In December 2015 , SpaceX became the first company to put down part of an orbital rocket on the ground . Since then , they ’ve land five more . And now , for the first prison term , one of those rocket will fly for a second time – for sure the true dawn of the recyclable Eruca sativa era .
Yes , SpaceX has madeno secretof its desire to lour the costs of establish to outer space by fly rockets again and again . You ’ve probably heard it a million times before , but it ’s the honest-to-goodness airplane doctrine of analogy : We do n’t scrap planes after every flight of stairs . Why should we do the same for rockets ?
And yesterday , a artificial satellite manufacturer – SES , free-base in Luxembourg – has say it will set up its upcoming satellite SES-10 , a geostationary telecom satellite for Latin America , on a reprocess Falcon 9 rocket . Or , to use their own terminology , a “ flight - proven ” rocket .
“ Having been the first commercial-grade orbiter wheeler dealer to set up with SpaceX back in 2013 , we are excited to once again be the first customer to launch on SpaceX ’s first ever mission using a escape - proven rocket , ” said Martin Halliwell , Chief Technology Officer at SES , in astatement . “ We trust reclaimable rocket will open up a new era of spaceflight , and make access to space more effective in terms of price and unmistakable management . ”
A SpaceX voice evidence IFLScience this flight would take spot in the fall this year , although an exact date has not yet been released . The rocket engine will use the first stage from thefirst Falcon 9 barge landingback in April ( the second stage that throw the satellite its last boost to orbit will be brand new , though ) . The first rocket to land , in December 2015 , is being used as a museum piece at SpaceX ’s headquarters in Hawthorne , California .
It ’s understand SES is getting a discount for the launching , as it ’s a reusable skyrocket , although the accurate pricing is not know . Gwynne Shotwell , President of SpaceX , has said previously that reusable projectile should allow for a30 percentage reductionin price , with each SpaceX launch cost about $ 60 million .
“ Re - launching a rocket that has already turn in spacecraft to orbit is an significant milestone on the course to complete and rapid reusability , ” Shotwell said in the statement .
SES has been an perfervid supporter of SpaceX , operate so far as to sign up for this launching before SpaceX has even performed a run trajectory of a reprocess rocket – although it hastested them on the ground . And , for SpaceX , this is n’t the only exciting development in the pipeline , with Elon Musk define to unwrap its plans for Mars on September 27 at the International Aeronautical Congress ( IAC ) in Mexico , and the company plan its firstunmanned mission to Marsin 2018 .
Good clock time ahead for SpaceX then , it seems .
