SpaceX’s Falcon 9 reusable rocket is on the verge of making spaceflight much more economical. They’ve demonstrated its ability to liftoff, hover, and land safely for reuse in Earth’s atmosphere, and just yesterday SpaceX released this video from Falcon 9’s point of view as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere and demonstrated it could land safely from space.
The Falcon 9 launched last week to bring ORBCOMM satellites to orbit, and then it returned to Earth at hypersonic speed before firing its thrusters, extending its landing legs, and touching down safely in the ocean. As planned, it was damaged when it finally tipped over into the water, because this was only a test. Now they know that it will be able to land on its launchpad reliably when coming from space.
When it lands on the ground, it will remain upright and undamaged, which gives it the ability to be refueled and sent back into space with very little turnaround time. Since they won’t have to spend the time or money building a brand new rocket every time they send something to space, it looks like SpaceX’s recently approved Texas spaceport will be pretty busy in the near future.
(via SpaceX)
- SpaceX has been approved for its very own spaceport in Texas
- The Dragon V2 crew module also has “land anywhere” capability
- Here’s video of the Falcon 9 hovering inside Earth’s atmosphere
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