Elon Musk, CEO of The Space Exploration Company – commonly known as SpaceX – has spoken about the improvements necessary at his Pacific island launch site in the US Army’s Kwajalein test range to support the Falcon 9, progress on the vehicle’s development, and work on the next generation of Merlin 1 engines.
The Falcon 9 is SpaceX’s planned 8.7 mT to LEO (Low Earth Orbit) launch vehicle, using ten Merlin 1 engines – nine on the first stage, and one on the second stage.