Posted on 06/26/2024 9:26:23 AM PDT by Red Badger
Playing catch-up with the likes of SpaceX, China has announced the successful test flight and landing of a reusable rocket. On June 23, 2024, the liquid-fueled launcher rose to a height of 7.5miles (12 km) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
Vertical landing rockets have been around since the Apollo days, but it's only in the last decade that companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin have turned them into a game changer. By recovering a booster intact instead of crashing into the ocean, a very large part of launch costs can be saved. It also allows for economies of scale to be introduced through the ability to expand an existing rocket fleet as well as developing revenue-generating communication services based on gigantic satellite constellations.
Because SpaceX has focused on pouring profits from launch services back into development, the economic impact of increasingly large reusable rockets has still not been fully felt. Some financial analysts have said that if the company were to concentrate on launches, its current cost of about US$1,000/kg would drop much further. Playing catch-up with the likes of SpaceX, China has announced the successful test flight and landing of a reusable rocket. On June 23, 2024, the liquid-fueled launcher rose to a height of 7.5 miles (12 km) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
Vertical landing rockets have been around since the Apollo days, but it's only in the last decade that companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin have turned them into a game changer. By recovering a booster intact instead of crashing into the ocean, a very large part of launch costs can be saved. It also allows for economies of scale to be introduced through the ability to expand an existing rocket fleet as well as developing revenue-generating communication services based on gigantic satellite constellations.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
That’s just about to the space station.
Airliners fly higher than that.................
Ummm, no, the space station is up around 250 miles.
Unless you were being sarcastic and just forgot the /s :-)
That’s just about to the space station. (height of 7.5 miles: 12 km
—
The ISS maintains an orbit with an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi)
they’re so cutting edge.
I think when something is so obvious, the s/ isn’t really needed. I am aware the ISS is much higher than that. You haven’t left the atmosphere yet at 7 miles.
I am aware.
For the Western World that's the big savings.
For China, their big saving is not having boosters fall back to inhabited sections of China willy-nilly...
Even with working examples here and stealing technology. Without either they wouldn’t be trying.
no worries, since elon is friends with china now, they’ll just copy it off him
First paragraph “China has announced the successful test flight and landing of a reusable rocket.”
Then three paragraphs about SpaceX
Twenty years ago, the conventional wisdom was that reusable boosters didn’t make economic sense. It was cheaper to just go ahead and expend them.
Thanks to SpaceX, and their reusable boosters, the cost to put a pound in LEO has fallen by an order of magnitude in that time.
I think the onboard computing & navigational horsepower didn’t exist 20 years ago. “Flying” a rocket stage back to a pinpoint landing on a concrete pad w/o a human pilot is a pretty impressive achievement.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.