keneci
News • Science & Tech • Comedy
SpaceX Falcon 9: World's First Reusable Space Rocket
July 12, 2024
post photo preview

Manufactured by Elon Musk's company SpaceX, Falcon 9 is the first and currently the only reusable orbital class rocket capable of transporting payload to space. The world class space vehicle is 43 ft long with a diameter of 17.1 ft; weighs 1,207,920 lb, and can carry payload up to 50,265 lb. It generates more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust at sea level.

Falcon 9 is made up of first and second(upper) stages connected by a composite structure, called the interstage, which houses the pneumatic pushers that allow stages to separate during flight. Four hypersonic grid fins positioned at the base of the interstage work to orient the rocket during reentry by moving the center of pressure.

The first stage has nine Merlin engines and aluminum-lithium alloy tanks containing liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant. The second stage, powered by a single Merlin Vacuum Engine, delivers Falcon 9’s payload to the desired orbit. The second stage engine can be restarted multiple times to place multiple payloads into different orbits.

The fairing, made of a carbon composite material, protects satellites on their way to orbit. The protective cover is jettisoned approximately 3 minutes into flight, and routinely recovered for reuse on future missions.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. It can lift nearly 141,000 lbs of payload to orbit.

During a typical Falcon Heavy mission, the core booster is usually not recovered; but its reusable side boosters usually began their landing burns about eight minutes after liftoff and separation, touching down at SpaceX’s two Landing Zones( LZ 1 and LZ 2, several miles downrange of Pad 39A, at Kennedy Space Center) and sending four successive sonic booms echoing for miles across the Space Coast. (Because of the boosters' length, the bottom of the rocket breaks the sound barrier before the top does, creating two separate sonic booms -- or, in this case, four, for the simultaneous return of two boosters.).

SpaceX launches both human flight and cargo space missions for governments and organizations around the world; including vital missions to the International Space Station(ISS) and classified national security missions for the United States military and others. SpaceX also launches its own Starlink Group missions to put satellites in orbit for its global internet service. The company has over 4,300 satellites in orbit, the largest constellation of any organization or government in the world. And it plans to put up to 10,000 within the decade.

SpaceX typically launches its rockets from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station located adjacent to Kennedy Space Center in Florida; and Vandenberg Space Force Base along California's central coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Vandenberg is preferred for spacecraft requiring a north-south orbit. While Cape Canaveral is ideal for spacecraft requiring a west-east orbit.  The European Space Agency observatory, Euclid, was launched on its journey into deep space, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 1, from Space Launch Complex, SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral.

During a typical mission to orbit like the Starlink Group mission, after a 35-minute long propellant load sequence, Falcon 9 ignites its nine Merlin 1D engines on the first stage for a nearly 3 minute ascent. This is followed by their shutdown and the separation of the first and second stages: the stage separation.

After stage separation, the first stage flies back to earth within about eight minute after liftoff, landing on land or one of the company's drone ships like the Just Read The Instructions droneship.

Meanwhile on the second stage, the single Merlin 1D Vacuum (MVacD) engine ignites and burns for approximately six minutes to insert the Starlink satellites into a preliminary low-Earth parking orbit.

The fairing halves separate about 20 seconds into the MVacD’s first burn, and initiates their return back to Earth for recovery.

The second stage coasts for about 45 minutes, once in its initial parking orbit, to reach the orbit’s highest point or apogee. At apogee, the MVacD engine would briefly ignite for a second time to raise the altitude of the lowest point of the orbit or perigee. 

After that, the second stage initiates an end-over-end rotation to create the inertia needed to deploy the Starlink satellites riding on top of its payload adapter.

After deploying, the satellites use their krypton-fueled Hall Effect thrusters to raise their orbit, first to a 350-kilometer high orbit for checkouts and then into their operational 530-kilometer high orbit. The non-reusable second stage subsequently does an intentional deorbit in cases where it still has enough fuel reserves; or intentional decay within 2 to 6 months.

During missions to the space station, Falcon 9 carries SpaceX's crewed or uncrewed Dragon -- the first private spacecraft to take humans to the station; capable of carrying up to 7 passengers or significant amounts of cargo

SpaceX has also launched multiple Falcon Heavy missions carrying payloads directly into geosynchronous orbit. The second of these two launches featured the first fully expendable Falcon Heavy mission.

The company launched its Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, last April. It has plans for at least three more launches of the rockets this year, according to Musk.

community logo
Join the keneci Community
To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today
0
What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
Articles
SpaceX Starlink Internet Satellites

With Starlink internet, data is continuously being sent between a ground dish and a Starlink satellite orbiting 550km above. Furthermore, the Starlink satellite zooms across the sky at 27,000 km/hr! MORE VIDEOS ON KENECI NETWORK RUMBLE CHANNEL: https://rumble.com/c/Keneci

00:28:08
Elon Musk, DOGE Speak On Waste And Fraud

US Department of Government Efficiency Services (USDS) led by Elon Musk speak on the "mind-boggling" fraud and waste in UInited States federal government

00:00:45
January 17, 2025
SpaceX Launches Starship 7th Test Flight

SpaceX successfully executed its second-ever “chopsticks” catch of a Super Heavy booster (or Booster 14) using the “Mechazilla” launch tower on Thursday(Jan. 16), during the seventh uncrewed test flight of the company's 123-meter Starship rocket. However, the megarocket's upper stage(or Ship 33) was lost approximately 8.5 minutes into the flight in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly(RUD)” or explosion

00:10:30
Welcome to Keneci Network!

Join the conversations!

September 17, 2024
Charges Against Sean 'Diddy' Combs In Grand Jury Indictment

The rapper was charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution in the indictment unsealed Tuesday(Sept. 17)

Combs-Indictment-24-Cr.-542.pdf
"Dear husband"

A Dubai princess took to social media to announce she's divorcing her husband who's worth $40B.

She claims the billionaire is busy with his "other [female] companions"

post photo preview
post photo preview
Elon Musk, Trump 'Big Beautiful Bill' Feud Fallout

The feud between U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk escalated Thursday, with Musk accusing Trump of having ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and criticizing Trump's "big, beautiful" spending bill. Musk alleged that Trump is in the Epstein files, which is why they have not been made public, and suggested that Trump would not have won the election without him.

The White House's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, calls Musk’s claim “an unfortunate episode” driven by his dissatisfaction with the bill’s lack of EV subsidies. A source notes Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago and references the February 2025 release of flight logs mentioning Trump.

The conflict began when Musk criticized the "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill, calling it an "abomination" and urging to keep electric vehicle (EV) and solar incentives while removing wasteful spending Trump responded by expressing disappointment in Musk, stating that he was "surprised" by Musk's criticism.

During a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Thursday, Trump addressed Musk’s criticism publicly, saying he’s “very disappointed” in Musk, who “knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody.” Trump claims Musk’s objections stem from the removal of the $7,500 EV tax credit, which he says Musk knew about for months. He suggests Musk may have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

Trump also mocked Musk’s appearance, referencing a recent black eye (attributed to Musk’s son) and questioning why he didn’t cover it with makeup.

In a social media post, Trump threatened to cancel Musk’s government contracts, including those for SpaceX and Tesla, stating, “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.” He also claimed he asked Musk to leave DOGE because he was “wearing thin.”

Escalating the feud Musk responded by saying SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft, indicating a potential withdrawal from government contracts.

Musk then took to X to make his accusations about the Epstein files. He wrote, "Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out."

oMI-YMPaKR1qGVLoLQtxaxqzj8LmpgYKPh7sJ8DfmjdkhNZ428Qf3P8NNZiykZzprloLt_pxavtxt9ZGMrilT738j_5rvJgFpXjgFA6OCFsMxKUWJ3SAHFoyH6aYxyJ1Nw=w1280

The White House and Trump's supporters defended Trump, with the White House press secretary describing Musk's comments as "unfortunate" and suggesting that Musk was unhappy with the bill's content. Trump also suggested that Musk was upset about the removal of EV subsidies and mandates, which could affect Musk's Tesla business.

Despite the heated exchanges, Trump downplayed the situation to reporters and instead referenced his policy implementations, saying, "Oh it's okay, it's going very well, never done better."

Throughout the day, Musk's net worth dropped significantly, losing approximately $27 billion, although he remained the world's richest man with a net worth of around $388 billion.

Speaking to reporters by phone Friday, Trump said in response to reports of possible phone call with Musk, "I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem. The poor guy’s got a problem....No. I won't be speaking to him for a while I guess, but I wish him well."

“Honestly I’ve been so busy working on China… working on Russia… working on Iran.. I’m not thinking about Elon musk .. I just wish him well....,“ Trump later told reporters. "I hope he does well with Tesla."

Read full Article
post photo preview
Trump Announces Travel Ban, Restrictions On 19 Countries

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday, restricting travel to the United States from 12 countries and imposing partial restrictions on 7 others. The countries fully banned from entering the U.S. are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Countries subject to partial restrictions include Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

The ban takes effect on June 9, 2025.

The proclamation includes exemptions for lawful permanent residents (green card holders); existing visa holders (visas issued before June 9, 2025, will not be revoked); Afghans eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) who assisted the U.S. government; diplomats, athletes (e.g., for the World Cup or Olympics), and dual nationals with passports from non-restricted countries and individuals whose entry serves U.S. national interests, evaluated case-by-case.

The ban is subject to revision if countries improve vetting or security cooperation, and additional countries could be added if new threats emerge.

These restrictions aim to enhance national security and counterterrorism efforts by addressing deficiencies in the information needed to assess potential security threats posed by nationals of these countries.

Read full Article
post photo preview
Dave Portnoy Had A Meltdown In Heated Debate With Cohost About 'Jew Jokes,' Free speech

Barstool founder Dave Portnoy had a heated back and forth with his podcast's cohost Kirk Minihane over 'Jew jokes.'

Portnoy faced backlash recently on social media, after firing two waitresses and taking further action against some college students involved in an incident at his Barstool Sansom Street bar in Philadelphia, where a sign that read "Fuck the Jews," was displayed.

"Shut the fuck up you bald fuck" Portnoy screamed at Minihane during a recent The Unnamed Show episode after Minihane criticized Portnoy's approach to 'Jew jokes.'

Minihane argued that Americans and especially comedians have a right to free speech and to make jokes. While Portnoy suggested that given the war in Gaza and public anti-Israel sentiment online, 'Jew jokes' should not be allowed and offenders must be prosecuted.

"Shut up!... You work for me!" Portnoy screamed at Minihane who responded "Sure. You bet. For now..."

"Quit! I'll save $500,000." Portnoy said.

Minihane then asked "Is this a show or not a show? We can't have a conversation?"

"You're an idiot. You're literally saying people should be allowed to make Jew jokes whenever they want." Portnoy shot back.

Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals