With the swan song of NASA’s Space Shuttle program sung with the flight of STS-135 (Atlantis) in July of last year, financial prospects for NASA look grim. With an economy in dire straits and little to spare, the retirement of the Space Shuttle has led to a stagnation of space flight options for the agency that sent a man to the moon in the depths of the Cold War.
Tentative plans were made shortly before the abandonment of the Space Shuttle program to produce a new and cheaper capsule code named the Orion capsule. However, in the wake of budget cuts and various other unfortunate events it seems NASA will have to abandon manned orbital missions for now. Enter SpaceX.
A privately funded and privately owned company, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or “SpaceX,” is pushing ahead with in-house designs and plans to outpace NASA and most other governments in the race for reliable and cheap orbital transportation. The Space Shuttle of the past was notoriously prone to exorbitant maintenance costs and disastrous accidents with even the smallest error or accident. SpaceX has planned, designed and constructed their own brand of orbital transports since their founding in 2002. And they work.
In 2006, SpaceX was awarded a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services or “COTS” contract by NASA to privately construct and launch orbital spacecraft from U.S. soil. This idea was realized in late 2009, with the launch, orbit and recovery of the COTS Demo Flight 1 mission, making SpaceX the first privately funded company to do so. In mid 2010, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to develop a crewed orbital shuttle for cargo and personnel transport to and from the International Space Station.
The company is, by definition, privately funded. However, via extensive contact with NASA and the European Space Union, they have opened their launch spacecraft up to the highest bidder. An anonymous customer paid for a radio satellite to be launched in early 2011, and SpaceX is set up to receive official federal funding next year.
SpaceX’s first manned launch is currently scheduled for 2015, when the Dragon Spacecraft will have a certified launch escape system, the first of its kind, to prevent loss of life due to mechanical failures or damages. Dragon will also utilize the SpaceX developed “Falcon Heavy” Super Heavy Lift-class rocket booster, the most powerful rocket ever used (in terms of thrust) since the Saturn V boosters used for the Apollo missions. SpaceX also plans to launch its first geostationary satellite in 2013.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s CEO and CTO, said he plans to have a reliable robotic transport to Mars by 2018. However, Musk claims his ultimate goal is loftier than even that: a permanent, sustainable human presence on the red planet. With the way SpaceX is going, this certainly seems possible.
