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SpaceX says it made two key strides toward the eventual reusability of the Falcon 9 rocket this week with the controlled splashdown of the rocket's first stage in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday and the successful first flight of a booster prototype from the company's Central Texas test facility.
The California-based space transportation company, founded in 2002 by Elon Musk, has tried to retrieve rocket stages after several launches, initially trying a parachute-assisted recovery before switching to a concept involving a propulsive soft touchdown on a landing pad.
The first stage's sporty descent maneuvers occurred as the Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage continued into orbit with a Dragon supply ship heading for the International Space Station.
"We're really excited to connect the dots of what's needed [for reusability]," Musk said. "When you combine this with Falcon 9R ... there are just only a few more steps that need to be there to have it all work, and I think we've got a decent chance of bringing a stage back this year, which would be wonderful."
"The reuse must be both rapid and complete, like an aircraft or a car," Musk said. "If you have to disassemble and reassemble a car and change a bunch of parts in between driving it, it would make it quite expensive.
According to Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president of mission assurance, the next Falcon 9 launch scheduled for May will also try for a water recovery.
"We don't have to just recover it," Musk said. "We have to show that it can be reflown quickly and easily, where the only thing you [have to do] is reload propellant."
Eventually, SpaceX plans to clad the rocket's single-engine upper stage with a heat shield with an eye toward reusing it as well. The company has not disclosed a timetable for a potential recovery of the second stage.
originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: greencmp
Oh, good. As soon as its able we can explore space--- I mean the space station some more with it.
I have no doubt one day the Dragon will be in a museum, next to the Wright flyer, and Apollo lander as milestones in human advancement.
Oh yah, well I have no doubt that one day all those museums will be turned to ash from the nukes atop those very same "reusable" rocket motors…
Done here.
originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: benrl
I know a position of waste in space is less than popular here.
I have no doubt one day the Dragon will be in a museum, next to the Wright flyer, and Apollo lander as milestones in human advancement.
Oh yah, well I have no doubt that one day all those museums will be turned to ash from the nukes atop those very same "reusable" rocket motors…
Some "milestone".
Done here.
originally posted by: NonsensicalUserName
It was not a landing; rather a splashdown (on water).. in terms of CRS-3
However its building up to a landing.. as they had to do a lot of the same sorts of things that a landing would require, (engine restart, propulsive breaking; launching with the legs on)
The also have a new video up on a test-vehicle;
youtu.be...
It's really incredible what intelligent partnerships between public and private sectors can achieve. This sort of thing is what allowed aviation to advance in the 1920's and 1930's, (through the "Air Mail Act Of 1925"; which basically helped to stimulate a market for aircraft).
Space until recently, has been the domain mostly of defense-contractor-style projects, projects that tend to not be focused on fufilling market demand, but rather fufilling specifications set by government. This works fine to meet a national security need, but military aircraft are anything but cost-effective. The same or similar could be said of spacecraft.
SpaceX is by no means operating in a free market; don't fall to that misconception, it's gotten a lot of funding from the government, its used government research (the heatshield on the dragon [PICA-X]is a derrivative of a material NASA researched/developed [PICA]).
However its building up to a landing.. as they had to do a lot of the same sorts of things that a landing would require, (engine restart, propulsive breaking; launching with the legs on)
originally posted by: greencmp
Being that they are one of the first private space companies, I cannot deny that all of their clients are governments for now.
originally posted by: greencmp
a reply to: TritonTaranis
It's funny how economic and political attitudes can shape what are presumably otherwise consistent outlooks.
For me, the preference of a government program over a private service is only ever justified to fulfill the duties and responsibilities that we cannot entrust to the private sector. Very few of our government programs pass that litmus test.