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SpaceX Launched and Landed Another Used Falcon 9 Rocket, Marking Its Record-Tying 18th Launch of the Year (theverge.com)
SpaceX has successfully sent up a communications satellite for the country of Qatar, marking the aerospace company's 18th mission in 2018, which ties the company's record in 2017 for the most launches done in a year. Since the company has several more missions planned for this year, it's very likely that the company will set a new all-time high soon. The Verge reports: For this mission, SpaceX is employing another one of its used rockets, a Falcon 9 booster that launched the Telstar 19 VANTAGE satellite in July. After that mission, the rocket landed on one of SpaceX's autonomous drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean, and the company hopes to pull off the same feat following today's launch. If successful, this particular Falcon 9 booster could be capable of flying a third time in the near future.
The payload is the Es'hail-2 satellite, which is meant to provide communications services to the Middle East and North Africa. It's primarily meant to be used for government and commercial purposes, however, amateur radio operators can also use this satellite. Es'hail-2 has two transponders on board that can connect to amateur radios from South America to Asia. It's not the only satellite with this capability, but Es'hail-2 is going to a particularly high orbit 22,000 miles up. That will make it the first satellite at this altitude to link amateur radios from Brazil to India. SpaceX managed to successfully deploy the Es'hail-2 satellite into orbit "32 minutes after takeoff," The Verge reports in an update. "The company also landed its Falcon 9 rocket on one of its drone ships following liftoff, bringing its total number of successful booster landings to 31." You can watch the full launch here.
The payload is the Es'hail-2 satellite, which is meant to provide communications services to the Middle East and North Africa. It's primarily meant to be used for government and commercial purposes, however, amateur radio operators can also use this satellite. Es'hail-2 has two transponders on board that can connect to amateur radios from South America to Asia. It's not the only satellite with this capability, but Es'hail-2 is going to a particularly high orbit 22,000 miles up. That will make it the first satellite at this altitude to link amateur radios from Brazil to India. SpaceX managed to successfully deploy the Es'hail-2 satellite into orbit "32 minutes after takeoff," The Verge reports in an update. "The company also landed its Falcon 9 rocket on one of its drone ships following liftoff, bringing its total number of successful booster landings to 31." You can watch the full launch here.
Not really. We had a few things that hovered a few hundred feet over concrete, like DC-X and Rotary Rocket and a more recent NASA experimental lander. The only "reusable" rocket to make orbit was the Space Shuttle, and that was so reusable that refurbishment cost more than an expendable Falcon Heavy launch. In fact the cost per launch of the Space Shuttle was about 5 times what a reusable Falcon Heavy launch would cost for a civilian satellite and about 3 times what government launches cost (government wants a lot more qualification and paperwork).
So, SpaceX Falcon 9 is the first practical reusable first stage, which is a big deal because the second stage only has 1 engine, vs. 9, and supposedly Dragon is somewhat reusable, although proof that it costs less to recycle than build anew is rather thin so far.
Bruce Perens.