Fwd: SpaceX may soon start landing rockets on a platform in the ocean

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: October 28, 2014 12:46:14 PM EDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SpaceX may soon start landing rockets on a platform in the ocean

 

 

 

SpaceX may soon start landing rockets on a platform after they've left Earth

SpaceX spacecrafts could be landing on platforms in the ocean as soon as December.

By Thor Benson   |   Oct. 27, 2014 at 9:32 PM  |  Updated Oct. 27, 2014 at 9:34 PM                

 

HAWTHORNE, Calif., Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Elon Musk of SpaceX has announced his spacecrafts could soon be returning to Earth and landing on platforms.

During a conversation at MIT's AeroAstro Centennial Symposium on Friday, Musk said he plans to have his Falcon 9 rockets land on football field-sized floating platforms in the Atlantic Ocean as soon as December. He hopes to one day land the rockets back where they were launched.

"Imagine if an aircraft were single-use. Then how many people would fly?" Musk said. "The fly rate would be really low. To buy a 747 is like $250 million, or maybe $300 million, and you'd need two of them for a round trip." Musk joked that people would just go places by boat if the airplane industry worked that way, and he believes using reusable rockets that can leave Earth and return to Earth to be used again will save money and make space travel more accessible.

He spoke about how lowering costs can make it more likely humans can colonize other planets or the Moon. He said estimates for the cost of a Mars mission usually hover around $100-200 billion, and he believes there could be a "10,000 fold reduction" of that cost.

In April, SpaceX successfully tested launching a Falcon 9 rocket into space and landing it on a stage in the Atlantic Ocean.               

 

© 2014 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

 

---

 

 

SpaceX to Try Rocket Landing on Floating Ocean Platform, Elon Musk Says

by Miriam Kramer, Space.com Staff Writer   |   October 27, 2014 07:00am ET

 

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket stands on a launchpad before blasting off into space on Sept. 19, 2014. Credit: SpaceX View full size image

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The private spaceflight company SpaceX is hoping to bring a rocket back from space and land it on a giant, floating platform in the middle of the ocean, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Friday (Oct. 24).

The company is expecting to try to land the booster on the platform as part of their next launch to space. Musk explained that landing a reusable rocket on the floating platform — which measures about 300 feet long by 170 feet wide (91 by 52 meters) — is a big step toward bringing the company's Falcon 9 rocket back to dry land. Musk and SpaceX hope to develop reusable rocket systems and capsules in order to decrease the cost of access to space, which could even make a colony on Mars a viable option at some point.

SpaceX has already successfully flown boost stages of the Falcon 9 back to Earth, landing in the ocean after delivering various payloads to space, but the company has not attempted to land the rocket back on a floating platform before. According to publicly released schedules, SpaceX's next Falcon 9 launch is currently scheduled for December, when the California-based company is expected to launch its fifth official robotic cargo mission for NASA to the International Space Station using the Dragon spacecraft. [SpaceX Reusable Rocket Re-entry Caught by Chase Plane (Video)]

SpaceX founder Elon Musk (right) with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Jaime Peraire during an interview on Oct. 24, 2014.
Credit: Space.com/Miriam Kramer

View full size image

"We're going to try to land on [the floating landing platform] on the next flight," Musk said today  during a discussion here at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's AeroAstro 100 conference. "If we land on that flight, I think we'll be able to re-fly that booster."

Musk doesn't necessarily think that this first attempt will be successful, however. The landing platform will be floating in the Atlantic Ocean with engines that can be used to keep it in position; however, it could still be "tricky" to land on top of it, Musk said.

Musk expects that SpaceX has about a 50 percent or less chance of succeeding in landing on the next flyback, but future launches and landing could have more chance of success.

"There are a lot of launches that will occur over the next year," Musk said. "I think it's quite likely that one of those flights, we'll be able to land and re-fly, so I think we're quite close."

In July, SpaceX successfully brought its Falcon 9 booster in for a soft landing in the ocean after launching to space, but they weren't able to recover the rocket stage. After landing in the Atlantic, the Falcon 9 toppled over as planned, but, according to a Twitter post from Musk at the time, the boost stage broke apart shortly after the soft landing. Other than that, the July test appeared to go as planned.

 

 

Copyright © 2014 TechMediaNetwork.com All rights reserved. 

 

---