SpaceX announced the increased mass production of the Falcon 9 rocket. This year, the aerospace manufacturer will also reveal its new Falcon Heavy rocket and cap off its commercial Dragon spacecraft key test.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell made the announcements during her short speech at the yearly Commercial Space Transportation Conference of the Federal Aviation Administration. Shotwell said that in the past years, the company had the luxury of building limited rockets yearly. She emphasized that the company was not really in "production mode."
The failed launch in June 2015 resulted in nearly half-year flight standstill. It would have been the start of the rocket's high production year. Shotwell mentioned that the company is in "factory transformation" stage wherein it will ramp up production from six to eight cores a year to around 18 cores.
"By the end of this year we should be at over 30 cores per year. So you see the factory start to morph," added Shotwell.
The accelerated production includes doubling the assembly of first stages and increasing the output of the Falcon 9's Merlin engines. This production ramp-up is SpaceX's answer to its growing number of launches and customers.
In her speech, Shotwell gave a teaser for the SES-9 communications satellite, which is set to launch in the next couple of weeks. The SpaceX president highlighted its high flight rates, with launches set every two to three weeks.
However, there was very little details about the bigger Falcon Heavy rocket whose launch is set sometime this year. The new rocket will liftoff at the Launch Complex 39A at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. Shotwell did say that renovation plans for the crewed Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches are in the final stages.
The crewed Falcon 9 flights are set in 2017. SpaceX is also preparing for an airborne abort test for the Crew Dragon spacecraft in the latter part of this year. During the test, the spacecraft will detach from the Falcon 9 rocket using its thrusters while ascending.
Two demonstration flights are set in 2017. The first one will fly to the International Space Station without a crew while the second flight will carry astronauts. After which, the SpaceX spacecraft will proceed with its first space exploration mission.
Shotwell also gave an update on SpaceX's commercial launch site project in Brownsville, Texas. In September 2014, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site, but the company has yet to announce concrete plans. Shotwell said the area's soil stability was poor, which led the company to dedicate two years on "dirt work" before building the facilities.
"It's a little more expensive than what we were originally planning, but it will be an important site for us," she said and hinted that SpaceX has plans to conduct its first launch at the Texas site in the latter part of 2017 or early part of 2018.
