Free Republic

If SpaceX gets lucky the BFR development costs could come in at the $2 billion low-end estimate. Elon Musk had estimated that it would cost $2 billion to 10 billion to develop. A few more critical successes over the next year will enable SpaceX to solidify the finances and funding for the BFR. The needed critical successes are the NASA crewed launch certification in mid-2019 and successful Falcon Heavy launches in 2019. SpaceX has pre-sold a moon orbit tourist flight to a Japanese billionaire. This was likely for $500 to $800 million. The SpaceX Falcon Heavy already has up to...

One of the most powerful satellites ever built has headed into orbit on a Russian Proton rocket. The Viasat-1 spacecraft will deliver broadband services to customers in the US and Canada. With a total data throughput of some 140 Gbps, the satellite has more capacity than all other communication satellites over North America combined. Viasat-1 left Earth from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The lift-off for its carrier Proton rocket occurred at 00:48 local time (18:48 GMT). The flight was due to last more than nine hours, and two hours in all was reported to be well. Viasat-1 will be...