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114-501: SpaceX's first launch vehicle, the Falcon 1 , was the first privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to be launched into orbit, and used SpaceX's Merlin and Kestrel engines for its first and second stages, respectively. It was launched five times from Omelek Island between 2006 and 2009 – the Falcon 1e and Falcon 5 variants were planned but never developed. The Falcon 9 v1.0 , using upgraded Merlin engines on both its stages,

228-603: A mass simulator as a payload. On 14 July 2009, Falcon 1 made its second successful flight, delivering the Malaysian RazakSAT satellite to orbit on SpaceX's first commercial launch (fifth and final launch overall). While SpaceX had announced an enhanced variant, the Falcon 1e , following this flight, the Falcon 1 was retired in favor of the Falcon 9 v1.0 , the first version of the company’s successful and long-running Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The Falcon 1 rocket

342-711: A nuclear war ", with others pointing out that Earth and underground shelters on Earth could still provide better conditions and protection for more people from apocalyptic scenarios. Mars colonization has been called a 'dangerous delusion' by Lord Martin Rees , a British cosmologist/astrophysicist and the Astronomer Royal of the United Kingdom . Musk has stated that staying on Mars is a life threatening endeavor that needs to be glorious to be worth it. Exploration of Mars has also been argued to be better left to

456-653: A "rudimentary base." The company plans to process resources on Mars into fuel for return journeys, and use similar technologies on Earth to create carbon-neutral propellant . The company hopes that once infrastructure is established on Mars and launch cost is reduced, populating can begin. After the first few windows of crewed Mars landings, Musk has suggested that the number of people who are sent to Mars could be ramped up rapidly. A successful colonization, meaning an established human presence on Mars growing over many decades, would ultimately involve many more economic actors than SpaceX. For reference, Musk's timeline for

570-420: A Starship orbital launch could eventually cost $ 2 million, starting at $ 10 million within 2–3 years and dropping with time. Starfactory is at the same time planned to produce at peak one Starship per day. The rocket consists of a Super Heavy first stage booster and a Starship second stage spacecraft , powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines . Both stages are made from stainless steel . Methane

684-534: A coast period, the second stage restarted and performed a successful second burn, resulting in a final orbit of 621 × 643 km × 9.35°. The rocket followed the same trajectory as the previous flight, which failed to place the Trailblazer , NanoSail-D , PRESat and Celestis Explorers spacecraft into orbit. No major changes were made to the rocket, other than increasing the time between first-stage burnout and second-stage separation. This minor change addressed

798-457: A crewed base on Mars for an extended surface presence, which it hopes will grow into a self-sufficient colony . Before any people are transported to Mars, a number of cargo missions would be undertaken first in order to transport the requisite equipment , habitats and supplies. Equipment that would accompany the early groups would include "machines to produce fertilizer, methane and oxygen from Mars' atmospheric nitrogen and carbon dioxide and

912-548: A factor of thirty. The second test flight was originally scheduled for January 2007, but was delayed because of problems with the second stage. Before the January launch date, SpaceX had stated earlier potential launch dates, moving from September 2006 to November and December. In December the launch was rescheduled for 9 March, but delayed because of range availability issues caused by a Minuteman III test flight, which would re-enter over Kwajalein. The launch attempt on 19 March

1026-443: A final velocity of 5.1 km/s, compared to 7.5 km/s needed for orbit. SpaceX characterized the test flight as a success, having flight-proven over 95% of Falcon 1's systems. Their primary objectives for this launch were to test responsive launch procedures and gather data. The SpaceX team planned both a diagnosis and solution vetted by third-party experts, believing that the slosh issue could be corrected by adding baffles to

1140-537: A greater mass of fuel in the same tank volume. The second stage was also extended for greater fuel tank capacity. These upgrades brought a 33% increase to the previous rocket performance. Five sub-variants have been flown; only Falcon 9 Block 5 is still active. By default the first stage lands and gets reused, although it can be expended to increase the payload capacity. Starship is a two-stage fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by American aerospace company SpaceX . On April 20, 2023, with

1254-452: A high-speed drogue chute and a main chute. For the first two launches, the Falcon 1 used a Merlin 1A engine. An improved version of the Merlin 1A, the Merlin 1B, was supposed to fly on later flights of the Falcon 1, although it was further improved to create the Merlin 1C, which was first flown on the third Falcon 1 flight, and on the first 5 flights of the Falcon 9. The Falcon 1 first stage

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1368-472: A larger payload capacity: 13,150 kilograms to low Earth orbit or 4,850 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit. Grasshopper was an experimental technology-demonstrator, suborbital reusable launch vehicle (RLV), a vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rocket. The first VTVL flight test vehicle—Grasshopper, built on a Falcon 9 v1.0 first-stage tank—made a total of eight test flights between September 2012 and October 2013. All eight flights were from

1482-404: A larger payload fairing, and was intended to be partially reusable. Its first launch was planned for mid-2011, but the Falcon 1 and Falcon 1e were withdrawn from the market, with SpaceX citing "limited demand," before its debut. Payloads that would have flown on the Falcon 1 were instead to be flown on the Falcon 9 using excess capacity. The Falcon 1e was to be 6.1 m (20 ft) longer than

1596-504: A multi-stage launch vehicle to be developed and built by SpaceX; and a mating and integration system—allowing the carrier aircraft to safely carry and release the booster—to be built by Dynetics, a Huntsville, Alabama -based engineering company. The whole system will be the largest aircraft ever built; with the first test flight of the carrier aircraft originally expected in 2015 from Scaled Composites' facilities in Mojave, California , while

1710-725: A stance which seems to be in conflict with the market itself." SpaceX launched its first satellite to geostationary orbit in December 2013 ( SES-8 ) and followed that a month later with its second, Thaicom 6 , beginning to offer competition to the European and Russian launch providers that had been the major players in the commercial communications satellite market in recent years. SpaceX prices undercut its major competitors—the Ariane 5 and Proton —in this market. Moreover, SpaceX prices for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are much lower than

1824-511: A successful vertical landing. Grasshopper made its eighth and final test flight on October 7, 2013, flying to an altitude of 744 m (2,441 ft; 0.462 mi) before making its eighth successful vertical landing. The Grasshopper test vehicle is now retired. The Falcon 1e was a proposed upgrade of the SpaceX Falcon 1. The Falcon 1e would have featured a larger first stage with a higher thrust engine, an upgraded second stage engine,

1938-528: A total of 418 seconds. The Falcon 1e planned to use Aluminum Lithium alloy 2195 in the second stage, a change from the 2014 Aluminum used in the Falcon 1 second stages. Falcon 1e launches were intended to occur from Omelek Island , part of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands , and from Cape Canaveral , however SpaceX had announced that they would consider other locations as long as there

2052-526: Is a "business case for establishing the requested launch site". Following a demonstration flight, the Falcon 1e was intended to make a series of launches carrying Orbcomm O2G spacecraft, with a total of eighteen satellites being launched, several per rocket. EADS Astrium had been responsible for marketing the Falcon 1e in Europe. The Falcon 5 was a proposed two-stage-to-orbit partially reusable launch vehicle designed by SpaceX. The first stage of Falcon 5

2166-497: Is a very competitive price compared to ULA prices for government payloads of the same size. ULA prices to the US government are nearly $ 400 million for current launches of Falcon 9- and Falcon Heavy-class payloads. SpaceX had a rare coincidence of four rockets (all types of operational and under-development rockets) on all four of its orbital launch pads and two Dragon 2s (both types of Dragon 2s) on orbit on 10 January 2023. This

2280-656: Is an EELV -class vehicle, intended to compete with the Delta IV and the Atlas V , along with launchers of other nations as well. Both stages were designed for reuse. A similarly designed Falcon 5 rocket was also envisioned to fit between the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, but development was dropped to concentrate on the Falcon ;9. The first version of the Falcon 9, Falcon 9 v1.0 , was developed in 2005–2010, and flew five orbital missions in 2010–2013. The second version of

2394-477: Is made from a special stainless steel alloy that SpaceX has dubbed "30X". The Falcon 1 was a small, planned to be partially reusable rocket capable of placing several hundred kilograms into low earth orbit. It also functioned as a testbed for developing concepts and components for the larger Falcon 9. Initial Falcon 1 flights were launched from the US government's Reagan Test Site on the island atoll of Kwajalein in

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2508-405: Is the plan to establish a self-sustained large scale settlement and colony on Mars, claiming self-determination under direct democracy . The main motivation behind this is the belief that the colonization of Mars allows humanity to become multiplanetary and therefore secures the long-term survival of the human species in case of Earth being rid of human life. Colonization is to be achieved via

2622-484: The Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands . Liftoff occurred at 23:15 UTC on 28 September 15 minutes into a 5-hour launch window. If the launch had been scrubbed, it could have been conducted during the same window until 1 October. 9 minutes 31 seconds after launch, the second-stage engine shut down, after the vehicle reached orbit. The initial orbit was reported to be about 330 × 650 km. Following

2736-470: The McGregor, Texas , testing facilities of defunct Beal Aerospace , where it refitted the largest test stand at the facilities for Falcon 9 testing. On 22 November 2008, the stand tested the nine Merlin 1C engines of the Falcon 9, which deliver 770,000 pounds-force (3,400 kN) of thrust, well under the stand's capacity of 3,300,000 pounds-force (15,000 kN). The first Falcon 9 vehicle

2850-622: The McGregor, Texas, test facility . Grasshopper began flight testing in September 2012 with a brief, three-second hop. It was followed by a second hop in November 2012, which consisted of an 8-second flight that took the testbed approximately 5.4 m (18 ft) off the ground. A third flight occurred in December 2012 of 29 seconds duration, with extended hover under rocket engine power, in which it ascended to an altitude of 40 m (130 ft) before descending under rocket power to come to

2964-536: The Trailblazer (Jumpstart-1) satellite for the US Air Force , the NanoSail-D and PREsat nanosatellites for NASA and a space burial payload for Celestis . The rocket did not reach orbit. However, the first stage, with the new Merlin 1C engine, performed perfectly. When preparing for launch, an earlier launch attempt was delayed by the unexpected slow loading of helium onto the Falcon 1; thus exposing

3078-724: The United States Department of Defense under a program that evaluates new US launch vehicles suitable for use by DARPA . As part of a US$ 15 million contract, Falcon 1 was to carry the TacSat-1 in 2005. By late May 2005, SpaceX stated that Falcon 1 was ready to launch TacSat-1 from Vandenberg. But the Air Force did not want the launch of an untested rocket to occur until the final Titan IV flew from nearby SLC 4E. Subsequent and repeated delays due to Falcon 1 launch failures delayed TacSat-1's launch. After TacSat-2

3192-409: The first Integrated Flight Test , Starship became the most massive, most powerful, and tallest vehicle ever to fly. SpaceX has developed Starship with the intention of lowering launch costs using economies of scale , aiming to achieve this by reusing both rocket stages by "catching" them with the launch tower's systems, increasing payload mass to orbit, increasing launch frequency, mass-manufacturing

3306-586: The long-term survival of the human species by becoming multiplanetary. SpaceX has been setting up since 2014 a facility called Starbase and more recently a factory called Starfactory on the previously populated and wildlife area Boca Chica (Texas) peninsula in the Rio Grande delta at the Gulf of Mexico , partly justified by SpaceX with its colonial perspective, to launch and build an in development fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle with

3420-598: The COTS Demo Flight 1 to occur the second quarter of 2008; this flight was delayed several times, occurring at 15:43 GMT on 8 December 2010. The rocket successfully deployed an operational Dragon spacecraft at 15:53 GMT. Dragon orbited the Earth twice, and then made a controlled reentry burn that put it on target for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico. The first flight of the Falcon 9 v1.1

3534-543: The F9A carrier aircraft was proposed to travel to a launch point up to 2,200 km (1,200 nautical miles) away from the airfield and fly at a launch altitude of 9,100 m (30,000 feet). A month after the initial announcement, Stratolaunch confirmed that the first stage of the F9A launch vehicle would have only four engines, not the five that were shown in the mission video in December, and that they would be SpaceX Merlin 1D engines. As initially announced, Stratolaunch Systems

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3648-439: The Falcon 1 and 1e would fly as secondary payloads on the Falcon 9. Historically, the Falcon 1 was originally planned to launch about 600 kilograms (1,300 lb) to low-Earth orbit for US$ 6,000,000 but later declined to approximately 420 kilograms (930 lb) as the price increased to approximately US$ 9,000,000. It was SpaceX's offering intended to open up the smallsat launch market to competition . The final version of

3762-480: The Falcon 1 in order to concentrate company resources on its larger Falcon 9 launch vehicle and other development projects. The first version of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, Falcon 9 v1.0 , was developed in 2005–2010, and was launched for the first time in 2010. Falcon 9 v1.0 made five flights in 2010–2013, when it was retired. On 8 September 2005, SpaceX announced the development of the Falcon 9 rocket, which has nine Merlin engines in its first stage. The design

3876-564: The Falcon 1 was designed to minimize price per launch for low-Earth-orbit satellites , increase reliability, and optimize flight environment and time to launch. It also was used to verify components and structural design concepts that would be reused in the Falcon 9 . SpaceX started with the idea that the smallest useful orbital rocket was the minimum viable product (Falcon 1 with about 450 kg or 990 lb to orbit), instead of building something larger and more complicated, and then running out of money and going bankrupt. The first stage

3990-785: The Falcon 1, 9, and Heavy are named after the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars film series. Falcon Heavy (FH) is a super heavy lift space launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX . The Falcon Heavy is a variant of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle comprising three Falcon 9 first stages: a reinforced center core, and two additional side boosters . All three boosters are capable of being recovered and reused, although most flights use unrecoverable stripped-down center cores to increase performance. The side boosters assigned to Falcon Heavy's first flight were recovered from two prior Falcon 9 missions. SpaceX successfully launched

4104-410: The Falcon 1, the Falcon 1e, was projected to provide approximately 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) for US$ 11 million. Several years ago, SpaceX was going to open up the smallsat launch market with the Falcon 1, which originally was to launch about 600 kilograms to LEO for $ 6 million; the payload capacity later declined to about 420 kg (930 lb) as the price increased to around $ 9 million. Later,

4218-578: The Falcon 1, with an overall length of 27.4 m (90 ft), but with the same 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) diameter. Its first stage had a dry mass of 2,580 kg (5,680 lb), and was powered by an upgraded pump-fed Merlin 1C engine burning 39,000 kg (87,000 lb) of RP-1 and liquid oxygen . The first stage burn time was around 169 seconds. The second stage had a dry mass of 540 kg (1,200 lb) and its pressure-fed Kestrel 2 engine burned 4,000 kg (8,900 lb) of propellant. The restartable Kestrel 2 could burn for up to

4332-531: The Falcon 1e was to provide approximately 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) for $ 11 million, but the company withdrew the vehicle from the market, citing limited demand. All flights were launched from Kwajalein Atoll using the SpaceX launch facility on Omelek Island and range facilities of the Reagan Test Site . Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 3 W was the original launch site for Falcon 1, but it

4446-482: The Falcon 1e. The helium pressurization system pumps propellant to the engine, supplies heated pressurized gas for the attitude control thrusters, and is used for zero- g propellant accumulation prior to engine restart. The Kestrel engine includes a titanium heat exchanger to pass waste heat to the helium, thereby greatly extending its work capacity. The pressure tanks are composite overwrapped pressure vessels made by Arde corporation with inconel alloy and are

4560-407: The Falcon 5. Falcon 9 Air would have been an air-launched multi-stage launch vehicle under development by SpaceX in 2011–2012. Falcon 9 Air was to be carried to launch position and launch altitude by a Stratolaunch Systems carrier aircraft , the world's largest aircraft by wingspan. Payload to low Earth orbit was projected to be 6,100 kg (13,400 pounds). Propulsion for the rocket

4674-488: The Falcon 9 Air, as part of the Stratolaunch project. As initially conceived with the SpaceX Falcon 9 Air (F9A) launch vehicle, Stratolaunch was to initially place satellites of up to 6,100 kg (13,400 pounds) into low Earth orbit; and once established as a reliable system, announced that it would explore a human-rated version. The system can take off from airfields with a minimum 3,700 m (12,100 feet) length, and

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4788-506: The Falcon 9 Air. In May 2013, the Falcon 9 Air was eventually replaced in the development plan by the Orbital Sciences Pegasus II air-launched rocket. SpaceX Falcon rockets are being offered to the launch industry at highly competitive prices , allowing SpaceX to build a large manifest of over 50 launches by late 2013, with two-thirds of them for commercial customers exclusive of US government flights. In

4902-575: The Falcon Heavy on February 6, 2018, delivering a payload comprising Musk's personal Tesla Roadster onto a trajectory reaching the orbit of Mars . The "Full Thrust" version of Falcon 9 is an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 v1.1. It was used the first time on 22 December 2015 for the ORBCOMM-2 launch at Cape Canaveral SLC-40 launch pad. The first stage was upgraded with a larger liquid oxygen tank, loaded with subcooled propellants to allow

5016-491: The Kestrel 2nd-stage engine. The third Falcon 1 flight used a new regenerative cooling system for the first-stage Merlin engine , and the engine development was responsible for the almost 17-month flight delay. The new cooling system turned out to be the major reason the mission failed; because the first stage rammed into the second-stage engine bell at staging , due to excess thrust provided by residual propellant left over from

5130-525: The NASA experiments in the payload and the TDRS system. The first launch attempt on 21 March 2007 was aborted at 00:05 GMT at the last second before launch and after the engine had ignited. It was, however, decided that another launch should be made the same day. The rocket successfully left the launch pad at 01:10 GMT on 21 March 2007 with a DemoSat payload for DARPA and NASA . The rocket performed well during

5244-402: The Pacific Ocean, and represented the first attempt to fly a ground-launched rocket to orbit from that site. On 26 March 2006, the Falcon 1's maiden flight failed only seconds after leaving the pad due to a fuel line rupture. After a year, the second flight was launched on 22 March 2007 and it also ended in failure, due to a spin stabilization problem that automatically caused sensors to turn off

5358-535: The RazakSAT spacecraft and the Falcon 1 launch vehicle. A concern had been identified regarding the potential impact of predicted vehicle environments on the satellite. On 1 June, SpaceX announced that the next launch window would open Monday, 13 July and extend through Tuesday, 14 July, with a daily window to open at 21:00 UTC (09:00 local time ). The launch on Monday, 13 July was successful, placing RazakSAT into its initial parking orbit . Thirty-eight minutes later,

5472-411: The US launch industry, SpaceX prices its product offerings well below its competition . Nevertheless, "somewhat incongruously, its primary US competitor, United Launch Alliance (ULA), still maintained (in early 2013) that it requires a large annual subsidy , which neither SpaceX nor Orbital Sciences receives, in order to remain financially viable, with the reason cited as a lack of market opportunity,

5586-403: The already successful robotic missions, with crewed missions simply being too expensive, dangerous and boring. Regarding the execution of SpaceX's Mars program, the plans have been criticized as far-fetched because of uncertainties in its financing and because it primarily addresses transportation to Mars and not the steps that follow. As of July 2019, SpaceX had not publicly detailed plans for

5700-626: The atmosphere and splitting into its raw components. This will involve using the O2 as well as CH4 for fuel production, and specifically the O2 in addition to Nitrogen (the second-most common gas in the Martian atmosphere) for breathing air within habitats. The program aims to send a million people to Mars, using a thousand Starships sent during a Mars launch window , which occurs approximately every 26 months. Proposed journeys would require 80 to 150 days of transit time, averaging approximately 115 days (for

5814-409: The bump did not appear to have caused damage, and that the reason why they chose a niobium skirt instead of carbon–carbon was to prevent problematic damage in the event of such incidents. Shortly after second-stage ignition, a stabilization ring detached from the engine bell as designed. At around T+4:20, a circular coning oscillation began, which increased in amplitude until video was lost. At T+5:01,

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5928-419: The colonization of Mars involves a crewed mission as early as 2029 and the development of a self-sustaining colony by 2050. Musk has stated in 2024 that in-situ resource utilization will be critical for establishing a self-sustaining colony, and that SpaceX plans to begin its efforts in advancing that field in "seven to nine years". Current theories for in-situ resource utilization involve harvesting CO2 from

6042-498: The colonization of Mars since at least 2001 at the Mars Society . As early as 2007, Elon Musk publicly stated a personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars. Subsequently, SpaceX has stated its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure the long-term survival of the human species , proposing since the 2000s and early 2010s different concepts for reaching Mars, including space tugs . Red Dragon

6156-439: The concept, suggesting the possibility that the technological advancements that could be developed on Mars will come to benefit the whole of Earth. SpaceX's plan and colonization of Mars in general, has been criticized ethically and technically. It has been argued that settling Mars may divert attention from solving problems on Earth that may also become problems on Mars, with the reasoning that plans about Mars are always about

6270-445: The correction. The rocket continued to within one minute of its expected duration and also managed to deploy the satellite mass-simulator ring. While the webcast video ended prematurely, SpaceX was able to retrieve telemetry for the entire flight. The status of the first stage is unknown; it was not recovered because of problems with a nonfunctioning GPS tracking device. The rocket reached a final altitude of 289 km (180 mi) and

6384-580: The development and use of reusable and mass-produced super heavy-lift launch vehicles called Starship . Starship has been referred to as the "holy grail of rocketry" for extraplanetary colonization . These plans for colonization have garnered both praise and criticism, being supported as a result of public excitement for further human involvement beyond Earth and a desire to prefer human longevity, and being questioned for its existential perspective, execution, livability and legality. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, has engaged in space advocacy relating to

6498-470: The failure seen on the previous flight, recontact between the first and second stages, by dissipating residual thrust in the first-stage engine before separating them. Ratsat and the attached second stage are still in orbit as of 2021. SpaceX announced that it had completed construction of the fifth Falcon 1 rocket and was transporting the vehicle to the Kwajalein Atoll launch complex where it

6612-446: The first privately developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to successfully reach orbit. The Falcon 1 used LOX / RP-1 for both stages, the first stage powered by a single pump-fed Merlin engine, and the second stage powered by SpaceX's pressure-fed Kestrel vacuum engine. The vehicle was launched a total of five times. After three failed launch attempts, Falcon 1 achieved orbit on its fourth attempt in September 2008 with

6726-403: The first privately funded and developed liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit. The fifth launch was its first commercial flight, and placed RazakSAT into low Earth orbit . The maiden flight of the Falcon 1 was postponed several times because of various technical issues with the new vehicle. Scheduling conflicts with a Titan IV launch at Vandenberg AFB also caused delays and resulted in

6840-495: The first stage engine (Merlin) is ignited and throttled to full power while the launcher is restrained and all systems are verified by the flight computer. If the systems are operating correctly, the rocket is released and clears the tower in about seven seconds. The first-stage burn lasts about 2 minutes and 49 seconds. Stage separation is accomplished with explosive bolts and a pneumatically actuated pusher system. The second stage Kestrel engine burns for about six minutes, inserting

6954-423: The first test launch of the rocket was not expected before 2016 at the time of the project getting underway. As the Stratolaunch development program progressed, it became clear that Stratolaunch and the system integrator, Dynetics, wanted modifications to the SpaceX basic launch-vehicle design that SpaceX felt were not strategic to the direction they were growing the company. These included requested modifications to

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7068-402: The first time and on its fourth flight test , both stages of the vehicle achieved controlled splashdown after launch for the first time. On 7 September 2024, SpaceX announced that it would launch the first uncrewed Starship missions to Mars in two years, aligning with the next Earth-Mars transfer window . Elon Musk shared on the social media platform X that these missions would focus on testing

7182-426: The first-stage burn. However, during staging, the interstage fairing on the top of the first stage bumped the second-stage engine bell. The bump occurred as the second-stage nozzle exited the interstage, with the first stage rotating much faster than expected (a rotation rate of about 2.5°/s vs. expected rate of 0.5°/s maximum), thereby making contact with the niobium nozzle of the second stage. Elon Musk reported that

7296-407: The fuel and oxidizer to the cryogenic helium, rendering the vehicle in a premature launch state. Still within the specified window, the launch attempt was recycled, but aborted half a second before lift-off because of a sensor misreading. The problem was resolved, and the launch was again recycled. With 25 minutes left in the launch window, the Falcon 1 lifted off from Omelek Island at 03:35 UTC. During

7410-507: The future, it may be mass-produced and cost about $ 230,000 per engine or $ 100 per kilonewton . Musk has made statements on several occasions about aspirational dates for Starship's earliest possible Mars landing, including in 2022, that a crewed mission to Mars could take place no earlier than 2029. SpaceX's early missions to Mars are to involve small fleets of Starship spacecraft , funded by public–private partnerships . SpaceX has stated on several occasions aspirational plans to build

7524-440: The higher-propellant-capacity cooling system. On 28 September 2008, the Falcon 1 succeeded in reaching orbit on its fourth attempt , becoming the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket to do so. The Falcon 1 carried its first and only successful commercial payload into orbit on 13 July 2009, on its fifth launch . No launch attempts of the Falcon 1 have been made since 2009, and SpaceX is no longer taking launch reservations for

7638-459: The house. So it was a shitty summer. Following the three prior failures, the SpaceX team assembled the fourth rocket using available parts in six weeks as a last chance for the company. A Boeing C-17 Globemaster III was chartered to quickly deliver the rocket, but along the way, the rocket partially imploded when repressurization exceeded what the SpaceX team had expected from the C-17's manual and

7752-425: The impact of human settlement on Mars, with regards to planetary protection , a crucial issue in space exploration, has not been comprehensively answered. It has been argued that there are physical and social consequences that need to be addressed with regards to long-term survival on the surface of Mars. Former U.S. President Barack Obama has characterized Mars as more inhospitable than Earth would be "even after

7866-498: The launch moving to the Reagan Test Site in the Kwajalein Atoll . The maiden launch was scheduled for 31 October 2005, but was held off, then rescheduled for 25 November, which also did not occur. Another attempt was made on 19 December 2005 but was scrubbed when a faulty valve caused a vacuum in the first stage fuel tank which sucked inward and caused structural damage. After replacing the first stage, Falcon 1 launched Saturday, 25 March 2006 at 09:30 local time . The DARPA payload

7980-435: The launch system— Falcon 9 v1.1 —has been retired meanwhile. Falcon 9 v1.1 was developed in 2010–2013, and made its maiden flight in September 2013. The Falcon 9 v1.1 is 60 percent heavier, with 60 percent more thrust than the v1.0 version of the Falcon 9. It includes realigned first-stage engines and 60 percent longer fuel tanks, making it more susceptible to bending during flight. The engines themselves have been upgraded to

8094-590: The launch vehicle to add chines . Development ceased in the fourth quarter of 2012, as SpaceX and Stratolaunch "amicably agreed to end [their] contractual relationship because the [Stratolaunch] launch vehicle design [had] departed significantly from the Falcon derivative vehicle envisioned by SpaceX and does not fit well with [SpaceX's] long-term strategic business model". On 27 November 2012 Stratolaunch announced that they would partner with Orbital Sciences Corporation —initially on an air-launched vehicle study contract—instead of SpaceX, effectively ending development of

8208-437: The launch video, rocking back and forth a bit, and then at T+26 seconds rapidly pitched over. Impact occurred at T+41 seconds onto a dead reef about 250 feet from the launch site. The FalconSAT–2 payload separated from the booster and landed on the island, with damage reports varying from slight to significant. SpaceX initially attributed the fire to an improperly tightened fuel-line nut. A later review by DARPA found that

8322-532: The launch, small vehicle roll oscillations were visible. Stage separation occurred as planned, but because residual fuel in the new Merlin 1C engine evaporated and provided transient thrust, the first stage recontacted the second stage, preventing successful completion of the mission. The SpaceX flight-3 mission summary indicated that flight 4 would take place as planned and that the failure of flight 3 did not make any technological upgrades necessary. A longer time between first-stage engine shutdown and stage separation

8436-502: The more powerful Merlin 1D . These improvements increased the payload capability from 10,450 to 13,150 kilograms (23,040 to 28,990 lb). The stage separation system has been redesigned and reduces the number of attachment points from twelve to three, and the vehicle has upgraded avionics and software. The new first stage was also supposed to be used as side boosters on the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. The company purchased

8550-472: The name Starship . Aiming with its reusability to drastically reduce launch costs and scaled construction and swift maintenance between flights, this has been the basis for SpaceX to advance its Mars ambitions and when operational will allow it to provide the necessary transportation capabilities for its colonial goals. The reusability and its resulting reduced launch costs is expected to expand space access to more payloads and entities. Musk has stated that

8664-805: The nine synodic periods occurring between 2024 and 2041). Mars colonization has gained increased interest, both supportive and critical, since the technical achievements of SpaceX's and Elon Musk's rise of popularity in the 2010s, and more so into the 2020s. Some experts, like Robert Zubrin , support the concept due to the prevalence of water ice in the form of permafrost and glaciers on Mars, as well as other resources like carbon dioxide and nitrogen . According to Zubrin, Starship's planned lower launch cost could make space research profitable, allowing major advancements in medicine , computers , material science , making mining profitable as well and space-based economy and colonization practical. Others like Saul Zimet have expressed strong support for

8778-452: The nut was properly tightened, since its locking wire was still in place, but had failed because of corrosion from saltwater spray. SpaceX implemented numerous changes to the rocket design and software to prevent this type of failure from recurring, including stainless steel to replace aluminum hardware (which is actually less expensive, although the trade off is being a little heavier in weight) and pre-liftoff computer checks that increased by

8892-464: The other four engines longer to achieve the correct orbit. In comparison, the Space Shuttle only had partial engine-out capability, meaning that it was not able to achieve proper orbit by burning the remaining engines longer. In 2006, SpaceX stated that the Falcon 5 was a Falcon 9 with four engines removed. Since the launchers were being co-developed, work on the Falcon 9 was also applicable to

9006-584: The payload into a low Earth orbit. It is capable of multiple restarts. SpaceX quoted Falcon 1 launch prices as being the same for all customers. In 2005 Falcon 1 was advertised as costing $ 5.9 million ($ 7.3 million when adjusted for inflation in 2015). In 2006 until 2007 the quoted price of the rocket when operational was $ 6.7 million. In late 2009 SpaceX announced new prices for the Falcon 1 and 1e at $ 7 million and $ 8.5 million respectively, with small discounts available for multi-launch contracts, and in 2012 announced that payloads originally selected as flying on

9120-446: The planet's subsurface water ice" as well as construction materials to build transparent domes for crop growth. As of September 2024, SpaceX plans to launch five uncrewed Starships to Mars during the next available Earth-Mars transfer window in 2026. Musk plans for the first crewed Mars missions to have approximately 12 people, with goals to "build out and troubleshoot the propellant plant and Mars Base Alpha power system" and establish

9234-406: The plans we have for Earth. Jeff Bezos , founder of Blue Origin , SpaceX's competitor in commercial spaceflight , has rejected Mars colonization as a mere "Plan B", suggesting instead to preserve Earth through space development and moving all heavy industrial activity to space. SpaceX's perspective has also been criticised as perpetuating the idea of colonialism . It has been pointed out that

9348-470: The projected prices for Ariane 6 , projected to be available in 2024. As a result of additional mission requirements for government launches, SpaceX prices US government missions somewhat higher than similar commercial missions, but has noted that even with those added services, Falcon 9 missions contracted to the government are still priced well below US$ 100 million (even with approximately US$ 9 million in special security charges for some missions) which

9462-453: The reason that I ended up being the chief engineer or chief designer, was not because I want to, it's because I couldn't hire anyone. Nobody good would join. So I ended up being that by default. And I messed up the first three launches. The first three launches failed. Fortunately the fourth launch which was – that was the last money that we had for Falcon 1 – the fourth launch worked, or that would have been it for SpaceX. Musk further explained

9576-404: The reliability of landing Starships intact on Mars. SpaceX plans to launch five uncrewed Starships to Mars during that transfer window. If successful, the company plans to begin crewed flights to Mars in about four years. As early as 2007, Elon Musk stated a personal goal of eventually enabling human exploration and settlement of Mars. SpaceX has stated its goal is to colonize Mars to ensure

9690-487: The rocket had to undergo emergency repairs to be saved. Despite the challenges, the fourth flight of the Falcon 1 rocket successfully flew on 28 September 2008, delivering a 165-kilogram (363-pound) non-functional boilerplate spacecraft into low Earth orbit . It was Falcon 1's first successful launch and the first successful orbital launch of any privately funded and developed , fully liquid-propelled carrier rocket. The launch occurred from Omelek Island , part of

9804-483: The rocket's second-stage engine fired again to circularize the orbit. The payload was then successfully deployed. After the launch Elon Musk , founder and CEO of SpaceX, told a reporter the launch had been a success. "We nailed the orbit to well within target parameters...pretty much a bullseye" Musk said. The Falcon 1 upper stage is still in low Earth orbit as of 2021. Following the fifth flight, future launches of Falcon-1 were postponed, and eventually cancelled, and

9918-589: The rockets and adapting it to a wide range of space missions. Starship is the latest project in SpaceX's reusable launch system development program and plan to colonize Mars . Starship's two stages are the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft . Both stages are equipped with Raptor engines , the first flown and mass-produced full-flow staged combustion cycle engines, which burn liquid methane (natural gas) and liquid oxygen . The main structure

10032-486: The same as those used in the Delta III . The second stage was powered by a pressure-fed Kestrel engine with 31 kilonewtons (7,000 lbf) of vacuum thrust and a vacuum specific impulse of 330 s. The first stage was originally planned to return by parachute to a water landing and be recovered for reuse, but this capability was never demonstrated. The second stage was not designed to be reusable. At launch,

10146-455: The second-stage LOX tank and adjusting the control logic. Furthermore, the Merlin shutdown transient was to be addressed by initiating shutdown at a much lower thrust level, albeit at some risk to engine reusability. The SpaceX team wished to work on the problem to avoid a recurrence as they changed over into the operational phase for Falcon 1. SpaceX attempted the third Falcon 1 launch on 3 August 2008 (GMT) from Kwajalein . This flight carried

10260-403: The situation to Ars Technica journalist Eric Berger: At the time I had to allocate a lot of capital to Tesla and SolarCity , so I was out of money. We had three failures under our belt. So it's pretty hard to go raise money. The recession is starting to hit. The Tesla financing round that we tried to raise that summer had failed. I got divorced. I didn't even have a house. My ex-wife had

10374-476: The spacecraft's life-support systems, radiation protection, and in situ resource utilization, which are essential for space colonization. George Dvorsky writing for Gizmodo characterized Musk's timeline for Martian colonization as "stupendously unreasonable" and "pure delusion". SpaceX intends to base the colony governing laws on self-determination , and  direct democracy (instead of representative democracy ). Some of this has been introduced through

10488-440: The terms and services agreement for individual users of SpaceX's Starlink platform, stating the following: "the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities". In contrast to such claims, international space law , proclaiming space being " province of all mankind ", holds that Mars is not free to be claimed, its legal status sharing some elements of

10602-507: The vehicle decommissioned from service, with SpaceX stating "We could not make Falcon 1 work as a business." Launches which had been booked onto Falcon-1 were moved to other vehicles or rebooked as Falcon-9 rideshare payloads. SpaceX Mars Colonization Program SpaceX Mars colonization program (colloquially also referred to as Occupy Mars ) is a planned objective of the company SpaceX and particularly of its founder Elon Musk to colonize Mars . The main element of this ambition

10716-532: The vehicle started to roll, and telemetry ended. According to Elon Musk , the second-stage engine shut down at T+7:30 because of a roll-control issue. Sloshing of propellant in the LOX tank increased oscillation. This oscillation would normally have been dampened by the Thrust Vector Control system in the second stage, but the bump to the second-stage nozzle during separation caused an overcompensation in

10830-431: Was September 29, 2013 from Vandenberg Air Force Base carrying several payloads including Canada's CASSIOPE technology demonstration satellite. The Falcon 9 v1.1 features stretched first and second stages, and a new octagonal arrangement of the 9 Merlin-1D engines on the first stage (replacing the square pattern of engines in v1.0). SpaceX notes that the Falcon 9 v1.1 is cheaper to manufacture, and longer than v1.0. It also has

10944-510: Was a 2011–2017 concept mission which would have used a modified Dragon 2 spacecraft as a low-cost Mars lander. If flown, it would have been launched on a Falcon Heavy , and land solely via the use of its SuperDraco retro-propulsion thrusters , as parachutes would have required significant vehicle modifications. In 2011, SpaceX planned on proposing Red Dragon for the Discovery Mission #13, which would launch in 2022, but it

11058-439: Was a collaborative project that included subcontractors SpaceX, Scaled Composites , and Dynetics , with funding provided by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen 's Vulcan investment and project management company. Stratolaunch set out to build a mobile launch system with three primary components: a carrier aircraft (aircraft concept was designed by Burt Rutan , but the aircraft will be designed and built by Scaled Composites);

11172-413: Was abandoned at the test-fire stage due to persistent schedule conflicts with adjacent launch pads. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 (the Falcon 9 pad) was considered for Falcon 1 launches but never developed before Falcon 1 was retired. Falcon 1 made five launches. The first three failed, however the subsequent two flights were successful, the first successful launch making it

11286-571: Was cancelled, in favor of the much larger Starship spacecraft . The company's current plan was first formally proposed at the 2016 International Astronautical Congress alongside a fully-reusable launch vehicle, the Interplanetary Transport System . Since then, the launch vehicle was renamed to "Starship", and has been in development since. The development program reached multiple milestones in 2024 such as on its third test flight , it reached its desired trajectory for

11400-537: Was chosen for the Raptor engines because it is relatively inexpensive, produces a low amount of soot as compared to other hydrocarbons, and can be created on Mars from carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and hydrogen via the Sabatier reaction . The engine family uses a new alloy for the main combustion chamber, allowing it to contain 300 bar (4,400 psi) of pressure, the highest of all current engines. In

11514-518: Was coupled before the end of the year with SpaceX igniting all of their rockets within 24 hours on 28–29 December 2023 (Falcon family rockets launching on their missions and both Starship stages performing static fires). For Falcon 1 Flights 3 through 5. Merlin 1A was used for Falcon 1 Flights 1 and 2. Falcon 1 Falcon 1 was a two-stage small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009 by SpaceX , an American aerospace manufacturer . On 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 became

11628-419: Was declared to be enough. The full video of the third launch attempt was made public by SpaceX a few weeks after the launch. Musk blamed himself for the failure of this launch, as well as the two prior attempts, explaining at the 2017 International Astronautical Congress that his role as chief engineer in the early Falcon 1 launches was not by choice and almost bankrupted the company before succeeding: And

11742-443: Was delayed 45 minutes from 23:00 GMT because of a data-relay issue, and then scrubbed 1 minute 2 seconds before launch at 23:45 because of a computer issue, whereby the safety computer incorrectly detected a transmission failure caused by a hardware delay of a few milliseconds in the process. 20 March attempt was delayed 65 minutes from an originally planned time of 23:00 because of a problem with communications between one of

11856-834: Was developed as part of the United States Air Force 's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and NASA 's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. It was first launched from Cape Canaveral in 2010 and later replaced by the Falcon 9 v1.1 series in 2013, which was also launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 Full Thrust and Falcon Heavy variants followed in 2015 and 2018. Falcon Heavy launches from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and Falcon 9 additionally launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg . Elon Musk , CEO of SpaceX, has stated that

11970-495: Was developed with private funding. The only other orbital launch vehicles to be privately funded and developed were the Conestoga in 1982; and Pegasus , first launched in 1990, which uses a large aircraft as its launch platform. The total development cost of Falcon 1 was approximately US$ 90 million to US$ 100 million. While the development of Falcon 1 was privately funded, the first two Falcon 1 launches were purchased by

12084-722: Was integrated at Cape Canaveral on 30 December 2008. NASA was planning for a flight to take place in January 2010; however the maiden flight was postponed several times and took place on 4 June 2010. At 2:50pm EST (14:50 ET), the Falcon 9 rocket successfully reached orbit. The second flight for the Falcon 9 vehicle was the COTS Demo Flight 1 , the first launch under the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract designed to provide "seed money" for development of new boosters. The original NASA contract called for

12198-628: Was launched on an Orbital Sciences Minotaur I on 16 December 2006, the Department of Defense re-evaluated the need for launching TacSat-1. In August 2007, the Department of Defense canceled the planned launch of TacSat-1 because all of the TacSat objectives had been met. An August 2005 update on SpaceX's website showed 6 launches planned for Falcon 1, with customers including MDA Corp ( CASSIOPE , which eventually launched in 2013 on Falcon 9), Swedish Space Corp and US Air Force. According to SpaceX,

12312-580: Was made from friction-stir-welded 2219 aluminum alloy . It employs a common bulkhead between the LOX and RP-1 tanks, as well as flight pressure stabilization. It can be transported safely without pressurization (like the heavier Delta II isogrid design) but gains additional strength when pressurized for flight (like the Atlas II , which could not be transported unpressurized). The parachute system, built by Irvin Para­;chute Corp­oration, uses

12426-488: Was not submitted. It was then proposed in 2014 as a low-cost way for NASA to achieve a Mars sample return by 2021. In the concept, the Red Dragon capsule would be equipped with the system needed to return samples gathered on Mars. NASA did not fund this concept. In 2016, SpaceX planned on launching two Red Dragon vehicles in 2018, with NASA providing technical support instead of funding. However, in 2017, Red Dragon

12540-427: Was planned to be provided by four Merlin 1D rocket engines , engines that were also to be used in the Falcon 9 v1.1 beginning in 2013, and also on the Falcon Heavy in 2014. Its first flight was notionally planned for 2016. In December 2011 Stratolaunch Systems announced that it would contract with SpaceX to develop an air-launched , multiple-stage launch vehicle , as a derivative of Falcon 9 technology, called

12654-435: Was powered by a single pump-fed Merlin 1C engine burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen providing 410 kilonewtons (92,000 lbf) of sea-level thrust and a specific impulse of 245 s (vacuum I sp 290 s). The first stage burns to depletion, taking around 169 seconds to do so. The second stage Falcon 1 tanks were built with a cryogenic -compatible 2014 aluminum alloy , with the plan to move to aluminum-lithium alloy on

12768-512: Was the United States Air Force Academy 's FalconSAT–2 , which would have measured space plasma phenomena. The launch took place on Saturday, 24 March 2006 at 22:30 UTC, from the SpaceX launch site on Omelek Island in the Marshall Islands . It ended in failure less than a minute into the flight because of a fuel line leak and subsequent fire. The vehicle had a noticeable rolling motion after liftoff, as shown on

12882-481: Was to be launched on 21 April 2009, which would be 20 April 2009 in the United States. Less than a week before the scheduled launch date, Malaysian news reported that unsafe vibration levels had been detected in the rocket and repairs were expected to take about six weeks. On 20 April 2009, SpaceX announced in a press release that the launch had been postponed because of a potential compatibility issue between

12996-515: Was to be powered by five Merlin engines , and the upper stage by one Merlin engine, both burning RP-1 with a liquid oxygen oxidizer. Along with the Falcon 9 , it would have been the world's only launch vehicle with its first stage designed for reuse. The Falcon 5 would have been the first American rocket since the Saturn V to have full engine-out capability, meaning that with the loss of one engine, it can still meet mission requirements by burning

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