Posted on 09/29/2011 2:08:01 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The US company SpaceX is working on the first-ever reusable rocket to launch to space and back, with the goal of one day helping humans colonize Mars, founder Elon Musk said Thursday.
The vehicle would be a reusable version of the Falcon 9 rocket which SpaceX used to propel its Dragon space capsule to low Earth-orbit on a test mission last year. Its first cargo trip to the International Space Station is set for January.
Currently, a Falcon rocket costs between 50-60 million dollars to build and launch, with fuel and oxygen costs making up just 200,000 dollars. Then, it is lost forever as it burns up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
The rocket would take off as normal, then separate into its upper and lower stages. The column-like lower portion would make its way back to Earth and hover back down to land upright, in the same position from which it took off.
No wings are needed to steer it back to launch pad, he said.
In the near term, the technology could be used to launch satellites and take cargo and crew to the ISS, which is presently serviced only by Russia since the US space shuttle fleet retired in July.
The effort to build a reusable rocket "is a parallel effort... it is not impacting our sending of cargo to the space station," Musk said.
In fact, it would be just about ready to go except for the fact that SpaceX and NASA agree it needs to have some sort of way for its occupants to eject in case something goes wrong.
So a project to build escape thrusters into the sidewalls of the spacecraft is expected to take two to three years, Musk said. After that, the Reusable Falcon 9 rocket may be ready.....
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I don’t know. This thing is going to separate at altitude tens of miles away from the pad and it’s going to slow down, halt it’s forward trajectory, fly back and then do a soft touchdown? That’s going to take more than a few seconds of fuel.
bflr
LOL.. He maybe a nut, but he is smart..
It doesn’t have to “fly” all the way back — it can simply fall most of the way. It only needs enough fuel to slow it from terminal velocity to landing speed. Keep in mind that the shuttle only needed 8 minutes (480 seconds) to go from zero to 18,000 mph. When landing it will essentially be a giant, (nearly) empty fuel tank.
When a rocket launches it doesn’t go straight up, it begins a trajectory downrange almost as soon as it clears the tower. When this lower section gets jettisoned to return it will be miles out over the ocean heading away from the pad.
It’ll have to turn around, fly (fall) back to the coast and then do a controlled landing.
Good Luck but seems a waste of payload.
Wings wouldn't let you glide back either, not after you got very far down range. And you would use just as much fuel carrying them up.
Guess we will agree to disagree.
The column-like lower portion would make its way back to Earth and hover back down to land upright, in the same position from which it took off.
No truck mentioned
position or location?
You got me...
What does the video show? It’s too big to watch in my primitive location.
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