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Hot success for Musk’s Starship

There were 3.3 million people viewing SpaceX’s live web-feed of its March 14th Starship launch, plus many, many millions watching via the world’s news channels as the rocket blasted off on its record-breaking flight. However, the FAA almost immediately issued an investigation order into what it said was a “mishap”. Elon Musk is perhaps not […]

March 15, 2024

Starlink #2 needed 17 corrections

The FAA has detailed and listed the 17 technical corrections that need to be carried out of the giant SpaceX Starship rocket before the third test flight can take place. The FAA says that its investigation into the rocket’s November 17th 2023 explosion has concluded. All updates are underway. SpaceX issued its own comments and […]

February 28, 2024

Space industry forecasts far from perfect

It is always fun going back a few years and Pierre Lionnet, director of research at ASD Eurospace, has done exactly that and gone back to Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) forecasts for the space industry as they saw things in 2015. Lionnet is too polite to say the forecasts were rubbish, but points out that […]

February 12, 2024

SpaceX reveals Starlink laser capacity

SpaceX now has a mega-constellation of some 5,400 Starlink satellites in orbit. Some of these are its Version 2 craft with sophisticated laser links and extremely rapid inter-satellite links. The 9,000+ installed laser links amount to a massive throughput for the fleet which Starlink says is 42 PetaBytes (PB) per day or 1260 PB/month. There […]

February 2, 2024

FAA concerned over SpaceX space debris

The FAA last week issued a report to the US Congress expressing concern over how the growing number of satellite constellations will dispose of their failed craft and what the FAA says are the risks to human life and property. The report says: “The dramatic rise of non-geostationary satellites, particularly those in low Earth orbit […]

October 11, 2023By Chris Forrester

FAA to Musk: “Starship must first be fixed”

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has given SpaceX a list of 63 tasks that must be carried out before the new Starship rocket can be launched. Elon Musk has Tweeted that the rocket is ready for launch. On the upside, the FAA has closed its investigation as to what went wrong on the Starship’s first […]

September 11, 2023

Musk outlines Starlink 2.0

Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX has built the first Starlink 2.0 satellite, which will be much larger and more powerful than the original versions. However, Musk’s Starship mega-rocket is the only way SpaceX will be able to get volume production of Starlink 2.0 into their orbits. The new satellite design is 22 feet (7 […]

June 6, 2022By Chris Forrester

FAA stymies Musk’s SpaceX plans

The powerful Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has again placed a halt on Elon Musk’s plans to launch rockets from his Boca Rica, South Texas site. The location is where Musk’s engineers are building a new suite of giant Starship and Super Heavy rockets. The FAA is conducting an environmental review on the rockets and their […]

March 29, 2022

Musk threatens Florida move

Elon Musk is considering shifting the giant SpaceX Starship development and testing work from its current Texas base to Florida. Musk’s worry is an ongoing environmental review being undertaken by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA is expected to deliver its verdict on Starship testing by February 28th, and which – if favourable – […]

February 14, 2022

FAA delays Starship environmental review

Elon Musk is preparing his giant Starship at its Boca Chica, south Texas launch site, but an expected approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is not now expected before the end of February. There have been more than 18,000 comments filed into the FAA in regard to its draft comments on the launch of […]

January 4, 2022By Chris Forrester