Then, on the horizon, a green flash, followed by an orange ball of fire, growing brighter than the sun. Next a low roar, like a giant vacuum cleaner.
It wasn’t the apocalypse, or a UFO. Rather, Space Exploration Technologies - called SpaceX - was simultaneously test firing nine of its American-made Merlin 1C rocket engines from a mock launch pad at its 300-acre test site in the McGregor Business Park.
“Everything went beautifully. It was another successful Falcon 9 development accomplishment,” Lauren Dreyer, business development manager with SpaceX, said. “We got all the data we needed.”
Falcon 9 is the rocket SpaceX plans to send to the international space station in a few years.
This is the third time SpaceX has fired the nine rocket engines together at McGregor. Up next comes a 30-second trial. And after that, it will attempt an almost three-minute test, which simulates actual launch conditions.
Other than a great cloud of smoke, nothing is launched into the sky here. The 90-foot cylinder, called a run tank, that sits atop the 135 foot concrete tripod is secured and does not move.
Entrepreneur Elon Musk - who made $1.5 billion when he sold his company, PayPal - founded SpaceX in 2002. His California company of more than 500 employees is on a mission to develop rockets that will replace the space shuttle, which is set to retire in 2010. And until 2015, when NASA plans to launch its replacement space vehicles, called Ares-Orion, riding with the Russians on their their Soyuz rockets could be the only way to reach the space station.
“For those five years, the U.S. is without a domestic source for cargo or crew transport to the international space station. SpaceX is poised to step in,” Ms. Dreyer said.
Why McGregor?
For more than 50 years, the aerospace industry used for research and development the McGegor site that is now the industrial park. Looking to expand his Southern California base, Musk faced expensive real estate, a high cost of living for employees and environmental concerns.
McGregor came out ahead on all three counts, and offered with open arms an exisiting facility left behind when Beal Aerospace closed in 2000.
Since moving into McGregor with just a few employees, SpaceX has invested more than $10 million in the facility. The company has a $70,000 annual lease with the city through 2010. When Beal pulled out, they left their 135-foot concrete tripod behind, just what SpaceX needed for rocket testing.
Leo Connor, executive director at McGregor Economic Development Corp., said the area also has skilled aerospace individuals.
“Given the people that used to work here, when it was Hercules and Rocketdyne, and some of the aerospace companies in the area, there’s a personnel pool to utilize,” Connor said.
Walking McGregor streets, you probably wouldn’t know a SpaceX rocket scientist from anyone else. They’re young, average age 36, and dress casually, shorts and SpaceX T-shirts are common. (They have a ping-pong table in their control room.)
The owner of a local barbecue joint said SpaceX employees stop in on a semi-regular basis. One man showed up wearing a T-shirt that read, “Matter of fact, yes I am a rocket scientist.”
Ellain Laing, co-owner of Jack’s Smokehouse on U.S. 84 in McGregor, said when SpaceX started testing they didn’t know what that racket was all about. Now they’re used to it.
“Sometimes there’s a rumbling sound and other times it’s all of a sudden one big boom and it shakes the walls and floors,” Ms. Laing said.
SpaceX uses the McGregor facility for more than firing off multiple rocket engines. They’ve executed more than 2,000 various tests there, tweaking such things as fuel mixture and temperature.
Government Contract
Although Musk has invested more than $100 million in SpaceX, his company is subsidized through a $278 million government award. Uncle Sam doles out the money when the company achieves a specific milestone. Ms. Dreyer said if they don’t perform, they don’t get paid.
Still, some critics say the government should not offer these awards. Beal Aerospace - the company that built the concrete tower - spent $200 million, with no government contribution, before shutting down. Owner Andrew Beal blamed NASA’s practice of subsidizing competitors for his decision to close.
But a director at the Mayborn Planeterium and Space Theater at Central Texas College in Killeen said these awards are not wasting taxpayer money.
“NASA and the government give money to colleges and universities and private industry all the time for weapon systems, medical technology, you name it,” said Fred L. Chavez, director of planeterium and outreach services. “The private sector is encouraged frequently - McDonnell Douglas, Boeing, Martin Marietta - name the defense contractor. They do get money for research and development and they do get money to push the edge of the envelope on innovation.”
Chavez said government is sometimes slow to develop new technology, and for the sake of the economy and security, the private sector should step up.
“If NASA had been working on it, it would be more money, would cost us more, take more time and by the time we found out it didn’t work, we would have invested years and billions. This is a faster way, a more streamlined way, to get to the end state, which is increasing commerce, and turning the avenues of space into some viable economic opportunity,” he said.
