SpaceX发展史

2002年2月 In February 2002, the group returned to Russia to look for three ICBMs, bringing Mike Griffin, who had worked for the CIA's venture capital arm, IQT電信; NASA's 喷气推进实验室; and was just leaving 軌道科學公司, a maker of satellites and spacecraft. The group met again with Kosmotras, and were offered one rocket for US$8 million. However, this was seen by Musk as too expensive and Musk left the meeting. While on the return flight Musk realized that he could start a company which could build the affordable rockets he needed.[8] According to early Tesla and SpaceX investor Steve Jurvetson,[9] Musk calculated that the raw materials for building a rocket actually were only 3 percent of the sales price of a rocket at the time. By applying 垂直整合 — principally for cost reasons;[7] around 85% of the entire Falcon/Dragon vehicle is produced in-house[10][11] — and the modular approach from software engineering (獵鷹9號運載火箭 uses 9 of the Merlin engines, which were tested on the single-engine 獵鷹1號運載火箭, 獵鷹重型運載火箭 uses three Falcon 9 booster stages), SpaceX could cut launch price by a factor of ten and still enjoy a 70 percent 毛利率.[12] For example, SpaceX had to design a machine that could 搅拌摩擦焊 铝锂合金 for the 机体 of the 獵鷹9號運載火箭 because such a machine did not exist.[13] According to Musk SpaceX started with the 最簡可行產品 (Falcon 1 with about half a ton to orbit) instead of building a more complex and riskier launch vehicle, which could have failed and bankrupted the company.[14]

In early 2002 Musk was seeking staff for the new company and approached rocket engineer 汤姆·穆勒, who would eventually become SpaceX's CTO of Propulsion until 2020.[15] SpaceX was first headquartered in a 75,000 square feet warehouse in 埃尔塞贡多 (加利福尼亚州). Musk decided SpaceX's first rocket would be named 獵鷹1號運載火箭, after their first contract with the DARPA Falcon Project and as a nod to Star Wars' 千年隼号. Musk planned for Falcon 1's first launch to occur in November 2003, 15 months after the company started.[8]

2005年1月，SpaceX購買了Surrey Satellite Technology10%股份。[16] By March 2006, Musk had invested 100 million美元 in SpaceX.[17]

2008年8月4日，SpaceX又接受了創始人基金2000萬美元的投資。[18] In early 2012, approximately two-thirds of the company was owned by its founder[19] and his 70 million shares were then estimated to be worth $875 million on 私人股权投资,[20] which roughly valued SpaceX at $1.3 billion as of February 2012.[21] After the COTS 2+ flight in May 2012, the company private equity valuation nearly doubled to $2.4 billion.[22][23]

On 16 June 2009 SpaceX announced the opening of its Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance Department. It hired former 美国国家航空航天局 astronaut Ken Bowersox to oversee the department as a vice president of the company.[24] However, it has since been reported that the former astronaut subsequently left SpaceX in late 2011. No reason was given and no replacement in that position has been announced.[25]

2012年，SpaceX宣傳獵鷹9號的發射價格為5700萬美元，而阿麗亞娜航天公司則宣傳每次發射的發射價格為1.37億美元[26]

In 2012 an 首次公开募股 (IPO) was perceived as possible by the end of 2013,[27] but then Musk stated in June 2013 that he planned to hold off any potential IPO until after the "SpaceX星艦研發歷史 is flying regularly",[28] and this was reiterated in 2015 indicating that it would be many years before SpaceX would become a publicly traded company,[29][30] where Musk stated that "I just don’t want [SpaceX] to be controlled by some private equity firm that would milk it for near-term revenue"[31]

Falcon 9 rocket's first stage on the landing pad after the first successful vertical landing of an orbital rocket stage.

Falcon 9 first stage on an ASDS barge after the first successful landing at sea.

The company has grown rapidly since it was founded, growing from 160 employees in November 2005 to more than 500 by July 2008, to over 1,100 in 2010,[32][33] 1,800 in early 2012,[34] and 3,000 by early 2013.[35] The company had grown to 3,800 employees and contractors by October 2013,[36] and had "nearly 5,000" in late 2015[37] and February 2016.[38]

After the setback of the 卡纳维拉尔角空军基地40号航天发射台, SpaceX successfully got back to flying on 14 January 2017, with its 獵鷹9號与獵鷹重型運載火箭發射任務列表.[39] On February 19, 2017, a Falcon 9 carrying CRS-10 conducted the first launch from Kennedy Space Center's 肯尼迪航天中心39号发射台A.[40] The first stage of the launch planned on the end of February, 2017 will be the recovered and refurbished one from April 8, 2016.[41]

2019年5月23日，SpaceX部署了其計劃約12,000顆衛星的60顆星链[42] - which it aims to use to provide low latency network communications via a large constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO).[43]

2020年5月30日，SpaceX成功發射兩名NASA宇航員：道格拉斯·赫爾利和Robert Behnken，into orbit on a 龙飞船2号 spacecraft during 载人龙飞船示范2号, making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station and marking the first crewed launch from American soil in 9 years.[44][45] The mission launched from Launch Complex 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.[46] SpaceX Demo-2 successfully docked with the 国际空间站 on May 31, 2020[47] and returned the astronauts safely on Aug 2, 2020.[48]

On March 1, 2013, a 龙飞船 in 轨道 (力学) developed problems with its thrusters. Due to blocked fuel valves, the craft was unable to properly control itself. SpaceX engineers were able to remotely clear the blockages. Because of this, it arrived at the International Space Station one day later than expected. Since spacecraft like the Dragon were classified as 彈藥, and considered weapons under 国际武器贸易条例 until November 2014, SpaceX Mission controllers were unable to release more information to the public.[63]

On June 28, 2015 SpaceX CRS-7 launched a 獵鷹9號運載火箭 carrying an unmanned 龙飞船 capsule intended to take supplies to the International Space Station. 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the flight a cloud of vapor was seen by the tracking camera forming outside the craft. A few seconds afterward there was a loss of pressure in the 氦 tank, after which they exploded, causing a complete failure of the mission.[64] The 软件 was not programmed to deploy the parachute for the 龙飞船 capsule after a launch mishap, therefore the Dragon broke upon impact.[65] The problem was discovered to be a failed 2 ft (61 cm) steel strut, purchased from a supplier, on a helium 压力容器, which broke due to the force of acceleration. This caused a breach and allowed helium to escape causing the loss of the spacecraft, which exploded.[66] The software issue was also fixed; in addition, an analysis of the entire program was carried out in order to ensure proper abort mechanisms are in place for future rockets and their payload.[67] SpaceX President 格温·肖特威尔 stated that in terms of the differences between the six previous successful 獵鷹9號運載火箭 Commercial Resupply Launches, "there’s nothing that stands out as being different for any particular flight." Though the craft was set to bring a resupply of food and water to the ISS, the crew members had enough supplies to last another 4 months before another resupply, which would end up being the Russian Progress 60P vehicle.[68] Student science experiments, as well as a docking adapter and other miscellaneous cargo, were lost due to SpaceX CRS-7 failure as well.[69]

2016年9月1日，卡纳维拉尔角空军基地40号航天发射台獵鷹9全推力運載火箭濕彩排標準發射前推進劑填充爆炸。On September 1, 2016, a Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch vehicle exploded during a propellant fill operation for a standard pre-launch 濕彩排 at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40.[70][71] There were no reported injuries, as the area was cleared for the test. However the payload, the Spacecom AMOS-6 communications satellite valued at $200 million, was destroyed.[72] Spacecom claims its contract, since the launch failed, allows it to choose to receive $50 million or a future flight at no cost.[73] Musk described the event as the "most difficult and complex failure" ever in SpaceX's 14-year history; SpaceX reviewed nearly 3,000 channels of telemetry and video data covering a period of 35–55 milliseconds for the postmortem.[74] In late September, SpaceX stated that interim results suggested that a major breach of the cryogenic helium system of the second stage rocket had occurred.[75][76] In November 2016, Musk reported the explosion was caused by the liquid oxygen used as the oxidizer turning so cold that it became a solid, and it may have breached the helium pressure vessels which are immersed in the liquid oxygen. The vessels are overwrapped with a carbon composite material. The solid oxygen, under pressure, could have ignited with the carbon material causing the explosion.[77] SpaceX concluded its investigation on 2 January 2017 then successfully restarted its business of launching rockets in January 2017.[39]