SpaceX says 'reusable rocket' could help colonize Mars

www.physorg.com...

The US company SpaceX is working on the first-ever reusable rocket to launch to space and back, with the goal of one day helping humans colonize Mars, founder Elon Musk said Thursday.

The vehicle would be a reusable version of the Falcon 9 rocket which SpaceX used to propel its Dragon space capsule to low Earth-orbit on a test mission last year. Its first cargo trip to the International Space Station is set for January.

Being able to reuse the rocket would save tens of millions of dollars and would bring the notion of making trips to visit or even live on other planets, namely Mars, closer to reality, Musk told reporters at the National Press Club.

"A fully and rapidly reusable system is fully required for life to become multi-planetary, for us to establish life on Mars," Musk said. "If planes were not reusable, very few people would fly."

Currently, a Falcon rocket costs between 50-60 million dollars to build and launch, with fuel and oxygen costs making up just 200,000 dollars. Then, it is lost forever as it burns up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

If engineers could reuse a rocket, that would bring the capital cost of a launch way down and "allow for about a 100 fold reduction in launch costs," he said.

Animation of the reusable launch system concept (great work with the music btw ):


Achieving full reusability is rocket engineers dream since the 70s, and it would dramatically lower already low Falcon launch costs, thus finally opening space to mankind. I really hope they can pull this off!

Go SpaceX!

Haven't we had reusable rockets like that since the 60's? We could fly the X-15 to space and back on one tank of gas.

Flight 91 22 August 1963 3,794 mph (6,106 km/h) 67.0 miles (107.8 km) Joe Walker

Maximum Speed - 6106 km/h. Maximum Altitude - 107,960 m.

I don't understand how we're not further ahead of where we are.. This is the future, right? 2012?

eta: I mean the general technology.. Just realizing that the x15 was dropped out of a B-52, and not from the ground though.

Cool video.

reply to post by jessejamesxx

Maximum Speed - 6106 km/h

There is the problem. To achieve Low Earth orbit, you need at least 28 000 km/h. Suborbital spaceflight, tough technically reaching space, is closer to flying airplanes than true spacecrafts.

Originally posted by jessejamesxx
Haven't we had reusable rockets like that since the 60's? We could fly the X-15 to space and back on one tank of gas.

Flight 91 22 August 1963 3,794 mph (6,106 km/h) 67.0 miles (107.8 km) Joe Walker

Maximum Speed - 6106 km/h. Maximum Altitude - 107,960 m.

I don't understand how we're not further ahead of where we are.. This is the future, right? 2012?

eta: I mean the general technology.. Just realizing that the x15 was dropped out of a B-52, and not from the ground though.

Cool video.

edit on 29-9-2011 by jessejamesxx because: (no reason given)

Getting into space and getting into orbit are two completely different things.

X15 could get in to space, but it could not get anywhere near the speed required to get into orbit. Vehicles like the X15 are usually called suborbital vehicles, other vehicles that fall in to this category are for example the Virgin galactic "spacecraft".

Getting enough altitude to get in to space is the easy part. The hard part is getting enough horizontal velocity to stay there. The Delta-v required to get into space is 1.4km/s. To get into orbit you're going to need 9.4km/s of delta-v.

For more info:
en.wikipedia.org...

Hello all,

This is my very first post on ATS and I just wanted to say I love this site and wish I found it years ago. I am new to really exploring this UFO phenomenon and am blown away by how much info is on this site.

Ok since I need 20 posts to start a new thread I tried to find the most recent thread relating to the SpaceX flight to the ISS, which has been delayed,and I believe this is it. I am hoping a "veteran" of the site will create a new thread about a possible reason for delay I thought of today:

If there really are UFOs visiting us then isn't the possibility of a human craft heading into space more likely to see something then us on the ground? Since the space programs of all relevent countries have always been under government jurisdiction and therefore under control is it possible that this "delay" is to give the Obama Administration time to disclose as far as ETs go? There appears to be more buzz around the internet lately related to disclosure being imminent and I see privatized space travel forcing the issue. Assuming, of course, there is something to disclose which I believe there is.

Sorry for the semi-off-topic post but I wanted some thoughts from this group on the subject.

Thank you for reading!