Falcon 1 was a
small-lift launch vehicle
A small-lift launch vehicle is a rocket orbital launch vehicle that is capable of lifting or less (by NASA classification) or under (by Roscosmos classification) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). The next larger category consists of medi ...
that was operated from 2006 to 2009
by
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
, an American
aerospace manufacturer
An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology industry.
...
. On 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 became the first
privately-developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to go into
orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...
around the Earth.
[
]
The
two-stage-to-orbit
A two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) or two-stage rocket launch vehicle is a spacecraft in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. It is intermediate between a three-stage-to-orbit launcher and a hyp ...
rocket
A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...
used
LOX
Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...
/
RP-1
RP-1 (alternatively, Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as rocket fuel. RP-1 provides a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen (LH2), but is cheaper, is st ...
for both stages, the first powered by a single
Merlin
Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
engine and the second powered by a single
Kestrel
The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour ...
engine. It was designed by
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
from the ground up.
The vehicle was launched a total of five times. After three failed launch attempts, Falcon 1 achieved orbit on its
fourth attempt in September 2008 with a
mass simulator
A boilerplate spacecraft, also known as a mass simulator, is a nonfunctional craft or payload that is used to test various configurations and basic size, load, and handling characteristics of rocket launch vehicles. It is far less expensive t ...
as a payload. On 14 July 2009, Falcon 1 made its second and final flight, successfully delivering the
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n
RazakSAT
RazakSAT is a Malaysian Earth observation satellite carrying a high-resolution camera. It was launched into low Earth orbit on 14 July 2009. It was placed into a near-equatorial orbit that presents many imaging opportunities for the equatorial re ...
satellite to orbit on SpaceX's first commercial launch (fifth launch overall). Following this flight, the Falcon 1 was retired and succeeded by
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX.
The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...
.
SpaceX had announced an enhanced variant, the
Falcon 1e
SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX currently manufactures and operates the Falcon 9 Full Thrust family of medium-lift launch vehicles and the Falcon H ...
,
but development was stopped in favor of Falcon 9.
History
Private funding
The Falcon 1 rocket was developed with private funding.
[
][
]
The only other orbital launch vehicles to be privately funded and developed were the
Conestoga in 1982; and
Pegasus
Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...
, first launched in 1990, which uses a large aircraft as its launch platform.
The total development cost of Falcon 1 was approximately US$90 million
[
] to US$100 million.
While the development of Falcon 1 was privately funded, the first two Falcon 1 launches were purchased by the
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
under a program that evaluates new US launch vehicles suitable for use by
DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Adv ...
.
[
]
Cancelled launches
As part of a US$15 million contract, Falcon 1 was to carry the TacSat-1
TacSat-1 was an experimental satellite built by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) on behalf of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Force Transformation (OFT). It was the planned payload of the sixth launch of the SpaceX Fal ...
in 2005. By late May 2005, SpaceX stated that Falcon 1 was ready to launch TacSat-1 from Vandenberg. But the Air Force did not want the launch of an untested rocket to occur until the final Titan IV
Titan IV was a family of heavy-lift space launch vehicles developed by Martin Marietta and operated by the United States Air Force from 1989 to 2005. Launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Vandenberg Air For ...
flew from nearby SLC 4E. Subsequent and repeated delays due to Falcon 1 launch failures delayed TacSat-1's launch. After TacSat-2
TacSat-2 is the first in a series of U.S. military experimental technology and communication satellites.TacSat-2 (also known as JWS-D1 ((Joint Warfighting Space-Demonstrator 1) or RoadRunner) was an experimental satellite built by the USAF's Ai ...
was launched on an Orbital Sciences Minotaur I
The Minotaur I, or just Minotaur is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minuteman II missile. It is used to launch small satellites for the US Government, and is a member of the Minotaur family of rockets produced by Orbital Sci ...
on 16 December 2006, the Department of Defense re-evaluated the need for launching TacSat-1. In August 2007, the Department of Defense canceled the planned launch of TacSat-1 because all of the TacSat objectives had been met.
An August 2005 update on SpaceX's website showed 6 launches planned for Falcon 1, with customers including MDA Corp (CASSIOPE
Cascade, Smallsat and Ionospheric Polar Explorer (CASSIOPE), is a Canadian Space Agency (CSA) multi-mission satellite operated by the University of Calgary. The mission development and operations from launch to February 2018 was funded through CS ...
, which eventually launched in 2013 on Falcon 9), Swedish Space Corp and US Air Force.
Design
According to SpaceX, the Falcon 1 was designed to minimize price per launch for low-Earth-orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
s, increase reliability, and optimize flight environment and time to launch. It also was used to verify components and structural design concepts that would be reused in the Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX.
The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...
. SpaceX started with the idea that the smallest useful orbital rocket was the minimum viable product
A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development.
A focus on releasing an MVP means that developers potentially avoid ...
(Falcon 1 with about to orbit), instead of building something larger and more complicated, and then running out of money and going bankrupt.
First stage
The first stage was made from friction-stir-welded 2219 aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...
.[
] It employs a common bulkhead between the LOX and RP-1 tanks, as well as flight pressure stabilization. It can be transported safely without pressurization (like the heavier Delta II
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 va ...
isogrid design) but gains additional strength when pressurized for flight (like the Atlas II
Atlas II was a member of the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which evolved from the successful Atlas missile program of the 1950s. The Atlas II was a direct evolution of the Atlas I, featuring longer first stage tanks, higher-performing engines ...
, which could not be transported unpressurized). The parachute system, built by Irvin Parachute Corporation, uses a high-speed drogue chute
A drogue parachute is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly-moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute. V ...
and a main chute.
For the first two launches, the Falcon 1 used a Merlin 1A engine. An improved version of the Merlin 1A, the Merlin 1B, was supposed to fly on later flights of the Falcon 1, although it was further improved to create the Merlin 1C, which was first flown on the third Falcon 1 flight, and on the first 5 flights of the Falcon 9. The Falcon 1 first stage was powered by a single pump-fed Merlin 1C
Merlin is a family of rocket engines developed by SpaceX for use on its Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. Merlin engines use RP-1 and liquid oxygen as rocket propellants in a gas-generator power cycle. The Merlin eng ...
engine burning RP-1
RP-1 (alternatively, Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as rocket fuel. RP-1 provides a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen (LH2), but is cheaper, is st ...
and liquid oxygen
Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...
providing of sea-level thrust and a specific impulse of 245 s (vacuum Isp 290 s).[ The first stage burns to depletion, taking around 169 seconds to do so.][
]
Second stage
The second stage Falcon 1 tanks were built with a cryogenic
In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures.
The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...
-compatible 2014 aluminum alloy 2014 aluminium alloy (aluminum) is an aluminium-based alloy often used in the aerospace industry.
It is easily machined in certain tempers, and among the strongest available aluminium alloys, as well as having high hardness. However, it is difficu ...
,[
with the plan to move to aluminum-lithium alloy on the Falcon 1e.][
The ]helium
Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...
pressurization system pumps propellant to the engine, supplies heated[ pressurized gas for the attitude control thrusters, and is used for zero-''g'' propellant accumulation prior to engine restart. The ]Kestrel
The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour ...
engine includes a titanium heat exchanger to pass waste heat to the helium, thereby greatly extending its work capacity.
The pressure tanks are composite overwrapped pressure vessels made by Arde corporation with inconel
Inconel is a registered trademark of Special Metals Corporation for a family of austenitic nickel-chromium-based superalloys.
Inconel alloys are oxidation-corrosion-resistant materials well suited for service in extreme environments subjected t ...
alloy and are the same as those used in the Delta III
Delta III was an expendable launch vehicle made by Boeing. The vehicle was developed from the highly-successful Delta II to help meet the launch demand of larger satellites. The first Delta III launch was on August 26, 1998. Of its three flights ...
.
The second stage was powered by a pressure-fed Kestrel
The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour ...
engine with of vacuum thrust and a vacuum specific impulse of 330 s.[
]
Reusability
The first stage was originally planned to return by parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...
to a water landing and be recovered for reuse, but this capability was never demonstrated. The second stage was not designed to be reusable.
Launch sequence
At launch, the first stage engine (Merlin) is ignited and throttled to full power while the launcher is restrained and all systems are verified by the flight computer. If the systems are operating correctly, the rocket is released and clears the tower in about seven seconds. The first-stage burn lasts about 2 minutes and 49 seconds. Stage separation is accomplished with explosive bolts
A pyrotechnic fastener (also called an explosive bolt, or pyro, within context) is a fastener, usually a nut or bolt, that incorporates a Explosive material, pyrotechnic charge that can be initiated remotely. One or more explosive charges embedde ...
and a pneumatically actuated pusher system. The second stage Kestrel engine burns for about six minutes, inserting the payload into a low Earth orbit. It is capable of multiple restarts.
Pricing
SpaceX quoted Falcon 1 launch prices as being the same for all customers.[SpaceX]
Falcon 1 Overview: Pricing and Performance
(website viewed 31 August 2010) In 2005 Falcon 1 was advertised as costing $5.9 million ($7.3 million when adjusted for inflation in 2015). In 2006 until 2007 the quoted price of the rocket when operational was $6.7 million. In late 2009 SpaceX announced new prices for the Falcon 1 and 1e at $7 million and $8.5 million respectively, with small discounts available for multi-launch contracts, and in 2012 announced that payloads originally selected as flying on the Falcon 1 and 1e would fly as secondary payloads on the Falcon 9.
Historically, the Falcon 1 was originally planned to launch about to low-Earth orbit for but later declined to approximately as the price increased to approximately . It was SpaceX's offering intended to open up the smallsat
A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites ca ...
launch market to competition. The final version of the Falcon 1, the Falcon 1e, was projected to provide approximately for US$11 million.
Several years ago, SpaceX was going to open up the smallsat launch market with the Falcon 1, which originally was to launch about 600 kilograms to LEO for $6 million; the payload capacity later declined to about as the price increased to around $9 million. Later, the Falcon 1e was to provide approximately for $11 million, but the company withdrew the vehicle from the market, citing limited demand.[
]
Launch sites
All flights were launched from Kwajalein Atoll
Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...
using the SpaceX launch facility on Omelek Island
Omelek Island (; Marshallese: , pronounced ) is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease (along with ten other islands in the atoll) and is part ...
and range
Range may refer to:
Geography
* Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra)
** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands
* Range, a term used to i ...
facilities of the Reagan Test Site
The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site (formerly Kwajalein Missile Range), is a missile test range in Marshall Islands (Pacific Ocean). It covers about and includes rocket launch s ...
.
Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 3
Space Launch Complex 3 (SLC-3) is a launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base that consists of two separate launch pads. SLC-3E (East) is currently used by the Atlas V launch vehicle, while SLC-3W (West) has been demolished.
Launches from Vand ...
W was the original launch site for Falcon 1, but it was abandoned at the test-fire stage due to persistent schedule conflicts with adjacent launch pads. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40
Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), previously Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) is a launch pad for rockets located at the north end of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
The launch pad was used by the United States Air Force for 55 Titan III a ...
(the Falcon 9 pad) was considered for Falcon 1 launches but never developed before Falcon 1 was retired.
Variants
Launches
Falcon 1 made five launches. The first three failed, however the subsequent two flights were successful, the first successful launch making it the first privately funded and developed liquid-propellant rocket to reach orbit. The fifth launch was its first commercial flight, and placed RazakSAT
RazakSAT is a Malaysian Earth observation satellite carrying a high-resolution camera. It was launched into low Earth orbit on 14 July 2009. It was placed into a near-equatorial orbit that presents many imaging opportunities for the equatorial re ...
into low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
.
First flight
The maiden flight of the Falcon 1 was postponed several times because of various technical issues with the new vehicle. Scheduling conflicts with a Titan IV
Titan IV was a family of heavy-lift space launch vehicles developed by Martin Marietta and operated by the United States Air Force from 1989 to 2005. Launches were conducted from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Vandenberg Air For ...
launch at Vandenberg AFB
Vandenberg Space Force Base , previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from th ...
also caused delays and resulted in the launch moving to the Reagan Test Site
The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site (formerly Kwajalein Missile Range), is a missile test range in Marshall Islands (Pacific Ocean). It covers about and includes rocket launch s ...
in the Kwajalein Atoll
Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...
. The maiden launch was scheduled for 31 October 2005,[SpaceX reveals Falcon 1 Halloween date]
NASASpaceFlight.com, 10 October 2005, accessed 31 January 2019. but was held off, then rescheduled for 25 November,[SPACEX set maiden flight – goals]
NASASpaceFlight.com, 18 November 2005, accessed 31 January 2019. which also did not occur. Another attempt was made on 19 December 2005 but was scrubbed when a faulty valve caused a vacuum in the first stage fuel tank which sucked inward and caused structural damage. After replacing the first stage, Falcon 1 launched Saturday, 25 March 2006 at 09:30 local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
. The DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Adv ...
payload was the United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...
's FalconSAT–2, which would have measured space plasma
Plasma or plasm may refer to:
Science
* Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter
* Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral
* Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics
Biology
* Blood pla ...
phenomena.
The launch took place on Saturday, 24 March 2006 at 22:30 UTC, from the SpaceX launch site
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport'', and even more so ''cosmodrome'', has traditionally been used for sites capable ...
on Omelek Island
Omelek Island (; Marshallese: , pronounced ) is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease (along with ten other islands in the atoll) and is part ...
in the Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...
. It ended in failure less than a minute into the flight because of a fuel line leak and subsequent fire. The vehicle had a noticeable rolling motion after liftoff, as shown on the launch video, rocking back and forth a bit, and then at T+26 seconds rapidly pitched over. Impact occurred at T+41 seconds onto a dead reef about 250 feet from the launch site. The FalconSAT–2 payload separated from the booster and landed on the island, with damage reports varying from slight to significant. SpaceX initially attributed the fire to an improperly tightened fuel-line nut. A later review by DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Adv ...
found that the nut was properly tightened, since its locking wire was still in place, but had failed because of corrosion from saltwater spray.
SpaceX implemented numerous changes to the rocket design and software to prevent this type of failure from recurring, including stainless steel to replace aluminum hardware (which is actually less expensive, although the trade off is being a little heavier in weight) and pre-liftoff computer checks that increased by a factor of thirty.
Second flight
The second test flight was originally scheduled for January 2007, but was delayed because of problems with the second stage. Before the January launch date, SpaceX had stated earlier potential launch dates, moving from September 2006 to November and December. In December the launch was rescheduled for 9 March, but delayed because of range availability issues caused by a Minuteman III
The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and re ...
test flight, which would re-enter over Kwajelein. The launch attempt on 19 March was delayed 45 minutes from 23:00 GMT because of a data-relay issue, and then scrubbed 1 minute 2 seconds before launch at 23:45 because of a computer issue, whereby the safety computer incorrectly detected a transmission failure caused by a hardware delay of a few millisecond
A millisecond (from '' milli-'' and second; symbol: ms) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth (0.001 or 10−3 or 1/1000) of a second and to 1000 microseconds.
A unit of 10 milliseconds may be called ...
s in the process. 20 March attempt was delayed 65 minutes from an originally planned time of 23:00 because of a problem with communications between one of the NASA experiments in the payload and the TDRS
A tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and fro ...
system.
The first launch attempt on 21 March 2007 was aborted at 00:05 GMT at the last second before launch and after the engine had ignited. It was, however, decided that another launch should be made the same day. The rocket successfully left the launch pad at 01:10 GMT on 21 March 2007 with a DemoSat
A DemoSat is a boilerplate spacecraft used to test a carrier rocket without risking a real satellite on the launch. They are most commonly flown on the maiden flights of rockets, but have also been flown on return-to-flight missions after launch ...
payload for DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Adv ...
and NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
. The rocket performed well during the first-stage burn. However, during staging, the interstage fairing on the top of the first stage bumped the second-stage engine bell. The bump occurred as the second-stage nozzle exited the interstage, with the first stage rotating much faster than expected (a rotation rate of about 2.5°/s vs. expected rate of 0.5°/s maximum), thereby making contact with the niobium
Niobium is a chemical element with chemical symbol Nb (formerly columbium, Cb) and atomic number 41. It is a light grey, crystalline, and ductile transition metal. Pure niobium has a Mohs hardness rating similar to pure titanium, and it has sim ...
nozzle of the second stage. Elon Musk reported that the bump did not appear to have caused damage, and that the reason why they chose a niobium skirt instead of carbon–carbon was to prevent problematic damage in the event of such incidents. Shortly after second-stage ignition, a stabilization ring detached from the engine bell as designed. At around T+4:20, a circular coning oscillation began, which increased in amplitude until video was lost. At T+5:01, the vehicle started to roll, and telemetry ended. According to Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
, the second-stage engine shut down at T+7:30 because of a roll-control issue. Sloshing of propellant in the LOX tank increased oscillation. This oscillation would normally have been dampened by the Thrust Vector Control system in the second stage, but the bump to the second nozzle during separation caused an overcompensation in the correction. The rocket continued to within one minute of its desired location and also managed to deploy the satellite mass-simulator ring. While the webcast video ended prematurely, SpaceX was able to retrieve telemetry for the entire flight. The status of the first stage is unknown; it was not recovered because of problems with a nonfunctioning GPS tracking device. The rocket reached a final altitude of and a final velocity of 5.1 km/s, compared to 7.5 km/s needed for orbit.
SpaceX characterized the test flight as a success, having flight-proven over 95% of Falcon 1's systems. Their primary objectives for this launch were to test responsive launch procedures and gather data. The SpaceX team planned both a diagnosis and solution vetted by third-party experts, believing that the slosh issue could be corrected by adding baffles to the second-stage LOX tank and adjusting the control logic. Furthermore, the Merlin shutdown transient was to be addressed by initiating shutdown at a much lower thrust level, albeit at some risk to engine reusability. The SpaceX team wished to work on the problem to avoid a recurrence as they changed over into the operational phase for Falcon 1.
Third flight
SpaceX attempted the third Falcon 1 launch on 3 August 2008 (GMT) from Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...
. This flight carried the Trailblazer
A trailblazer is a person who is paving the way in their particular field for future generations.
Trailblazer may refer to:
Sports
* Derby Trailblazers, a British semi-professional basketball team
* North Carolina Trailblazers, a US women's rec ...
(Jumpstart-1) satellite for the US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
, the NanoSail-D
NanoSail-D was a small satellite which was to have been used by NASA's Ames Research Center to study the deployment of a solar sail in space. It was a three-unit CubeSat measuring , with a mass of . The satellite was lost shortly after launch ...
and PREsat
PharmaSat Risk Evaluation Satellite (or PRESat) nanosatellite, for NASA, was about the size of a loaf of bread, weighed about and was constructed in just six months.
Spacecraft
PRESat, 3U CubeSat, contains a micro-laboratory with a controll ...
nanosatellites for NASA and a space burial
Space burial is the launching of human remains into space. Missions may go into orbit around the Earth or to extraterrestrial bodies such as the Moon, or farther into space.
Remains are sealed until the spacecraft burns up upon re-entry into ...
payload for Celestis
Celestis, Inc. is a company that launches cremated human remains into space, a procedure known as a space burial. It is a subsidiary of the private space company Space Services Inc. The company purchases launches as a secondary payload on va ...
. The rocket did not reach orbit. However, the first stage, with the new Merlin 1C engine, performed perfectly.
When preparing for launch, an earlier launch attempt was delayed by the unexpected slow loading of helium onto the Falcon 1; thus exposing the fuel and oxidizer to the cryogenic helium, rendering the vehicle in a premature launch state. Still within the specified window, the launch attempt was recycled, but aborted half a second before lift-off because of a sensor misreading. The problem was resolved, and the launch was again recycled. With 25 minutes left in the launch window, the Falcon 1 lifted off from Omelek Island at 03:35 UTC. During the launch, small vehicle roll oscillations were visible. Stage separation occurred as planned, but because residual fuel in the new Merlin 1C engine evaporated and provided transient thrust, the first stage recontacted the second stage, preventing successful completion of the mission.
The SpaceX flight-3 mission summary indicated that flight 4 would take place as planned and that the failure of flight 3 did not make any technology upgrades necessary. A longer time between first-stage engine shutdown and stage separation was declared to be enough. The full video of the third launch attempt was made public by SpaceX a few weeks after the launch.
Musk blamed himself for the failure of this launch, as well as the two prior attempts, explaining at the 2017 International Astronautical Congress
Every year, the International Astronautical Federation with the support of the International Academy of Astronautics and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), holds the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) which is hosted by ...
that his role as chief engineer in the early Falcon 1 launches was not by choice and almost bankrupted the company before succeeding:
And the reason that I ended up being the chief engineer or chief designer, was not because I want to, it's because I couldn't hire anyone. Nobody good would join. So I ended up being that by default. And I messed up the first three launches. The first three launches failed. Fortunately the fourth launch which was – that was the last money that we had for Falcon 1 – the fourth launch worked, or that would have been it for SpaceX.
Musk further explained the situation to Ars Technica
''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
journalist Eric Berger:
At the time I had to allocate a lot of capital to Tesla and SolarCity
SolarCity Corporation was a publicly traded company headquartered in Fremont, California that sold and installed solar energy generation systems as well as other related products and services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers ...
, so I was out of money. We had three failures under our belt. So it's pretty hard to go raise money. The recession
''The Recession'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper Jeezy (known at the time as Young Jeezy). It was released on September 2, 2008, by Corporate Thugz, Corporate Thugz Entertainment (CTE) and Def Jam South, Def Jam South Recordings. Th ...
is starting to hit. The Tesla financing round that we tried to raise that summer had failed. I got divorced. I didn't even have a house. My ex-wife had the house. So it was a shitty summer.
Fourth flight
Following the three prior failures, the SpaceX team assembled the fourth rocket using available parts in six weeks as a last chance for the company. A Boeing C-17 Globemaster III
The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...
was chartered to quickly deliver the rocket, but along the way, the rocket partially imploded when depressurization exceeded what the SpaceX team had expected from the C-17's manual and the rocket had to undergo emergency repairs to be saved. Despite the challenges, the fourth flight of the Falcon 1 rocket successfully flew on 28 September 2008, delivering a 165-kilogram (363-pound) non-functional boilerplate spacecraft into low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
. It was Falcon 1's first successful launch and the first successful orbital launch of any privately funded and developed, fully liquid-propelled carrier rocket.[
The launch occurred from ]Omelek Island
Omelek Island (; Marshallese: , pronounced ) is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease (along with ten other islands in the atoll) and is part ...
, part of the Kwajalein Atoll
Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...
in the Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...
. Liftoff occurred at 23:15 UTC on 28 September 15 minutes into a 5-hour launch window. If the launch had been scrubbed, it could have been conducted during the same window until 1 October. 9 minutes 31 seconds after launch, the second-stage engine shut down, after the vehicle reached orbit. The initial orbit was reported to be about 330 × 650 km.[
]
Following a coast period, the second stage restarted and performed a successful second burn, resulting in a final orbit of 621 × 643 km × 9.35°.
The rocket followed the same trajectory as the previous flight, which failed to place the Trailblazer
A trailblazer is a person who is paving the way in their particular field for future generations.
Trailblazer may refer to:
Sports
* Derby Trailblazers, a British semi-professional basketball team
* North Carolina Trailblazers, a US women's rec ...
, NanoSail-D
NanoSail-D was a small satellite which was to have been used by NASA's Ames Research Center to study the deployment of a solar sail in space. It was a three-unit CubeSat measuring , with a mass of . The satellite was lost shortly after launch ...
, PRESat
PharmaSat Risk Evaluation Satellite (or PRESat) nanosatellite, for NASA, was about the size of a loaf of bread, weighed about and was constructed in just six months.
Spacecraft
PRESat, 3U CubeSat, contains a micro-laboratory with a controll ...
and Celestis Explorers spacecraft into orbit. No major changes were made to the rocket, other than increasing the time between first-stage burnout and second-stage separation. This minor change addressed the failure seen on the previous flight, recontact between the first and second stages, by dissipating residual thrust in the first-stage engine before separating them.
Ratsat and the attached second stage are still in orbit as of 2021.
Fifth flight
SpaceX announced that it had completed construction of the fifth Falcon 1 rocket and was transporting the vehicle to the Kwajalein Atoll launch complex where it was to be launched on 21 April 2009, which would be 20 April 2009 in the United States. Less than a week before the scheduled launch date, Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n news reported that unsafe vibration levels had been detected in the rocket and repairs were expected to take about six weeks. On 20 April 2009, SpaceX announced in a press release that the launch had been postponed because of a potential compatibility issue between the RazakSAT spacecraft and the Falcon 1 launch vehicle. A concern had been identified regarding the potential impact of predicted vehicle environments on the satellite. On 1 June, SpaceX announced that the next launch window would open Monday, 13 July and extend through Tuesday, 14 July, with a daily window to open at 21:00 UTC (09:00 local time).
The launch on Monday, 13 July was successful, placing RazakSAT into its initial parking orbit
A parking orbit is a temporary orbit used during the launch of a spacecraft. A launch vehicle boosts into the parking orbit, then coasts for a while, then fires again to enter the final desired trajectory. The alternative to a parking orbit is ''di ...
. Thirty-eight minutes later, the rocket's second-stage engine fired again to circularize the orbit. The payload was then successfully deployed. After the launch Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
, founder and CEO of SpaceX, told a reporter the launch had been a success. "We nailed the orbit to well within target parameters...pretty much a bullseye" Musk said.
The Falcon 1 upper stage is still in low Earth orbit as of 2021.
End of Program
Following the fifth flight, future launches of Falcon-1 were postponed, and eventually cancelled, and the vehicle decommissioned from service,[Caleb Henry (10 August, 2016).]
SpaceX’s Shotwell: Falcon 1 Will not Return
, ''Via Satellite.'' Retrieved 10 Feb. 2022. with SpaceX stating “We could not make Falcon 1 work as a business.” Launches which had been booked onto Falcon-1 were moved to other vehicles or rebooked as Falcon-9 rideshare payloads.[Jeff Foust (9 August, 2016).]
SpaceX offers large rockets for small satellites
, ''Space News''. Retrieved 10 Feb. 2022.
See also
*Comparison of orbital launch systems
This comparison of orbital launch systems lists the attributes of all individual rocket configurations designed to reach orbit. A first list contains rockets that are operational or in development as of 2022; a second list includes all retired roc ...
*Comparison of orbital launchers families
This article compares different orbital launcher families (although many launchers that are significantly different from other members of the same 'family' have their own separate entries). The article is organized into two tables: the first tabl ...
*Falcon 1e
SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX currently manufactures and operates the Falcon 9 Full Thrust family of medium-lift launch vehicles and the Falcon H ...
*Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX.
The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...
*Vega
Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, an ...
*List of Vega launches
Vega ( it, Vettore Europeo di Generazione Avanzata, or french: Vecteur européen de génération avancée, or en, European Vector of Advanced Generation meaning "Advanced generation European carrier rocket"), is an expendable launch system i ...
References
;Videos
Further reading
*
*
External links
SpaceX Falcon 1 Overview