SpaceX Archives - The Enterprise Orbit

Launch politics in an increasingly competitive global market

NOTE: This story originally appeared in the Low Down, our free weekly ebrief. Subscribe for FREE to receive our take on the latest news, enabling tech and emerging markets in the commercial space sector each week. Anti-competitive politics is rearing its head as the global launch industry undergoes significant shifts in its competitive landscape and incumbent providers are struggling to keep up. Ariane Group’s CEO Alain Charmeau complained about dropping

Lowered launch costs will impact ‘nearly every industry’ on Earth

Lower launch costs are driving new opportunities in space that’ll impact nearly every industry on Earth, according to a report from Deloitte. Principal analyst Bill Beyer, who authored the report, argues that advances in manufacturing processes, computing electronics and other technologies, coupled with lower launch costs, are fueling the global democratization of space access and fundamentally changing the commercial space landscape. “The business opportunities for companies in space could include

Big rocket builders are skeptical small launchers will find customers

As the pool of small launch vehicles grows, larger launch providers continue to express skepticism about whether the new crop of small vehicle startups will have enough customers to sustain them and their business models. Small launch vehicles promise to further reduce barriers of entry to space for non-traditional customers by offering dedicated launches for lighter payloads at lower price points. But incumbent providers SpaceX, ULA and others – which

LEO satellite broadband will be disruptive, if successful

A new crop of non-geostationary satellites could see the emergence of a new broadband market in low Earth orbit. SpaceX, Boeing, OneWeb, LeoSat and Telesat are five would-be satellite broadband service providers that have received FCC authorization for deploying satellite broadband in the US. If successful, these providers are poised to disrupt the current satellite broadband market, and perhaps even terrestrial fixed services in some areas. Satellite broadband is by

Congress calls into question NASA’s public-private partnerships

Members of the House of Representatives’ space subcommittee weren’t happy to hear that NASA’s private partners are slipping behind schedule on the development of the next generation of spacecraft that’ll carry astronauts to space. Boeing’s VP and program manager, John Mulholland and SpaceX’s VP of Build and Flight Reliability, Hans Koenigsmann, met a tough crowd at the committee hearing, as members voiced their disappointment at the two companies’ progress in

Can space tourism break out of decades of delay?

Today, there are a handful of private companies that are hoping to make a business out of flying tourists to space. And at least three of these companies say they’ll be able to do so in 2018. But as history demonstrates, there’s no guarantee that any of these companies will keep their timelines. Space tourism has been considered on the brink of feasibility for years, and start-ups have made similar

Better than new? SpaceX’s reused Dragon launch a huge milestone in private space development

When the Dragon spacecraft from 2012's SpaceX 4 mission successfully berthed with the ISS's Harmony module, the cargo capsule's place in space-faring history was cemented, marking the first time a privately owned spacecraft berthed with the space station, vindicating long-held hopes that the commercial space industry could develop the ability to conduct complex operations in Earth's orbit. Now the SpaceX/CRS-11 mission (originally slated for launch Thursday, 1 June 2017, and rescheduled for 3 June 5:07 ET), is

Made In Space: Manufacturing fiber optic cable could become the first space-based industry

Editor's note: The Enterprise Orbit was formally called The Downlink. Made In Space is about to embark on a new chapter of its space-enabled manufacturing business, and life on Earth could easily be transformed for the better because of it. Made In Space got its start in additive manufacturing back in 2011 when it built a 3D printing lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center. The company has since launched two

SpaceX’s reusable launcher achieves milestone

SpaceX’s first successful landing of its Falcon 9 model back in 2014 marked the new reality for recovered rocketry, but the launch last night proves that those recovered rockets can now be re-launched back into space -- marking the true beginning of the era of reusable rocketry. (more…)

SpaceX’s cargo resupply mission to ISS slated for Feb 14

-Marking historic Kennedy Space Center re-open to the rocket business SpaceX will launch an International Space Station (ISS) cargo resupply mission from the historic Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Station in Florida, on February 14. The fallback date for the launch is Feb 15. (more…)