The officials at the Hawthorne-based company revealed that they witnessed a “hard landing” and one of its stabilizer arms broke and it was not possible for the rocket to stand upright.
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Recycling engines and the Falcon 9’s 14-story, aluminum-lithium alloy first stage also may enable SpaceX, already the cheapest launch provider in its category, to further undercut USA and European rivals. “Won’t be last RUD, but am optimistic about upcoming ship landing”.
Despite ocean landings being hard, SpaceX would like to return their rockets to allow more flexibility and reuse of parts.
About an hour after liftoff, the satellite deployed after successfully separating from the rocket, according to a tweet from SpaceX.
The company had warned earlier Sunday that the unmanned platform was experiencing high waves, and said the live video feed cut out as the rocket stage approached the platform.
The Moon is seen behind the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Jason-3 spacecraft onboard the evening before the launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base Space Launch Complex 4 East in California.
Landing on the ground saves the time, trouble and expense of dispatching a floating landing platform and support ships, but not all of SpaceX’s rockets will have the spare fuel to make it back to the launch site.
SpaceX witnessed a successful delivery of the Jason-3 oceanographic satellite into orbit, but also saw failure of Falcon 9’s first stage rocket to land on drone ship on Sunday. The satellite that was launched into space, named Jason-3, will measure ocean levels on the Earth’s surface.
Meteorologists predict swells of 10- to 13-feet where the barge will be waiting for the rocket landing attempt. The rocket will help continue U.S.-European satellite measurements of global ocean height changes.
It was the third time the rocket had failed to land back on earth successfully. The ability to land a reusable booster at sea or on land, which it’s already accomplished, would give SpaceX more options for staging low-priced space flights – toward Mr. Musk’s eventual goal of missions to Mars.
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It aims to offer a more precise look at how global warming and sea level rise affect wind speeds and currents as close as one kilometer (0.6 miles) from shore, whereas past satellites were limited to about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the coast.
