Latest news with #Flacon9
India.com
25-06-2025
- Science
- India.com
Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla heads to space on Falcon 9, the SpaceX rocket is designed by…, set to reach orbit at…
Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla heads to space on Falcon 9, the SpaceX rocket is by…, set to reach orbit at… The Captain of Indian Air Force Group, Shubhanshu Shukla, creates history as he travels to International Space Station (ISS) aboard the private Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission. He is piloting the SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, with the team of astronauts form India, Poland, US And Hungry. The take-off happened through the Falcon-9 rocket from the NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The launch pad was previously used by Neil Armstrong for his historic Moon landing mission. As the astronauts have lift off today, June 25, on 12:01 pm, let's take a look at the Falcon-9 Dragon, the power-packed spaceX aircraft that has been used to carry them to space. What is Flacon 9 space rocket? Flacon 9 rocket is the heart of the mission as it is responsible for the launching the crew to space. It is one of Space X's flagship launch vehicles, renowned for its reliability, reusability and high launch rate. Weighing over 549 metric tons and standing 70 meters tall, Falcon 9 is powered by merlin engines, which are fueled by a refined form of kerosene RP-1, and liquid oxygen (LOX). Moreover, the Crew Dragon spacecraft is designed with special features so that it can stand high-pressure conditions, ensuring that astronauts land safely during landing, launch and re-entry. Developed by Elon Musk-led Space X, The Falcon 9 isn't just crafted for crew spaced missions, but also its ability to launch satellites into the orbit, carry cargo to the ISS, and even capable to carry intergalactic missions. Indian Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla makes history Four decades after the Wing commander Rakesh Sharma, Shubhanshu Shukla becomes the first Indian pilot to visit the International Space Station (ISS). He, along with the crew, will be living and working on the ISS for 14 days. The Ax-4 mission is a joint collaboration between Nasa, Isro, and Axiom Space. Shukla and his team will be conducting over 60 experiments, led by several Indian researches, along with the team of NASA, further highlighting India's global expansion in space, science and technology.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's Space Epoch conducts key test for reusable rocket ambitions
By Eduardo Baptista BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese private rocket firm Space Epoch said on Thursday it had successfully run a flight recovery test, as China looks to catch up with the United States by developing its own version of a reusable rocket that can rival SpaceX's Flacon 9. As China and other space-faring nations look to develop tourism, infrastructure, and exploration, reusable rockets are indispensable to making their investments economically viable. Beijing-based Space Epoch, or SEPOCH, said its Yuanxingzhe-1 verification rocket was launched at 4:40 a.m from China's first sea-based space launch centre, off the waters of the eastern province of Shandong. The rocket soared upwards, its engines briefly shutting down after the peak of its trajectory, then reigniting as it began its vertical descent to enter the Yellow Sea in a circle of fire, a video posted on Space Epoch's WeChat account showed. "The success of this flight recovery test is a major breakthrough in the development process of liquid reusable rockets," Space Epoch said in a statement. The flight lasted 125 seconds, reaching a height of about 2.5 km (1.6 miles), it added. Space Epoch's ambition to develop reusable rocket technology is highlighted by its demonstration of Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL). In this procedure, a rocket takes off vertically and returns to Earth with a vertical landing that uses rocket engines to slow and control the descent. Used by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Starship, VTVL is crucial for any firm looking to retrieve and reuse rockets after their launch, a growing focus for investors and firms worldwide that could drastically reduce costs and spread their use wider. While tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX is already launching and recovering orbital-class rockets on a routine basis, no Chinese firm has yet matched this feat. SpaceX's Falcon 9 first successful landing test was almost a decade ago, highlighting the yawning gap firms like Space Epoch must bridge to catch up. Space Epoch and Chinese peers, such as LandSpace, aim for maiden flights of their respective reusable rockets later this year, though no dates have been revealed. Last year LandSpace completed a 10-km (6.2-mile) VTVL test marking China's first in-flight engine reignition in descent, a technique Space Epoch appears to have also mastered with its latest launch.
Reuters
29-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
China's Space Epoch conducts key test for reusable rocket ambitions
BEIJING, May 29 (Reuters) - Chinese private rocket firm Space Epoch said on Thursday it had successfully run a flight recovery test, as China looks to catch up with the United States by developing its own version of a reusable rocket that can rival SpaceX's Flacon 9. As China and other space-faring nations look to develop tourism, infrastructure, and exploration, reusable rockets are indispensable to making their investments economically viable. Beijing-based Space Epoch, or SEPOCH, said its Yuanxingzhe-1 verification rocket was launched at 4:40 a.m from China's first sea-based space launch centre, off the waters of the eastern province of Shandong. The rocket soared upwards, its engines briefly shutting down after the peak of its trajectory, then reigniting as it began its vertical descent to enter the Yellow Sea in a circle of fire, a video posted on Space Epoch's WeChat account showed. "The success of this flight recovery test is a major breakthrough in the development process of liquid reusable rockets," Space Epoch said in a statement. The flight lasted 125 seconds, reaching a height of about 2.5 km (1.6 miles), it added. Space Epoch's ambition to develop reusable rocket technology is highlighted by its demonstration of Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL). In this procedure, a rocket takes off vertically and returns to Earth with a vertical landing that uses rocket engines to slow and control the descent. Used by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Starship, VTVL is crucial for any firm looking to retrieve and reuse rockets after their launch, a growing focus for investors and firms worldwide that could drastically reduce costs and spread their use wider. While tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX is already launching and recovering orbital-class rockets on a routine basis, no Chinese firm has yet matched this feat. SpaceX's Falcon 9 first successful landing test was almost a decade ago, highlighting the yawning gap firms like Space Epoch must bridge to catch up. Space Epoch and Chinese peers, such as LandSpace, aim for maiden flights of their respective reusable rockets later this year, though no dates have been revealed. Last year LandSpace completed a 10-km (6.2-mile) VTVL test marking China's first in-flight engine reignition in descent, a technique Space Epoch appears to have also mastered with its latest launch.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Space Force eyes late May launch of next GPS III satellite
The Space Force plans to launch the next GPS III satellite in late May as part of a rapid launch mission to demonstrate the ability to prepare and launch a satellite on truncated timelines. 'It highlights another instance of the Space Force's ability to complete high priority launches on a rapid timescale, which demonstrates the capability to respond to emergent constellation needs as rapidly as Space Vehicle readiness allows,' Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader of launch execution, said in an Monday statement. The upcoming mission will incorporate lessons learned from the Space Force's first Rapid Response Trailblazer effort in December 2024. For that mission, launched by a SpaceX Flacon 9 rocket, the service quickly planned and launched a GPS III satellite in months — a process that typically takes as long as two years. Lockheed Martin, which builds the GPS III spacecraft, loaded the satellite on a truck at its Littleton, Colorado, facility and transported it to Buckley Space Force Base, where it was loaded onto a C-17 for the final leg of its journey to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft arrived on April 3, and Space Operations Command's Delta 31 is conducting initial satellite processing. Malik Musawwir, Lockheed's vice president of navigation systems, told reporters Monday that with the two recent GPS missions, the company now has only two GPS III satellites in storage. The remaining two will be ready for launch this year, he added. Following those missions, the company is looking ahead to the first launch of the next variant, GPS IIIF, in late 2026 or early 2027. The first of those spacecraft, which will bring improved anti-jam capability and an improved civilian signal, are entering the integration stage of production and heading to final assembly. The Space Force today has at least 31 operational GPS satellites in orbit — ranging from older models to the newest GPS III satellites. As concerns grow about the vulnerability of the service's constellation amid increased jamming and spoofing threats, the service is exploring new options for delivering positioning, navigation and timing, or PNT, capabilities. That includes a new constellation of small GPS satellites as part of a program called Resilient GPS. The service has three companies on contract to draft prototype designs and hopes to begin launching the first batch of eight satellites by 2028. At the same time, the Space Force is wrapping up a broader study of its PNT architecture that will further define a roadmap for the service's future mix of PNT capabilities. That analysis should be wrapped up this summer.
