Category Archives: Spacex

When SpaceX launches four civilian astronauts on the private Inspiration4 spaceflight, they're going to have the ultimate window: a glass dome offering panoramic views of Earth from space.

While SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft for the mission is already equipped with flat windows, the Inspiration4 mission which is set to launch later this year with billionaire Jared Isaacman, who chartered the flight with SpaceX, commanding the crew will include a unique domed window, allowing crew members to get a 360-degree view of their surroundings. That new window, and the Inspiration4 mission's full crew, were announced in a press conference today (March 30).

"Probably most 'in space' you could possibly feel by being in a glass dome," SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted about the window Tuesday (March 30).

Related: Final crew unveiled for all-civilian Inspiration4 flight with SpaceX

Isaacman has emphasized that he wants to make the mission as inclusive as possible, and this dome is a part of that vision. The other Inspiration4 crew members include Chris Sembroski and Sian Proctor, who each won their seats as part of separate contests, also announced Tuesday, along with Hayley Arceneaux, who was selected earlier as an ambassador for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

"Jared keeps saying it's incredibly important to recognize that these are everyday people [who] get to go to space, and that gives me goosebumps even right now talking about it, but the fact that we can give everyday people the coolest window that's ever flown that's awesome," Benji Reed, SpaceX's director of crew mission management, said during a news conference Tuesday.

The extra space is possible for the domed window because unlike most SpaceX capsules, which dock at the International Space Station, there is no need for a docking mechanism, Isaacman said.

"In terms of the engineering, the safety ... we've done all the engineering work," he added. "We will continue to go through all the analysis and testing and qualification to ensure everything is safe, and that it doesn't preclude any use of this spacecraft for other missions."

The design appears somewhat similar to the beloved Cupola window that is present in the International Space Station (ISS). The Cupola window flew to the orbiting complex with space shuttle mission STS-130 in February 2010; it allows astronauts to perform Earth observation for science experiments or spare time from an altitude of roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers).

Isaacman told reporters that the domed window that will be added to Crew Dragon for Inspiration4 is "similar to the Cupola" on the space station, calling it an "engineering marvel" on a small spacecraft. The crew members on Inspiration4 will have a different view of Earth than astronauts have on the space station, given the mission's higher orbit, he added.

"The orbital altitude that we're going to reach of north of 540 kilometers [355 miles] is actually symbolic, especially when you think about all of the missions that are going to follow ours, including the return to the moon," Isaacman said, referring to NASA's planned Artemis program to put humans on the moon later in the decade.

He hinted that the window could be used to perform science, too. "

We have reached out to a number of organizations to identify scientific research and other payload opportunities that our crew can support while we're on orbit," Isaacman said.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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SpaceX's Dragon spaceship is getting the ultimate window for private Inspiration4 spaceflight - Space.com

WASHINGTON A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched another set of Starlink satellites March 24, 15 years to the day after the companys first, unsuccessful launch.

The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:24 a.m. Eastern. The rockets upper stage deployed its payload of 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit 64 minutes later.

The rockets first stage, on its sixth flight, landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean eight and a half minutes after liftoff. That booster, which first launched last June carrying a GPS satellite, also launched Turksat 5A in January as well as three other Starlink missions.

This launch, by coincidence, took place exactly 15 years after SpaceX conducted the first launch of its Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. That March 24, 2006, launch was unsuccessful, as the first stages single engine failed about half a minute after liftoff.

Two subsequent Falcon 1 launches also failed before the fourth Falcon 1 launch, carrying a test payload, reached orbit in September 2008. The Falcon 1 flew one more mission in 2009 before SpaceX retired the vehicle in favor of the far larger Falcon 9, which has become the companys workhorse with more than 110 launches since its introduction in 2010.

This launch was the ninth Falcon 9 mission of 2021 and the fourth this month. Seven of those nine launches, including all four in March, have been dedicated to Starlink, increasing the size of the constellation to more than 1,300 satellites.

Growing capacity and international expansion

The growth of that constellation has been enabled by both the high launch cadence of the Falcon 9 and mass production of satellites. Were currently building roughly six satellites a day at our factory in Seattle, which is pretty remarkable, Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX vice president for Starlink, said at Spacetide, a Japanese space business conference, held online March 23. He said the company has maintained that production rate for about a year so far.

The satellites launched to date, he said, are all first-generation, or Gen 1, spacecraft. Were already working on the Gen 2 constellation, he said. These satellites will be continuously refreshed as we continue to increase both the network capacity and the density by orders of magnitude. Were excited to be able to eventually provide a lot more internet than were even doing now. He didnt disclose additional details about the Gen 2 satellites or their schedule.

SpaceX plans to have global coverage for Starlink by the end of this year. However, as the company expands beta tests in the United States and several other countries, Hofeller noted that the satellite constellation alone is just one element of that rollout. Other key factors include establishing ground stations to serve as gateways as well as the regulatory process, which varies from country to country.

That regulatory process, he said, can be very challenging as the company explains its system to national regulators. That process just takes a while.

Japan, he suggested, is one the countries where that regulatory process is stretched out. Hofeller said the company identified Japan as a country where it wanted to provide service relatively early, and thanked those who have advocated for Starlink to Japanese regulators. Anything they can do to speed up the regulatory process will be greatly appreciated, he said, projecting that Starlink service could begin in Japan as soon as the very end of this year.

SpaceX has largely marketed Starlink directly to consumers, a move he said is intended to reduce costs to those customers while also providing a direct feedback loop to SpaceX to help it improve the service. However, as the company expands Starlink into other markets, which range from backhaul services for telecommunications providers to mobility applications, Hofeller said the company would be open to working with partners.

We are a rocket company, he said. As we grow the capacity, it could be inevitable that we have partners globally.

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SpaceX marks anniversary of first launch with Starlink mission - SpaceNews

Starlink users gave Insider mixed responses about the speed and effectiveness of SpaceX's customer support team when they ran into problems.

Some users said Starlink's help was quick but others experienced delays, leading to cancellations of the satellite internet service.

Since the launch of its beta test in October, Starlink has accumulated more than 10,000 users worldwide and operates in more than six countries. SpaceX has more than 1,200 satellites in orbit but the goal is to have up to 42,000 by mid-2027.

Starlink's beta test is called the "Better Than Nothing" beta and SpaceX warned users in an initial email to expect speeds to range between 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) and 150 Mpbs.

Although users told Insider that setting up the kit is very easy, it's still possible to run into problems with connectivity.

Rayce Townsend, who is based in Montana, contacted the Starlink team twice via email. He wanted to know whether he could take the kit to Texas and install it there. Starlink told Townsend the service wasn't yet mobile but he could reapply in Texas for the future.

Townsend said the response was "quick, friendly and thorough." So far, he's found Starlink "trouble-free."

Starlink box with the instructions on top. Rayce Townsend

Dan Ventrudo from Northern Ontario, Canada, said he contacted customer service twice about the connection and they were also quick to respond. "My only wish is that [Starlink] was a bit cheaper," he said.

But Jim Glassford from Michigan wasn't impressed.

He told Insider: "One thing we were not aware of is the distance restriction for the satellite dish and the power supply. The nearest unobstructed location from the house was about 300 feet and you cannot extend the 100 foot long cable included."

Glassford got in touch with customer support but it took a week for them to respond. After a bad experience, "we had to cancel," he said. It'll cost him $130 to send the kit back to Starlink.

When Gary Konkol from Wisconsin came across technical problems with the power box, Starlink customer support assisted him over several days of emailing. He said it was helpful but there were long delays between messages.

SpaceX didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about long delays from its customer service team.

Tom Gooch from Montana said: "I have not needed to contact Starlink customer service. Everything has run flawlessly since I started it up."

"Elon Musk has a reputation for doing things well and it appears that holds true with Starlink," Gooch added.

Dish in rural Montana. Tom Gooch

Have you got any Starlink tips? Get in touch with this reporter via email: kduffy@insider.com

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Starlink users give their verdict on SpaceX customer service - Business Insider

WASHINGTON SpaceX confirmed Feb. 23 it has raised $850 million in a new funding round as the company continues work on two capital-intensive but potentially lucrative projects.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SpaceX stated it had raised $850 million from 69 investors in its latest round. The filing offered no details on those investors or the valuation of the company, although recent reports, such as one by CNBC, stated the new round valued the company at $74 billion, a significant increase.

The round comes six months after SpaceX raised $1.9 billion. The company has raised more than $6 billion in equity to date, most of it since early 2015, when it raised $1 billion in a round led by Google and Fidelity.

That demand for capital is currently driven by two major projects. One is Starlink, its broadband internet constellation, for which the company has launched more than 1,000 satellites but has plans to ultimately deploy tens of thousands more. The other is Starship, the next-generation reusable launch vehicle that the company is developing in South Texas that promises to launch much larger payloads at much lower per-kilogram costs.

Investors are particularly interested in Starlink, with its potential to generate billions in revenue from millions of customers worldwide seeking broadband access. SpaceX has seen strong interest in beta tests of the Starlink service in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and is in the process of expanding service in those countries and others.

Starlink is sending shock waves throughout the satellite industry as a whole, said James Murray of PJT Partners, an investment banking company, during a Feb. 9 session of the 2021 SmallSat Symposium. The fast pace of its rollout, he argued, is disrupting the businesses of more traditional satellite operators.

This is going to be a big year with the public getting to know they can get high-speed internet at least in some locations with Starlink, said Ward Hanson, a lecturer in economics at Stanford University, during another panel at the conference Feb. 8. Youre going to see space touching peoples lives like it did in the 1990s with satellite TV.

SpaceX has also been able to ride a surge of investment into the space industry overall. Its funding rounds have paced the industry, but many other companies have raised significant funding through venture capital and, more recently, by merging with special-purpose acquisition companies, which allow privately-held companies to raise money and go public outside of the traditional initial public offering (IPO) process.

It has never been a better time to raise money for ventures in and around space, Murray said.

SpaceX has long said it has no interest in going public, either for the company itself or by spinning off Starlink. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, asked about reports a year ago SpaceX was considering spinning out Starlink, said he is thinking about that zero and is instead focused on avoiding the bankruptcies other satellite constellation companies have suffered.

Musk, though, may be reconsidering that. Once we can predict cash flow reasonably well, Starlink will IPO, he tweeted Feb. 9. He didnt forecast when that it would happen, but said in the near term the company would be spending heavily on the deployment of the system, which he called a staggeringly difficult technical & economic endeavor.

SpaceX needs to pass through a deep chasm of negative cash flow over the next year or so to make Starlink financially viable, he wrote in another tweet. Every new satellite constellation in history has gone bankrupt. We hope to be the first that does not.

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SpaceX raises $850 million in latest round - SpaceNews

Hello and welcome back toEquity, TechCrunchs venture capital-focused podcast, where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

This is our first-ever Wednesday episode. If you want to learn more about the latest edition of the podcast, head here for more. This week we talked about space, an increasingly active part of the global economy, and a place where were seeing more and more young tech companies place their focus.

We were lucky to have TechCrunchs Darrell Etherington join us for the show. Hes our resident expert, so we had to have him on to chat about the space startup ecosystem. Heres the rundown:

As we get more comfortable in our Wednesday episodes, well tinker with the format and the like. As we do, werealways taking feedback at equitypod@techcrunch.com, or over on Twitter. Hit us up, were having a lot of fun but are always looking for ways to sharpen the show!

Equity drops every Monday at 7:00 a.m. PST, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. PST, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts,Overcast,Spotifyand all the casts.

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SpaceX is really just SPAC and an ex - TechCrunch

You only have a few days left to try and win a chance to go to space on the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission, which is scheduled to launch to Earth orbit in late 2021.

Until the end of this week, go to the Inspiration4 website to win one of its two final seats, along with billionaire and commander Jared Isaacman and Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee who survived bone cancer and was selected to join the mission as the crew's chief medical officer.

Isaacman donated two more mission seats for the public to come to space with him. Each passenger on the Inspiration4 mission has a code name: Isaacman is "Leadership," Arceneaux is "Hope," and the remaining two seats on the mission will represent "Prosperity" and "Generosity."

Related: Cancer survivor joins private Inspiration4 spaceflight with SpaceX

The first opportunity asks contestants to launch a store on the Shift4Shop ecommerce platform Isaacman is CEO of the company and to "post your inspirational business story on Twitter" to nab a seat representing Prosperity.

"If you're ever hesitating on starting an e-commerce business, this might be one of the best opportunities to elevate your business to the stars," Isaacman told Space.com about the Prosperity seat, in a video interview.

The second opportunity asks for a donation to St. Jude a Memphis-based hospital that treats child cancer patients free of charge to potentially secure the seat representing Generosity. Larger donation amounts will get more entries into the contest. The amounts listed range between $10 for 100 entries) and $5,000 (for 10,000 entries), or you can customize your donation amount. Each tier also receives benefits, such as a mission poster or a vintage T-shirt.

"It's not an auction," Isaacman told Space.com about the Generosity seat. "It's not some rich person who's going to bid $50 million or $60 million for the seat. It's a level playing field right now. So whether you're thinking about making a donation to just an awesome cause in its own right to St. Jude go on the mission website. Give it a shot."

The mission is advertised as the first all-private crewed orbital mission and will include no professional astronauts, with SpaceX pioneering the effort by companies to boost space tourism. A handful of well-heeled space tourists have flown into space on government missions, and companies such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are working on spacecraft that could one day bring paying customers into suborbit.

The deadline to enter the contest is on Sunday (Feb. 28) at 11:59 p.m. EST (0459 March 1 GMT). You can sign up at inspiration4.com and read the official contest rules here.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Time is running out to enter the Inspiration4 contests for a SpaceX rocket trip - Space.com

The FAA seems satisfied with its investigations into Elon Musks last two SpaceX Starship tests, each of which ended in an explosive crash, and the conclusion of those investigations should clear the way for a new SN10 flight in the very near future. In fact, Musk just tweeted theres a good chance of flying this week!

Late last month, we broke the news that SpaceX had violated its launch license with its Starship SN8 launch in December, but an FAA spokesperson now says that matter has already been settled, according to CNNs Jackie Wattles.

As for the SN9, which similarly exploded during a landing attempt on February 2nd, the FAA says it failed within the bounds of the FAA safety analysis and its unsuccessful landing and explosion did not endanger the public or property.

Its not yet clear when the Starship SN10 might launch, but Boca Chica is already closing the local highway and beach in preparation for non-flight testing activities on Monday, which some are interpreting to mean a static fire test.

NASASpaceflight journalist BocaChicaGal has been following progress at the launch site closely, and seems like a stellar follow if youd like to keep tabs as well. Elon Musk tweeted earlier that he thinks the SN10 has a 60 percent chance of actually landing. Better than a coin flip, I suppose?

Update, 4:35PM ET: Added Musks comment that SN10 might launch this week.

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The FAA is no longer concerned with SpaceXs Starship SN9 and SN8 - The Verge

More that 4,300 SpaceX employees volunteered to be part of a COVID-19 antibody study co-authored by CEO Elon Musk in 2020.

The study, which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications, shows evidence that infected people who exhibited milder symptoms developed less of an immunity to COVID-19 than those who got sicker from the disease. The group behind the study found some evidence that suggests theres a particular threshold of antibodies that could provide immunity, though they wrote that the precise levels [...] associated with protection from re-infection remain unclear.

Vaccines also produce a much stronger immune response than cases with little to no symptoms, the authors note. They hope that this research, and other studies like it, could help policymakers figure out how to distribute limited vaccine supplies effectively.

SpaceX employees were asked by email in April 2020 to be a part of the study right around the time that Musk was spreading dangerous misinformation about the virus in internal company emails and on Twitter. In March 2020, Musk told SpaceX employees in an email that he believed they were more likely to die in a car crash than of COVID-19, and that he didnt see the virus being within the top 100 health risks in the United States. He also tweeted that same month that there would probably close to zero new cases in the US by [the] end of April.

Nearly 500,000 Americans have died since. Musk contracted COVID-19 in November 2020 and said he experienced mild symptoms.

The spaceflight company had its existing medical director who oversees SpaceXs budding human flight program work with an infectious disease expert from Harvard and a doctor from the Ragon Institute to develop the antibody testing program, according to The Wall Street Journal. A group of 30 total co-authors from MIT, Harvard, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Howard Hughes Medical Center, SpaceX, and others collaborated on the study. The effort received funding from, among others, the National Institutes of Health, Musks own charitable foundation, the Gates Foundations COVID-19 vaccine accelerator, and NASAs Translational Research Institute for Space Health.

The employees who signed up gave blood samples roughly every month. The papers authors note that 92 percent of the volunteers were male, and the median age was 31, which could skew the results. The full paper and dataset are available for free on Natures website.

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Elon Musk co-authored a COVID-19 antibody study of SpaceX workers - The Verge

When Covid-19 shut down the U.S. economy in March, Elon Musk had a rocket to launch.

The billionaires space exploration venture, SpaceX, was planning to blast a crewed spacecraft into the sky in May and wanted to stay on schedule. That meant finding a way to keep facilities safely open and limit the spread of Covid-19, a challenge when tests were in short supply.

To monitor the prevalence of the virus among SpaceX workers nationwide, Mr. Musk and the rocket companys top medical executive worked with doctors and academic researchers to build an antibody-testing program. More than 4,000 SpaceX workers volunteered for monthly blood tests.

This week the group published its findings, which suggest that a certain threshold of antibodies might provide people lasting protection against the virus. Mr. Musk is listed as a co-author of the peer-reviewed study, which appears in the journal Nature Communications.

People can have antibodies, but it doesnt mean they are going to be immune to Covid-19, said Galit Alter, a co-author of the study who is a member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard. Individuals who experienced fewer, milder Covid-19 symptoms generated fewer antibodies and were therefore less likely to meet the threshold for longer-term immunity, the study found.

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Elon Musk Got 4,000 SpaceX Workers to Join a Covid-19 Study. Heres What He Learned. - The Wall Street Journal

SpaceXs first all-civilian human spaceflight mission, which will carry four passengers to orbit using a Crew Dragon capsule later this year if all goes to plan, will include one passenger selected by a panel of judges weighing the submissions of entrepreneurs. The panel will include Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Fast Company Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Mehta, YouTuber Mark Rober and Bar Rescue TV host Jon Taffer. It may seem like an eclectic bunch, but there is some reason to the madness.

This seat is one of four on the ride the first belongs to contest and mission sponsor Jared Isaacman, the founder of Shift4 Payments and a billionaire who has opted to spend a not insignificant chunk of money funding the flight. The second, Isaacman revealed earlier this week, will go to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital employee and cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux.

That leaves two more seats, and theyre being decided by two separate contests. One is open to anyone who is a U.S. citizen and who makes a donation to St. Jude via the ongoing charitable contribution drive. The other will be decided by this panel of judges, and will be chosen from a pool of applicants who have built stores on Shift4s Shift4Shop e-commerce platform.

Thats right: This absurdly expensive and pioneering mission to space is also a growth marketing campaign for Isaacmans Shopify competitor. But to be fair, the store of the winning entrant doesnt have to be new existing customers can also apply and are eligible.

The stated criteria for deciding the winner is a business owner or entrepreneur that exhibits ingenuity, innovation and determination, so in other words it could be just about anybody. Im extremely curious to see who Benioff, Mehta, Rober (also a former NASA JPL engineer in addition to a YouTuber) and Taffer come up with between them as a winner.

The Inspiration4 mission is currently set to fly in the fourth quarter of 2021, and mission specifics, including total duration and target orbit, are yet to be determined.

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Marc Benioff and this panel of judges will decide who gets one seat on the first all-civilian spaceflight - TechCrunch