Maintenance on production… The production of 1,000 Merlin 1D engines is a significant milestone for any rocket engine, but it is important to note that the Merlin 1D is reusable. The Merlin 1D recorded more than 6,000 engine flights with 1,000 units. “Thanks to the reusability of the Falcon, the recovery of these engines has enabled continuous reliability improvements, making the Merlin one of the most reliable rocket engines ever produced,” SpaceX wrote in X. Another highly reliable but disposable rocket engine of similar power is the Russian RD-107/108. Five of them have powered every variant of Russia’s R-7 family of rockets since the 1950s, now continued by the Soyuz launch vehicle. With more than 2,000 flights by Soyuz and its relatives, that equates to more than 10,000 RD-107 and 108 engines built at the plant in Samara, Russia.
SpaceX launches rare GEO mission. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Sunday carrying a multi-ton radio broadcast satellite for SiriusXM to replace two aging satellites in Earth’s geostationary orbit. “Spaceflight Now” reports. The SXM-11 satellite is a behemoth for spacecraft, with a launch mass of about 7 metric tons (15,000 pounds). The satellite is designed for a position more than 22,000 miles (about 36,000 kilometers) above the equator, where its speed will match the Earth’s rotation to provide continuous radio transmission over the United States.
Still in business… Among SpaceX’s 78 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches this year, it was the third to carry cargo into geostationary orbit, once the preferred destination for nearly all commercial communications satellites. Today, the trend is definitely skewing towards low Earth orbit with mega constellations like Starlink. But SiriusXM remains in business as the manufacturer of the SXM-11 satellite: Lanteris Space Systems, a subsidiary of Texas-based Intuitive Machines. The company formerly known as Maxar was acquired by Intuitive Machines in January 2026 for approximately $800 million.
