 |
 |
| Previous Launch | Next Launch |
SpaceX is preparing for the first Starhopper flight and two Falcon 9 launches, Musk’s secretive company Neuralink will make its first public announcement, and Tesla will announce its financial results for the record-breaking second quarter. All of this will be followed by Musk’s presentation about the Starship rocket, which has undergone many design changes in recent months.
SpaceX’s fairing recovery efforts are gearing up again after a 3-month-long slow period caused by Mr. Steven suffering damage in late February. Luckily, Mr. Steven has now been fixed and should be ready in time to try to catch a fairing in about a month. In the meantime, SpaceX has been recovering fairing halves by landing them in the ocean. I have a theory that until Mr. Steven manages to catch a fairing, we’ll only see reused fairings on Starlink missions.
Over the past few months, SpaceX has been quietly preparing to launch the first batch of satellites for Starlink project, its global internet constellation. The launch is planned for May 16 on a Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral. More missions like this one could take place this year.
On Saturday, Falcon 9 successfully launched a reused Dragon capsule to the ISS as part of the CRS-17 mission for NASA. At a press conference that followed, we learned more about the problems that caused the delay on Friday, as well as NASA’s plans for Falcon and Dragon reuse. It turns out that by the end of the year, we might see CRS missions that will fly Falcons and Dragons that had been used twice before.
During last week’s Arabsat 6A mission, all three Falcon Heavy boosters successfully landed. The center core has undergone a hot and challenging return through the atmosphere, yet it still landed safely on the droneship. Unfortunately, before the booster could be secured to the deck, rough sea caused it to tip over. Why wasn’t OctaGrabber used?
Another set of fairings were recovered and even though they landed in the water, they will be reused this year. It would be the first reuse of fairings ever. How come it’s possible to reuse fairings that came into contact with sea water? One possible explanation is that the fairings have been upgraded. Is Mr. Steven now obsolete?
