Thursday, March 22, 2007

SpaceX Gets THIS Close -- 12:24 pm CST, Update by The Master

I'm late reporting it, but SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket got to 200 miles altitude before a roll control failure in the second stage caused a launch failure. I so badly wanted to see a flawless launch (yes, I watch just about every rocket launch nowadays -- I am SO a geek), but this is a pretty good start.

Falcon flew far beyond the "edge" of space, typically thought of as around 60 miles. Our altitude was approximately 200 miles, which is just 50 miles below the International Space Station. The second stage didn't achieve full orbital velocity, due to a roll excitation late in the burn, but that should be a comparatively easy fix once we examine the flight data. Since it is impossible to ground test the second stage under the same conditions it would see in spaceflight, this anomaly was also something that would have been very hard to determine without a test launch.

All in all, this test has flight proven 95+ percent of the Falcon 1 systems, which bodes really well for our upcoming flights of Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, which uses similar hardware. We do not expect any significant delay in the upcoming flights at this point. The Dept of Defense satellite launch is currently scheduled for late Summer and the Malaysian satellite for the Fall.

RIAA Takes One on the Chin -- 12:19 pm CST, Update by The Master

Judge's decision leaves RIAA with lose-lose situation in Elektra v. Santangelo discusses the Judge's ruling in this RIAA case that the RIAA can either accept a dismissial with prejudice, or take it to a jury, but they can't run away from a losing case scot-free. About time a judge told them that fair is fair.

They're in the same boat in Capitol v. Foster as well. Nice precedents. Maybe they can get them applied to everyone having anything to do with SCO too.

No Old News

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