Requested poll:This subject is currently under debate in the SpaceX subforum. SpaceX has indicated they want to have 4 flights of the Falcon 9 in 2012. That could be 3 flights with Dragon at the Cape and 1 non-dragon flight from Vandenburg. How many do you actually expect the company to achieve this year?
One in March or April, they will say 2, but it will slip to 2013. They are an amazing company with much potential, but rockets are a very difficult business and it seems everything moves at a snails pace now - with SpaceX and everyone else.
Quote from: HammerD on 01/26/2012 01:33 amOne in March or April, they will say 2, but it will slip to 2013. They are an amazing company with much potential, but rockets are a very difficult business and it seems everything moves at a snails pace now - with SpaceX and everyone else. The biggest decider in Spacex's flight rate this year probably will be how smooth the COTS Demo flight 2 goes.The hardest part about rocketry is getting a design and it's manufacturing process debugged.If it launches close to the target date and everything goes smoothly they could very well meet their launch manifest for this year.They're being extra cautious with this up coming flight as it's the first flight an an all up Dragon and it's going to ISS. Maybe they should not have combined demo flight 2 and 3 as it can make it appear esp to the general public that they can't do high flight rates even though this may be entirely untrue.My biggest doubt is whether can they launch F9 heavy this year because that is a new design and will be flying from a new launch site.
Quote from: HammerD on 01/26/2012 01:33 amOne in March or April, they will say 2, but it will slip to 2013. They are an amazing company with much potential, but rockets are a very difficult business and it seems everything moves at a snails pace now - with SpaceX and everyone else. My biggest doubt is whether can they launch F9 heavy this year because that is a new design and will be flying from a new launch site.