SpaceX
This weekend, with little fanfare, SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets. The first booster lifted off Friday night, carrying nearly three tons of supplies to the International Space Station, including two new spacesuits for NASA. A second mission launched on Sunday boosted another batch of 53 Starlink satellites, bringing the total to more than 2,500 operational Internet spacecraft in orbit.
As the Falcon 9 has become commonplace, the launches have received relatively little attention in the space launch community. This year, SpaceX has already launched 31 rockets, all of which were successfully launched. This number corresponds to the number of Falcon 9 boosters launched into orbit in 2021, which at the time was a record for the launch company.
But this year, SpaceX has taken its pace to another level with a mix of payloads including Starlink satellites, crew and cargo missions for NASA, Department of Defense missions and commercial satellites. As of Monday, a Falcon 9 rocket had been launched every 6.4 days this year, lifting about 300,000 kg into low Earth orbit. This is much more than the sum of every country and company in the world. There could be two more Starlink launches this week.
SpaceX also continued to push the boundaries of reusability. In the past month, the company has carried out three different first stages on its 13th flight. SpaceX officials say they’ve gathered enough data on the reuse of these first-stage colors that there are no demonstrators yet that would prevent each from flying many more missions.
To put this rhythm into perspective, consider the flight rate of United Launch Alliance, SpaceX’s main competitor in the United States. Counting both the Delta and Atlas fleets, ULA has launched its last 31 rockets since March 19, 2017. This is a cadence of launching every 64 days.
In other words, SpaceX is now launching at 10 rocket speeds per major American competitor. Both companies have a 100 percent success rate during this period.
This competition will change in nature in the coming years. ULA will soon debut its new heavy-lift Vulcan rocket, possibly in the first half of 2023. According to a lengthy release manifesto that covers both institutional customers and Amazon’s Project Kuiper project, the company’s cadence should increase significantly. This will likely happen in the mid-2020s as ULA expands operations and Vulcan production capabilities.
SpaceX is also making progress on its next-generation Starship rocket. This super-heavy lift rocket will likely begin a series of test flights from South Texas in the next six months. But SpaceX is also suspending operations in Florida for the commissioning of the Starship and its Super Heavy booster. To that end, the company has now assembled several segments of the orbital launch tower at Launch Complex 39-A at Kennedy Space Center. During a remote camera setup for NASA ahead of Friday’s cargo launch, photographer Trevor Mahlmann was able to capture a zoomable panorama of the launch tower for Ars.
SpaceX has not said definitively how it will divide Starship launch activities between Florida and South Texas. But it is increasingly likely that the company will conduct experimental test flights of the Starship from Texas and only move to the Florida test site after it is convinced of the vehicle’s performance. That makes sense, given the high-value assets of NASA, the Department of Defense, the National Intelligence Service and other startups nearby in Florida.
