Major milestone achieved towards demonstrating U.S. transport to
the International Space Station following retirement of the Space
Shuttle
MCGREGOR, Texas--(Business Wire)--
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) conducted the first
nine engine firing of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle at its Texas Test
Facility outside McGregor on July 30th. A second firing on August 1st
completed a major NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
(COTS) milestone almost two months early.
At full power, the nine engines consumed 3,200 lbs of fuel and
liquid oxygen per second, and generated 832,000 pounds of force (lbf)
- four times the maximum thrust of a 747 aircraft. This marks the
first firing of a Falcon 9 first stage with its full complement of
nine Merlin 1C engines. Once a near term Merlin 1C fuel pump upgrade
is complete, the sea level thrust will increase to 950,000 lbf, making
Falcon 9 the most powerful single core vehicle in the United States.
"This was the most difficult milestone in development of the
Falcon 9 launch vehicle and it also constitutes a significant
achievement in US space vehicle development. Not since the final
flight of the Saturn 1B rocket in 1975, has a rocket had the ability
to lose any engine or motor and still successfully complete its
mission," said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX. "Much like a
commercial airliner, our multi-engine design has the potential to
provide significantly higher reliability than single engine
competitors."
"We made a major advancement from the previous five engine test by
adding four new Merlin engines at once," said Tom Mueller, Vice
President of Propulsion for SpaceX. "All phases of integration went
smoothly and we were elated to see all nine engines working perfectly
in concert."
About SpaceX
SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles intended to
increase the reliability and reduce the cost of both manned and
unmanned space transportation, ultimately by a factor of ten. With its
Falcon line of launch vehicles, powered by internally-developed Merlin
engines, SpaceX offers light, medium and heavy lift capabilities to
deliver spacecraft into any altitude and inclination, from low-Earth
orbit to geosynchronous to planetary missions. SpaceX currently has 12
missions on its manifest, excluding the two previous Falcon 1
demonstration flights, plus indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity
(IDIQ) contracts with NASA and the US Air Force.
As a winner of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
competition (COTS), SpaceX is in a position to help fill the gap in
American spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) when the
Space Shuttle retires in 2010. Under the existing Agreement, SpaceX
will conduct three flights of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and
Dragon spacecraft for NASA, culminating in Dragon berthing with the
ISS. SpaceX is the only COTS contender that has the capability to
return cargo and crew to Earth. NASA also has an option to demonstrate
crew services to the ISS using the Falcon 9 / Dragon system. SpaceX is
the only COTS contender that has the capability to return pressurized
cargo and crew to Earth. The first Falcon 9 will arrive at the SpaceX
launch site (complex 40) at Cape Canaveral by the end of 2008 in
preparation for its maiden flight.
Founded in 2002, the SpaceX team now numbers more than 500 full
time employees, primarily located in Hawthorne, California, with four
additional locations: SpaceX's Texas Test Facility in McGregor near
Waco; offices in Washington DC; and launch facilities at Cape
Canaveral, Florida, and the Marshall Islands in the Central Pacific.
SpaceX
Diane Murphy, 310-363-6714
VP, Marketing and Communications
media@SpaceX.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
