SpaceX hits 400 launches of Falcon 9 rocket
(2024/11/29)
- Reference: 1732913833
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/11/29/400_falcon_9_launches/
- Source link:
SpaceX has unlocked an impressive achievement – 400 launches of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.
[1]The launch on November 27 at 0441 UTC was to deploy another batch of 24 Starlink satellites into orbit. The Falcon 9 took off from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, and the booster landed successfully on SpaceX's A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, marking the 375th booster landing.
The flight was the 15th for the booster, which had previously been used on the Crew-6 mission and now 11 Starlink launches.
[2]
The latter number is significant since the Falcon 9's impressive cadence is primarily driven by the need to build out the Starlink satellite constellation. The Falcon 9 was additionally used to launch satellites for rival constellation OneWeb and was booked by Amazon in 2023 to get some of its Project Kuiper broadband satellites into space.
[3]
[4]
The Falcon 9 has found favor with other commercial and public sector organizations too. In addition to being used to take cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA booked rides on the rocket for its spacecraft. In the last week, NASA [5]announced that a Falcon Heavy would be used to launch its Dragonfly mission in 2028. The mission will consist of a rotorcraft lander, which will explore Saturn's moon Titan.
[6]SpaceX Dragon gives ISS a helping hand with altitude
[7]NASA's Europa Clipper leaves for Jupiter's moon atop Falcon Heavy
[8]First time's the charm: SpaceX catches a descending Super Heavy Booster
[9]SpaceX Falcon 9 grounded again after second stage hits wrong part of ocean
However, it hasn't all been plain sailing. The Falcon 9 was grounded several times this year, twice for [10]issues with the second stage and once when the company experienced [11]a rare mishap during an attempted landing of the first stage booster. One of the second-stage mishaps resulted in the loss of a Starlink payload.
SpaceX was permitted to continue launching the Falcon 9 while the US Federal Aviation Administration conducted an investigation, but it's difficult not to connect the company's breathtaking launch pace and acceleration with the emergence of some quality issues.
However, other than some Starlink satellites this year, SpaceX hasn't lost a customer's payload in flight since [12]the CRS-7 mission in 2015 .
[13]
117 of the 400 Falcon 9 launches were conducted in 2024 alone, and it is likely the company could achieve 136 total launches this year if things go according to plan. More Starlink missions and payloads for both the private and public sectors are scheduled. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1861633727576842662
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-launch-services-contract-for-dragonfly-mission/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/11/spacex_dragon_iss_boost/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/14/spacexs_falcon_heavy_launches_nasas/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/13/first_time_success_spacexs_mechazilla/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/30/spacex_falcon_9_grounded/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/12/spacex_suffers_an_inflight_falcon/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/spacex_falcon_9_failure/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2015/09/01/spacex_launch_delay_strut_falcon9/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
[1]The launch on November 27 at 0441 UTC was to deploy another batch of 24 Starlink satellites into orbit. The Falcon 9 took off from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, and the booster landed successfully on SpaceX's A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, marking the 375th booster landing.
The flight was the 15th for the booster, which had previously been used on the Crew-6 mission and now 11 Starlink launches.
[2]
The latter number is significant since the Falcon 9's impressive cadence is primarily driven by the need to build out the Starlink satellite constellation. The Falcon 9 was additionally used to launch satellites for rival constellation OneWeb and was booked by Amazon in 2023 to get some of its Project Kuiper broadband satellites into space.
[3]
[4]
The Falcon 9 has found favor with other commercial and public sector organizations too. In addition to being used to take cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA booked rides on the rocket for its spacecraft. In the last week, NASA [5]announced that a Falcon Heavy would be used to launch its Dragonfly mission in 2028. The mission will consist of a rotorcraft lander, which will explore Saturn's moon Titan.
[6]SpaceX Dragon gives ISS a helping hand with altitude
[7]NASA's Europa Clipper leaves for Jupiter's moon atop Falcon Heavy
[8]First time's the charm: SpaceX catches a descending Super Heavy Booster
[9]SpaceX Falcon 9 grounded again after second stage hits wrong part of ocean
However, it hasn't all been plain sailing. The Falcon 9 was grounded several times this year, twice for [10]issues with the second stage and once when the company experienced [11]a rare mishap during an attempted landing of the first stage booster. One of the second-stage mishaps resulted in the loss of a Starlink payload.
SpaceX was permitted to continue launching the Falcon 9 while the US Federal Aviation Administration conducted an investigation, but it's difficult not to connect the company's breathtaking launch pace and acceleration with the emergence of some quality issues.
However, other than some Starlink satellites this year, SpaceX hasn't lost a customer's payload in flight since [12]the CRS-7 mission in 2015 .
[13]
117 of the 400 Falcon 9 launches were conducted in 2024 alone, and it is likely the company could achieve 136 total launches this year if things go according to plan. More Starlink missions and payloads for both the private and public sectors are scheduled. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1861633727576842662
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-awards-launch-services-contract-for-dragonfly-mission/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/11/spacex_dragon_iss_boost/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/14/spacexs_falcon_heavy_launches_nasas/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/13/first_time_success_spacexs_mechazilla/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/30/spacex_falcon_9_grounded/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/12/spacex_suffers_an_inflight_falcon/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/spacex_falcon_9_failure/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2015/09/01/spacex_launch_delay_strut_falcon9/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z0pHjP9jyF4FcyWCI7VXDgAAAEE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Male bovine excrement.
anothercynic
Absolutely agree. This is an amazing achievement, and every subsequent launch will just cement that achievement more.
Well done to the engineers at SpaceX! *applauds*
Male bovine excrement.
> ...it's difficult not to connect the company's breathtaking launch pace and acceleration with the emergence of some quality issues...
A 0.495% (99.505% success) chance of loss of cargo is phenomenal—Soyuz has launched 1800 times, and has a ~5% chance of failure. The recent incidents aren't quality issues. Space is hard. The fact that SpaceX's teams have achieved this reliability is a testament to their gold-standard quality control practices.