SpaceX Reveals Plans For Full Launch System Re-usability

FleaPlus writes "During a talk at the National Press Club, SpaceX's Elon Musk revealed the company's plans for making their Falcon 9 rocket fully reusable. A rendering depicts the first stage, upper stage, and Dragon capsule all separately returning to the Earth's surface and making a controlled, rocket-powered landing. During the next few years SpaceX will be testing VTVL (Vertical Takeoff, Vertical Landing) maneuvers and re-usability with their Falcon 9-based 'Grasshopper' testbed, with up to 70 test launches per year. Musk stated that if reuse is successful, it would result in a 100x reduction in their already-low launch costs, a key step toward Musk's long-term aim of lowering the price of a ticket to Mars to $500K."

Comments

Thanks, Space Shuttle

[Doc Ruby]

I am glad Americans invested in the Space Shuttle programme that gave, among so many other benefits, the basic R&D into reusable space vehicles and launch systems for them, to SpaceX, the rest of the growing private space industry, and to the world in general.

I look forward to SpaceX and its competitors paying the taxes that will repay that investment, even as they make good profits without having had to take the risks or pay the costs of those decades of R&D on their own.

Re:Thanks, Space Shuttle

[Andy Dodd]

You clearly don't know much about the Space Shuttle.

In terms of reusability, it was an utter and complete failure.

Yes it was "reusable", but it turned out more expensive to launch than one-shot non-reusable systems because its reusability approach was completely hosed. For example, half the tiles needed to be replaced after each launch.

That's why the Space Shuttle has been decommissioned in favor of nonreusable systems.

SpaceX's reuasbility research will use nothing from the shuttle except possibly lessons learned on what NOT to do.

Another Big Announcement

[PopeRatzo]

SpaceX Reveals Plans For Full Launch System Re-usability

And I'm revealing my plans for world domination with an army of supermodels.

SpaceX might want to do a little less revealing of plans and a little more flying in space. I'm getting tired of hearing about what they're gonna do and would like to hear a little more about what they've done besides send up another roman candle.

Reusable Falcons

[mbone]

I was there for the talk, and had a little chat with Mr. Musk beforehand. The first thing to note is that he said that the video (which should go on their web page soon) is incomplete and may be vague about certain things, for proprietary reasons. What follows is my reverse engineering.

This is what the Grasshopper described previously in Slashdot is all about. Mr. Musk didn't use the word Grasshopper at all, so it must have been some sort of code word, but the tests in Texas will clearly be for Falcon reuse engineering.

Now, it makes no sense to return the first stage to the landing pad (as he said). The first stage is on a ballistic trajectory which (for a launch from Cape Canaveral) would have it impact somewhere far out at sea. It makes no sense at all to have the first stage reverse course and fly back to the Cape, as that would take as much delta-V as the original launch. It would make a lot more sense to land that stage in Ascension Island, Africa or Nova Scotia (depending on the inclination of the orbit). The first stage could then brought back by ship or plane.

The second stage actually goes into orbit, and the plan is to deorbit it one rev later. The trouble with that is the Earth rotates and the Earth will have rotated by ~ 20 degrees of longitude. That (again for a launch from the Cape) puts it over Texas, and it could conveniently land at McGregor, Texas, where SpaceX is doing their Grasshopper tests. So, although they haven't said so, I bet that McGregor will be the second stage landing area, and probably the Dragon landing area as well.

WHERE the heck are they going to launch it?

[wisebabo]

Look, the first stage doesn't just go up, it goes (presumably) eastwards to take advantage of the earth's rotation. So, if they launch from Florida the nearest land is, Africa. That means a foreign country and transport back by sea, not good for cost savings. If they launch from say California then you have all the hazards of a launch over land (isn't Vandenberg used primarily for westward ICBM testing and polar launches for this reason?).

Also, the second stage, even though it looks like it might go all the way to orbit doesn't appear to have much cross-range capability (no aerodynamic surfaces). So its choice of landing sites might be severely restricted. Finally, just to nitpick, the system isn't "completely" reusable, the service module looks like it is abandoned in orbit.

By the way, I think Elon Musk should henceforth be given the mantle of "Rocketman"! NOTHING (other than the heat shields) is used to slow down the stages AND CAPSULE other than ROCKETS; not parachutes or lifting bodies or airbags! He's got a LOT of faith that they will function in absolutely split second critical situations. WOW.

Still I say, go for it! If he can make the rockets work, maybe they can launch from that spaceport in New Mexico. (Maybe he'll have to give the FAA a destruct switch on a MANNED spacecraft in order to launch over populated areas). Has engineering gone so far as to really make these things that reliable?