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11-12-2010, 08:16 AM
launch video link
This is the first ever footage of a corporate funded space flight in 6 decades. This successful rocket launch was built by a commercial company called spaceX owned by paypal founder.
In 1957 it was the russian sputnik space program that ignited a space race which led to unprecedented science and technological development.
If space exploration is "outsourced" to commercial sector I wonder if this will be the "trigger" for our next tech boom.
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It was an explosive event , literally and metaphorically. At 8:43 AM local time on Wednesday, a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force's Cape Canaveral "space base" in Florida. The two-stage Falcon , built by SpaceX, a California company owned by PayPal founder Elon Musk , deposited several payloads into low orbit and, three hours later, reduced to its "Dragon" capsule, reentered the atmosphere and splashed into the Pacific. It was the first time in six decades of space exploration that a privately-built spacecraft has left and returned to Earth.
Such accomplishments could become commonplace, if the Obama Administration gets its way. In February, U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to "commercialize" America's exploration of space. The initiative's timing was no accident: the Space Shuttle was nearing retirement amid escalating costs and safety concerns; recession-weary taxpayers seemed less willing to foot the whole bill for esoteric space programs; and private industry had recently made big gains with near-orbit space planes and other high technologies. A version of Space's Falcon-and-Dragon combo could become the standard vehicle for NASA's trips to low orbit, carrying satellites or people and supplies for the International Space Station.
But the "commercialization" of space puts the U.S. military , one of the biggest space customers and a close partner with NASA , in an awkward position, according to Eric Sterner, a space expert with the Marshall Institute. "Changes in the nature of the launch industry will present policymakers with new dilemmas when it comes to ensuring military access to space."
The problem stretches back to the mid-1990s, when the Air Force began pouring billions into a new rocket for carrying military satellites into orbit. The plan was to license the same rocket to commercial launch firms. But that private market never really materialized, and the Pentagon ended up assuming the full, $100-million-per-launch cost for the resulting Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, today the military's standard rocket. "Some would prefer NASA to meet its [Low-Earth Orbit] human spaceflight needs with modifications to the EELV, which theoretically would increase production runs and lower the [Air Force] marginal cost," Sterner said. But after SpaceX's success this week, NASA might decide to base its future vehicles on Falcon, leaving the cash-strapped Air Force to maintain the EELV all by itself.
news source: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/...-position/
This is the first ever footage of a corporate funded space flight in 6 decades. This successful rocket launch was built by a commercial company called spaceX owned by paypal founder.
In 1957 it was the russian sputnik space program that ignited a space race which led to unprecedented science and technological development.
If space exploration is "outsourced" to commercial sector I wonder if this will be the "trigger" for our next tech boom.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was an explosive event , literally and metaphorically. At 8:43 AM local time on Wednesday, a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force's Cape Canaveral "space base" in Florida. The two-stage Falcon , built by SpaceX, a California company owned by PayPal founder Elon Musk , deposited several payloads into low orbit and, three hours later, reduced to its "Dragon" capsule, reentered the atmosphere and splashed into the Pacific. It was the first time in six decades of space exploration that a privately-built spacecraft has left and returned to Earth.
Such accomplishments could become commonplace, if the Obama Administration gets its way. In February, U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to "commercialize" America's exploration of space. The initiative's timing was no accident: the Space Shuttle was nearing retirement amid escalating costs and safety concerns; recession-weary taxpayers seemed less willing to foot the whole bill for esoteric space programs; and private industry had recently made big gains with near-orbit space planes and other high technologies. A version of Space's Falcon-and-Dragon combo could become the standard vehicle for NASA's trips to low orbit, carrying satellites or people and supplies for the International Space Station.
But the "commercialization" of space puts the U.S. military , one of the biggest space customers and a close partner with NASA , in an awkward position, according to Eric Sterner, a space expert with the Marshall Institute. "Changes in the nature of the launch industry will present policymakers with new dilemmas when it comes to ensuring military access to space."
The problem stretches back to the mid-1990s, when the Air Force began pouring billions into a new rocket for carrying military satellites into orbit. The plan was to license the same rocket to commercial launch firms. But that private market never really materialized, and the Pentagon ended up assuming the full, $100-million-per-launch cost for the resulting Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, today the military's standard rocket. "Some would prefer NASA to meet its [Low-Earth Orbit] human spaceflight needs with modifications to the EELV, which theoretically would increase production runs and lower the [Air Force] marginal cost," Sterner said. But after SpaceX's success this week, NASA might decide to base its future vehicles on Falcon, leaving the cash-strapped Air Force to maintain the EELV all by itself.
news source: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/12/...-position/