Next launch: SpaceX ready to try new Falcon 9 Block 5?

[Hamartia Antidote]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...ex-falcon-nine-block-five-20180419-story.html

Now that SpaceX has successfully launched NASA’s TESS satellite into orbit, there’s a pause of at least two weeks in scheduled Florida launches until SpaceX may attempt its first launch of the Falcon 9 Block 5.

The Block 5 is an upgrade intended to allow each rocket to be reused up to 10 times with little refurbishment and up to 100 times with more refurbishment, according to an article on Teslarati.com, which said the current Falcon 9 can only be reused two or three times. SpaceX has moved the Block 5 to Florida after testing in Texas.

SpaceX is currently aiming for a departure from Kennedy Space Center “no earlier than” May 4, according to SpaceFlightNow.com, although the mission has been delayed a few times already.

That launch will carry a more routine communications satellite for the nation of Bangladesh, specifically for the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. The satellite will help provide broadcasting and telecommunication in rural areas of Bangladesh and neighboring countries.

 

[Dante80]

This is good news. Btw, there are three main points for why block 5 is a very, very important milestone for SpaceX. I think it is noteworthy to explain them.

1. It is the first Falcon variant that directly applies the re-usability lessons learned from the returned block 3 and block 4 boosters. Some people think that re-usability is a gimmick, but the truth is that a returned booster (with an intact propulsion pack) provides a possible revolution in LV reliability. The amount of engineering and material performance data that you get (informing or validating your design and theoretical assumptions) is a thousand times more useful and comprehensive than a telemetry feedback loop. The end result (if you keep innovating/adapting based on the data you receive), is a more reliable and re-usable launch vehicle, that is cheaper to make and even cheaper to service.


2. It is the variant that SpaceX has promised to lock for USAF and NASA certification. SpaceX has been known to actively tinker and improve their LV, changing software, hardware and operations swiftly and without notice. This rapid pace is more akin to software development than to a legacy entity in the space industry.

And that is something that NASA and DoD have not been particular comfortable with. You see, the private-public partnership in programs like the CRS and CC for NASA or the EELV for USAF/NRO include a pretty significant certification process, where the public entity gains extensive insight and understanding of the vehicle it procures and the operation procedures said vehicle uses to fulfill the contract at hand. Having a supplier that tinkers with the product constantly is a pain in the bottom as far as the bureaucracy is concerned. Block 5 is supposed to be the shift from active development to product maturity.


3. It is the rocket SpaceX has programmed to stockpile. SpaceX has the goal of moving to its next LV design as rapidly as possible. To do that, they have announced that they are going to mass produce and stockpile block 5 LVs to thoroughly service the market until their big, fully re-usable vehicle (BFR) is ready to take over.

Block 5 is essentially the culmination of the F9 developmental project, the end product, the money shot. This is very big for SpaceX indeed.