Will Haul DARPA/USAFA Satellite Into Orbit

Space Exploration Technologies Group, or SpaceX, announced Monday the company plans to launch its Falcon 1 semi-reusable, liquid-fueled rocket on its maiden voyage Friday, November 25. The flight is scheduled to liftoff at 1 pm Pacific Time from the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands.

If all goes to plan, the two-stage Falcon 1 -- which the company says will be the first privately developed, liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit -- will send the FalconSat-2 satellite into a target orbit of 400km x 500km, which would be above the International Space Station's. Target inclination is 39 degrees.

FalconSat-2, which was co-developed by the US Air Force Academy's satellite program and DARPA, is part of a program that will measure space plasma phenomena. Such conditions can adversely affect space-based communications, including GPS and other civil and military communications.

The Falcon 1 will be propelled into orbit by engines powered by liquid oxygen and purified kerosene, and is currently the only semi-reusable orbital rocket apart from the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters. Its primary engine, the reusable Merlin booster, is the first all-new hydrocarbon booster engine to be flown in 40 years, and the first all-new booster of any kind in a quarter-century.

SpaceX says that Falcon 1, priced at $6.7 million, will provide the lowest cost per flight to orbit of any launch vehicle in the world, despite receiving a design reliability rating equivalent to that of the best launch vehicles currently flying in the United States.

The company, founded by Zip2 and PayPal creator Elon Musk, is developing a family of launch vehicles intended to increase the reliability, and reduce the cost of access to space by a factor of ten.

FMI: www.spacex.com