Cutting-edge technology enabling settlement of the solar system and beyond – Art by Rick Guidice / NASA
Eric Berger chronicles the ten year history of SpaceX’s flagship launch vehicle. The versatile, reusable workhorse has been the proving ground for the technology that will make Elon Musk’s vision of low cost interplanetary space travel a reality in the near future.
The California company is opening an autonomous factory in Long Beach which will use additive manufacturing to print both its Aeon engine and Terran 1 rocket. The unprecedented agile manufacturing process will slash production costs by reducing parts count and increasing throughput enabling a competitive advantage in this class of launchers (1250 Kg to LEO).
Satellite manufacturers and launch companies are leveraging 3D printing to reduce costs enabling cheaper access to space
A nostalgic view from 1991 brought to you by my old newsletter Space Colonization Progress. Ahhhh memories!
Update: all issues of SCP are now available on the Vintage page
Day 1 – The Entrepreneurial Revolution In Smallsat Launch
http://space-access.org/updates/sa2019schedule.html#Thursday
Day 2 – Reusable Rocket Transport Networks in Earth-Moon (and Mars, and Nearby Asteroids) Space
http://space-access.org/updates/sa2019schedule.html#Friday
Day 3 – After Rockets, Getting There Faster: High Energy Propulsion Possibilities
http://space-access.org/updates/sa2019schedule.html#Saturday
Scaled Composites makes aviation history by flying the worlds largest wingspan aircraft: