Monday, December 21, 2015
Space X Finally Lands its Falcon 9 First Stage Back on Earth
A private company, Space X, has, finally, managed to safely land the first stage of its Falcon 9 spacecraft back on Earth in Florida while successfully deploying several satellites into Earth orbit. The Falcon 9 upper stage booster, however, will not be recovered which, of course, makes this spacecraft only partially reusable-- just as NASA's Space Shuttle was.
NASA, of course, operated its partially reusable crewed spacecraft (the Space Shuttle) for more than 30 years, recovering the reusable space plane (Space Shuttle Orbiter) and twin solid rocket boosters (SRBs) after every flight. But the dramatically lower cost that was predicted for the Space Shuttle program never came to fruition thanks to a couple of fatal accidents and a high launch demand that never became a reality-- for both commercial and political reasons.
It should also be noted that NASA's cancelled Ares I program was also supposed to have a recoverable and reusable first stage based on the legacy of the Space Shuttle's solid rocket boosters.
The next step for Space X will be to refurbish the recovered Falcon 9 booster and its engines in order see if the first stage booster can successfully fly again and be successfully recovered again. How costly and reliable-- and safe-- a refurbished Falcon 9 booster will be is the next question for Space X. But recovering the Falcon 9 first stage while also successfully launching its payloads into orbit is a major milestone for a private space launch company.
Space X duly deserves to be congratulated for accomplishing this first important phase in its goal towards a reusable space launch vehicle!
Marcel F. Williams
Links and References
SpaceX landing a 'feat' but not yet a game-changer, expert says
SpaceX's Triumphant Rocket Landing Could Revolutionize Spaceflight
Falcon 9 and Blue Origin Booster Landings:Compared and Contrasted
SpaceX landing highlights promise, challenges of rocket reusability
SpaceX’s Accomplishment
SpaceX rocket landing applauded, but experts say implications TBD
Spaceflight is on the Verge of a Revolution, but don’t Count your Rockets Before they Land
Labels:
Elon Musk,
Falcon 9,
first stage landing,
reusable rocket,
Space X
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Blog Archive
CINEMA FANTASTIC
Popular Posts
-
by Marcel F. Williams Tuscany is renowned for its beautiful cities of Florence and Siena, and is historically famous as the birthplace ...
-
Siemens Energy's SGT-A35 gas turbine. Credit: Net Zero Technology A t the RWG facility in Aberdeen in ...
-
by Marcel F. Williams Congress has now made it clear that they want the immediate development of a heavy lift vehicle and a crew explorato...
-
by Marcel F. Williams America has the best hospitals, physicians, nurses, and medical technicians in the world! Unfortunately, the US also...
-
by Marcel F. Williams During the Great Depression, the Roosevelt administration decided to create jobs in the US by expanding electric power...
-
Links The feasibility and current estimated capital costs of producing jet fuel at sea using carbon dioxide and hydrogen Navy Sc...
-
New San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie S an Francisco Mayor London Breed has conceded the election to Daniel Lurie. Breed’s failure to adequa...
-
by Marcel F. Williams On December 17th 1935, the Douglas Aircraft Company introduced an new airplane that revolutionized commercial air trav...
-
X-Ray of a notional regolith shielded 16 meter in diameter biosphere (Credit: NASA) by Marcel F. Williams A t least 0.1 g is required...
No comments:
Post a Comment