In the past week, SpaceX succeeded in launching two 'Falcon 9' rockets. However, rocket boosters did not land on unmanned ships at sea and did not return to the landing pad near the coast. However, they were used before. The rockets flew back to the surface of the ocean and quickly sank to the bottom of the sea.
So what happened to Elon Musk's idea of 'recovering rockets to reduce the cost of visiting space' and why his company suddenly throws all rockets into the sea like NASA What did (NASA) and other agencies do for decades?
Don't worry, this is all an effort for the ultimate version of the 'Falcon 9' rocket. The 'Falcon 9' rocket ultimate version, the so-called 'Block 5' Falcon 9 rocket, will fly for the first time at the end of this month.
On Tuesday local time, SpaceX confirmed that it hopes to launch Bangabandhu-1, Bangladesh's first communications satellite, via the 'Block 5' Falcon 9 rocket at the end of April. Although some industry websites set April 24 as the target date, However, the exact launch time has not yet been announced.
So far, the 'Falcon 9' rocket has performed more than one mission. Each time the mission of the rocket is 'Block 4' or the so-called 'Full Thrust' model, the 'Block 5' model is a horse. The “Falcon 9′′ rocket is the ultimate version of the rocket, which is more powerful than the previous version. Part of the upgrade helps to better control the descent. It also makes other minor adjustments.
But the biggest difference is that SpaceX hopes that this 'Falcon 9' rocket can be launched repeatedly. According to plan, without any major refurbishment, only recycling, inspection and then sent back to the launch pad, 'Block 5' The Falcon 9 rocket can be repeatedly fired 10 times. After repeated launches 10 times, the rocket needs to be refurbished and is ready to launch 10 times. Eventually, each rocket can be fired repeatedly 100 times.
This is how the Musk and SpaceX companies were freed from the rockets. This helps Musk's bold plans, such as building a huge colony on Mars.
In the past year, SpaceX has repeatedly fired 10 times using the used Falcon 9 rocket.
At Sunday’s NASA press conference, SpaceX’s Jessica Jensen stated that the company plans to increase this number by 50% next year, partly due to the The company’s Rockets added some 'Block 5' rockets.
The Falcon 9 rockets we have seen in the past few years are actually designed only for launching two or three times and may need to be refurbished before each launch.
SpaceX did not try to restore its existing Falcon 9 booster inventory, but chose to push it to the limit to collect data, and this data will help build the future rocket. This is in the past few The real reason why SpaceX's 2 Falcon 9 rocket boosters crashed into the ocean.
We will see the final version of the 'Falcon 9' rocket at the end of this month. SpaceX also hopes to use this rocket to send astronauts to the International Space Station later this year. But first, SpaceX needs to launch at least 7 'Block 5' rockets. To obtain NASA certification.