, I would say, efforts coming out of Russia. We're in this transition point, and in particular Europe-- as I mentioned, so much energy where they're in the process of transitioning to next generation technology, just like the industry is transitioning to sustainable energy.

But there's this gap. And the Russian rockets are sort of filling in this gap. If you don't have this entity to fill it in, there's going to be some disruption. So I think, in particular, if you look at SpaceX, you look at Rocket Lab, these companies, they're already farther ahead on rocket technology.

You can look at SpaceX targeting 52 launches this year, Rocket Lab launched within three weeks of each other on a few of its electron rockets. The entire apparatus is certainly moving ahead and very quickly. It's just the stop-gap impact can be very material because of this transition that we're in.

JULIE HYMAN: Edison, finally, I want to ask-- the companies that you talk about, are they good investments for investors right now? I mean, obviously, people can't buy SpaceX directly. But what about the publicly-traded companies?

EDISON YU: Yeah, absolutely. So our top pick continues to be Rocket Lab. I think the important thing to keep in mind is in the near-term, there's going to be a lot of volatility-- for geopolitical reasons I'm sure everybody has seen. But if you look at the long-term implications to a company such as Rocket Lab from less dependence on Russian rockets, that gives them a much bigger opportunity to use their upcoming rocket, Neutron, to do a lot more missions sooner rather than later, preferably.

So I think the long-term impact is actually quite positive for Rocket Lab. But the near-term, there's going to be a lot of market dynamics. There's going to be a lot of questions raised about how fast we can make this transition. But the endgame is that their rockets are going to fly more and be much more strategically important.

JULIE HYMAN: Really interesting stuff, Edison. Thank you so much. Space technology analyst at Deutsche Bank, Edison Yu. Appreciate it.

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SpaceX the biggest beneficiary of potential sanctions on Russian space industry: Analyst - Yahoo Finance

Every Friday, The Verge publishes our flagship podcast, The Vergecast, where co-hosts Nilay Patel and Dieter Bohn discuss the week in tech news with the reporters and editors covering the biggest stories.

There is an Apple event next week, so Dan Seifert comes on to talk about what we can expect. He thinks there will be some new hardware but isnt completely sold that we will see anything with a new design.

Loren Grush comes on to talk about the conflict in Ukraine and how its affecting space flight. She also gives Elon and SpaceX the appropriate credit for delivering Starlink to Ukraine after a tweet requesting it.

And there was a Rivian debacle this week, so Andrew Hawkins comes on to tell us about how vehicle pricing went up by as much as $20,000 for some customers who preordered and then how it was walked back. He also explains why Ford is splitting itself in half.

You can listen here or in your preferred podcast player for the full discussion.

Stories discussed in this episode

And here is our second episode where Nilay Patel and Walt Mossberg say goodbye to Dieter Bohn.

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The Vergecast discusses the Apple event, Russian rockets, and more - The Verge

Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics has selected SpaceX to launch its first Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) better described as the companys next-generation satellite-servicing spacecraft.

As far as SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket is concerned, MRV-1 is just another geostationary satellite for it to deliver to a transfer orbit around 35,800 kilometers (~22,200 mi) above Earths surface as early as spring 2024. As of now, SpaceX Falcon rockets have launched more than 35 satellites to geostationary transfer orbits (GTO) and have at least 18 more geostationary launch contracts on its manifest 19 including MRV-1. MRV-1 is no ordinary geostationary communications satellite, however.

MRV isnt a communications satellite at all, in fact. Instead, designed to be the second generation of Northrop Grummans satellite life-extension spacecraft, MRV aims to build upon the successes of the companys first two Mission Extension Vehicles (MEVs). The first (MEV-1) became the first spacecraft in history to dock with another spacecraft in geostationary orbit (GEO) in February 2020. The second, MEV-2, successfully launched and docked with a different geostationary communications satellite in 2021. Both MEVs did exactly what they were supposed to, effectively giving their host satellites Intelsat 10-02 and 901, both more than 15 years old at least five more years of operational life.

While SpaceLogistics accomplishments are thus extremely impressive, the general MEV concept and parts of its execution have some flaws. First, the service offered appears to be extremely expensive, costing Intelsat the first and only customer, thus far at least $13 million per year for the five years MEV-1 will be servicing Intelsat-901. No other MEV contracts have been confirmed, which is not a major surprise. Assuming zero upfront costs for prospective customers, $65 million for an extra five years of operations represents a substantial fraction of the price of some simpler replacement satellites, many of which are now designed to operate for at least 15 years.

Put simply, at the secretive price point SpaceLogistics is offering, MEVs are a mostly ambiguous financial proposition for the geostationary satellite communications industry, which tends to operate on razor-thin margins. Though SpaceLogistics hasnt said as much, MRV seems to be a response to the issue of affordability. Instead of building one large, expensive MEV that can only service a single GEO satellite, MRV aims to operate more like a multipurpose space tug.

To complement MRV, Northrop Grumman is also developing Mission Extension Pods (MEPs) smaller spacecraft designed to still add at least 5-6 years of life to an aging GEO satellite. MRVs each about 3 tons (~7000 lb) will theoretically be able to carry several MEPs (400 kg/900 lb apiece) into geostationary orbit and install the pods on several different satellites. Additionally, it appears that SpaceLogistics will sell the pods outright, presumably precluding the need for expensive recurring service contracts like those Intelsat signed for MEV life extension.

According to Northrop Grumman, MEPs will actually propel themselves into GEO before being recaptured and installed by MRV requiring two rendezvous and docking maneuvers per satellite instead of one. Its entirely unclear why that added complexity is preferable over the obvious alternative, in which MRV would launch with a number of MEPs, carry them to GEO, and install them when needed.

Nonetheless, assuming Northrop Grumman plans to offer MEP life-extension pods for less than it charged for MEVs, its not hard to imagine the service becoming a no-brainer for communications providers with satellites that are close to running out of propellant. If the cost of several extra years of operational life is lower than the cost of an equivalent fraction of the lifespan of a new replacement satellite, its difficult to imagine how satellite operators could afford not to take advantage of life extension.

Northrop Grumman says its already sold one MEP to launch with MRV-1 on Falcon 9 to Australian telecom provider Optus and has a full manifest for MEPs through mid-2026.

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SpaceX to launch next-generation satellite-servicing vehicle for Northrop Grumman - Teslarati

A stunning drone video from SpaceX shows the company taking apart the fully stacked Starship it plans to launch into orbit later this year.

The waterside view on Twitter, posted Saturday (Feb. 19), shows the giant Starship rocket on a crane next to the Super Heavy booster that will attempt the company's first orbital flight.

That flight can only take place, however, pending a positive result of a long-awaited Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) review of Starship's facility near Boca Chica, Texas. The already delayed review has been pushed back again to at least March 28, as the FAA cited the need for more consultations and more time to look at the public submissions associated with the environmental assessment.

Destacking of the huge system took place on Feb. 14; SpaceX periodically has placed Starship atop Super Heavy for fit checks and other procedures. The fully stacked rocket is the tallest yet built.

Related: SpaceX's Starship will reach orbit this year on road to Mars

Starship already has a large contract from NASA to send astronauts to the moon for the Artemis program, and a few days ago was tagged to potentially send one of the three newly announced Polaris Program flights into space. (The Polaris Program is a private space program paid for by billionaire Jared Isaacman, the commander of the all-civilian Inspiration4 that launched in 2021.)

On Feb. 10, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk delivered a major update on the Starship program to once again position it within Musk's longstanding wishes to build a Mars settlement. He told viewers he is "highly confident" Starship will achieve orbit this year and that the system will be able to go to Mars in the coming years.

"The sales pitch for going to Mars is that it's going to be cramped, dangerous, difficult, very hard work. You might die," Musk said in his speech. "That's the sales pitch. I hope you like it."

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomor Facebook.

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Fly around SpaceX's giant Starship rocket in this stunning drone video - Space.com