Last week Friday Space X wrote another chapter in the history books by landing its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship at sea.
The landing of the Falcon 9 on the drone ship at sea is the first time anyone has been able to pull off an ocean landing. After four previous attempts ended in failure the success is a crucial milestone for SpaceX, as it shows the company can land its rockets both on solid ground and ocean. The landing of rockets on both sea and land enables Space X to recover and reuse even more rockets in the future.
Read: Watch: Space X‘s Falcon 9 explodes on landing
Mastering an ocean landing is very important since it is practically much easier to get approval for and much safer. At a recent NASA press conference, Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of mission assurance for SpaceX, said the next two to three flights will involve drone ship landings. Ultimately, the company expects to land one-third of its rockets on land, and the rest at sea.
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The whole point of landing these rockets is to help save SpaceX money on launch costs. Right now, most rockets are destroyed or lost after they launch into space, meaning entirely new rockets must be built for each mission. SpaceX hopes to recover as many rockets as possible to cut down on cost of creating new vehicles. The Falcon 9 costs $60 USD million to make and only $200,000 USD to fuel.
Read: Watch: Space X‘s Falcon 9 makes historic landing (ground)
A recovered rocket that doesn’t require too much updating and refurbishment will eliminate huge amounts of manufacturing costs making space travel much more affordable. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell expects reusable rockets to bring down launch costs by about 30 percent, according to Space News. That would make the company’s vehicles an even cheaper option for clients than it already is.
Source: TheVerge
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