SpaceX Conducts Full Thrust Firing Of Falcon 9 Rocket

LAUNCH PAD

The first test firing of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage with its full complement of nine Merlin 1C engines. Conducted at the SpaceX test facility in McGregor Texas, the nine Merlins produced nearly 832,000 lbs. of thrust during the test, consuming 3,200 pounds of liquid oxygen and rocket grade kerosene per second. More images at SpaceX.com. (Photo: Business Wire)

by Staff Writers
Mcgregor TX (SPX) Aug 05, 2008
Space Exploration Technologies has conducted the first nine engine firing of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle at its Texas Test Facility outside McGregor on July 30th. A second firing on August 1st completed a major NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) milestone almost two months early.

At full power, the nine engines consumed 3,200 lbs of fuel and liquid oxygen per second, and generated 832,000 pounds of force (lbf) - four times the maximum thrust of a 747 aircraft. This marks the first firing of a Falcon 9 first stage with its full complement of nine Merlin 1C engines.

Once a near term Merlin 1C fuel pump upgrade is complete, the sea level thrust will increase to 950,000 lbf, making Falcon 9 the most powerful single core vehicle in the United States.

"This was the most difficult milestone in development of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and it also constitutes a significant achievement in US space vehicle development. Not since the final flight of the Saturn 1B rocket in 1975, has a rocket had the ability to lose any engine or motor and still successfully complete its mission," said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX.

"Much like a commercial airliner, our multi-engine design has the potential to provide significantly higher reliability than single engine competitors."

"We made a major advancement from the previous five engine test by adding four new Merlin engines at once," said Tom Mueller, Vice President of Propulsion for SpaceX. "All phases of integration went smoothly and we were elated to see all nine engines working perfectly in concert."

Related Links
SpaceX
Launch Pad at Space-Travel.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

LAUNCH PAD

Proton Launch With Inmarsat Satellite Delayed

Baikonur, Kazakhstan (SPX) Aug 05, 2008
The launch of a Proton M Breeze M vehicle with the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite has been delayed to allow time to replace and retest a launcher electrical component.

AEROSPACE NASA evaluates new wing sensor Russia And China May Co-Design New Passenger Plane China Southern Airlines managers take paycut due to oil prices British PM blasts polluting 'ghost' flights	CAR TECH Nissan accelerator pedal pushes back to save fuel Material May Help Autos Turn Heat Into Electricity Malaysia's Proton develops new hybrid car: reports Chinese restart full production at British MG car plant
MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS Defense Support Program Satellite Decommissioned Raytheon Bids For USAF Command And Control Contract Northrop Grumman Demonstrates Multi-Function Electronic Warfare System New Military Communications System Progressing At Lockheed Martin	MISSILE DEFENSE BMD Focus: Offshore Scud threat US considers deploying missile defense radar to Israel Outside View: BMD deal lessons -- Part 2 Outside View: BMD deal lessons -- Part 1
FARM NEWS TAU Researchers Root Out New And Efficient Crop Plants No-Tillage Plus Mustard - Hot Stuff For Natural Pest Control Rising Energy, Food Prices Major Threats To Wetlands As Farmers Eye New Areas For Crops	DISASTER MANAGEMENT Teacher sent to labour camp for China quake photos Over 600,000 evacuated as tropical storm hits China: reports China insurers expect 1.5 bln dlrs in snow, quake claims: officials Japanese say careful preparations saved them from quake
TECH SPACE Argonne Scientists Discover New Class Of Glassy Material Satgate Contracts Four Transponders At New SES ASTRA Orbital Position Scientist says feathers are future of Asia construction Seanodes Computing Solution In The Stars For NASA Astrophysics Group	ROBO SPACE Robo-relationships are virtually assured: British experts Europe And Japan Join Forces To Map Out Future Of Intelligent Robots NASA Robots Perform Well During Arctic Ice Deployment Testing Eight Teams Taking Up ESA's Lunar Robotics Challenge

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement