SpaceX would recover the upper-stage of their Falcon Heavy laucnher

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Elon Musk suggested Friday that when SpaceX does its first demonstration flight of the Falcon Heavy large payload rocket later this year, it might also include an attempt to return the upper stage back to Earth. Ultimately, the goal is to make sure the upper stage on the Falcon Heavy is reusable, which is part of SpaceX’s plan to make Mars a viable target for repeat, return commercial spaceflight.

The Falcon Heavy test, which has been scheduled for some time now, is set for “late summer,” according to Musk. This is in keeping with the new 2017 timing, adjusted from late last year following delays resulting from SpaceX’s pre-flight launch pad explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket last September.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is a heavy-lift rocket that would open up a whole new group of potential customers for the private launch provider. Falcon Heavy consists of three Falcon 9 cores at its center, which are made up of 27 Merlin engines, with a projected output of 5 million pounds of thrust. NASA is also preparing its own heavy launcher, the Space Launch System or SLS, with a target launch date of 2018.

Falcon Heavy will have a max cargo capacity of 119,000 pounds in terms of what it can carry to orbit, which is double the payload capacity of the current leader in operational launch craft, the Delta IV Heavy from ULA. It’ll have less capacity for actual mission launches, however, and capacity also goes down if the intent is to reuse the rocket, rather than expend it entirely in a single mission. SpaceX’s goal is to undercut both the SLS projected cost and the Delta IV Heavy actual launch bill by pricing launches at one-third the amount ULA charges.

SpaceX has successfully recovered its Falcon 9 rockets, which make up the first stage of the Falcon Heavy, on a number of occasions now, and on Thursday re-launched one of those recovered rockets for the first time ever. Now, it sounds like Musk is preparing to begin the process of successfully bringing a second stage back to earth, which in the Falcon Heavy includes a single Merlin 1D engine designed for use in a vacuum.

Recovery and reuse of both of these stages are essential to SpaceX’s Mars plan, as it eventually hopes to shuttle many tons of cargo from Earth to orbit, where they’ll be loaded on a craft destined for Mars supply missions.

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SpaceX and Nasa are working to define Mars best landing sites

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In a presentation at a symposium here March 18th on planetary surface exploration and sample return, Paul Wooster of SpaceX said the company, working with scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and elsewhere, had identified several potential landing sites, including one that looks particularly promising.

Wooster, who is involved in Mars mission planning in addition to his “day job” as manager of guidance, navigation and control systems on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, said that site selection is based on several criteria. One is access to large quantities of ice near the surface that could, ultimately, support human settlements.

Another is to be close to the Equator and at a low elevation for solar power and better thermal conditions. “It’s probably hard to find that along with ice,” he acknowledged, so the focus has been on four locations at latitudes no more than about 40 degrees from the Equator.

Wooster said the study identified four regions in the northern hemisphere of Mars that met those basic criteria. Three of the regions :

• Deuteronilus Mensae, 

• Phlegra Montes 

• Utopia Planitia

They looked attractive in images from a medium resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissiance Orbiter called CTX, he said, but appear rockier in high-resolution HiRISE images.

“The team at JPL has been finding that, while the areas look very flat and smooth at CTX resolution, with HiRISE images, they’re quite rocky,” Wooster said. “That’s been unfortunate in terms of the opportunities for those sites.”

A fourth region, Arcadia Planitia, looks more promising in those high-resolution images. “What they’ve found is basically few or no rocks, and a polygonal terrain that they think is pretty similar to what was seen at Phoenix,” he said, referring to NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft, which landed in the north polar regions of Mars in 2008.

Those landing sites are of particular interest, he said, for SpaceX’s long-term vision of establishing a human settlement on Mars, but he said the company wouldn’t rule our sending Red Dragon spacecraft elsewhere on the planet to serve other customers. “We’re quite open to making use of this platform to take various payloads to other locations as well,” he said. “We’re really looking to turn this into a steady cadence, where we’re sending Dragons to Mars on basically every opportunity.”

The Red Dragon spacecraft, he said, could carry about one ton of useful payload to Mars, with options for those payloads to remain in the capsule after landing or be deployed on the surface. “SpaceX is a transportation company,” he said. “We transport cargo to the space station, we deliver payloads to orbit, so we’re very happy to deliver payloads to Mars.”

When SpaceX announced the Red Dragon program last year, it planned to perform the first launch as soon as the spring of 2018. Last month, however, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said it was likely that mission would shift to the next Mars launch window in mid-2020.

Wooster said the slip didn’t have anything to do with issues with the mission itself. “Overall, we just had a lot of things on our plate at SpaceX. It’s not anything specific to Red Dragon,” he said.

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SpaceX is considering sabotage as cause of Falcon 9 explosion

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As SpaceX’s investigation of a Falcon 9 rocket explosion on September 1st drags into its second month, rumors are flying that this may have been more than a random technical failure. According to a Washington Postreport, SpaceX is considering the possibility of sabotage.

In a Holmesian twist to the investigation of the sudden fireball that eviscerated a Falcon 9 rocket, a $95 million internet satellite, and a chunk of Cape Canaveral’s launch pad 40, a SpaceX employee recently requested rooftop access to a building owned by competing rocket consortium United Launch Alliance. As industry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post, SpaceX was following up on “something suspicious” it had seen while reviewing video footage of the rocket explosion—a weird shadow and a white spot on the roof of the ULA building, which sits about a mile from the launch pad.

According to the Washington Post’s unnamed experts, SpaceX was denied access to the rooftop, which was instead investigated by Air Force officials who found no evidence of a connection to the September 1st explosion. 

SpaceX’s official line—that it’s simply trying to leave no stone unturned—may well be true. But that hasn’t stopped the internet from offering up its own conspiracy theories, including that maybe a guy with a rifle shot the rocket from a mile away. (After all, Musk did say his company is trying to figure out the source of a “quieter bang sound” a few seconds before the fireball!)

Then again, as Elon Musk noted during his Martian colonization speechlast week, SpaceX has already investigated all obvious possibilities. “What remains are the less probable answers,” he said.

A ULA spokesperson responded to Gizmodo’s request for comment in an email, stating that “ULA cooperated with the Air Force’s 45th Space Wing, and nothing associated with the SpaceX accident was found.”

Source: Fortune

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SpaceX plans to launch reused Falcon 9 this fall

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Elon Musk the CEO of Space X tweeted announced this week by a tweet that the company was planning the first reflight of a recovered first stage in September or October.

That date is slightly later than what he mentioned at a conference last week, where he said that flight was planned to take place in two or three months. The company has not disclosed who would be the customer of that launch.

As you know Space X succeeded many time to bring back the first stage the Falcon 9 space launcher. Before this successes, Space X changed its approach, and the SpaceX rocket touches down, it will be on solid ground. Actually, After its next launch, SpaceX hopes to fly a Falcon 9 booster back to a landing site on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, making its first attempt to bring a booster down on land rather than on a platform in the ocean.

it is super hard to land a rocket on a platform in the middle of an ocean. Elon Musk has had to learn that the hard way, and now, you too can experience the crushing disappointment of trying to land the SpaceX Falcon 9 lander, thanks to a new internet game (completely unaffiliated with SpaceX)

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Do you think that you can land the Space X Falcon lander ? Go ahead !

Dear reader and followers,

it is super hard to land a rocket on a platform in the middle of an ocean. Elon Musk has had to learn that the hard way, and now, you too can experience the crushing disappointment of trying to land the SpaceX Falcon 9 lander, thanks to a new internet game (completely unaffiliated with SpaceX). The game is simple; choose a level with your space bar, and use the arrow keys to gently guide the rocket onto the tiny floating platform before you run out of fuel. Or hit the ocean. Or hit the platform and explode violently. You could also succeed, but only if you are a secret genius/wizard.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Lander is a fun twist on the classic Lunar Lander game that has you trying to perfectly balance thrust, rotation, descent, and your remaining fuel to safely land a rocket ship back on a floating platform.

Playing it is slightly less stressful than trying to land the real Falcon 9 since you’re not out millions of dollars every time you crash–but only just. If you’re looking for a way to relax and kill some time this afternoon, this isn’t it. But if you want to feel as frustrated as Elon Musk does, definitely give it a shot. 

Due to the hardness to land in the middle of the ocean, Space X change its approach, next time a SpaceX rocket touches down, it will be on solid ground. Actually, After its next launch, SpaceX hopes to fly a Falcon 9 booster back to a landing site on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, making its first attempt to bring a booster down on land rather than on a platform in the ocean.

Play the game here. Good luck!

Space X plans to land these rockets at Cape Canaveral instead of on an ocean platform

Dear readers and followers,

Next time a SpaceX rocket touches down, it will be on solid ground. Actually, After its next launch, SpaceX hopes to fly a Falcon 9 booster back to a landing site on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, making its first attempt to bring a booster down on land rather than on a platform in the ocean.

SpaceX has attempted to land a rocket gently before, but those attempts were made on giant floating platforms in the ocean (which just missed). Then, last week, competitor Blue Origin managed to land it's own reusable rocket safely on the ground, amping up the public pressure on SpaceX to successfully land their own rocket.

Since one of their rockets exploded in June, SpaceX has been grounded as they troubleshoot. The company is also upgrading their rockets with new engines that can carry heavier loads.

SpaceX's next launch could happen in the coming week, as early as December 15th 2016, but that remains unconfirmed.

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Private space mining company supported by Google founders is ready for an amazing 2015 year

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you might know the company Planetary Resource, formerly known as Arkyd Astronautics, is an American company that was formed in November 2010, and reorganized and renamed in 2012. Their stated goal is to "expand Earth's natural resource base" by developing and deploying the technologies for asteroid mining. Backers includes Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, but also other well known people such as James Cameron.

Their co-Founders Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson often refer to this time in history as being “exponential”. This phrase is ringing true with their team this year, as they forge a path towards asteroid prospecting with two launches in 2015 of their technology demonstration spacecraft!

The first of these spacecraft launched successfully into space today. The Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R) technology demonstration spacecraft is on board the SpaceX Falcon 9 that is on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) as a part of the CRS-6 crew resupply mission.

Once it reaches the ISS, A3R will be brought on board by the astronauts, and be put in a queue for launch from the Kibo air-lock into low-Earth Orbit tentatively in July 2015. A3R will also complete the mission of the first Arkyd 3 that they lost last year in the Antares explosion, by testing the subsystems they’ll need to venture out into the Solar System and prospect for valuable resources on asteroids.

During its 90 day Earth-orbiting mission, it will send back data on the health of its subsystems to their team at their headquarters in Redmond, WA, and complete its mission with a fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere as a result of its natural atmospheric orbital-decay.

They’ve learned so much with A3 and A3R on the way to the launch pad and are extremely excited to continue to learn from its performance in Earth orbit.

Keeping with exponential theme of 2015, the private company is launching a 2nd spacecraft later this year, that will be twice the size and even more capable. In parallel with A3R, Planetary resource has been working on a line of robust Arkyd 6U ScienceCraft that they’ll use not only to test the scientific instruments and deep space technologies at the heart of their asteroid prospecting missions, but to also provide a platform that will allow others to fly their mission with their technology.

Credit image: Planetary Resource

Arkyd 6 (A6), will be the first of these missions to launch, and Planetary resource is contracted with Spaceflight Services, Inc. to launch in a ride share configuration with Formosat-5, currently scheduled in December 2015. Built in compliance with the 6U CubeSat standard and designed to accommodate one of their UV, hyperspectral or MWIR instruments, it is a modular and cost-efficient spacecraft that they are making available for technologists and science investigators to further their own research, whether it be in Earth orbit or deep space. The precision pointing capability, high bandwidth communications, and flexible architecture of their Science-craft provides a robust platform for anyone conducting space research and development, without having to build their own space system.

Planetary resource is composed by a team of scientists and engineers who believe that lowering the barriers to the scientific exploration of space is an important step along the path to expanding humanity’s reach into the Solar System. With their Science-craft program, Planetary Resources is working with their science partners at every step of the discovery process, from proposal to publication, to maximize scientific return.

Source: Planetary Ressouce

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SpaceX just released some gorgeous 4K rocket launch footage

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As if watching rockets going to space wasn't already awesome, +SpaceX  just released a two-minute supercut of 4K footage of its Falcon 9 rocket launches. It's got some slow-motion footage, some HDR-style footage, and lots of different angles of a vehicle that is capable of producing a million pounds of thrust. All of it is beautiful, even if it's accompanied by an unnecessarily loud techno track that covers up the thrilling sound of a rocket taking off.

  Credit video: +SpaceX

Coincidentally, SpaceX has another Falcon 9 launch scheduled for today. After the rocket helps deliver cargo to the +International Space Station, the company will once again attempt to land its reusable Falcon 9 on an autonomous drone ship at sea; something it has unsuccessfully tried twice. No pressure. 

Credit image: +SpaceX 

SpaceX intends to build a vertical launch area and control center to support 12 commercial launches per year.

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Google makes a major investment in SpaceX

Dear readers and followers,

last year, we told you, that Web companies such as Google and Facebook from the Silicon Valley ramp up efforts to connect the world to their services, they are increasingly looking to the skies and higher: to the space.

Today, Google is close to investing in rocket maker SpaceX, according to several people familiar with the talks, creating a formidable alliance in Silicon Valley’s accelerating Internet space race.

This way, is not news, At Google, several signs point to satellites. Actually, Previously Google bought drone-maker Titan Aerospace last year and now it's in talks to buy Skybox Imaging, a startup that creates high-resolution satellite images, for $1 billion. 

Moreover, in 2014, Google hired Brian Holz, who was chief technology officer at O3b Networks, which has launched special satellites to try to broadcast signals that would power new Internet service in developing countries around the world. Google had previously made a financial investment in O3b and one of its employees sits on O3b’s board. The startup’s recently-launched satellites faced technical setbacks this year.

Google also recently hired Dave Bettinger, who had spent 18 years at satellite firm VT iDirect, which supplies high speed broadband and other communications to military services and the oil and gas industry, according to people at Google. VT iDirect also suffered some product delays recently.

The purpose of the today deal, which is still in the works, is to support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globe to billions who don’t have it.

The price and terms Google and SpaceX are discussing couldn’t be learned although one person familiar with them said Google has agreed to value SpaceX north of $10 billion and that the size of the total round, which includes other investors, is very large.

SpaceX’s investors include Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Valor Equity Partners. The company, which has been developing rockets to lower the cost of space travel, hasn’t raised a primary round of funding in several years.

Source: Forbes

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Space launches from planes

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Space launches are used to be captured in picture from the ground, but sometimes, the space launch are immortalized from planes. Enjoy these amazing pictures:

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SpaceX will get its own space launch site

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Monday morning, the September 22th, SpaceX broke ground at the site near Boca Chica beach in Cameron County, Texas, where it plans to build a commercial rocket launch pad. As SpaceX founder Elon Musk lifted a shovel of dirt, his ultimate goal of developing technology to enable trips to Mars took a step forward. “This feels great. It feels like the future,” Musk said. Governor Rick Perry and other dignitaries were also at this event. "This announcement represents a huge step forward for our state and continues our nation's proud legacy of scientific advancement," Perry said. "It builds upon our pioneer heritage, our tradition of thinking bigger, dreaming bolder, and daring to do the impossible. SpaceX is the latest in a long line of forward-thinking companies that have made Texas home, and I couldn't be prouder to help break ground on this revolutionary new facility." The Boca Chica site will be the world’s first commercial orbital space port.

Musk said he wants the company’s new commercial orbital rocket launch site to be operational as soon as possible. That means the paved launch site near the end of U.S. Highway 4 at Boca Chica should be complete in about nine months, with the first rocket launch taking place as early as late 2016. The rocket launch site will be located about three miles north of the Mexican border and about five miles south of Port Isabel and South Padre Island.

SpaceX intends to build a vertical launch area and control center to support 12 commercial launches per year. The vehicles launched include the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and smaller reusable, suborbital launch vehicles. Musk revealed that he expects “thousands of launches.” Furthermore, “when we start doing commercial crew activities, I would expect us to launch a crew from here,” he said. Moreover, he added "What’s important is to have a truly commercial launch site, just like we have commercial airports. Every sort of structure has its primary focus and I think it’s important that the world have a truly commercial orbital spaceport,”.

Rep. Filemon Vela, who introduced Musk and Perry, predicted that the “benefit from an educational and economic standpoint that SpaceX will bring to this region is something that many of us never dreamed of.” In addition, Perry said that “Over the course of the last 13, almost 14 years, we have looked for major projects of which we can make a really big impact on South Texas,” “I noticed the sign behind me that says ‘pavement ends in 1,000 feet.’ But the future of South Texas takes off right behind me. And that’s what today’s really all about.”

Perry also announced an investment of $9 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund and The University of Texas System to establish STARGATE to develop and support commercial phased-array technology for satellite and space vehicle communication. The city of Brownsville, through the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation will contribute $500,000 to the project.

Monday's groundbreaking is the result of years of cooperation between Texas and SpaceX. The idea for a commercial spaceport in Texas was first discussed on a TexasOne trip to California in 2011. Since then, Gov. Perry has met with Elon Musk and written letters to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help secure clearance for the facility. Also, several members of the Governor's staff have appeared in front of the FAA to help bring the facility to Texas.

Source: Space X


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Boeing and SpaceX share $6.8 billion in NASA space taxi program

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NASA has awarded Boeing Co. a contract worth as much as $4.2 billion and rival Space Exploration Technologies Corp. a separate pact valued at up to $2.6 billion to develop, test and fly space taxis to carry U.S. astronauts into orbit. Reflecting NASA and White House policy goals, NASA opted for two contractors to spur competition, cut overall technical risk and hopefully keep a lid on prices.

The American built rockets and spacecraft would replace the Russian systems that currently provide the only access to the international space station. The space taxi is slated to transport its first astronaut to the orbiting laboratory by 2017.

Credit image: NASA

Last Tuesday, the NASA's long-awaited announcement marks a milestone for commercial space ventures, partly because both companies will own and operate the equipment while experiencing significantly less day-to-day federal oversight than previous manned space programs. The final value of the contracts, which likely will run past the end of the decade, depends on each of the contractors meeting specified timetables and obtaining NASA certification of their rockets and capsules for safety and reliability. Assuming the companies win those approvals, the contracts will cover as many as a dozen missions overall to shuttle astronauts and limited amounts of cargo to and from the space station.

NASA chief Charles Bolden said the awards set the stage for "the most ambitious and exciting chapter in the history of NASA and human space flight."

If the programs are successful, NASA officials believe some of the hardware eventually could be used to offer rides to space tourists. Other technology could be adapted in separate NASA efforts to develop a deep-space rocket and more-capable capsules intended to take astronauts to Mars in coming decades.

Even if NASA's plans work out, lack of international support may end up creating a new problem: the space station, or at least parts of it, could be closed as early as the middle of the next decade if various countries cut off financial support. That would leave the nascent space-taxi program looking for new destinations. For now, though, Mr. Bolden told reporters the contracts fulfill President Barack Obama's pledge to end NASA's dependence on Russia and return to using U.S.-built boosters and spacecraft to achieve orbit. The last U.S. space shuttle, which fulfilled that role, was mothballed three years ago.

Boeing's larger share of the project, which had been expected, stems partly from the higher operating costs and larger overhead it has built up over decades as a NASA contractor, government and independent space experts said. But, according to these experts, Boeing's award also reflects the higher score it garnered in some of NASA's technical rankings. Boeing's proposed technology met all of the agency's design review requirements, the experts said, while the system proposed by SpaceX, as the Southern California company is known, fell short in some areas.

NASA officials emphasized that the size of the awards underscores SpaceX's reputation as a nimble, low-cost supplier. Founded by former Web entrepreneur Elon Musk, SpaceX has grown rapidly and proven itself as a reliable shipper of cargo to the space station. The manned capsule it plans to use to carry astronauts is an upgraded version of its Dragon cargo capsule, already in use.

In previous commercial development efforts, NASA ended up awarding SpaceX basically the same amount as it did the company's chief rivals. In those instances, the gap amounted to between 3% and 10% less for SpaceX. This time, the difference was close to 25% of the total.

In a statement, Boeing stressed its work for NASA stretching back to the dawn of the space age. "Boeing has been part of every American human-space-flight program, and we're honored that NASA has chosen us to continue that legacy," said John Elbon, general manager of the Chicago-based company's space exploration unit.

Prior to the announcement at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA faced conflicting pressures from the White House and senior House Republicans. From the time the Obama administration shook up NASA's bureaucracy by proposing commercial space taxis, the agency has been keen to maintain competition. But over the years, congressional leaders have crafted legislative language and otherwise urged Mr. Bolden and his top managers to pick just one contractor for this phase of the effort, to avoid redundant spending.

In the end, NASA opted for competition but devised a series of reviews and procedures enabling it to withhold funds from either contractor if agency officials determined progress was flagging.

Sierra Nevada Corp., the third company vying for an award, didn't get a contract despite some initial support inside and outside NASA for its design. The company proposed a winged vehicle, resembling a conventional aircraft, that would launch vertically atop an Atlas V rocket but return by landing on a runway. Such a spacecraft would have "long-term reusability" to significantly reduce operating costs, according to George Torres, a former industry official and author of books on space. "That's why the arguments were so vociferous."

Once NASA decided to award Boeing the bulk of the funds, according to Mr. Torres, support for Sierra Nevada dropped dramatically because both companies envisioned using the Atlas V rocket. Under all circumstances, according to Mr. Torres and others, NASA wanted two different rockets in the mix.

But throughout the news conference, and in the comments of some lawmakers reacting to the awards, much of the emphasis was on NASA's plans to go beyond low-Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets. Robert Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center, described the new industry-government partnerships being forged as the "first step from planet earth to going on to Mars someday."

In the same vein, Mr. Bolden devoted a large portion of his remarks to discussing future launches and tests of NASA's Orion capsule, designed to explore the solar system beyond the space station. But unlike the commercially driven contracts for space taxis, Orion and the boosters that are intended to blast it into space are being developed by NASA under more-traditional contracts mandating closer agency oversight. Boeing has a major role in that effort.NASA has awarded Boeing Co. a contract worth as much as $4.2 billion and rival Space Exploration Technologies Corp. a separate pact valued at up to $2.6 billion to develop, test and fly space taxis to carry U.S. astronauts into orbit.

Source: NASA


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Satellite executive suddenly out at Google and move to SpaceX

Dear readers and followers,

Google's efforts to build a network of satellites to provide Internet service to the billions of people around the world took a hit on Wednesday after reports that one of the program leads had abruptly left the company.

Credit image: AFP

Web companies such as Google and Facebook from the Silicon Valley ramp up efforts to connect the world to their services, they are increasingly looking to the skies and higher. Few months ago, Google hired Brian Holz, who was chief technology officer at O3b Networks, which has launched special satellites to try to broadcast signals that would power new Internet service in developing countries around the world. Google had previously made a financial investment in O3b and one of its employees sits on O3b’s board. The startup’s recently-launched satellites faced technical setbacks this year. Moreover, Google also recently hired Dave Bettinger, who had spent 18 years at satellite firm VT iDirect, which supplies high speed broadband and other communications to military services and the oil and gas industry, according to people at Google. VT iDirect also suffered some product delays recently.

Reports emerged in early June that Google had partnered with O3b Networks as a part of Project Loon, a project to launch low-orbit, Internet-enabled satellites. Wyler joined Google to help with the project and reported directly to chief executive Larry Page.

Google Satellite executive Greg Wyler has left Google and has reportedly been seen frequenting the SpaceX office, according to The Wall Street Journal. Neither Wyler nor the two companies have commented on his abrupt departure, which comes just months after he was hired to assist in Google's attempt at creating a global internet service. 

Although he is reportedly working in close proximity with billionaire Elon Musk, The Wall Street Journal cites sources as stating that the satellite communications expert is not a SpaceX employee. His departure also coincides with Google's loss of rights to a certain radio spectrum, which is controlled by Wyler's company WorldVu Satellites Ltd. "This could hurt Google's aspirations in this area in the short term," Mile Marker 101 CEO Neil Mackey tells The Wall Street Journal.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Wyler would be helming a Google project that would put 180 satellites in orbit as part of its bid to provide worldwide internet access.

Source

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The SpaceX-3 resupply mission to ISS postponed again

Dear readers and followers,

today, NASA and SpaceX have been confirmed that Sunday's launch (March 30th) of its third contracted resupply mission to the International Station (ISS) has been postponed due to a range asset issue. 

Credit: SpaceX 

The spacecraft should resupply ISS but also deploy the next generation module for data communication using a laser, called OPALS for Optical Payload for Laser Science. More information including a new target launch date will be posted as it becomes available. 

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Find the french version of the article there

ISS data communication boosted by the laser OPALS

Dear followers and readers,

The bandwidth speed of the communications between the International Space Station and Earth is a real bottleneck for the scientific experiments. But NASA decided to fix this problem. The slowness of capturing data from ISS is about to go into serious overdrive with a new laser communication experiment set which will be launch to ISS this weekend. The experiment gear is called OPALS for Optical Payload for Laser Science

Credit: OPALS - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

OPALS transfers the video data from ISS to the ground receiver at JPL's Optical Communications Telescope Laboratory (OCTL) in Wrightwood, California. As the ISS travels across the sky, a laser beacon is transmitted from the ground telescope to the payload on ISS and tracked. The main existing deep space missions send back 200k to 400k bits of information per second. OPALS will send information by laser beam rather than radio wave, demonstrating a speed of up to 50 megabits per second. Future deep space optical communication systems should reach up to one gigabit per second.

The OPALS module will be sent up to the space station aboard the cargo Dragon from the private company Space X. Its launch is planned next Sunday, March 16th.

Credit: NASA 

Stay tuned for the space launch of OPALS module

[Update] The Dragon launch was postponed to March 30. Stay tuned 

First commercial satellite launched by the SpaceX rocket

  Credits: Spacevids.tv