Space Exploration Technologies Corporation
(SpaceX) announced today that it will develop a Falcon 9 booster - an Evolved
Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) class vehicle.
A key goal of SpaceX is developing a family
of launch vehicles intended to increase the reliability and reduce the cost of
access to space by a factor of ten.
SpaceX, headquartered in El Segundo,
California, is bankrolled and run by Elon Musk, a successful entrepreneur that
among past activities co-founded PayPal, a leading electronic payment system.
According to a press statement detailing
company plans, the Falcon 9 would be capable of launching approximately 21,000
pounds (9,500 kilograms) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in its medium configuration
and 55,000 pounds (25,000 kilograms) to LEO in its heavy configuration, a lift
capacity "greater than any other launch vehicle," the SpaceX statement said.
In the medium configuration, Falcon 9 would
be priced at $27 million per flight with a 12 ft (3.6 m) fairing and $35
million with a 17 ft fairing. Prices include all launch range and third
party insurance costs, making Falcon 9 the most cost efficient vehicle in its
class worldwide.
First booster, yet-to-fly
SpaceX initially intended to follow its
first vehicle development, Falcon 1, with the intermediate class Falcon 5
launch vehicle.
But the company now explains that, in
response to customer requirements for low cost enhanced launch capability,
SpaceX has accelerated development of an EELV-class vehicle. Therefore it is
upgrading Falcon 5 to Falcon 9.
According to the company statement, SpaceX
has sold Falcon 9 to a U.S. government customer. SpaceX still plans to
make Falcon 5 available in late 2007.
The announcement today comes at a time when the company
has yet to fly its Falcon 1 booster.
The maiden launch for Falcon 1 is now scheduled for fall
of this year from the SpaceX island launch complex in the Kwajalein
Atoll. A second Falcon 1 mission is slated to follow a classified launch
of a Titan 4 booster from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Falconeering the future
Musk told SPACE.com that Falcon 9 is intended for three roles:
-All sizes of
Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) satellites, including commercial and
government customers.
-Heavy LEO
satellites, which are mainly U.S. Department of Defense spacecraft.
-Resupply of the
International Space Station with cargo and later crew transportation.
"The prices we are showing do not account
for reusability, so I'm hopeful that we will be able to reduce costs
significantly over time. Also, this is still the first generation of our
propulsion technology," Musk said. The SpaceX Merlin 2 engine will benefit
from a very significant thrust upgrade and also be considerably cheaper per
pound of thrust than Merlin 1, he said.
"As a result, the generation of rockets
based on Merlin 2 will be much cheaper per unit mass to orbit than the Falcon
line, which is based on Merlin 1," Musk said.
Musk noted that the goal of SpaceX is to
make Mars colonization affordable.
That means growing to super-heavy 100-plus
ton lift, super-cheap and super-reliable launcher, Musk said. "Falcon 1
was the first step and Falcon 9 is the second step."
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