[Satellite News 09-29-08] After six years and three failed attempts, Space Exploration Technology Corp. (SpaceX) launched the first privately funded, liquid-fuelled rocket into orbit Sept. 28, the company said.
    The Falcon 1 rocket, which carried a dummy payload with a mass of about 165 kilograms lbs, lifted off at 7:15 p.m. EDT from Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll in the Central Pacific. According to Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, the orbit insertion was “middle of the bull’s eye.”
    “The launch is certainly a validation of SpaceX’s plans from a technical standpoint,” said analyst Jeff Foust of Futron Corp. SpaceX hopes to cut the cost of satellite launches “ten-fold,” according to the company’s mission statement – a strategy that has drawn praise from commercial operators and skepticism from competitors.
    The real test for SpaceX will be the much larger Falcon 9 rocket, the company’s entry into the geostationary launch market, Foust said. “The Falcon 1 is a smaller launch vehicle that competes in a different market — against primarily Russian vehicles for smaller payloads. The success of Falcon 1 will probably not see immediate reaction from larger companies. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has the potential to become a major player in the launch business — if it successful. I believe we will see more of a market shift and readjustment from competitors once SpaceX starts going after some of the larger [geostationary] satellites."
    SpaceX attempted its fourth Falcon 1 launch less than two month after an August failure. News of the successful launch appeared suddenly and with much less fanfare than previous attempts.
    Foust said that the quick turnaround was due to the adjustments being minor and a rush to establish credibility. “After the August failure, the company quickly determined what the problem was,” he said. “They were getting this residual thrust from the first stage engine after engine shutdown, enough so that when the stages separated, that thrust caused the first stage to propel forward and run itself into the second stage. There was a very simple fix. To correct the problem, SpaceX simply had to delay the time between engine shut down and stage separation so that residual thrust would no longer be an issue. Since they already had the hardware lying around, I think they were very anxious to demonstrate that they solved the last problem they had to deal with and that everything else was working well.”
    SpaceX’s successes and failures are followed closely by the industry due to complaints from satellite operators of high launch costs and limited capacity.
    Arianespace president Clayton Mowry recently argued against these claims after the company ordered 10 additional Soyuz ST launchers from Roskosmos in September. “Arianespace has invested in bringing additional launch capacity to the market by increasing the launch rate of Ariane 5 to eight launches per year — 16 satellites in dual manifest — and bringing the Soyuz to French Guiana where we can launch two to four times per year satellites weighing up to three metric tons,” Mowry said in an interview with Satellite News. “Launch opportunities exist in 2010. So why are there complaints about a lack of capacity?”
    SpaceX’s next Falcon 1 launch is scheduled for early 2009 and will carry a Malaysian remote sensing satellite, Razaksat.