- The first reusable 2-stage rocket Falcon 9 with an unmanned Dragon capsule carrying cargo to the International Space Station was successfully launched by its parent company USA’s Space Exploration Technologies.
- Space X is trying to significantly bring down the costs associated with space travels and rocket launches by trying to build rockets that can be reused for multiple launches unlike most of the rockets now used that are expendable.
- Although Falcon 9 exceeded the costs of an expendable rocket, major costs have gone into building rather than the propellant. If the first spent stage, that landed safely in Atlantic Ocean under controlled conditions, and the second stage, after launching the capsule into its orbit, can be brought back safely and retrieved, then the costs would be significantly lowered by a factor of 100.
- The payload that a reusable version can carry may be 40% lesser than others since it should carry some of its propellant for a controlled descent, but even so reuse will greatly drop launch costs.
- Preliminary tests for such descent using the prototypes of its first stage were carried out multiple times to ascertain the factors that would play a role in its descent. Last year attempt to maneuver the first stage after it was expended failed when the stage started spinning and shut its engines prematurely, but this year it seemed to have made a successful controlled descent.
- The first stage consisted 4 legs intended for a future touchdown on land, which may have deployed before it splashed into the ocean.Testing on oceans will be carried out multiple times before touching down on the land.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/
todays-paper/tp-features/tp- sci-tech-and-agri/spacex- takes-a-step-towards-rocket- reuse/article5941921.ece
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