SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft.

Created: 2018-11-01

Updated: 2024-02-26

Company - SpaceX

Founded
Country
2002
USA
Website
SpaceX
Social
SpaceX

Product/Service - Crew Dragon

Classification
Human Spaceflight & Landers
Category
Human Spaceflight
Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
Fields
Space Tourism
Reusable
Space Capsule
Status
Active
First launch
2020

Crew Dragon

The Dragon spacecraft is capable of carrying up to 7 passengers to and from Earth orbit, and beyond. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth, and is the first private spacecraft to take humans to the space station.

In 2020, SpaceX returned America’s ability to fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station on American vehicles for the first time since 2011. In addition to flying astronauts to space for NASA, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft can also carry commercial astronauts to Earth orbit, the ISS or beyond.

NASA will partner with seven U.S. companies to meet future commercial and government needs, ultimately benefitting human spaceflight and the U.S. commercial low Earth orbit economy. Through unfunded Space Act Agreements, the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative (CCSC-2) is designed to advance commercial space-related efforts through NASA contributions of technical expertise, assessments, lessons learned, technologies, and data. SpaceX is collaborating with NASA on an integrated low Earth orbit architecture to provide a growing portfolio of technology with near-term Dragon evolution and concurrent Starship development. This architecture includes Starship as a transportation and in-space low-Earth orbit destination element supported by Super Heavy, Dragon, and Starlink, and constituent capabilities including crew and cargo transportation, communications, and operational and ground support.

Product/Service - DragonLab

Classification
Cargo Transportation & Landers
Category
Microgravity Flight Service (LEO)
Microgravity Flight Service (Reusable Satellite)
Fields
Reusable
Space Capsule
Status
Dormant
First launch
Dormant

DragonLab

A free-flying, reusable spacecraft capable of hosting pressurized and unpressurized payloads to and from space.

DragonLab provides a platform for in-space experimentation, including recovery of pressurized and some unpressurized payloads, as well as deployment of small spacecraft. As a complete system, DragonLab provides for all aspects of operation: propulsion, power, thermal control, environmental control, avionics, communications, thermal protection, flight software, guidance, navigation and control, entry, descent and landing and recovery.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) held an invitation-only meeting at its Hawthorne, Calif.-based headquarters in 2008 for potential customers of its new DragonLab,a free-flying version of the reusable Dragon capsule the company is building for International Space Station resupply missions.

Created: 2018-11-01

Updated: 2024-02-24

Product/Service - Starship, Starship HLS, Starship Human Landing System

Classification
Human Spaceflight & Landers
Category
Human Landing System
Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
Transport Service (Re-Entry)
Transport Service (LEO-Moon)
Point-to-point
Fields
In-Space Transportation
Transport Service (In-Space)
Space Tourism
Moon
Mars
Status
Development, Launched
First launch
2024

Starship

SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy Rocket represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to service all Earth orbit needs as well as the Moon and Mars.

Starship is a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations. The system leans on the company’s tested Raptor engines and flight heritage of the Falcon and Dragon vehicles. Starship includes a spacious cabin and two airlocks for astronaut moonwalks.

Several Starships serve distinct purposes in enabling human landing missions, each based on the common Starship design. A propellant storage Starship will park in low-Earth orbit to be supplied by tanker Starships. The human-rated Starship will launch to the storage unit in Earth orbit, fuel up, and continue to lunar orbit.

SpaceX’s Super Heavy rocket booster, which is also powered by Raptor and fully reusable, will launch Starship from Earth. Starship is capable of transporting crew between Orion or Gateway and the lunar surface.

Starship Human Landing System

One of the 3 awardees for the NASA Lunar Human Landing System.

DARPA LunA-10 Program Study, 2023-2024

To this end, DARPA has selected 14 companies for the 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) Capability Study, which aims to catalyze the setup of a future civil lunar framework for peaceful U.S. and international use. LunA-10 seeks to study the rapid development of technology concepts for a series of shareable, scalable systems that can operate jointly, creating monetizable services for future lunar users.

Tthe first integrated test flight of Starship vehicle met his expectations despite a cascading series of engine failures and other malfunctions that eventually caused the rocket to lose control.

Starship has not made it to orbit yet as of late 2023, but likely will in 2024. Waiting for that to change the status to Demonstrated.

Created: 2018-11-22

Updated: 2024-02-26

Product/Service - Dragon, Dragon 2, Cargo Dragon

Classification
Cargo Transportation & Landers
Category
Transport Service (Earth-LEO)
Transport Service (Re-Entry)
Fields
Reusable
Space Capsule
Status
Active
First launch
2010

Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to deliver both cargo and people to orbiting destinations.

Dragon made history in 2012 when it became the first commercial spacecraft in history to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and safely return cargo to Earth, a feat previously achieved only by governments.

Last first generation Dragon launched in March 2020.

The first in SpaceX’s new generation of Dragon cargo spacecraft completed its mission with a splashdown off the Florida coast January 2021.

Research Proposals

Since, January 2024, SpaceX is looking for exceptional science and research ideas that will enable life in space and on other planets. Research proposals submitted to SpaceX will be reviewed and evaluated based on mission objectives, scientific and technical merit, and feasibility.

Research proposals for Dragon human spaceflight missions will be accepted through March 15, 2024, and may be included in missions as early as late 2024. Proposal submissions should focus on one of the two following categories:

Created: 2022-02-23

Updated: 2024-02-26

Sources


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