SpaceX

SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corp is a private American aerospace and space transportation company founded by South African entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002.

Elon Musk built the whole company around reducing the cost of manufacture and launch of rockets (by building most of the rocket in-house or reusing parts of them). He also built it with the purpose of colonising Mars, which is why the company is developing the Starship rocket.

Headquarters: Hawthorne, California

Launch/Test sites: Cape Canaveral FL, Kennedy Space Center FL, Vandenberg AFB CA, McGregor TX and Omelek Island.

Rockets

Falcon 1

Height: 21.3 m

Diameter: 1.7 m

Stages: 2

LEO: 180 kg

First Launch: March 24, 2006

Launches: 5

Successes: 2

Partial Failures: 0

Failures: 3

Success Rate: 40%

Reusability: None

First Stage

Engine: Merlin

Engine Number: 1

Thrust (Sea Level): 454 kN (102,000 lb_f)

Fuel: RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen)

Second Stage

Engine: Kestrel

Engine Number: 1

Thrust (vacuum): 31 kN (7,000 lb_f)

Fuel: RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen)

Falcon 9

Overview (Falcon 9)

The Falcon 9 rocket is a partly reusable rocket designed and built by SpaceX. It has 2 stages and can deliver 22,800 kilograms (50,300 lb) to low Earth orbit, and up to 8,300 kg (18,300 lb) to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), when flying in expendable mode. The rocket measures 70 metres, has a diameter of 3,66 metres and weighs 549,054kg (1,207,920 lb) fully loaded. Its diameter is 3.7 meters. The first stage can be recovered and later on reused after separation on missions delivering a cargo of up to 5,500 kg (12,100 lb) to GTO. The first launch of the Falcon 9 was on June 2010. The first stage can be reused without major refurbishment up to 10 times (Block 5) but with a lower capacity of payload due to use and fuel saving in order to land. The first stage can either land on land (landing zone 1 or 2 in Cape Canaveral) or on a droneship (Of Course I Still Love You on the Atlantic or Just Read the Instructions on the Pacific Ocean). There are four versions. V1.0 (2010-2013) V1.1 (2013-2016) V1.2 Full Thrust (2015-2018) and Block 5 (2018-)

Data (Falcon 9)

Height: 70 m

Diameter: 3.7 m

Weight: 549,054 kg

Stages: 2

LEO: 22,800 kg

GTO: 8,300 kg

Mars: 4,020 kg

First Launch: June 4th 2010

Launches: 89

Successes: 87

Partial Failures: 0

Failures: 2

Success Rate: 97.75%

Reusability: 1st Stage

Recovery: 1st stage and Fairing

1st Stage Landings: 51/61

1st Stages Reused: 31

First Stage

Engine: Merlin 1D+

Engine Number: 9

Thrust (Sea Level): 7,607kN (1,710,000 lbf)

Fuel: RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen)

Second Stage

Engine: Merlin 1D+ Vacuum

Engine Number: 1

Burn Time: 397s

Thrust (vacuum): 981 kN (220,500 lbf)

Fuel: RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen)

Payload Height: 13.1 m

Payload Diameter: 5.2 m

Cost: 62 Million USD

Falcon Heavy

Overview (Falcon Heavy)

The Falcon Heavy is a rocket designed and built by SpaceX designed to be a workhorse when it comes to getting satellites into any orbit or even interplanetary satellites. It is the most powerful operational rocket. It was supposed to be human-rated but SpaceX decided to focus on Starship instead of doing so. It is basically a Falcon 9 with two Falcon 9 first stages strapped to the rocket as boosters. Launched for the first time in February 2018, it can deliver the heaviest satellites into orbit, even though the payload volume isn´t very big (compared to other rockets).

Data (Falcon Heavy)

Height: 70 m

Diameter: 12.2 m

Weight: 1,420,788 kg (3,132,301 lb)

Stages: 2

LEO: 63,800kg (141,000 lb)

GTO: 26,700kg (58,860 lb)

Mars: 16,800 kg

First Launch: February 6th 2018

Launches: 3

Successes: 3

Partial Failures: 0

Failures: 0

Success Rate: 100%

Reusability: 1st Stage and Boosters

1st Stage Landings: 7/9

Launch Cost: 90 Million USD

Teslas in space: 1

Boosters

Number: 2

Height: 17m

Diameter: 3.7m

Engine: Merlin 1D+

Total Engine Num: 18

Thrust (Each): 7.6 MN (1,700,000 lb_f)

Burn Time: 154 s

Specific Impulse (Sea Level): 282 s

Fuel: RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen)

First Stage

Engine: Merlin 1D+

Engine Number: 9

Thrust (Sea Level): 7.6 MN (1,700,000 lb_f)

Burn Time: 187 s

Fuel: RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen)

Second Stage

Engine: Merlin 1D+ Vacuum

Engine Number: 1

Thrust (vacuum): 934 kN (210,000 lb_f)

Burn Time: 397 s

Fuel: RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen)

Payload Height: 13.1 m

Payload Diameter: 5.2 m

Starship

Overview (Starship)

The Starship rocket is being developed by SpaceX with the purpose of getting people to the Moon and to Mars. It will also be able to send very large satellites into orbit and to transport people around the Earth in less than 30 minutes. There have been prototypes built and launched (to around 150-300 meters). It will be able to transport up to 100 humans to Mars and has the purpose of being the vehicle to colonise the neighbour planet.

Data (Starship)

Height: 120 m

Diameter: 9 m

Weight: 4,400,000 kg (9,700,000 lb)

Stages: 2

Mars: 150,000kg

Reusability: 100%

First Stage

Height: 70 m

Diameter: 9 m

Engine: Raptor

Engine Number: 31

Thrust (Sea Level): 72 MN (16 Mlbf)

Specific Impulse: 330 s

Fuel: Subcooled CH₄ / LOX

Second Stage (Starship)

Height: 50 m

Diameter: 9 m

Engine: Raptor Vacuum

Engine Number: 7

Thrust (vacuum): 13.9 MN (3,100,000 lbf)

Specific Impulse: 380 s

Fuel: Subcooled CH₄ / LOX

Payload Height: 18 m

Payload Diameter: 9 m

Payload Volume: 1,100 M3

Astronauts able to carry: 100

Engines:

The Kestrel engine was developed by SpaceX for the second stage of the Falcon 1 rocket. It uses RP-1 (kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen). Kestrel was built around the same pintle architecture as the SpaceX Merlin engine but does not have a turbo-pump and is fed only by tank pressure. It produces 31 kN (6,900 Ibf).

Kestrel Engine

Draco is a family of engines developed for use on the Dragon capsules. There have been 2 engines from the Draco family developed (Draco and SuperDraco). They use NTO (dinitrogen tetroxide) and MMH (monomethylhydrazine) in non-cryogenic forms. The Draco engine produces 400 n (90 Ibf) and the SuperDraco engine produces 73 kN (16,400 lbf).

Draco Engine

SuperDraco Engine

Merlin is a family of engines used on the rockets Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. They use RP-1 (rocket grade kerosene) and LOX (liquid oxygen) and use a gas generator cycle. There are different types of Merlin engines (1A, 1B, 1C, 1C vacuum, 1D, 1D vacuum). They were developed for multiple reuse and restart. The maximum thrust achieved for a Merlin sea level engine is 845 kN (190,000 lbf) and for a vacuum Merlin engine is 934 kN (210,000 lbf)

Merlin Engine

Raptor is a family of engines developed by SpaceX to be used on the future BFR. It uses CH4 (liquid methane) and LOX (liquid oxygen). The Sea Level Raptor Engine produces 1,700 kN (380,000 lbf) and the Vacuum adapted Raptor engine produces 1,900 kN (430,000 lbf).

Raptor Engine

Capsules:

The dragon capsule is a reusable spaceship used to resupply the ISS. It flew for the first time on December 2010. It is the first privately owned capsule to dock to the ISS. It is 6.1 meters high and 3.7 meters in diameter. It can deliver 6,000 kg (13,000 lb) to the ISS and return 3,500 kg (7,700 lb) back to Earth. It was named after the 1963 song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul and Mary. It can launch on top of a Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket. It has 18 Draco engines that help it steer and dock with the ISS.

Launches: 22

Failures: 1

Reflown Missions: 9

Dragon Capsule

Crew Dragon is a capsule that tkes humans to the ISS.. It is able to take up to 7 astronauts, even though NASA is only using it for up to 4 astronauts. It uses Draco engines to steer and dock with the ISS and SuperDraco engines as a launch escape system or LES. It can deliver up to 3,310 kg (7,300 lb) to the ISS and return 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) back to Earth. It can free fly in orbit for up to a week and stay docked for up to 2 years. Its firs crewed launch occured in March 2020 (launching astronauts Douglas G. Hurley and Robert L. Behnken) and bringing them back safely on August 2nd 2020.

Crew Dragon

Most Important Missions:

Commercial Resupply Missions to the ISS (13 as of today).

April 2016 - CRS-8, SpaceX successfully vertically landed a first stage on an ocean drone ship landing platform.

December 2015 - Orbcomm OG2 M2 safely touching down on the LZ-1 ground pad.

February 6 2018 - Successful launch of Falcon Heavy (most powerful active rocket) and landing of 2 side boosters on LZ-1 and LZ-2.

Most Important Accomplishments:

First privately funded liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit (Falcon 1, 2008).

First privately funded company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft (Dragon, 2010).

First private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station (Dragon, 2012).

The first private company to send a satellite into geosynchronous orbit (Falcon 9, 2013)

First propulsive landing for an orbital rocket (Falcon 9, 2015).

First reuse of an orbital rocket (Falcon 9, 2017).

The first reflight of a commercial cargo spacecraft. (Falcon 9, 2017)

First private company to launch an object into orbit around the sun (Falcon Heavy's payload of a Tesla Roadster, 2018)

First Private Company to take astronauts to Space and to the ISS.

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