Posted on 10/17/2016 8:44:14 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
SpaceX hopes to start launching its rockets again in November, a mere three months after the company’s Falcon 9 exploded on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. That’s according to SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell, who spoke today at Euroconsult's World Satellite Business Week — a conference in Paris.
"We're anticipating getting back to flight, being down for about three months, and getting back to flight in November," said Shotwell, in a video recorded by Andreas Menn, a reporter for German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche. However, Shotwell indicated that the three-month turnaround was the most optimistic scenario for the company, according to Space News reporter Peter B. de Selding. A SpaceX representative also confirmed this with The Verge.
"SpaceX's Shotwell: Nov return to flight is our best hope. We still haven't isolated the cause or whether its origin was rocket or ground."
Shotwell noted that the first flight could launch from SpaceX’s launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, or it could take off from Cape Canaveral. However, it won’t be taking off from SpaceX’s pad at Launch Complex 40 — the site of the explosion. That pad will need extensive repairs and probably won’t be ready to support launches by November.
Instead, SpaceX has been working on a new launch pad at Launch Complex 39A at the Cape. It’s a former Apollo and Space Shuttle launch site that the company leases from NASA. SpaceX recently confirmed that the pad at 39A would be ready by November and would be able to support both Falcon 9 launches and launches of the future Falcon Heavy — the company’s heavy-lift vehicle that’s essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together.
The Falcon Heavy was supposed to do its first demonstration mission later this year, but the September 1st explosion pushed it back. Shotwell said in Paris that the Falcon Heavy will likely launch in the first quarter of next year. It’s the latest delay for the rocket’s debut, which has been pushed back for years. The vehicle was also supposed to take off from Cape Canaveral for its first flight, but Shotwell said it could launch from either Vandenberg or Florida.
"SpaceX's Shotwell: Falcon Heavy wont launch this year, likely Q1 next year. Could be from Pad 39A or from VAFB, not sure."
The explosion is also probably going to push back another notable flight for SpaceX: the first launch of a reused Falcon 9. Originally, CEO Elon Musk said that flight would take place in the fall, likely in September or October. But later, satellite operator SES, whose satellite will launch on the reused rocket, said the flight would happen in the fourth quarter of 2016. So it’s possible that could still happen if SpaceX does return to flight in November, as Shotwell didn’t specify which payload the company will fly first.
But returning to spaceflight just three months after a failure is an extremely ambitious aim for SpaceX, given it took the company six months to return to flight after another rocket exploded in June 2015. A three-month turnaround is especially optimistic since the cause of the September 1st explosion hasn’t been identified yet. Even Musk conceded that the accident was the "most difficult and complex failure [the company has] ever had in 14 years."
Overly aggressive considering they have no clue about why the last launch blew up
... and it wasn’t even a launch!
It could have been something as simple as a suppressed rifle shot from a distance away from the launch pad.
Watched an Antares go up tonight, first launch I’ve ever seen in person. Resupply mission for the ISS.
Red letter day for me. Another observer and I teamed up- he called the azimuth and I brought up NASA TV so we’d know if it got scrubbed or worse on the pad. 70 miles away.
Yes, kind of stoked.
Or not...it could be something as simple as a design flaw, which is more likely
One month old...
Musk is a huckster. He won the lottery with a website that LETS YOU PAY WITH A CREDIT CARD. Now he thinks he can do anything. Look at the price of Tesla stock. I’ve seen exactly ONE or his cars on the road.
P.T. Barnum would be proud.
I’ve seen lots of Model S Tesla cars and a few Roadsters around where I live. What can you buy from Tesla with which you can pay with a credit card?
You are quite correct. It could be something very simple as a design flaw.
You are quite correct. It could be something very simple as a design flaw.
With something like 30 launches under their belt, don’t you think a ‘design flaw’ would have shown up by now?
I’m sure they make minor changes to their designs constantly in attempts to try to improve the rocket.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.