Octaweb mating Mating the Octaweb of a Falcon Heavy centre core to the tank © SpaceX It also replaced electronic components, power and plumbing lines, and upgraded the liquid oxygen storage system that is used to fill the rocket’s tanks before launch. It refurbished the sound-suppressing deluge system, which uses water to protect the rocket from its own acoustic energy at the moment of launch. To support the Falcon 9 launch, SpaceX had to customise the pad. In April 2014, SpaceX signed a 20-year lease to use NASA’s launchpad 39A, the very same launchpad from which every Apollo mission (other than Apollo 10) and a host of Space Shuttle missions launched. All in all, SpaceX is positioning itself to be a leading force as we enter the new era of commercial spaceflight. SpaceX’s launch manifest shows a diverse roster of clients including the US Air Force, national security missions, and commercial satellite launches. But it’s not just about NASA missions for the moment. This marks another step towards SpaceX’s goal of sending humans into orbit from American soil, something the world hasn’t seen since the Space Shuttle’s final flight in 2011. The rocket made history in 2012 when it became the first privately launched vehicle to successfully send a resupply mission to the International Space Station, and has since added reusability to its roster. In the meantime, SpaceX has more than 40 Falcon 9 missions into Earth orbit. Nonetheless, Mars is SpaceX’s ultimate goal – Elon Musk has made no secret of the fact that he wants to be the one to land humans on our planetary neighbour. Alternatively, it could send 8,300kg to Mars, although it hasn’t launched anything to the Red Planet just yet. It stands 69.9m tall, weighs 549,054kg, and generates 7,607 kilonewtons of thrust at take-off, which can send 22,800kg into orbit around the Earth. The Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket that’s designed to launch satellites, and eventually crewed spacecraft, into orbit. Over the last few years the company has taken steady steps to making good on that promise, thanks in large part to the success of its Falcon 9 rocket. When Elon Musk’s SpaceX – short for Space Exploration Technologies – got into the rocket game, it promised reusability, lower launch costs, and easier access to space. Video of the successful Falcon 9 rocket landing on a drone ship.How does SpaceX build its Falcon 9 reusable rocket? And before it landed Friday, the rocket launched into orbit a cargo craft laden with supplies for astronauts at the International Space Station. The agency has already awarded contracts worth over $4 billion to the California-based company as part of its effort to reduce its reliance on Russian space shuttles. Since it was founded in 2002, SpaceX, whose name is short for Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has rapidly become a major player in the American aerospace industry and an important part of NASA’s future plans. It's because of innovators like you & NASA that America continues to lead in space exploration. President Barack Obama was quick to congratulate SpaceX Friday after the rocket gracefully alighted on the oceanic landing platform, a drone ship that SpaceX christened “Of Course I Still Love You.”Ĭongrats SpaceX on landing a rocket at sea. “If you have got a rocket that can be fully and rapidly reused, it is somewhere on the order of a 100-fold cost reduction, in marginal costs,” Musk said. Musk said it costs roughly $300,000 to fuel the rocket with combination of kerosene and liquid oxygen and $60 million to build a new one. Several of the company’s earlier attempts at rocket landings ended in spectacular near-misses SpaceX/ReutersĪccording to an AFP report, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that the ability to safely land a rocket so it can be used again - as opposed to the traditional method of deploying a new rocket for each launch and allowing used rockets to crash-land in the ocean - will make it cheaper to get to space, and more Eco-friendly. The reusable main-stage booster from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket makes a successful landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean about 185 miles (300 km) off the coast of Florida April 8, 2016.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |