81-437: OCX may refer to: Next-Generation operational control segment, part of an initiative to modernize GPS Block III satellite operations OLE custom control , a predecessor of ActiveX controls from Microsoft OCx, generic reference for any type of optical carrier signal Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
162-472: A $ 1.9 billion funding round, one of the largest single fundraising pushes by any privately held company, SpaceX's valuation increased to $ 46 billion . In February 2021, SpaceX raised an additional $ 1.61 billion in an equity round from 99 investors at a per share value of approximately $ 420 , raising the company valuation to approximately $ 74 billion . By 2021, SpaceX had raised more than $ 6 billion in equity financing. Most of
243-743: A WAAS satellite sent the initial L5 signal test transmissions. SVN-62 , the first GPS block IIF satellite, continuously broadcast the L5 signal starting on 28 June 2010. As a result of schedule delays to the GPS III control segment, the L5 signal was decoupled from the OCX deployment schedule. All satellites capable of transmitting the L5 signal (all GPS satellites launched since May 2010) began broadcasting pre-operational civil navigation (CNAV) messages in April 2014, and in December 2014
324-455: A Falcon 9 exploded during a propellant fill operation for a standard pre-launch static fire test . The payload, the AMOS-6 communications satellite valued at $ 200 million , was destroyed. The explosion was caused by the liquid oxygen that is used as propellant turning so cold that it solidified and ignited with carbon composite helium vessels. Though not considered an unsuccessful flight,
405-454: A US$ 395 million contract option with Lockheed Martin for the ninth and tenth Block III space vehicles, expected to be available for launch by 2022. 6 of 10 GPS Block III satellites have been launched. 6 are currently operational, with 0 undergoing testing. One of the first announcements was the addition of a new civilian-use signal to be transmitted on a frequency other than the L1 frequency used for
486-420: A booster from CRS-23 on it for the first time on 29 August 2021. Within the first 130 days of 2022, SpaceX had 18 rocket launches and two astronaut splashdowns. On 13 December 2021, company CEO Elon Musk announced that the company was starting a carbon dioxide removal program that would convert captured carbon into rocket fuel , after he announced a $ 100 million donation to the X Prize Foundation
567-515: A crew transport vehicle to the ISS. NASA awarded SpaceX a fixed-price Space Act Agreement (SAA) to produce a detailed design of the crew transportation system in August 2012. In early 2012, approximately two-thirds of SpaceX stock was owned by Musk and his seventy million shares were then estimated to be worth $ 875 million on private markets , valuing SpaceX at $ 1.3 billion . In May 2012, with
648-467: A directional spot beam several hundred kilometers in diameter. Originally, this proposal was considered as a retrofit to the planned Block IIF satellites. Upon closer inspection, program managers realized that the addition of a large deployable antenna, combined with the changes that would be needed in the operational control segment, presented too great a challenge for the then existing system design. The GPS Operational Control Segment (OCS), consisting of
729-409: A number of factors, primarily due to issues found in the navigation payload. Further launch date slippages were caused by the need for additional testing and validation of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which ultimately launched the satellite on 23 December 2018. On 22 August 2019, the second GPS III satellite was launched aboard a Delta IV rocket. On 21 September 2016, the U.S. Air Force exercised
810-405: A private company building a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for communications with Internet of things (IoT) devices, for $ 524 million . In December 2022, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the launch up to 7,500 of SpaceX's next-generation satellites in its Starlink internet network. SpaceX has developed three launch vehicles. The small-lift Falcon 1
891-457: A redundant signal in case of localized interference. The immediate effect of having two civilian frequencies being transmitted from one satellite is the ability to directly measure, and therefore remove, the ionospheric delay error for that satellite. Without such a measurement, a GPS receiver must use a generic model or receive ionospheric corrections from another source (such as a Satellite Based Augmentation System ). Advances in technology for
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#1732869887158972-417: A revenue of over $ 10 billion in 2024. In early 2001, Elon Musk met Robert Zubrin and donated $ 100,000 to his Mars Society , joining its board of directors for a short time. He gave a plenary talk at their fourth convention where he announced Mars Oasis , a project to land a greenhouse and grow plants on Mars. Musk initially attempted to acquire a Dnepr intercontinental ballistic missile for
1053-614: A worldwide network of satellite operations centers, ground antennas and monitoring stations, provides Command and Control (C2) capabilities for GPS Block II satellites. The latest update to the GPS OCS, Architectural Evolution Plan 7.5, was operationally accepted in 2019. In 2010, the United States Air Force announced plans to develop a modern control segment, a critical part of the GPS modernization initiative. OCS will continue to serve as
1134-518: Is defined in IS-GPS-705. L1C is a civilian-use signal, to be broadcast on the same L1 frequency (1575.42 MHz) that contains the C/A signal used by all current GPS users. L1C broadcasting started when GPS III Control Segment (OCX) Block 1 becomes operational, scheduled for 2022. The L1C signal will reach full operational status when being broadcast from at least 24 GPS Block III satellites, projected for
1215-420: Is the largest launch vehicle in history and aims to fully realize the company's vision of a fully-reusable, cost-effective and adaptable launch vehicle. SpaceX is also developing its own space suit and astronaut via its Polaris program as well as developing the human lander for lunar missions under NASA's Artemis program . SpaceX is not publicly traded; a space industry newspaper estimated that SpaceX has
1296-462: Is to decrease the cost and improve the reliability of access to space , ultimately by a factor of ten. SpaceX developed its first orbital launch vehicle , the Falcon 1 , with internal funding. The Falcon 1 was an expendable two-stage-to-orbit small-lift launch vehicle . The total development cost of Falcon 1 was approximately $ 90 million to $ 100 million . The Falcon rocket series
1377-773: The Dragon C2+ launch, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station . After the flight, the company private equity valuation nearly doubled to $ 2.4 billion or $ 20 /share. By that time, SpaceX had operated on total funding of approximately $ 1 billion over its first decade of operation. Of this, private equity provided approximately $ 200 million , with Musk investing approximately $ 100 million and other investors having put in about $ 100 million . SpaceX's active reusability test program began in late 2012 with testing low-altitude, low-speed aspects of
1458-564: The Falcon 5 . The company instead decided in 2005 to proceed with the development of the Falcon 9 , a reusable heavier lift vehicle . Development of the Falcon 9 was accelerated by NASA , which committed to purchasing several commercial flights if specific capabilities were demonstrated. This started with seed money from the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program in 2006. The overall contract award
1539-558: The SpaceX Starbase near Brownsville, Texas . Since its founding in 2001, the company has made numerous advancements in rocket propulsion , reusable launch vehicle , human spaceflight and satellite constellation technology. By the late 2010s, SpaceX had become the world's dominant space launch provider, its launch cadence rivaling that of the Chinese space program and eclipsing all those of its private competitors. SpaceX, NASA and
1620-618: The Starship and Starlink projects. The purpose of the Starship vehicle is to enable large-scale transit of humans and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. SpaceX's Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown, with a payload capacity of 100+ tons. Construction of initial prototypes and tests for Starship started in early 2019 in Florida and Texas. All Starship construction and testing moved to
1701-468: The United States Armed Forces work closely together by means of governmental contracts . SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2001 with a vision of decreasing the costs of space launches, paving the way to a sustainable colony on Mars . In 2008, when SpaceX was almost bankrupt, Falcon 1 successfully launched into orbit after three failed launch attempts. The company then pivoted towards
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#17328698871581782-480: The first successful first-stage landing in 2015 and re-launch of the first stage in 2017 . Falcon Heavy , built from three Falcon 9 boosters, first flew in 2018 after a more than decade-long development process. As of October 2024, the company's Falcon 9 rockets have landed and flown again more than 330 times , reaching 1–2 launches a week. These milestones delivered the company much-needed investment and SpaceX sought to diversify its sources of income. In 2019,
1863-425: The modular approach of modern software engineering, Musk believed SpaceX could significantly cut launch costs. In early 2002, Elon Musk started to look for staff for his company, soon to be named SpaceX. Musk approached five people for the initial positions at the fledgling company, including Griffin, who declined the position of Chief Engineer, Jim Cantrell and John Garvey (Cantrell and Garvey would later found
1944-532: The Air Force started transmitting CNAV uploads on a daily basis. The L5 signal will be considered fully operational once at least 24 space vehicles are broadcasting the signal, currently projected to happen in 2027. As of 10 July 2023, L5 is being broadcast from 17 satellites, after the removal of the block IIF, SVM-63. WRC-2000 added a space signal component to this aeronautical band so the aviation community can manage interference to L5 more effectively than L2. It
2025-495: The C/A code and then transfer to lock onto the P(Y) code. In a major departure from previous GPS designs, the M-code is intended to be broadcast from a high-gain directional antenna , in addition to a wide angle (full Earth) antenna. The directional antenna's signal, termed a spot beam , is intended to be aimed at a specific region (i.e., several hundred kilometers in diameter) and increase
2106-556: The California Secretary of State. The move to relocate SpaceX's headquarters was seen as largely symbolic, at least in the short term. The Hawthorne facility continues to support the company's Falcon launch vehicles, which was SpaceX's workhorse product in 2024. SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission featured the first-ever private spacewalk, marking a major milestone in commercial space exploration. In January 2019, SpaceX announced it would lay off 10% of its workforce to help finance
2187-576: The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract to finalize the development of the Crew Transportation System. The contract included several technical and certification milestones, an uncrewed flight test, a crewed flight test, and six operational missions after certification. In January 2015, SpaceX raised $ 1 billion in funding from Google and Fidelity Investments , in exchange for 8.33% of
2268-534: The Director of the U.S. Air Force's Global Positioning Systems Directorate announced the first satellite would launch in the spring of 2018. In March 2017, the U.S. General Accounting Office stated "Technical issues with both the GPS III satellite and the OCX Block 0 launch control and checkout system have combined to place the planned March 2018 launch date for the first GPS III satellite at risk". The delays were caused by
2349-515: The Falcon 9's second flight, and safely returned to Earth after two orbits, completing all its mission objectives. By December 2010, the SpaceX production line was manufacturing one Falcon 9 and Dragon every three months. In April 2011, as part of its second-round Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, NASA issued a $ 75 million contract for SpaceX to develop an integrated launch escape system for Dragon in preparation for human-rating it as
2430-555: The GPS constellation, albeit in a limited fashion, without having to wait until OCX Block 1 becomes operational (scheduled for 2022). The United States Space Force awarded the US$ 96 million Contingency Operations contract in February 2016. Contingency Ops was operationally accepted by in April 2020. SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. , commonly referred to as SpaceX , is an American space technology company headquartered at
2511-486: The GPS satellites and the GPS receivers have made ionospheric delay the largest source of error in the C/A signal. A receiver capable of performing this measurement is referred to as a dual frequency receiver. Its technical characteristics are: It is defined in IS-GPS-200. A major component of the modernization process, a new military signal called M-code was designed to further improve the anti-jamming and secure access of
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2592-449: The L2C navigation data was scheduled to enter service in February 2016, but was delayed until 2022 or later. As a result of OCX delays, the L2C signal was decoupled from the OCX deployment schedule. All satellites capable of transmitting the L2C signal (all GPS satellites launched since 2005) began broadcasting pre-operational civil navigation (CNAV) messages in April 2014, and in December 2014
2673-445: The Moon. On 18 November 2023, SpaceX launched its second integrated Starship test , with both vehicles flying for a few minutes before separately exploding. In early March 2024 SpaceX announced that it was targeting 14 March as the tentative launch date for its next uncrewed Starship launch configuration flight test, pending the issuance of a "launch license" by the FAA . This license
2754-455: The OCX program's projected program costs had risen above US$ 4.25 billion, thus exceeding baseline cost estimates of US$ 3.4 billion by 25%, also known as a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach. Factors leading to the breach include "inadequate systems engineering at program inception", and "the complexity of cybersecurity requirements on OCX". In October 2016, the Department of Defense formally certified
2835-679: The U.S. Air Force in April 2022. OCX Block 3F upgrades OCX with the ability to perform Launch & Checkout for Block IIIF satellites. Block IIIF satellites are expected to start launching in 2026. The OCX Block 3F contract, valued at $ 228 million, was awarded to Raytheon Intelligence and Space on 30 April 2021. GPS III Contingency Operations ("COps") is an update to the GPS Operational Control Segment, allowing OCS to provide Block IIF Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) features from GPS III satellites. The Contingency Operations effort enables GPS III satellites to participate in
2916-464: The U.S. Air Force started transmitting CNAV uploads on a daily basis. The L2C signal will be considered fully operational after it is being broadcast by at least 24 space vehicles, projected to happen in 2023. As of October 2017, L2C was being broadcast from 19 satellites; by June 2022 there were 24 satellites broadcasting this signal. The L2C signal is tasked with providing improved accuracy of navigation, providing an easy-to-track signal, and acting as
2997-658: The ability to begin broadcasting the civilian L1C signal. In November 2016, the GAO reported that OCX Block 1 had become the primary cause for delay in activating the GPS III PNT mission. Block 1 completed the final iteration of Critical Design Review (CDR) in September 2018. Software development on Block 1 is scheduled to complete in 2019, after which the Block 1 software will undergo 2.5 years of system testing. OCX Block 2 upgrades OCX with
3078-454: The advanced M-code features for military users and the ability to monitor performance of the civilian signals. In March 2017, the contractor rephased its OCX delivery schedule so that Block 2 will now be delivered to the Air Force concurrently with Block 1. In July 2017, an additional nine months delay to the schedule was announced. According to the July 2017 program schedule, OCX will be delivered to
3159-817: The capital raised since 2019 has been used to support the operational fielding of the Starlink satellite constellation and the development and manufacture of the Starship launch vehicle. By October 2021, the valuation of SpaceX had risen to $ 100.3 billion . On 16 April 2021, Starship HLS won a contract to play a critical role in the NASA crewed spaceflight Artemis program . By 2021, SpaceX had entered into agreements with Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure to provide on-ground computer and networking services for Starlink . A new round of financing in 2022 valued SpaceX at $ 127 billion . In July 2021, SpaceX unveiled another drone ship named A Shortfall of Gravitas , landing
3240-559: The company Vector Launch ), rocket engineer Tom Mueller , and Chris Thompson. SpaceX was first headquartered in a warehouse in El Segundo, California . Early SpaceX employees, such as Tom Mueller (CTO), Gwynne Shotwell (COO), and Chris Thompson (VP of Operations), came from neighboring TRW and Boeing corporations. By November 2005, the company had 160 employees. Musk personally interviewed and approved all of SpaceX's early employees. Musk has stated that one of his goals with SpaceX
3321-474: The company achieved the first successful landing on the autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean. By October 2016, following the successful landings, SpaceX indicated they were offering their customers a 10% price discount if they choose to fly their payload on a reused Falcon 9 first stage. A second major rocket failure happened in early September 2016, when
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3402-404: The company raised $ 350 million , which raised its valuation to $ 21 billion . In 2017, SpaceX achieved a 45% global market share for awarded commercial launch contracts. By March 2018, SpaceX had more than 100 launches on its manifest representing about $ 12 billion in contract revenue. The contracts included both commercial and government (NASA/DOD) customers. This made SpaceX
3483-414: The company, establishing the company valuation at approximately $ 12 billion . The same month SpaceX announced the development of a new satellite constellation, called Starlink , to provide global broadband internet service with 4,000 satellites. The Falcon 9 had its first major failure in late June 2015, when the seventh ISS resupply mission, CRS-7 exploded two minutes into the flight. The problem
3564-517: The competition from SpaceX. Beginning in 2014, SpaceX capabilities and pricing also began to affect the market for launch of U.S. military payloads, which for nearly a decade had been dominated by the large U.S. launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA). The monopoly had allowed launch costs by the U.S. provider to rise to over $ 400 million over the years. In September 2014, NASA's Director of Commercial Spaceflight, Kevin Crigler, awarded SpaceX
3645-537: The delivery of OCX Block 0 in November 2017, and is used it to prepare for the first GPS launch in December 2018. As of May 2022, OCX Block 0 has successfully supported the launch and checkout of GPS III SV 01–05. OCX Block 1 is an upgrade to OCX Block 0, at which time the OCX system achieves Initial Operating Capability (IOC). Once Block 1 is deployed, OCX will for the first time be able to command and control both Block II and Block III GPS satellites, as well as support
3726-554: The development of the larger Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon 1 capsule to satisfy NASA 's COTS contracts for deliveries to the International Space Station . By 2012, SpaceX finished all COTS test flights and began delivering Commercial Resupply Services missions to the International Space Station. Also around that time, SpaceX started developing hardware to make the Falcon 9 first stage reusable . The company demonstrated
3807-732: The end of the decade, a program that would later become the Dragon spacecraft . In 2006, the company was selected by NASA and awarded $ 396 million to provide crew and cargo resupply demonstration contracts to the International Space Station (ISS) under the COTS program . The first two Falcon 1 launches were purchased by the United States Department of Defense under the DARPA Falcon Project which evaluated new U.S. launch vehicles suitable for use in hypersonic missile delivery for Prompt Global Strike . The first three launches of
3888-466: The existing GPS Coarse Acquisition (C/A) signal. Ultimately, this became known as the L2C signal because it is broadcast on the L2 frequency (1227.6 MHz). It can be transmitted by all block IIR-M and later design satellites. The original plan stated that until the new OCX (Block 1) system is in place, the signal would consist of a default message ("Type 0") that contains no navigational data. OCX Block 1 with
3969-570: The existing system led to the effort to modernize the GPS system. In 2000, the U.S. Congress authorized the effort, referred to as GPS III . The project involves new ground stations and new satellites, with additional navigation signals for both civilian and military users, and aims to improve the accuracy and availability for all users. Raytheon was awarded the Next Generation GPS Operational Control System (OCX) contract on 25 February 2010. The first satellite in
4050-417: The first large batch of 60 Starlink satellites, beginning to deploy what would become the world's largest commercial satellite constellation the following year. In 2022, most SpaceX launches focused on Starlink, a consumer internet business that sends batches of internet-beaming satellites and now has over 6,000 satellites in orbit. On 16 July 2021, SpaceX entered an agreement to acquire Swarm Technologies ,
4131-469: The first operational satellite of the Starlink internet satellite constellation came online. In subsequent years, Starlink generated the bulk of SpaceX's income and paved the way for its Starshield military counterpart. In 2020, SpaceX began to operate its Dragon 2 capsules to deliver crewed missions for NASA and private entities. Around this time, SpaceX began building test prototypes for Starship , which
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#17328698871584212-578: The first satellite's planned 2014 launch, on 27 April 2016, SpaceX , in Hawthorne, California , was awarded a US$ 82.7 million firm-fixed-price contract for launch services to deliver a GPS III satellite to its intended orbit. The contract included launch vehicle production, mission integration, and launch operations for a GPS III mission, to be performed in Hawthorne, California; Cape Canaveral Air Force Station , Florida ; and McGregor, Texas . In December 2016,
4293-402: The first successful launch achieved on the fourth attempt on 28 September 2008. Musk split his remaining $ 30 million between SpaceX and Tesla, and NASA awarded the first Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract awarding $ 1.6 billion to SpaceX in December, thus financially saving the company. Based on these factors and the further business operations they enabled, the Falcon 1
4374-661: The first ten GPS III satellites , which are used to keep the Navstar Global Positioning System operational. Lockheed Martin designed, developed and manufactured the GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST) and all ten Block III satellites. The first satellite in the series was launched in December 2018. The United States' Global Positioning System (GPS) reached Full Operational Capability on 17 July 1995, completing its original design goals. Advances in technology and new demands on
4455-783: The greater war between Russia and Ukraine, Starlink was extensively used . In 2022, SpaceX's Falcon 9 also became the world record holder for the most launches of a single vehicle type in a single year. SpaceX launched a rocket approximately every six days in 2022, with 61 launches in total. All but one (a Falcon Heavy in November) was on a Falcon 9 rocket. In November 2023, SpaceX announced it would acquire its parachute supplier Pioneer Aerospace out of bankruptcy for $ 2.2 million . On 16 July 2024, Elon Musk posted on X that SpaceX would move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California , to SpaceX Starbase in Brownsville, Texas . Musk said this
4536-496: The ground control system of record until the new system, Next Generation GPS Operational Control System (OCX), is fully developed and functional. OCX features are being delivered to the United States Air Force in three separate phases, known as "blocks". The OCX blocks are numbered zero through two. With each block delivered, OCX gains additional functionality. In June 2016, the U.S. Air Force formally notified Congress
4617-469: The landing technology. The Falcon 9 prototypes performed vertical takeoffs and landings ( VTOL ). High-velocity, high-altitude tests of the booster atmospheric return technology began in late 2013. SpaceX launched the first commercial mission for a private customer in 2013. In 2014, SpaceX won nine contracts out of the 20 that were openly competed worldwide. That year Arianespace requested that European governments provide additional subsidies to face
4698-500: The late 2020s. It is defined in IS-GPS-800. Increased signal power at the Earth's surface: Researchers from The Aerospace Corporation confirmed that the most efficient means to generate the high-power M-code signal would entail a departure from full-Earth coverage, characteristic of all the user downlink signals up until that point. Instead, a high-gain antenna would be used to produce
4779-412: The launch sequence of a space vehicle. In the case of a rocket that must be self-destructed during its ascent, max q occurs at the point of self-destruction. Eventually, the vehicle lost control and spun erratically until the automated flight termination system was activated, which intentionally destroyed the rocket. Elon Musk, SpaceX, and other individuals familiar with the space industry have referred to
4860-459: The leading global commercial launch provider measured by manifested launches. In 2017, SpaceX formed a subsidiary, The Boring Company , and began work to construct a short test tunnel on and adjacent to the SpaceX headquarters and manufacturing facility, using a small number of SpaceX employees, which was completed in May 2018, and opened to the public in December 2018. During 2018, The Boring Company
4941-523: The local signal strength by 20 dB (10× voltage field strength, 100× power). A side effect of having two antennas is that, for receivers inside the spot beam, the GPS satellite will appear as two GPS signals occupying the same position. While the full-Earth M-code signal is available on the Block IIR-M satellites, the spot beam antennas will not be available until the Block III satellites are deployed. Like
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#17328698871585022-453: The military GPS signals. The M-code is transmitted in the same L1 and L2 frequencies already in use by the previous military code, the P(Y) code. The new signal is shaped to place most of its energy at the edges (away from the existing P(Y) and C/A carriers). Unlike the P(Y) code, the M-code is designed to be autonomous, meaning that users can calculate their positions using only the M-code signal. P(Y) code receivers must typically first lock onto
5103-453: The new SpaceX South Texas launch site later that year. On 20 April 2023, Starship's first orbital flight test ended in a mid-air explosion over the Gulf of Mexico before booster separation. After launch, multiple engines in the booster progressively failed, causing the vehicle to reach max q later than planned. "Max q" is the theoretical point of maximal mechanical stress which occurs during
5184-457: The other new GPS signals, M-code is dependent on OCX—specifically Block 2—which was scheduled to enter service in October 2016, but which was delayed until 2022, and that initial date did not reflect the two year first satellite launch delays expected by the GAO. Other M-code characteristics are: Safety of Life is a civilian-use signal, broadcast on the L5 frequency (1176.45 MHz). In 2009,
5265-541: The previous February to provide the monetary rewards to winners in a contest to develop the best carbon capture technology . In August 2022, Reuters reported that the European Space Agency (ESA) began initial discussions with SpaceX that could lead to the company's launchers being used temporarily, given that Russia blocked access to Soyuz rockets amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine . Since that invasion and in
5346-735: The program, a necessary step to allow development to continue after a critical breach. In July 2021, all OCX monitor station installations had been completed. OCX monitoring stations are expected to transition to operations in "early 2023," and the U.S. Space Force hopes to complete operational acceptance for all of OCX in 2027. OCX Block 0 provides the minimum subset of full OCX capabilities necessary to support launch and early on-orbit spacecraft bus checkout on GPS III space vehicles. Block 0 completed two cybersecurity testing events in April and May 2018 with no new vulnerabilities found. In June 2018, Block 0 had its third successful integrated launch rehearsal with GPS III. The U.S. Air Force accepted
5427-526: The project through Russian contacts from Jim Cantrell . Musk returned with his team to Moscow, this time bringing Michael Griffin , who later became the 11th Administrator of NASA , but found the Russians increasingly unreceptive. On the flight home, Musk announced he could start a company to build the affordable rockets they needed instead. By applying vertical integration , using inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf components when possible, and adopting
5508-544: The rocket explosion sent the company into a four-month launch hiatus while it worked out what went wrong. SpaceX returned to flight in January 2017. In March 2017, SpaceX launched a returned Falcon 9 for the SES-10 satellite. This was the first time a re-launch of a payload-carrying orbital rocket went back to space. The first stage was recovered again, also making it the first landing of a reused orbital class rocket. In July 2017,
5589-401: The rocket, between 2006 and 2008, all resulted in failures, which almost ended the company. Financing for Tesla Motors had failed, as well, and consequently Tesla , SolarCity , and Musk personally were all nearly bankrupt at the same time. Musk was reportedly "waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain" because of the stress. The financial situation started to turn around with
5670-584: The series was projected to launch in 2014, but significant delays pushed the launch to December 2018. The tenth and final GPS Block III launch is projected in FY2026. Block III satellites use Lockheed Martin's A2100M satellite bus structure. The propellant and pressurant tanks are manufactured by Orbital ATK from lightweight, high-strength composite materials. Each satellite will carry eight deployable JIB antennas designed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman Astro Aerospace Already delayed significantly beyond
5751-415: The test flight as a success. Musk said at the time that it would take "six to eight weeks" to get the infrastructure prepared for another launch. In October 2023, a senior SpaceX executive stated the company had been ready to launch the next test flight since September. He accused government regulators of disrupting the project's progress, adding the delay could lead to China beating U.S. astronauts back to
5832-542: The title OCX . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=OCX&oldid=1245996914 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages GPS Block III#Next-Generation operational control segment (OCX) GPS Block III (previously Block IIIA ) consists of
5913-591: Was $ 278 million to provide development funding for the Dragon spacecraft , Falcon 9, and demonstration launches of Falcon 9 with Dragon. As part of this contract, the Falcon 9 launched for the first time in June 2010 with the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit , using a mockup of the Dragon spacecraft. The first operational Dragon spacecraft was launched in December 2010 aboard COTS Demo Flight 1 ,
5994-401: Was spun out into a separate corporate entity with 6% of the equity going to SpaceX, less than 10% to early employees, and the remainder of the equity to Elon Musk. In 2019 SpaceX raised $ 1.33 billion of capital across three funding rounds. By May 2019, the valuation of SpaceX had risen to $ 33.3 billion and reached $ 36 billion by March 2020. On 19 August 2020, after
6075-475: Was achieved in May 2020, when SpaceX successfully launched two NASA astronauts ( Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken ) into orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft during Crew Dragon Demo-2 , making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station and marking the first crewed orbital launch from American soil in 9 years. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in Florida. In May 2019, SpaceX launched
6156-458: Was because the recently passed California AB1955 bill "and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies". This new law in California bans school districts from requiring that teachers notify parents about changes to a student’s sexual orientation and gender identity. The headquarters officially moved to Brownsville, Texas in August 2024, according to records filed with
6237-480: Was granted on 13 March 2024. On 14 March 2024 at 13:25 UTC, Starship launched for the 3rd time and for the first time Starship reached its planned suborbital trajectory. The flight ended with the booster experiencing a malfunction shortly before landing and the ship being lost during reentry over the Indian Ocean. On 4 June 2024, SpaceX received the launch license for Starship's 4th test flight. The licensure itself
6318-492: Was named after Star Wars ' s Millennium Falcon fictional spacecraft. In 2004, SpaceX protested against NASA to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) because of a sole-source contract awarded to Kistler Aerospace . Before the GAO could respond, NASA withdrew the contract, and formed the COTS program . In 2005, SpaceX announced plans to pursue a human-rated commercial space program through
6399-545: Was notable in that it was the first time that the FAA included a clause that would allow SpaceX to launch subsequent test flights without a mishap investigation, provided that they met a similar launch profile and used the same specification of hardware. The provision could prove to speed the development timeline. On 12 October 2024, SpaceX received FAA approval for Starship's 5th test flight. SpaceX launched Starship on its 6th test flight on 19 November 2024. A significant milestone
6480-636: Was soon retired following its second successful, and fifth total, launch in July 2009. This allowed SpaceX to focus company resources on the development of a larger orbital rocket, the Falcon 9. Gwynne Shotwell was also promoted to company president at the time, for her role in successfully negotiating the CRS contract with the NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier . SpaceX originally intended to follow its light Falcon 1 launch vehicle with an intermediate capacity vehicle,
6561-403: Was traced to a failed two-foot-long steel strut that held a helium pressure vessel , which broke free due to the force of acceleration . This caused a breach and allowed high-pressure helium to escape into the low-pressure propellant tank , causing the failure. SpaceX first achieved a successful landing and recovery of a first stage in December 2015 with Falcon 9 Flight 20 . In April 2016,
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