SpaceX launches EO satellite for Malaysia

03 August 2009, 9:18am

The civilian space flight company, SpaceX, created by PayPal founder Elon Musk, achieved its first successful commercial flight on 13 July with the launch of a Malaysian earth observing satellite into orbit using its Falcon 1 rocket. Falcon 1 is a two-stage, liquid oxygen/rocket-grade kerosene vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX. It lifted off Monday, July 13, at 8:35 pm (PDT) from the Reagan Test Site (RTS) on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii.

The RazakSAT spacecraft was designed and built by Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd (ATSB, a pioneer and leader in the design and manufacture of satellites in Malaysia, and is equipped with a high resolution Medium-Sized Aperture Camera (MAC). the craft achieved the intended Near-Equatorial Low Earth Orbit (NEqO) at 685 km altitude and a 9 degree inclination. It will overfly Malaysia twelve times daily, collecting EO imagery of value to managers of forests, farmland and marine resources.

This was an important launch for SpaceX, servicing its first paying customer, following a prior launch with a dummy payload.

SpaceX has also won a contract from NASA to carry cargo to the International Space Station, for which it will use a much larger rocket, the Falcon 9, which will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Cargo will be carried in a special capsule, called the Dragon.

The Dragon capsule comprises 3 main elements: Nosecone, which protects the vessel and the docking adaptor during ascent; Pressurized Section, which houses the crew and/or pressurized cargo; and Service Section, which contains avionics, the RCS system, parachutes, and other support infrastructure. In addition an unpressurized trunk is included, which provides for the stowage of unpressurized cargo and will support Dragon’s solar arrays and thermal radiators.

SpaceX is also working on the Falcon 9 Heavy for entry into the heavy lift launch vehicle market. Able to lift over 28 000 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), and over 12 000 kg to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), the Falcon 9 Heavy will compete with the largest commercial launchers available. It consists of a standard Falcon 9 with two additional Falcon 9 first stages acting as liquid strap-on boosters. The Falcon 9 first stage is already designed to support the additional loads of this configuration and has common tanking and engines across both vehicles, yielding a very cost-effective vehicle.

SpaceX

Falcon 1 facts and figures

Dragon facts and figures

Geo: International