SpaceX has successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time following its successful return to flight. Recovering the rocket’s main engines is a crucial part of SpaceX’s plan to further disrupt the launch market by drastically lowering the cost of lofting a payload.
SpaceX has successfully landed the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time following its successful return to flight.
Recovering the rocket’s main engines is a crucial part of SpaceX’s plan to further disrupt the launch market by drastically lowering the cost of lofting a payload.
Recent launches have seen SpaceX come close to landing the first stage on a droneship, with the booster finding its target on two occasions only to explode soon after.
This time the landing target was a site at Cape Canaveral, Florida, six miles from the launch pad, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk declared it a success.
Falcon 9 had been grounded for almost six months following a failure in June, attributed to a faulty strut in the rocket’s second stage.
There were no such problems this time around with customer Orbcomm (NASDAQ:ORBC) confirmi
Because the payload was only sent to low Earth orbit, there was no need for a relight of the second stage engine, which would have been required for the SES-9 launch that had originally been scheduled ahead of Orbcomm.
The two launches were swapped as SpaceX wanted the opportunity to test the relight system after deploying Orbcomm’s payload. The shorter trip also increased the chances of recovering the first stage.
The landing comes less than a month after Blue Origin landed its much smaller New Shepard rocket – designed for space tourism – after reaching an altitude of 100km. SpaceX had previously recovered its Grasshopper prototype multiple times, although the rocket rose to 744m.
A number of other launch providers are also looking to incorporate reusable elements into their vehicles to cut costs and catch up with SpaceX. Airbus Defence and Space is looking to recover the main engines of Ariane 6 through its Adeline concept, United Launch Alliance presented the design of its next-generation Vulcan rocket earlier this year, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has confirmed it is researching the potential for a reusable rocket.
Orbcomm nears completion of OG2 network
Orbcomm expects the OG2 birds will provide full commercial services within the next 60 days. Before then Orbcomm will carry out in-orbit tests to verify that the satellites are functioning correctly.
The 11 satellites complete the satellite communication company’s 17-strong next-generation constellation, designed to enhance its M2M network. Orbcomm’s share price rose more than 5% following the launch.
The project suffered a setback in October 2012 when – as a secondary payload on a Falcon 9 – the OG2 prototype satellite was deployed into the wrong orbit by SpaceX. Orbcomm claimed as a total loss. The total sum insured was US$10m and underwriter Chartis provided the entire cover.
SpaceX then successfully launched the first batch of OG2s in July 2014. The Sierra Nevada-made birds are equipped with Automatic Identification System technology to track ships.
“We’d like to thank our vendors and partners for their cooperation in this effort,” Orbcomm CEO Marc Eisenberg said.
“I’d like to congratulate SpaceX on making history by landing the Falcon 9’s reusable stage one booster from a record altitude. It’s an exciting day for all of us in the space industry.”
