The chief executive of SpaceX, Elon Musk, revealed on Twitter that the company, which has successfully landed four rockets (pictured in Hangar 39A at Cape Canaveral in Florida) is planning to relaunch one of them in the next few months.
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SpaceX quickly responded by landing the first Falcon 9 on solid ground, but what it really wanted to do was land it on a floating drone ship, and it was finally able to do that earlier this year. The company later relaunched and landed that rocket, beating SpaceX to the punch.
Now the time is for SpaceX to prove that these rockets can be relaunched.
SpaceX has landed four rockets – one on land and three at sea.
This could make deep space travel cheaper, helping pave the way for a viable manned mission to Mars.
For SpaceX, the fuel savings have allowed its rockets to launch massive payloads, including a 6,669 pound communications satellite, launched about 22,000 miles above Earth’s surface in May.
There’s still no word on what the first reused Falcon 9 will do.
Musk has sought a military contracting role for SpaceX.
The fact that it will be the Falcon 9’s second flight hasn’t deterred satellite manufacturers from wanting to launch their payloads on the reused rocket.
Reusable rockets would cut costs and waste in the space industry, which now loses millions of dollars in jettisoned machinery after each launch.
When the Falcon 9 flies this fall, the age of reusable rockets will truly begin.
Elon Musk, who has never refrained from sharing big news about the company on social media, refuted rumours that claimed that Samsung was prodcuing batteries for Tesla.
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While other private companies, such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, have so far focused on landing spacecraft on dry land, the modern space race has also seen some unusual competition from India’s far leaner space agency. The firm has several private satellite launches on its schedule, and it also has a contract with NASA to supply the International Space Station.
