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Tag: Elon Musk

  • First commercial crew mission, Crew Dragon arrives space station

    First commercial crew mission, Crew Dragon arrives space station

    NASA and SpaceX made history on Saturday after launching and successfully docking the first commercially-built and operated crew spacecraft and rocket known as Crew Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off at 2:49 a.m. EST Saturday on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and docked the ISS on Sunday at 5:51am ET.

    “I proudly congratulate the SpaceX and NASA teams for this major milestone in our nation’s space history.

    “This first launch of a space system designed for humans, and built and operated by a commercial company through a public-private partnership, is a revolutionary step on our path to get humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine at the launch.

    https://twitter.com/JimBridenstine/status/1102201607717089281

    Known as Demo-1, SpaceX’s inaugural flight with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is an important uncrewed mission designed to test the end-to-end capabilities of the new system.

    It brings the nation one-step closer to the return of human launches to the space station from the United States for the first time since 2011 – the last space shuttle mission.

    Teams still have work to do after this flight to prepare the spacecraft to fly astronauts. The best way to advance the system design was to fly this spacecraft and uncover any other areas or integrated flight changes that might be required.

    The program demonstrates NASA’s commitment to investing in commercial companies through public-private partnerships and builds on the success of American companies, including SpaceX, already delivering cargo to the space station.

    Demo-1 is a critical step for NASA and SpaceX to demonstrate the ability to safely fly missions with NASA astronauts to the orbital laboratory.

    “First a note of appreciation to the SpaceX team. It has been 17 years to get to this point, 2002 to now, and an incredible amount of hard work and sacrifice from a lot of people that got us to this point…I’d also like to express great appreciation for NASA,” said Elon Musk, CEO and lead designer at SpaceX.

    “SpaceX would not be here without NASA, without the incredible work that was done before SpaceX even started and without the support after SpaceX did start,” he added.

    The public-private partnership combines commercial companies’ unique, innovative approaches to human spaceflight and NASA’s decades-long experience in design, development and operations of a crew space system.

    “We are watching history being made with the launch of the SpaceX Demo-1 mission,” said Steve Stich, launch manager and deputy manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

    “SpaceX and NASA teams have been working together for years, and now we are side-by-side in control rooms across the country for launch, in-orbit operations and, eventually, splashdown of the Crew Dragon right here off Florida’s coast.”

    SpaceX controlled the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy’s Launch Control Center Firing Room 4, the former space shuttle control room, which SpaceX has leased as its primary launch control center.

    As Crew Dragon ascended into space, SpaceX commanded the Crew Dragon spacecraft from its mission control center in Hawthorne, California. NASA teams monitored space station operations throughout the flight from Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

    Live coverage of the rendezvous and docking aired on NASA Television and the agency’s website beginning at 3:30 a.m., with coverage resuming at 8:30 a.m. with the hatch opening, followed at 10:45 a.m. with a crew welcoming ceremony.

    Teams in the space station mission center at Johnson monitored station crew members’ opening of the spacecraft hatch, entering Crew Dragon and unpacking the capsule.

    Mission Objectives

    All the launch pad and vehicle hardware, and the launch day operations, were conducted in preparation for the next flight with crew aboard, including the control teams and ground crews. The mission and testing continues once the Falcon 9 lifts off the pad.

    During the spacecraft’s approach, in-orbit demonstrations included rendezvous activities from a distance of up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers), known as far field, and activities within one mile (1.6 kilometers), known as near field.

    As the spacecraft approached the space station, it demonstrated its automated control and maneuvering capabilities by reversing course and backing away from the station before the final docking sequence.

    The docking phase, as well as the return and recovery of Crew Dragon, include many first-time events that cannot be totally modeled on the ground and, thus, are critical to understanding the design and systems ability to support crew flights.

    Previous cargo Dragon vehicles have been attached to the space station after capture by the station’s robotic arm.

    The Crew Dragon approached to dock using new sensor systems, new propulsion systems and the new international docking mechanism to attach to the station’s Harmony module forward port, fitted with a new international docking adapter.

    Astronauts installed the adapter during a spacewalk in August 2016, following its delivery to the station in the trunk of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on its ninth commercial resupply services mission.

    For Demo-1, Crew Dragon is carrying more than 400 pounds of crew supplies and equipment to the space station and will return some critical research samples to Earth.

    A lifelike test device named Ripley also travelled on the Crew Dragon, outfitted with sensors to provide data on potential effects on humans traveling in Crew Dragon.

    For operational missions, Crew Dragon will be able to launch as many as four crew members and carry more than 220 pounds of cargo, enabling the expansion of the crew members, increasing the time dedicated to research in the unique microgravity environment, and returning more science back to Earth.

    The Crew Dragon is designed to stay docked to station for up to 210 days, although the Crew Dragon used for this flight test will not have that capability.

    This spacecraft will remain docked to the space station only five days, departing Friday, March 8.

    After undocking from the station, Crew Dragon will begin its descent to Earth. Live coverage of the undocking will air on NASA Television and the agency’s website beginning at 2 a.m., with deorbit and landing coverage resuming at 7:30 a.m.

    Additional spacecraft mission objectives include a safe departure from the station, followed by a deorbit burn and parachute deployment to slow the spacecraft before splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, off the Florida Space Coast.

    SpaceX’s recovery ship, Go Searcher, will retrieve Crew Dragon and transport it back to port.

    Teams will be closely monitoring the parachute system and entry control system operation, which have been changed from cargo Dragons to provide higher reliability for crew flights.

    NASA and SpaceX will use data from Demo-1, along with planned upgrades and additional qualification testing, to further prepare for Demo-2, the crewed flight test that will carry NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station.

    NASA will validate the performance of SpaceX’s systems before putting crew on board for the Demo-2 flight, currently targeted for July.

    NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is working with Boeing and SpaceX to design, build, test and operate safe, reliable and cost-effective human transportation systems to low-Earth orbit.

    Both companies are focused on test missions, including abort system demonstrations and crew flight tests, ahead of regularly flying crew missions to the space station.

    Both companies’ crewed flights will be the first times in history NASA has sent astronauts to space on systems owned, built, tested and operated by private companies.

     

  • SpaceX halts launch of $500 million GPS satellite

    Elon Musk’s SpaceX halted Tuesday’s launch of a long-delayed navigation satellite for the U.S. military, postponing for at least a day the space transportation company’s first designated national security mission for the United States.

    SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was due to take off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral shortly after 9:30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT) but was stopped minutes before takeoff.

    It is carrying a roughly $500 million global positioning system (GPS) satellite built by Lockheed Martin Corp.

    “This abort was triggered by the onboard Falcon 9 flight computer,” a SpaceX official narrating the launch sequence said, adding that SpaceX would attempt the launch on Wednesday morning.

    SpaceX later tweeted that the Falcon 9 and payload remain healthy and cited an “out of family” reading on the rocket’s first stage sensors for the delay.

    U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who traveled to Florida to watch the launch, announced afterward that President Donald Trump would direct the Pentagon to establish a Combatant Command to oversee America’s activities in space.

    The Space Command, the 11th such Combatant Command in the U.S. military, comes as the United States seeks to grow its military footprint in space.

    A successful launch would be a significant victory for Musk, a billionaire entrepreneur who spent years trying to break into the market for lucrative military space launches, long dominated by Lockheed and Boeing Co.

    SpaceX sued the U.S. Air Force in 2014 in protest over the military’s award of a multibillion-dollar, non-compete contract for 36 rocket launches to United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed.

    SpaceX dropped the lawsuit in 2015 after the Air Force agreed to open up competition, according to SpaceX’s website.

    The next year, SpaceX won an 83 million dollars Air Force contract to launch the GPS III satellite, which will have a lifespan of 15 years, Air Force spokesman William Russell said by phone.

    Tuesday’s launch was to be the first of 32 satellites in production by Lockheed under contracts worth a combined 12.6 billion dollars for the Air Force’s GPS III programme Lockheed spokesman Chip Eschenfelder said.

    “Once fully operational, this latest generation of GPS satellites will bring new capabilities to users, including three times greater accuracy and up to eight times the anti-jamming capabilities,” said Russell.

    The GPS satellite launch was originally scheduled for 2014 but has been hobbled by production delays, the Air Force said.

    The next GPS III satellite will launch in mid-2019, Eschenfelder said, while subsequent satellites undergo testing in the company’s Colorado processing facility.

    The launch marks SpaceX’s first so-called National Security Space mission as defined by the U.S. military, SpaceX said.

    In 2017, the Hawthorne, California-based company launched payloads for the Department of Defense that were not designated as a National Security Space missions.

     

  • Space exploration company’s CEO wants to move to Mars

    Space exploration company’s CEO wants to move to Mars

    Elon Musk, chief executive officer (CEO) of space exploration company, SpaceX has said there is “70 percent chance that he will go to Mars”.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Musk stated this in an interview with Axios on HBO on Sunday, despite a “good chance” of him not surviving either on his way or after landing.

    “I’m talking about moving there,” Musk enthused, adding: “We’ve recently made a number of breakthroughs that I… am just really fired up about”.

    The SpaceX boss, however, agreed that the risks were high.

    “Your probability of dying on Mars is much higher than on Earth. There’s a good chance of death.

    “There’s lot of people who climb mountains. People die on Mount Everest all the time. They still like doing it for the challenge,” Musk said.

    The space exploration firm has designed spaceship for interplanetary travel called Starship that was formerly known as the BFR.

    It is a fully reusable vehicle designed to take humans and supplies to Mars and also to dramatically cut travel time within Earth.

    The two-stage vehicle, composed of a Booster and a Ship, is designed to eventually replace the company’s Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and the Dragon spacecraft.

    It is designed to service all Earth orbit needs as well as the Moon and Mars.

    Starship is also set to fly a private passenger, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, to the Moon and is scheduled to start in 2023.

    Maezawa, 42, is the founder and CEO of Zozo, the largest online fashion retailer in Japan.

     

  • Internet access: SpaceX to blanket earth with 12,000 satellites

    Space exploration company, SpaceX has gotten approval from the United States (US) Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a full network of about 12,000 satellites intended to blanket the earth for wireless Internet access.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports SpaceX got the approval on Thursday allowing the space exploration company entrepreneur, Elon Musk to use an expanded range of wireless airwaves to deliver cheap, high-speed Internet access from space.

    “I’m excited to see what these services might promise and what these proposed constellations have to offer. Our approach to these applications reflects this commission’s fundamental approach to encourage the private sector to invest and to innovate and allow market forces to deliver value to American consumers,” said FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai.

    Proponents say next-generation satellite Internet technology could help developing countries and rural areas connect to economic opportunities currently out of reach for them because they lack competitive Internet access.

    The SpaceX’s Starlink programme launched its first test satellites in February. The FCC gave SpaceX approval the next month for its first 4,400 satellites. The company has an initial goal to deploy 1,600 satellites in the next few years, but it has said that it could take more than six years to complete the full network.

    Satellite communications have been in use for decades but Internet access through the technology is slow and expensive, largely because the satellites responsible for ferrying data to and from the ground orbit are at great distances from the earth, increasing lag.

    SpaceX and its rivals are racing to field a new type of communications network. Instead of sending Internet traffic to just a handful of satellites in geosynchronous orbit, the companies hope to boost satellite Internet speeds by using many cheaper satellites that orbit closer to earth.

    On Thursday, the FCC also approved hundreds of satellites from three other companies: Kepler, Telesat and Leosat. The pressure to be the first and strongest network is fierce: Last month, Musk reportedly fired a number of Starlink managers over the pace of their work.

    The race by so many companies to build new satellite constellations has many policymakers concerned about proliferating space objects.

    NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has repeatedly warned of the “growing threat” posed by orbital debris, and the US military now tracks more than 500,000 individual pieces of flying space junk.

    The FCC on Thursday sought to weigh in on the issue itself by unveiling a proposal – its first such effort in a decade – that could introduce more rules to the satellite industry designed to limit orbital debris.

    The proposal considers whether changes to satellite designs are needed, as well as improvements in the way companies dispose of outdated satellites.

    “My favourite example is an innocuous little screwdriver that slipped through an astronaut’s grasp and has been circling low Earth orbit at up to 21,600 miles per hour for the last 35 years. At these speeds, even a common household item can wreak havoc,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.

     

  • Video: Experts discuss the issue with s3x in space

    Romping in space is a “real concern” for astronauts, a top university professor in the US has warned.

    ImageFile: Sex in space

    It’s something we know little about — but is crucial if we ever want to colonise other planets like Mars.

    During a recent Atlantic Live panel, Assistant Professor Kris Lehnhardt, from George Washington University, said that the topic needs to be addressed immediately.

    He said: “It’s a real concern … something we really don’t know about is human reproduction in space.”

    “If we actually want to go places and stay there, there’s a key component and that’s having babies,” he added.

    It’s hard to imagine cracking on during a rocket mission, considering the lack of gravity. And space suits aren’t the most appealing when it comes to foreplay.

    But during the long mission to Mars (something which Elon Musk hopes to make a reality by 2030) it’s likely to happen.

    There are many things that humans need to prepare for before attempting long-duration space travel.

    Combating the radioactive space rays beaming from the sun, keeping your health in good nick and maintaining your fitness are likely to be prime concerns for astronauts.

    But sexual reproduction is probably the most important, according to Lehnhardt.

    “If we want to become a spacefaring species and live in space permanently this is a crucial issue we need to address that has not been fully studied yet,” he said.

    Earthlings might want to stick to the mile-high club.

    A sexpert said that midair romps can actually give you better orgasms, as a result of the dip in atmospheric pressure that comes with being 30,000 feet above the ground.

    The aeroplane setting is associated with a safe reduction of oxygen levels, which can excite the brain and create feelings of euphoria.

     

     

    This article originally appeared on The Sun.

     

  • Paris Accord: US tech firms dare President Trump again, ‘go unusual’

    Paris Accord: US tech firms dare President Trump again, ‘go unusual’

    Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google are among hundreds of US businesses joining an effort to support the Paris climate agreement as part of a public campaign announced Monday.

    Dubbed “We Are Still In,” the launch of the initiative comes just days after President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the international accord, stunning much of the world and breaking with a broad host of industry executives who supported the deal.

    The campaign’s participants, who also include hundreds of investors, universities, local officials and state governments, have pledged to support the Paris accord and “pursue ambitious climate goals,” according to an open letter the campaign released.

    The group also took aim at Trump, saying his decision “damages the world’s ability to avoid the most dangerous and costly effects of climate change.” The business leaders and officials described Trump’s move as “out of step with what is happening in the United States.”

    The campaign on climate is the latest example of some of the biggest players in Silicon Valley opposing Trump’s key policies. The president’s travel ban and ongoing litigation surrounding his immigration orders have also sparked widespread condemnation from the tech industry.

    After the president revealed last week that he intends to exit the agreement, several high-profile business leaders said they would end their advisory roles with Trump, in protest. Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk and Disney chief executive Robert Iger said last week that they would no longer serve on the president’s economic advisory council. Executives from Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google also swiftly criticised Trump’s decision after his announcement.

    Dozens of states last week said they would forge ahead with their climate policies and their aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in response to the president’s move. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, D, also unveiled the largest renewable energy investment by any state, a $1.65 billion plan to support renewable energy and energy efficiency.

     

  • India’s pathway to selling only electric cars by 2030

    India’s pathway to selling only electric cars by 2030

    While the United States is walking away from the historic Paris Climate Agreement, India is making a bold vow to start selling only electric cars by 2030.

    India is one of the world’s most polluted countries. Its energy department said in a blog post that it has set the “ambitious” target to stop selling gas-powered vehicles in an attempt to clean up its air.

    As the country’s economy has boomed, new industries and commuters have spewed pollutants in the air at staggering rates. Now, its 1.3 billion residents are suffering. One estimate says India’s air contributes to 1.2 million deaths per year. Doctors have said breathing the air in New Dehli, the nation’s capital, is like smoking 10 cigarettes a day.

    India’s energy minister, Piyush Goyal, said recently that the country will help facilitate the electric car effort by offering subsidies for a couple of years. “After that,” he said, “the cost of electric vehicles will start paying for themselves.”

    The government’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan wants annual sales of electric and hybrid cars to hit 6 million to 7 million by 2020.

    That’s music to the ears of Elon Musk, CEO of electric car powerhouse Tesla, who touted the decision on Twitter Thursday.

    Tesla hasn’t actually entered the Indian market yet, but Musk has frequently talked about his plans to open up shop there. He said earlier this year that it could happen by summer, but those plans appear to be delayed.

    India is anxiously awaiting Tesla’s arrival. Even the head of Mahindra, India’s leading electric carmaker, told Musk he’ll welcome the competition.

    “The more the merrier — and greener,” Anand Mahindra wrote.

    Plans to aggressively expand the number of electric cars on the road is just one of a number of ways India is trying to go greener. The government is also underway on major pushes to expand its solar energy capacity.

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also doubled down on his commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement after President Trump rebuked the pact on Thursday.

    He was in France on Saturday meeting with French President Emanuel Macron, who also strongly condemned Trump’s decision.

    “Paris Agreement is a shared legacy of the world. It will benefit the future generations as well,” Modi wrote on Twitter.

     

     

    CNN

     

  • Video: Now SpaceX is reusing a different kind of spacecraft

    Video: Now SpaceX is reusing a different kind of spacecraft

    Elon Musk’s space company doesn’t just recycle rockets; over the weekend it became the first outfit to send a ship back to orbit.

    SpaceX continues to get more use out of its individual rockets and spacecraft than just about any other organization in history.

    This time it wasn’t a Falcon 9 rocket conquering Earth’s gravity well for a second time, but a Dragon cargo craft filled with nearly three tons of supplies and science experiments headed for the International Space Station.

    The same Dragon capsule performed an earlier resupply mission to the space station, making SpaceX the first company to launch the same vehicle into orbit twice.

    When it reaches the ISS Sunday, astronauts will be able to begin unloading all sorts of delicate pressurized cargo, including experiments for studying fruit flies and a drug that might be able to fight bone loss.

    Other parts of Dragon’s payload will help demonstrate new solar panels and help scientists explore the physics of neutron stars, according to a release from NASA.

    SpaceX also nailed yet another landing of its Falcon 9 rocket after sending Dragon on its way. This time the rocket returned to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral in Florida, rather than landing on one of the company’s autonomous drone ships at sea.

    So far, that makes five successful landings ashore to add to a handful of drone ship landings, which took a little longer to perfect.

    Saturday’s launch had been set for earlier in the week, but was rescheduled because of weather concerns. The delay also mucked up the timing of a burgeoning conspiracy theory that saw a recently launched top secret spy satellite on an apparent course to pass by the space station in time for the original planned docking of Dragon to the space station.

    The Dragon will hang out at the space station for about a month before it makes its way back home for a splash down in the Pacific Ocean.

    No word yet on if it plans to make the trip a third time.

     

  • 2 top tech execs announces exit from Trump advisory councils

    2 top tech execs announces exit from Trump advisory councils

    Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and Walt Disney Co CEO Robert Iger said on Thursday they would leave White House advisory councils after US President Donald Trump said he would withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

    Trump decided to pull the United States from the landmark 2015 global agreement designed to fight climate change despite entreaties from US allies and corporate leaders in an action that fulfilled a major campaign pledge.

    “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” Musk said in a Twitter post. He is a member of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a business advisory group, and Trump’s manufacturing jobs council.

    Musk said on Wednesday that he had done “all I can” to convince Trump to stay in the accord, and threatened to leave the presidential advisory councils if Trump announced a US exit from the accord.

    Iger wrote on Twitter that “as a matter of principle, I’ve resigned from the President’s Council over the #ParisAgreement withdrawal.” He is leaving the business advisory group.

    Uber Technologies Inc CEO Travis Kalanick quit the business advisory council in February amid pressure from activists and employees who opposed the administration’s immigration policies.

    Trump created the business advisory group in December before taking office to assist him in making policy decisions. The group is led by Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of Blackstone Group LP and includes Indra Nooyi, the chief executive of PepsiCo Inc and Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co .

    Late on Thursday, BlackRock Inc Chief Executive Larry Fink said he would continue to serve on Trump’s CEO Forum, despite reservations about the White House decision to withdraw from the Paris accord.

    “I accepted the invitation to serve on the President’s CEO Forum because I believe I can contribute to the policy dialogue in Washington and serve as a voice for investors,” Fink said in a statement.

    “I am a strong believer that our industry needs to have a voice with governments around the world,” said Fink, whose company is the world’s largest asset manager, with $5.4 trillion (roughly Rs. 3,47,69,610 crores) under management.

    “I do not agree with all of the president’s policies and decisions, including today’s announcement to exit the US from the Paris Agreement which I believe is a critical step forward in addressing climate change.”

    Asked about Musk’s resignation, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told Fox News that “anybody who read the agreement and understood it would realize that this was not really about climate, this was about US money going to other countries and it didn’t solve the climate problem.”

    Musk has met with Trump several times and spoken with him about the long-term goal of his company SpaceX for flights to Mars carrying humans.

    The White House is planning to a hold a meeting with technology leaders on June 19, an administration spokesman said Wednesday.

    General Motors Co said Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra would remain on the presidential advisory panel, adding that her participation “provides GM a seat at an important table to contribute to a constructive dialogue about key policy issues.”

    In 2013, GM signed a declaration joining other major companies arguing that responding to climate change was good business. The automaker said on Thursday that despite the withdrawal it “will not waver from our commitment to the environment.”

    It was unclear whether Ford Motor Co’s new chief executive, James Hackett, would join Trump’s panel.

    Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker said on Thursday the No.2 US automaker believes “climate change is real, and remain deeply committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our vehicles and our facilities.”

  • SpaceX makes first US military launch, then lands rocket again

    SpaceX makes first US military launch, then lands rocket again

    SpaceX on Monday blasted off a secretive US government satellite, known only as NROL-76, marking the first military launch for the California-based aerospace company headed by billionaire tycoon Elon Musk.

    The payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which makes and operates spy satellites for the United States, soared into the sky atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 7:15 am (1115 GMT).

    About 10 minutes after launch, the scorched first stage of the rocket came back to Earth and landed upright at Cape Canaveral, marking the fourth successful solid ground landing for SpaceX.

    “And we have touchdown,” a SpaceX commentator said on a live webcast as cheers broke out at mission control.

    “The first stage has landed back at Landing Zone 1. Another good day for us at SpaceX. A beautiful sight to see.”

    Live video of the launch showed the first and second stages of the rocket separating about two and a half minutes into the flight.

    The larger portion of the rocket, known as the first stage, made a gentle arc and powered its nitrogen thrusters to guide it back to Earth.

    After a fiery entry burn, the rocket set itself down steadily in the center of the 300-foot (91-meter) circular landing zone.

    Musk is leading an effort in the rocket industry to re-use costly parts rather than jettison them into the ocean after each launch.

    SpaceX has already made multiple successful landings — some on land and others on floating ocean platforms, known as drone ships.

    The launch was initially planned for Sunday, but was postponed in the last seconds before liftoff due to a sensor issue with the rocket, SpaceX said.

    The sensor in question was replaced ahead of Monday’s attempt.

    Little was known about the payload, which a SpaceX commentator described only as a “satellite,” due to its classified nature.

    “As a matter of policy and because of classification, NRO does not provide information about our contracts,” an NRO spokeswoman told AFP.

    Until now, the US military has spent billions per year exclusively with United Launch Alliance, a joint operation of aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch government satellites.

    SpaceX in 2014 protested the US Air Force’s practice of using only ULA, saying it unfairly awarded billions of dollars to a single company for national security launches.

    SpaceX to was selected to launch NROL-76 “after a competition,” said the NRO spokeswoman.

    She said she did not know when the contract was awarded. The contract was first announced last year.

    SpaceX also has a pair of launch contracts coming up for the Air Force to send GPS satellites into orbit.

    SpaceX regularly launches unmanned cargo ships to the International Space Station, and is working on a crew capsule that could carry humans into orbit as early as next year.