1.媒体来源:
https://www.wired.com
2.完整新闻标题:
SPACEX WILL LOSE MILLIONS ON ITS TAIWANESE SATELLITE LAUNCH
先讲结论，原本福卫五号要用比较小台的火箭射
但是 SpaceX 之前火箭爆炸，导致时程推迟
所以才升级用 Falcon 9 发射，又因为合约上的一些因素
导致这次 SpaceX 发射福卫五号其实是倒赔的
NSPO: 超爽ㄉ～捡到一百块
3.完整新闻内文:
SPACEX IS POISED to fire off a fresh Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday,
delivering a comically tiny payload for Taiwan’s National Space Organization.
At 1,047 pounds, the Formosat-5 Earth-observing satellite is almost light
enough for a human to deadlift—but it’ll launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket
with 50 times more capacity. The overkill is thanks to a years-long delay,
and SpaceX will take a substantial financial hit to make good on a contract
it signed in 2010.
Elon Musk’s space flight company will attempt to launch the rocket from
Vandenberg Air Force base in California during a 42-minute window opening
at 11:51 am PDT on Thursday. The satellite is bound for heliosynchronous
orbit, where it will pass over Taiwan every two days for data retrieval.
After the lightest single payload to ever hitch a ride on a Falcon 9
separates, the booster will fly back for a drone ship landing—hopefully
to be reused in future, more economically viable missions.
The Formosat-5 is Taiwan’s first satellite designed and built entirely with
the nation’s resources. More than 50 teams from across the country built it
to facilitate academic research, disaster prevention, and humanitarian
assistance. Originally, the sat was supposed to fly on SpaceX’s Falcon 1e,
an upgraded version of its first orbital-class Falcon 1 rocket with a lift
capability of 2,200 pounds. And according to industry analysis site Space
Intel Report, they paid $23 million for the privilege—compared to the
typical $62 million for a commercial Falcon 9 launch today.
So how did Taiwan hitch a discounted ride on a Falcon 9? Delay after delay.
SpaceX hoped to deliver Formosat-5 as early as 2013 by launching the
small-lift vehicle from a pad on Omelek Island in the military-controlled
Kwajalein Atoll southwest of Hawaii. But because of low demand, the company
scrapped the single-engine Falcon 1e in the summer of 2011, refocusing its
efforts on developing new versions of the Falcon 9. Regardless of how SpaceX
launches Formosat-5, the price remains firm for the customer.
After the Formosat-5 mission was moved to the Falcon 9, SpaceX targeted its
launch for 2015, searching for another paying customer to share space
onboard. Launch middleman Spaceflight was in talks with SpaceX to fly
its Sherpa rideshare spacecraft on the mission. The Sherpa is a tow vehicle
and deployment system for smaller, privately owned satellites; Spaceflight
would have flown 90 of them, many from Earth-imaging company Planet, on the
Formosat-5 mission.
But the mission suffered even more setbacks after SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket
and Dragon spacecraft was destroyed during a launch to the space station in
June of 2015. Then, the following summer, SpaceX lost another Falcon 9 after
an explosion at its Cape Canaveral launch pad. The incident forced Planet to
pull its satellites from Sherpa and launch on an Indian rocket
instead—leaving Taiwan’s National Space Organization as the sole passenger
on Thursday’s mission.
Despite the delays, Taiwan didn’t opt for another rocket provider like
Orbital ATK, which operates the Minotaur rocket for missions to low-Earth
orbit at a cost of around $30 million. Instead, SpaceX will pay 1.25 percent
of the launch costs back to them for every month that Formosat-5 is delayed,
according to the mission’s contract.
So how much is SpaceX going to lose on this mission? If you remove the
potential reusability of the Falcon 9 booster for a moment, a lot. According
to a launch cost analysis by investment firm Jefferies International,
SpaceX usually makes a 40 percent profit from $62 million commercial
Falcon 9 launches with new boosters. That puts $25 million in the bank and
$37 million toward direct launch costs. With Taiwan’s severely reduced fare
of $23 million, SpaceX is not only foregoing its profit but will be
out-of-pocket for the remaining $14 million.
Thursday’s launch from Vandenberg could have provided an opportunity for
SpaceX to take another step on its path to reusability. Given the light
payload and short flight of Formosat-5, the Falcon 9 booster would have more
than enough fuel to navigate back to land for the first ground landing
outside of Cape Canaveral. But SpaceX doesn’t have the proper approval to
use its California landing pad just yet. Instead, the booster will come
flying back to the Just Read the Instructions robotic ship parked in the
Pacific Ocean.
4.完整新闻连结 (或短网址):
https://goo.gl/QzeYST
5.备注: