Questions tagged [spacex]
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, is a private space exploration company. It was the world's first privately held company to successfully launch a cargo mission into space , cargo to the ISS (International Space Station), land and reuse a booster, and a crewed mission into orbit. See the wiki for related tags.
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What computer and software is used by the Falcon 9?
I don't know if this would be public, but what CPU / Microcontrollers are used and what software do they run on the Falcon 9? Do they use an OS or is it just bare metal programming?
I found some ...
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What happens to the Falcon 9 second stage after payload separation?
In a Falcon 9 launch, the second stage looks like it achieves orbit along with the payload. But is that impression accurate? Does SpaceX need to do anything to deorbit the stage?
I can see a few ...
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Is the SpaceX Falcon Heavy payload (a Tesla car) space junk?
Yesterday SpaceX succeeded in the first Falcon Heavy launch, but the payload, a Tesla car has no real useful purpose (except for company prestige).
Thus, can it be considered as space junk ? How long ...
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Difference between BlueOrigin and SpaceX rocket landings?
So, SpaceX has finally landed their booster back to the land.
BlueOrigin has achieved the same thing in a recent past, but I have read so many people commenting and criticizing the comparison of ...
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Why is SpaceX considering Methane as fuel for their next engine, the Raptor?
Currently, SpaceX has developed the Merlin 1 family (1B (Falcon 1), 1C (Falcon 9 v1.0), 1D (Falcon 9 v1.1/F9-R/Falcon Heavy), vacuum versions and sealevel versions) which are LOX/RP1 based. (75-...
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Why do SpaceX Starships look so "homemade"?
Maybe this is not possible to answer, but I was hoping there was some reliable information available on this.
It seems to me that the SpaceX Starship rockets have sort of a homemade quality to them, ...
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Why would SpaceX not use parachutes for the final descent of the first stage?
According to what I've read, SpaceX tried to use parachutes to recover the first stage of the Falcon 9, but it did not survive reentry.
Now they plan to use 2 separate rocket burns to land:
Reentry ...
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Can I drive Elon Musk's Tesla after it's been in space for 100 Years?
We know that the the payload of the maiden Falcon Heavy flight will be... Elon Musks's Tesla Which will be placed in "Mars Orbit"
Assuming it is serviced and road ready when launched with the keys in ...
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Why does the SpaceX reusable launcher use vertical rather than horizontal landing?
As alternatives to vertical retro-engines landing:
horizontal landing using wings, already discussed in Why is it preferable for SpaceX to land their booster vertically rather than fly it down with ...
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What are the towers around the SpaceX launch pad used for?
I noticed four(?) towers around the SpaceX launch pad during yesterday's aborted launch
Image credit NBC News
What are the towers used for? Tracking? Radio communications?
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How does the Falcon 9 first stage avoid burning up on re-entry?
Now that a Falcon 9 first stage has successfully landed after a launch mission, I want to know how the first stage can avoid burning up when coming back down to earth.
There doesn't appear to be any ...
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Why doesn't the Falcon-9 first stage use three legs to land?
The immediate thought that would probably come into your mind would be "Because 4 legs is more stable than 3." However that is not always true. 3 legs offer the same or in some cases more stability as ...
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What was the fate of the main core of the first Falcon Heavy launch?
February 6th 2018 saw the first test launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Heavy rocket.
During the main core's landing on the marine landing pad, the connection was lost. As such it is not immediately clear ...
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How does the SpaceX Falcon 9 first-stage straighten for landing?
I just saw this video of supposed "SpaceX Rocket Camera Landing Footage Fakery" with over a million views.
The narrator repeatedly says it's complete garbage because he doesn't understand ...
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Why would NOAA restrict the ability of SpaceX to live stream the second stage?
I was watching the live stream of the Iridium-5 launch and they mentioned that NOAA had restricted their ability to live stream the second stage and that SpaceX was working to remove this restriction.
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