The Boeing Starliner crew module is getting prepped for the next orbital flight test in 2021.
Boeing
SpaceX and its Crew Dragon spacecraft have been a bright spot in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which returned astronaut launches to US soil in 2020. Boeing, the other Commercial Crew provider, still has some work to do before it carries a NASA crew to the International Space Station.
On Monday, NASA announced a new target date of March 25 to launch the second uncrewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner. Last fall, NASA had been aiming for March 29, so the new date pushes up the target by a few days. The mission is called Orbital Flight Test-2, or OFT-2.
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Developing spacecraft is challenging, and hurdles and delays are a normal part of the process.
The first major CST-100 Starliner flight test in late 2019 didn’t go as planned. The spacecraft failed to reach the ISS, but it did return to Earth safely. An investigation turned up software defects and a communications link problem. Boeing vowed to conduct a second orbital flight test to prove the spacecraft’s safety before it carries humans on board.
Boeing has been working to address the problems from the first flight test. “Teams conducted a full software review and several series of tests to verify Starliner’s software meets design specifications,” said NASA in a statement. Boeing will also conduct a full simulation of the test flight prior to launch.
If OFT-2 is successful, then NASA and Boeing will look to launch an actual crew to the ISS later in 2021. That would put both SpaceX and Boeing in business as providers of ISS flights. That’s the ultimate goal of a NASA program that has already ended the US reliance on Russian spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the space station.
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosted a record 143 small satellites into a polar orbit on Sunday in the company’s first dedicated “rideshare” mission, a response to the growing demand for low-cost access to space by smaller, non-traditional companies and institutions.
The “Transporter 1” mission also served as a reminder of the ongoing debate over what role the government should play regulating the increasingly crowded domain of low-Earth orbit where collisions would create high-speed shrapnel threatening other spacecraft.
“No universally accepted ‘rules of the road’ exist for the safety of space operations, much less a regulatory regime for active risk management and collision avoidance,” NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel wrote in its recently released 2020 annual report.
“As the potential for orbital collisions rises with increasing congestion, it is important to recognize that risks to astronauts, critical national security capabilities and global space commerce are also on the rise.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, January 24, 2021, carrying a record 143 small satellites.
William Harwood/CBS News
Running a day late because of bad weather, the Transporter 1 mission began with a ground-shaking roar at 10 a.m. ET as the Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral and arced away on a rare southeasterly trajectory toward a 326-mile-high orbit around Earth’s poles.
After propelling the rocket out of the lower atmosphere, the first stage, making its fifth flight, fell away and flew itself to an on-target landing on an off-shore drone ship southeast of Miami. It was SpaceX’s 73rd successful booster recovery and the 51st at sea.
The 143 satellites atop the second stage were the most ever launched by a single rocket, eclipsing the previous 104-satellite mark set by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in February 2017.
“Excited about offering low-cost access to orbit for small companies!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted Friday.
Launching many small satellites for a wide range of customers tomorrow. Excited about offering low-cost access to orbit for small companies! https://t.co/NrXmBML747
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2021
SpaceX charges a relatively low $1 million to launch a 440-pound satellite and $5,000 for every 2.2 pounds above that base level. The company says Transporter missions will be carried out every four months or so as required.
Sunday’s flight featured a smorgasbord of CubeSats, nanosats and other small spacecraft provided by multiple companies and institutions.
The manifest included 10 of SpaceX’s Starlink internet relay stations, pushing the total launched to date to 1,025, 48 Planet-built SuperDove Earth-imaging satellites and a wide variety of “smallsats” devoted to commercial applications, technology development, scientific research. and education.
Memorial spaceflight company Celestis sent cremains aloft in small containers representing 114 “participants,” including ashes from the late CBS News Radio correspondent Dave Barrett, a lifelong space enthusiast.
Rideshare flights are a recent commercial innovation giving companies and institutions relatively quick, affordable access to space they might not otherwise be able to secure.
Germany-based Exolaunch helps facilitate small satellite launches and had 30 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 1 mission. This artist’s impression shows multiple deployments using the company’s EXOport launch vehicle adapter.
Exolaunch
But critics worry the rapidly increasing numbers of satellites, in the absence of government regulation and control, will translate into an increased threat of potentially catastrophic collisions.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel called space debris “a major safety issue” and the “dominant contributor to calculations of loss-of crew predictions” for SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner astronaut ferry ships and Lockheed Martin’s Orion deep space capsule.
Space debris also contributes to two of the top three risks faced by the International Space Station.
“The hazard persists and continues to grow exponentially,” the report states. “Space is becoming more congested. For example, CubeSats and other small satellites are being launched with increasing frequency, and several companies are now deploying mega-constellations with hundreds, or even thousands, of satellites.”
U.S. Space Force provides satellite tracking, but it is growing increasingly difficult and there is no regulatory framework governing active risk management and collision avoidance.
“Given the recent increase in non-traditional commercial space operations, including satellite servicing, space tourism and the deployment of large numbers of satellites to provide worldwide internet access, updates to the existing roles and responsibilities may be appropriate,” the ASAP said.
“As things stand today, there are no clear lines of authority for directing coherence among the many entities that operate in space.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosted a record 143 small satellites into a polar orbit on Sunday in the company’s first dedicated “rideshare” mission, a response to the growing demand for low-cost access to space by smaller, non-traditional companies and institutions.
The “Transporter 1” mission also served as a reminder of the ongoing debate over what role the government should play regulating the increasingly crowded domain of low-Earth orbit where collisions would create high-speed shrapnel threatening other spacecraft.
“No universally accepted ‘rules of the road’ exist for the safety of space operations, much less a regulatory regime for active risk management and collision avoidance,” NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel wrote in its recently released 2020 annual report.
“As the potential for orbital collisions rises with increasing congestion, it is important to recognize that risks to astronauts, critical national security capabilities and global space commerce are also on the rise.”
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, January 24, 2021, carrying a record 143 small satellites.
William Harwood/CBS News
Running a day late because of bad weather, the Transporter 1 mission began with a ground-shaking roar at 10 a.m. ET as the Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral and arced away on a rare southeasterly trajectory toward a 326-mile-high orbit around Earth’s poles.
After propelling the rocket out of the lower atmosphere, the first stage, making its fifth flight, fell away and flew itself to an on-target landing on an off-shore drone ship southeast of Miami. It was SpaceX’s 73rd successful booster recovery and the 51st at sea.
The 143 satellites atop the second stage were the most ever launched by a single rocket, eclipsing the previous 104-satellite mark set by India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in February 2017.
“Excited about offering low-cost access to orbit for small companies!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted Friday.
Launching many small satellites for a wide range of customers tomorrow. Excited about offering low-cost access to orbit for small companies! https://t.co/NrXmBML747
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2021
SpaceX charges a relatively low $1 million to launch a 440-pound satellite and $5,000 for every 2.2 pounds above that base level. The company says Transporter missions will be carried out every four months or so as required.
Sunday’s flight featured a smorgasbord of CubeSats, nanosats and other small spacecraft provided by multiple companies and institutions.
The manifest included 10 of SpaceX’s Starlink internet relay stations, pushing the total launched to date to 1,025, 48 Planet-built SuperDove Earth-imaging satellites and a wide variety of “smallsats” devoted to commercial applications, technology development, scientific research. and education.
Memorial spaceflight company Celestis sent cremains aloft in small containers representing 114 “participants,” including ashes from the late CBS News Radio correspondent Dave Barrett, a lifelong space enthusiast.
Rideshare flights are a recent commercial innovation giving companies and institutions relatively quick, affordable access to space they might not otherwise be able to secure.
Germany-based Exolaunch helps facilitate small satellite launches and had 30 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 1 mission. This artist’s impression shows multiple deployments using the company’s EXOport launch vehicle adapter.
Exolaunch
But critics worry the rapidly increasing numbers of satellites, in the absence of government regulation and control, will translate into an increased threat of potentially catastrophic collisions.
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel called space debris “a major safety issue” and the “dominant contributor to calculations of loss-of crew predictions” for SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner astronaut ferry ships and Lockheed Martin’s Orion deep space capsule.
Space debris also contributes to two of the top three risks faced by the International Space Station.
“The hazard persists and continues to grow exponentially,” the report states. “Space is becoming more congested. For example, CubeSats and other small satellites are being launched with increasing frequency, and several companies are now deploying mega-constellations with hundreds, or even thousands, of satellites.”
U.S. Space Force provides satellite tracking, but it is growing increasingly difficult and there is no regulatory framework governing active risk management and collision avoidance.
“Given the recent increase in non-traditional commercial space operations, including satellite servicing, space tourism and the deployment of large numbers of satellites to provide worldwide internet access, updates to the existing roles and responsibilities may be appropriate,” the ASAP said.
“As things stand today, there are no clear lines of authority for directing coherence among the many entities that operate in space.”
The mission, dubbed Transporter-1, carried 10 satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink internet network, and more than 130 satellites for a variety of customers including Planet, which operates a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites, and ICEYE, which develops small radar satellites for tracking hazardous ice.
SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission was the first in new rideshare program that SpaceX announced in 2019. The company said at the time it will dedicate “regularly scheduled” launches of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket to carrying large batches of small satellites, or “smallsats,” rather than focusing on one large, primary payload.
Smallsats have seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the past few years. They range in size from as small as a smartphone to as large as a kitchen refrigerator. And as they’ve grown more advanced, hoards of businesses have entered the market promising to deliver services using new smallsat technologies.
Typically, smallsats reach orbit by tagging along with larger, more expensive satellites, and the waiting list can be long and unpredictable. But there’s been a major push in the launch industry to cater directly to the booming smallsat market. Dozens of new rocket companies are promising to build scaled-down rockets that can provide quick and easy launches for smallsats. Two such companies, Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit, have successfully sent their downsized rockets to orbit and begun commercial operations.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets are much larger than Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit’s rockets, and they’re typically used to launch hefty communications or spy satellites or Dragon spacecraft, which ferry astronauts and cargo to and from the International Space Station.
Deciding to dedicate additional missions just to launching batches of smallsats is a company first, and it’s a sign of how much interest in the industry has grown.
As the number of devices in orbit grows, however, experts are becoming increasingly concerned about congestion. Satellites have collided in orbit before, and though such incidents don’t post much of a threat to people on the ground, the debris from the crash can stay in orbit for years or decades.
[UPDATE: Today’s attempt was scrubbed due to weather conditions. Another launch window is available tomorrow at 10 AM ET]
SpaceX is set to launch the very first of its dedicated rideshare missions – an offering it introduced in 2019 that allows small satellite operators to book a portion of a payload on a Falcon 9 launch. SpaceX’s rocket has a relatively high payload capacity compared to the size of many of the small satellites produced today, so a rideshare mission like this offers smaller companies and startups a chance to get their spacecraft in orbit without breaking the bank.
The cargo capsule atop the Falcon 9 flying today holds a total of 133 satellites according to SpaceX, which is a new record for the highest number of satellites being launched on a single rocket – beating out a payload of 104 spacecraft delivered by Indian Space Research Organization’s PSLV-C37 launch back in February 2017. It’ll be a key demonstration not only of SpaceX’s rideshare capabilities, but also of the complex coordination involved in a launch that includes deployment of multiple payloads into different target orbits in relatively quick succession.
This launch will be closely watched in particular for its handling of orbital traffic management, since it definitely heralds what the future of private space launches could look like in terms of volume of activity. Some of the satellites flying on this mission are not much larger than an iPad, so industry experts will be paying close attention to how they’re deployed and tracked to avoid any potential conflicts.
Some of the payloads being launched today include significant volumes of startup spacecraft, including 36 of Swarm’s tiny IoT network satellites, and eight of Kepler’s GEN-1 communications satellites. There are also 10 of SpaceX’s own Starlink satellites on board, and 48 of Planet Labs’ Earth-imaging spacecraft.
The launch stream above should begin around 15 minutes prior to the mission start, which is set for 9:40 AM EST (6:40 AM PST) today.
2 “Strong Buy” FAANG Stocks to Watch Heading Into Earnings
Big Tech has been in the news lately, and not necessarily for the right reasons. Accusations of corporate censorship have hit the headlines in recent weeks. While serious, this may have a salutary effect – the public discussion of Big Tech’s role in our digital lives is long overdue. And that discussion will get underway just as the Q4 and full-year 2020 financial numbers start coming in. Of the FAANG stocks, Netflix has already reported; the other four will release results in the next two weeks. So, the upcoming earnings will garner well-deserved attention, and Wall Street’s best analysts are already publishing their views on some of the market’s most important components. Using TipRanks’ database, we pulled up the details on two members of the FAANG club to find out how the Street thinks each will fare when they publish their fourth quarter numbers. According to the platform, both have received plenty of love from the analysts, earning a “Strong Buy” consensus rating. Facebook (FB) Let’s start with Facebook, the social media giant that has redefined our online interactions. Along with Google, Facebook has also brought us targeted digital marketing and advertising, and the mass monetization of the internet. It’s been a profitable strategy for the company. Facebook’s market cap is up to $786 billion, and in the third quarter of 2020, the company reported $21.5 billion at the top line. Looking ahead to the Q4 report, due out on January 27, analysts are forecasting revenues at or near $26.2 billion. This would be in-line with the company’s pattern, of rising quarterly performance from Q1 to Q4. At the predicted sum, revenues would rise 24% year-over-year, roughly congruent with the 22% yoy gain already seen in Q3. The key metric to watch out for will be the growth in daily active users; this metric slipped slightly from Q2 to Q3, and further decline will be taken as an ominous sign for the company’s future. As it stands now, Facebook’s daily average user number is 1.82 billion. Ahead of the print, Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein boosted his price target to $345 (from $300), while reiterating an Outperform (i.e. Buy) rating. Investors stand to pocket ~26% gain should the analyst’s thesis play out. (To watch Helfstein’s track record, click here) The 5-star analyst commented, “[We] anticipate 4Q advertising revenue will handily top Street estimates. We now forecast 4Q advertising revenue +30% y/y vs. Street’s +25% estimate based on a regression of US Standard Media Index Data (r-squared 0.95) and accelerating global CPM data from Gupta Media (4Q +35% y/y vs. 3Q’s -12%). Additionally, we are very bullish on FB’s eCommerce opportunity following conversations with our checks and our initial work conservatively estimating Shops is a $25–50B opportunity vs. current $85B revs. We believe shares currently trading at 7.1x EV/NTM sales offers the most favorable risk/ reward in internet large cap.” Overall, the social media empire remains a Wall Street darling, as TipRanks analytics showcasing FB as a Strong Buy. This is based on 34 recent reviews, which break down to 30 Buy ratings, 3 Holds, and 1 Sell. Shares are priced at $276.10 and the average price target of $327.42 suggests a one-year upside of ~19%. (See FB stock analysis on TipRanks) Amazon (AMZN) Turning to e-commerce, we can’t avoid Amazon. The retail giant has a market cap of $1.65 trillion, making it one of just four publicly traded companies valued over the trillion-dollar mark. The company’s famously price is famously high, and has grown 74% since this time last year, far outpacing the broader markets. Amazon’s growth has been supported by increased online sales activity during the ‘corona year.’ Globally, online retail has grew 27% in 2020, while total retail slipped 3%. Amazon, which dominates the online retail sector, is projected to end 2020 with $380 billion in total revenue, or 34% year-over-year growth, outpacing the global e-commerce gains. Cowen analyst John Blackledge, rating 5-stars by TipRanks, covers Amazon and is bullish on the company’s prospects ahead of the earnings release. Blackledge rates the stock Outperform (i.e. Buy), and his price target, at $4,350, indicates confidence in a 31% upside on the one-year time horizon. (To watch Blackledge’s track record, click here) “We forecast 4Q20 reported revenue of $120.8BN, +38.2% y/y vs. +37.4% y/y in 3Q20 led by AWS, advertising, subscription and 3P sales [..] We estimate US Prime sub growth accelerated in 4Q20 (reaching 76MM subs in Dec ’20 and ~74MM on avg in 4Q20), helped by pandemic demand, Prime Day in Oct, & elongated shopping period, as well as 1 Day delivery […] In ’21, we expect strong top-line growth to continue driven by eCommerce (helped by COVID pull forward in Grocery), adv., AWS & sub businesses,” Blackledge opined. That Wall Street generally is bullish on Amazon is no secret; the company has 33 reviews on record, and 32 of them are Buys, versus 1 Hold. Shares are priced at $3,301.26 and the average price target of $3,826 implies that it will grow another 16% this year. (See AMZN stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
The SpaceX Transporter-1 mission set to launch today will put 133 commercial and government spacecraft, as well as 10 more Starlink satellites, in orbit. SpaceX says that’s “the most spacecraft ever deployed on a single mission” — the previous record holder, an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, ferried only 104 satellites to space. In addition to having a record-breaking payload, Transporter-1 is also the first dedicated launch under the SmallSat Rideshare Program SpaceX announced back in 2019.
Launching many small satellites for a wide range of customers tomorrow. Excited about offering low-cost access to orbit for small companies! https://t.co/NrXmBML747
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2021
The SmallSat program offers companies and government agencies an affordable way to get their CubeSats, microsats and other small spacecraft to orbit. Its prices start at $2.5 million for payloads up to 150 kg (330 lbs). The program’s customers typically just hitch a ride on other Falcon 9 launches, and this is the first time they’re the main point of a mission. As for the Starlink satellites aboard the flight, they’ll be the first in the constellation to deploy to a polar orbit.
SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission is set to lift off on Saturday, January 23rd at 9:40am EST.
Trevor Mahlmann
This will be the fifth flight of this rocket, which will attempt to land aboard the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship, which is stationed west of The Bahamas ~130 miles off the coast of Miami.
Trevor Mahlmann
The mission will ride to orbit with thanks to help from Falcon 9 B1058.
Trevor Mahlmann
A view of the rocket after it went vertical.
SpaceX
As early as Saturday morning, SpaceX will launch the first dedicated mission of a rideshare program it announced in late 2019. As part of this plan, the company sought to bundle dozens of small satellites together for regular launches on its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.
There seems to have been a fair amount of interest in the program, which offered a very low price of $15,000 per kilogram delivered to a Sun-synchronous orbit. For its first “Transporter-1 mission,” SpaceX said it will launch 133 commercial and government spacecraft, as well as 10 of its own Starlink satellites. SpaceX had to obtain permission to deploy these Starlink satellites into a polar orbit.
With this launch of 143 total satellites, SpaceX will surpass the previous record holder for most satellites launched in a single mission, set by an Indian launch vehicle in 2017. In February of that year, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully delivered 104 satellites into a handful of different Sun-synchronous orbits.
SpaceX has not disclosed many details about the popularity of its rideshare program, nor has the company announced the number of payloads booked on future launches. However, several customers have said they were surprised by the cost and speed of the service SpaceX offered. Last year, after booking as a rideshare on a Starlink launch that flew in the summer of 2020, the satellite operator Planet publicly discussed how quickly the deal came together.
“This is the result of SpaceX dramatically cutting the cost of access to launch,” Mike Safyan, vice president of launch at Planet, said in June. “It’s significant. They cut the price so much we could not believe what we were looking at.”
Planet is launching 48 of its SuperDove satellites on the Transporter-1 mission.
The mission will be closely followed by small satellite rocket companies, including Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit, which now have proven boosters, as well as companies still developing their rockets. While smaller rockets can offer dedicated service for small satellites by putting them up one or two at a time, it will be difficult to compete with SpaceX on price. Competitors will be watching to see how orderly the dispersal of the satellites will be—according to SpaceX’s timeline for the mission, deployment will occur in 12 waves.
Weather is a moderate concern for Saturday’s launch attempt, which is scheduled for 9:40am ET (14:40 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. According to forecasters, there is a 40 percent chance of weather violations due to thick clouds and cumulus clouds. Weather in the recovery area for the booster looks good.
The first stage of this rocket will be making its fifth flight. It made its debut back in May 2020 with the historic Demo-2 mission that carried Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station. Since then, it has flown about every two months. It last launched a cargo supply mission for NASA to the International Space Station on December 6.
A webcast should begin about 15 minutes before the launch window opens on Saturday morning.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – After successfully launching its own payload from Florida earlier this week, SpaceX is preparing another Falcon 9 rocket to liftoff with satellites from several customers, including DARPA, NASA and more of its own Starlink satellites.
The SpaceX rideshare mission includes government and private customer payloads as well as a dozen smaller nanosatellites. The rocket will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 40. The launch window opens at Saturday at 9:40 a.m. It was delayed from Friday morning.
The mission, known as Transporter-1, also includes a somewhat last-minute addition of 10 Starlink satellites, after receiving Federal Communications Commission approval earlier this month to include those.
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According to the 45th Space Wing forecast, the current concern for the launch window will be thick cloud cover. Space Force forecasters are giving the launch window a 60% chance of favorable weather. A front will be bringing showers to the Space Coast Saturday morning.
After launch, the Falcon 9 will head south toward polar orbit, a rare trajectory sending the rocket down Florida’s coast. Due to the unusual path SpaceX’s droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, won’t be north of the launch site waiting to catch the rocket booster but due south in the Atlantic Ocean.
Earlier in the week, another Falcon 9 launched 60 Starlink internet-beaming satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The successful delivery to low-Earth orbit was the 17th batch part of SpaceX’s constellation designed to provide global internet to even remote areas of the world. There were nearly 1,000 Starlink satellites already in orbit.
SpaceX plans to continue to grow that constellation this year with launches every other week.
Meanwhile in Texas, SpaceX teams are working toward another test flight of the company’s interplanetary spaceship undergoing development at the Boca Chica site. The most recent flight of Starship wowed online viewers all over the world when the spaceship prototype launched, performed an aerial flip and came down for an explosive landing.
This weekend’s launch will mark the third for SpaceX this year.
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